A God who is a very present help

Posted on January 26, 2020 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the Third Sunday after Epiphany

Romans 12:16-21  +  Matthew 8:1-13

Early in His ministry, Jesus sat on the mountain, preaching to His disciples. He looked like any preacher with a large following. He sounded like any other preacher, except for the surprising authority with which He declared the Word of God, as if He weren’t just a teacher of it, but the Author of it. But when He comes down from the mountain, Jesus revealed His hidden divinity with two particular healing miracles.

Now, all of Jesus’ miracles are epiphanies; they all reveal His hidden divinity; they’re all evidence that He is not just a great man or a great teacher, but evidence that He is God. But most miracles and miracle accounts reveal something else about this God/Man, too. We certainly see that in the two miracles in today’s Gospel. Not only do we see the divine power and authority of God walking the earth. We see also God’s willingness and readiness to help all who come to Him for help, whether poor or powerful, whether Jew or Gentile. And hearing, in turn, about that readiness and willingness of Jesus to help is what inspires and kindles faith in our hearts, which is the very thing needed in order to be helped by Jesus. Let’s see how this plays out in the Gospel.

A leper—a man “full of leprosy,” according to Luke’s account—had heard the word of Jesus’ kindness and power. So as soon as Jesus was done preaching the Sermon on the Mount, the leper approached Him, knelt down before Him, and prayed a perfect prayer: Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record this miracle, and they all record it the same—with the same need, the same prayer, the same reaching out and touching the leper in compassion, and the same answer, I am willing. Be cleansed.

It’s all important. The great faith of the leper who got down on his knees and simply confessed Jesus’ power to cleanse him, without insisting that Jesus just had to heal him, because he deserved it or something. No, simply, if You are willing, You can, leaving everything up to Jesus’ will and grace. Jesus’ simple act of reaching out and touching the man is important, too. Imagine a filthy, dirty, smelly, diseased person, full of open sores, kneeling at your feet. You would probably shrink back. Jesus didn’t. He reached out and touched the man. That’s God’s compassion toward us. And it’s contagious.

I was just reading this week in Eusebius’ church history about a terrible plague that broke out in Alexandria in the third century. It affected everyone, including the Christians. But Dionysius of Alexandria tells how the Christians treated one another. They tended to their sick, cared for them, picked up their dead bodies and dressed them and buried them properly. And many got sick as they cared for their fellow Christians. But they viewed it almost as a kind of martyrdom, willingly risking getting the plague and dying if it meant helping their brothers and sisters in Christ. The pagans, on the other hand, did what I think we would be tempted to do. At the first sign of sickness, they abandoned their loved ones, stayed far away from them in order to save themselves, and shoved them out onto the street, even before they were dead. Now, where did the Christians learn such compassion and willingness to help one another? Of course, they learned it from Jesus, and specifically, from His treatment of the leper in today’s Gospel.

Jesus’ verbal response is just as important. I am willing. Be cleansed. Just this past week, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was in the news for saying this: “I don’t know how you can believe in a God who wants to condemn most of the planet to a fiery hell.” Mr. Rodgers thinks he’s referring to the God of the Bible, but honestly, I don’t know what Bible he’s reading. God doesn’t want to condemn anyone to a fiery hell, much less “most of the planet.” What God wants, what God wills, is our healing, is to forgive us our sins, is to give us heaven as a free gift. And He sent His Son into the world to reveal just that, His willingness that wretched sinners be cleansed, not condemned. But there can be no cleansing of the sick if the patient refuses to acknowledge his disease, and if the patient refuses to trust in the Doctor for the cure.

But the leper in the Gospel trusted and was immediately cleansed, as in, made physically whole and healthy. Still, there was another cleansing that still had to happen. Jesus told the man, See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them. If you read what Moses required for the ceremonial cleansing of a leper in Leviticus 14, it was quite an involved process. In fact, one wonders just how many lepers actually had to go through this process, since there was no known cure for leprosy. But even if a leper’s skin sores went away, he still was not automatically clean before God. He still needed to wash his clothes and himself, shave off all his hair, wait 7 days. Then he needed to provide sacrifices—up to three sheep or lambs, if he could afford it, plus a pair of birds. The priest had to follow an elaborate cleansing right to make atonement for the man, even though he was now clean. Blood and oil to be sprinkled on him and smeared on him, etc. (You can read it for yourselves.) The message was clear: Even a cleansed person still needs the ongoing cleansing of Christ.

You all were made clean in Holy Baptism. Your sins were forgiven there. You were made a child of God—clean in conscience and in status. But you weren’t needing cleansing when you were baptized. You still carry around a sinful nature. You still need the ongoing cleansing that God provides in the Gospel and in the Sacrament of the Altar. And you still need the Holy Spirit’s sanctifying work in your life, so that your attitudes and actions become just as clean as your status before God.

The leper in our Gospel was clean, but, as a Jew who was under the Law of Moses, he still had a Law of Moses to fulfill, not only because God had commanded it, but also as a testimony to the priests—as a testimony that Jesus can cleanse what no one else can cleanse, and as a testimony to what Jesus had just said during the Sermon on the Mount, that He hadn’t come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it. So also no one can come to Jesus for the healing of forgiveness and then just go off and turn his back on the word of God. When you’re forgiven, you’re then instructed to walk according to God’s commandments.

Such was Jesus’ treatment of the leper who was a natural son of Israel. What would His treatment be of those who were not natural sons of Israel? We see that in the second part of our Gospel.

The Roman centurion living in Israel had also heard the word about Jesus and had come to trust in Him. His servant was sick, so he came to Jesus for help. Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented. Notice, he doesn’t even ask Jesus to do anything. He just presents the need and then waits.

He doesn’t have to wait long. Jesus immediately offers His help: I will come and heal him. Notice, the centurion hasn’t explained to Jesus how he deserves His help. He hasn’t offered to pay. Jesus is ready and willing to help entirely for free, not on the basis of payment, not on the basis of the man’s worthiness, but just out of pure grace. But the centurion has more faith to reveal. He tells Jesus not to come! Not to come, because he, the centurion, isn’t worthy to have Jesus come. It’ll be enough if Jesus just speaks the word, because the centurion understands how authority works. A commander of an army doesn’t have to be in the room with the troops in order to give them an order. He can write it down. He can speak an order and have it passed along to the troops, and they have to obey. The thing is, the centurion is here confessing a lot about Jesus, that He is the very God who speaks, and all of nature, including the body of every person on earth, must obey.

Jesus was astonished by the faith of this Gentile who had never even met Jesus, as far as we know. His faith had simply come from hearing the word, and it was a faith so firm and so great that Jesus says He hadn’t even found such faith in Israel. And He speaks the word the centurion sought and heals the man’s servant immediately. As you have believed, so let it be done for you. He shows that He is ready and willing to help anyone who comes to Him for help, who believes in Him for help, whether poor or powerful, whether Jew or Gentile.

There’s a final lesson that Jesus teaches here, though, and the world had better listen. And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

As Jesus reveals His hidden divinity in these miracles, He reveals the awesome significance of it: If Jesus is God, then Jesus is the one who determines who will sit with Him, and with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in His heavenly kingdom. If Jesus is God, then you must believe in Him. And all who do, whether Jew or Gentile, will sit at the heavenly banquet with Him. But all who don’t believe in Him will find themselves locked outside, cast out into outer darkness, even if they started out as members of God’s kingdom.

So as God reveals Himself to you again today as the One who is ready and willing to help all who come to Him, be sure you don’t foolishly stay away from Him, or doubt His word, or disbelieve His willingness and ability to help, to cleanse, to forgive, to sanctify, and to save. The truth about Jesus is exactly what you see from Him in today’s Gospel, where He shows Himself to be the very God of Psalm 46, the God who is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Amen.

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A Prophet like Moses, but better

Posted on January 19, 2020 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the Second Sunday after Epiphany

Romans 12:6-16  +  John 2:1-11

About 1500 years before Jesus was born, Moses stood at the border of the Promised Land and prophesied His coming: The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear. More than any other writer in the New Testament, the Apostle John brings out the comparison between Moses and Jesus, the Prophet who was like Moses, but infinitely better.

John spells out the comparison already in chapter 1 of his Gospel: For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. But there are many more comparisons that we can draw just from the Gospel of John. For example…Moses gave the people of Israel the Word of God; Jesus came to the people of Israel as the Word of God made flesh. Moses wrote about the creation of the world; Jesus participated in the creation of the world. Moses wrote about how God created the light that lightens the world; Jesus came into the world as the true Light that lightens all men. Moses gave the people the sacrificial lamb; Jesus gave Himself for the people as the sacrificial Lamb. Moses lifted up the bronze serpent, so that whoever looked at it would be healed; Jesus is the One who has been lifted up, so that everyone who looks to Him in faith will be saved from the ancient serpent’s bite. Moses, by God’s power, gave the people of Israel bread from heaven; Jesus is the true Bread from heaven, the living bread that sustains any who eat of it. Moses, by God’s power, took a rock and gave the people water in the wilderness; Jesus, by His own power, took stone jars filled with water and gave them wine at a wedding.

Since that’s the subject of our Gospel today, let’s focus on that event and consider what hidden truth is revealed about Jesus at this little Epiphany, at this revelation of Jesus as the Prophet like Moses, but better.

Since we left Him last week as a 12-yr-old Boy, Jesus remained mostly hidden until He was about 30 years old. There was that Epiphany of His hidden divinity at His Baptism, when God the Father spoke from heaven and the Holy Spirit descended on Him as a dove. Then there was a secret struggle in the wilderness for 40 days, where Jesus fasted and was tempted by Satan. Then back to the Jordan, where John the Baptist is responsible for another revelation: Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! Jesus immediately calls His first disciples: Peter, Andrew; Nathanael & Philip, reveals a tiny bit of His divine omniscience to Nathanael. Then up to Galilee with His new disciples, to the little town of Cana, not far from Nazareth, for a wedding.

Let’s stop and consider just that for a moment. A wedding reception hardly seems like the best place to begin teaching His new disciples and revealing His divinity and His mission to them, but it’s the beginning that Jesus chose. What does that reveal? It reveals, first of all, His approval of marriage as an institution of God that still pleases God to this day. He would later remind the Jews of that when they were looking eagerly for an excuse to break up marriages in divorce: Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.

You remember who first told us that God “made them male and female” in the beginning and brought husband and wife together? Yes, it was Moses. Moses wrote about God’s institution of marriage between Adam and Eve; Jesus brought about and attended Adam’s & Eve’s wedding, even as He attended this wedding banquet and honored it with His presence. So He still commands that marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure. And He promises to bless husband and wife as the husband loves the wife, just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her; as the wife submits to her husband as the Church submits to Christ.

Back to our Gospel. Jesus’ mother Mary was also invited to the wedding and seemed to have some serving role at the reception, making some wonder if maybe she and Jesus were related to the bride and groom. At some point, they ran out of wine, or were beginning to run out; it’s hard to tell from the text. Mary approaches Jesus and says, They have no wine. Why does she tell Him? We have no evidence that He has ever performed a miracle before. But He has now begun His public ministry. He’s brought His first disciples along with Him to the wedding. She’s waiting. She knows that He hasn’t come into the world just to lead an ordinary life. So she’s expecting that He will do something extraordinary at some point, and she’s hoping He’ll do a favor for the bride and groom. Maybe now? Here’s Your chance, Jesus?

His reply is rather harsh, isn’t it? Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? From that reply, we can gather two things. First, that Mary had overstepped. After 30 years of speaking to Jesus as a mother to her Son, she had to learn a new place for herself: Not as an authority over Jesus, but as a subject in His kingdom; not as a mother to her Son, teaching Him, giving advice, exerting influence, but as a beloved disciple who was there to learn from Jesus. His reply is a gentle rebuke to her: Don’t involve yourself in My office as Christ.

Secondly, with that reply Jesus left a warning for future generations not to raise Mary to the role of mediatrix or intercessor. One old graphic of this text from John 2 is entitled, “Mary intercedes at a wedding.” Many Christians, influenced by the devil himself, have gone astray, imagining that Mary has a special role at Jesus’ side, even now, that she has special influence with Him, as a mother to her Son. But they should have paid better attention to this text. Mary is like any other believer in Christ, who has every right to approach Him, but no special influence over and above what others have. This text serves as a rebuke toward those who would pray to Mary so that she can then pray to Jesus on their behalf. That’s not how it works in the kingdom of Christ.

The second part of Jesus’ reply also takes some thought: My hour has not yet come. Later in John’s Gospel, He refers to His hour as having finally come: the hour of His greatest Epiphany, the revelation of God in Jesus’ humiliation on the cross, the revelation that God loved the world that much, that He would give His only Son into death for our sins. That was His real “hour,” the chief thing He came to do. It wasn’t to provide wine at a wedding. It was to provide His blood as a sacrifice.

But a little Epiphany here at the wedding would still be given. Mary guesses as much, because she tells the servants to do whatever He says. He said to fill the six stone water pots to the brim. We’re told they held 20-30 gallons each, so they had to be much bigger than the drawing on the cover of our service folder, and probably stood in a fixed place on the floor. Then He told them to draw from the water they had poured into the jars and take it to the master of the feast, the wedding planner of that time, who tasted the water that had become wine and was a little upset with the bridegroom for saving the best till last.

Do you remember what Moses’ first miracle was in the sight of all Egypt, the first plague that God brought against Egypt for their failure to obey Moses? It was the changing of water into blood; Jesus’ first miracle in the sight of His disciples was the changing of water into wine. A gift to the newlyweds and to all their guests. A sign, as John calls it, revealing His glory to His disciples. A sign to us that this Prophet like Moses did not come to destroy sinners, to bring God’s plagues against sinners, but to save them, and to give them life to the fullest and reason to rejoice.

And when He comes to us in Word and Sacrament and calls us into His kingdom, He calls us to live differently from the world, but not separately from the world. He doesn’t call us to renounce marriage and wedding receptions and wine. He calls us, not to leave the world, but to be the salt and the light of the world. St. Paul ran off a list in today’s Epistle of simple behaviors that Christians are to follow in the world. Were you listening? Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

In some ways, that sounds a lot like Moses and the long list of laws he gave to the people of Israel. But in other ways, it’s much different. Moses was sent to make a covenant of obedience with the people of Israel. Obey, and God will be your God and bless you. Jesus was sent to make a covenant of the forgiveness of sins. Not, obey, and you will be forgiven, or, bring a sacrifice, and you will be forgiven, but trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and for the sake of His obedience and sacrifice, you will be forgiven. And then, starting from that status of being forgiven and well-pleasing to God through faith in Christ, the commands St. Paul issues simply show God’s people how to live as Christians, how to imitate God, how to love one another as Christ has loved us.

Moses changed water into blood. Jesus changed water into wine. But to bring it full circle, Jesus now takes wine and, with it, gives us His blood to drink in a holy Sacrament. Moses gave Israel bread from heaven. Jesus is the living bread that came down from heaven, and now gives us His body with the bread of His Supper, to make us one with Him, to feed us with His flesh and blood, for the forgiveness of sins, for the strength to live another day in this chaotic and evil world. Moses accompanied Israel in the wilderness and led them up to the Promised Land, but died before he could lead them into it. Jesus is the Prophet who will not only accompany us in this wilderness, but died and rose from the dead so that He can see us safely across the border of eternal life. That—together with everything else—makes Him a better Prophet than Moses by far. Amen.

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The humility of God at age 12

Posted on January 12, 2020 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for First Sunday after the Epiphany

Romans 12:1-5  +  Luke 2:41-52

Today’s Gospel of the Boy Jesus in the Temple is a foolish waste of time, in the eyes of the world. Christmas was OK; it’s a cute enough story, allows for some celebration. Epiphany itself was fine, with the visit of the wise men following the mysterious star, bringing their exotic gifts. And then, when Jesus is older, the world might find something interesting in His miracles or in His teaching. But what’s the point of dwelling on the behavior of a 12-yr-old boy? How can that possibly affect us here and now?

We Christians just shake our heads at the world’s own foolishness. They don’t understand that we worship that 12-yr-old boy. Literally. We fall down before Him, we kneel before Him, we call Him our God. And for that reason, we long to hear about Him. Everything about Him. (Even if our wretched sinful nature finds it boring or not worth paying attention to.) Yes, He was just a boy, and to Mary and Joseph’s eyes, He never looked like more than a boy, the whole time He was growing up. But sometimes, the divinity of that boy shone through the outward appearance, as it did at the wondrous visit of the wise men, as it did at His Baptism which we considered on Monday evening, as it does again in today’s Gospel. We see tiny rays of His divinity shining through the ordinary appearance.

That’s the first thing I want you to keep your eyes open for as we go through this story. Watch for the signs of Jesus’ divinity shining through, revealing this 12-yr-old boy as God. And second, knowing who He is, watch also for the marks of humility displayed by the Boy who was God.

Let’s walk through the story again. We don’t know exactly what age Jesus was when the holy family moved from Egypt up to Nazareth in Galilee. He was likely no older than two. So for about the past ten years, Mary and Joseph, at least, had been journeying back down to Jerusalem every year for the Passover. About a 65-mile trip each way, as the crow flies. About here to Deming. (On foot, of course.) This time, if not before, Jesus went with them. They traveled as a company of relatives and neighbors from Nazareth. They celebrated the Passover in Jerusalem, and then Mary and Joseph started back, but Jesus wasn’t with them. That’s hard to imagine, but we’re told they thought that Jesus was with some other relatives in their traveling party. After traveling all day, they finally decided to check, and didn’t find Him. So they likely spent the night worrying, then spent the next day traveling back, and then, finally, on the next day, found Jesus sitting in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions, astonishing everyone there with His questions and with His answers.

When they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them. Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

Did you notice the signs of Jesus’ divinity shining through? We see it, first, in His special zeal to be in His Father’s house, discussing His Father’s Word—zeal that goes beyond even what the most pious believer would have done. Second, we see it in His superior knowledge and understanding of His Father’s Word, even as a boy, which astonished everyone who heard Him. And third, we see it in His own words as reveals that He’s there on “His Father’s business,” which Mary and Joseph didn’t understand at the time, because Joseph had not sent Jesus on any business in the Temple. Somehow, they had apparently almost forgotten how Jesus had been conceived in the virgin’s womb.

Last year (that is, just a few weeks ago) during one of our Wednesday evening services, we heard the words of Isaiah 11—a prophecy of the coming Christ, who would be true God and true Man: There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. His delight is in the fear of the LORD.

We spoke of the sevenfold gifts of the Spirit: Wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, knowledge, piety, and the fear of the Lord. All those gifts would be outstanding in the Christ. And already at the age of 12, we begin to see them all resting on Jesus. Piety and the fear of the Lord kept Him behind in Jerusalem to spend extra time in His Father’s house, doing His Father’s business. Might was the courage and bravery to sit there in the midst of the teachers, to engage with the rabbis of Jerusalem at the age of 12, without parents present; courage and bravery to stay behind in Jerusalem to do what His Father wanted Him to do. Knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and counsel all came together as He asked and answered the questions of the rabbis, so that all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. Counsel was also shown in giving the perfect reply to His parents when they found Him: Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business? In all these things, you can see the light of Jesus’ divinity shining through His humble appearance.

Speaking of “humble,” it wasn’t only Jesus’ appearance that was humble. It was also His behavior, and that’s what I’d like you to consider next. And as we view this revelation of His divinity, we’re struck by another amazing revelation: the divine Son of God has humbled Himself and made Himself obedient, both to His Father in heaven and to His earthly parents.

One of the articles of faith we discuss in catechism class is Jesus’ state of humiliation: from His conception in the virgin’s womb through His burial and His time spent in the grave. He lowered (“humbled”) Himself down to the level of mortal man: (1) By setting aside the full use of His divine attributes to experience the limitations of mortal man; (2) By placing Himself under God’s holy Law to obey it perfectly (active obedience); and (3) By allowing Himself to be rejected, condemned and punished (passive obedience). Today’s Gospel is a good place to begin thinking again about Jesus’ state of humiliation.

As a little baby, Jesus didn’t choose where or how He would be born, or anything else. He was God, even as a baby. But at that age, nothing in His behavior would reveal it. The question that still had to be answered was, What would this Child’s behavior be like? What would that reveal about His divinity? What would it reveal about God?

As we learn that this child who grew up with Mary and Joseph in their home, in most ways like any 12-yr-old boy, is actually the Creator of the universe, we’re astonished at how humble He was. He humbled Himself, first, before His heavenly Father, and then, before the earthly parents whom His heavenly Father had given Him.

Jesus didn’t linger behind in Jerusalem to have fun, or to explore the big city, or to get away from His parents. He stayed behind to serve His Father, to do His Father’s business, not as a rabbi Himself yet, not as a Teacher or Preacher. But as a humble boy. But even a 12-yr-old boy can have an impact, if not on the world, then on the Church where he belongs. To see a young man so devoted to God, so eager to hear and discuss His Word, to hear Him talking excitedly, not about sports or TV shows or movies, but about God and Holy Scripture, wholly dedicated to God—that’s powerful. And it’s humble.

And then, to see how God—how Jesus—behaved with His parents…He was their Creator, and yet He submitted to them, both before and after the incident in Jerusalem. How else could they have so easily left Him on His own as they started back for Nazareth, just assuming He would be fine, because He never gave them a single problem? And after they found Him, it says again that He was subject to them. Even though He knew more than they did. Even though He was perfect and they were not. He humbled Himself before them.

When you consider the humility of God at age 12, when you look at that perfect example of keeping the 3rd and the 4th commandments, you must, at first, see how far short you have fallen, even as a child. When you consider how willingly and how respectfully He submitted to His teachers there in the Temple and to His earthly parents, you must recall your own behavior and your own attitudes and see how wretched you were or have been in comparison.

But then you realize, that’s why we needed Jesus to humble Himself, because our lack of humility before God and man condemned us. But here was Jesus, even as a child, willingly obeying, willingly submitting, loving His Father in heaven perfectly, loving His earthly authorities genuinely. And that is our salvation. That, and the obedience the same Jesus would show in Jerusalem some 21 years later at another Passover, where He would submit to His Father’s will and lay down His life as a sacrifice for our sins.

Now, St. Paul writes in today’s Epistle, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

By the mercies of God, because God was willing to take on human flesh and humble Himself for your salvation, you are called upon, not to show up in church once in a while, not to do this or that good deed, but to present your body, your life, as a living sacrifice to God, which is acceptable to God because you are a baptized believer in Christ Jesus. It would be so much easier to be conformed to this world, to think like the people around you think, to indulge in the sins that the world indulges in, to make up your own beliefs in God as the world makes up its own beliefs and calls them valid. But don’t. Don’t do it. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Guess how you do that? Well, by sitting here and “foolishly wasting your time” pondering an incident from the life of Jesus at age 12. By allowing your mind to be molded by Scripture and by the life of Jesus, both here and at home. By making it your goal to live, not like the people around you, but like Jesus and like all the saints who have imitated Jesus in their own lives, from childhood through adulthood. Marvel today at the humility of God at age 12. Rejoice in the salvation earned for you by that humility. And go forth and put the same humility into practice. Amen.

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A gift from the Gentiles, a gift for the Gentiles at Epiphany

Posted on January 6, 2020 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the Epiphany of Our Lord

Isaiah 60:1-6  +  Matthew 2:1-12

An epiphany is a manifestation or a revelation of something hidden from plain sight. During this season of Epiphany, the Church celebrates various epiphanies of Jesus’ hidden divinity. He appeared as a Man. He was and is a Man! That’s what the eye could see from the time Jesus was born. But throughout His life, He revealed that which was hidden from sight. He revealed that He was also divine, that He was God, with all the significance that carries. On this festival of the Epiphany, the Church actually celebrates three such revelations: the Epiphany of Jesus’ divine kingship as the wise men came from afar to worship Him; the Epiphany of Jesus’ divine origin and nature at His Baptism; and the Epiphany of Jesus’ divine power displayed in His first miracle at the wedding of Cana. Since we’ll focus on the wedding at Cana two Sundays from now, let’s take a few moments this evening and focus on the visit of the wise men and on Jesus’ Baptism. In the one, Jesus, true God and true Man, received a precious gift from the Gentiles. In the other, the same Jesus, true God and true Man, gave a priceless gift to the Gentiles (and to the Jews).

Wise men from the east were the Gentiles who brought their gifts to Jesus, who recognized the hidden divinity of the Child whom they found in Bethlehem. We know little about them, except that they were Gentiles who were familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures and with the promise of the birth of a very important King in Israel. Not just any king, but the promised royal Son of David who would sit on David’s throne. Not just a man, but a man whose goings forth are from everlasting, who would reign as King forever. Not just King of the Jews, but a light to the Gentiles and the Ruler of all nations. What else the wise men may have known about the Christ, we have no idea. But they knew that much. And they knew somehow that His birth would be announced by a special kind of star.

There was Balaam’s prophecy in Numbers 24: “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.” Beyond that, we don’t know what else led them to identify this star that they saw with the birth of the promised King. The important thing is that they took what they knew from Scripture and believed. They took what they knew and acted upon it, as if it mattered. As if it mattered enough for them to spend weeks or months traveling across the desert to find and to worship the Baby who was also their King and their God.

They saw the star and headed toward Jerusalem, the royal city of the Jews, thinking that the King had to be found there. But all they found was wicked King Herod, who had no idea that another supposed King had been born. From their description, he knew they must be talking about the Christ, but he had to call in the priests to find the passage in Micah chapter 5 identifying the place of His birth: 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.

One would hope that in the capital city of the Jews, there would have been great rejoicing over even the possibility of Christ the King of the Jews having been born. But Matthew writes that Herod was “troubled” and “all Jerusalem with him.” Why? Because they were just settling into the status quo of Roman occupation. There was relative peace in the land. Apparently not many were waiting for the Christ at that time. Not many were looking for redemption in Israel, certainly not of the spiritual kind.

Today’s world isn’t much troubled any longer about the coming of Christ. They’ve already redefined Him and written Him off. They’ve invented a Christ who lets them believe whatever they want, a Christ who is just one holy man among many, one teacher among many, one path to salvation among many. But when Christians speak truly about Christ, when Christians worship and follow Christ according to His actual teachings in the Bible, when Christians confess Christ as the only God and King who calls all men to repentance and faith and who threatens judgment and destruction on those who reject Him, then the world is troubled again. But Christians troubling the world in that way is the only way for the Gospel to reach those who will believe.

Herod hid his troubledness from the wise men, though, and sent them on their way, ordering them to return and tell him the whereabouts of the Child, which, thankfully, they didn’t do. And the special, miraculous star reappeared after they started off for Bethlehem, leading them the rest of the way to the house where Jesus was.

And finding Him, they worshiped Him. Imagine these scholarly officials, falling down on their knees before a baby, in a humble house in a small town, cared for by a humble mother and father. And yet they did bow down, in true humility and awe and worship. To the eyes, He looked like any child. To the eyes, their worship appears very strange. But the Scriptures and the star and the Holy Spirit Himself had revealed the Child for what He truly was: the Ruler whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting, as the promised Son of David, as the King of the nations. So they presented Him with the costly, kingly gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

These were the first Gentiles to find out about Christ and to seek Him, but they were only the beginning. You heard the prophecy in Isaiah 60 this evening: The Gentiles shall come to your light. Not just three of them (or however many wise men there were), but many of them. They all gather together, they come to you; Your sons shall come from afar, And your daughters shall be nursed at your side…The wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you; the multitude of camels shall cover your land; all those from Sheba shall come. Isaiah doesn’t mean that every single person from every nation will come to Christ. But he does mean that many of the Gentiles, people from all nations will come and worship Him in faith, just like the wise men did, will come and offer up their costly treasures to Him, just like the wise men did, even their very bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.

Now, just as a few of the Gentiles presented their costly gifts to Jesus in this epiphany of His divine office as King, so, in about 30 years or so, the King would present His own priceless gift to the Gentiles in the form of Holy Baptism.

What was Jesus’ very first official kingly act as He stepped forth to begin His ministry? Matthew writes in chapter 3, 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.” Then he allowed Him. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Pay attention to the words of Luther’s Baptism hymn that we’ll sing after the sermon. It explains so well what was going on at Jesus’ Baptism and what still goes on when people are baptized in His name. He looked just like any of the Jewish men who were going to John to be baptized. But the hidden reality was that, unlike those men, who brought their sins to Baptism to receive God’s forgiveness from Baptism; Jesus brought His righteousness to Baptism to receive the sins of mankind from Baptism as the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Even as Jesus took on the role of a sinner in this Sacrament, so He also planted His own righteousness into it—righteousness which serves as the basis for the forgiveness of sins, righteousness which He would soon give as a priceless gift to all Gentiles—to all nations. As He told His disciples, Go and make disciples of all nations—of all Gentiles! —baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. All three Persons of the Holy Trinity are there at every Baptism, beginning with the Baptism of Jesus, so that God is the true Baptizer, as we’ll sing. And all who are baptized are counted together with Christ, who was declared the beloved Son of God the Father, in whom He is well-pleased.

Circumcision was the Sacrament for the Jews, for the physical descendants of Abraham. But Baptism was never restricted to a certain nation. It’s Christ’s gift to all the nations, where it works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, whether Gentiles or Jews. In this way, He has offered us all a way to be incorporated into Him.

Of course, none of that is seen when a person is baptized. It’s hidden from our sight, but revealed in this glorious epiphany.

And so we celebrate today these two epiphanies of Jesus’ hidden divinity. God calls upon you to imitate the wise men in the only way you can: to seek Jesus where the bright light of His Gospel reveals Him to be: right here in the preaching of His Word and in His holy Sacraments, to believe in Him as the Christ, the Son of the living God, even though you don’t see Him as such; to worship Him as your King, which includes obeying Him as your King, even though His rule is hidden from sight; and to offer Him your life as an offering. But all of that you can do, only because He has already found you with His gift of Holy Baptism and there has given you the right to become children of God. Think about your Baptism and wear it every day as a garment and as a bond that links you to Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, the King of the wise men, and the King of all. Amen.

 

 

 

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God keeps His children safe, even in death

Posted on January 5, 2020 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the Sunday after New Year

1 Peter 4:12-19  +  Matthew 2:13-23

On this twelfth and final day of the Christmas season, with the Christmas tree still lit, we celebrate some events surrounding the birth of Christ that don’t exactly fit the world’s idea of a “merry” Christmas, and we learn some lessons that don’t come easy. The devil and the world hate Jesus with a real hatred. If they can’t attack Him directly, then they’ll attack everyone who is connected to Him. And, to some degree, God allows those earthly attacks to happen against His children. But at the same time, even in the midst of those vicious attacks, God keeps His children safe and sound in eternal happiness and keeps working out His plan to defeat the devil and the world once and for all.

Today’s Gospel begins with the departure of the wise men. (We’ll hear about their visit in our service tomorrow evening.) The wise men left the land of Israel without reporting to King Herod the whereabouts of the Child whose star had appeared over that house in Bethlehem. But Herod would find out soon enough, and God foresaw all that Herod would do. So He sent His angel to warn Joseph in a dream. Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him. No matter how King Herod or the devil himself raged against the Christ-Child, they couldn’t keep God’s from keeping His Son safe.

But why send the holy family completely out of the land of Israel, all the way to Egypt? Matthew tells us that it was in order to fulfill an Old Testament prophecy: …that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” That’s from the Prophet Hosea. The whole verse goes like this: When Israel was a child, I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son. It’s God referring to the nation of Israel in its infancy, as Jacob (also known as Israel) was forced to go down to Egypt to be kept safe from the famine that was in the land of Canaan. Then, at the time of Moses, after Israel’s descendants had multiplied in the land of Egypt, God called Israel, His “son,” out of Egypt and brought Israel safely to the promised land. Hosea’s prophecy goes on to describe just how well God’s son, the nation of Israel, did after God called them out of Egypt. They sacrificed to the Baals, And burned incense to carved images. Israel, as a nation, proved to be an unfaithful son to God. But according to St. Matthew, Hosea’s words also apply to the Christ, who was the true Son of God and the perfect Israel who was sent to take the place of sinful Israel, a Son who would always fear, love, and trust in God above all things so that He might cover us all with His righteousness. God’s plan required that His Son Jesus retrace the footsteps of the nation of Israel to Egypt and back again, as a testimony to His saving work as Israel’s perfect Substitute.

But see how God got His Son down to Egypt to retrace those steps! He used the devil’s own wickedness against him, just as He would later do with the crucifixion itself. God used Herod’s wicked plot, designed to kill Jesus, in order to accomplish His plan for Jesus to be Israel’s Substitute, in order to bring salvation to all God’s children. Because all of God’s children—you and I included—are as faithless by nature as the nation of Israel was. We were like the rest, lost and dead in sins and trespasses. We needed a Savior who would take our place under the Law, a Savior who would be a true and obedient Son of God, a better Israel in whom we could trust, so that by Baptism into Christ and by faith in Christ, the true Israel of God, we might be incorporated into Him and be counted by God as righteous, being made members of the Christian Church, the body of Christ, who is the true Israel, making us members of the true Israel.

But none of that takes away from the horror of King Herod’s actions as he sent for all the baby boys of Bethlehem to be torn away from their mothers and slaughtered. Such was his hatred for the Christ-child, that it spilled over onto those innocent children. Such is the devil’s hatred of the human race and especially of those who are in any way connected to Christ. And so another horrible prophecy was fulfilled, A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted, Because they are no more. Rachel, Israel’s second wife, died centuries earlier giving birth to her second son, Benjamin, right there in the vicinity of Bethlehem. Now this terrible slaughter takes place in fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy.

How do we make sense of such a massacre of innocent little children? There is no making sense of it, just as there is no making sense of the massacre of the roughly one million tiny babies who were slaughtered in the United States just this past year, and every year, in the slaughter houses of abortion clinics. What we do is to place the blame for it where it belongs: on wicked King Herod and on those who supported him in his wickedness. On those who commit and support the same kinds of atrocities today. What we do not do is put the blame on God, who forbids such things.

Of course, the same world that champions abortion wags its finger at God and blames Him for massacres like Herod committed. How could God allow such a thing?!? A better question would be, How can mankind be so wicked? Better yet, How can I be so wicked? Because the same corruption of sin that leads some people to commit such atrocities and murders also dwells in your flesh and mine, causing you to look out for yourself first, or to doubt God and blame God and pretend to be God, so that you would tear Him down from His throne and sit in judgment of how He governs the world. No, the best question of all in the face of such human wickedness is this: How could God love this world of sinners, so that He should give His only-begotten Son into our flesh, to suffer and die for people as wicked as we are?

Herod’s wickedness is nothing but an extreme symptom of the same wickedness that dwells in our flesh. But God has had amazing mercy upon us and has called us to repent of our wickedness, to claim it and to renounce it, and to trust in the One who was spared from Herod’s slaughter so that He might spare us from the wrath and punishment that we deserve. And He has spared us. He has forgiven you all your sins in Holy Baptism. He continues to forgive us, calling us daily to live in repentance and to receive His forgiveness in Word and Sacrament. He continues to use Herod’s wickedness to keep us mindful of sin’s ugliness and of His grace that He still holds out to the world in Christ.

But what of those children of Bethlehem, who died only because of their connection to Christ? Is there any good for them in all of this, and if so, where is it? Shall we conclude with the Baptists that all children up to a certain (unknown) age automatically go to heaven? We have no Scriptural basis to believe that.

What we do have is the knowledge that these were Israelite baby boys, and as such, circumcised on the eighth day, just like Isaac was, just like Jesus was. That was more than an external rite. It was an external rite with God’s Word and promise attached to it, that those children were now His children. Those children of Bethlehem had the means of grace applied to them. Prayers were said for them by their believing parents. And so we trust that faith was also granted to them, little as they were, and with faith comes righteousness before God. From an earthly perspective, their lives were cut short. But from a heavenly perspective, their lives were spared from a lifetime of earthly evil and their souls kept safe and sound for eternal life.

This is also why we baptize our children soon after they’re born. Because we don’t have a Word from God that all children go to heaven. What we do have is His Word that whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved. What we do have is His promise that faith comes by hearing, and that Baptism works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal life to all who believe this, together with the knowledge from Scripture that infants, too, can believe in Jesus for salvation. Nothing can keep God from keeping His children safe, even in death, and His method for accomplishing it is Baptism, prayer, Holy Communion, and a lifetime of studying and learning His Word, so that, whether we live a long life on the earth or a very short one, whether we die a natural death or a violent one, we may always be found in Christ, and thus defy death together with Him.

Finally in our Gospel we have the holy family’s return to the land of Israel, and again, God shows us that He keeps His children safe.

What happened to Herod? What happened to his minions? As the angel said to Joseph in a dream, those who sought the young Child’s life are dead. Josephus the historian reports that Herod died after suffering an excruciatingly painful, putrefying illness. Those who rage against Christ and against His Church rage for a little while and threaten for a time, and then, sooner or later, they die and face judgment. And you can be sure that those who have done any harm to God’s children will pay dearly for it.

What happened to Jesus after Herod’s death? He was kept safe. He lived and grew up in the small town of Nazareth, in Galilee, so that He would always be known as Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the Nazarene. To be called a Nazarene was to be despised in Israel, and that seems to be what Matthew is referring to when he refers to “the prophets” prophesying that, He shall be called a Nazarene. Even in death, that is how Jesus was known, with that famous sign posted about His head, “Iesus Nazarenus,” Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. God kept His Son safe from Herod, but only so that He could one day bring Jesus safely to the cross and death, so that He could accomplish His mission on earth, until it was finished. That was God’s plan all along: not to keep Jesus safe from death, but to keep us safe from death through His death. And then to keep both Him and us safe through His resurrection from the dead, which guarantees our own.

Nothing could keep God’s from getting His Son to the cross on time. Nothing could keep Him from seeing to it that you were baptized and brought into fellowship with Christ. And nothing will keep Him from seeing you safely through this vale of tears to your heavenly home, even if you have to suffer for confessing Christ in the world, as Peter said in today’s Epistle: Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. One last time this season, Merry Christmas! Amen.

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