The God who came to bring you joy

Posted on January 17, 2021 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the Second Sunday after Epiphany

Romans 12:6-16  +  John 2:1-11

Changing water into wine. That was Jesus’ first miracle after His “inauguration day” — that’s, in a sense, what His Baptism was, an inauguration into the Office of the Christ. Not that He wasn’t the Christ before that! He was! The angel declared already to the shepherds of Bethlehem that “unto you is born a Savior, who is Christ, the Lord.” Jesus’ whole life on earth was one great offering to God and one great act of service on mankind’s behalf. But He began His public ministry when He was about 30 years old, on the day He was baptized.

We hear all too much of what certain elected officials intend to do on “day one” after their inauguration. Do you remember what Jesus did on day one? Let’s fast forward, for the moment, past the 40 days He spent in the wilderness right after He was baptized, where He was tempted by the devil. (We’ll talk about that in a few weeks.) Upon His return to the Jordan River, He was immediately and openly declared by John the Baptist to be the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. On the next day, which we’ll call “day one” of Jesus’ actual ministry, John privately pointed two of His disciples to Jesus again, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” And they went to Him and spent the day with Him and began learning from Him as His first disciples. On day two, Jesus gathered two more disciples on His way up to the region of Galilee. And then on the next day, the third day, where our Gospel begins, they all attended a wedding to which they had all been invited, together with Jesus’ mother, in a town called Cana. And there, the Apostle John tells us, He manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.

What did Jesus’ first miracle teach His first disciples about Him? What do we learn from this first official act of His about the purpose of His coming? I’ll summarize it this way: We learn that this Man is God, the God who came to bring us joy.

Let’s look at the event recorded for us only in John’s Gospel. First, as Jesus introduces Himself to His disciples, think about the contrast they must have noticed between Jesus and their former teacher, John the Baptist. John wore camel-skin clothing, lived alone, out in the desert, avoided society, and never touched a grape, much less a cup of wine. Jesus was relatively “normal.” He did attend weddings and social gatherings. He did drink wine, or at very least sat approvingly at the table where wine was served and, as we see in this account, even provided more wine for the guests who had already been drinking it. His was not to be a ministry of solitude or of shunning joyful gatherings. And although He would never marry, He showed His approval of the institution of marriage by attending this wedding on the third day of His ministry.

They ran out of wine early, which was not an earth-shattering problem, but it would have brought some shame upon the bridegroom and some disappointment to the guests. At that point, Mary, who seems to have had some role in running this wedding banquet, said to Jesus, They have no wine. Not a demand, but certainly an implied suggestion. “Maybe You want to do something about it.” Mary knew that Jesus had now come forward publicly to begin His ministry, so she thought it was her place to guide Him.

His response shows that He was not interested in being guided by His mother. Woman, what do I have to do with you? My hour has not yet come. It’s as if He looked into the future and saw how people would try to approach, not Jesus, but His mother Mary to intercede for them, to guide her Son into helping them. No! Jesus makes it clear with His answer that Mary needs to step back from the motherly role she had had up until then. She was not to be His guide. He would determine, in communion with His heavenly Father and by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, when His hour had come, and His true “hour,” His true moment for revealing His glory wouldn’t come for over three years, during Holy Week, when St. John records Jesus finally saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified,” in His crucifixion and death.

Mary did step back, humbly. But she prepared the servants, in case Jesus decided to help. Whatever he says to you, do it. And He did tell them to do something. There were six stone jars there. Fill the jars with water, He said. So they did. Now draw some and take it to the master of the feast. And just like that, the water was turned into wine, and not some watery wine or barely drinkable wine, but, as the master of the feast noted, the best wine. Only the creative power of God can do that.

But only a few knew at the time what had happened—the servants who had drawn the water, and Jesus’ new disciples. Jesus wasn’t looking for attention or for human praise. Still, for those few, and now for us all, it was and is an epiphany: this Man, who appears so normal, this Man, who attends weddings and wedding banquets, this Man, whom John the Baptist declared the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, is God.

If Jesus is God, then the pressing question is, what was God doing here, walking among us, living among us, attending wedding banquets, changing water into wine? Later in John’s Gospel, Jesus tells us why He has come: I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. That’s what the Psalmist said, too: You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

God’s goal for each of us is that we may have life and joy in His presence. And as Jesus showed at Cana, He even wishes to give us moments of joy here in this sin-infested world. Joy at the wedding of husband and wife, joy among friends and family, joy in a glass of wine that “gladdens the heart of man,” as the Psalm says.

But those are moments of joy, fleeting moments here, not destined to last, not supposed to be the permanent state of human beings in a world that now remains under a curse. Adam and Eve ruined the perfect life and joy that God had intended for our race, and we’ve been ruining it ever since with our own sins, with our worry, with our anxious fear, with our distrust of God and His Word, and with our self-serving words and deeds. Add to that the sins and the wickedness of the world around us, and the rage of the devil who is always prowling around, looking for someone to devour, and it’s clear, this world will never be and can never be the home of life and joy. Again, it isn’t supposed to be.

And so God became Man, and that Man is God, so that He might be that very Lamb of God that John the Baptist proclaimed Him to be just three days before the wedding at Cana, the sacrificial Lamb, the one who would shed His blood on the cross as the payment for the world’s sins. And now He calls out in the Gospel to all who hear, “I have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly! I have come that you may have fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore!” But the path to that life and to that joy is repentance, is humbling yourself before God, confessing your sins, and looking to Christ for forgiveness, life, and salvation, which He offers right here in the preaching of the Gospel, in the waters of Baptism, and in the communion of His own body and blood with the bread and wine of the Holy Supper. Those who trust in Him know a different kind of joy, even when the world is crumbling, the joy of peace with God, the joy of knowing that God will keep every promise made to His baptized people, and the joy that comes with the assurance of faith that God will bring us safely to the fullness of joy in His presence, to the joy of eternal life.

So give thanks for the moments of joy here, in this wilderness. Those moments are gifts of God, as is the ability to enjoy them. But understand, they’re fleeting, and they may be few and far between in this world. So look to Christ for fullness of joy in His presence, for pleasures forevermore at His right hand. And let the moments and glimpses of joy here in this life—let those moments not be the goal of your life that you strive for and yearn for and even covet when they don’t come as frequently as you would wish, but let them be little reminders of the fullness of joy that’s coming when Christ appears for the real wedding banquet, where He is the Bridegroom and the Church is His Bride. He is the God who came to bring you joy. And if you remain in Him and He in you, then He will soon bring you to the perfect joy of that glorious wedding feast. Amen.

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Focus on a godly family

Posted on January 10, 2021 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Epiphany 1

Romans 12:1-5  +  Luke 2:41-52

In these times, when we’re surrounded by so many lies, so much propaganda, when so many things happening to us and around us are totally out of our control, what do you do? What do you do, as Christians? Well, first, you trust God, because nothing is out of His control. And then, you turn your attention toward the little things God has called you to do according to your vocations. First and foremost, you turn toward the vocation of attending to your family, whatever your family situation may be, whether you’re parents or children or brothers or sisters, or even as part of a church family, since, as Paul said in today’s Epistle, we who are many are one body in Christ, and we are, each one, members of one another. So even if there’s nothing else you can do to heal this world in its death spiral, there is something useful you can do. You can focus on a godly family.

We learn some things about that today from the holy family: Mary, Joseph, and the boy Jesus at age 12.

Luke tells us that Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem every year at the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the festival. We learn something very important here about godly parenting from Mary and Joseph, from their own faithful attendance at the Jewish festivals, at very least the Passover, which required a journey that no one listening to this sermon today has ever undertaken to get to a church service, I guarantee it. They traveled, on foot, for four days—four roughly ten-hour days of walking—one way, just to get from Nazareth to Jerusalem. And although the text only mentions this journey when Jesus was 12, I think the context suggests that He went along with them before that. Either way, they faithfully attended and participated and made sure Jesus also participated. And that also certainly included their weekly attendance at the synagogue, every Sabbath Day, since we’re told that, when Jesus was older, it was “His custom” to go to the synagogue on the Sabbath. And, when He eventually preached His one sermon at the synagogue in Nazareth, everyone there in the synagogue knew Him and His mother and father and brothers and sisters, by name. We’ll say more about that in a moment.

The holy family spent the customary number of days in Jerusalem, observing the feast, as the Law required them to do, and then the caravan of people—relatives, friends, neighbors—that had traveled down from Nazareth together left Jerusalem and started the days-long journey back to Nazareth. Joseph and Mary assumed that Jesus was in their company, hanging out with relatives or friends, but, in fact, He had stayed behind in Jerusalem, and it took them until the end of the first day’s walk to realize that He wasn’t there.

Now, did they make a parenting mistake in accidentally leaving Jesus behind in Jerusalem, in not making sure He was with them when they left? Maybe. But consider this: Jesus was the perfect Son, sinless in every way, completely trustworthy, and probably extremely predictable. (And this is one reason I think Jesus had gone with them to the Passover for several years before He was twelve, since, if it were His first trip there, they would reasonably be more cautious about His whereabouts.) But in any case, it’s clear that Mary and Joseph were not like modern “helicopter parents,” hovering around and doting on their children every moment, obsessing about their children’s whereabouts at all times. And that’s a good thing. They showed their Son an appropriate amount of trust for His age, and then stood back and allowed Him a degree of freedom. Even more importantly, they commended Him to the care of God the Father and didn’t spent every moment worrying about Him.

When they did go to check on Him, though, they didn’t find Him, and you parents can imagine the panic they must have felt, made even worse, because they probably had to wait till the next morning to turn back to Jerusalem, not daring to travel at night, and then it still took them till the third day to find Him, since they looked all over Jerusalem first, before finally retracing their steps back to the Temple.

There Jesus was at the Temple, no family or friends or relatives around, just Him and the rabbis. They found Him there, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and obviously also answering their questions, since we’re told that all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.

Now, I’ve known twelve-year-old boys. In fact, I’m about to have another twelve-year-old boy in my house, in just a few weeks. It’s hard to picture any of them doing this, and rightly so, because this is really the first epiphany of today’s Gospel, a revelation of the hidden divinity of that particular twelve-year-old boy, who had such astonishing understanding of God and His Word because the worlds were made through Him, because He was the Word who was with God in the beginning and who was God, because He had come from the bosom of God the Father to reveal God to mankind more brightly and more intimately than any prophet had ever done or could ever do. Even as a twelve-year-old boy, it was clear to all that He was no ordinary child.

But beyond Jesus’ great, supernatural understanding of God and His Word, which can’t be imitated, we see something else, something that can be imitated by twelve-year-old boys but rarely is—it’s barely imitated by any of us. We see a zeal for knowing God and discussing the things of God, a deep, heartfelt love in Jesus for His Father’s house and for His Father’s teaching. The boy Jesus was the perfect embodiment of what the Psalmist once wrote, Oh, how I love Your law. It is my meditation all day long. Or again, LORD, I have loved the habitation of Your house, and the place where Your glory dwells. Or again, How lovely is Your tabernacle, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God…For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. Or again, I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the LORD.”

It was in that setting that Mary and Joseph finally found Jesus. When they saw him, they were amazed, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? See, your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” And he said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I had to be doing my Father’s business?” And they did not understand what he said to them.

Was it sinful for Jesus to remain in Jerusalem without His parents’ knowledge or permission? Of course not. Scripture says He committed no sin. Why was there no sin involved here? First, we don’t know exactly how things went down, but they obviously didn’t tell Him to leave, so there was no rebellion or disobedience involved. Second, because young, 12-yr-old Jesus, as God, had a lesson to teach His earthly parents: Yes, He was their Son, but they needed to be reminded of His other identity and of His mission. And this is really the second epiphany in this account, as Jesus reminded His parents that He was the only-begotten Son of God, that, unlike other children, He had come to earth for a specific, God-given purpose: to do His Father’s business. They needed to accept that in humility, even from their twelve-year-old Son, although they didn’t understand what He meant at the time.

Then they all left together, and we’re told that He was subject to them. Even though He was God, even though He was sinless and they weren’t, Jesus submitted to them, because His Father had placed Him in their care and under their authority. We’re also told that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. Not by pandering to people or flattering people. Not by putting on a good show. But by being a genuinely pleasant young man, eager to help, respectful, kind, merciful, and devoted to God’s Word, with a genuine love for God that showed in how He spoke and in how He acted.

This is part of what we call Jesus’ “active obedience” as our Substitute. He did perfectly what God has commanded us all to do, except that we haven’t. This is what saves us, 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 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, even 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, 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 do their Father’s business.

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 focus on a godly family 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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A Light shining in the darkness

Posted on January 6, 2021 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the Epiphany of Our Lord

Isaiah 60:1-6  +  Matthew 2:1-12

In the midst of chaos, in the midst of a world gone mad, in the face of great evil that threatens to snuff out all that is true and all who are righteous, in a time when wickedness flourishes and the wicked seem to be unstoppable, the Holy Spirit would draw our eyes away from the darkness and toward the light.

Epiphany is a season of light. An epiphany is a bringing to light of something that is hidden from sight. And what could be more hidden from sight than the divinity of the One who was born in Bethlehem, than the fact that Christ Jesus, even now, is victorious over sin and death and reigns over this world’s darkness for the good of His beloved Church?

For now, turn your thoughts to the visit of the wise men as they were guided by the light to the One who is the light, which is the Epiphany after which this whole season of the church year is named.

We’re told that there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East and have come to worship him.” Where were they from in the East? Who were they and how many? Scripture doesn’t say any more than what Matthew tells us right here. That’s because the important thing in this account isn’t who they were, where they were from, or how many there were. The important thing about them is that they were Gentiles—non-Jews—from a foreign land, non-Jews who evidently had access to at least some of the Jewish Scriptures and the understanding to perceive that a special light they had seen in the sky over Judea was the fulfillment of a prophecy about the birth of the King of the Jews. Not just “a” king, but “the” King of the Jews, whose dominion would extend over the Gentiles, too, and whose kingdom would reach to the ends of the earth.

Maybe it was Balaam’s prophecy in Numbers 24 that they had seen: “I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel…Out of Jacob One shall have dominion.” Or maybe it was Isaiah’s prophecy that you heard this evening about the glory of the Lord rising upon the land of Israel, and how Gentiles and kings would walk in their light, bringing treasures of gold and incense and declaring the praises of the Lord.

In any case, the wise men revealed themselves to be men who believed that God is real and that He acts in the world. They were men who believed the Old Testament was reliable, so reliable that they were willing to make the long journey to the foreign land of Israel, convinced that a special child had been born there. They were men who believed that that child was worthy of their treasures and of their worship, acknowledging Him as God in the flesh. And they were men who believed that that child had come to bring light to this dark world and a place in His kingdom, for any and all who believed in Him, that He would combine Jews and Gentiles into one great kingdom, made up of all who kneel before Him in faith.

The star they followed was no ordinary star. It appeared for a while, whether at or before the birth of Jesus, we don’t know. And then it disappeared as they journeyed. So they headed toward Jerusalem, the royal city of the Jews, thinking that the King had to be found there, surely expecting that all Israel would be celebrating the birth of the King. But all they found was a city going about their business as usual, and wicked King Herod, who had no idea that the prophesied King had been born. From their description, he knew they must be talking about THE King, the Christ. So he called in the priests to find out where the Christ was to be born, and they quickly cited the passage in Micah chapter 5 identifying His birthplace as Bethlehem. But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah…Out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.

Instead of celebrating the birth of the King, instead of giving thanks to God for revealing His birth to them through these Gentiles, Herod and all Jerusalem were “troubled” at the news. They had grown too accustomed to a world without obvious divine intervention. They had made peace, to some degree, with their political situation under the Romans. They had begun to view life on earth from a purely humanistic, secular perspective, even as they outwardly practiced their religion. Their faith in the God of Israel had become an empty shell.

And so their reaction to the wise men’s visit and the revelation of the birth of Christ ranged from apathy, to fear, to hostility. Neither the scribes nor the people of Jerusalem nor King Herod felt like accompanying the wise men to find or to worship the newborn King of the Jews. Some apparently didn’t care; others were surely frightened of their own government, afraid to be found worshiping the King of the Jews because of what they already suspected King Herod would do to them if they did; and we know from the verses we considered last Sunday how hostile Herod actually was to this child. This is how the Jews reacted to news of the birth of their own King.

Such a contrast with the reaction of the Gentile wise men! As soon as they learned where the child was to be born, they headed straight for Bethlehem. It didn’t matter to them that Bethlehem was an insignificant little town. Nor did it matter how uninterested everyone else seemed to be in worshiping this child. They were convinced that He was worthy of their worship, and so they went.

And suddenly the star reappeared and led them straight to the house where Jesus was—again, no ordinary star or planet, but a miraculous light, an epiphany from God which only these men perceived. They arrived. They found Jesus, and Mary. They fell down and worshiped Him. And they presented him with their treasures of gold and frankincense and myrrh. Because He was worthy of their worship, worthy to receive their treasures, worthy to be praised, because of who He is: true God and true Man; and because of what He would do: make atonement for the sins of the world and welcome all sinners, of every race, into His kingdom of grace, by calling them, through the Gospel, to repentance and to faith in Him.

That light of Christ, that light of the Gospel about Christ still shines in the darkness of this world, a darkness that has always been there and is only getting darker. And people react to the light now the same way they did 2,000 years ago. Some, including many Christians who should know better, have become apathetic, indifferent toward it. Others are too governed by fear to seek it. Others are hostile toward it. But a few are like the wise men, who know that the Scriptures are reliable, who know that Jesus is the Christ, who believe in His promise to unite all who seek Him into a Church that may well appear ravaged in this world, and unsophisticated, and backward, but a Church that, in reality, is the beautiful, brilliantly shining Bride of Christ, a Church that even now holds out the light of Christ to the world, and that will one day have its own epiphany, when the sons of God are revealed in glory.

The marks of the Church are the star and the light that Christians must now follow to Christ: the Gospel rightly preached and the Sacraments rightly administered. Where those marks are seen, that is where Christians should go, for there they can be sure that Christ and His Church will be found. And when they find Him, they will find a Savior who is worthy of their worship, both because of who He is, and because of the grace He has given and promises to give.

So whom will you imitate when confronted by that light? The apathetic? The fearful? Those who are hostile toward Christ? Or the wise men? May God grant you to imitate those wise men: their faith, their joy in being guided by God to Christ, and to God through Christ, and their humble worship of Him who was born to be King of the Jews and of all who put their trust in Him. Amen.

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Even this is included in God’s plan

Posted on January 3, 2021 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the Sunday after New Year

1 Peter 4:12-19  +  Matthew 2:13-23

It’s quite a story we have before us in today’s Gospel. You have the villain, King Herod, hell-bent on snuffing out the Baby who was God. You have the hero, Joseph, charged with protecting that Baby and His mother. You have the angel as the messenger sent to guide the hero. The conspiracy. The chase. The escape. The horrific slaughter of the innocents. The death of the villain. And the victorious return of the holy family to lead a quiet, somewhat secluded life until Jesus, the real Hero of the story, was ready to step onto the scene and face the real villain, the devil. As we said on Christmas Eve, this story is no work of fiction. It’s a true story, made up of real, historical events. It’s the story of stories that, either directly or indirectly, influences every fictional story ever told.

Speaking of fictional stories, have you ever wondered why their authors, the very best of authors like C.S. Lewis or Tolkien, wrote great evil into their stories? Whether it’s the white witch or Sauron and Saruman and the armies of orcs, there is often great evil introduced into the story, and terrible atrocities are committed. And, at least with the great authors, it isn’t just for the sake of having a realistic story or keeping audiences or readers interested. Evil is introduced in order to highlight the good—great good standing in stark contrast with great evil. You don’t realize how good the light is until you’ve compared it with the blackest darkness. In fact, often times it’s the evil in the story that prompts flawed heroes to face and to overcome their own flaws and to become more courageous and more honorable than they’d ever thought possible.

Still, fictional writers are the ones responsible for putting the evil into their stories. The authors make each and every decision for their characters. Not so with God.

God is the great Author of this story. He invented the story and all its components and all its characters, not just the ones recorded in Holy Scripture, but everything and everyone in the universe. God also controls the story, but He has given the characters some amount of freedom in the roles they play, freedom to choose certain things, for good or for ill. It had to be that way if we were to be real characters, made in the image of God, able to love and be loved. It was true for the holy angels. It was true for the angels who left their holy station and chose to rebel against God. It was true for Adam and Eve, too, the first human beings. They were free to choose good or evil, to follow God or to walk away from Him. God, the Author, didn’t introduce evil into the story or force anyone to act wickedly in it. Instead, He worked with the free choices of angels and of men and wove them into His master plan for good.

Our choices, as descendants of a fallen Adam and a fallen Eve, are much more limited. We’re born “dead in sins and trespasses,” spiritually blind, weak, and hostile to God. We aren’t free to choose the good—not the truly good—until God chooses to bring His Gospel to us and convert us and give us a new birth from above, and even then, our choices are still hindered by our sinful flesh. But even now, God, the Author of the story, weaves our every choice into His master plan for good.

We have a brilliant example of that in today’s Gospel. The main events were all prophesied ahead of time: Herod’s plot to kill Jesus, the slaughter of the children of Bethlehem, the holy family’s flight to Egypt, and their safe return to Nazareth. All of it was carried out in time, everything happening just as God had planned, even though no one in the story was aware that they were carrying it out at the time, no one aware that they were serving God’s plans, and no one “forced” to do anything against their will.

Take Joseph. He was a righteous man, a believer in the God of Israel who had promised to send His Son and had now sent Him, not only into the world, but into Joseph’s keeping. He loved God and desired to serve Him. So God gave him the opportunity to serve by fleeing to Egypt with his family.

Take Herod. He remained in his natural condition, dead in sins and trespasses. He still hated God, even as he ruled over God’s people. And because he hated God, he became irrationally jealous of the baby who had been born “King of the Jews,” afraid that his own reign would be threatened by this Child. But God used Herod’s hatred and irrational fear to get His Son down to Egypt. That had to happen, not only because it was prophesied to happen, but because Jesus had been born to be Israel’s Substitute—the One who would obey where Israel disobeyed, the One who would succeed where Israel failed. His infancy had to be sort of a mirror image of Israel’s infancy as a nation. That’s how the story had to play out, complete with all the foreshadowing that one expects in a fine story.

But Herod’s evil didn’t stop at seeking to kill Jesus. It spilled over toward all the children of Bethlehem two years old and younger. He had them all slaughtered, since he didn’t know which One had been born King of the Jews.

Here we pause and ask, how could the Author let innocent children be slaughtered like this? How could He let evil have this victory? It’s really no different than asking how God can allow any of the evil in the world to prosper. And He does. He allows all sorts of evil to go on in the world, including allowing godless mothers and their godless doctors and godless politicians to literally get away with murder—millions upon millions of children slaughtered in the womb, before they can even draw a breath. How can He do this?

Remember, the answer goes back to God’s decision to create angels and men who could love Him and be loved by Him, allowing them to make certain choices of their own. God is not the enemy of our race, who introduced or who fosters the evil. The devil is. And the deluded or outright wicked members of our race who side with the devil have joined him in the hatred of our race. That hatred sometimes involves murder. It also involves condoning or promoting or engaging in sex outside of marriage, one of the most destructive things people do. It involves governments tyrannizing churches and Christians and law-abiding citizens. That’s happening all around us these days. It involves even things like teaching evolution in school. Do you realize how much hatred of our race it takes for people to drive children away from their Creator, to convince them that they are the masters of their own fate, answerable to no one—except for the government, so that the government stands in the place of God? That’s pure wickedness.

Why does God allow it to prosper for a time? It’s part of His plan, the plot of the story, which includes human responsibility for our actions. But it also includes His desire that all men should come to repentance and be saved, so He bears with us with great patience. And God’s plan also involves those who are yet to be born, whom He knows will hear His Gospel and be brought to faith by His Spirit, people whom He foreknew from eternity as His precious sheep who will join us one day in this Holy Christian Church. If the Author were to intervene now, to root out all the evil from the world, then the story would end before those elect children of His could be born and reborn. They would be excluded from His kingdom. And that’s a price God is unwilling to pay.

So the story goes on, with righteous and unrighteous living side by side. Some of the unrighteous will yet join the ranks of the righteous before the end. And even the righteous struggle daily with their own unrighteousness and the weakness of their flesh. But that doesn’t mean that the Author just lets the story unravel as we each do whatever we want.

In the end, things work out as they need to, as God takes the good intentions of His believing children and the evil intentions of the devil and his allies and weaves them into His master plan. In the end, Herod dies, as he must. Those who oppose God, those who mistreat His people—they have been given their day. But their plans are bounded, limited by God. They can only do so much and no more. And after they’ve tried and tried to unseat Christ from His throne, they die, sometimes a horrible earthly death, like Herod died, but always a horrible eternal death. Meanwhile, Baby Jesus is kept alive and brought back to Israel, to Nazareth, just as the prophets foretold, even as they foretold the slaughter of the children in Bethlehem, which teaches us just how dark evil can be, just how wicked and destructive all sin truly is, so that we learn to mourn for our part in it, even as we learn to rejoice in the light of Christ and in God’s undeserved love for a race that is as depraved as ours is.

In the end, God’s plan keeps His Son alive as an infant so that He can grow up and die as a man, bearing the sins of the world on His shoulders, making atonement for the sins of all. In the end, this Gospel of Christ reaches the ends of the earth, and the Church is built, and the Christ returns, and judgment is pronounced, and this chapter, where wickedness and righteousness dwell together, is ended, and the new story of eternal life begins for those who have persevered in the faith.

Until then, what role has the Author assigned to you? He hasn’t told you most of it. Not everything has yet been revealed, how this or that fits into the plan, how God is even now using man’s evil to accomplish His good purposes. But enough has been revealed in Scripture, hasn’t it?, to make you aware that there is a good plan and to persuade you that God really is working all things out for good to those who love Him? His plan has already brought millions into His holy Church, and millions also into His heavenly kingdom after their earthly struggle was finished. His plan has brought you into contact with the Gospel and with the cleansing waters of Holy Baptism.

What is your role? All are called to daily contrition and repentance. All are called to keep God’s commandments. All are called to keep hearing the Gospel, gathering together with fellow Christians, and receiving the Sacrament of His body and blood. But each person’s role is also unique. Each one will have daily opportunities to be either big heroes who do grand, impressive deeds, or little heroes who do small but still essential deeds for the playing out of God’s story. And, yes, God will use the evil in the world to help you overcome your own flaws and to become more courageous and more honorable than you’d ever thought possible. Even this is included in God’s plan—the plan that ends in eternal glory and joy and life for all who have fought the good fight of the faith and who finish the race still trusting in Christ Jesus alone for the forgiveness of their sins.

What a story! And you get to be a part of it! May God grant you the wisdom to discern your part and the faith and the courage to play it! Amen.

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As for you, follow Me

Posted on December 27, 2020 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the Festival of St. John

1 John 1:1-10  +  John 21:19-24

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it… And the Word became flesh and dwelled among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

That familiar beginning of John’s Gospel teaches us many things about the Child who was born in Bethlehem. That long before He was born of Mary, in fact, outside of time and space, from eternity, from the beginning, He was with God the Father, not as a man, but as an eternal Person who is also God, together with the Father, a Person whom John alone in all of Scripture refers to as “the Word,” or the “Word of Life,” the Word who is begotten of God the Father, the Word in whom is life and who gives life, the Word who came in time and took on human flesh in Mary’s womb, to become the God-Man, our Lord Jesus Christ, one undivided Person with two natures, divine and human. All that we glean from the beginning of John’s Gospel, and that alone would be reason enough to give thanks to God for His Apostle and Evangelist, John.

The ending of John’s Gospel is somewhat less familiar. It tells of one of the last interactions of the apostles with the Word-made-flesh, after He had risen from the dead, shortly before His ascension. In this short account, Peter is the one talking with Jesus. In the verses before our text, Jesus had been having a private conversation with Peter, an important conversation, following Peter’s threefold denial of Jesus in the high priest’s courtyard, which had happened only a matter of weeks before, that terrible moment when Peter was called on to confess Christ—simply to admit that he was a disciple and a friend of Christ—but he shrank back at that moment and refused to bear the cross.

Today’s Gospel wasn’t the first time Jesus had spoken with Peter after that; in fact, we’re told by Paul that Jesus appeared to Peter privately on Easter Sunday before appearing to the rest of the apostles. And Peter was there when Jesus breathed on His disciples and said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent Me, so I am sending you.” But here at the end of John’s Gospel, Jesus took Peter aside and asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?” Three times, just like Peter had formerly denied Him three times. But this time, Peter confessed his love for Jesus and received three times from Jesus the important command to “Feed My lambs, tend My sheep, feed My sheep.” If you love Me, then take care of My loved ones. Be a shepherd, be a pastor for My precious Christian people.

But connected with that pastoral office was also a personal prophecy, given directly to Peter by Jesus: Truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.

That’s where our Gospel picks up the story. He said this in order to signify by what kind of death he would glorify God. And after he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.” In other words, “Peter, you will get another chance to confess Me before men, and you will suffer for it, a death like Mine. But still I call on you, still I invite you, still I command you: Follow Me. Yes, you stopped following Me once. You wouldn’t follow Me to the cross, as you so boldly proclaimed you would. But now I have restored you to My path, to that narrow road that leads to life, to repentance and faith. Now shepherd the flock  that I am entrusting to you and to your fellow apostles and ministers. Follow Me. And don’t turn aside anymore.”

It was at that moment that Peter turned around as they were walking and noticed, walking behind them, “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” which is how St. John refers to himself throughout his Gospel. With Jesus’ prophecy of Peter’s eventual crucifixion still ringing in his ears, Peter looks at John, and then turns to Jesus and asks, What about him?

All right, Lord. If I must suffer, so be it. But I don’t want to suffer alone. Misery loves company, after all. What about him? Will he suffer, too, or will You let him off easy? What will be required of him? It doesn’t seem fair if I have to suffer much for Your name and he doesn’t have to suffer at all.

Jesus answered, If I want him to remain until I come, what is it to you? In other words, it’s none of your business. My plans and desires for each one of My followers belong to Me, not to you. I know what they are. That’s what counts. I will do what I see fit for each one. It’s not your place to compare your path with anyone else’s path or even to know anyone else’s path. Your place is to simply follow Me where I lead you. But all that Jesus put to Peter in a question, so that he could mull it over himself. What is it to me what happens to John or to anyone else? What is it to me if another Christian suffers less or more than I do? What does it matter? Will it make me suffer more or less? No. Will I accuse God of being unfair or unjust? I’d better not! Will I grow bitter toward my fellow Christian for having it easier than I? Will I grow bitter toward God? Heaven forbid!

This applies to so much in life! All our society can do today is compare one person’s plight with another. “You have privilege because of your race or because of your gender! You have privilege because you were born with more money than another, or with better parents, or a better home life. We have to create equity, so that, in the end, no one has any advantage over anyone else.” That’s the way of socialism and communism. But it isn’t the way of God.

God determines the role of each one. Even the role of unbelievers, but especially the role of His children. He has His plans and designs for each one, and they will not be the same. Oh, His love is the same and His desire that everyone be saved applies to everyone. But some will have more here on earth, some will have less. Some will suffer more, some less. Some will be called to the glory of martyrdom, some will have to trudge longer through this vale of tears, suffering the slow death of old age and of witnessing the wickedness of the world as it spreads and flourishes.

That was to be John’s fate. He would watch his brother James be the first apostle to be martyred. He would watch the Church grow over the next sixty years, but he would also watch many of his brothers be persecuted, tortured, imprisoned, and killed. He would watch false doctrine begin to creep into the Church. And he himself would be exiled to the island of Patmos in his old age for his preaching about Christ. Is that a better fate than being put to death at a younger age? Who are we to say?

John corrects a little misunderstanding that had crept into the Church, the notion that he wouldn’t die at all but would remain until Christ comes again. But he points out in the Gospel, that’s not what Jesus said. You have to pay attention to Jesus’ words, as they were uttered, in context. He didn’t say, John will remain. He asked the conditional question, If I want him to remain, what it is to you? No, John led a long life, allowing him to pen three Epistles, a Gospel, and the Book of Revelation. But he wouldn’t remain until Christ returns. And even if he did, what is it to you?

You have your own calling to follow Jesus. You get on the path by admitting your sin, by confessing it, as John discussed in today’s Epistle. God simply declares that all have sinned, and that certainly includes you. So don’t make God a liar! You need Baptism and the forgiveness that accompanies it to get on the path. You stay on the path by walking in daily contrition and repentance and faith, by continually confessing your sins. And that water of your one-time Baptism keeps washing and cleansing you every day. You follow Jesus by obeying His commandments, by loving your neighbor according to His commandments, by confessing Him before men. You follow Him by hoping in Him, trusting in Him, and, yes, by enduring the world’s hatred and suffering other earthly woes, wherever Christ leads. And when it gets hard, you just take another step. Then another. Then another. And when you think you can’t take another step following behind Jesus, you pray for His strength, and He will give it. You cling to His Word, and it will hold you up. You run to His Sacrament, and He will feed you. And then you take another step. And when you’re tempted to stop following, to forge your own path, then you remember how terribly that went for Peter, and you resist the temptation, and you stay on the path, and you take another step.

As for you, follow Me, Jesus says. Because no matter how exactly that following plays out in this life, you know the One whom you follow, and you the place where He leads. Yes, He leads to the cross. But He also leads to resurrection and to life. Because He is the Word of life who was with God in the beginning, and who was God, the true Light that gives light to all men. He will light your path as you follow Him, and if you follow Him, you will never walk in darkness. Amen.

 

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