The crucified and risen Shepherd shepherds His sheep

Posted on May 5, 2019 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Misericordias Domini – Easter 2

1 Peter 2:21-25  +  John 10:11-16

Today, the Second Sunday after Easter, marks 12 years since I was installed as shepherd of this congregation. And I preached my first sermon here the following Sunday, the Third Sunday after Easter. Like today, the Gospel for that Sunday was from John chapter 10, about Jesus the Good Shepherd, since the WELS liturgical calendar is off by a week from the historic calendar we now use. So both this day in the Church Year and this chapter from John’s Gospel hold special meaning for me as I’m still privileged to stand before you 12 years later.

Regardless of whether we hear about the Good Shepherd on the Second or the Third Sunday after Easter, it’s fitting that we hear this text after Easter, because it took Good Friday and Easter Sunday to show us the full import of Jesus’ words. It’s the crucified and risen Shepherd who shepherds His sheep. He did that shepherding by living and dying. He does that shepherding by sending and bringing.

I am the good shepherd, says the Lord. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. He calls Himself good in contrast with the bad. The bad shepherd, the “hireling” as he’s called in our Gospel, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. Who is the wolf? He is the devil. And he has power over people because of sin, power to accuse them before God, power to hold their guilt over them, power to drag them to hell. And no one could be free from his power, because no one is without sin, no, not one. As Isaiah wrote, we all like sheep have gone astray. We have turned, every one, to his own way.

When did we last hear those words? Oh, that’s right. We heard them on Good Friday. Why? Because, as Isaiah’s prophecy continues, the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. The Scriptures of Good Friday should still be fresh in your minds. Now tie them to Jesus’ words: the good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. He gave it in every way, by living and dying, by His life and by His death. The Son of God took on our flesh and lived among us as both God and Man. He devoted His life to serving us by preaching the truth, about us as sinners and about Him as the One who freely forgives sins to all who trust in Him. And, finally, He laid down His life as the atoning price for our sins, and not for ours, but for the sins of the world. It’s the Good Shepherd you should envision bloody, dying, and dead on Good Friday. That’s what it meant to see the wolf coming and to stand His ground for the sake of the sheep, so that He might be attacked and killed in their place. He shepherded His people by living and dying.

Of course, it’s the same Good Shepherd whom you should envision risen from the dead, perfectly healed and alive again on Easter Sunday—healed, except for the marks of His suffering which He chose to retain in His hands and in His side, as He showed them to Thomas in last Sunday’s Gospel. Those are the scars of the Shepherd from His battle with the wolf, and even as He wants you always to remember His resurrection from the dead, so He wants you always to remember His crucifixion, so that you never look at sin lightly, but always remember the blessed cost of your redemption, the holy, precious blood of your Shepherd.

Jesus’ life on earth and His innocent death and His glorious resurrection are His great shepherding acts in the past. But He isn’t done shepherding His sheep. He has more shepherding to do, and yet, it was never Jesus’ plan to stay on earth in visible form and to shepherd His flock, from Jerusalem or from some other place. Imagine how sad that would be! A Shepherd who lived on the other side of the world from where you are, who had only so much time to spend with each one of His sheep. No, the Lord had a different plan for this New Testament era, with a different form of shepherding in mind.

Jesus says in our Gospel, other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. But that “bringing” into the one flock didn’t happen, or at least, was far from being finished during Jesus’ life on earth. This is the bringing the Good Shepherd does through the shepherds whom He has been sending into the world since Easter Sunday and whom He will continue to send until all the sheep are found who are to be found, until the whole flock is gathered into the One Holy Catholic—that is, Christian—and Apostolic Church.

So it is Jesus who sends the shepherds, as Paul writes to the Ephesians, Christ Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry. That means that every pastor of God’s Church is placed exactly where the Good Shepherd wants him, in every time and in every place, so that He might preach to men through the humble service of men, so that He might gather His sheep, minister to His sheep, forgive the sins of His sheep, and preserve them in His flock through that very same preaching and through the administration of the holy Sacraments.

So, too, it is Jesus who brings the sheep, who went looking for each and every one of you, who brought you to Baptism and to faith. I know My sheep, He says, and am known by My own. He knew you from before the foundations of the world were laid, and He knows you still. Even if no one else on earth truly knows you, He knows you—who you are, what you need, what you’ve done, and what you will do. And He ministers to you, to supply your every need of body and soul.

And now, as St. Peter wrote in today’s Epistle, He calls you to do good to others and for others, just as your Good Shepherd did, and to be willing to suffer for doing good, just as your Good Shepherd was. That means living as the light and salt of the earth. That means taking this Christian faith seriously, living a life that stands out in the world, that stands out in goodness, that shines with the truth, that honors God’s Word above all things. You will suffer in this world if you live like that. But then, you’ll just be walking in the footsteps of your Good Shepherd, following behind Him wherever He goes, first to shame and then to glory.

May the voice of the Good Shepherd ring in your ears today and every day. You know Him. Now follow Him. He will make you to lie down in green pastures. He will lead you beside still waters. He will restore your soul. He will be with you as you walk, even through the valley of the shadow of death. And He will follow you with His goodness and with His mercy all the days of your life, until you dwell safely in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.

 

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Life through the Word of Christ

Posted on April 28, 2019 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Quasimodogeniti – Easter 1

1 John 5:4-10  +  John 20:19-31

At our Easter Vigil this year, we listened as the prophet Ezekiel, referred to as the “son of man,” spoke life into a whole valley full of dry bones. Those bones didn’t just represent death. They represented fear, despair and hopelessness on the part of Israel. Israel was destroyed. Judah was in exile. And there was no possible way they could come out of it – no solution, no plan of action. And they despaired. And that was wrong. They had a faithful God who had promised to help them and who had never lied to them. But the devil got them to forget all about God’s faithfulness and kindness and turn inward on themselves, on how bad things looked for them. Humanly speaking, there was no hope for them. No human solution could save them. They were dead.

But where there’s death, that’s where the Spirit of God goes to work, on dead things, on hopeless things that can’t move a muscle to help themselves. A valley full of dead, dried up bones? Perfect! Prophesy, son of man! Prophesy to the breath! And by the simple words spoken by God’s called spokesman and prophet, Ezekiel, the dead, dry bones – those hopeless, fearful Israelites—lived. There was death in that valley. But then, there was life.

There was death in the upper room on Easter Sunday evening. There was dead, dried up faith on the part of Jesus’ ten apostles who were there. There was fear and hopelessness. They despaired. And that was wrong. They had a faithful God who had promised to defeat death and who had never lied to them. But the devil got them to forget all about Jesus’ faithfulness and kindness and turn inward on themselves, on how bad things looked for them – and for Jesus. As far as they were concerned, their God was dead.

But then He wasn’t. The women had seen Him. Peter had seen Him, and the Emmaus disciples. Life was breaking into the upper room by the word of Jesus’ resurrection. And then Life stepped into the room. Right through the locked doors. And He spoke words of life, “Peace be with you.”

That’s a powerful word when it’s spoken by the very Son of God, the crucified and living One. Wouldn’t you like to hear it from His lips? But that’s just the thing. If you want to believe in Jesus at all, then you have to take Him at His word. And what does His word say? As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

How could Ezekiel bring dead bones to life? Because God put His words into Ezekiel’s mouth, so that when Ezekiel spoke life into those bones, it was really the Almighty God speaking. In the same way, Jesus wants to come to you today, not with a personal, visible appearance, but in the words of the one whom He has sent. It’s the same life, the same peace, the same forgiveness. He gives authority on earth to declare peace to repentant sinners, to forgive sins and to bring the dead to life with a word.

And those who believe are comforted. And whoever does not believe will be condemned – unless the Lord of life brings life to the unbelieving before it’s too late, as He did with Thomas.

Stubborn Thomas. Whose fault was it that he didn’t believe all the eyewitness reports he heard? Whose fault was it that he didn’t believe Jesus’ own words promising his resurrection? None but Thomas was to blame. Stubborn and unbelieving. Stubborn and needing to be convinced by reason, by science. I won’t believe unless I see and touch and handle. That’s death. That’s hopelessness and despair. Because that is unbelief.

Now, maybe you’ve disbelieved and lashed out like Thomas, too. Even lifelong Christians can fall into the grievous sin of despair. But your despair or your disbelief doesn’t change the truth. Jesus was crucified, whether you believe it or not. He died and paid for all sins. He was buried. He rose from the dead, whether you believe it or not. He lives. He reigns. He keeps His promises. So you might as well believe it.

Jesus confronted Thomas in his unbelief and his demand for proof. Put your finger here and here and here and here. Put your hand here. Don’t be unbelieving, but believing. And the only thing that kept Thomas from running out of the room in shame over his shameful despair and unbelief was the word of Jesus, “Peace be with you. Believe.” And where there was unbelief, now there was faith. Where there was death, now there was life. And then Thomas did what faith does. It confesses, “My Lord and my God.”

Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. And then, it’s almost as if Jesus looked up from Thomas, across time and space and right into this room, Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Those words are spoken for you, you who have not seen and yet have believed. You are blessed.

And you need to hear those words over and over again, because you don’t get to see in this life. You don’t get to see the resurrected Jesus. You may see trouble and sickness and suffering. You will see temptation and your own sinful nature pulling you back into yourself, dragging your eyes away from Jesus, so that you forget about God and His faithfulness and despair of His help.

But God has left us a witness on earth that’s just as good as seeing Jesus. Really, honestly, just as good as seeing Jesus. Actually, it’s even better. How many people saw Jesus and still disbelieved? But the Spirit of God bears witness, because the Spirit is truth…And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one. The Spirit of God always works through the Word of God, whether it was the word spoken by Ezekiel, or the word spoken by Jesus, or the word spoken by His apostles, which, today, means pastors. What is the Spirit’s testimony? This is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Believe His testimony about the risen Lord Jesus and the life He gives and the forgiveness of sins He pronounces to you penitent sinners. Believe His testimony in the water, that you have been washed in the blood of Jesus and clothed with Him. Believe His testimony in the blood of the Sacrament, that it was shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.

There’s plenty of death all around us, and there isn’t a lot of life. Death is everywhere. It spreads like gangrene. But life – life is found, life exists, life is given only in a place. Life is in Jesus alone. And Jesus comes to you in His Word alone, and His Word is enough. These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name Amen.

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The meaning of Christ’s resurrection

Posted on April 21, 2019 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord

1 Corinthians 5:6-8  +  Mark 16:1-8

We were blessed to witness a Baptism today. And what better day could there be for it? As St. Paul wrote to the Colossians, You were buried with Christ in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses. What we witnessed here with our eyes was the washing of a baby with a little water—water that was used by God’s command and connected to God’s word. Now, if Jesus is dead, then that Baptism was a sham, nothing but the observance of a worthless tradition. But if Jesus is alive, then God was doing something amazing behind the scenes—He was counting Jesus’ death for sins to that baby. He was counting Jesus’ righteousness to that baby. He was forgiving that baby’s sins, giving him a new birth, and making him alive together with Jesus. So, yes, an Easter Sunday Baptism is most fitting.

Equally fitting is for all the baptized to remember their Baptism when we remember Christ’s resurrection. Not long before he died, St. Paul wrote to Timothy, Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel. It was good for Paul to dwell on that fact before he died, because he, too, had been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and so Jesus’ resurrection gave him a sure hope for the day of his death. It would be good for Timothy also to dwell on the fact of Christ’s resurrection as he carried out his ministry in a world that was increasingly hostile to Christians. Today, on Easter Sunday, it’s good for us to dwell on it, too, and to consider not only the fact of it, but the meaning of it.

Jesus Christ was truly raised from the dead. He lives forever—not metaphorically, not in our hearts or in our imagination, but really and truly, with His real flesh and blood, born of the virgin Mary, He stepped out of His tomb on the third day after His crucifixion. The angel announced it to the faithful women, who found the stone already rolled away from His tomb when they arrived early in the morning. Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. They, in turn, told His disciples, who were all very surprised—and doubtful—when they heard it.

It really shouldn’t have surprised them as much as it did. Jesus had told His disciples how He would be killed and rise on the third day. He had never lied to them, and He had performed so many miracles, including raising people from the dead, that they should have known He would perform this one, too. And the women—they should have believed the women, although even the women didn’t believe until they saw Jesus with their own eyes. Not even the stone rolled away or the empty tomb or the angel could convince them.

What if you saw what the women saw? The stone rolled away, the empty tomb, the folded grave clothes, and the angel sitting where Jesus had been? Then what? Then you would have been just as alarmed, just as terrified as those women were. Because an empty tomb, all by itself, isn’t the Gospel.

The resurrection of Jesus is a fact. It happened. But what does it mean? Is it a fact that saves or is it a fact that damns? The only way to know what it means is to hear what God reveals about it in the preaching of the gospel. Again, as Paul wrote to Timothy, Remember that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead according to my gospel. What is that gospel?

Well, in the words of Psalm 2, which gives us a prophecy about the Christ, Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, And you perish in the way, When His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him. So those who put their trust in the risen Son of God are blessed! But those who do not put their trust in Him will perish by His wrath.

According to the gospel, then, the empty tomb of Jesus means that His enemies and all who hate Him had better be very afraid. The resurrection of Jesus is terrible news for the devil and his demons. It’s terrible news for the one who wants to get to heaven by serving some other god, or by offering God his own good works as his ticket to heaven, or for the one who denies the existence of God or a life after death. It’s terrible news for all who refuse to repent of their sins. Because if Jesus is dead, then you get to decide what’s right and wrong for your life, and then when you’re dead, you’re dead. That’s it. But if Jesus was raised from the dead, then there will also be a resurrection of all the dead, as Jesus Himself declared, and a Judgment Day for all, where Jesus Himself is Judge. So for the impenitent and unbelieving, the empty tomb of Jesus should be cause for fear. No wonder so many people want to live in denial of the resurrection!

But for those who want a sure refuge from God’s wrath, for those who mourn over their sins, for all who want to be reconciled to God, the gospel reveals this truth: that Jesus was delivered up for our sins and raised to life for our justification. His death was sufficient payment for all sin, for every sin, for the worst sinner, for His most bitter enemy; and His resurrection means that all who hope in Him, all who trust in Him, all who look to Him for forgiveness of their sins are absolved before God’s courtroom in heaven. The empty tomb means the justification of all who believe in the risen One.

And with justification comes every gift and benefit of Christ: the adoption as God’s children, the full acceptance into eternal life, the daily forgiveness of sins in this Christian Church, the daily help, guidance and protection of a risen Savior, and the promise of your own empty tomb and the empty tomb of your faithful loved ones when Jesus returns, for judgment against all who refused to repent, and with eternal blessedness for His believing people.

No, Jesus’ empty tomb all by itself is still a scary thing, and those faithful women who visited Jesus’ tomb on Easter Sunday remained afraid until, later that day, they saw Jesus for themselves and, more importantly, heard His gospel, His word of peace. Then they rejoiced with a joy that even the bitterest persecution couldn’t take away.

That same joy is intended for all of you here today: for the newly baptized, for all the baptized, and for the unbaptized who are now being invited to be baptized. Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel. Let His enemies remember and repent! Let His people remember and rejoice! Amen.

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The Rosy-Red Water of Baptism

Posted on April 19, 2019 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Good Friday

+  Isaiah 52:13-53:12  +  John 18:1-19:42  +

On this solemn day, I’d like you to turn your thoughts to Holy Baptism. We’ll be celebrating a Baptism this coming Sunday and we’ll talk about it more then, too. But it’s fitting that we give it some time today, too. Baptism and Good Friday. Washing and dying. Water and blood. They don’t seem to go together, do they? It’s the blood of the Lamb that captures our attention on Good Friday. It’s the gory scene of torn flesh from the floggings, of thorns driven into the head of Christ, of nails and spear and a dead body bandaged in cloths that were once white, but now are stained red with blood as His body is laid in the tomb. Good Friday was a day full of shame and pain and death.

On the other hand, Baptism is characterized by cleanness and life and joy. On that happy day when parents bring their children to the font, or when an unbaptized adult comes forward for that Holy Sacrament, no one is thinking about the bloody mess of Good Friday. If anything, it’s the joy of Easter resurrection that fills our thoughts, not the torture and death of the Passover Lamb.

But what does St. John say in the Book of Revelation about the great multitude in heaven, standing before the throne of God? He writes, These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. A washing in the blood of Christ that cleanses and whitens!

What was it again that John saw streaming from Jesus’ side as he stood there at the foot of the cross? Water and blood. He tells us that immediately blood and water came out. And then he emphasizes it with these words: He who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. He refers back to it again in his Epistle, which we heard last week Wednesday: This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. Commenting on those words, Luther once wrote: Thus St. John pictures our dear baptism for us in this way, so that we shall not regard and look only at the clear Water, for, he says, Christ comes “not with water only…but with the water and the blood”. Through such words he desires to admonish us to see with spiritual eyes and see in baptism the beautiful, rosy-red blood of Christ, which flowed and poured from his holy side. And therefore he calls those who have been baptized none other than those who have been bathed and cleansed in this same rosy-red blood of Christ.

Martin Luther rightly made that connection between Good Friday and baptism, just as the Apostle John himself had done, just as you and I must do. Baptism and Good Friday belong together, because it’s the “rosy-red blood” of Christ, the Paschal Lamb, that sanctifies the water so that the water, in turn, can sanctify the one who is washed in it.

“We were, therefore, buried with Christ through baptism into death,” St. Paul wrote. On that happy day when parents bring their children to the font, when you yourself received this Holy Sacrament, the striking picture painted by Holy Scripture is of God taking that child or that adult and whisking him or her away, back through the ages, across the ocean, and hanging the baptized onto the cross of Christ Jesus, and placing the baptized into Joseph’s newly carved tomb, so that, together with Christ, he or she has now been punished for all sin. Together with Christ, the baptized has now paid the wages of sin, which is death, and together with Christ, the baptized has now also been raised from the dead. He is forgiven, justified, and saved from the power of sin, death and the devil.

This is the object of faith, this is what faith clings to: that Christ truly died, not for His sins, but for ours; that He was truly raised from the dead, not for His justification, but for ours, and that we have been baptized into Christ. Your Baptism really happened, just as the events of Good Friday really happened, just as the events of Easter Sunday really happened, and there’s nothing in the world that can change it. No sin can undo it. No tragedy can overturn it. Not even death can affect it. You don’t have to go searching in yourself for some goodness you can rely on in the hour of your death, for some past deeds that might hopefully pry the doors of heaven open long enough for a sinner like you to sneak in. “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” Period.

How can you be sure? Because, “It is finished!” All the blood has been spilt for sin that ever needs to be spilt, spilt by Jesus and applied to you by the power of the Word of God that is in and with the water—water that appears clear to the naked eye, but to the eye of God, appears rosy-red. All the gifts won by Christ on Good Friday are yours through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. Amen.

 

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The Sacrament of the Altar

Posted on April 18, 2019 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Maundy Thursday

+  1 Corinthians 11:23-32  +  John 13:1-15  +

Holy Thursday affords us a wonderful opportunity to reflect on just what it is we’re supposed to remember when our Lord first commanded us on that Thursday of Holy Week, “This do in remembrance of Me.” What is this meal that we celebrate here at Emmanuel so often and that awaits us again on this Holy Thursday? What is the Sacrament of the Altar? We answer that in our Small Catechism with these words: It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ Himself, for us Christians to eat and to drink.

You take and eat bread. But at the same time, whether you believe it or not, you are really and truly also taking and eating the very body of Jesus: the same body once broken on the cross, the same body that was laid in a tomb, the same body that rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. That’s the body that also graces our altar and enters our mouths.

You take and drink wine. But at the same time, whether you believe it or not, you are really and truly also taking and drinking the very blood of Jesus: the blood of the new testament Passover Lamb, the same blood once shed by floggings and by beatings, by a crown of thorns, by nails and by spear. That’s the blood that also graces our altars and enters our mouths.

The bread isn’t a symbol of a body that is located elsewhere, nor is the wine a symbol of the blood that poured out of Jesus’ wounds long ago. The bread is His body; the wine is His blood; really present but hidden from our senses under the bread and wine.

For what purpose does He give us His body with the bread and His blood with the wine? What is the benefit of this eating and drinking? That is shown us by these words: “Given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins,” namely, that in the Sacrament, forgiveness of sins, life and salvation are given us through these words. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there are also life and salvation.

It’s true, Holy Communion serves other purposes, too. We proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. We share a blessed communion with one another, bound together by a common Baptism, by a common confession of faith, and by a bond of love that seeks to mimic the love of Christ for us. Indeed, we share a blessed communion with the saints and angels in heaven, and with all true Christians around the world who likewise partake of the Sacrament of the Altar, even if we can’t commune together with them because of time or distance or because of the false doctrines that are taught in their churches. And finally, Holy Communion is our Eucharist, our sacrifice of thanksgiving to God as we celebrate the sacrifice of atonement made by Jesus.

But the chief benefit of the Sacrament of the Altar has always been the forgiveness of sins, because it’s from the continual offer of the forgiveness of sins that faith in Christ is strengthened and the bond of love for one another increased. It’s from the forgiveness of sins that thanksgiving flows to God. It’s the forgiveness of sins, won by Christ through the giving of His body and the shedding of His blood, that is the heart of our proclamation until Christ comes again.

Now, if you have no sins that need forgiving, then by all means, stay away from the Supper. If you have no fear, no doubt, no weaknesses common to man, then by all means, stay away from the Supper. If you have a faith that can never be moved or shaken or disturbed, if your “love for one another” is already perfect, if you are “fed up” with Jesus, as it were, and feel no need for this communion with Him, then by all means stay away from the Supper. It isn’t for you. It’s only for sinners who yearn to be close to Christ, who long to be touched again by His sacrifice, who desire to receive from His hand the forgiveness of sins, who need His help in order to fulfill His command to love one another.

But, weren’t we already offered and given forgiveness of sins, life and salvation in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism? Do we somehow lose that forgiveness and die again so that we need to be re-forgiven at every Communion, re-saved, resurrected to life again every week? Or do we somehow rack up a whole host of sins during the week that make God angry with us again and that need to be erased again by the body and blood of Christ? No, no, we shouldn’t think of forgiveness that way.

The forgiveness of sins – a right standing before God, an open door to heaven is what Jesus won for you by His death on the cross as the Substitute of all men. Where Christ is found, there is complete forgiveness – there and only there. What joins you to Christ is faith in Him for the forgiveness of sins, faith that comes from hearing His promise. You were brought into Him by Baptism, through faith in His blood, and in Him, your sins were counted – are counted – as forgiven – not once, not piecemeal, but always and completely.

But your faith-connection to Christ is like a slender thread, and you are literally surrounded by enemies who have targeted that thread, who seek to cut it and sever your connection to Jesus, to pull you away from Him, and so to pull you away from God’s forgiveness and life. You know who those enemies are, I think. The devil, the world and your sinful flesh. As long as you live on earth, you live in enemy territory and your faith-connection to Jesus is vulnerable, which is why Jesus wasn’t content to give you only a once-in-a-lifetime Baptism, wasn’t satisfied to give you only a spoken word of absolution or the general preaching of the Gospel. Those things tie you to Jesus, too, and to the forgiveness that is yours in Him. No, Jesus knew that the slender thread of your faith would need to be nourished by something tangible, would need to be fed and fortified on an ongoing basis by a powerful food in the face of so many and so ruthless enemies.

And so God has given a remedy against them, a medicine to save you from them, to protect and to strengthen the precious faith that He once created in you. That remedy, that medicine of immortality, that divine food for the soul is the Sacrament of the Altar.

Who receives this Sacrament worthily? Fasting and bodily preparation is certainly a fine outward discipline, but he is truly worthy and well-prepared who has faith in these words: “Given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins.” But whoever does not believe these words or doubts them is unworthy and unprepared. For the words “for you” require nothing but believing hearts.

If you know your need for Christ, your need to receive Him and, with Him, all His forgiveness and all His strength in the Sacrament, if you believe in your Savior’s invitation, then come, take and eat – now, and whenever you feel your sin pressing hard and the world pulling you away and the devil shooting his flaming arrows at the slender thread of your faith. Come and receive the God-given medicine against sin, death and condemnation. The Sacrament of the Altar is most definitely “for you.” Amen.

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