Sermon for December 25th (Christmas Day)

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word as with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” A big part of Christmas is seeing. Seeing promises fulfilled. God promised his people a Messiah, a king above all other kings and he even told them where to look: in Bethelehem. And, in Jesus Christ, he made good on all his promises. And, most amazingly, his people could SEE these promises fulfilled. The baby Jesus was in plain sight for all to see, whether they be shepherds, wise men or anyone else. And he wasn’t simply an idea, he was a living, breathing person. The book of Hebrews says that he was, “the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being.” The Jews didn’t just have to just believe God’s promises anymore, now they could see their salvation for themselves.

But Christmas, for us, is different now, isn’t it. We want to see Jesus too. Don’t you? My little girl often asks me, when will I get to see Jesus? And I have to tell her, “Not yet.” We celebrate Christmas, the fulfillment of God’s promises, but we don’t get to experience a very important part of that fulfillment. John says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory.” But WE, you and I gathered here this Christmas day, have not seen aything. True? It’s Christmas Day and we here still have not seen Jesus, in the flesh, in all his glory.

In seminary, there is a little line that is often used, ad naseum I think, to express a lot about what we go through in life as Christians. Professors often talk about God’s promises being fulfilled now/but not yet. Now, but not yet. We celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ thousands of years ago in Bethlehem now, today. Merry Christmas! As John explains in his first letter, “We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life.” Jesus’ followers believed in Jesus because they saw him, touched him, smelled him, heard him and knew him as a person, but we are left to trust them as witnesses to their and our salvation.

Seeing is believing, as the old saying goes, but the apostle Paul also explains in Romans that “faith comes through hearing”. One day we will not be saved by faith alone, but we will celebrate Christmas in a whole new way by seeing Jesus Christ in the flesh, face to face, with our very own eyes. We celebrate Christmas NOW in hope, but we have NOT YET seen our salvation face to face. Christmas has been fulfilled now, but not yet for us.

It’s frustrating, I know, to wait through the four weeks of Advent only to hear, on Christmas Day, that the waiting is not yet over, but this is the story of our lives as Christians. Jesus commanded that everyone who has two cloaks should share one with someone who has none and that everyone who has more bread than they need should share some with someone who has none; however, Jesus also said that the poor would always be with us. These past few weeks, everyone around the world does their best to serve the needs of the poor, the hurting and the needy and we all do make a difference, but when Christmas is over, the poor are still there, people still hurt and the needy are as prevalent as ever. God promises that one day, there will be an end to suffering completely and we will see it with our own eyes but we experience the fulfillment of God’s work now, but not yet.

Jesus was born, in the flesh, because God wanted his people to SEE their salvation, but Jesus also says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” There is a special blessing at Christmas for those of us who have not yet seen Jesus in the flesh and still believe in his promises. Sometimes, seeing makes believing harder, especially when you see your Messiah crucified, dead and buried. Even after you’ve stuck your finger in his side, could you really believe in the way you did before? We are blessed to have not seen and yet, believe.

The first Christmas Day was about seeing salvation in the flesh for those who were living at Jesus’ time, but for us today, it is about more than seeing. Christmas Day is a celebration of a God who loved the world so much that he wasn’t just born to show them salvation, but it is a celebration of a God who died and was resurrected to actually give them faith. Seeing your salvation, doesn’t actually mean you have faith in it, does it? As John put it, “Jesus was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.” Seeing DOESN’T always mean believing, does it. Christmas Day for us means to believe that, yes, God was born, he was seen, but, more importantly, God was born for you. To save you. To rescue you from sin. To give you faith. To make sure that NOW wouldn’t be the only time for you, but that you would live with God in heaven forever. So Merry Christmas Now! But, also, Merry Christmas not yet. Amen.

Sermon for December 24th (Christmas Eve)

“Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid.’”

Sometimes the most glorious events of our lives are quite scary at first. Birth, engagements, marriage. Starting a new job, going to college, retiring. Glorious and scary at the same time. The best books and movies love to set us up for these types of events, by preparing us for the big finale, the big event, heightening our expectation with every passing moment, only to throw in a curveball at the very last minute and delay our happiness until the very end. And that curveball often happens because of fear.

Over Christmas vacation, you may have a chance to watch a few extra movies like this in your free time. One of my favorites is the movie, “Runaway Bride”. In the movie, Julia Roberts plays a woman who has been engaged three times and has bolted from each of her husbands-to-be at the very last moment calling off each wedding. She wants to be married, she sees the joy and glory that are supposed to be hers, but when it comes right down to it, she is just too scared. Marriage freaks her out and so she runs. Not be outdone, in the movie, “Bed of Roses”, Lewis and Lisa fall in love and, on Christmas Day, in front of his family, Lewis asks Lisa to marry him. But, suddenly, she gets very upset and runs out the door. What happened? We had been expecting a romantic ending! What went wrong? Well, nothing, except that sometimes when things seem so perfect, so wonderful, so glorious, we can’t imagine being worthy or being ready for any of it, and our fear destroys our hopes for happiness

That’s what happened to these poor shepherds at first, who after a lifetime full of ordinariness, and a lifetime full of expectations of a coming Messiah, they find their lives transformed into something miraculous. The glory of the Lord shone around them, but instead of staring in amazement and awe, instead of praising God or smiling, they were terrified. The Lord spoke through the prophet Isaiah saying, “The people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined.” But, at least for these shepherds, walking in deep darkness was a way of life and bringing light and hope into the equation didn’t necessarily mean that they were going to start jumping for joy. The darkness can be comforting and the light can be terrifying.

For Christians, Christmas is a time of great joy, remembering the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is a time to remember all that he has done for us and thank him for all that he is for us. But recognizing the terror that the shepherds felt is important too, so that we realize that Jesus doesn’t always create feelings of joy for people. Some of you may have family members who were baptized, taught in Sunday School, confirmed, married and then never stepped foot back inside a church again. Some of you may know a friend who either rolls their eyes or scowls whenever you mention your faith. Some of you may know someone who isn’t simply bored with the idea of Christianity, but downright hostile to Christians. Perhaps it is difficult for you to reconcile you faith with the unfaith of so many others especially at Christmastime.

When I used to work in customer service at the University of Nebraska, I spoke to people on the phone about their Financial Aid packages. Some would be kind, some would be really mad, but most were just confused and frustrated. My supervisor once told me to “Speak to their fear”. Most people are loving and kind, but when they don’t have enough money for college, or think they don’t, and they feel that their child’s education is at stake, they’ll get quite upset and who better to get angry with than the Customer Service guy. Even if a student knows that THEY did something wrong, they might get angry just because they are upset with themselves and are trying to do whatever they can to make sure they don’t get in even more trouble. The promise of financial aid is a promise that should fill parents and their children with hope, right? But, instead, it seems quite scary to a lot of people.

Jesus’ birth is an event full of hope. Why doesn’t everyone want to be a part of it? A pastor told me once about talking with a man who said he believed in God and Jesus Christ, but that he didn’t want to become a Christian because then he would have to change his life. The glory of the Lord isn’t so glorious when you see God’s judgment even when you know God’s love. The shepherds were not the first people to tremble at the sight of God’s glory and they certainly have not been the last.

But the angels have given us the text to use to speak to the fears people carry in their hearts, the sadness and even the hostility they carry with them day after day toward Jesus Christ. “Do not be afraid; for see I am bringing you good news—GOOD news—of great joy for all people.” There is more to being a Christian than judgment, there is forgiveness. There is more to being a Christian than a changed life, there is a new community. There is more to being a Christian death, there is the hope of resurrection. The shepherds stop their trembling and begin rejoicing! It’s good news they will hear today!

Faith can seem to be a very terrifying thing. It can seem like you must believe in all kinds of philosophical impossiblities. It can feel threatening to hear that you are a sinner in relation to God. There is so much history and so many traditions to understand that it’s easy to see why many people just choose to ignore it all. But at Christmas, there is an opportunity. At Christmas, you can point to how God started it all. He’s doesn’t start at the top, somewhere up in heaven, but starts the story of your salvation with a child sleeping peacefully in a lowly manger.

Christmas is a perfect time to hear God’s promises of love and peace for all people. At Christmas, you can see that God is full of glory, but also full of humility and tenderness. Tonight, you can point those you love to the baby Jesus—there is no need to be afraid of this God who has come down to share humanity, with all its fears and frailties. Tonight, you may cast your fears upon God who cares for you. So that you might hear the good news: tonight a child was born for you, your Savior, the Messiah, the Lord of heaven and earth. This child is Jesus Christ and in him is your salvation. It’s good news—do not be afraid. Amen.

Sermon for December 20th

At this time of the year, at this time in my life, with the baby Jesus and his cousin John the Baptist still in their mothers’ wombs in our Sunday texts, and a baby on the way for me and my family, I find my mind wandering at times to consider what it means to have a Savior who once drank amniotic fluid and had the hiccups. What does that mean? Throughout most of the year, Jesus Christ is portrayed as a religious stud, the most magnificently mature of all, who calls people to repentance, forgives their sins and heals their diseases with a Word. He is the only one who has the wherewithal to speak out against people’s personal sins as well as against injustice and oppression whenever he comes in contact with it. But in our text today from the first chapter of Luke, Jesus just recently grew a backbone, literally. The lung that will speak God’s good news to the poor are still forming. Jesus was once an embryo. I find that difficult to imagine, but it’s a fact. If he wasn’t really an embryo he couldn’t really be human.

I spend a couple of days a week with my son, Malachi, at home. We play games, put puzzles together, read books, go grocery shopping and watch Batman movies when we think we can get away with it. I usually have a pretty good grasp of his moods and I know what he likes. But a few days ago, I was thinking about what he looked like when he took his first steps and I couldn’t remember. Our video camera has been broken a little over three years now and we’ve never bought another one, so I can’t really look to double check what happened. I’ve been thinking about his first words too and, honestly, I can’t really remember them either. I guess I am a really horrible father. But, for the most part, I don’t really think about the times when he wasn’t able to do much, I just focus on what he does now: sword fighting, running and dancing around the house, talking to me or playing ball. I know the other things happened, it’s just hard to remember them. I don’t think about it too much.

You see, there was a time when my son also didn’t have a backbone and mostly floated around aimlessly in the darkness of his mother’s womb. We all start out that way. Very humble beginnings. But today’s text reminds us about something very important: Jesus started out that way too. The Lord of all, our Savior, the kings of kings, was once an embryo. He would grow up to defeat all sin, death and the devil, to create saints out of sinners, but there was a time when, perhaps, he simply created nauteous feelings in his mother, Mary. It’s interesting to think about, perhaps even funny to imagine what may have happened to this baby who would grow up to be a Savior, but it’s even more than interesting: it’s important.

Martin Luther once pointed out that if you want to see the Lord of the Universe in all his glory, you need not look any further than the baby Jesus, nursing at this mother’s breast. It’s important that we understand that God’s glory is made perfect in weakness. We read Bible verses about this topic a lot and I preach about this topic a good deal, but it is something else to look down at a baby, or your child, or your niece, or your grandson, or your pregnant belly and realize that Jesus was once just like that: small, weak, and humble. I can talk about this all I want and try to get you to understand and believe in Jesus’ humanity, but the next time your child burps loudly in polite company, you’ll get the point much better, I think. Jesus was just like that.

God’s glory is shown most spectacularly when he is just as simply human as the rest of us. In today’s text, John the Baptist jumps in his mother’s womb; I wonder what Jesus was doing to his poor mother’s insides? Jesus could have begun his ministry as a 30 year old man, just appearing in all his humanity out of the sky one day. But God chose instead to have the Lord of the Universe be found in a manger, nursing at his mother’s breast.

Once Christmas is over, it will be a fast downhill ride into Lent and then Easter. Often, when we talk about Jesus’ humanity, people refer to the cross, showing that God suffers just like we suffer, he felt pain just like we do, he experienced temptation and weakness in the garden of Gesthemene, he felt abandonment and despair screaming out for help to his Father in heaven. Knowing that your God knows you and knows what it is like to be you is more than interesting, isn’t it, it’s important. But you don’t need to only look to the cross, you can look to the cradle or even before that. God experienced death through Jesus, but he also experienced birth through Jesus.

Do you know how offensive Jesus’ humanity is to many people? It really bothers them just as it may bother you. How can God, the Master of the Universe, the one who is All in All, fit himself within the skin of a man, let alone in the few cells of a zygote? About the only thing people dislike more than having to hear that Jesus died on a cross is to realize that Jesus had bowel movements. But do you see that if he did not, he couldn’t have been truly human! Like it or not, none of us can escape either going to the grave or going to the bathroom. No human being can.

A Catholic bishop in the early 5th century named Nestorious is probably the most notorious theologian for his frustration with this topic. He argued that we could talk about Mary being the mother of Jesus, or even the mother of Christ, but that we could NOT say that Mary was the mother of God. It wasn’t fitting to have God come out the birth canal! Nestorious argued that God was too holy and righteous for that! God couldn’t get THAT close to humanity. But, once again, if Mary is not truly the mother of God, and yet Jesus Christ is still her son, then Jesus could not be God. The miracle of Advent is that before God is truly born on Christmas day, he was truly carried by a human mother and that this very human being learning to live and breathe and eat and hear and see is also truly God in the flesh.

When I visit nursing homes or assisted living residences, it is a common occurrence to see women and men lifted to and from their beds into wheelchairs to take a bath or maybe to attend some recreational event. It must be a very humbling experience to be carried, as a grown adult, in order to get to where you want to go. The Lutheran reformers maintained that being a Christian is not best described as standing before God in righteousness, in a state of grace, but that it is to be carried, by one who is righteous, that is, to be carried by Jesus Christ through life.

It makes a difference to know that Jesus was carried once as well, for ten months, forty weeks, in his mother’s womb, and then for who knows how long swaddled in her arms from that point forward. Only a God who knows the tenderness of a mother’s love is the kind of God you can trust to suffer with you through the years of being carried from your bed to your wheelchair and back again day after day with no end in sight. Only a God who knows the strength of a mother’s love is the kind of God you can trust to carry you through life knowing that nothing, not even God’s judgment against you, could possibly snatch you out of his hands.

It’s not Christmas yet, we’ve still got a few days of waiting, but Jesus Christ is already here, in the story, waiting along with us. Just like his cousin, John the Baptist, Jesus, who will be born the Savior of the world, is bladder jumping, kicking against his mother’s ribs and sleeping upside down on his head. We all started out this way and so did he. Why? So that you might know that even the beautiful baby Jesus is truly the kind of God who knows what it is like to be just like you. He knows you. He loves you. And he will come again soon to carry you before his Father, through the gates of death and into eternal life. Amen.

Sermon for December 13th

“Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice!” This is Paul’s command to the Philipians. And, yes, I do mean it is a command, though we tend not to think about joy in this way. We normally think of joy or happiness as a feeling that just washes over us, something that just happens to us because of our circumstances. That kind of joy, the spontaneous kind, is certainly a gift. But that’s not the kind of joy Paul is talking about.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” My grandma used to tell me to “bloom where you’re planted.” People who have been told, “bloom where you’re planted” usually understand that “joy” isn’t always as spontaneous as people might have you believe. There are times when you have a new job, or are living in a new place, or are dealing with a difficult situation when, rather than bloom and find joy in the difficulty, you’d rather wilt and die or, at least go dormant for awhile until the bad weather blows over. There is no better antidote to joy than worry. Worry about the problems in your life or the stress you are under. So how can we still rejoice? When the world seems to be falling apart around us?

Paul writes in Philipians, “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” When rejoicing isn’t the first thing on your mind, something else, like worry or stress, usually is. And it’s tough, if not impossible, to find joy in your life when all you can see makes you anxious. Now Paul isn’t asking you to pretend that the bad things aren’t there through the power of positive thinking. Stress can be ignored for awhile, I guess, but positive thinking only lasts as long as the biggest problems stay away. But when the waves of life keep battering you against the shore, thinking positively about them becomes almost masochistic.

The apostle Paul isn’t asking us to “think” positively about our worries, but encourages us to give them away to someone who can actually do something about them, God himself. Handing over your worries not only acknowledges the utter hopelessness of the situation you are in, but it also acknowledges the utmost power God has to make lemonade out of lemons, or life out of death, as the case may be.

Only God can give you peace, the peace that casts out all fear, worry and stress. And it is only in that state of mind that you can follow God’s command and truly “Rejoice”. This isn’t about “faking it until you make it” as a pastor friend once encouraged a group to do. The law, the commandments of God aren’t about “pretending” to love your neighbor as yourself. God doesn’t find happiness in your “faking” love with all your heart, soul and mind. He wants true love, true faith and complete joy. That’s why he has promised that, even in the worst of circumstances, he will step in and create the peace in your heart so that you might find yourself able to rejoice even when you are suffering.

The apostle Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” That doesn’t mean that bad things won’t happen or that you should pretend they are not so bad. It means that, as a believer in Christ, you know that there is still something to rejoice in even when the worst comes you way. Life isn’t perfect, this is true, but a Christian also knows that even during the greatest despair, even in death, there is hope for resurrection. To rejoice in suffering does not mean that we pretend that pain does not exist, or that death shouldn’t be feared, but we are called to believe even more boldly that God’s last word will be one of joy and not sadness.

Paul is not advocating a shallow faith. I was told a story once about a couple whose newborn baby died. In the hospital, their youth pastor came into their room all smiles and said, “Praise the Lord! Your baby is dancing with his Savior now!” This kind of joy is a false joy trying to somehow prove that death cannot touch us when it so obviously does over and over again in our lives. Acting in this way when life is full of despair can only cause others to feel guilty when their hearts are weighed down by the troubles of the world just as this youth pastor made this couple feel guilty for the pain of loss they were feeling.

But even in this situation, you can be sure that the apostle Paul would still hold fast to his words, Yes, he might say, even in this tragedy there is still reason to rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say Rejoice. The Lord is near. Even at the death of a baby, the Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything, even at this time of sadness, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Shout your anger and heartache in God’s ears. Ask that he might comfort your bleeding heart. Thank God for the life that you held in your hands and in your hearts. Ask for peace from the only one who can give it. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, yes even the peace of God which can comfort a grieving family at the death of so precious a loved one, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. This is NOT the power of positive thinking. This is the power of God to bring joy into broken hearts.

The apostle Paul is a great example of exactly what we are talking about. Despite being in prison, he writes this letter to the Phillipians about rejoicing. Is Paul just pretending to be happy even when he is doing badly? No. He explains in other places throughout the letter about all the difficult stuff he is going through. But he knows that God’s commands don’t just apply to us in good circumstances, but also in bad.

Paul isn’t the only one who commands us to rejoice even when we’d rather not. Jesus said, “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Why does Jesus command us to rejoice even in the midst of persecutions, when we would have the best reason to complain? Listen to a brief story about one of the earliest Christian martyrs, named Romanus, written by a man named Eusebius.

“When the judge had informed [Romanus] that he was to die by flames, with a cheerful countenance and a most ardent mind he received the sentence and was led away. He was then tied to the stake, and when the wood was heaped up about him, and they were kindling the pile, only waiting the word from the expected emperor, he exclaimed, ‘where then is the fire?’ Saying this he was summoned again before the emperor, to be subjected to new tortures and therefore had his tongue cut out, which he bore with the greatest of fortitude, as he proved his actions to all, showing also that the power of God is always present to the aid of those who are obliged to bear any hardship for the sake of religion, to lighten their labours, and to strengthen their ardor.” According to the sociologist Rodney Stark, “To Eusebius, the writer of this account, the bravery and steadfastness of the martyrs was proof of Christian virtue. Indeed, many pagans were deeply impressed.” God commands us to rejoice, even in difficulty because, when we face suffering in our lives with hope, bringing to God our fears and rejoicing in the joy to come afterwards, our actions do not go unnoticed not only by God but, most importantly, they are a witness to the people around us.

A professor of mine once said that there is nothing quite as depressing as a sermon on joy. Why is that? Because God commands us to rejoice, but it’s not that easy, as I’ve already pointed out. God says “Do this!” “Rejoice!” “Be happy!” but there are times when it IS just too much. When we cannot trust in our own power to find joy or trust in our ability to rejoice. We will not find salvation according to the law of joy. However, we can find joy in the saving power of Jesus Christ who promises us rescue from our misery and brings with him the peace that passes all understanding. Rejoicing may be a command from God, but the best kind of joy is a gift from God that requires no action on our part at all. The joy of salvation which he has promised to all of you. The joy of knowing that God is near and will not forsake you—no matter what.

Yes, we are called to rejoice in the Lord always, but we must remember that true joy doesn’t come from our emotional manipulations. True joy only comes from Jesus, who has promised to be near us throughout all the troubles of the world, bringing us strength in persecutions, comfort in distress, joy in sorrow, life in death. As you continue to prepare for Christmas during this season of Advent rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, rejoice! It’s a command even when you are standing in line for half an hour in a pushy crowd. But remember that joy can also be a gift, and it comes only from heaven above by a God who has placed himself in human form to be born for you to give joy not only to us, but to the whole world. Amen.

Sermon for December 6th

The psalm we sung today is actually part of the gospel of Luke, it’s a prophecy spoken by the old man Zechariah after the birth of his son, who was later to be known as John the Baptist. Zechariah, who had not spoken a word throughout his wife’s entire pregnancy was suddenly filled with the Holy Spirit and said this about his newborn son, “And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare the way, to give God’s people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins.”

How do you know that you are saved? What should you look for? Should you look for little signs? Like whether you are a forgiving person or whether you read your Bible every so often or whether you come to church a lot? All those signs will fail you one day. There is only one place that you can look and see, and hear and know that your salvation is in the hands of God: The forgiveness of your sins. John the Baptizer went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The forgiveness of sins was John’s goal. The forgiveness of sins is God’s goal for you. The forgiveness of sins is Jesus’ goal for the world. The forgiveness of sins is the goal of every single worship service at Saint Peters because, without your hearing of that forgiveness, you cannot truly believe that you have been saved by God. Trusting in anything else is simply not enough.

There are a lot of different ways to go about “doing” church. A lot of different services you could go to, types of music to listen to, places to worship, theological arguments to dissect. But without hearing God’s forgiveness, it doesn’t matter how traditional, liberal, conservative or popular any church service is . . . it’s simply missing the point. As your pastor, my goal is simple at each service and during each sermon: Dinstinguish between God’s laws which point out the sins in our lives and the Gospel of Jesus Christ where we can believe in the forgiveness of those sins. Only when the Law is given full rein can we see that our salvation lies only in the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.

Forgiveness is a gift from God. But it doesn’t always seem like a gift. That became very clear to me as I began working on this sermon. In fact, when I think about forgiveness in my own life, it can seem like a very heavy burden to bear. Forgiveness is not only a gospel issue, but it also finds its way into our lives as a terrifying law. I know that forgiveness is also a heavy burden for many of you. And the more wonderful we make it sound, the more guilt we bear when we cannot or will not do it ourselves.

Forgiveness seems pretty easy at first. It sounds nice. But, before you are in the mood to start forgiving anyone they need to, you know, say they are sorry, that type of thing. They need to repent! They need to ASK for forgiveness. Because if there is no repentance or no acknowledgement of a mistake, something just doesn’t seem right about forgiving.

But what happens when repentance just isn’t there? What if no one says they are sorry? What if they say they’re sorry, but you still can’t forgive? What then? Jesus said, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Ouch! What if you just CAN’T forgive someone? What if you’ve tried and they won’t admit that they are wrong? That they have hurt you? What then? And what does that mean for your salvation? “if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” What if your bitterness is just too strong? What if you know in your head that it’s the right thing to do, but just can’t make your heart truly believe in it? Would YOU still be forgiven? Would you still be saved?

To forgive someone involves sacrifice. Someone needs to die. I know that that probably sounds a little hyperbolic, but have you ever done something really awful to someone you love? And then had to say you were sorry? I understand that forgiveness, in itself, doesn’t involve blood or anything like that, but, in the moment, when you ask for it, you just cannot continue to exist the way you were before. It is impossible. The old you, the one who hurts people and feels no shame, has come to an end and the new you is left to watch and wait and see what the future holds. Will you be forgiven? Asking forgiveness is not an easy thing to do. It opens up new possibilities only through the death of the old.

What happens when you are the one waiting to forgive and repentance never comes? What do you do when you have been hurt and no one knows? What if the person who hurt you has died? Or was a stranger? Or is someone you want to protect from the knowledge of your pain? What then? What if the pain is old? What if the hurt seems too silly to say anything? What if you are waiting to forgive but no one ever says they are sorry? God’s goal is your forgiveness, but what if you just can’t follow in His footsteps?

Forgiveness always involves a sacrifice. Who has hurt you? Maybe someone at work, or in your family, or at church? What feelings are you carrying? Bitterness? Anger? Resentment? All of the above? If you forgive, without ever being asked to do so, that means you will lose something. The anger, the resentment and the bitterness must be sacrificed. And by now they have become close friends. Are you willing to just let them die? When you forgive someone who never asked for that forgiveness, you are the one who has to die. And while your heart keeps beating, a part of you comes to an end.

When you begin to understand what it means to forgive you’ll understand why Jesus had to be born. When you realize that with forgiveness comes sacrifice, you’ll understand why he had to die. Each one of us sins day in and day out. We hurt people. We often either don’t realize or don’t want to admit what we have done. We inflict pain daily on the ones we love and those we work with, we forget the needs of the destitute and become lax in our prayers for the sick and dying. We intentionally defy God and worship our own unholy Trinity: our needs, our wants and our feelings. And we are called to repent of the things we do, Jesus says, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” But we don’t. We choose not to.

So, God had to make a decision. If he relied on us to say, “We’re sorry”, to repent or to ask forgiveness, the sacrifice would never have been made. We would have all died without hope. So God became the necessary sacrifice. God forgave you. The forgiveness of sins became His goal. Not because you deserved it. Not even because you asked for it. But because you didn’t and he loves you. He gave you the knowledge of your salvation by forgiving your sins.

Jesus said, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Jesus gave us an example to follow, by sacrificing himself in order to forgive our sins. However, Jesus was more than an example. Do not for one moment believe that Jesus was simply an example for you to imitate. God knows that we do not want to forgive. God knows that we do not know how to forgive. God knows that we cannot truly forgive so he BECAME the sacrifice, not just for our sins, but for the sins of the world.

If you cannot forgive those who have hurt you, trust in God’s forgiveness. Trust that He has covered their sins just as He has covered yours. If you cannot bear to sacrifice your bitterness, trust in Jesus’ sacrifice. “I believe, help my unbelief!” “I forgive, help my unforgiveness!” Because, in the death of Jesus Christ, all of us have died along with our resentment, our hate, and our anger. For this is why Jesus was born, to give God’s people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. That goes for you, for me, all those we have hurt and all those who have hurt us. Forgiveness always involves a sacrifice and Jesus is the lamb who was slain who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus has died for you and your sins are forgiven. Amen.

Sermon for November 29th

Now that Thanksgiving is over, everyone will turn their focus to Christmas. Of course, many people, especially those in charge of retail stores, have already been focusing on Christmas. A few weeks ago, my children were referring to all the wrapped presents and holiday lights hanging around particular stores saying, “Is it Christmas already?” No, it wasn’t even Thanksgiving. Some seminary friends of mine on Facebook have said that they get very annoyed that they are already hearing Christmas music when they go to the local coffee shop. By the time Christmas Day actually comes around, will anybody care anymore?

Today’s gospel text encourages us to be on guard so that our hearts are not weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the worries of this life, so that the day does not catch us unexpectedly, like a trap. It must not be talking about Christmas. With all the holiday festivities, Christmas parties, shopping trips, and Christmas concerts, most of us can’t imagine how we could possibly be caught unexpectedly by Christmas. And yet, you may have noticed in Christmases past, that it is easy to be caught by surprise at the Christmas Eve service, barely aware of what you were celebrating all those weeks before in the first place.

By the time Christmas Day has arrived, there is very little to look forward to. I mean the parties are over and you are already sick and tired of hearing Jingle bell rock for the umpteenth time. Even coming to Christmas worship services seems like an annoyance, or a chore, because you are so busy preparing for meals, hosting family members coming from out of town and buying or wrapping last minute gifts. It is just too easy to go through the entire holiday season and forget about Christ. Will you miss the point this year? Be alert, because there are many traps before December 25th.

I have never been drunk in my life, I really don’t drink anything but communion wine to be quite honest, so do people like me just get a free ride when reading these last verses in Luke that talk about not being a partier and getting drunk? Well, to be honest, alcohol is not my drug of choice. I’m addicted to other things. Mostly, I am addicted to me. I want my free time. I want my work time. I want to eat what I want. I want to watch the movies I want. I want to read when I want to read. I want to sleep when I want to sleep. I am addicted to me. These things are legal, even seen as positives for many people who like to focus on “self-care” and “boundaries”, and yet they take my focus off of God. What is your drug of choice?

For many people, in Jesus’ time as well as in ours, it is alcohol. However, there is nothing sinful about alcohol (I mean, we DO use wine for communion after all). But when you go to a Christmas party, what do you use it for? To celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ? Is that what’s on your mind? Or are you a social drinker, since everyone else is doing it? Or do you just want to get a nice buzz going? To drink away the worries? The memories? Most everyone would say that a party isn’t a party without some alcoholic beverages. What might Jesus say? Perhaps, that a Christmas party isn’t really a Christmas party without Jesus Christ at its center? What is going to be the focus of your holiday season? Jesus Christ or something else? Just to be very clear, this text isn’t about misusing alcohol, even though for some it might be about that as well. This text asks: Are you ready for Jesus to come again? Would you even notice if He did? Even at a wild and crazy Christmas party with some of your best friends?

The text today, from the gospel of Luke, is also not about Christmas. It is about the second coming of Christ, not his birth. But it certainly applies to this time of the year. Are you aware that the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas might be the most difficult time to be alert, aware and on your guard for the coming of Christ? That seems wrong somehow, doesn’t it? But, sometimes, it is our most pious feelings, our greatest virtues, and our most religious holidays that pull us away from God the most. Not just because there are so many traps to fall into, but because we are lulled into complacency.

You all remember the disciple Peter when he very thoughtfully took Jesus aside one day and explained that Jesus really shouldn’t be talking about dying on a cross in front of all his followers? He rebuked Jesus, the text says. And I’m sure that Peter felt very righteous in doing so. He was one of the twelve, after all, and Jesus was on a roll, ministry wise. It couldn’t have been very uplifting to hear Jesus talk about suffering and dying. But Jesus rebuked Peter right back and said, “Get behind me Satan, for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” It is easy to confuse our desires and God’s desires, our righteousness for God’s righteousness.

How many times do you think parents repeat this mantra to their children before Christmas: “Christmas is about giving, NOT receiving.” Or “Tis better to give than to receive.” How many times? It’s like the motto of Christmas to make it seem like a nice holiday, a nice religious holiday, just without any mention of God or Jesus. So Santa becomes God who packs his bag full of goodies to give to the “nice” boys and girls. It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Christmas brings out the best in everyone, right? We all feel very righteous at Christmastime when we give to the Salvation Army bell ringer outside of the grocery store and then show up at the Christmas Eve service. We’ll all feel very splendid when we see the pews full, hopefully, and breathe a sigh of relief that all is right in the world again. Ahhh.

But Christmas isn’t about what we are giving to others; it is about what God has given to us. Not because we are nice, but because we are naughty. Santa Claus got it all wrong! If the long lines of shoppers and gigantic credit card bills are any indication, even during the most wonderful time of the year, most of us have our minds, not on divine things, but on human things. And the scary thing is that we all feel very self-righteous about that, don’t we? Some of you might even be thinking, how dare I talk about Christmas in such a mean way? You don’t want to come to church to hear the Grinch give a sermon!

But maybe we’ve just learned to be inspired by the wrong things. Like a drug user who can’t find happiness apart from a high even with a beautiful family at home, a great job and all the blessings of the world at his or her feet. Maybe we’ve become confused about what makes a great holiday party and now we are just going along with traditions? Perhaps we’ve become confused about what makes Christmas great, that it’s NOT the giving at all, but, in fact, it is the receiving, the receiving of a Lord and Savior who didn’t come just for the nice, but came especially for the naughty like you and me.

Today begins the season of Advent. Or, perhaps I should say, “Only four worshipping Sundays left before Christmas Day!” Jesus Christ is coming soon. He will come like a thief in the night. What better time than Christmas. No one would expect him then. Would you?

So if the time before Christmas is not about human things, buying gifts and partying, what is left? It is the same time as always: It is time to be alert. To be aware of how has Christ works in your life. How will He find you when He comes again? Now is the time to pray, that you may have the strength to escape all the traps of this season that might pull you away from Christ. Be on guard so that, four weeks from now, Christmas does not catch you by surprise. So that, come Christmas Day, you might have actually prepared more than the Ham, the gifts and the house for company, but you will have prepared yourself to hear the good news: Christmas is about giving, it’s just that YOU are the one who always receives the gift: Jesus Christ was born for you. Be alert: He will come again. Amen.

Sermon for November 22nd

Can I let you in on a little bit of irony? Today is Christ the king Sunday and yet most of us have no idea what a king really is. We don’t know what a king does? We don’t know what makes a king a king! And yet we say that Christ is our king even though we don’t have the foggiest concept about what having a king means for us or what being a king meant for Jesus.

Here are some things a king is not. A king is not a president for he is not democratically elected. You don’t get to choose a king. A king is chosen for you from the moment you and he are born. If you don’t like your king, tough luck, you can’t recall him, you don’t get a vote, because a king is a king for as long as he lives.

God chose the Israelites first king, Saul, not because God thought it was a great idea, but because the Israelites demanded that they have a king. Like any good father, sometimes giving your children exactly what they want is the best form of punishment. Up to that time, the Israelites were unique because they had no King. God was their King. And even though God explained that a king would reign over them, put their children in the army, demand shares of their best crops as a tax and take away their slaves, the Israelites still wanted a king. God even explained that when they became unhappy with their king, He wouldn’t do anything about it. But still, the Israelites wanted a king, so that’s what they got.

There were a couple of kings in Jewish history, like David and Solomon, who, despite their many sins were, for the most part, able to follow in the footsteps of God. They were good kings. But most of the Israelite kings were really, really, really bad. You see, being a King doesn’t mean you are a good person, or that you are the smartest, or that you are the strongest or that you are the most faithful to God. Being a king was either something you were born into or a position that was chosen for you by God. What does it mean, to call Jesus your King? That’s what I hope that you find out this morning.

Jesus was descended from king David as the gospel of Matthew points out, “An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” But while having royal blood was important for Jesus, it was his second qualification that made him the greatest king of all. The gospel of Mark points this out, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Remember that before God chose Saul as the Israelite’s first King, God was their only king. Now, in Jesus Christ, Israel once again had God as their king as well as a king from the royal line of David. Jesus was the perfect king.

But what does it mean for us to have a king? This is so difficult for us to understand since we have all grown up in a Democracy. It’s hard to imagine. But let me try to give you a taste of what having a king would be like. When a king made his decision there was no further debate. You didn’t get a vote. When a king determined a course of action, it was done. The policies of a king affect the entire kingdom: no if’s, and’s or but’s. If you disagreed with a king, you either kept quiet or you risked the king’s wrath. And the king could do anything he’d like to do to you, whether it was justly deserved or not, and his decision could not be appealed. The king received the best of the best: the best food, the best land, and the best living conditions of anyone in the kingdom. And the king didn’t work for any of it, he just deserved it.

That meant that if you had a king you were at the king’s beck and call. You did what the king told you to do. You gave the king the best of your children to fight in the army or to work in the castle and you gave the king the fruits of your labors, whatever they might be. If the king was benevolent, merciful and gracious, you might be happy. If the king was evil and malevolent, you might be sad, but whatever the case, the king was the king and you were not. That was your lot in life. There was no loyal opposition party. There were no anti-war demonstrations. There didn’t need to be any “transparency” in this type of government, it could be corrupt or not because it was none of your business if you were not the king. You did not simply respect the king: you worshipped your king.

Today is Christ the king Sunday. What does it mean to call Jesus your king? It means that you are loyal to no one else but to Jesus. It means that you worship only Jesus. To call Jesus your king means that you are at his beck and call. To call Jesus your king means that when he gives you a command, you are expected to follow it. To call Jesus your king means that he deserves your best and that the fruits of your labors belong to Him. To call Jesus your king is to admit what Jesus puts so plainly in the gospel of John, “You did not choose me, I chose you.” To call Jesus your king is something that is true for as long as you live and as long as He lives.

If any of us really knew what calling Christ our king meant, for our lives, we would have probably all run the other way as fast as we could. We are progressive people! We live in a democracy for goodness sake! It’s the 21st century! We want life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But the decision is not yours to make: God, your creator has made Jesus your king. I’m just letting you know what that means for you.

In the book of Revelation, we read that Jesus is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. He is truly the king of kings and lord of lords. But a few chapters later, we see this king of kings for what he truly is, “Then I saw . . . a lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered.” King Jesus’ is not known by His glory, but by His suffering. He is called the Lion of Judah, a name reflecting power and majesty, but he comes as the weakest of animals, a lamb, but not only that, a lamb who looks as if it had been slaughtered. Jesus shows his glory in a much different way than a normal king would; not through power, but through suffering.

Your king is weak. Your king is foolish. Your king suffers. Your king died on a cross. Paul explains why in his first letter to the Corinthians, “Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God.” God undermines the greatest, the wisest and the strongest by dying a weak, suffering fool on a cross and then doing what the greatest, the wisest and the strongest king could never do: be raised from the dead. Many Americans were upset recently when President Obama, on a trip to Asia, bowed respectfully to a foreign diplomat. Because the President of the United States shouldn’t bow! It’s a sign of submission! Now, imagine if your king—your king!—allowed himself to be beaten, spit upon and got crucified without defending himself or even fighting back. Would you have been inspired by Jesus Christ as your king?

Pilate asked Jesus, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Jesus was born a king, with all the special rights and authority that comes with that title, but he shows his power by simply speaking the truth. Jesus was killed for speaking the truth: that he had come to save the world from sin and that he had the authority to forgive sinners. He was killed NOT because people were threatened by his royal blood, but because he spoke the truth to their faces and then offered them forgiveness. The lion of Judah might have been accepted, but the Lamb of God was slain. What does it mean to call Jesus your king? What does it mean to live under him in his kingdom? It means to listen to the truth.

Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?” It is the very same question we are asking ourselves still today, isn’t it? “What is truth?” And the question doesn’t simply pertain to the few hot topics that have caused the church so much grief lately, it is a question that has stretched across cultures, times, continents and generations. “What is truth?” Is there only one truth or can each person make it up as they go along? Do you want to know what the truth is? Listen to the words of Jesus Christ, “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice” If you are looking for truth, look for Jesus who is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow. There will always be new controversies. That is why, throughout them all, as Christians we are called to trust in God’s Word to lead us into the truth.

What does it mean to call Jesus your king? To follow his voice. To be loyal to His words. To trust in a king whose truth will NEVER be up for a vote. You did not choose him, he chose you. Jesus is your king. He is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth, the Lamb who was slain to forgive your sins. No, you didn’t get a vote in all this, but would you really want one? Jesus has chosen you to live in his kingdom and that, my friends, is the truth. You may trust in God. You may trust in HIS truth. Amen.

Sermon for November 15th

If I were to ask you what was going to happen in December of the year 2012, you might think that I was asking a lot. How are you supposed to know? But some of you might actually respond with what you believe is a reasonable answer: On Dec. 21st, 2012 the Mayan calendar is going to run out and the apocalypse might begin.

The ancient Mayan civilization made many calendars, and one of them, called the “Long Count” calendar, has been marking time for 5,126 years . . . and it runs out on Dec. 21st, 2012. And some believe that this is a sign that the world will end. You don’t know what I’m talking about? Well, lucky you, because a lot of people not only know what I’m talking about but they are studying it, talking about it and getting quite worried.

There have been lots of books talking about the possibilities, lots of bloggers expressing their opinions about it, lots of opportunities to spend your money and stock your fallout shelter just in case you need extra supplies on December 22nd 2012. Ann Martin, from Cornell University, manages a website called, "Curious? Ask an Astronomer”. She says that people are scared, "It's too bad that we're getting e-mails from fourth-graders who are saying that they're too young to die," Martin said. "We had a mother of two young children who was afraid she wouldn't live to see them grow up.” Of course, some people aren’t afraid, they are excited! In fact, enough people are interested in all of this that there was a major motion picture that came out this weekend starring John Cusack. The title: 2012. Will you be going? Just in case you’ll get a glimpse into the future?

A reading from the gospel of Mark, chapter 13. “As Jesus came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings! Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” Then Jesus began to say to them . . . “Go, look to the ancient Mayan calendar and, behold, in the year 2012, the end of the world will come! Lucky that you’ll all be dead by then.”? No, that’s not what Jesus said.

The first thing he says is probably the most important part, so pay attention. Don’t miss this or you might regret it. Are you ready? Here goes, “Beware that no one leads you astray.” Beware that no one leads you astray. When I went off to college, my dad told me this good piece of advice: He said, “If anyone tells you that they have all the answers . . . run!” Run. Beware that no one leads you astray. There have been many people led astray as they “prepared” for the end of the world. The followers of David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, in Waco Texas who believed that they had found the Messiah and ended up dying tragically. Or how about the group, Heaven’s gate, who committed suicide in 1997 because they believed that the earth was about to be destroyed by the comet Hale-Bopp. Beware that no one leads you astray.

But you don’t have to belong to a cult to be led astray. It’s easier than you might think. You and I are led astray whenever we are led away from God’s Word into the dreams, speculations and imaginations of others. Or when we leave God’s clear words behind and choose to follow our own self-chosen opinions. We are called to test our own viewpoints, and the views of others, even when they are Christians, and compare these views to what has actually been revealed to us in Scripture. So many wish and hope and pray for God’s guidance to overcome their fears, not just about the end of the world but in lots of situations, but they never look to His Word where he has revealed himself for us. People sometimes say that the Bible is “irrelevant”, but isn’t it is that the Bible is TOO relevant and TOO clear for us. Perhaps this is really why we ignore it: so that we can choose our own path through life’s uncertainty without having to face a truth that might be contrary to what we want to hear.

Jesus says, “Many will come in my name and say, “I am he!” and they will lead many astray.” There are many churches, even many Christians, who talk about the end times, who say the name of Jesus or mention God for good measure, but when you start hearing about what they mean about the second coming, or by God and Jesus, you find a picture that is alien from what you would find in the Bible. The greatest heresies are usually hidden beneath good intentions and half truths. And while persecution from outside forces have always been a threat to the Christian church, it has been this internal strife, caused by the rejection and unbelief in God’s Word by Christian’s themselves, that has done the most harm. Beware that no one leads you astray. Jesus does not teach you to fear the apocalypse, but to fear and love God. Jesus does not teach you to trust in your own speculations, but to hold fast to the words God has given to you.

As Christians, we do not trust in the Mayan calendar, as interesting as it may be. There is no reason we cannot study it, learn from it and appreciate the culture that made it, but if it causes you to fear the end of the world, you are free to throw the Mayan calendar in the trash and trust completely in God’s Word, where Jesus does not warn about the end of the world, but warns about life apart from God. If Jesus Christ came today, not in 2012 or in some distant year, but right now, the question will not be how much fresh water you have stored for yourself in some underground shelter, but “Do you believe in the Son of Man, in Jesus Christ your Savior.” If you do not believe this, you have a bigger problem than losing your life in the world, you will have lost your life in Christ.

The future can create a lot of fear for us. We do not know what will happen. The important issue is not that you are ever afraid, fear is a normal part of life, but WHAT are you afraid of and what fears take priority over others. We are called to fear the right things. According to the author Jerry Sittser, “We should fear the loss of a child more than failure in a job, sickness more than pain, hell more than death. And we should fear God most of all, because only he has ultimate and final authority over life and death. Jesus explained, “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!’ As we fear God more, we will fear everything else less.” When you worry about death, are you worried more about losing the joys of this life, your family or your career, or about losing the joys of heaven—how you will be seen in the eyes of God? The danger of worrying about the apocalypse and such things is that we are tempted to put our fear in the wrong place-in this earthly world rather than in God himself.

Jesus said, “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.” Consider the future with all its possibilities. You could spend your life worrying and being afraid of what might happen in 2012 or even next week at your job. Or, you may trust that God has that future, whatever will happen, good and bad, in the palm of his hand. You are free. Free to trust him to deal with that. Leave it in His hands.

You are free to spend YOUR time and YOUR thoughts in this present day, living each moment that you are given by following God’s will for your life. What is God’s will? It’s not so much about WHAT you are going to do, but HOW you do it. God wills that you follow his commands and trust in his promises in whatever you are doing, in your everyday actions, thoughts and relationships. God’s will is not hidden from you to make you afraid. He has revealed His will in his Word, in the person of Jesus and in Scripture. Because no matter what has happened in your past, no matter what will happen in the future and no matter what is happening right at this very moment, Jesus Christ promises that he will be here with you, claiming you as his own, forgiving you for your sins, and calling you to a new life with Him—giving you peace to cast out all fear. And that’s as true today as it will be in 2012. Amen.

Sermon for November 8th

“Christ has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

When I read the assigned text from the book of Hebrews for this last week, it reminded me of some pretty heated theological arguments made back in the 15th and 16th centuries in the Roman Catholic church. Church reformers were being killed and excommunicated; much blood and ink was spilled. And what were they all arguing about? The Lord’s Supper. Some maintained that the Catholic church was sacrificing Jesus again and again each week during the Mass. They argued that Jesus’ sacrifice was once and for all and that the Mass had made that action unclear. However, the Catholic church argued back: a “re-sacrifice” was never the intention. Jesus died only once, but they maintained that believers celebrate this sacrifice, mystically, each week—giving thanks for what God has done. People have been killed for what they taught and believed about the Lord’s Supper, but do you even know what you believe?

What is the Lord’s Supper? The Lord’s Supper is the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ given with bread and wine, instituted by Christ himself, for us to eat and drink. Those are the words that Martin Luther wrote down in the Small Catechism, a book used to teach both young and old about the basic tenants of the Christian faith. But how often do YOU think about what you are doing when you walk up here? Is it just a tradition that you go along with? Is it necessary to think about it in a particular way for it to work? If you don’t agree with what I say in this sermon today, should you even bother coming up to take a nibble or a sip? Does it really matter WHAT you believe?

When people begin talking about the Lord’s Supper, someone usually starts using fancy words like transubstantiation and consubstantiation even though few people care or can quite remember what all that means. So, for today, let’s not get too arrogant about trying to describe what WE think is actually happening and, instead, talk about why it is important to have the Lord’s Supper in the first place. First off, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper because Jesus told us to do it, “Do this in remembrance of me.” But, more specifically, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper in order that you might believe that your sins are forgiven: As Luther pointed out, whoever believes these words, “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins” has exactly what the words say, “the forgiveness of sins.”

You and I have a great temptation: we want to make faith something WE do, something WE are in control of, something WE hold onto. But then, when hardship comes, when things start falling apart, when things go wrong, it’s easy to despair. We lose confidence in ourselves and our choices, we lose control and, then, almost as a second thought, we realize that we have also lost our grip on faith. We want to trust in ourselves and in our ability to believe in Jesus no matter what, but we are often not strong enough to trust God when everything seems to be against us. We throw out the commandments if they don’t sound good to us. We begin to believe that Jesus has failed us when our lives get turned upside down.

But the Lord’s Supper comes at you from outside of yourself. No matter how you feel. No matter what you have done. No matter how weak you are. “Thinking” internally that you are a sinner is much different than having another person tell you that you are one and then start listing off what you have done to deserve that title. Understanding that you are forgiven is a fleeting experience until you have a little bit of that forgiveness stuck in your teeth to wiggle around with for the rest of the worship service. The Lord’s Supper is a way for you to believe in something other than yourself. To cling to God’s promise given to you with a word attached to the things of this earth. As some theologians have put it: In the Lord’s Supper, you eat the drink the words. You swallow the promise whole and it becomes not just something you “know about”, but it becomes a part of you.

“In the night in which he was betrayed our Lord Jesus took bread, broke it, gave thanks, and gave it to his disciples saying, “Take and eat. This is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.” The words seem so simple, but there are many disagreements about what they actually mean. Believe it or not, the problem lies with one very little word: “is”. “This is my body given for you.” I’d like to quickly give you three examples of how churches understand that word “is” and what each can mean for your faith.

Roman Catholics believe that when a properly ordained priest speaks these words, the words of institution, the bread becomes the body of Jesus Christ. It is no longer bread at all. It IS Jesus’ body. This happens in spite of what you may think or what you believe. One moment, Jesus is absent, sitting at the right hand of the throne of God. In the next moment, the priest makes Jesus present. The common term in the Catholic church for the Lord’s Supper is “The Eucharist” which means, to give thanks. According to this tradition, giving thanks to God is the primary purpose of the sacrament.

The church reformers were right, there IS a sacrifice occurring each week in the Mass, but it was not Jesus that’s was being re-sacrificed, it is the community of believers giving their sacrifice of thanksgiving to God . . . unfortunately, that still creates a big problem. The Lord’s Supper becomes more about your prayers going up to God rather than God’s forgiveness coming down for you. The whole direction gets reversed and your faith pays the price. Sinners won’t get very far by being motivated to great acts of virtue, they need to be saved from the bondage of sin.

But other churches see this little word “is” in a different way. For them, “This IS my body” means this “symbolizes” my body. The argument is quite simple. At the last supper, Jesus is standing right there, so how could he possibly mean that he is giving away his body! It’s not like he ends supper with little nibbles out of his arms and legs. Furthermore, 2000 years later, now that he has ascended into heaven, how could we possibly be eating away at him! It’s preposterous! According to this understanding, the purpose of the Lord’s Supper is to remember Jesus and the importance of his sacrifice. But I hope that you see the problem. Once again, the action has changed directions to the detriment of faith. The Lord’s Supper becomes about how well you can “remember” the story or how much you “appreciate” Jesus’ sacrifice, rather than just receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

As usual, Lutherans have always been the odd little ducks in this story, but I hope that you will see that it is for a good reason. Lutherans believe that when Jesus said, “This IS my body” he meant it. On that point, we agree with the Catholics. He wasn’t being symbolic. God does what he says. On the other hand, Jesus didn’t have to magically change the bread into something else in order to use it to give you faith. After all, he came down as a human being to forgive your sins. Not just as God, not just as a human, but as both, completely. When you taste the bread and hear the words, “The body of Christ given for you,” it’s only bread unless you trust that Jesus is telling you the truth. Apart from your faith it’s just bread and wine. If you don’t hear the words, you can’t believe them. You are chewing on the muscles, the bones, and the very sinews of your Lord . . . ONLY when you believe the promise that is spoken not with your head, but with your heart, by faith alone. Jesus is not a magician, he is a Savior. Faith in the words of Jesus makes all the difference.

Why is this so important? Not because you are have to pass a test. But because only by trusting in Jesus words can you discover that Christ is not absent here, he is present in the Lord’s Supper. You don’t have to pray for him to be there. You don’t need a special kind of priest to bring him there. He is there already. You don’t need to be reminded of what Jesus has done, but given your Savior to save you. In the Lord’s supper you are given Jesus Christ. God doesn’t need you to DO anything, just believe what he has promised. He is yours. What you need is faith and the Lord’s Supper gives you something to believe in.

So then, do you need to understand all of this in order to get the goodies? No. Do you need to think about the right things in order to be forgiven? No. The Lord’s Supper is not about how thankful you are, how smart you are, how mature you are or how religious you are. But when you come forward, realizing that you are a sinner in need of forgiveness, then you will find something most astounding: Jesus Christ, your Savior and Lord is here for you. For the sake of your faith, he has promised to place himself in bread, in wine, and in words so that you might not simply hear about your forgiveness, but eat it and drink it. Jesus came down so that he might give you all that he has everything, withholding nothing—his body, his blood, and his life to save you. “Christ has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself.” All of you are welcome at His table, for by faith alone you are saved. Amen.

Sermon for November 1st

I'd like to begin today by reading for you some excerpts from a story found in the book, "The Hammer of God" written by Bo Giertz.

In the corner to the right stood a pull-out bed. It was filled with blankets and pelts in wild disarray. The sick man lay with one knee drawn up. Beyond it only an arm was visible, an unnaturally thin and white arm reaching upward. It was crowned by an abnormally large hand with black pores in the rough skin cracked with calluses. The bony, knotted fingers seemed to be grasping at something. They were thrust apart with wild intensity, only to close again on nothingness; they curled like the claws of a bird of prey and then opened again, ceaselessly repeating the painfully meaningless maneuver. For the second time, Pastor Savonius pulled himself together.

For a while he sat in silence, not knowing what he should say. Then words came to his lips, he hardly knew from whence; "I wish you God's peace, God's eternal peace and blessing."

"Not for me! Not for me! Eternal damnation, punishment according to the measure of my sin, the judgment of wrath, and the everlasting flames--that is for me. To me he will say, 'Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!"

"But God is good," said Savonius quietly.

The sick man looked straight up at the ceiling. Yes, God is good, very good. It is just for that reason I am in such a bad way. Pastor, you do not know how good God has been to me. He has sought my soul and bidden me walk the way of life. But i have not done so. He has shown me heaven's purity, but I shall never win it. I sat in Ravelunda church and heard the angels sing. Then I saw my mother in the women's pew, and I thought: Mother has aged, this winter she may die; then I shall inherit the farm. And my heart wept, for I saw that, more than I loved Mother, I loved the filthy dollars. Then the pastor came to the pulpit. Potbelly, I thought. You can play cards and fish for trout, but you cannot feed God's poor little lambs with the Word. But I had not prayed for him. Was that love? That is how it is with me, Pastor. Day after day, moment upon moment, it is sin added to sin, and nothing but sin. For thirty years God has given me the opportunity to turn and repent. Thirty years I have been on that way. But I shall never reach the goal. Have I turned from the evil way? No! I have lamented and called upon God. But the heart is just as evil. Falseness and darkness within, pretense and hypocrisy on the surface.

"But confess yours sins, and God will forgiven you." Savonius tried to give his voice the ring of authority.

"Confess?" said Johannes, and his head fell back with infinite weariness. It was not terror that showed on his face now, but a dying despair that seemed almost more unendurable. "For thirty years, as Thou knowest, Lord, I have confessed my sins. And Thou didst forgive everything--the salt I stole, the grouse I snared, adultery and profanity--all was forgiven. Twenty times, fifty times I came; but I was still no better. Then the door of grace was shut. He who repents and believes will be received into the kingdom. But I did not repent."

"But you are a better and a more upright soul than anyone I have ever met." Savonius said.

But the man said, "The Judge will not judge the soul by others souls, Pastor. The book will be opened, and the dead will be judged by what is written in the book. And my doom is already sealed."




Earlier this week, on NPR, there was a discussion about the spiritual lives of people between the ages of 18 and 29. One of the people invited to discuss the topic was Greg Epstein, a humanist chaplain from Harvard who has recently written the book, “Good without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe.” What’s a humanist chaplain you might ask? Someone who supports humanists, atheists, agnostics and the nonreligious in their search for meaning in life. Humanists, like this author, make the argument that you don’t need religion to be good, to be moral, or to make the world a better place. In fact, as many atheists would argue, religion has caused or at least been used, to start most of the wars that have happened in the world.

So, during this discussion, a woman in her twenties called in and explained that she had just found out that she has a genetic disease and was considering the risk that she had now passed it on to her child. She was asking questions like, “What’s the point of life? What’s the point in trying to be good? Was it worth producing a child that would suffer throughout their life? Should she seek out a church to help her deal with this? Why would God let this happen to her so early on in her life? And now in her child’s life?

Here’s what the chaplain had to say. First off, e explained that he would acknowledge and recognize that this woman was dealing with difficult and painful issues. He would admit that there was nothing he could do or say, nothing that anyone could do or say in fact, that would magically get rid of this pain. Knowing that life is imperfect and unfair can be very liberating, he said, since it acknowledges our pain, our humanity, and that each of our fears are very real. We don’t have to try to be so perfect! He explained that while some people talk about needing to feel God’s presence during a tragedy, what he thinks people really want is the presence of another human being—a loving community. Life can be very unfair, but what can’t be taken away is our sense of dignity and that we are doing all that we can for ourselves and others; that we’re doing something for the sake of the world and you don’t need God to do that!

Today is All Saints Day, where we remember those who have died in the faith. But the question is, how do you know who has died in the faith and who has not? Does it really matter anyway? One billion non-religious people would argue that we need to get past the myth of God and start appreciating this life and this world without fanciful ideas about something that hasn’t and cannot be proven. What will happen when you die?

Like humanists and atheists, Jesus also says life is imperfect and that you are imperfect as well. Jesus would agree: life is unfair. There is suffering and pain and, yes, your fears are real. So far so good. Appreciate this life and this world to the fullest? Once again, Jesus would agree! You are dust and to dust you shall return? No arguments here. Same old same old. But now, now hear the difference. A humanist accepts death as the natural order for things. Jesus says, “Lazarus, Come Out! See! I am making all things new!” You know what’s missing from the humanist argument? Hope. Faith. Power. Jesus would agree with everything except that this old world is all there is. At that moment, Jesus would give you a promise: that is old, I am new. And it is only as true as a man dying on cross and being raised from the dead. The resurrection makes all things new. While some would argue that the new atheist movement is “modern” and “contemporary”, the truth is that it is as old as ever, as old as this fallen world.

A couple of days ago, I watched the movie “The Great Debaters” about an African-American college debate team during the 1930’s at Wiley College. After beating the odds again and again, the team eventually was able to debate the best of the best at Harvard and win, a momentous occasion for a black college at this time in America. But they had their share of trials. In one particular scene, the debate team and their coach are traveling through Texas at night when they came across a dreadful scene: A dead black man, hanging from a tree, cold, charred and disfigured, surrounded by a angry group of white men. The team escapes being attacked themselves just in time. One of the debaters, the young son of the town preacher, asks what the man could have done to deserve such a fate, but it didn’t matter what he had done! He was black and THAT is why he was burned. That is why he was hung! The young man, the preacher’s son, the happy one of the group, the idealist, has an epiphany about the man hanging in the tree: “It didn’t matter how good he was.”

“Good without God”, that book I spoke of before, is quite correct. You can be good without believing in God. You can be moral. You can be nice. You can help others. You can love and serve others in a community. But being good is NOT what being a Christian is all about. That is old. Being good is very important, but it is still a part of this old world. To be a Christian is to realize you are old and that if being “good” is your only hope, then you have no hope. Christians get their name, not because of what they do, but because of what Jesus Christ has done. You can be good without God, but, today, we are not celebrating the lives of good people. We are celebrating the promise of eternal life given through faith in Jesus Christ. All that other stuff is one day finally going to be old, dead and gone. Only Jesus is new.



Let's finish that story from the Hammer of God:

"Is Johannes already dead, Pastor?" Savonius looked up, startled. This was an altogether new voice, a woman's deep, warm alto voice. The stranger must have come from down the road. She wore a kerchief over her black hair, which was combed straight back. The face was middle-aged, wise, with soft and gentle lines under the tan. "Johannes, wake up! Katrina is here. It's Katrina, do you hear?"

The sick man was in his right mind again, "Katrina, it was good of you to come. You are kind, Katrina. God will reward you. And me, he will punish. So will He be exalted and declared righteous in all his judgments. But it will go badly for me. Katrina, I am a sinner, a great sinner."

"Yes, that you are, Johannes. But Jesus is a still greater Savior."

The sick man breathed heavily before answering. He seemed to be going over something in his mind. "Yes, he is a great Savior for those who let themselves be saved. But my heart is not clean, my mind is evil; I do not have the new spirit."

"They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. He came not to call the righteous, but sinners."

"Yes, Katrina, but it read 'to repentance." It is repentance that I lack.

"You do not lack repentance, Johannes, but faith. You have walked the way of repentance for thirty years."

"And still not attained to it!"

"Johannes," said the woman, almost sternly, "answer me this question: Do you really want your heart to be clean?"

"Yes, Katrina. God knows that I want that."

"Then your repentance is also as true as it can be in a corrupt child of Adam in this world. Your danger is not that you lack repentance, but that you have been drifting away from faith."

"What, then, shall I believe, Katrina?"

"You must believe this living Word of God: 'But to him that works not, but believes on his that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.' Up to this day you have believed in works and looked at your own heart. You saw only sin and wretchedness, because God anointed your eyes with the salve of the Spirit to see the truth. Do you have sin in your heart, Johannes?"

"Yes," answered the sick man timidly, "much sin, altogether too much."

"Just that should make clear to you that God has not forsaken you," said the woman firmly. "Only he who has the Holy Spirit can see his sin."

"But why, then, have I not received a clean heart?"

"That you might learn to love Jesus," said the woman as calmly as before."

"What do you mean Katrina?"

"I mean, Johannes, that if you had received a clean heart and for that reason had been able to earn salvation--to what end would you then need a Savior? If the law could save a single one of us, Jesus would surely not have needed to die on the cross."

"Have you anything more to say, Katrina?"

"Yes, one thing more, Johannes. 'Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world."

"Do you mean? Do you really mean that he takes away also the sin that dwells in my unclean heart?"

"Yes, he atoned for all that sin, when he died in your place."

"But I still have it with me, don't I? Yes, that's how it is," whispered Johannes.

"That is the way it has always been for us, and for all others. 'By His stripes we are healed.'

The sick man lay breathlessly quiet. Then he whispered, "One word more, Katrina, a sure word, and I will believe it."

The woman got up quietly, took the Bible that lay on the table, and sat down again. Opening the Bible she read: 'For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

"Amen. I believe!" said Johannes, in a voice that could barely be heard.



Today, as you consider those who have died. Those whom we have loved so much. When you consider your own life and death and the lives of those you love most dearly. Do not look at how good you are or what great things they did. When you are looking death in the eyes, it doesn’t matter how good anyone was or is. Look to Jesus Christ, your Savior. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. For only in Him is there hope, faith and power for old sinners like us. “He will dwell with us, we will be his people and God himself will be with us. He will wipe every tear from our eyes. Death will be no more. Mourning and crying and pain will be no more. For the first things will have passed away. And the one who is seated on the throne will say, “See I have made all things new.” Amen.

Sermon for October 25th

“While Philip and I were drinking beer, the Word reformed the church.” That’s a quote from Martin Luther referring to himself and another reformer Philip Melanchthon. It’s Reformation day and so today we will try to discern what it means to be a Christian over four-hundred years after Martin Luther famously nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenburg and started making arguments that would eventually get him excommunicated from the Roman Catholic church.

Luther explained quite rightly what all the fuss concerning the Reformation was really all about: God’s Word. It was about the God’s Word and NOT Martin Luther. Not Philip Melanchthon. It wasn’t simply about popes or indulgences or nationalism or the Roman Catholic Church. God’s Word reformed the church as it has done for centuries and it will continue to do this until Jesus Christ returns and reforms us all from dead corpses into an eternally living people of God. We always need reforming. Today is not about being a Lutheran or a Protestant; it’s about being a sinner clinging to God’s Word and being reformed through the work of the Holy Spirit. So let’s get right to it.

First off, why would anyone cling to God’s Word as we hear it in Scripture when there is so much in it that we hate, so much that scares us, accuses us and makes us run away from it? To explain this, I’d like to tell you about some experiences that I have had recently. The first thing you need to know is that I run in the mornings. The second thing you need to know is that our neighbor attained a rooster sometime this summer. And, finally, you need to understand that I despise running. I hate it, perhaps a little less than I hate beets, but still, running is never very much fun in my opinion.

So why do I run? Because I know that it is important to be healthy. I want my heart to be healthy and I want to lose weight (or at least not get overweight). So, in other words, I run because I am afraid. I am afraid of death and want to put it off for as long as possible. Now, when I began running this summer, every animal in the forest would scurry away because they heard my heavy breathing from miles off. I was still quite out of shape, you see. And every morning, still irritated that I had to wake up and go run, and already hot and uncomfortable, I would meet my next door neighbor the rooster. And he would crow at me and give me a look that only a rooster can give. And I felt that he was making fun of me. Because he knew how dumb and out of shape I looked. And I hated that rooster and how his crows would mock me.

Months have passed and I have continued running. I still hate it most of the time, but I’ve seen it in a new light. Rather than feeling like I’m going to die every day, I know that running gives me more energy and makes me feel better. I may not like running, but I like the way it makes me feel. I used to run to keep away death. Now I run for the sake of my life. It may not seem like a big difference, but in some ways it really is. Along the way, the rooster and I had gotten on different schedules I guess. I had forgotten all about him, until a couple of days ago, when I was on the way home heading up the last hill and he looked at me, with a look only a rooster can give, and he crowed at me like old times. But something was different this time. For some reason, at that moment, he did not sound like he was mocking me at all. In fact, I heard it quite differently. It felt like he was congratulating me. Cheering me on! Encouraging me. Saying, well done! Good job!

A reading from the Romans, chapter 3, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For ‘no human being will be justified in his sight’ by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.” Martin Luther saw these words in the Bible as full of judgment. These words drove him to not only hate himself for the sinner he was but to hate God for being such a harsh judge. “No human being will be justified in his sight”? Luther could not understand how he could love a God like that. Luther hated God and he hated himself even more for knowing that he felt that way.

Each day, as Luther would read scripture, he would hear God crowing his anger and judgment. The reading from Romans continues, “But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” God was a righteous judge. All were sinful. There was no escaping that fact for Luther. He could not be found holy according to the law and he could knew he could not be found holy in the sight of Jesus Christ either. Luther spent his days in misery looking for a God who could love him, but finding only a righteous God—a God crowing out death and judgment as Luther ran out the days of his life.

There are many of you who can probably relate to a part of this story. Perhaps you are too pious to say that you out and out “hate” God, but you doubt him sometimes and you doubt how he could love someone like you. I don’t know all of your stories and, even if I’ve heard parts, you probably have left out the juiciest sections, you haven’t told me your favorite sins, the worst sins, the embarrassing situations you’ve tried to forget, the memories you keep running away from, the addictions you keep running to for comfort. And, try as you might to punish yourself for not being able to get past these behaviors, the question remains, “How can God, a God of justice, a God of righteousness, love a sinner like you?”

God must follow his own law and, according to that law, you are not worthy. There is no way around this. We are all condemned. Every time I ran by that idiot rooster, it was almost like he knew what I would not admit out loud: I wasn’t good enough run. I was out of shape. I should’ve just turned around and gone home before I embarrassed myself anymore with my heavy breathing and pitted out t-shirts. Luther read the pages of the Bible and knew there was no hope for him either. Not in this life or the next. Looking at your life, honestly, would you fare any better in God’s eyes?

But then, one day, everything changed for Martin Luther. He said, “I greatly longed to understand Paul’s Epistle to the Romans and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, ‘the righteousness of God or the justice of God,’ because I took it to mean the justice whereby God is just and deals justly in punishing the unjust. My situation was that, although an impeccable monk, I stood before God as a sinner . . . . Therefore I did not love a just and angry God, but rather hated and murmured against him. Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before the ‘justice of God’ had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gate to heaven . . . .”

God’s law is true, and just, and holy, and righteous and you are expected to follow every word of it not only because God demands it but because your neighbor needs you to. However, even by following this most excellent rule of life, you cannot save yourself. It will do you no good! You cannot get closer to earning your salvation. Not even a little bit. Trusting in your own abilities only makes you look worse in God’s eyes. “But now,” as Romans puts it, “apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are not justified by his grace as a gift effective through faith.”

Reformation Day is not about Martin Luther, or Lutherans, or Protestants; it is about how God reforms sinners. God’s law accuses all of us, demanding that we live better lives for the sake of one another, but Jesus saves you through faith alone. Faith that God has worked APART from the law and gives you life, forgiveness and salvation as a gift.

So, today, we thank God for Martin Luther and the Lutheran Reformers because they had the audacity to cling to God’s Word when it wasn’t popular or pleasant to do so, so that we today you might hear the crowing of Scripture as your biggest fan rather than your harshest critic. Luther sums it up quite well, “If you have a true faith that Christ is your Savior, than at once you have a gracious God, for faith leads you in and opens up God’s heart and will, that you should see pure grace and overflowing love. This is it to behold God in faith that you should look upon his fatherly, friendly heart, in which there is no anger nor ungraciousness. He who sees God as angry does not see him rightly but looks only on a curtain, as if a dark cloud had been drawn across his face. But this must be our ground and anchor-hold, that Christ is our only perfect righteousness Therefore we must always believe and always hope; we must always take hold of Christ as the head and fountain of our righteousness. He that believes in Him shall not be ashamed.” How will God reform your life? On this Reformation Day and everyday, look to Christ alone for your salvation. Amen.

Sermon for October 18th

Imagine what it must have been like to have watched Jesus die on the cross. Imagine what it must have been like to have been one of his followers, or one of his disciples, who thought he had died for nothing. Imagine that you were someone who had hoped that he was the Messiah, the holy one of Israel who was supposed to lead his people to victory over their enemies only to see him dead and then buried just like anyone else. Imagine sitting in a room with others like you, scared that all of your work had been pointless.

But now, Jesus, the one you thought was your Messiah, the one you thought had died, was standing in front of you. And now, Jesus the one you had hoped would save you, was breaking bread with you. And now, he was forgiving you for your doubts and explaining how it had all come to pass. And now he was calling upon you to tell the story of what happened. And now he was sending you to forgive sins. How would you explain it all? How could you talk about what happened? To someone who had never believed? To someone who didn’t care?

These men and women were Jews. They followed the Torah. They knew the stories. They sang the psalms. The knew God’s promises. But they had always expected the Messiah to be a great warrior king. Someone who would lead them out of despair and inspire them to acts of greatness! To sit upon his right and his left, as the disciples James and John put it, like generals in the seats of honor beside the great king! How was anyone going to understand that this dead man, now living, was actually the Messiah? How were they to believe it?

I certainly don’t know how, or when, but these Jews began to see that the truth of Jesus’ words and the power of his life shouldn’t have been such a surprise to anyone. Jesus was written about everywhere—throughout the psalms and the prophets and engraved onto every Jewish person’s heart there was the promise of a Messiah who would suffer and die and, somehow, be called to victory. And knowing all this not only told them something new about this Jesus that they had followed, but they began to understand why he had to die and for what he had come to do.

A reading from the prophet Isaiah, written 600 years before Jesus ever stepped into this world in his humanity, “Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed, All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

When the Devil drives people into despair and they seek the solace of suicide to quench the sadness in their hearts—no one is with them, but Jesus alone. When our loved ones lie still, only barely breathing, so weak that we listen with trepidation for every heartbeat and are surprised when, almost suddenly, we don’t hear the breathing come again, Jesus is the only one weak enough, strong enough, to lie still with them and cover them completely with his peace. Jesus died because we are too weak to live sometimes. That’s what the Bible means by infirmities, our weakness . . . the fact that in the primes of lives we realize how fragile our bodies can be. Star basketball players die of heart arrhythmias just out of high school. Healthy babies still die of SIDS even with watchful parents in the very next room. Jesus came for them too. “Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases.” But is that all he came for? To comfort us with a little chicken soup for the soul in the troubles of the world? Not hardly.

Isaiah continues, “Yet, we accounted him stricken, struck down by God and afflicted.” Good things happen to bad people, and bad things happen to good people. We know that this is true. But when bad things happen to people we think are bad, we figure they deserved it. We applaud God for his justice! Jesus was killed for blasphemy. He called himself God and so everyone figured he got what was coming to him: death. “Come down from the cross and prove that we are wrong about you! Show us that you are God and come down!” the crowds screamed. And when he did not fly away free, “We accounted him stricken, struck down by God and afflicted.” And we agreed with God’s judgment. The disciples agreed with God’s judgment. They abandoned their master on that cross. Why did Jesus have to die? The disciples, the Jews and the Romans thought that they knew why.

But in the passage from Isaiah, the truth comes out. Imagine what it must have been like to see the living Jesus when you had believed he was forsaken by God forever. Imagine what it must have been like to realize why did Jesus really had to die? “He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on HIM the iniquity of us all.” Why did Jesus have to die?

This morning little Caylyn was baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Why? So that she might know that no matter what happens in her life. No matter how far she goes astray. No matter how often she might go her own way against the wishes of her parents, or her family, or the world or the church, that the Lord has laid all of her sins on Jesus Christ. That’s why he had to die: for her. For those of you who have been baptized, you have also been washed in the blood of this lamb—in the cleansing waters of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ. Because that’s why he had to die: so that you might be saved. The Lord has laid on Jesus the sins of us all.

Do you find joy or sadness in these verses? Do you hear accusation or grace? I hope that you hear both. Why did Jesus have to die for you? Can you imagine why you might stand unworthy before God? If not, and if someone doesn’t tell you, then Jesus’ death will mean nothing for you. But if you stand unworthy and miserable before God, then Jesus’ death means everything. Your hope, your life and your salvation. Only sinners can be assured they have a Savior.

We have a little sign outside our doors that say, “All are welcome”. But let’s be honest about who, exactly, we are talking about. Only sinners are welcome here and no one else. Only hypocrites. Only people with problems. Only the helpless and the hopeless. Only the proud and self-righteous. Only the unwelcome. Only people without a chance. Only gossips and liars; murderers and adulterers. Only sinners are welcome here because they are the only ones who will ever find grace here. This place is NOT for perfect people. Not for the righteous. Not for the healthy. That’s why I know you are all welcome here. That’s why ALL are welcome, so that you and they can be forgiven. For if anyone could save themselves, then Jesus died for nothing. Until you hear that you have no hope you will not hear the joy of your salvation. Sinners are the only ones for whom Jesus Christ has died. So if you know the dread of death, know that eternal life is yours.

Why did Jesus have to die? Because you and I would have it no other way. Just like Jesus’ disciples, you and I will not take responsibility for our sins, and so, Jesus just up and died for them. He was killed because he tried to forgive. If you see blood on your hands, take heart, for it is the blood of Jesus Christ who died on the cross and has washed you clean in the eyes of God.

This is the most inspirational story that I can tell you. That your life and your joy is hidden with Christ in God. It’s more than chicken soup for the soul folks—it’s a feast of life and it is for you. And you don’t have to imagine it after all—your sin is really dead and you are now alive to God by faith in Jesus Christ alone. The faith that comes from believing that Jesus actually had something to die for—and he died for someone like you. Thanks be to God! Amen.