Luke 5:1-11

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

Today’s Gospel is about fishing–catching fish, catching people.  But there’s a fundamental mistake we still often make with this image.  We tend to think of fishing the way we we’re used to doing it on a Wisconsin lake: bait your hook, throw in a line, and if it’s a good day, reel in your catch.  And so we apply this imagery to how people should be drawn in to the church.  First, the thinking goes, we need to come up with some bait, something to excite people so that we can hook them and yank them into the church.  What will attract the youth or young families or this or that group of people?  We need talented performers and a whole menu of programs to meet people’s felt needs.  We need to make that Gospel hook seem nice and comfortable and enticing so that our intended quarry will take a big bite and get good and snagged.

But there are two problems with that image.  First of all, bait is all about fooling the fish as to your true intentions, right?  You offer it the lure of food only to make it food for you.  It’s about trickery and manipulation.  And that is not the way of our God.  His is the way of truth.  His is the way of saying what we need to hear, not what we want to hear, so that we may be saved.  The holy church of Christ can never be in the bait and switch business.  We’re not here to fake people into becoming Christian.  What sort of disciples would that really produce, anyway?  Jesus, rather, was always rather blunt and right out front, as He is in Luke 14, “Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.”

We need to remember that in today’s Gospel it’s not a rod and reel and bait that are being used but a net.  And that’s a whole different kind of fishing.  The net is cast, which is to say, the Word of God is proclaimed.  And through Christ’s Word, fish are drawn in to the boat of the Church as together many hear and believe His preaching.

That’s what was going on at the beginning of the Gospel.  Many were pressing in around Jesus to hear Him speak the words of God.  Because of the crowds, Jesus gets into a boat and asks Simon to put out a little from shore.  The reflection of the sound off of the water enables a larger number of people to hear.  Our Lord uses the boat as a pulpit to preach His Word of salvation to the people.  Christ is in the boat drawing the people to Himself.  Like a fisherman, He casts the net of the Gospel to draw the fish into the boat.

So it is still today.  The place where you are sitting is called the “nave” of the church, Latin for “ship.”  The people of God even now press in around Jesus to hear His Word, because Christ is here in the boat.  You fish, who swim in the waters of baptism, are drawn in by His teaching.  The Word of God still reflects off of the baptismal water, calling you to repentance and to faith in Jesus, bringing you everlasting life.

Our Lord then proceeds to perform a miracle which illustrates the miracle of salvation which He was accomplishing through His preaching.  Jesus says to Simon Peter, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”  Now Simon knows that no good fisherman goes to the deep for a catch.  And no good fisherman fishes in the heat of the day but when the sun is lower in the sky.  What our Lord commands Simon to do here makes no sense.  But this is the way it’s done with the Lord.  He goes to the deep, to the very depths of sin and death to pull up His catch of sinful men by water and the Word and to create in us new life.  

“Launch out into the deep” our Lord still says.  Not only in the safe suburbs, but in the cities, in sparsely populated rural areas, not only to people who seem open to Christian spirituality but also to the “unspiritual,” to people of every age and color and nationality and marital status.  The church is given to proclaim the Gospel wherever Christ gives us opportunity–me by preaching in this place and in my visits; and you by confessing your faith in your daily callings out there as family members and workers and citizens and neighbors, so that others might be drawn in to get caught in the net of Christ’s teaching and thereby enter His boat.  Remember what the Epistle reading said, “Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you.”  That means hearing Christ’s preaching and studying His Word regularly so that you're ready to answer their questions.

Peter responded to Jesus’ command, “Master, we toiled all night and caught nothing.”  In the darkness, our own efforts produce nothing.  However, in the Light of Christ Peter goes on to say, “At Your Word I will let down the nets.”  Purely by faith Simon surrenders all that he knows and all that he has experienced and lets down the nets.  So it is to be in the Church.  Not our word but Jesus’ Word is our life and salvation.  What counts is not what seems reasonable and practical to us, but what is good and right in the sight of the Lord.  The still, small voice of the Gospel of Christ crucified, which is foolishness to the world, is the power of God to us.  His truth orders our lives.

Simon does what our Lord commands, and the nets fill up.  In fact, they are beginning to break and some fish are escaping, just as when the net of the Gospel is cast, not all believe what is preached; not all are drawn in to the boat.  Sadly there have been several people in this place whom I have drawn in with the net of the Gospel in preaching and adult instruction but who have since slipped away, out of the nets back into the depths of this world and its ways.

Peter’s reaction to this miracle seems a bit surprising.  “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”  This mighty work of Jesus causes Peter to see that he was in the presence of the holy God.  And so the unbelief that remains in Peter rises up and begins to overwhelm him.  “God is holy.  God hates sin.  I am a sinner.  I am lost.”  But that is the preaching of the devil.  The devil is good at preaching only half of the truth.  Peter is indeed a sinner, as are you.  God does indeed hate sin, with a passion.  Sinners do die.

However, the One who stands before Simon Peter, and before you this day, Jesus the Son of God, did not come into this world to condemn the world but to save the world–to rescue Peter, and to rescue you.  Just as Simon Peter trusted in the Lord when he went out to catch fish in the deep, so now you are to trust in the Lord as He speaks His incredible mercy to you.  To the sinner who in shame says, “Depart from me, Lord” Jesus says, “Do not be afraid.”  Notice our Lord doesn’t say, “Oh, that’s okay, it’s not really that bad.”  No, our Lord says, “Do not be afraid.”  “You are forgiven.  I have taken on your very flesh and blood to sanctify you and make you holy.  Your sins have been paid for by my cross, so that now you can stand before a holy God and live.  Do not be afraid.”

And finally, our Lord does one more amazing thing.  He says to Peter, “From now on you will catch men.”  In other words He makes this sinner into an apostle and a preacher of the Gospel, so that more fish, more slippery characters might be drawn into the boat.  Let us remember, then, not to glorify the preachers Christ calls and ordains–they are sinners like anyone else.  Let us rather glorify Christ who goes so far as to use fallen men to speak His Word and minister His Sacraments, that you fish might continually be drawn into the church.  

Even today, our Lord feeds His fish with the riches of His Altar.  He draws you to Himself, that through His true and literal body and blood, He may dwell in you and you in Him forever.  He partook of you by becoming human.  And now you partake of Him in the Supper, that you may share in His divine glory.  Just as the great fish swallowed up Jonah to save him from death, so also Jesus took you into Himself, swallowing up your sin and death on the cross, and raising you up to a new life on the third day in His bodily resurrection.

So let it not be said among you, “Lord, depart from me.  I must stay away from you. You couldn’t possibly save a sinner like me.”  Instead, God grant you to say, “At Your Word, Lord, I forsake all my plans, all my ways of thinking and doing things to follow you.  At your Word, Lord, I let down my defenses and trust in Your loving kindness.  For You are my light and my salvation.”

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

Luke 15:11-32

Trinity 3

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

We live in a culture right now which is big on the need for penance and making atonement, but not very big on the idea of forgiveness.  What I mean is this: If an athlete or a celebrity or public figure has ever said or done something that is now considered offensive or unacceptable–say on the topic of gay marriage or transgenderism or social justice–they must grovel and apologize and show how they’ve become enlightened by the new “progressive” dogma.  But even then, after they’ve tried to atone for themselves before the media high priests, they’re often still considered to be on the outside, permanently tarnished by their transgression.  You may have heard of “cancel culture,” where such transgressors are blacklisted and excluded from being heard.  To put this all another way, the world today demands confession for what it considers to be sin, but it resists absolution; it is not very inclined to forgive and let go of sin.

This is a serious problem, not only in the world but sometimes also in our own relationships.  Too often we are like the older brother in today’s Gospel parable, wanting those who have done wrong, who have been prodigal and morally reckless, to have to pay a lasting price, and to lose their status.  We tell ourselves that’s the righteous thing.  But in truth it’s often a subtle tool we like to use to justify ourselves, to indulge our self-righteousness, to boost our own status. Like the world, we, too, stress the need for people to confess, to say they’re sorry.  But we don’t always find it very easy to say “I forgive you,” to absolve people and release them from their sin.

But that’s not at all the way it is with the father in today’s parable.  He is all about the absolution.  The confession isn’t the big deal, it’s the forgiveness and the mercy that runs the show.  Did you notice how the father actually cut short the prodigal son’s confession?  The younger son had his confession speech all prepared.  And it was right as far as it went.  He had sinned against his father grievously.  He wasn’t worthy to be called a son any longer.  He did deserve to lose his status and to be treated like a hired servant.  And the same is true for all of you.  Every sin is a little turning your back on your heavenly Father.  Every time you stray from his commands, you are leaving behind who you are as a child of God in His household.

But when the younger son returned home and it was actually time to speak the confession, the father didn’t even let him finish.  The son didn’t even have a chance to say the part about being made to be like a hired servant.  Imagine if I cut you all off right in the middle of the confession at the beginning of the service because I was so eager to get to the absolution and the “I forgive you” part.  In a very real way that’s what the father does here.  His heart and mind are set on the joy of having his son back, of celebrating the absolution.  The father’s true delight is to pour out his love on his child.  

This is the way it is for you with God.  Confession is important; a penitent and humble heart is what He desires.  But the Lord doesn’t forgive you because you’ve done the good work of confessing.  He forgives you because He is good and merciful.  He wants your heart to be penitent so that it’s open to receiving the great lovingkindness He desires to pour out on you.  He wants you to share fully in the joy of His household.

You can see how much the father wants that by the way he behaves in the parable.  He hadn’t written off or forgotten about his son.  Instead, we see a father who’s still longing for his son to return.  He’s waiting, looking down the road.  It says here, “But when (the younger son) was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.”  Dignified men don’t run, but the father was compelled to do so by his love, going out to bring and welcome his son back, even before the son could say a word.

 It’s precisely that love of the father that drew the son to come home in the first place.  He certainly underestimated his father’s response.  But what gave the prodigal son hope that he might somehow be received back was the goodness and kindness of the father that he remembered.  In the same way, it written in Romans 2 that the goodness and kindness of God leads us to repentance.  Knowing the love He has for us in Christ allows us to honestly acknowledge the full depth of our fallen condition, and it creates in us the desire to come home and to be rescued from our prodigal and prideful ways.

The father’s forgiveness is not conditional.  There’s no probationary testing period for the son.  Instead, the father immediately puts a distinguished robe on him.  He gives him the family ring with all the authority that brings with it.  He puts sandals on his feet, for only the servants would be barefoot.  And the father throws a party, for he wants to celebrate that his son who was “dead” is alive again.  

Of course, when you hear of someone being dead and alive again, you can’t help but think of Jesus, right?  And you should!  For when it comes right down to it, Jesus is the real prodigal son in this parable.  God the Father wants to have you with Himself so much that He made His own Son to be like this younger son.  Consider what it says here.  It says that the father gave to the younger son of his livelihood, or more literally his “substance”–just as we confess in the Creed that Jesus is of one substance with the Father.  Then the Son of the Father goes to a far country, which is to say, the Son of God descends to earth and becomes man for us.  Here He blows His wealth and His substance consorting with tax collectors and sinners and the likes of us.  Jesus is prodigal and beautifully reckless in the way He dishes out His grace and mercy toward us.  He loses it all for you, dying in your place as if He were the rebellious sinner, to win your forgiveness.  Then the Son of God arises from the grave and returns to His Father, who exalts Him to His right hand, and gives Him the name that is above every name, rejoicing that He who was dead is alive again, that He who was lost for a time to the grave has been found triumphant over sin, death, and the devil.  

Once you were dead and lost.  But God raised you to life in His Son Jesus.  The Father now says to you, “Your brother, My Son Jesus was dead, and is alive again.  Repent and find your life in Him.  No matter how low it has gotten for you, Jesus has gone to the lowest depths on your behalf in order to become the way back for you. You’re not an outcast stepchild here.  You are robed in Jesus’ righteousness at the font and the family ring is put on your finger.  The banquet table of the supper is laid before you, the body and blood of Christ given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.  You are a full-fledged child in My house through Jesus; for He came into the world to save sinners.  Full atonement has been made for you.  Welcome home.”

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

("The Prodigal Son" © Edward Riojas, is used with permission.  You can order prints of this artwork here.)

The Feast of Pentecost

Genesis 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-21; John 14:23-27

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

I have often pointed out that the most important sense for you to have as a Christian is not sight but hearing.  The church is the place not of the eyes but of the ears.  Romans 10 says that faith comes by hearing the Word of God.  And 2 Corinthians 5 says that we walk by faith not by sight.  To put it another way, church is not primarily about pictures and video but about words and speaking.  Martin Luther called the church a mouth house.  That’s why church often seems so different from the world where screens and images and visual advertising dominate our everyday life.  Not here. We are about words and language and preaching which isn’t trying to sell you anything but to proclaim and give to you the saving gifts of Jesus.  

This is especially important to note on this Confirmation Day/Pentecost Day, where all of the Scripture readings are about words and language and careful listening.  In the Old Testament reading, we heard about mixed up words – folks babbling to each other – as God confused the language of the people to humble their self-exalting pride.   To this day, language barriers are a check on the sinful, self-glorifying behavior we tend to fall into when we can communicate and combine forces too easily. Why are there all sorts of different languages? The Bible’s answer is to keep sin from becoming even more magnified in the world than it already is.

And words are big again in the Pentecost reading from Acts 2, as the events of the tower of Babel are stunningly and marvelously reversed.  With the outpouring of the Holy Spirit comes speaking.  Tongues of flame divide and rest on each of the apostles, they are filled with the Holy Spirit, and they then begin to preach in other tongues.  As the Spirit gives them utterance, they speak in the various languages of all the people who are gathered there from all over the world.  For the Gospel is indeed for people of every tribe and race and people and language.

The Holy Spirit is a talker.  And what He speaks about focuses on one primary thing: the mighty works of God that were accomplished in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit always wants to talk about Jesus, His death which paid for our sins, His resurrection which conquered Satan and the grave. If you’re listening to a spirit who wants to talk about something else, something supposedly more “relevant,” something that’s all about you, that is not the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is all about the words that give you Jesus, who is the Word made flesh.

Think about what the main thing was that happened on Pentecost.  After the tongues of fire and the sound of the rushing wind of the Spirit, Peter preached a sermon to the crowd about Jesus.  Some of the people tried to discredit what was happening by saying that the disciples were just drunk and babbling.  And so Peter stood up to set things right. This same guy who had denied his Lord three times just a few weeks ago out of fear, now by the power of the Holy Spirit speaks boldly.  “These men are not drunk as you suppose. This is what God spoke of through the prophet Joel. The Lord is pouring out His Spirit on one and all.  Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus.  The promise is for you and your children and to all who are afar off.  Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved!”

Words and talking, hearing and believing.  Peter preaches, and the Holy Spirit is present in those words to do His work. Many of the people were cut to the heart and brought to repentance. Faith was given to them.  Acts 2 later records that 3,000 people believed and were baptized that day, receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit.  And then they became talkers, too, confessing their faith, speaking to others about Jesus and the great things God has done for us all in His Son.

You also have received the ministry of this same Holy Spirit in your life.  You were baptized, born again of water and the Spirit; you’ve been taught the Word of Jesus; you regularly receive the body and blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.  Now you make your own public confession of the faith.  The Holy Spirit spoke the faith into you.  And now you speak out that faith with your mouths.  That, too, is the Spirit’s doing, that you confess that Jesus is your Lord and God and Savior.  For it is written, “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.”

And last but not least, there’s the Gospel reading, where we hear more about words!  Jesus tells his disciples: “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.”  To keep Jesus’ words means to hold on to them, to cling to them, to treasure them in our hearts.  Jesus said in John 6, “My words are spirit and they are life.”  By holding onto Jesus’ words and meditating on them, the Holy Spirit gives us the very life of Christ.  Those who have no time for Jesus’ words and preaching are rejecting the Holy Spirit.  They show that they have no love for Christ.  But as we hear His words and treasure them up in our hearts, we are brought into fellowship with God.  He actually makes His home with us–think of that!–and we find our home in Him.

Jesus said to the apostles, “The Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”  That means that whenever we hear from one of the Holy Gospels, we are hearing the fulfillment of that promise. The Holy Spirit brought Jesus’ words to the remembrance of the apostles and evangelists so that they could be written down and proclaimed.  In this way we also know and remember Jesus’ words, and those words live inside of us and bring us life with God.

That is why we defend the inerrancy and the infallibility of the bible so strongly–because these words are not made up by men but are given by the very Holy Spirit of God.  They are true; they are God’s own words.  This is why in your Confirmation vows you are asked if you believe that all the Scriptures are the inspired Word of God.  “Inspired” is the word for “breath,” as in 1 Timothy 3, “All Scripture is breathed out by God. . .”  That breath, that mighty wind of the Holy Spirit is what has given us God’s sure and trustworthy Word.  

Here, then, is a final and faithful Word of God for you to hold onto from Jesus.  He says, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”  The world may promise you peace.  But it can’t deliver, at least not in any lasting way.  As we see once again in today's headlines and in our cities, the world’s peace is inevitably broken by conflict and war and disease and death.  Worldly “peace” can’t truly take away your fear and your anxiety.  But the peace of the Lord can and does.  Let His words live in you and you will see how true that is.

The peace Jesus brings is eternal and everlasting.  For it is grounded in the love that the Father had for you before time began.  It is grounded in the fact that when He saw you in your need, in your sin, in your failures and rebellions, He didn’t cast you off or give up on you. No. He sent His Son to bring you forgiveness, to carry your sins to death in His body on the tree so that you might die to sin and live for righteousness. And then, when His Son’s work of salvation was accomplished, He didn’t sit back and wait for you to make the first move. He poured out His Spirit, full of live-giving words, so that you would come to know firsthand the love that God has for you. You have peace with God now through Jesus.  Your sins are forgiven.  All has been put right again.  The words of Jesus that the Holy Spirit brings to you actually accomplish what they say, “Let not your heart be troubled; neither let it be afraid.”  And your heart is set at ease with the sure and unshakable peace of Jesus.

Jesus gives you to know that peace deeply here in His Supper.  His Spirit-filled words joined to the bread and wine quite literally live in you as you eat and drink His true body and blood in faith.  They impart His life and peace.  So I urge and encourage all of you: Keep the words of Jesus; by the power of the Holy Spirit hold on to them.  For they are your life.  Let your prayer continually be, “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love.”

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

(With thanks to the Rev. William Weedon)

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

The closing words of today’s Gospel reading are certainly ones to treasure and take to heart, where Jesus says, “These things I have spoken to you that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”  I love that passage because it speaks the honest, straightforward truth about the way things are, both the bad news and especially the comforting good news.  

First the bad news, “In the world you will have tribulation.”  No matter how hard you try, you can’t avoid that.  It seems that we’re always searching for some utopia in this world, some spirituality that will give us our best life now, some purchase that will finally make us content, some oasis to keep us safe from all the troubles of life.  But as soon as we think we’ve found such a place, inevitably something breaks into our refuge and messes things up.  There is a sudden illness or death.  You lose your job or there are some unexpected big bills.  A relationship is strained and at the breaking point.  A pandemic occurs and ruins all your best laid plans.  No matter where we go or what we do, tribulation is always right there nipping at our heels.

Even though that is bad news, it is liberating in a way.  Jesus’ words mean that you don’t have to fake that everything’s always wonderful and rosy, that your home life is perfect, that you’re always happy with the decisions you’ve made in life.  No, “in the world you will have tribulation.”  And when Jesus speaks about tribulation, He’s not only talking about dealing with the world that exists around you out there, but also the world that exists within you–your old Adam who rebels against God’s Word and stirs up trouble in your own heart and mind.  

So those first words of Jesus are sobering ones that call you to penitent humility.  But then comes the good news.  Jesus says, “Yes, in the world you will have tribulation.  But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”  All those things that trouble you now–be it your health, your losses, your brokenness, your sinful flesh–those tribulations Jesus took into His own flesh and bones, and He crucified them at Golgotha.  Jesus knew tribulation of the worst sort, being under such duress in the Garden of Gethsemane that He sweat blood as He prayed, even before His blood was shed.  Jesus said in the days before His death, “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say?  ‘Father, save me from this hour’?  But for this purpose I came to this hour.  Father glorify Your name.”  And the Father’s name was glorified as Jesus was lifted up from the earth on the cross, like the bronze serpent in the wilderness.  It is the glory of Christ to bear your troubles and sorrows to set you free.  Truly, Jesus did overcome the world by taking away the sin of the world.  He conquered death by swallowing it up in His own death and then rising on the third day in glory.  

And all of this He did for you, so that your tribulations will only be temporary, so that they will not overwhelm you who believe.  Jesus’ victory has been given to you, the baptized, as it is written in Romans 8, “We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”  And 1 John 4 says, “This is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith” in Christ the Conqueror.  That is how we can be of good cheer, even in the midst of tribulation.  “If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32).  In Jesus we have the sure hope of the resurrection of the body and all the gifts of the world to come.  And already now we have the comfort and the assurance that all things are in the hands of the Lord who is full of goodness and loving kindness.  Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace,” the calm assurance in your hearts that all things are made right in Christ.

And don’t forget that even tribulation itself can be God’s own instrument to work for your good.  By it He humbles you and brings you to repentance–as He did with the children of Israel, who were turned from their sinful grumbling to repent and cry out to Him for help.  He lays you low that He might lift you up in due time.

We need to remember that the ways of God are not always comfortable or safe.  Everything today seems to be about being safe and staying safe, as if that were the most important thing of all.  But safetyism is just not possible with the Lord.  I’m reminded of the scene in the C.S. Lewis book, “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” where the characters are discussing Aslan the Lion, who is a symbol of Christ.  One of the children asks, “Is he–quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”  To which comes the reply, “Safe?  Who said anything about safe?  Of course he isn’t safe.  But he’s good.  He’s the King, I tell you.”  Your God isn’t safe.  For He means to cut out the idols that have made their way into your heart and to fill you instead with His goodness and truth.  He means to put your old Adam to death and to give you a new life in Christ.  That’s not some walk in the park.  In that sense, it’s sort of dangerous to come to church; it always has been.  For our God is a consuming fire, Scripture says.  His Word is like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces, Jeremiah proclaims.  He kills and makes alive.  He’s in the business of death and resurrection, of joining you to the earth-shaking, life-saving realities of Good Friday and Easter.  He actually breaks into this world and joins heaven and earth right here at this altar to give you His divine body and blood for your forgiveness. No, the Lord isn’t safe, but He is good, and His mercy endures forever.  

So as Christians, let us learn to live with and even expect tribulation.  Let it drive you to pray in Jesus’ name.  For He is the one Mediator between God and men who gave His life as a ransom for all.  He invites you to pray using His credentials, as beloved children of the heavenly Father.  Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.  Call upon the Lord in your troubles; trust in Him and cling to Him in times of trial.  For He will deliver you.  The words of Jesus remain powerful and true, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

John 16:5-15

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

The disciples are sad because Jesus has told them that He is going away to the Father who sent Him.  The disciples had spent years of their life together learning from Him and being with Him.  So it’s not surprising that sorrow and confusion now fills their hearts.  They don’t understand what’s going on and what Jesus is doing.  Perhaps you’ve felt that way sometimes yourself about the way the Lord works.

But Christ comforts His followers, both then and now, by assuring them that He will never abandon them.  He says, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”  Christ comes to you by sending you His Spirit, the Helper, the Counselor.  Just as God the Father made Himself known to mankind through the sending of His Son, so now God the Son makes Himself known to you through the sending of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus comes to be with you by His Word and Spirit.

That is why Jesus says, “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”  By going away through death to rise bodily to His throne above, Jesus completed His work of redeeming you.  Therefore, it is indeed to your advantage that Christ went away to the right hand of the Father and poured out His Spirit on His people.  For the work of Christ and of the Holy Spirit are both essential to your obtaining eternal life.  First, Christ saves you by His cross and resurrection.  And then, the Holy Spirit brings you that salvation and makes it your own through the Word and the Sacraments.  If the Spirit were never sent, then you would never hear rightly of Jesus or be brought to the faith.  But by sending the Helper, Christ delivers to you the fullness of His mercy and love and redemption.  Jesus is no longer visible by sight as He once was, so that He might become visible by faith wherever His people are gathered in His name, wherever the Spirit is delivering Him in words and water and bread and wine.  What an advantage it truly is for the church that Jesus’ voice is now multiplied thousands upon thousands of times in the preaching of the Gospel throughout the world.

And here specifically is what the Holy Spirit has come to do.  Jesus says, “When (the Helper) has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”  The first way that the Holy Spirit helps you is to give you a proper diagnosis of your condition.  He convicts you of sin.  That may not be pleasant, but it’s absolutely necessary so that you seek the right remedy and cure.  In particular Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will do this “because they do not believe in Me.”  Apart from faith in Jesus, we don’t truly understand the gravity of our situation.  So blinded are we that we can’t even see how bad things are with us.  The Holy Spirit has to the teach us how deeply the cancer of sin has penetrated.  Because we close our eyes to the truth, it’s only when the Holy Spirit has opened our eyes to Christ that we can fully bear to see what He’s saved us from.

And note here that the most damnable sin that a person can commit is not to believe in Jesus.  There is nothing worse than that.  It’s not simply that people are sexually immoral or dishonest or greedy.  Those are but symptoms of our problem.  The real issue, the heart of the situation is that the our old Adam doesn’t love God or trust in Him or have faith in His Son whom He has sent.  Fallen man doesn’t receive Jesus as the only Savior from sin or rely on His all-atoning death on the cross.  Instead, people believe in themselves and look within for the answers and rely on their own wisdom.  They trust in the fact that they’ve done more good than bad to earn some eternal reward.  They may be religious, but their spirituality is self-reliant.  God is just one piece of their formula.  They’ve got no real need for a Jesus who is a Savior from sin, just an advice-giver so that they can make a better life for themselves.  And there is no greater insult to God than to treat Him like that.  Those who love their own lives in this world, who have justified themselves and their behavior, in their hearts are rejecting Jesus.  We all must repent of where this worldly attitude has crept in to our thinking.

Secondly, Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will convince the world of righteousness; He will make true righteousness known.  And Jesus says that the Spirit will do that “because I go to My Father and you see Me no more.”  That’s a very clear signal to you of where true righteousness is to be found.  Usually, righteousness is thought of as our own good and moral living, something within us.  But the Holy Spirit says in the Scriptures, “No one is righteous; no, not even one.”  The source of your righteousness, then, is not found within, but outside of yourself in Christ, in Him who is seated at the right hand of the Father.  That’s why the Holy Spirit must make this righteousness of Christ known.  For He is presently hidden from your eyes.

The Holy Spirit, then, is the real preacher in the Church.  He is the One who preaches the Gospel to you so that you may be led into all truth.  St. Paul declares, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. . .  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed.”  Through the words of the Gospel, the Spirit makes known and gives to you Christ’s righteousness.  He declares you righteous for the sake of what Jesus has done for you.  Though you stand guilty before the court of God’s justice, Jesus steps in and says, “I have already paid the penalty.  I have already served the sentence.  I was executed on the cross for you and for all people so that you would not be condemned but go free and have everlasting life.  It is finished.  It is done.  Case closed.”  And God commutes your sentence; He acquits you fully.  In the Gospel, the Holy Spirit reads you the verdict: “Not guilty.  You are forgiven. You are righteous and holy in Jesus.  He took your place so that you would take His place as children of God.  Do not be afraid.  All is well with you before God–not by your own works, but by the works of Christ, by His grace and mercy and love toward you.”  It is written, “Having been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

And finally, Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will reveal judgment to the world.  However, it is not your judgment that He makes known but the judgment of the devil.  For Jesus declares, “The ruler of this world is judged.”  The ruler of the world in its fallen state is Satan.  He governs the world with lies and deception that turn people away from God.  He lures mankind away from Christ and into false religion and artificial spirituality.  But although Satan is the prince of this world, his fall from power has already been secured.  For the Scriptures say, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.”  Jesus took on your flesh, your human nature, in order to release you from Satan’s power.  He defeated the devil in the wilderness for you.  He crushed Satan’s head by the cross and brought down his kingdom.  The resurrected Christ has now opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.  Believe these words of Christ and know that they are true: “The ruler of this world is judged.”

This is how the Spirit brings glory to Jesus, by leading you into the truth of sin and the righteousness of Christ and His judgment of Satan.  The Helper preaches into you Christ’s forgiveness and life and salvation, that you may never be separated from your Lord and His love.  God grant you to know ever more fully and deeply this help and comfort of the Holy Spirit, to whom with the Father and the Son belongs all glory, honor, and praise, now and forever.  Amen.

John 16:16-22

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

Seven times today’s Gospel refers to “a little while.”  It seems to be unnecessarily repetitive.  But there is always a reason why Scripture is recorded the way it is.  Seven is the number of this creation, hearkening back to the seven days in the beginning.  For a little while all was very good. Then sin corrupted everything, including time itself.  Now good times seem to go by so quickly; bad times, pandemic times, seem to drag on forever.  We have to really focus sometimes just to remember what day of the week it is.  The joys of living in this creation and in the realm of time have been turned upside down, so that now we generally view aging and the passage of time as an enemy.

We like to reminisce about people that were once in our lives or places and experiences we once had.  But good memories, even though they are pleasant, are also often a cause of sadness, of longing, of wishing we had back what we once had.  But of course, there’s no going back, no recreating those moments.  Time just keeps ticking by, and so every joy that we have in this life, every gladness that this earth can give is short-lived, momentary.  The things that we now enjoy won’t last.  Only temporary is the company of the people we love.  The march of time is relentless.

Jesus said, “A little while and you will not see Me, and again a little while and you will see Me.”  Jesus knows about the evil of the passage of time, and there is His answer to it.  Jesus was with the disciples for a little while.  That time must have seemed to go by so quickly as they lived with Him and heard Him preach and teach.  But much more suddenly than they ever expected, the good little while was over, and then came the arrest in the garden, and the suffering and the cross, and He was buried and gone.  And they had sorrow for a little while as the world rejoiced, just as Jesus had said.  That bad little while must have seemed like forever–Friday, Saturday, even most of Sunday–the longest days of their lives.  

But Jesus had also said, “Again a little while and you will see Me.”  And so it is that on the third day He rises from the grave.  See what a short little while their time of mourning and weeping was!  On Easter Sunday evening there stands Jesus Christ the Lord in front of them, bringing them joy that no one can take from them.

In a way you might say that Jesus turned back the clock.  Because when someone is dead, there is nothing you can do.  It is a helpless experience.  But look, the One who was dead now lives!  However, it’s not really that the clock was turned back.  For Jesus didn’t come just to make things the way they used to be, but to make things altogether new and better.  More correctly put then, He turned the clock ahead.  For the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave is a foretaste of the feast to come and of the everlasting salvation to be revealed on the Last Day.  By the forgiveness of sins which He won for us, Jesus has guaranteed to us who believe resurrection from the dead and eternal life in the age to come–an age in which time can no longer devastate us as it now does.

Jesus continued to show Himself to the disciples Sunday after Sunday.  Following Easter, there was another “little while” where Jesus was departed from their sight.  And the next Sunday, there Jesus was again when Thomas was with them.  They knew He would come back because He had already conquered the grave and then vanished again.  They were not sad during the week, because they expected Him to return.  And He did yet again, on the third Sunday.  There they were in the boat fishing; and that Sunday morning, on the shore, there He stood cooking breakfast.  There it was, Easter all over again.

And so they began to expect Him to return every time He vanished out of their sight.  They knew it would only be a little while, and He’d come to them again.  And then came Pentecost on another Sunday, and Christ returned once more.  But this time not in the way He had been returning before, that is, not to their sight, but in the beginning of the ministry of the apostles, in which they began to preach and to administer the Holy Supper in the power of His Holy Spirit.  

Week after week from Pentecost on, Christ kept returning again in the divine service of His words and sacraments, and His people were joyful again.  And so it is right up to this day.  The life of every Christian is lived in the wake of the resurrection of Christ, which is an eternal, timeless thing.  Every single divine service since then, Christ has been returning to His people.  Just as truly as He did on Easter Sunday, when He came back and stood in the midst and gave them His peace, so does He return here and now for you.

This, then, is Jesus’ answer for the “little whiles” of your life.  There will be those times when you can’t seem to see Jesus, when the world seems to be coming apart at the seams, when your life is full of trials and never seems to give you a respite, when you feel completely out of place in this decaying culture, when being a Christian makes you an object of mockery or worse.  But Jesus reminds you here, “It really is only a little while that you must endure.  That pain, that disease, that heartache, that difficult situation, this worldly age is almost over.  Just hang on to Me.  Trust in Me to pull you through it.  It may seem like an eternity, but only three days.  Your Easter is coming.  Weeping may remain for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”  

Your life in this world is a series of little whiles–the times when Jesus is vanished from your sight, when there may be weeping for you and rejoicing for the world; and then the times when He comes to you again and you see Him by faith and He restores to you the joy of your salvation, a joy no one can take from you.  Remember the wonderfully consoling thing that Jesus says here, “I will see you again.”  You’re not invisible to Him.  He sees and knows and cares.  And He will see you face to face on the Last Day, when all the little whiles will finally be over, and you will enter the unending while of the new creation, in which there is no night, no counting of days and of time, but only the everlasting light and life of Christ.

So do not be sorrowful about the passage of time, about people and places that you miss and long for.  Do not fear in the face of sickness and violence and evil.  The Lord has conquered it all by His cross and He lives that you may share in His victory forever.  An eternal 8th day is coming for you beyond the 7 little whiles of this life.  Every longing, every fear, every grief among God’s people will be put away; and you know it because Christ has risen from the grave, and a new timeless creation has begun in Him.  It is written in Romans 8, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.”   Truly, the Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him (Lamentations 3:25).

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

(With thanks to the Rev. Dr. Burnell Eckardt)

John 20:19-31

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

The disciples were in a self-imposed quarantine.  They were afraid of what might happen to them if they were to venture outside.  To this fearful, socially distanced group, Jesus appears risen from the dead. You can’t blame the disciples for being afraid; we would have been, too.  They’d seen their Teacher and Friend crucified.  Surely they as Jesus’ top lieutenants would be the next targets of the authorities.  

They had heard the news from Mary Magdalene that Jesus was alive; she said she had seen Him and touched Him.  Peter and John had investigated the tomb. Nothing there. The grave clothes were folded neatly, the head covering off to the side. Everything was in order. Clearly not the work of grave robbers.  Yet still, the disciples are locked up in this little room in fear. Death is conquered. Jesus is risen. And still they are afraid. They knew about the resurrection of Jesus, but they hadn’t yet seen, heard, and touched Him. That makes all the difference in the world, being gathered together in Jesus presence, in person, in the flesh. Dead men don’t rise, ordinarily. They weren’t ignorant. The news just seemed too good to be true.

What is it that you fear, that leaves you paralyzed and uncertain?  What keeps you locked up, bolted in?  It’s not just viruses and governors’ orders that do that.  We fear financial troubles, losing a job, losing a relationship.  We fear rejection by friends or family.  We fear violence.  We fear aging and losing our faculties.  And so we lock ourselves into our own little safe zones–in work, in TV and social media and video games, in drinking and comfort foods, in our hobbies and constant need for entertainment and activity–whatever it is that you do to hide from your fears, from the world, and especially from God.

But Jesus breaks through such artificial barriers.  The crucified One comes to the disciples in their locked room.  His risen body now shares fully in the glory of His divine nature, all-powerful, omnipresent.  And so locked doors are no barrier to Him.  Remember the stone was rolled away from the tomb not to let Jesus out but to let the witnesses of the resurrection in.  Jesus doesn’t need to knock–they wouldn’t have opened the door anyway.  He simply appears, as though He was there all along though not seen–just as He is with us, here and now.  You can’t see Him, but His presence is very tangible and real, in that little room and in this one, and wherever two or three are gathered in His Name.  

And the very first words Jesus speaks to them after His resurrection are not words that berate them for their unbelief; they are gentle words of absolution.  “Peace be with you.” That’s not just some generic greeting.  Jesus’ words give what they say: calm, wholeness, forgiveness.  “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”  Jesus is saying to them and to you, “It’s going to be OK.  I am not here to give you vengeance but mercy.  I do not hold your sins against you.  They have all been paid for and answered for and put away forever.  Everything is as it should be.  I have reconciled you to the Father.  All is well.  Do not fear.  Be at peace.”

With Jesus’ words come also His wounds, the nail marks in His hands and feet, the spear wound in His side.  But why the wounds?  The rest of His body had been restored and glorified; why keep these wounds after the resurrection?  Firstly, they mark Him as the crucified One. Had Jesus appeared without wounds, there might have been doubt that it really was Jesus.  Maybe it was an impostor.  The wounds mark Him for certain. That’s what Thomas wanted to see. “Unless I see in His hands the mark of the nails and place my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” Pretty strong statement, but then, dead men don’t ordinarily rise, so we probably shouldn’t point fingers at doubting Thomas.

But Jesus’ wounds are more than proof that He’s actually risen, they are the very source of the peace Jesus spoke of.  From those wounds alone come our forgiveness, our life, our salvation.  It is written in Isaiah, “He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and by His wounds we are healed.”  Jesus retains the scars from His wounds, then, because that’s how we recognize Him for who He is, that’s how we know Him to be the Savior, whose glory it is to lay down His life in love for us, whose “rich wounds yet visible above” are our peace.  It’s only when the disciples saw the wounds of Jesus that they knew gladness and joy.

Once more Jesus says, “Peace to you.”  With His first word of peace Jesus absolved His disciples and took away their fear.  Now with His second word of peace He sends them to absolve others and take away their fears.  “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”  As Jesus was sent from the Father to speak on the Father’s behalf, so now Jesus was sending His apostles to speak on His behalf and to give out the gifts that He had just won.

And how will this group of fearful disciples manage this task? What will propel them out the door into the world?  It is written, “Jesus breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” The Holy Spirit is the life-breath of the Church who enables them to speak the Word of Christ.

Jesus says to them, “If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven.” You don’t have to search for forgiveness from God. You don’t have to look to heaven, or in your heart. Look for the mouth of the minister and listen with your ears. Forgiveness is something spoken and heard out loud from outside of you.  No self-medicating here; this isn’t some pop culture notion about forgiving yourself.   Forgiveness comes from God as a gift and is simply received and believed.

So when the absolution is spoken to you, think of it as a resurrection appearance of Jesus to you.  For that’s what it is.  Through those whom He has sent to speak in His name, Jesus Himself is saying to you, “Peace be with you.”  “I forgive you all your sins. . .”

And think of the Lord’s Supper as a resurrection appearance of Jesus, too.  After all, what did Thomas do?  He touched Jesus’ hands and side.  Isn’t that happens when you come to the Sacrament?  You touch the nail marks by receiving the body of Jesus, wounded for your salvation, risen from the dead, and fed into you to give you unconquerable life.  You touch Jesus’ side by grasping the cup which contains the very blood which flowed from His side which cleanses you of all sin.  Before you come forward for the Lord’s Supper, Jesus presents His wounds to you as the host and cup are lifted high and the words are spoken, “The peace of the Lord be with you always.”  The same risen Jesus is here with His words and His wounds, so that you might confess of Him with Thomas, “My Lord and my God!”

Blessed, then, are you who have not seen and yet have believed.  For by believing you have life in Jesus’ name.

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

(With thanks to the Rev. William Cwirla)