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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The consequences of Christmas

Posted on December 26, 2021 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for St. Stephen

Acts 6-7  +  Matthew 23:34-39

Merry Christmas, everyone! And a very blessed Festival of St. Stephen to you as well. It’s because of St. Stephen’s day that there’s red on the altar today instead of the white of the Christmas season, because red is the color of martyrs, and St. Stephen was the first martyr of the Christian era. We’ve only celebrated this feast of St. Stephen a few times over the last 15 years, and maybe you’re still wondering, what does martyrdom have to do with Christmas? What does red have to do with white?

It’s very simple. White is the color of holiness and purity, and, therefore, white is the color of Christ and of Christmas, which celebrates Christ’s nativity, His birth. Red is the color of blood, and we use it in the Church to symbolize the shedding of a person’s blood to the point of death. And not just any death, but the death of one who died for his testimony about Christ, for his martyrdom. That’s what red has to do with white, what martyrdom has to do with Christmas. We rejoice at Jesus’ birth. We sing praise to God that the Christ was born for us. But we never, even for a moment, lose sight of the fact that Christmas has consequences, and no one exemplifies that for us better than St. Stephen.

What does a person do who believes that the Word (ho Logos) became flesh and made his dwelling among us? In other words, what does a person do who believes that Christmas is true? For Stephen, it meant devoting himself to the apostles’ teaching in Jerusalem and learning the Holy Scriptures better and better. It meant that his Old Testament Jewish faith made the seamless transition to a New Testament Christian faith as he was led to believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah, born of a virgin, just as Isaiah had prophesied, born in Bethlehem, just as Micah had prophesied, crucified, risen, ascended, and reigning, the one atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world, the one Mediator between God and man, just as so many of the prophets had prophesied.

Stephen, as Acts tells us, was a man full of grace and power, full of wisdom and the Holy Spirit. He was one of seven devout men who were chosen to be ministers, deacons in the Jerusalem church, to help with the distribution of food to the believing widows.

So Stephen’s vocation was not that of a layman. He, along with those other six men, was ordained into the office of deacon, and while he certainly devoted some of his time to the distribution of food as an assistant to the apostles, he also devoted time to preaching the Gospel, as we heard in today’s Epistle, as he testified among the people of Jerusalem in the temple. As a consequence of his faith in the Christ, born in Bethlehem, Stephen spoke publicly to everyone as he had opportunity. He spoke of Christ as the fulfillment of the Law. He spoke of faith in Christ as that alone which saves.

But just as Herod persecuted the babies of Bethlehem who dared to be born at Christmas time, the Jews in Jerusalem persecuted Stephen for confessing Christ. They challenged his witness of Christ. “He’s speaking against the temple! He’s speaking against Moses! He’s condemning good works!” None of that was true, of course. The Jews were perverting Stephen’s message. People pervert our message in the same way today. “Those Lutherans say that a person is saved by faith alone! They’re forbidding good works!” The first part is right, the second part is wrong. We don’t forbid good works. Neither did Stephen. Just look at all the good works Stephen did in the process of preaching salvation by faith alone in Christ! But we do teach, as Stephen taught, that no works are good apart from faith in Christ, and that faith alone – apart from works – is what makes us right with God. Where there is faith, faith in the Christ of Christmas, there are also fruits of faith, consequences of Christmas. But the fruits don’t save. Christ saves, through faith alone.

But these Jews would have none of it. They dragged Stephen off to the Sanhedrin, the Jewish court, and they falsely accused him and questioned him. Now, we didn’t even read most of chapter 7. Stephen retells a long portion of Old Testament and of God’s interactions with the people of Israel. And this theme repeats over and over: God gave our forefathers every gift of grace, every advantage, every opportunity, but they always ended up persecuting the very prophets who were sent to tell them the truth, to teach them to repent and put their faith in the true God. Jesus said the same thing in today’s Gospel: from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah. To the blood of Christ himself, murdered on a cross.

As a consequence of Christmas, because Stephen believed that the Word had become flesh, he had to speak up – out of love for God, out of love for his fellow Israelites who were steeped in sin and impenitence and unbelief, and out of faithfulness to his preaching office: You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.

Sometimes – sometimes, when people hear the hard truth about their sin, they repent of it. They realize the horrible crimes they’ve committed against God and are crushed with sorrow, like the people of Jerusalem to whom Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost. But sometimes – I’d have to say most of the time — the preaching of the Law produces anger. “Who do you think you are? How dare you call me a sinner! How dare you judge me!” Sometimes it produces absolute rage, as it did in the case of the Sanhedrin with Stephen. When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.

And then, both to strengthen his servant Stephen and to further enrage the Sanhedrin, Jesus, now seated at the right hand of God, gave Stephen a vision, a vision that assured him: the Son of Man, the Word made flesh, has indeed risen from the dead and is ruling over all things in heaven, in the heaven that is prepared to receive you now, Stephen. Don’t be afraid!

And, as a consequence of Christmas, he wasn’t afraid, because the Word had become flesh, our human brother, and had taken Stephen’s sins and ours to the cross and paid for them there and had opened heaven’s doors to all who believe in Him. Even as they dragged Stephen out and began to stone him to death, Stephen prayed two perfect prayers, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” and “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

How could they hate Stephen so? How could they think they were serving God by stoning this man to death? That’s one of the consequences of Christmas. The light came into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. The message of Christmas – that God has come into the world as man, that man’s works cannot save, that salvation is found in Christ alone – that message stings the pride of men. That message divides people. Do not think I have come to bring peace to the world, Jesus told his disciples. Not peace, but a sword. God sends prophets and teachers and wise men, and the world persecutes and mocks and kills them.

It must be this way, as a consequence of Christmas, as a consequence of mankind’s rejection of the Christ. The majority of the world will always be unwilling to receive the Christ of Christmas. They’ll tolerate a tiny little baby and the cute story of some shepherds and wise men. But they won’t tolerate it when we claim that that baby is the Almighty God in whom alone is salvation.

But see how confidently Stephen faced his death! See what love still flowed from his lips! How could Stephen pray for those who hated him so and who hated his Savior, too? That was a consequence of Christmas. Because Christ was not born to save good men, but the most wicked of men. The Lord Jesus also prayed for those who nailed him to the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And the grace of the Lord Jesus spilled over into Stephen’s heart, praying for the deliverance of his enemies, praying that they might be brought to repentance and faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins, just as he had been. And we know that at least one of those wicked men who were present there that day was delivered, as Saul would eventually be converted and forgiven all his sins, including his role in the death of Stephen.

Then Stephen fell asleep. What beautiful words the Scriptures now use to describe the death of the saints. “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said. “If anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” If we remain steadfast in the truth of Christmas, if we follow in the footsteps and the witness of St. Stephen, then, as a consequence, death becomes a sleep for us, too.

Don’t be fooled with the rest of the world into believing that Christmas is about snowy white fields and picture postcard manger scenes. Red is mixed with white at Christmas, as blood is mixed with snow. Christmas has consequences, and if you would celebrate Christmas rightly, then you must know the consequences and be prepared for them. Truly, Stephen shows us the consequences of Christmas, not just with his willingness to die for Christ, but with his faith, his humble service, his love for God and for men, his patience, peace, boldness, courage, confidence in the face of death, and mercy in the face of persecution – those are the consequences in the believer. The shedding of blood at the hands of an angry world – that is the very real consequence for the believer. If you believe the Christmas story and live your faith, if you are baptized and live according to your Baptism, then you are marked for death, just as Stephen was.

But, you know what the name “Stephen” means? It’s the Greek word for “crown.” How fitting! Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. That, too, is the consequence of Christmas, and God’s gift to you who believe. A blessed Feast of St. Stephen to you all, and a very Merry Christmas! Amen.

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