Small Catechism Review: Baptism, Third

Posted on January 12, 2022 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Midweek of Epiphany 1

Baptism: Third

This evening we heard the account of God’s call to Abram when he was 75 years old, 25 years before Isaac was born, 24 years before God made the Testament with Abraham of which circumcision was the sign. On New Year’s Day, we talked about the connection between the New Testament Sacrament of Holy Baptism and the Old Testament Sacrament of Circumcision, both of which are tools which God has used to bring sinful little children out of the devil’s kingdom and into His own family.

When it comes to Old Testament circumcision, people who rely on human reason have often wondered, how can the cutting away of a little skin make someone into a child of God and an heir of eternal life? How can anything that’s done to the body affect the soul and one’s relationship with God?

The same question is asked about the water of Holy Baptism. God promises, with the application of a little water in His name, some tremendous things. You remember what they were from Baptism: Second. What benefits does Baptism give? It works forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this. But some ask, How can water do such great things?

Our answer is stated very simply in Baptism: Third. Clearly it is not the water that does it, but the word of God that is in and with the water, and the faith that trusts this word of God in the water. For without God’s word the water is plain water and no Baptism; but with the word of God it is a Baptism—a water of life, rich in grace, and a washing of regeneration in the Holy Spirit, as St. Paul says to Titus in chapter three: “Through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, so that we might be justified by His grace and become heirs of eternal life according to hope. This is most certainly true.”

Water does a pretty good job cleansing the body; by itself, it does nothing for the soul or for one’s relationship with God. But God has taken that common cleanser of the body and has attached His word to it, His command and His promise to use it in His name as a tool and instrument of applying all the benefits Christ won for us on the cross to the individual who is baptized. The word of God that is in and with the water is like a tool or an instrument, like the very hand of God, holding out all the benefits of Christ to the one who is baptized.

Meanwhile, the faith that trusts this word of God in the water is also like a tool or an instrument, like the hand of the one being baptized, receiving and accepting the benefits of Christ being held out by the hand of God. And what is it that prompts that hand to be lifted up toward God to receive, but the very kindness and goodness of God as His hand reaches down with the help the sinner needs, holding out the blood of Christ and the promise of forgiveness? And so it’s the Gospel itself, the Gospel encapsulated in Baptism, that creates the faith that’s needed for Baptism to be effective in working the forgiveness of sins, delivering from death and the devil, and giving eternal salvation to all who believe this.

Without the word of God, of course, it’s just water. If I take water from anywhere, whether from the sink or from the baptismal font itself, and I go pour it on someone or wash my car with it, that’s no Baptism. The water itself isn’t sacred; it has no power. But with the word of God—when the water is applied by the minister to the one who comes to him to be baptized, when the baptizer calls upon God in prayer and speaks the word of God and applies the water in the name of God for the purpose of washing the person’s sins away and bringing him or her into God’s family, then it is a Baptism, a water of life, rich in grace, and a washing of regeneration in the Holy Spirit.

The word Luther uses for “washing” is the same word used in German for a “bath.” Baptism is a spiritual bath, a bath in which the Holy Spirit does the washing, like a mother bathing her little child, a bath in which the Holy Spirit does the “regenerating.” “Regeneration” is just a fancy word for “rebirth.” Baptism is the washing of rebirth, the washing of water and the Spirit by which a person who was born naturally outside of God’s kingdom is born into it.

So every baptized believer is a “born again” Christian, in spite of the misuse of that term by those who deny the fact that Baptism actually does something. And just as a child doesn’t do the work of being born, but the mother does all the work, so we aren’t the ones who do the work of Baptism or who give birth to ourselves by some decision to follow Jesus. No, God is the true Baptizer. He does the work. The Holy Spirit gives birth to us, and now we are God’s children.

In the catechism’s citation of Titus chapter 3, it mentions other important benefits of Baptism, too. …that we might be justified by His grace. Yes, justification is tied to Baptism. That’s where God justifies a poor sinner. It’s where and how God forgives sins. So, again, pretending that God has already justified all people, baptized or unbaptized, seriously undermines the Scriptural doctrine of Baptism.

…and [that we might] become heirs of eternal life according to hope. Of course Baptism makes us heirs. Because Baptism makes us God’s children, born of God. And as a good and faithful Father in heaven, He won’t leave His children as penniless orphans. He has made us heirs of His kingdom, heirs of all that is His, heirs of eternal life. That is the hope of the baptized, and it is a sure hope, because it has God’s own promise behind it. And so we say, together with Luther, and together with the Apostle Paul, This is most certainly true. Amen.

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To love God’s Word as Jesus did

Posted on January 9, 2022 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the First Sunday after Epiphany

Romans 12:1-5  +  Luke 2:41-52

The purpose of what we call the Church Year is this: to walk with Jesus through His life and His teachings. We review the major events of His life and we review His teachings again every year. And no matter how many times we review them, there’s always more to learn, and there’s always the Holy Spirit working in hearts, if we’re paying attention, to call to repentance, to strengthen faith, to warn about the very real dangers to our soul, to comfort the distressed, and to guide the children of God to imitate our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Church Year began in December with the Advent season, but it was Christmas that began our annual review of the life of Christ. We pondered His birth and His Circumcision. We would have considered His Presentation in the Temple, where Simeon and Anna worshiped Him, but St. Stephen’s Day took its place this year. We heard of the visit of the wise men who followed the star to Jerusalem and to Bethlehem, followed by the flight of the holy family to Egypt and the return to Nazareth. In all those accounts covering the first twelve years of Jesus’ life, we didn’t see Jesus doing anything or saying anything. What would this Child be like who is the very Son of God? Today we encounter the very first words and actions of the Word who became flesh, and it gives us another epiphany, another revelation about the God-Man.

But first, we learn something about the God-Man’s parents. We’re told that they went to Jerusalem every year for the Passover. That may seem like a small thing, but it took about four or five days to walk from Nazareth to Jerusalem, plus the week spent there, plus another four or five days walking back. Factor in the loss of income for those two weeks, plus the expenses of the journey and the lodging for a family that certainly wasn’t rich. And it wasn’t for a vacation or for sightseeing or for relaxation. It was to spend that week performing the religious rites and ceremonies God had prescribed in the Old Testament: acquiring a lamb, taking care of it for a few days, then slaughtering it and eating it, accompanied by time spent in the temple, prayers and hymns and a recounting of the history of how God redeemed Israel from slavery. Every year Mary and Joseph made that two-week journey to Jerusalem (with or without Jesus, we don’t know for sure), and during the rest of the year, they would faithfully attend the synagogue in Nazareth on the Sabbath day. What a wonderful example they were for all Christian parents!

When He was twelve years old, Jesus certainly went with His parents to Jerusalem for the Passover, where He who was the Lamb of God first participated in the festival that was entirely designed to foreshadow Him, and His own death at a Passover festival, in the same city of Jerusalem, some 21 years later.

But for now, Jesus is just a twelve-year-old Boy. And as His parents and the rest of the caravan from Nazareth got up early to start the long walk back to Nazareth, He stayed behind in Jerusalem. For some inexplicable reason, Mary and Joseph just assumed He was with their relatives or acquaintances who were part of the caravan, and they walked a whole day under that assumption. It must have been a pretty large caravan! They searched and searched, and didn’t find Him.

But it was already the end of day 1 by the time they realized He wasn’t there. So the next morning they got up and hurried back to Jerusalem. They made a quick search that evening, and still didn’t find Him. Finally, on the third day, they found Him, right there in the temple, sitting among the Rabbis, the teachers of Israel, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.

That’s an epiphany, a revelation of Jesus’ divinity. It was also a foreshadowing of what the future held for this twelve-year-old boy. He wouldn’t be some great carpenter, or some politician, or some philosopher. He would be engaged in teaching God’s Word, discussing God’s Word, instructing the people of Israel in the things of God, with better understanding than any of the other Rabbis, or, for that matter, than anyone else who had ever lived. Because He was the Word made flesh. He had come from the bosom of the Father, as St. John puts in. He knew God the Father perfectly.

And yet, as a human boy, He also learned. He asked insightful questions, and He answered questions. He was respectful to His elders. He wasn’t stuck up or condescending. Just a humble student, truly interested in the things of God, who loved God’s Word and God’s house. The ideal catechism student. He loved being in the temple of God. The words of the Psalmist describe Jesus perfectly: O LORD, I love the habitation of Your house, the place where Your glory dwells… How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!  My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the LORD; My heart and my flesh cry out to the living God. Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young, among your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house…O God, our Shield, behold! And look upon the face of your anointed. For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.

But His parents didn’t understand. They loved God’s house, too, but not like this. Why would Jesus stay behind and cause them to worry? Mary said, “Son, why have you done this to us? See, your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” And he said to them, “What do you mean, you were you searching for me? Did you not know that I had to be engaged in the things of my Father?” But they did not understand what he said to them.

It seems that Mary and Joseph had, what, forgotten?, that, while Jesus was their Son, His true Father—His only Father, in the sense of where He came from—was God the Father in heaven. And while Joseph had certainly given Jesus chores to do, His Father in heaven had given Him chores of His own. One of those chores—which was a delight to Jesus—was being engaged in His Father’s things, namely, in the things that have to do with hearing, learning, and discussing God’s Word, in the “chore” of spending time in His Father’s house.

But when Mary and Joseph said to Him, “Let’s go home,” He didn’t object. He went them, submitted to their authority as His earthly parents, and He grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. What an example He sets for every child, for every person of every age! Love for God, and love for man. Love for God’s Word, and love for His parents’ word.

This is part of what we call Jesus’ “active obedience” as our Substitute. He did perfectly what we’re all supposed to do, except that we haven’t. He had the true love for His Father’s Word that we’re all supposed to have, but don’t—not to this degree. If that stings, it’s supposed to. But this is also what saves us and raises us up again, together with Jesus’ passive obedience—the things He suffered in our place. This is what earned our salvation, that Christ was righteous for us, even as a child, and now the Father counts His righteousness and obedience to all who believe in Him, as if it were our obedience, as if we had been perfect parents or perfect children.

But that doesn’t mean that we are now free to disobey. On the contrary, we have a holy calling, as those whom God has counted as righteous, to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, as Paul wrote in today’s Epistle.

So parents, be the fathers and mothers God has called you to be. As Paul writes, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. Spend time with them. Teach them whatever you can, including the chief parts of the Small Catechism. Admit your own sins and mistakes and ask for forgiveness. Keep urging them, by word and by example, to grow into godly men and women who don’t just attend church regularly, but who show a genuine interest in God’s Word, a firm commitment to sound doctrine, and zeal for knowing God and discussing the things of God. And finally, commend your children to God and know that He loves them even more than you do.

Children, as Paul writes, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with a promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” Learn obedience. Learn to honor your parents, not just outwardly, but with your attitude and in your heart.

Children, young people, and adults, ask yourself is it your goal to imitate Jesus, to grow in wisdom as well as stature? To grow in favor with God and man? Not the favor of the cool crowd or of your friends, but of all people? In favor with your parents, your brothers and sisters, your fellow church members, your teachers, your classmates, your neighbors? You do that by being good, honest, dependable, humble, caring, and kind, and generous, by humbly admitting your sins and mistakes and asking for forgiveness, by devoting yourself to living as children of God in a godless world, who are eager to hear their Father’s Word and be engaged in the things of our Father in heaven.

You see, we all have plenty to work on, don’t we?, no matter what else we can’t work on or fix in this world. Don’t be conformed to this world, as Paul says, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. May God help you to live as His children during these trying times, even as He has brought you into His family through faith in Christ Jesus and loves and cares for you as a perfect Father. Amen.

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The hidden divinity of Christ is revealed

Posted on January 6, 2022 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

Sermon for the Epiphany of Our Lord

Isaiah 60:1-6  +  Matthew 2:1-12

It’s January 6th. This day has special significance for New Mexico, as it became the 47th state of the United States on this day in 1912. Tragically, the godless media in our country are seeing to it that most of the country now thinks of this day as the anniversary of a so-called “insurrection” at the U.S. capitol. It’s more than tragic, really. It’s of the devil. Not only because of all the fake news and the narrative of lies that people who are in league with the devil have been spinning over the past year, but because it distracts people from the real significance of this day that has been celebrated in the Christian Church for almost two thousand years, even longer than December 25th has been celebrated, according to some historians. It’s a day that points to the revelation of the divinity of Christ Jesus that was hidden under an appearance of humility. On this day, Christians celebrate the revelation of that hidden divinity of the Child born in Bethlehem, first, to the Gentiles, by means of a star; second, to John the Baptist at the Baptism of Christ; and finally, to all the nations through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, which happens to line up again with our focus on the Small Catechism.

As we heard Isaiah prophesy this evening, a light rose over Israel when Christ was born, like the rising of the sun or like the rising of the morning star. The wise men in the East saw the brightness of a star in the sky. But there was no visible brightness in the Child they eventually found in Bethlehem. We don’t know what they expected to find, except that, when they arrived in Jerusalem, they expected all Judea to be celebrating. These Gentiles from the East had no political relation to King David or to any of his descendants who had been kings in Israel. No king of the Jews had ever reigned over them. And yet they came from afar when they saw His star in order to worship Him and present Him with their gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.

But the Jews—they had all sorts of promises from the Old Testament Scriptures foretelling the coming of the King of the Jews, the great Son of David who would be born to them, to be a light for enlightening the Gentiles and for glory to the people of Israel. This was their promised King, their promised Savior.

And yet, when the wise men arrived in Jerusalem, they found everyone going about business as usual. They found no celebration. No joy in King Herod’s palace. No knowledge at all of Christ’s birth. And, most tragically, no interest in it even after the wise men announced the rising of the star that they had followed. Oh, the scribes knew where the Christ was to be born, but no one celebrated when they learned that He had come. On the contrary, we’re told that When King Herod heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

You see, they were distracted, too, distracted by political wranglings among the Jewish parties and with the imperial government; distracted by the outward show of their religion without the inner devotion to God and His Word, without the inner recognition of their sins, without the longing for God to finally step into the world, to reveal Himself to them for their salvation from sin, death, and the devil. No, they weren’t interested in such a salvation, or in such a divine Savior.

So God continued to hide Himself from them, even as He revealed Himself to the Gentiles and brought back the star so that the wise men could follow it right to the house where Jesus was. They weren’t part of Israel, and yet God had given them the sure hope that this King of the Jews would welcome them into the new Israel He would one day fashion out of Jews and Gentiles, not a political kingdom or a secular kingdom, but the kingdom of heaven.

That’s the Holy Christian Church. God revealed to us the hidden divinity of Christ by His Holy Spirit, through the Holy Scriptures and the preaching of His Word. He invited us to enter that Church, just as all nations are invited to enter it, not embracing their sins, but confessing their sins and looking to the King of the Jews for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

That’s just what people were doing, confessing their sins—mainly Jews but also some Gentiles—30 or so years after the wise men left Bethlehem to go back to their own country, when John the Baptist preached his Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. They came and confessed their sins and were baptized by John in the Jordan river for the forgiveness of sins.

That’s what made it so strange when Jesus came to be baptized by John. He had no sins to confess, and somehow, John knew that, or at least he knew that Jesus was greater than he. Matthew tells us that Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” “To fulfill all righteousness.” Jesus was the Righteous One. But His perfect righteousness as the Son of God was hidden from sight. He looked just like every other descendant of Adam and Eve, and every other descendant of Adam and Eve is unrighteous by nature, so the people of Israel might have assumed that Jesus, too, was unrighteous by birth.

But the hidden divinity of Christ was revealed clearly to John when Jesus was baptized. The Holy Spirit rested on Him in the form of a dove, and the Father’s voice spoke from heaven, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. There were Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all present at Jesus’ Baptism, revealing what was hidden, both Jesus’ divine origins, and His human righteousness. God is not well-pleased with any sinner. But He declared that He was well-pleased with Jesus, because He alone, among all the sons of man, was righteous.

So what did it mean that He had to be baptized to “fulfill all righteousness”? It indicates that there is a connection between Jesus’ Baptism as the Righteous One and the Baptism of all the rest of us unrighteous ones. How can we, as sinners, fulfill the righteous standards of a holy God? We can’t. So God chose to make this connection between the unrighteous and the Righteous One through this Sacrament of Holy Baptism, so that all righteousness may be fulfilled in us. In other words, so that we may be justified by our connection to Christ through Baptism and faith.

And so we come to the second part of Holy Baptism in the Small Catechism as Luther explains the benefits of this Sacrament:

What benefit does Baptism give? It works forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the word and promise of God declare. Which word and promise of God are these? Our Lord Christ says in the last chapter of Mark: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.”

You see, Baptism isn’t a work we do for God. It’s a work that God does for us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are present at Holy Baptism today, just as the three Persons of the Trinity were present at Jesus’ Baptism. And what is the work He does through Baptism? He forgives us our sins. He delivers from death and the devil. And He gives eternal salvation to all who believe this. That’s why St. Peter can say in his first epistle that Baptism now saves us. It’s why he could preach to the crowds on Pentecost, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Because Baptism, combined with faith in what Baptism promises, is God’s tool for uniting us with the Righteous One who was also baptized. And just as our sins were counted against Him when He died for them on the cross, so His righteousness is counted toward us who are baptized and believe in Him.

So celebrate your Baptism again today on January 6th, even as we also celebrate the coming of the wise men and the Baptism of our Lord. Let those things fill your thoughts on this day while the world loses its mind over other things. The hidden divinity of Christ was first revealed to those Gentiles from the East, and they worshiped Him with joy. His divinity has now been revealed also to us Gentiles from the West. And not just His divinity, but His promise of salvation through faith and Holy Baptism, so our joy must be even greater. Amen.

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Joy in God’s wondrous purpose

Posted on January 2, 2022 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the Second Sunday after Christmas

1 Peter 4:12-19  +  Matthew 2:13-23

I’d like you to consider something this morning that we often overlook. On Christmas day, what did we celebrate? We celebrated a painful moment in the life of the virgin Mary—the pain and bloodshed that accompanied childbirth. No woman looks forward to that pain and bloodshed, but we all celebrate it, because we understand, that pain is part of bringing a new life into the world, and all the more in Mary’s case, because she brought THE Life into the world.

Likewise, what did we celebrate yesterday, but the pain and bloodshed of the circumcision of baby Jesus? Why? Because it meant that another son was added to Israel, another offspring of Abraham was brought into the Covenant—in the case of Jesus, THE offspring of Abraham who was the true heir to the throne of Israel and to the Old Testament itself. God had kept His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and to all mankind. So in the case of childbirth, and in the case of circumcision, we simply factor in the pain and suffering because of the wondrous purpose that’s accomplished through the pain and suffering, because of the joy that’s on the other side of it.

If only we could do the same thing with all pain and suffering! Why can’t we? Or why don’t we? Because the “wondrous purpose” of God is not always so clear, and the joy to be found on the other side is often postponed for a long time.

In today’s Gospel, we’re confronted with terrible pain and suffering, with the horrific massacre of the little boys of Bethlehem—the Holy Innocents, as they’re sometimes called—slaughtered by that monster, King Herod. That slaughter itself is not something to celebrate, but if we pay attention, we can see God’s wondrous purpose being accomplished through it as we witness His hand guiding the events in this story, exposing the wickedness of man while at the same protecting the Christ-Child and keeping Him safe from harm—for now—so that the Child could grow up and die a “proper” death, on a cross, for the sins of the world.

We’re confronted here with the stark reality of who God is and how He governs the affairs of man. He is not the God who prevents Herod from carrying out his massacre. He is not the God who always steps in and spares the innocent from suffering. Sometimes He does. But not always. He is the God who sometimes allows wicked men to carry out their wicked plans, and who, in most cases, does not tell us the reason why.

What do we know about this event as it’s laid out in today’s Gospel?

First, we know that God foresaw it, even as He foresees all that happens in our universe, every event, every decision, every act by every man. We’re told specifically that the slaughter of the children of Bethlehem was prophesied by the prophet Jeremiah: Rachel weeping for her children, because they are no more. God knew ahead of time what Herod would do.

Second, we know that, although God knew what King Herod would do, the one responsible for the wicked slaughter of Bethlehem’s children was King Herod and he alone. The wise men were not to blame. Jesus, Mary and Joseph were not to blame. And God did not wish for it to happen, nor did God intervene in human history to cause it happen, to make Herod do what he did. Wicked King Herod alone, spurred on by the devil, was responsible. He alone is to blame. He caused it to happen, by his own wicked will, together with the soldiers who carried out his wicked orders.

And third, we know that God not only foresaw, not only allowed, but also caused to happen the holy family’s flight to Egypt, and the preservation of His Son there, and the return to Israel, to the city of Nazareth after Herod’s death, as prophesied in Holy Scripture. God foresaw the protection of His Son and He did intervene in human history to make it happen. He sent His angel to Joseph three times to warn Joseph and to guide him, to see to it that he would protect Jesus, and He used Joseph’s godliness and obedient heart to carry it out. Not only that, but, as we’ll hear this coming Thursday in our Epiphany service, God saw to it that the star of Bethlehem would guide the wise men to where Jesus was, so that Jesus might receive the gifts of the wise men which would pay for the expenses of their flight to Egypt. And, God also saw to it that King Herod would die an excruciating death not too long after the holy family fled to Egypt, ensuring that Israel would again be a safe place for God’s Son to live.

Those are the facts of the story.

Now, some people would say that, since God is omnipotent and the sovereign Ruler over all things, He could have intervened to stop Herod from slaughtering those little children, and therefore, God is ultimately to blame for Herod’s massacre, that God is at fault, because He could have prevented the pain.

The truth is, it’s very easy to blame God for everything that goes wrong in this world, isn’t it? Because He could step in and prevent it from happening, right? But God’s sovereignty is really just a convenient excuse for the real cause of human pain and suffering and death. We are the cause of our own pain.

God didn’t intervene to stop Herod, just as He practically never intervenes to stop people from dying of old age. Why? Couldn’t God stop it? Couldn’t God give us a fountain of youth and a cure for every disease? Of course He could. In fact, He did. It grew in the Garden of Eden. It was called “the Tree of Life.” But He took it away from our race when our parents, Adam and Eve, sinned, just as He warned them ahead of time He would do. But they sinned anyway. So God’s reason for allowing pain in childbirth, or death by old age, is the same reason for which He allows all the pain and suffering that men endure, including wicked men who carry out their wicked will and bring harm to others, even to God’s believing children: mankind is under a curse.

Do we deserve our curse? Yes, we do. Even little children? Yes, they do. Couldn’t God remove the curse from mankind? Well, yes, He could. But there’s only one way in which He could do it. By sending His Son into this world and making Him a curse for us. As St. Paul writes to the Galatians, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. The blessing of Abraham, when God said to him: in your Seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. That’s what we celebrate at Christmas, isn’t it?, and at the circumcision of Christ, and also in the flight of the holy family to Egypt: the unfolding of God’s plan to send His Son into the world to remove our curse from us and to bring the blessing of salvation to us through His death on the cross. That was His wondrous purpose.

Christ suffered for our sins and has removed God’s curse from all who believe in Him. He hasn’t yet removed us from this world with its curse or freed us from the outward effects of that curse. But He has forgiven us our sins and given us eternal life in Christ, so that, no matter what bad things happen to us in this world, they are temporary hardships and crosses for us to bear, but they are not permanent, and they are not punishments from an angry God. Even death is not final. There’s abundant joy on the other side of the suffering.

And soon God will completely and permanently remove the curse of sin and death from all who believe in Christ. Soon God will intervene to stop all the wicked men who seek to bring us harm. And they will not only be stopped. They will be judged and condemned. Soon. Not yet, but soon. There will be joy for God’s children on the other side of the suffering.

Even now, God reigns over human history. He preserves and protects, directs and defends us, and sometimes He intervenes even now, not always allowing wicked men to get away with their schemes. Sometimes He intervenes with punishment for the wicked and with miraculous deliverance for the godly. We have the assurance from Holy Scripture that all things must work together for our good, and that the sovereign God will not allow anything or anyone to harm us beyond the limits set by His wisdom and by His fatherly will, as He demonstrated in the deliverance of the Christ-Child from Herod’s wicked hand.

The Christian celebration of Christmas is neither shallow nor cutesy, like the world’s pretend celebration of Christmas. We don’t ignore the reality of pain and sorrow and suffering in this season when we celebrate the birth of Christ. On the contrary, we know very well that the cross accompanies Christmas. But pain is followed by joy. And so, as St. Peter says, we rejoice to the extent that we share in Christ’s sufferings, so that we may also be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. Amen.

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Small Catechism Review: Holy Baptism, 1

Posted on January 1, 2022 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the Festival of the Circumcision of Our Lord

Galatians 3:23-29  +  Luke 2:21

Happy New Year to you all, and a blessed 8th day of Christmas! On the eighth day after His birth, according to the covenant God had made with Abraham some 2,000 years before, Abraham’s Seed, the Son of Mary, was circumcised. It’s hard for us to understand just how significant that event was among the Jewish people. To us who live 4,000 years after God gave the sign of circumcision to Abraham and his offspring, and more importantly, to us who live 2,000 years after Christ fulfilled the Old Testament and replaced it with the New, circumcision is meaningless, a matter of personal choice for personal reasons that some parents make for their little boys. It has no cultural or religious significance for us whatsoever as New Testament believers.

But that doesn’t mean it’s any less important for us to understand, and so we set aside every year the eighth day after Christmas, also known as New Year’s Day, to reflect on the Bible’s teaching of circumcision. And, once again, it coincides perfectly with our study of the Small Catechism, because after the Chief Part on the Lord’s Prayer comes the Chief Part on Holy Baptism, which is essentially the New Testament upgrade of the Old Testament Sacrament of circumcision.

God came to Abraham and made a covenant with him. I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your seed after you. Also I give to you and your seed after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your seed after you throughout their generations. This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your seed after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations.

What a lopsided covenant! For His part, God promised to be the God of Abraham and his seed. That means, He promised not to be their enemy, but to be their Father, to care for them, protect them, provide for them, guard and guide them. That’s what God agreed to do for them. And what was their part? What were they to do for God? Well, nothing. God needs nothing. But they were to do something as a sign that they wanted to be included in the covenant. Abraham and his seed (his male offspring) were to be circumcised in their flesh.

Why circumcision? Well, Scripture uses it to symbolize the cutting off of the sinful flesh, the sinful nature. It pointed to the fact that every child is born in sin, born outside of the covenant with God, and has to be brought into that covenant in order to be saved. Scripture also uses circumcision to symbolize repentance, the “circumcision of the heart.” And it was only for little boys, pointing Abraham and the generations that followed to a male Child who would be born, who would shed His blood as the atonement price for the sins of the world.

Now, “seed” refers to Abraham’s descendants, but St. Paul tells us in Galatians that it refers also and more specifically to one special Seed, to one special descendant, that is, to Christ. The Christ would be the true Seed and Heir of the Old Testament that God made with Abraham.

And so, on the eighth day after His birth the Son of Mary was circumcised and given the name Jesus, Savior, because He was the promised Seed of Abraham who would shed His blood to save His people from their sins. His circumcision was the first shedding of that precious blood. As we know, it wouldn’t be the last.

How does all this relate to Holy Baptism? Over the next few weeks we’ll look at different aspects of Baptism. Today, we’re focused on what it is and its relationship to circumcision.

What is Baptism? Baptism is not just plain water, but it is the water included in God’s command and connected to God’s word. Which word of God is that? Our Lord Christ says in the last chapter of Matthew: “Go into all the world and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

A baptism is a washing, a cleansing. There are a few kinds of “baptisms” mentioned in the New Testament. A “baptism” of water that was purely for Jewish ceremonial cleansings, like the cleansing of a dish or of a couch. There’s a baptism of fire. A baptism of the Holy Spirit. But what we call Holy Baptism is unique. It includes both water and God’s command to use that water in a special washing that is to be done in His name.

There is no specific method of baptizing mentioned in the Scriptures. Water can be applied in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit by pouring or sprinkling, or by dipping or immersing a person in it. The important thing, in addition to the application of water, is the word and command of God. He has commanded His ministers to baptize, and so we do.

The command includes “all nations.” No one is excluded. And, of course, that includes little children. But, how do we know little children are to be baptized? Because, among other reasons, little children were to be circumcised, as the Lord Jesus Himself was when He was a week old. God brought little baby boys—and their whole families!—into His covenant of grace through that Sacrament. Are we to believe that God excludes little children from the New Covenant? Why? Because they aren’t old enough to know what Baptism is, or to tell us whether or not they want to be baptized? Those 1-week-old Israelite boys didn’t understand circumcision, either, nor were they expected to express their agreement to the ceremony. No, the ceremony was performed on them and for them at their parents’ obedient request, and yet God’s promise was most certainly applied to the children who were circumcised. And then their parents instructed them as they grew.

But neither circumcision nor Holy Baptism actually saves apart from faith. So, can those little children actually believe? Can they have saving faith? Well, John the Baptist clearly did, even before he was circumcised, as he leapt for joy at the greeting from pregnant Mary. Jesus speaks of the little children who were brought to Him as “those who believe in Me.” And listen to what the Psalmist says as he prays: But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts. I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother’s womb You have been My God.

Baptism goes hand in hand with faith. As Paul said in the First Lesson today, For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. Baptism brings a person into Christ, who is Abraham’s Seed, making all the baptized also Abraham’s seed.

And just as all Abraham’s seed was circumcised under the First Covenant, so all Abraham’s seed is circumcised under the New Covenant with that better kind of circumcision called Holy Baptism. As Paul wrote to the Colossians, In Christ you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all your trespasses.

Just as our Lord Jesus was circumcised, so you have been “circumcised” with a different kind of circumcision, with Holy Baptism. And the promise made to you there is just like the promise made to Abraham: The Lord God will be your God, your Father, to care for you, to protect you, to provide for you, to guard and guide you. As we commemorate today the circumcision of Baby Jesus, remember your Baptism, and give thanks to God for using that holy cleansing to bring you into the body of Christ, making you a child of Abraham, a son or daughter of God, and an heir of eternal life. Amen.

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