First Communion prior to Confirmation: Ezra Mierow
Revelation 6:9-11; Romans 6:1-5; St Mark 6:14-29
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
He worked no mighty miracles. He had neither wife nor child nor place he could call home. He lived in the desert wilderness of Judea and ate insects and wild honey growing up. He dressed in the rough fashion of Elijah in whose spirit he served. Turning the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. He preached and baptized for repentance and the forgiveness of sins. His life prepared him for a ministry that lasted at most a year and a half.
He was jailed for daring to speak truth to power. Not for preaching the Gospel, but proclaiming the Law in its full sternness. He showed no partiality. He called Pharisees and Sadducees a brood of vipers. He dared to condemn Herod Agrippa for taking his brother Philip’s wife as his own.
No entourage. No adoring fan base giving him a raucous convention. No house. No home. No family. He was the Voice. The Voice crying in the wilderness, saying, Repent, the reign of God is at hand. Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight (Mt 3:2-3). He was a Prophet. He was more than a prophet. In fact, Jesus says of him, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist (Mt 11:9, 11). He was a preacher. A martyr. A hero.
You can learn a lot about a person if you know who their heroes are. We live in the shadow of our heroes. We look up to them. We try to live like them. Our heroes encourage and inspire us. Good heroes encourage us to fear, love and trust in God above all things. They teach us by their words and deeds to believe in the promises of Christ. To hold fast His Word in the midst of all sorts of trouble. They exhort us to “sing, pray, and keep His ways unswerving.” To “perform our duties faithfully” (LSB 750:7).
Who are your heroes? Are they dressed in soft clothing and live in king’s houses? Fancy suits and mansions? Are they reeds shaken by every cultural or political wind? Do they bend the knee for prestige and glory? Do they make self aggrandizing promises of kingdoms and power? Get caught up in tawdry affairs? Do they suppress the proclamation of the truth?
Christians need heroes who remind us of God’s mercy. To see in their lives how God forgives sinners and saves the ungodly. Heroes such as David and Paul who remind us that the Lord can forgive murder, adultery, and raging against the Church.
Christians need heroes who remind us to thank God for all His gifts, especially those that come by way of suffering and cross bearing. To be reminded that He raised up faithful men and women before us to teach us and be a blessing to us. Our heroes Moses and Mark remind us to give thanks to God for their Spirit-inspired wisdom recorded in Scripture.
Our heroes Nathan and Daniel remind us to submit to the governing authorities who bear the sword, but to always obey God rather than men.
Christians need heroes who can stand as examples, especially when our Lord gives us their same vocations and callings. Mary and Joseph are heroes for parents. Samuel is a hero for children. Stephen is a hero for preachers. David is a hero for rulers. Jonathan a hero for friends. All the Christian heroes are our examples in faith and love, prayer and joy. In patience. In suffering. In death.
Christians need heroes who pray. Christians need heroes who serve. Christians need heroes who suffer with patience. Christians need heroes who die.
The Christian hero is not the person who has obtained all that he desired in this life. Our heroes are not those who have gained the entire word but lost their souls. Our heroes are not those who have achieved a great degree of worldly success or notoriety. Our heroes are those who have fought the good fight of faith. Those who have kept the faith. Those who have finished the race. Our heroes are those have stood against the wiles of the devil. Who have stood against the world and their flesh. And having stood, our heroes are those who have died the blessed death.
For the goal of the Christian life is not to make it to the end without suffering, amassing awards and notoriety and stuff. The goal of the Christian life is to make it to the end of life still trusting in the promises of God. Of walking by faith and not by sight.
John the Baptizer is such a hero. He died in the faith, not having received the things promised. He saw them from afar, but a lot closer than any other prophet. With his own hand he baptized the Coming One and said of Him, He must increase, but I must decrease (Jn 3:30). He was the Forerunner, preparing the way of the Lord. John stood on the banks of the Jordan and pointed with his own finger to God’s Lamb who bears away the sin of the world. Lamb’s were for slaughter. And to be the Forerunner is to go on ahead in the way the Lord Himself was to journey. John knew it wouldn’t end well for him in this world.
But he desired a better country. That is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called his God. He prepared for John a city. When he sent two disciples to Jesus asking if He was the One who is to Come, Jesus sent them back saying, Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have Good News preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by Me” (Mt 11:4-6).
Did John whisper this promise to himself as the executioner came with sword in hand? Herodias’ daughter’s swirling and salacious hints had captured the old man’s lust. Herod made his foolish promise and Herodias finally had her revenge. The regretful king handed the grisly platter with the prophet’s head on it to the girl who gave it to her mother. When word reached John’s disciples, they came and took away the body and buried it. Then they went to Jesus.
That’s what John taught them to do. That’s what we, by God’s grace, teach our children to do. What Ezra, who joins in the fray today, has been taught to do. This is what all catechumens are taught to do. Go to Jesus. Hear from Him the words that will sustain when all else fails. Take refuge in Him and never be put to shame. He is your Rock of refuge. He is your Fortress. Learn from Him to suffer. Learn from Him to pray. Learn from Him to die. Learn from Him to rise.
In the end He is your ultimate Hero, your Champion and Chief Contender. Jesus. Jesus who died. Jesus who took upon Himself flesh and blood so that He could die. Jesus, the immortal God who bound Himself to our sin, our shame, even our death, to save us. Dear Christians, you have a God who bleeds. A God who suffers. A God who was hated by the world. A God who has a tomb. You have a Jesus who says with His dying breath, It is finished.
There is a lot in that little sermon of Jesus. There are so many things that are finished. The work of salvation, finished. The sacrifice, finished. The atonement for the sins of humanity, finished. The war between heaven and earth, finished. The mad and endless attempts for us to win our own salvation, finished. The way from death to life, finished. The death of Jesus is everything for us. It is our hope and our life. It is our doctrine and our preaching.
And John is still pointing us toward Him. John is still preaching today. But not from the grave. He is standing at the Jordan of your Baptism, at the font, calling you to repentance. To put away your earthly heroes, your icons and idols. To be plunged once more, daily, through repentance and faith into the baptismal fellowship of Christ’s death. And to be united in His resurrection.
John is crying out from under the Altar, as you heard in the first reading, directing you to Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us. Grant us Thy peace.
Dear Christian, your heroes are strangers, wanderers, exiles on earth. Your heroes have a discontentment with this world, knowing there is something better. They have their eyes on the resurrection, the life and the world to come. They have their hearts set on the new heaven and the new earth where righteousness lives.
These are not the heroes from movies. Not the kind of people the world wants to follow. To do so means to follow them, with Christ Jesus, into death. But these heroes are the great cloud of witnesses (Heb 12:1) who are put before the Christian to encourage and enliven faith. These are the heroes put forth by God for you. Who stand here now, with Jesus, at this Altar, where He invites you to come and eat, come and drink, of His Body and His Blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins, for faithful strengthening in both body and soul, and for a life unconquerable that cannot die.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Revelation 6:9-11; Romans 6:1-5; St Mark 6:14-29
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
He worked no mighty miracles. He had neither wife nor child nor place he could call home. He lived in the desert wilderness of Judea and ate insects and wild honey growing up. He dressed in the rough fashion of Elijah in whose spirit he served. Turning the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. He preached and baptized for repentance and the forgiveness of sins. His life prepared him for a ministry that lasted at most a year and a half.
He was jailed for daring to speak truth to power. Not for preaching the Gospel, but proclaiming the Law in its full sternness. He showed no partiality. He called Pharisees and Sadducees a brood of vipers. He dared to condemn Herod Agrippa for taking his brother Philip’s wife as his own.
No entourage. No adoring fan base giving him a raucous convention. No house. No home. No family. He was the Voice. The Voice crying in the wilderness, saying, Repent, the reign of God is at hand. Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight (Mt 3:2-3). He was a Prophet. He was more than a prophet. In fact, Jesus says of him, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist (Mt 11:9, 11). He was a preacher. A martyr. A hero.
You can learn a lot about a person if you know who their heroes are. We live in the shadow of our heroes. We look up to them. We try to live like them. Our heroes encourage and inspire us. Good heroes encourage us to fear, love and trust in God above all things. They teach us by their words and deeds to believe in the promises of Christ. To hold fast His Word in the midst of all sorts of trouble. They exhort us to “sing, pray, and keep His ways unswerving.” To “perform our duties faithfully” (LSB 750:7).
Who are your heroes? Are they dressed in soft clothing and live in king’s houses? Fancy suits and mansions? Are they reeds shaken by every cultural or political wind? Do they bend the knee for prestige and glory? Do they make self aggrandizing promises of kingdoms and power? Get caught up in tawdry affairs? Do they suppress the proclamation of the truth?
Christians need heroes who remind us of God’s mercy. To see in their lives how God forgives sinners and saves the ungodly. Heroes such as David and Paul who remind us that the Lord can forgive murder, adultery, and raging against the Church.
Christians need heroes who remind us to thank God for all His gifts, especially those that come by way of suffering and cross bearing. To be reminded that He raised up faithful men and women before us to teach us and be a blessing to us. Our heroes Moses and Mark remind us to give thanks to God for their Spirit-inspired wisdom recorded in Scripture.
Our heroes Nathan and Daniel remind us to submit to the governing authorities who bear the sword, but to always obey God rather than men.
Christians need heroes who can stand as examples, especially when our Lord gives us their same vocations and callings. Mary and Joseph are heroes for parents. Samuel is a hero for children. Stephen is a hero for preachers. David is a hero for rulers. Jonathan a hero for friends. All the Christian heroes are our examples in faith and love, prayer and joy. In patience. In suffering. In death.
Christians need heroes who pray. Christians need heroes who serve. Christians need heroes who suffer with patience. Christians need heroes who die.
The Christian hero is not the person who has obtained all that he desired in this life. Our heroes are not those who have gained the entire word but lost their souls. Our heroes are not those who have achieved a great degree of worldly success or notoriety. Our heroes are those who have fought the good fight of faith. Those who have kept the faith. Those who have finished the race. Our heroes are those have stood against the wiles of the devil. Who have stood against the world and their flesh. And having stood, our heroes are those who have died the blessed death.
For the goal of the Christian life is not to make it to the end without suffering, amassing awards and notoriety and stuff. The goal of the Christian life is to make it to the end of life still trusting in the promises of God. Of walking by faith and not by sight.
John the Baptizer is such a hero. He died in the faith, not having received the things promised. He saw them from afar, but a lot closer than any other prophet. With his own hand he baptized the Coming One and said of Him, He must increase, but I must decrease (Jn 3:30). He was the Forerunner, preparing the way of the Lord. John stood on the banks of the Jordan and pointed with his own finger to God’s Lamb who bears away the sin of the world. Lamb’s were for slaughter. And to be the Forerunner is to go on ahead in the way the Lord Himself was to journey. John knew it wouldn’t end well for him in this world.
But he desired a better country. That is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called his God. He prepared for John a city. When he sent two disciples to Jesus asking if He was the One who is to Come, Jesus sent them back saying, Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have Good News preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by Me” (Mt 11:4-6).
Did John whisper this promise to himself as the executioner came with sword in hand? Herodias’ daughter’s swirling and salacious hints had captured the old man’s lust. Herod made his foolish promise and Herodias finally had her revenge. The regretful king handed the grisly platter with the prophet’s head on it to the girl who gave it to her mother. When word reached John’s disciples, they came and took away the body and buried it. Then they went to Jesus.
That’s what John taught them to do. That’s what we, by God’s grace, teach our children to do. What Ezra, who joins in the fray today, has been taught to do. This is what all catechumens are taught to do. Go to Jesus. Hear from Him the words that will sustain when all else fails. Take refuge in Him and never be put to shame. He is your Rock of refuge. He is your Fortress. Learn from Him to suffer. Learn from Him to pray. Learn from Him to die. Learn from Him to rise.
In the end He is your ultimate Hero, your Champion and Chief Contender. Jesus. Jesus who died. Jesus who took upon Himself flesh and blood so that He could die. Jesus, the immortal God who bound Himself to our sin, our shame, even our death, to save us. Dear Christians, you have a God who bleeds. A God who suffers. A God who was hated by the world. A God who has a tomb. You have a Jesus who says with His dying breath, It is finished.
There is a lot in that little sermon of Jesus. There are so many things that are finished. The work of salvation, finished. The sacrifice, finished. The atonement for the sins of humanity, finished. The war between heaven and earth, finished. The mad and endless attempts for us to win our own salvation, finished. The way from death to life, finished. The death of Jesus is everything for us. It is our hope and our life. It is our doctrine and our preaching.
And John is still pointing us toward Him. John is still preaching today. But not from the grave. He is standing at the Jordan of your Baptism, at the font, calling you to repentance. To put away your earthly heroes, your icons and idols. To be plunged once more, daily, through repentance and faith into the baptismal fellowship of Christ’s death. And to be united in His resurrection.
John is crying out from under the Altar, as you heard in the first reading, directing you to Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us. Grant us Thy peace.
Dear Christian, your heroes are strangers, wanderers, exiles on earth. Your heroes have a discontentment with this world, knowing there is something better. They have their eyes on the resurrection, the life and the world to come. They have their hearts set on the new heaven and the new earth where righteousness lives.
These are not the heroes from movies. Not the kind of people the world wants to follow. To do so means to follow them, with Christ Jesus, into death. But these heroes are the great cloud of witnesses (Heb 12:1) who are put before the Christian to encourage and enliven faith. These are the heroes put forth by God for you. Who stand here now, with Jesus, at this Altar, where He invites you to come and eat, come and drink, of His Body and His Blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins, for faithful strengthening in both body and soul, and for a life unconquerable that cannot die.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
RSS Feed