Saint Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church2525 E. 11th Street Indianapolis, IN

Commemoration of Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa

1/9/2020

Daniel 3:8-27; Acts 2:36-47
Commemoration of Sts Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nazianzus
January Winkel
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.

Tomorrow the Church remembers and gives thanks for three great theologians from the fourth century: Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa, pastors and confessors. Two of these men were brothers. Basil and Gregory of Nyssa. The other Gregory was their close friend. They often traveled together. Sometimes they didn’t. Collectively they were known as “the Cappadocian fathers” since they all grew up in Cappadocia, what is now the central to east central region of modern day Turkey.

Their names are not well known among us Western Christians. But in the Eastern Church they are hailed as some of the greatest theologians. In truth, we give thanks to God for them, too. Without these three men we wouldn’t have the language and remarkable confession of the Nicene Creed. They repudiated the Arian heresy among others. They were steadfastly and stubbornly united in their orthodox confession of the blessed Holy Trinity - Father, Son, and Spirit.

Kind of like the three young men in the fiery furnace. They refused to acquiesce to the idolatry of a pagan king, even on pain of death. They’d rather obey God than man. Their confession is remarkable: Our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. Or He won’t. Either way, we ain’t bowing down.

What wisdom! To laugh in the face of mortal punishment. Scoff at the prospect of martyrdom. To fear not the one who can harm the body, but to fear the One who can destroy both body and soul in hell. This truly is the beginning of wisdom! Such courage and conviction is born only out of a faithful confession in the One who conquers death, who treads the serpent’s head under foot, who holds in derision the rulers of the earth who gather for their evil deeds and revel in their own demonic escapades.

It kind of reminds me of the recent Golden Globe awards. A young actress, some may consider her talented, I don’t know. I haven’t seen any of her films. She accepts her award on the grave of her unborn child. A little golden idol is more important than the flesh and blood of her own baby. She boasts that her own hand carved up her child to further her career. Choice. He who sits in the heavens laughs. He will speak to them in His wrath and terrify them in His fury. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish in the way (Ps 2).

Men of Indianapolis, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God with mighty works and wonders and signs, as you yourselves know - this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, we crucified and killed.
Repent. Not only have our sins put Him on the Tree, but whenever we dance to the world’s music, whenever we fear the fire more than God the Holy Trinity, we trampled His holy blood underfoot. We mocked His sacrifice.

What shall we do? Repent and return to your baptism. Receive again the full and free forgiveness of all your sins. Be renewed in the Holy Spirit. For by His Word you, like the three young men, or like the three Cappadocian father, remain obstinately devoted to the apostles’ doctrine and koinonia, to the Eucharist and the prayers.

I know you feel alone. Isolated. The way of orthodoxy and orthopraxy, the way of the Cross, is a lonely way. You may not be martyred, but some days that almost seems preferable. You will be maligned, ridiculed, slandered, mocked and betrayed. They called the Master of the House Beelzebul.

But as you are cast into the fire for refusing to concede false doctrine, for refusing to submit to false practices, for you are bound to Holy Scripture and the beloved Lutheran Confessions, clothed with the clothing of Christ’s own righteousness, you will walk in the way of wisdom, in the way of the Lord. For the Son of God Himself strides over the coals with you. For He has endured the scorching fire for you.

He alone walked the lonely way of the Cross. We alone bore rejected by His Father and ridicule from the world until He finally handed over the Spirit, finishing the work of your salvation.

And by His Father, through the Spirit, Jesus who was crucified, is raised from the dead, bursting the bonds which held Him. And His Father, by the Spirit, has made the nations His heritage. That it, the Gentiles. You. Along with Basil, Gregory, Gregory, the three thousand who received the preaching of St Peter and were baptized, together with the three young men in Babylon, the whole Christian Church on earth, angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. You are not alone. You are surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses.

You join your voice to theirs in confession of the Christian faith when you speak the Nicene Creed. When you sing the Te Deum.

But nowhere is this more beautifully expressed than in the Holy Sacrament. As St Basil him noted, the Church’s theology is confessed and practiced and manifested in her doxology. His eucharistic rite celebrates through thanksgiving the confession of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the saving work of the Holy Trinity culminated for us Christians in the Sacrament of the Altar.

Here the Holy Spirit reveals the Incarnate Son of the Father to us and we are brought to the Father through Christ in the Spirit. Not alone. But in fellowship with all the saints who have gone before us in the faith and all those on earth united with us in the one Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and + the Holy Spirit, be glory now in the Church and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

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Epiphany

1/6/2020

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Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:1-12; St Matthew 2:1-12
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.

The first question in Holy Scripture by God Himself could be paraphrased this way, “Where’s the king?” The king was Adam. God created him to rule, to have dominion, to be king. But where was he? He was seeking the darkness. He was hiding behind the bushes. He was throwing his bride under the bus.

The king was scared. He had sinned against his Creator who had only ever been good to him. What a pathetic little king. Made to be king, he turned from his Creator to become a slave. A slave to the devil. A slave to the dust. A slave to death. The king now dwelt in a darkness of his own making.

But God his Creator had mercy on this poor, miserable sinner. The failed king. And He shined light into that darkness. He came to him. Drew him out of the darkness by the Light of His Word. He gave him the promise of a triumphant King to come who would atone for all of the royal failures of Adam and Adam’s children.

And instead of punishing him, God gave him a gift. A gift greater than gold, frankincense or myrrh. He gave him faith. Faith in the promise of the King to come. So even though Adam was driven out into a dark, miserable world, he was driven out with the Light of a promise that he would one day reign with God in the world to come. He was driven away from the Tree of Life, but still boldness and access with confidence through faith in the Promised Seed.

Matthew’s Gospel is the first book of the New Testament. It is sometimes considered the Torah, or even the “Genesis” of the New Testament. In Greek it actually begins, Biblos geneseos Iesou Xpistou. Translation - the Bible of the genesis of Jesus Christ. And the first question in this first book is the same question. The wise men came to Jerusalem and asked, Where’s the King? But this King was not hiding. He was not in the dark. Not like Adam. He was revealing Himself. Epiphany means “revealing.”

This King comes to seek the darkness. He has come to conquer and overcome it. To draw out Adam and Adam’s children. And so this King draws the wise men to Jerusalem by a miraculous star so that there He can shine the even greater Light of His Word upon them. As the Micah prophesied, And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a King who will shepherd My people Israel. The King of kings born in Bethlehem. A King born not only reveal Himself to the Jews as you heard from Luke 2 on Christmas Midnight, but also the reveal Himself to the Gentiles, as you hear tonight - Christmas for the Gentiles. He has come to enlighten every man.

“Where’s the King?” Its a good question to ask ourselves. Where is your Ruler? Where is the King of your life? The Israelites were led in the darkness by a Pillar of Fire to led them to the Promised Land. These wise men were led by a star and by the Word to the promised land of Bethlehem.

But where is the Light that will lead you in this dark world to the promised land? Our lips know the right answer: Jesus is our King and His Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. But our hearts are often far from believing this. We have wandered. We have gone astray in disobedience to His will because we want to be king of our lives. Its our entire experience as Adam’s children. And so we struggle. We fight against the inherent notion within us that we are the center of the universe. It’s not hard to see why we’re always measuring things by what pleases us. And so we plan our lives apart from God. We live not to serve, but to be served. We think we’re kings. In truth we are slaves like Adam. What pathetic little kings we are.

But the true King has come. The True Center of the Universe has come to earth to be born in Bethlehem. The mystery of Christ which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by Spirit. He has come to reveal this marvelous mystery to enslaved sinners. He is not like Adam or us. He is the Second Adam come to do what the first Adam failed to do. He has come to do the Father’s will. To draw you out of darkness and away from the devil into His marvelous light.

For He is the King who doesn’t seek the darkness, but who seeks to bring His Light into a dark world, lead you out of darkness, death, and into the promised land of His heaven. He wants to be seen. He wants to reveal Himself. He wants to be known, even to a world that will reject Him and hang Him on a Cross under the cover of darkness. Because that’s exactly where this King wants to go! To bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, as St Paul writes to the Ephesians.

So “where is the King?” Right there in Bethlehem, as promised. Not hiding in the bushes throwing His woman under the bus. But in the house with His Mother, receiving the wise men’s gold, like a King should.

But at the same time He is giving to them something even more precious - faith in the promises of God, which is more precious in His sight than gold, though it perishes. Again, St Paul: Through the Church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. They come seeking the King of the Jews. They leave receiving faith that makes them partakers with the Jews.

And you receive this faith too! For His Gospel has been preached to you. His Baptism has been given to you. He has redeemed you, not with gold or silver, or with frankincense or myrrh, but with His holy precious blood and His innocent suffering and death. And by the Light of His Word He makes you wise unto salvation in world of fools.

“Where’s the King?” Well, in case you miss Him at the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel, see Him at the end, when men who claim to be wise take God’s King and pierce Him and hang Him on a Cross. They even pound a sign over His head that leaves no doubt who this is: This is Jesus, the King of the Jews (Mt 27:37).

Where’s the King? At this Altar, for you. In this Bethlehem, this House of Bread. He’s risen from the dead. He has trampled down the devil, your sins, and death itself. All that would have enslaved you. He has trampled it under His feet and tonight enthrones Himself again on this Altar. Arise, shine, for your Light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. Lift up your eyes, as Isaiah says.

Lift up your heads and your hearts! This is the King of Glory. Strong and mighty. Your King. Born to reconcile man to God by His death. Risen to bring life and immortality to light. He is your King and has graciously chosen you has His subjects, His children, to live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. He is your King and He rules His Church just as He does again tonight - with His Word of forgiveness, mercy and steadfast love.

In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Second Sunday after Christmas

1/5/2020

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Genesis 46:1-7; 1 Peter 4:12-19; St Matthew 2:13-23
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.

The flight of the child Jesus to Egypt and his return occurred right after the Magi from the East came to Bethlehem to worship Him. Their visit is recounted in the Gospel lesson for Epiphany. Tomorrow. The 13th Day of Christmas, which begins a new season of the Church Year. The season of Epiphany features our Lord revealing His glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. It is during the season of Epiphany that we see Jesus in the Temple showing wisdom fall beyond His age. See Him doing His first miracle, changing water into wine. See Him Baptized and Transfigured. Revealing, that is, ephiphanying, His glory.

But not today. Right after Jesus receives the worship of the Magi He has to run away from a murderous king bent on taking His life. God becomes a Baby and is immediately set upon. His Mother has to undertake a treacherous journey not long after giving birth. Joseph must travel to a far away place he has never seen. St Peter is right. Judgment begins at the household of God. And if it began with Baby Jesus, beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you.

Yet we look at these events and wonder why God permits what He permits. People put God on trial for not taking care of His business properly. Why should the Son of God have to flee from a murderous king> Why not stay the hand of the killer who murdered as many as twenty innocent little boys in his attempt to kill the newborn King of the Jews? What is God doing?

Organizations like Planned Parenthood that profit from killing unborn babies receive government subsidies so they can further profit from what, in a civilized society, would be criminal activity. Those who protest the mass slaughter of the unborn are portrayed by the media and entertainment industry as fanatics. While those who do the killing lay claim to constitution protection for their gruesome trade. Where is God in all this? Why does He do nothing? The millions of babies killed in their mothers’ wombs cries out to heaven for vengeance. But their killers retire on pensions and die peaceful deaths. Where is God?

As an aside, if you’re as saddened by this travesty as I am, consider participating in the March for Life Indianapolis this year. Wednesday the 22nd a special Divine Service will be held here at 10a followed by a carpool downtown to March with our brothers and sisters in Christ, fellow Pro-Lifers, and a joyous congregation of people walking to the State House to speak for those whose voice has been silenced. To tell our political leaders what those little boys and girls can’t say for themselves.

If the conscience of our political leaders today is callused to this issue, Herod the Great had no conscience at all. He was a murderer. He killed several members of his own family. He was so paranoid about threats to his position that he killed literally thousands of people in his lifelong grasp for power. He came to a miserable end. He died of an excruciatingly painful, putrefying illness of an uncertain cause. It became known as “Herod’s evil.” As he was facing death he arranged to have several prominent citizens killed so that when he died the people would mourn. His orders were not carried out.

People ask why God permits such wickedness to occur. Why should God be held responsible for sins committed against Him? He loves little children. But why is He to blame for the crimes of Herod or Planned Parenthood? Rachel weeps for her dead children. But she doesn’t blame God. We cannot blame God.

We cannot blame God because He is not to blame. It’s not just that God isn’t responsible for the evil actions of men. Men are. But it’s also that He has addressed this evil in such a way as to overcome it and destroy it. Only it wasn’t in the way that you might expect. God doesn’t think like we think. Sinful human beings judge God by sinful human standards and find Him wanting. Those who are steeped in sin and bound by a will that is hostile to God and incapable of obeying in faith Him presume to stand in judgment of Him who is holy. It’s not a matter of the pot calling the kettle black. It’s a matter of evil judging good and calling good evil.

Herod is evil. Jesus is good. Herod is king (small k) of the Jews. Jesus is King of the Jews. Herod wants to kill Jesus so as to protect his own power. He can’t imagine any other kind of power than the power of force. Chairman Mao said that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. This is the only kind of power Herod understood. He’s not alone. Many folks who would consider themselves quite religious think that religion is all about the Law and only about the Law. About what you have to do and can’t do. The Law is inextricably bound to coercion and punishment.

So then, why does the good God permit evil? Why does the God who loves the little children, all the children of the world, permit a bloodthirsty maniac like Herod to murder the babies of Bethlehem? Why does He permit the “legal” slaughter of the innocents in America and around the world? Where is God when human cruelty cause such terrible human misery?

He is running away! His descent from Jacob’s ladder to assume Jacob’s flesh and blood and to redeem all of humanity was not a descent from heaven to a heavenly chamber here on earth. He wore no halo. He received little honor. he humbled Himself from the time He was conceived and born. He had the kind of power Herod revealed in, but He didn’t exercise it.

Why not? Why not steel against steel? Why not a superior Law against a depraved and corrupted one? Why not establish the kind of justice that rids the world of baby killing savages and makes it what a good God created it to be? Isn’t that what a good God would do?

Jesus fled from Herod not because He was conceding the battle or merely biding His time or waiting for a more opportune moment. Jesus ran away to Egypt to fulfill God’s promise. I Myself will go down with you to Egypt and I will also bring you up again. Our Lord’s Gospel promise has always been the answer to evil of every description. St Paul writes, Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Rm 12:21). This is how the Gospel works. It overcomes evil with good.

On His way to Egypt, Jesus passed by Mt Sinai where God gave His holy Law. The Law His people disobeyed. The Law that condemned the crimes of Herod and ours. The Law He came to fulfill. He, our Passover Lamb, traveled near where the first Passover lamb was killed. He, our Israel, was carried down into Egypt by His adopted father. He who was lifted up on the Cross traveled near the place that Moses lifted up the bronze serpent. He fled His homeland so that you could return to yours. He made Himself a sojourner that you could find your way home where you belong.

It looks like weakness, but it is almighty power. Who is this helpless Child traveling across hostile countryside? Who but the Creator of heaven and earth! He humbles Himself. People loved by God, don’t be put off by His humility. For you haven’t got a prayer without it. Unless the almighty God came down to earth to become our representative, to fulfill the Law in our stead, to suffer and die for us, we would remain bound to the sin that captured our own hearts from the time we were conceived and born.

You cannot force good into evil. You need a Savior who will bear the evil, conquer your sin in His own Body, and thus achieve what you needed, but couldn’t do. Christ’s life was lived for you. The vicarious purpose of His life is why we celebrate this Holy Season. He was born, not just to show us how to live or how to die, but to do for us, in our stead, what we owed. And to suffer for us, as our Substitute, what we deserved. This required Him to humble Himself. No steel against steel. No gun against gun. No fist against fist. But the pure, holy, and perfect submissive love of Jesus offered up to His heavenly Father as our offering.

The life of Christ is our life. We stand on our pride and demanded to be treated as we think we deserve. But He didn’t latch onto His status. He made a humiliating journey through the desert running away from a vicious thug. The Prince of Peace fleeing from the killer of babies! How embarrassing! If only we had a god who stood up to tyranny and wickedness! A god who would trample out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored! Instead, He runs away.

But see where He is going. Don’t judge Him. He fulfills God’s promise: Out of Egypt I have called My Son. Hosea was not only recounting God’s son Israel, but giving us a promise that God the Father would call His only begotten Son out of Egypt, return Him to the Holy Land, and fulfill every single promise given through the prophets. He would keep the covenant God’s people broke.

He would overcome evil with good in His own Body. By His humble obedience, all the way to the Cross, where He died bearing the weight of the world’s sin, He would gain an eternal Kingdom. And in His resurrection He would bring life and immortality to light. And through His Gospel preached to all nations He would call sinners out of darkness into the wonderful light of His saving truth.
In the meantime, what do we do with the baby killing Herods who appear to become more and more emboldened? How do we defeat their evil designs? We love them. We love those for whom Jesus died. We pray for their conversion to the truth. We march right up to their steps and confess the saving truth to them. Just as the almighty God hid His power under the appearance of weakness as Jesus fled from Herod’s anger, so today He hides His almighty power under the humble forms the Gospel takes among us. Word and water, bread and wine.

But His Word which endures forever is always powerful to save sinners and to usher them into Christ’s Kingdom of grace.

In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Circumcision and Name of Jesus

1/1/2020

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Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 3:23-29; St Luke 2:21
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.

Dear people loved by God, we stand again at the threshold of a new year. It is natural to wonder, “What will it bring?” But no one can answer that. The Lord knows. You might also ask, “How will it go with my job this year?” The answer must be: the Lord knows. “Will fortune or misfortune come upon me?” Again, the Lord knows. “Will I live through this year? Or will I be called to my eternal home?” Again, the Lord knows.

Whatever paths on which our Lord has taken you this past year - no matter how diverse, joyous, or sorrowful they may have been - they have all had this one goal with each of you. Whether our Lord has disciplined and deprived you, or He has spared you trouble and provided bountifully for you, His goal for you all in Christ Jesus is to strengthen your faith in Him and bring forth fruit unto eternal life.

It will be no different for the year ahead. It is no coincidence that our Lord God has so ordered the world’s New Year celebration to happen on the eighth day of Christmas, the eighth day since our Savior’s birth, the day the Church celebrates the Feast of the Circumcision and Name of Jesus. This is your doorway through which you go forward into this New Year. Ahead may be darkness and uncertainty, but the Lord has painted upon this entrance a beautiful and comforting image of the circumcision of Christ and the sweet and precious name Jesus. By this image, this painting, through this entrance, you can look into the fatherly heart of God in heaven.

As you know, beloved, God first introduced circumcision with Abraham as a sign of the covenant and seal for him and his offspring. It is seen in many passages throughout the Old and New Testament, but its origin lies in God’s Word to Abraham in Genesis 17: I am God Almighty, walk before Me and be blameless, that I may make My covenant between Me and you, and may multiply you greatly. This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcision. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised (Gn 17:1-2, 10, 12).

This is a promise. The Lord shall be his God and the God of all his descendants after him. From him the Lord would bring forth the Seed of the woman promised in Paradise. He would trample the head of the serpent. Circumcision is the sign and seal of the covenant that they would bear on their bodies. It would be a constant reminder that they have a gracious God. A God who would help them in temporal afflictions, save them, guard and protect them, and richly bless them. Indeed this God would redeem them from sin, death, and judgment and given them eternal life.

At the same time, circumcision was a reminder that all men are conceived and born in sin. The heinousness of sin, particularly original sin - that we by nature lack true fear, loved, and trust in God above all things - needs to constantly be held before the all. It is serious. Look back over this past year, beloved, what sins have you to confess? What indiscretions? What deceit and trickery? What anger and hatred? What gossip and slander? Indeed we have offended the Lord our God this past year with our sins. We do deserve His temporal and eternal punishment.

So enters Christ, and on this day, the first of a new year, submits Himself to the covenant sign of circumcision and the curse and judgment of the Law. He had no personal need for circumcision. No need to be under the covenant and the Law. He is the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the One who instituted circumcision. He is the Cutter of the covenant. The One who swears by Himself, by His own Name.

But here, for your sake, He subjects Himself to the judgment of the Law and the flint knife of circumcision. He takes upon Himself the curse of the Law and receives for you the wages of your sin. These drops of blood that the dear child Jesus shed here on the 8th day are, as it were, earnest money, the downpayment, which your Guarantor lays down against the judgment of God. Through it He pledges to pay the entire debut and establish peace between you and the Father by the new covenant in His Blood.

This He completes in His Cross and Passion, by His death and Resurrection. His whole life was a sin offering given for you, the lost children of Adam. His precious blood paid the full ransom and purchased you back from the curse of the Law. The Law can no longer threaten you. You have a reconciled Father, who for the sake of Jesus forgives your sins, receives you again as His dear children, and freely gives you life and salvation.

Do you see what Christ’s circumcision means? This is of highest importance and blessing for lost sinners. Here the fearful yoke and unbearable weight of the Law is taken off your shoulders and laid upon this beloved little Child. He is named Jesus. The name given by the angel to the Virgin Mary, repeated to Joseph in a dream, bestowed by the Father upon His Son who saves His people from their sins. People loved by God, in Jesus you have a Redeemer who loves you and taken upon Himself your sin, your curse, that He might ransom and reconcile you.

This same Jesus who freed you from the wages of sin and death, guards and protects you in all danger and suffering that may come upon you this new year and throughout your life. Indeed, He controls these sufferings so they can only serve for your good. At the last He will finally rescue you completely from them, lead you through death to eternal life and blessedness. All of this is contained in His name: Jesus.

And this Name is given to you, placed upon you by the Lord Himself in Holy Baptism, even as Christ Himself is put upon you, to clothe and shield you, as holy and spotless garment to wear and remember always, as you heard from St Paul. The Apostle elsewhere writes, In Him you also were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised Jesus from the dead (Col 2:11-12).
This Jesus is now seated at the Father’s right hand. Through His nail scarred hands He rules and governs the entire cosmos, the world, and even all things that befall you. But fear not, for His blood and His name are the guarantee that out of His hand must flow pure blessing for you.

Now this does not mean that no want or sickness or trouble or hardship will befall you this year. Rather, has He not said to you, Unless a man take up his cross daily and follow Me, he cannot be my disciple (Lk 9:23)? At your Baptism He allowed you to be marked with His Cross. You are taught to make the sign of the holy cross upon yourself in His name. Beloved, you belong to the cruciform kingdom of the Crucified King. And as His disciples you will pass through many troubles to enter the kingdom of heaven. As certain as you are a Christian, for He has made you one, so certain will you experience cross and suffering. My friends, if they have called the Master of the House Beelzebul, how much more will they persecute those of His household (Mt 10:25)?

Nevertheless, in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. And if you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. The Feast of the Circumcision and Name of Jesus teaches us that we have a Savior. By His blood He has removed every cause of fear and worry because the Law with its curses and judgments has been removed.

Whatever misfortune may affect you, it is not punishment or anger from God. Rather is the disciplining hand of a loving Father. Yes, its possibly that this new year you will face suffering and trials. All Christians do. You may become poor in earthly possessions. It is possible that God may sift His Church in this country through persecution. It is possible you may fall asleep in Christ this year. The Lord knows.

What you know and believe is in the One who conquered death and brought life and immortality to light. His Name is placed on you. And the Name Jesus encompasses all compassion, all love, all promises, all blessedness. It guarantees that God is with us and is our reconciled Father. Fear not. The Almighty who sits on the throne of glory, who rules in the midst of His enemies, before whom all knees must bow, whether in heaven or on earth or under the earth, He is your Jesus, your Savior, Brother, Bridegroom and Friend. He not only loves you, He likes you too.

Come, people loved by God, and receive His Body given and His Blood shed for you for the first of many times this year. Here is the One who is faithful. He will complete the good work He began in you. And if you need a resolution, how about these: Hold fast to His Word and Supper. Do not forsake or despise prayer. Do not neglect to meet together in the Divine Service. And according to His will and Word He will give you a blessed end and lead you into an eternal and new jubilee year, in true peace and blessedness. And right in the struggle of death, this most beautiful name will enlighten and happily bring you through to eternal life: JESUS! Amen.

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First Sunday after Christmas

12/29/2019

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2 Samuel 7:1-16; Galatians 4:1-7; St Luke 2:22-40
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.

The promises of God are always sure and certain. They always direct you to His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. The Word of God is one great promise after another. From the first one where the Lord said He would cause the woman’s Seed to crush the serpent’s head all the way to the promise of the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting, the Father speaks all these promises through His Son.

And God the Father always keeps the promises He makes in His Son Jesus Christ. Always. He never fails. He promised to send His Son, born of a virgin in Bethlehem to be the Christ. He would be a shoot from Jesse, from the line of David. His kingdom would have no end.

When the little Baby laid in the manger grew a bit older He would be worshipped by the Gentiles as was promises, be taken to Egypt as was promised. Then, when He was older still, He would be called a Nazarene, as was promised. All so that He would be stricken, smitten, and afflicted for you, as was promised.

As your Lord and Christ Himself promised He was crucified, men pierced His hands and His feet, cast lots for His clothing. He died, pouring out His life as a ransom for many. Because not only does your Father in heaven make promises to you, but your Lord Jesus Christ makes promises too. The Scripture testifies to this! Our Lord said, “These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms, must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Lk 24:44-49).

The Holy Spirit has recorded for you the promises of God in the Sacred Scriptures. Nothing has been left out. Nothing forgotten. What God has said he would do for you, then or now, He has done and still does. Nothing forgotten. Not one thing. But how difficult, no, how impossible, it is for you to believe these things. How hard to watch and wait.

That is exactly what Simeon had to do. Watch and wait. How long? As the psalms cry out, How long, O Lord? Holy Tradition says around 200 years! God had spoken to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he saw the Lord’s Christ. How long had he waited? He received a promise, but he had not seen it fulfilled. Have you had that? Waiting, watching, praying.

He was hoping for a consolation, the comfort that God said He would give. Not only for himself alone, but to His people Israel, and even light to the Gentiles. He had the promise. But it was a comfort they had not yet received, because God has not sent His Son. But Simeon was told that he would not die until he saw this promise fulfilled with his own eyes. But eyes get dim and tired. What you have heard can fade. That is the way it is with you, watching and waiting.

Simeon heard a promise but once. You who are baptized have heard the promises of God in Christ Jesus so many times! But the frailty and weakness of the flesh work constantly work against you. The Old Adam rejects them for other things. What St Paul, in writing to the Galatians calls the elementary principles of this world. The created things. Things seen. Known by experience. Trading in the promises of god for the pleasures of the flesh, for the security of things seen is exactly what Adam did - the fruit was pleasing to the eye - and it is what you do too. All the time.

God has granted you every promise in His Son. In Him, Jesus Christ, they are all Yes and Amen (2 Cor 1:20). But in you and by the Old Adam, you say No. “I’ll trust in what I can see, what I know. Myself. My ability. My ideas. My false gods that I hold onto on the inside. Or even along with Jesus so that I’ll have some security in this world.” No, dear Christians, you may not do that. You shall have no other gods. And the folly of your sin is the you don’t see clearly how you have other gods right alongside the true One.

So you come to Church on Christmas to worship a Baby Boy and then you gave away as stocking stuffers lottery scratch offs. You received the Body and Blood of Christ and then lusted after the body of someone who is not your spouse. You were cleansed in the robe of Christ’s righteousness in your Holy Baptism, yet you pollute your mind with the filth that HBO and even Netflix offers as fun and entertainment.

Why? Because you think you can. You think you can get away with it and so much more. Why? Because you don’t really believe the promise of God that He will send His Son as your Judge. You think that the promise of the Gospel is a big ticket to freedom to sin, not freedom from sin.

The promises to you don’t have any real punch when they are need, because you haven’t seen anyone get up out of the grave. You haven’t seen God come down to deal with what you need dealing with on your time, at your beckoning, when you say.

But thanks be to God that He deals with you not according to your whims or way or time. Neither does He deals with you according to the way you deserve. He deals with you according to His promise, in His Son. For as you heard, When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

The promise of God for you this day is that the consolation you need, the comfort you seek, the peace you long for, everything you need, was seen by Simeon. He held every promise God ever made in arms. But it didn’t look like it! No one could see that. Mary and Joseph marveled at what was said of Him. He will only be received and seen now through faith in His promises.

To see the Baby in the manger, then in the arms of Simeon, then a Man on the Cross, would be to see what looked like every other baby born, a newborn in the Temple, and every other wretched crucified man. But the promise of God is that He is the Lord’s Christ! In the fullness of time, when it was just right, according to the Father’s way of working by promise, He sent His dearly beloved Son to be treated not as an Heir, nor as a Son, but as a sinner. The Sinner. To be brutally killed for your sins. To be judged in the way you should be, as the idolator, gossip, liar, adulterer.

All so that you would have His place. So that you are seen by the Father as being in the very place of His Son Jesus Christ. With the status and place as the heir of all things.

This is the real consolation you have. The true comfort and peace. That by the forgiveness of your sins, by the redemption of Israel and the Light of the Gentiles, you stand before God as His own Son. For that is what you are. A son of God through faith in Christ Jesus your Lord. And an heir of all things according to God’s promise.

And so it is no accident or artistic license of the Church to sing what Simeon sand when He saw and half Jesus. All the promises of God were wrapped up in the seeing by faith the Lord’s Christ; that Baby Simeon held in his arms.

And for you all the promises of God are wrapped up in and under bread and wine, the Body and Blood of Christ, given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins. So you depart in peace. You could die on the way home, or even here in the pew. For you have every promise given, every Word sure, every Amen confident. For here you see the Lord’s Christ wrapped up in promises. Every Word fulfilled. Everlasting life. Forgiveness of sins. Eternal salvation. Consolation in sorrow. A Light to lighten the Gentiles and the Glory of Israel. Jesus Christ. The very promise of God. Yours.

In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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St Stephen's Day

12/26/2019

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2 Chronicles 24:17-24; Acts 6:8-7:2a, 51-60; St Matthew 23:34-39
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.

So much for the white Christmas you were dreaming of. Not only have we not had any snow, but the Church has already set aside her white paraments more quickly than the world takes down its evergreens. Within a day of the Lord’s holy Nativity His chancel is stained red with the blood of His martyrs, anticipating the blood-stained banner of His own Holy Cross.

So it is that on this day, the 26th of December, the Second Day of Christmas, we remember with thanksgiving our Lord’s faithful servant, the deacon St Stephen, who was martyred for his faith and confession, put to death as a witness to the Gospel of your Savior, Jesus Christ.

Stephen was one of the seven deacons selected to serve the Greek members of the early Church in Jerusalem. He was an assistant pastor of sorts to the Apostles; chosen and appointed. He was a man of faith and great wisdom, full of the Holy Spirit. And he did what he was called and ordained to do: preach the Gospel and administer the Holy Sacraments of Christ.

The Church remembers St Stephen today not so much for a job well done “once upon a time,” but because of the Word of Christ which he continues to proclaim by his preaching and example recorded in the Holy Scriptures. For the saints in Christ are not dead, but live. And Stephan is part of that great cloud of witnesses with whom you are surrounded even now.

So when St Stephen preaches the Law, forcibly, in all sternness and severity, he preaches to you. Take it seriously, it is a warning against your own idolatry and hardness of heart. Heed what he says as a call to repentance and to the new life which is yours in Christ Jesus.

Don’t try to hide behind your church membership or good attendance. Though these things are meet, right and salutary for the Christian faith and life, don’t try to cover yourself with such good works when you make excuses for your absence from the household of God in Christ or for failing to love those of this house, your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Nor do we claim or cling to the Holy Sacraments as works of man! The mere fact of going through the motions does not rescue or redeem your life from the judgment.

Rather, in repentance and faith you receive and benefit from the Holy Sacraments as the works of God and the gifts of His grace. These are how He delivers you from sin, death, and the power of the devil. It may seem minuscule, but that difference in perspective makes all the difference in this world and the next. For it is not by any works or any self-righteousness that we are saved, but only by Christ Jesus, the Righteous One, who was crucified for your transgressions and raised for your justification.

Take it to heart, dear Christians, trust and believe St Stephen’s beautiful proclamation of the Gospel, especially in his example of mercy for those who were stoning him to death. Our Lord Jesus prayed that His Father would forgive those who nailed Him to the Cross. So does St Stephen pray that God would not hold the sin of his persecutors against them. Thus are you given to do for those who sin against you.

But such a word of grace is only possible through the working of the Word and Spirit of God, which St Stephen not only preached, but firstly received. He is an example of one who has received the Lord’s mercy and help. He lives by fear, love, and trust in God and faith in His Gospel. He preaches as he does not out of some clinical objectivity or academic interest, but as a man who has himself been called to repentance and faith by the preaching of the Word of Christ.

It is no different for you, beloved. The One who was crucified for his sins and raised from the dead as Stephen’s crown of righteousness, is the same One crucified for your sins and raised from the dead as your crown of righteousness. He has entered into the Holy of Holies made without hands, eternal in the heavens for your salvation. There He abides for you, as He did for St Stephen, in the presence of His God and Father. He is your Anchor behind the Veil, which you have stretched out to you now in His Church on earth in the preaching and ministry of His Holy Gospel. His Body is your Home, already now by faith and eternally in love.

This is because the heavens have been opened to you, as surely as they were to St Stephen, by the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Jordan River, by His innocent suffering and death upon the Cross, by the shedding of His Blood, by His Resurrection from the dead, and by His glorious Ascension as your own High Priest.

Knowing all of this, you are able to hear the preached Word of His Law and not shut your ears as though it painfully convicts you. It is not for your condemnation or the hardening of your heart, but for the preparation and purpose of serving His Gospel of the full and free forgiveness of all your sins. Because, like St Stephen, you receive and find your entire life in the Lord Jesus Christ. And you boldly carry out your vocation and serve in your stations in this body and life knowing with certainty that there is nothing anyone can do to rob you of the life that is yours in Christ.

Yes, there are those who may hurt or even kill your mortal body. Many others are even more likely to hurt your feeling and to make your present circumstances difficult and hard to bear. The stones that cut into Stephen’s body and spilled his blood, which shattered his bones and bruised his muscles, there weren’t painless or pleasant. But they didn’t rob him of his life with God in Christ, which is immortal, imperishable and glorious as Christ Himself now reigns in glory forever. So too you are preserved in safety, peace, and Sabbath rest within the Body of Christ Jesus, no matter what may happen to you here and now.

For even as your mortal body of flesh and blood is fed with His Body and Blood, so shall your body be raised in glory, no matter how it may be punished and pummeled and put to death in this brief span of time.
Do not be deceived, the Christian faith is always persecuted. The Church always lives in exile. But you have this boldness and confidence to live your life, to face trials and suffering, even your death on account of the Lord who comforts and strengthens you with Word and Spirit in His Gospel. Everyone else may, but He does not condemn you. Your Father who art in heaven forgives you because Christ has given Himself for you. You have your Immanuel, God with you, in this life and for the life to come. There is nothing and no one in heaven or on earth who shall ever be able to take you away from Him.

That you may continue steadfast in this faith and confession, the crucified, risen and ascended Lord Christ whom St Stephen beheld continues to call and ordain men, like Stephen, to care for His Bride, the Church. These men He endows with His Spirit and His Wisdom, according to their Office, to serve the Tables of His Church on earth with the Word of His Gospel and with His Body and Blood, given and poured out for the many, for the forgiveness of sins in His Name.

For He gathers you together as He longed to gather Jerusalem under the care and protection of His wing, here in His House as His own beloved Brood. In truth you see Him even as you say, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord.” You behold heaven opened and the crucified, risen, ascended and glorified Lord Christ who comes to you by the Right Hand of the Father, that is, in the Holy Supper. You find your refuge in Him and are not put to shame. He does not hold your sins against you for He has redeemed you, your Lord and faithful God.
By these means is how He bestows and preserves your life and salvation with Him, together with His God and Father + and the Holy Spirit, to whom be glory now in the Church and unto the ages. Amen.

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Christmas Day

12/25/2019

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Exodus 40:17-21, 34-38; Titus 3:4-7; St John 1:1-18
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.

One year after getting their freedom, one year after they were delivered through the blood-spattered doors and the Red Sea, on their 1st birthday, God gave His firstborn son the Israelites the gift of a Tent.

Up went the Tent God had given them. But this was no pup tent. This was no party tent. This would be a beautiful Tent. A royal Tent. A Tent fit for a King. This Tent was known as a Tabernacle.

God called Moses up to the top of Mt Sinai and in a vision of the heavenly sanctuary, gave him the divine blueprint for an earthly one. He detailed the materials, the architecture, the accouterments. God even inspired the craftsmen with the skill and wisdom to build His Tent to His specificity. It was to be made with blue, purple, and scarlet threads woven into the finest of linen. Angels were to be embroidered on it. The walls were to be made with ram-skin leather dyed red. And some badger skin. The furnishings for this Tent were to be made with the finest wood overlaid with gold. It was to be a glorious Tent.

But the most glorious thing was yet to come. God Himself, coming down from heaven to fill the Tent with His Glory. The Glory that encircled Mt Sinai, that frightened the Israelites, that wrapped the mountain in thick darkness and thunder. When God came down, He descended in a cloud of Glory. He filled that Tent with His glory. It was so grand and awesome - God came down among His people, in their midst, dwelling in a Tent. But it was so unapproachable that no one could enter the Tent. Not even Moses. It would have been deadly. God’s Glory filled that Tent, but no one dared just waltz in and get themselves some of God’s Glory.

God came to dwell, to pitch His Tent and provide a way for Him to be among His people, but He now had to provide a way for His people to have access to Him. He did. But it was limited access. Only one man on one day could go in - the High Priest on the Day of Atonement. And not without washing and not without blood. God may have been dwelling with His people, but it was a though He were aloof, distant, mysterious, intimidating and scary. God present with His people, but with a “Do Not Disturb” sign.

But today is Christmas Day. Birthday of birthdays. Jesus’ birthday. The birthday day of God on earth. And look what present God is giving to a dark world held in bondage to Satan’s power. You guessed it. A Tent! The Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen His Glory, Glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. “Dwelt among us.” Literally εσκηνωσεν. En-skinned. Tented among us. Its the birthday of birthdays and God is giving the world another Tent.

But this Tent is way better. Its not a Tent made with the skin of a ram or a badger, but the skin of the only-begotten Son of God. Its not a Tent with fancy angels embroidered into it, but a Tent that make real-live angels sing, Glory to God in the highest and peace to His people on earth! Its not a Tent with furnishings overlaid with gold. Its a Tent made of blood and bones, organs and water, just like the tent of your body. But this Tent is overlaid with the skin of God who is also true Man.

The Word became flesh and tented among us. God is present in this Tent named Jesus, the Word who was with God in the beginning and the Word who was God. This God dwells with man in this Tent. Joy of joys. Birthday of birthdays. The Glory of God - Jesus - is with man!

And the best part is He’s no longer aloof, distant, mysterious and intimidating. Instead He appears in the humble flesh of a Baby, something that doesn’t frighten, but draws - shepherds and wise men, angels and sinners like you. This Tent doesn’t come with a “Do Not Disturb” sign. For with the coming of the Child in the Manger, God was causing great disturbance among the hoards of hell, for God’s Glory was now accessible to all men. The Light was shining in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it.

It’s Christmas and the world gets the greatest gift ever - a Tent. God gives this Gift knowing what we’ll do to the Tent. We’ll live as though that Tent doesn’t matter and as though we matter most. We’ll treat that Tent as though its nothing special. We’ll pitch that Tent up on a Cross and tear it apart, deface it and poke holes in it. But He’ll bear it all and suffer it to death and be buried so that He might stand erect in the Resurrection and give you shelter from God’s wrath against sin.

It’s Christmas and God is still giving tents to the world. Its the gift that keeps on giving. With the Tabernacle God provided a way to dwell with His people. In Jesus, the Word made flesh, He provided a way for His people to dwell with Him. This is how St Paul put it to St Titus: When the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us. Jesus is our Rescuer from hell and damnation. He is the Tent called Goodness to cover over those who have done bad. When Jesus was born, Loving-kindness covered over those who have been unkind.

That word, lovingkindness, is actually “philanthropy” in the Greek, which means, “Lover of Man.” So, God shows us at Christmas, with this Tent named Jesus, that He is the Ultimate Philanthropist. He appeared in the Flesh for the truest philanthropy to take place - by loving you and saving you from the worst.

He came unto His own and by His grace you have received Him. You catechumens know this passage from Titus as part of Holy Baptism - How can water do such great things? This is what Jesus does in your Baptism. He places His Tent over you, to shelter you with His love, cover you with His forgiveness, grant you access to and a share in His glory. And make you little tents too. God’s little tents in the world.

That is what you are - a gift to many. Believing in His Name, given the right to be called His children, God has made you a gift to your family. You are God’s gift to your workplace. You are God’s gift to your neighborhood. God’s royal tens in this world upon whom He put His name and His glory.

The Word became flesh and tented among us. You have seen His Glory and continue to receive from His fullness grace upon grace overflowing. For behold the gift of His Tent not under but upon the Tree. Here, in His Supper you climb inside the Tent of the Word made Flesh and are given access to the great Glory of the Lord. Direct access, not once a year, but always, to God’s forgiveness, holiness, righteousness imparted to you, mercy, loving kindness, faithfulness, salvation, and the entirety of His fellowship.
We praise You, Jesus, at Your birth;
Clothed in flesh You came to earth.
The virgin bears a sinless Boy
And all the angels sing for joy. Alleluia!

Merry Christmas. Amen.

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Christmas Eve

12/24/2019

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Isaiah 7:10-14; 1 John 4:7-16; St Matthew 1:18-25
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.

St Matthew calls him a just man. Its not the same as “a good guy.” It is that. But its more. St Joseph is a godly man. A wise man. He had no hubris. No excess. Even though he had been wronged and had the right, he would not shame St Mary. He would suffer the loss of his betrothed. Put her away quietly and suffer her shame in himself. St Joseph showed himself to be a Christian man in both confession and action.

Even the pagan philosophers would have approved. This was the wisest and best, the most decent and ideal course. No good comes from vengeance or making a scene. Bitter grudges hurt the soul. But an angel intervened. The Child came by the Holy Spirit, not by a man. Mary’s virginity, her loyalty, and her love for Joseph remained pure. It was not merely lip service. It was real. And things were not quite what they seemed. This Child is the Lord who saves His people from their sins. He is the Messiah. Immanuel.

Now if Joseph took the first news well and planned to act in an honorable way, then this news was that much tougher. For even then Joseph could have acted out his part. He could have put her away quietly and no one would have blamed him, not even God. Indeed, he still would have been considered a decent and honorable man. The angel did not tell him he had to take Mary as his wife. He was only told that he should not be afraid to take her. Whatever the gossips of Nazareth were saying, she had not been unfaithful.

Reality never stops gossip. Joseph knew that the gossip wasn’t true, but his shame, even though it was undeserved, remained. Even if the gossips heard the truth, were told it directly, they wouldn’t believe it. And if they said they believed it, gossips are always liars. They embellish their tales even when they know that it is false. That is the first point: Even though he had a clear conscience before God, Joseph was going to be shamed no matter what. This is what love does.

Yet even though Mary was faithful, it can’t be denied that God took Mary from Joseph. He conceived in her womb. It is possible, as most of the Church Fathers assumed, that Joseph was never allowed to consummate the marriage of have any children by Mary. This seems untenable given the textual evidence.

In any case, Mary had been taken from him. Joseph would never be her first or deepest love. Again, he was legally and morally free to walk away and simply know in his heart that she hadn’t betrayed him; that she and he were both honorable no matter how it appeared. That is the second point: Even as there is not escape from shame, so also there is no escape from the Cross. This is what love does. God is to blame.

But Joseph had wisdom, not just beyond caring about the opinions of men, but also beyond that of the pagan philosophers. True wisdom, that which begins with the fear of the Lord, sometimes directs us to do things that the wise of this world label as foolish, impractical, and extreme. Like dying rather than pretending to pray to Caesar. Or like taking a wife pregnant with someone else’s Child.

In faith, Joseph was obedient to the Lord’s will. He clung to the tenacious hope that God is good and He works all things together for good for those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose (Rm 8:28). Of his own sanctified will, Joseph took up the guardianship of both Mary and the Messiah. In doing so he took up a cross like few men have ever known. The dirty minds and petty men of this world snickered at him and his bride all of their days. They called the Son of God a bastard. When Joseph went to Bethlehem for the census there was no room for his family in the homes of his family members and friends who lived there. From there he was forced into exile in Egypt.

And what of James and the other sons and daughters? What must they have thought? Something is off about that oldest sibling, Jesus. He never seemed to do any wrong. He was always obedient, generous, kind. He made them look bad. And He caused and required such great sacrifice and expense for anyone who came near to Him. He may have loved His neighbor as Himself, been the perfect son and brother, but His presence is always dangerous and always brings shame and suffering. It was not just Mary’s heart that was pierced, then or now. This is what love does.

This is the cost of Wisdom and the reason that it is so uncommon. Men on their own cannot obtain it. When they glimpse it, they think it is foolish. Not Socrates, Plato, or Aristotle, none of the pagan philosophers then or now, could boast of the wisdom and self-control of simple Joseph. He was a man who knew himself and his limitations. He was a man of moderation and decency.

Above all, he was a man who trusted that God works all things together for good and that God would provide. He knew the mercy that endures forever. Mercy that has joined itself to the flesh of men to be a sacrifice for sin and a beacon of light and life in this dark and dying world. Joseph knew what it was to belong to someone else and to trust in His goodness and providence. Joseph prayed the psalms. He knew that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding (Ps 111:10).

The virtue you see exemplified in Joseph is, in fact, love. Not sentiment. Not emotion. But true love as St John describes. Joseph didn’t act merely for the sake of honor or for what was wise. What likely scared Joseph more than the possibility of Mary’s moral weakness, was the idea that she did not love him, did not want him. He thought he lost her to another man. He was broken hearted, but he would not stand in the way of her happiness. He would quietly end the engagement so that she could move on, even if he was unable to.

In Joseph you are given an example not only of honor, but a willingness to sacrifice born of love, born of God. Joseph knew God. In faith he loved God. He loved Mary. When the angel told him, Do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit, he was freed. This meant that she had not been unfaithful; she still loved him. He could still have her.

And Joseph loved Jesus also. An adopted son is no less a son than a biological son. Don’t feel bad for him. Joseph got what he wanted. He got to marry and live with Mary until he died. He guarded and protected, love and served, provided for and waited upon her and upon Jesus for the rest of his life. It was in love that Joseph was willing to take up that cross and be the Lord’s guardian. He counted her worthy of the cost, even as God so counted him.

In this way, the Lord provided a father and guardian for Mary and for her Baby. That this Baby might forth for the love of evil men like us and buy us out of captivity with His death and pour His life into us through His resurrection, that the Holy Spirit would be given us and we abide in Him and He in us. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Joseph was exactly right: the Lord works all things together for good for those who love Him. Merry Christmas.

In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Christmas Midnight

12/24/2019

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Isaiah 9:2-7; Titus 2:11-14; St Luke 2:1-14(15-20)
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.

And it came to pass that as Jacob and Rachel were traveling they approached the little town of Bethlehem. And while they were there, the time came for Rachel to give birth. And she gave birth to her second-born son. But Rachel would not be wrapping her baby boy up in swaddling cloths and laying him anywhere. For there, on the outskirts of Bethlehem, tragedy struck. Rachel died giving birth.

To Jacob and Rachel a child was born. To Jacob and Rachel a son was given. But what shall his name be? From the dying lips of Rachel a name was given. Her last words, his name. Ben-Oni, which means, “Son of My Sorrow.” She was right. Death always brings sorrow. Jacob was sorrowful because death tore away his favored wife. The midwife had sorrow because death ripped away the one she served. Joseph, her firstborn, would also have sorrow, for death would rob him of a mother.

If death was natural and normal, just a part of life, this would have been no big deal. Everyone could have just smiled and gotten on with life. But no one breaks out the champagne when a loved one dies in childbirth and leaves behind a husband and children. No, one breaks out in tears.

Death is not natural. God sees it as completely unnatural. Death is a horrible intrusion into God’s good world. Death is sin made visible. And though man is very skilled at hiding his sin and keeping up appearances, as a body is lowered into a grave, there’s no more hiding death’s power.

To Jacob and Rachel a child was born. To Jacob and Rachel a son was given. But what shall be his name? From the living lips of Jacob came a name too. Jacob spoke up and renamed him, Benjamin, which means, “Son of My Right Hand.” An exalted and kingly name. In that naming Jacob was not simply trying to forget painful memories. He was preaching to his family and to us a wonderful sermon about a future birth in Bethlehem. The birth of a Greater Benjamin who would come to strike a lethal blow to the power of sin and death and raise man with Him to the right hand of God.

For to us a Child is born, this night. To us a son is given, this night. But what shall His name be? His Name would be Jesus, the name above all names, the name at which every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:9-11). But Isaiah tells us His name is also Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. He is our Benjamin. For God heard the sad and bitter cry of Jacob and Rachel. And He has heard your sad and bitter cry, He has seen your sorrow in this world of misery.

For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given. To us? A people who dishonor’s God’s name? Who live as though He and His commandments don’t matter? To us? But we’re a people who drag God’s name through the mud and give His Church a bad reputation. To us? We’re an ungrateful people, people who are always grumbling because we refuse to believe that God knows what He’s doing. To us?

You heard right. To us. While Jacob and Rachel did not make it to Bethlehem, Joseph and Mary did. And when they were there the time came for Mary to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn Son and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid Him in a manger. For she would not die, but live.

While Jacob and Rachel named their child, Joseph and Mary didn’t have to, because He was named from heaven before He was even born.

And while Jacob’s preaching on the outskirts of Bethlehem was good, tonight we hear preaching the outskirts of Bethlehem by an angel of the Lord that is even better: For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. God’s mercy make visible. Jacob’s preaching fulfilled.

Our true Benjamin, Jesus, has been born to rescue us from the threatening perils of our sins and from its evil progeny - death. The greater Benjamin, Jesus, is born to live in dishonor and lowliness, so that sin-loving man might be forgiven, glorified and seated in the heavenly places at God’s Right Hand, where there are pleasures forevermore.

But for Him to accomplish this, for Him to truly fulfill the name of Benjamin, He first had to be Ben-Oni. And because He loves you and because He loves His Father, He did it gladly. He truly was the Man of Sorrow who came to bear our grief and carry our shame and guilt to the Cross. He was born and took on flesh so that death would encompass Him and not you. He was born so that the pains of hell would get a hold of Him and not you. He came to be like a magnet drawing trouble and sorrow, sin and death unto Himself so that it would never overwhelm you.

Jesus is indeed our Wonderful Counselor, but for our sake He was first the Sorrowful Sufferer who suffered our sins to their death on the Cross. Jesus is indeed our Mighty God, but first He was a Lowly Servant, who served you by emptying Himself and letting His holy Flesh be pulverized by the Father’s Wrath. He is the Everlasting Father, but first He had to be the Earthly Man who died an early death for sins He didn’t commit. He is our Prince of Peace born to be devoured by the Prince of Demons so that hell would not devour us.

Raised from the dead, bursting death’s belly, He is seated at God’s Right Hand so that He could send out preachers to proclaim His salvation everywhere. For in your Savior, Christ the Lord, the grace of God appeared, bringing salvation to all people; training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works.

For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given. People loved by God, that Son is given here this night. Caesar August gave the decrees that all the world should be registered. He gave the decree to get names written down so that he could get, collect, take and enrich himself and his Roman Empire. But not God the Lord, He used that decree to get Mary and Joseph all the way into Bethlehem so that the Christ Child, our Greater Benjamin, could be born bringing salvation for all people, writing your names in heaven with His own blood.

For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given. Swaddling cloths were a sign for the shepherd. What is the sign for you? The very swaddling pages of Holy Scripture which preach Jesus the Savior to you. The manger - a feeding trough - was a sign for the shepherds too. Behold, beloved, the Altar upon which is laid the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ is your manger, the “paradise at which your soul reclineth” (LSB 372:1), by which He gives you forgiveness, life, and salvation.

Join your song to the angel choirs once more this Christmas night, dear Christians. Glory be to God on high! Gloria in excelsis Deo! Here, on earth, is peace, good will toward men. Merry Christmas.

In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Commemoration of Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa

Epiphany

Second Sunday after Christmas

Circumcision and Name of Jesus

First Sunday after Christmas

St Stephen's Day

Christmas Day

Christmas Eve

Christmas Midnight

Rorate Coeli

Pr. Seth A Mierow

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