Jesus is revealed as the One who saves by faith

Posted on January 26, 2014 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for Epiphany 3

Jeremiah 33:6-9  +  Romans 12:16-21  +  Matthew 8:1-13

Every week in the Gospel the Holy Spirit shines the spotlight of God’s Word on Jesus and shows us what kind of a Messiah He is.  Today, in Matthew’s Gospel, He highlights the very heart of Christianity and reveals Jesus to us as the One who saves by faith.

We have two outstanding examples of faith set before us today: the leper and the centurion. There is so much for us to learn in each of these two accounts.  For today, we’re going to focus on the leper.

Jesus had come down from the mountain—the mountain where He preached the famous “Sermon on the Mount.” Multitudes of people gathered around Him to hear, but the leper wasn’t among them. He couldn’t be. His disease forced him to stay far away from the healthy people.  The Law kept him away from everything and everyone because of his uncleanness.  The Law kept him away from God’s Temple, and therefore, from God’s presence. But the leper heard the word about Jesus from someone, and God’s Spirit works just as powerfully in the word about Jesus as He does in the words Jesus spoke from His own mouth (which is a comforting truth for us who also were not there to hear Jesus preach on the mountain). The leper had heard about Jesus’ power to heal and about Jesus’ kindness and mercy.  And the leper believed that Jesus would help him.

So, in faith, he did the unthinkable. He, a leper, went right up to Jesus, a healthy Man, the holy God—against the prohibitions of the law that required lepers to stay back, because he trusted that Jesus had come to help, that God had come to earth to save sinners who could not go up to heaven to seek God. The leper trusted that Jesus had come, not to destroy unclean sinners, but to cleanse them and change them from unclean outcasts to clean citizens of God’s kingdom.  He came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” He doesn’t say, “I don’t know if you are who they say you are.” He doesn’t say, “I don’t know if you can help me or not.”  He confesses his faith. “You can make me clean.”  But he adds this humble condition: “if You are willing.” He doesn’t demand anything from Jesus or tell Him what to do.  He humbly leaves himself in Jesus’ hands to do with what He will.

But how is this “worship”? It says the leper came and worshiped Him. How? By seeking cleansing from Him.  The Bible calls that “worship.” In the other religions of the world, man worships God by doing things for Him.  If man does the right things for God, then he expects God will be persuaded to help man.  In Christianity, man worships God by doing nothing for Him, because we can’t do anything for Him or earn His favor by our works.  In Christianity, man worships God by not giving Him anything, because we have nothing of worth to give.  In Christianity, man worships God by desiring to receive mercy from Him, by trusting in Him as our good and gracious Savior who helps the helpless and cleanses those who are diseased with sin, as the great Physician who came to heal, not the healthy, but the sick.

And we are by nature sick before God, with a leprosy that is not only skin deep, but that eats away at our heart. The Law commands us to be righteous, to serve God and give Him what He deserves—our selfless obedience to His commandments. The Law says, serve God! Obey God!  Give to God! Keep the commandments! And many people are foolish enough to think that they can.

But no one can. We’re helpless and hopeless before God because of our sin. But then comes this word about Jesus, this Gospel that proclaims God’s desire to save, not the healthy, but the sick, this Gospel that proclaims God’s grace and favor to sinners, not on the basis of our obedience, but on the basis of faith in Christ who was obedient for us—faith that looks to Him to make us clean, if He is willing.

Now, there’s the questions, isn’t it?  Is He willing to make us clean?  Today’s Gospel reveals the answer to that very question. “I am willing,” Jesus says. “Be cleansed.” And the leper was, immediately.  And so are all who trust in Jesus for cleansing.  Forgiven. Justified. Received into God’s favor.

“If You are willing” is a very fitting condition to add to our prayers, because in some matters, we don’t know if God is willing or not. Is God willing to forgive penitent sinners who look to Jesus for mercy?  Always!  Is God willing to heal immediately our physical diseases while we wait for Jesus to return?  Not always. Is He willing to preserve us from cancer?  From car crashes and from sudden death?  Not always.  But Christ has died, and Christ has risen from the dead. And His promise to us who believe in Him is cleansing from sin now, cleansing from all physical maladies, even death itself, when He comes again in glory.  Jesus’ willingness to cleanse us from our sin now is the evidence that “the will of God is always best,” as we sang in the hymn today, so that even when tragedy strikes, even when the will of God is for cancer or car crashes to result in death for a Christian, we can know for certain that it fits perfectly into God’s good and gracious plan to work all things together for good to those who love Him.  Cleansing from spiritual death now.  Cleansing from physical death when He comes.

The leper was graciously cleansed by Jesus, both spiritually and physically, in order to teach us about Jesus’ willingness to cleanse us from our sin, in order to teach us to believe in Him as the leper did, because it’s by faith in Him that He hands out His good gifts to us, even righteousness and eternal life.  And where especially does He hand it out?  Here in His Sacrament.  Be sure to read the back of the service folder today.  It mentions all these things—how the worship of the Gospel is to desire to receive good things from God, and how the Sacrament of the Altar is God’s special tool for handing out His gifts to each one who comes to receive them from Him.

Notice, then, in our Gospel what Jesus told the leper to do after he was cleansed.  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.  See what the Holy Spirit is revealing in this Gospel!  Moses and the Law, Moses and the Ten Commandments are not man’s path to salvation.  On the contrary, the Law of Moses proclaims us to be lepers in order to point us to the Messiah, to Jesus, for healing and salvation.  Only then—only when we’ve been forgiven of our sins by Jesus can we now go back and understand Moses rightly.  Only now that we’ve been cleansed from sin before God by His free grace can we go back and use the commandments and obey them.  And God turns that obedience into a testimony to those around us: Lepers can’t keep the Law. Salvation is by faith in Jesus, not by works of obedience to the Law.  But we who believe in Jesus are the ones who have been cleansed of leprosy.  And so we who believe in Jesus are the ones who now keep the commandments, not in order to be saved by our obedience, but because we have already been saved by faith in Christ.

So the Law is no longer our enemy.  It daily does its work of condemning our sin, but the Gospel daily does its work of pointing us to Christ in repentance and faith.  Now the Law speaks what is right and wrong, and the Christian says Amen!  That’s exactly what I want to do according to the New Man, the cleansed man that God has created in me.  Cleansed by faith alone, now I want nothing more than to worship God in the way He wants to be worshiped—not by giving Him things, but by receiving His gifts of mercy in Word and Sacrament.  He, in turn, strengthens my faith through these very means, and strengthens me to walk according to His commandments, in faith toward God and in love toward my neighbor.  That pretty well sums up the whole Christian life.

There’s much more to be said about our Gospel, but let that be enough for today.  In the account of the leper, the light of Epiphany shines brightly on faith and on Christ, the good and merciful Savior to whom you can go in every need, because He is willing to cleanse you and help you, both here in this valley of sorrow, and there in the eternal home He has prepared for all who have loved His appearing.  Amen.

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Christ’s glory revealed at a marriage supper

Posted on January 19, 2014 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for Epiphany 2

Deuteronomy 18:15-19  +  Romans 12:6-16  +  John 2:1-11

In this Epiphany season, we follow the light of Scripture as it shines on Jesus and reveals the saving truth about Him. On Epiphany, January 6, we followed the light of Scripture just as the wise men followed the light of the star, to see Jesus as the Savior of both Jews and Gentiles. Last Sunday the light of Scripture showed us Jesus in the Temple, where He was found in the Word of God, going about His Father’s business. This past Monday—every year on January 13—the Church remembered Jesus’ Baptism when He was about 30 years old, where the light of Scripture reveals Him being ordained directly into His ministry by the voice of God the Father as the Father claimed Him as His beloved Son who came to fulfill all righteousness, to unite Himself to sinners in the waters of Baptism, and to make us well-pleasing to God by faith in Him.

Today our Gospel shines the light on Jesus again as Jesus performs His very first miracle and reveals His glory to His disciples.  What will be the very first manifestation of Christ’s glory? How will Christ choose to show His disciples what kind of Messiah He will be, what kind of a ministry He will have?  By changing water into wine at the marriage supper at Cana.  There’s lots for us to learn from that.

By the time of the wedding, Jesus had recently been signaled by John the Baptist as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”  Andrew, John and Peter, Philip and Nathanael had recently been introduced to Jesus and already convinced that He was the Messiah.  What will the Messiah’s first act be to manifest His glory to His new disciples? It turns out all of them, together with Jesus’ mother, had been invited to this marriage supper, and that’s where Jesus decides to go.

That decision, all by itself, says something.  It says, first of all, that Jesus endorses marriage, which is no secret or surprise, since He was there in the Garden of Eden, and through Him Eve was created for Adam, from Adam, and presented to Adam to be his wife.  And God promoted and protected marriage throughout the Old Testament, especially in the 6th Commandment.  It’s no surprise that Jesus honors marriage; later in His ministry He would defend it—this life-long union of one man and one woman—and speak accusing words against anyone who would adulterate it or forbid it or end it sinfully.

But here in our Gospel Jesus demonstrates with His actions that marriage is a good and godly institution—an estate that is blessed by God and pleasing in His sight.  He upholds the institution of marriage and also the gathering of friends and family to celebrate the marriage.  Jesus, the Son of God, is not ashamed to make a marriage banquet or supper the first place He goes with His disciples.

What else do we learn from this?  That Christ has not intended for His people to live some Stoic, somber existence, to go around with scowls on their faces and a sour demeanor, as if godliness were a matter of going off to live in a monastery.  The kingdom of heaven is not about being grumpy or somber, nor is it about being too pious or holy for things like weddings and wedding feasts.  Christians can use the things of this world and enjoy them and participate in godly institutions, as long as we don’t become more attached to them than to Christ, as long as we don’t let godly enjoyment turn into godless debauchery or disobedience to God’s Word.

Then what happens at the marriage supper?  They run out of wine.  It’s not the end of the world.  But wine is for celebration and festivity, and the celebration would be cut short if the wine ran out too soon.  (Yesterday I attended a Jewish Bar Mitzvah. And guess what the very first thing was that they brought out for the meal. Wine.) Maybe the newlyweds’ money didn’t go far enough to provide wine for all their guests in Cana.  Maybe they would be dishonored in the eyes of their guests. It’s not the end of the world, but it was a momentary need that would result in glory for Jesus and in blessedness for the attendees.

Mary finds out about the shortage and she tells Jesus about it.  It’s a relatively minor need, but she’s confident to approach Jesus with it, and she shows us that we, too, can approach Jesus with our needs, whether they’re great or small.

Jesus’ reply sounds like a ‘no.’ Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.  He seems disinterested and unwilling to help, and yet His next actions reveal that He isn’t disinterested at all and is willing to help.  So why the negative reply? Jesus often pulls and tugs at faith to exercise it and to build it up. He forces us to trust that He is good and merciful at heart, even when it appears on the outside that He doesn’t care.

That’s an important lesson for Christians to learn, that God is merciful and compassionate, even when He appears distant and unconcerned.  We know that because He’s told us that’s how He is, gracious and compassionate and forgiving.  It’s not faith in God or trust in God if God has to prove Himself to you over and over and over again, if you won’t believe He is merciful until you see it with your own eyes.

Mary shows us what faith looks like in the face of apparent rejection, and the Holy Spirit shines the light on her response in order to increase our faith, in order to teach us, “Yes, Jesus is your Helper and your Savior! Don’t let His appearance fool you.”  Mary hears Jesus’ apparent refusal to help and still expects Him to do something.  She says to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” She doesn’t know how He’ll help.  She leaves that up to Him entirely.  “Whatever He says to you, do it.”  Because whatever Jesus says is right.  Whatever Jesus says, He says for our salvation.

And what does He say about your greatest need, about the need that is at the root of all your other needs, about the neediness caused by your sin?  He says, repent! Recognize your own failures, your own selfishness, your living to please yourself rather than God, to serve yourself rather than your neighbor. And however you have failed to honor God’s institution of marriage, whether by ending one sinfully, or by living in one with anything less than selfless love and devotion, or by sharing your bedroom with someone to whom you are not married as a trial run to see how well you get along before committing to marriage—to these and all sins what Jesus says is, repent!

And trust Me, He says.  I have not come to earth to destroy sinners.  See, here I am at a marriage supper, of all places.  I have come, not to destroy, but to save.  Trust Me, He says.  I will take care of your sin and suffer for it and die for it and bury it deep in the earth, where the Law cannot find it, and not even God’s eyes will see it ever again.  Trust Me, He says. With Me there is forgiveness and God’s favor.  Apart from Me, there is only death.

Well, the servants at the marriage supper did “whatever Jesus told them to do,” which was to take six large stone pots and fill them with water, and then to draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.  And, just like that, at the Word of Jesus, ordinary water was transformed into something extraordinary—into wine that amazed the master of the feast because it was better than any of the wine than had gone before.

That’s what Jesus chooses for His first miraculous sign—changing water into wine, taking something ordinary and turning it into something extraordinary, into something that gladdens the heart and is meant for celebration.

That’s a perfect description of what this Messiah is all about. As he says in John’s Gospel, I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.  Of course, in order for that to happen, He will have to give His life on the cross.  Mankind’s sins against God’s holy Law cannot go unpunished.  The sinner must die.  So Christ died the sinner’s death so that we may have life by faith in Him.  And the life He gives—it’s about joy and peace. It’s about God’s favor and love.

So Jesus takes ordinary water and combines it with His Word and calls it Baptism. And He promises that this washing with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit does something miraculous—more miraculous than turning water into wine.  It reaches into the spiritual realm and washes away sin and brings a person into God’s house.  Then He takes ordinary men—common fishermen, originally, like Jesus’ first disciples were—and turns them into His ambassadors on earth, authorized to forgive sins and to retain sins in His name.  Then He takes ordinary bread and wine and blesses them with His Word, so that they are now His own body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar, bringing Jesus here to our Sunday morning celebration just as truly as He was at the marriage supper at Cana, with the forgiveness of sins and with life more abundant.  And even with that, this Holy Supper is still only a foretaste of the great supper that awaits in heaven for all who have trusted in Jesus, the marriage supper for Christ and for His Bride, the holy Christian Church.

This is how the Messiah, the Christ, is revealed to us in our Gospel.  Not as a new law-giver, like Moses, come to tell you how to improve yourself and earn God’s favor, but as the Savior from sin and as the Giver of grace.  Of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!  Let us rejoice in this supper to which we are called, and in the Messiah who has called us to celebrate. Amen.

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Sermon on the Augsburg Confession, Art. IV: Justification

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

Vespers, the week of Epiphany 1

Romans 3:23-31  +  Matthew 3:13-17

I know it’s been a few weeks since we last met to consider the first three articles of the Augsburg Confession. But the timing of the Church Year will help to refresh our memories.  Two days ago, January 13th, was the day for observing the Baptism of Our Lord, which is why that Gospel was read this evening.  There in Jesus’ baptism we see the first three articles of the Augsburg Confession combine.

The first article, on God, Father Son and Holy Spirit, is held before our eyes as Jesus steps into the Jordan River, the Holy Spirit descends on Him like a dove and God the Father spoke, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”  Three Persons.  One God. That’s Article 1.

At the same time, we hear even the great prophet John the Baptist confess, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” John needed to be baptized by Jesus because John was a sinner, as are all people who are naturally born.  We are born with original sin, not original righteousness, and therefore, as we confess in Article 2 or the Augsburg Confession, we cannot be justified or declared righteous before God by our own strength or reason, because we’re born already lost sinners.

But there He stood, the Son of God, the Righteous One who didn’t need to be baptized because He was not naturally born, but virgin-born.  There He stood, the Son of God, true God and true Man, standing in the sinner’s place, taking up the sinner’s load of sin so that He might bear it and make atonement for it by His innocent death on the cross.  The Son of God is the theme of the Augsburg Confession, Article 3.

Now we come tonight to the pinnacle of the Augsburg Confession, even though it’s fairly early among the 28 articles.  Still, it’s the pinnacle, because all the others point to it as the goal and purpose. Article IV: On Justification.

Our churches teach that people cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works. People are freely justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake. By His death, Christ made satisfaction for our sins. God counts this faith for righteousness in His sight (Romans 3 and 4).

It’s short, because the truth of the Gospel is really very simple. First, we have the problem of sin. As we’ve seen, as St. Paul demonstrates so definitively in Romans chapters 1, 2 and the first part of 3, no one can be justified before God by works of the Law. Rather, through the Law we become conscious of sin. As we saw in the article on original sin, all people already stand condemned under God’s holy Law.  There is no question of guilty or not guilty. All are guilty.

Now, among us sinners, we have this concept of “making up for” things.  You say something hurtful, you make up for it by saying you’re sorry and then something extra nice.  You do something hurtful, you make up for it by saying you’re sorry and fixing what you broke or mending what you hurt.  But with God, there is no such thing as you, the sinner, “making up for” what you did wrong. It never works with God.  You can say you’re sorry a thousand times, or try to do a thousand good deeds to make up for every one bad deed.  It doesn’t work.  You can’t be sorry enough, you can’t pray hard enough to fix it, to be counted righteous before God, to be justified before God.

People cannot be justified before God by their own strength. No one is strong enough to keep God’s Law.  People cannot be justified before God by their own merits. “Merits” are the worthy deeds you do that earn good things from God.  But sinners are incapable of doing worthy deeds that earn God’s favor or forgiveness.  People cannot be justified before God by their own works.  There’s no climbing that ladder back up into God’s favor.  We confess, according to Scripture, that it cannot be done.  God’s Law demands that sinners be treated like sinners, and that righteous people be rewarded for being righteous people.

The only way for sinners to be treated like non-sinners, the only way for sinners to receive the rewards of righteous people, in God’s divine courtroom, is for our sins to be punished in Someone Else.  And for Someone Else’s righteousness and obedience to be counted as our own.

There He stands, in Jordan’s streams.  The Righteous One, standing in the dirty water of the Jordan, so that dirty sinners can be washed clean.  Because He won’t stay there, standing in the water.  He’ll go forth in righteousness, with His Father’s approval and the Holy Spirit’s power.  He’ll go forth, in perfect love toward God and in perfect love toward His neighbor.  He’ll go forth from the Jordan and He’ll take our sins with Him. He’ll take them to the cross and be punished for them.

By His death, Christ made satisfaction for our sins.  “Made satisfaction.”  “Did enough.”  “Made up for.”  He was strong enough to keep God’s Law for us.  He had enough merits to earn God’s favor for all sinners.  He did enough works to earn forgiveness for us, and every good thing God has to give—life, salvation, adoption as God’s children, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and an inheritance in heaven.

Christ and His earnings are the treasure.  Now, His righteousness, His earnings must be applied to sinners if we are to be justified before God.  How does that happen?  By Faith.

People are freely justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake.  God has promised to receive sinners into His favor for Christ’s sake. God has promised to forgive sins for Christ’s sake. When a sinner believes that promise of God, when a sinner believes in Jesus for righteousness and forgiveness and salvation, that’s when a sinner is justified, forgiven, and saved.

But how can a sinner be absolved and acquitted by God?  Your faith doesn’t make up for your sins. Faith is not your strength twisting God’s arm to receive you into His favor.  Faith is not your merit earning God’s favor or our salvation.  Faith is not your work that you perform in obedience to God’s Law. No, Christ made up for your sins. Christ earned God’s favor.  And faith lays hold of Christ

Faith is that gift of God with which a poor sinner, standing under the righteous condemnation of God’s law, flees to Christ for refuge, trusting that He will shelter us from wrath, He will save us from death, He will cover us with His righteousness, as He has promised to do. Faith clings to Christ.

And here is God’s gift of grace: God counts this faith for righteousness, as it says in Romans 3 and 4. We even read those words tonight from Romans 3. God has determined to cover the one who believes in Jesus with the righteousness of Jesus.  That’s the only way a holy God can and does pronounces sinners righteous.  And that is what we celebrate as Christians, that God, in His mercy, chose to send His Son for sinners, and that God has chosen to justify sinners by faith alone in Christ Jesus.  That’s what we confess in the 4th Article of the Augsburg Confession.  Amen.

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Christ is revealed in His Word

Posted on January 12, 2014 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for the First Sunday after Epiphany

Isaiah 61:1-3  +  Romans 12:1-5  +  Luke 2:41-52

Mary and Joseph were among the most blessed people who have ever lived on earth. They spent more time with Jesus—more days, more years—than anyone else.  Even His disciples only knew Him for three years or so.  But Mary and Joseph—every day.  They were also kept humble by God.  Jesus was born in a stable. You heard last week about the flight to Egypt soon after He was born and time—possibly years—they spent living on the run, living as strangers in a foreign country hiding from the murderous King Herod. But for all that hardship, at least they had Jesus with them. In today’s Gospel, Mary and Joseph were struck with what was certainly the greatest hardship in the 13 years since Gabriel announced to Mary that she would be the mother of the Son of God.  They lost track of their Son. They lost sight of God’s Son. See in this Gospel how God treats His dear saints, how He disciplines us, and especially how He teaches us to find Christ in His Word.

The Gospel informs us that Mary and Joseph made the trip to Jerusalem from Nazareth every year, as faithful Jews, to attend the Passover. Whether or not Jesus went with them every year of His childhood, we don’t know. But He did go with them when He was 12.

The visit to the Holy City took place without incident. Then Mary and Joseph made a mistake that any parent might make, if you’re traveling with a large group of your family and neighbors.  If your child is not with you, you assume that your child is with one of them.  All the more so with Jesus, since, as a holy Child, He was not given to running off irresponsibly, or to anything irresponsible or reckless or disobedient.

But then, His parents begin to look for Him, and one relative after another informs them, “No, I haven’t seen Him.” They don’t find Him anywhere in their company. Panic starts to set in. So they go back and search Jerusalem. Painfully, as Mary later tells Jesus. Anxiously, as you can imagine. And amid all the fears of what could have happened to Jesus, the worst fear must have been the fear of God.  Mary had been given the privilege to be the mother of God’s Son, to raise Him, to care for Him. And now, what had she done? She had failed as His mother!  God must surely be angry with her.  He won’t love her anymore after this.  How could He ever forgive her? Maybe He’s taken Jesus away from her because she wasn’t worthy. Maybe He’ll be taken away forever.

Thoughts like these must have flooded Mary’s mind during the three days they searched for Jesus. And thoughts like these afflict Christians of all times.  Sometimes God grants us peace and comfort and a firm confidence that Christ is ours.  As Luther says, that’s like paradise.  Other times, God removes Christ from our sight for awhile, sometimes due to our own negligence, as it was with Mary. And in those times, all seems lost. God seems angry again, and distant, and we’re driven close to despair.

God does that with a good purpose in mind, out of grace and love for His saints.  He knows that if we’re comfortable all the time, we will quickly start to take credit for it. We will become puffed up and grow lazy and proud and we will look to ourselves for help and advice.  So He allows us to experience pain and loss for a time, as a father disciplines his children, to drive us to repentance and to His Word.

That’s where He drove Mary and Joseph.  They searched for Jesus for three days, and then finally, they thought to seek Him in the Temple, in the house of God.  And there they found Him, sitting among the rabbi’s, discussing God’s Word with them, asking intelligent questions and giving answers that astounded the teachers.  Today’s Gospel is fitting for the Epiphany season, the season of the revealing of Christ.  Here it is revealed to us that Christ is to be sought and found in His Word.

Mary’s words to Jesus are telling. She even dares to scold Him mildly: Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” Isn’t it kind of living in denial?  Mary and Joseph were the parents.  They had made the mistake of assuming Jesus was with them.  And yet, here, Mary starts to blame Jesus. More than that, Mary seems to have forgotten for the moment that she and Joseph are not the only parents Jesus has.  God is His true Father, and Jesus has come to earth to fulfill God’s plans and God’s will.  They should have taken that into account.

God’s saints, even saints like Mary and Joseph, can fall into this blaming of God for things that really are their own fault. God, why would You do this?  How could You do this to good, innocent people like us who don’t deserve to suffer like this?  And yet, most often we have our own negligence or our own weakness to blame.  No, God’s saints don’t willfully go out and sin against Him.  God’s saints don’t willfully and intentionally break His commandments.  That would be abandoning the faith.  But God’s children do still suffer from great weakness, and we sin in weakness all the time.

But see how God comforts us in the Gospel today and gives us hope.  He gives us the example of the greatest, most privileged saints who ever lived—Mary and Joseph. He shows us their weakness, their mistakes, their negligence, and their lack of understanding.  And then He shows us how He set them straight and forgave them and didn’t reject them as the parents of His Son.  So with us. Through trials and afflictions and suffering, He keeps us humble and penitent. He forces us to depend, not on ourselves, but only on Him. God allows His saints to suffer for a good purpose, and then drives them back to His Word and comforts them with His Word.

Jesus’ words to Mary were meant as a mild rebuke. Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?  Why did you seek Me among the relatives and acquaintances?  Why did you seek Me everywhere except in the very place where I must be found?  In My Father’s house, in My Father’s business.  Now, God is everywhere, but He is especially to be found by us in His Word.

These words of Jesus were recorded by Luke, not for Mary’s benefit, but for ours, that we may know where to seek Jesus and find Him.  Satan would have us seek Jesus everywhere but His Word, in the Church Fathers and councils, in our feelings, or in our own beliefs, or our own thoughts or reason.  But God calls us back and drives us back to the Word alone.  There we find Jesus, with His grace and mercy and forgiveness.  There we find Jesus with His comfort and peace.  And when we cling to Christ in His Word, then He goes back home with us and serves us unworthy people, just as Jesus went back home with Mary and Joseph and was subject to them.

So hear God’s Spirit today calling you to seek Jesus in His Word and in the Sacraments, which are the Word of Christ attached to visible signs of water, bread and wine.  If you have neglected the Word of God in the past, see how God is gracious toward you and has called you back today.  If you find yourself in the future neglecting the Word of Christ, you may look up one day and notice that Jesus is nowhere to be found.  Then let this Gospel that is planted in your heart today take root and call you back to repentance and faith, to seek and to find Jesus in His Father’s house, where the Word of salvation is proclaimed to you. Amen.

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The light of Christ shines in the Church

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

Sermon for the Epiphany of Our Lord

Isaiah 49:1-7  +  Isaiah 60:1-6  +  Matthew 2:1-12

Now.  Now, after Christmas is over and all the decorations are put away, it’s time to go back to Bethlehem one last time for the Epiphany—the appearance, the revealing, the manifestation of Jesus to the wise men.  The visit of the wise men is full of mystery and wonder.  Who were these magi?  From what nation did these Gentiles come? How many were there? And how did they know to mark the birth of the King of the Jews by a certain star?   And who told them that the King of the Jews was any concern of theirs? We can’t be certain about those things; the Holy Spirit chose not to reveal them, chose to focus on other things, more important things, like, what is the significance of the wise men’s visit?  What does it prove?  What does it matter?

It matters very much, especially to us Gentiles, because it proves that what God had said through the Prophet Isaiah was already beginning to come true in Jesus’ infancy.  A glorious light had arisen in Israel at the birth of Christ, a light that was intended to break the darkness of both Jew and Gentile as the Light of Christ shines into all the world, and Christ is revealed as the Savior of all.

Arise, God cries out to Israel. Shine! For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you… the LORD will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you.  The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.  Now, just as Jesus’ spiritual healing of sinners is pictured by means of His physical healing of the sick, so, too, the spiritual light of Christ is pictured by means of the physical light of a star, or, some bright object in the night sky.  God made a real light appear in the sky to herald the birth of His Son, who is the Light of the world.  Through Isaiah, God had identified the Messiah as His Servant Israel, who was sent to save Israel.  We heard about that yesterday morning a little bit.  But through Isaiah, we also heard this evening that it wasn’t enough for God to have Christ save the Jews only.  That was too small a thing.  So He sent Him to be a light to the Gentiles.  And somehow, some way, maybe through Isaiah’s prophecy, God made it known to the Gentile wise men that the star they saw in the East signaled the birth of the King of the Jews, and that the King of the Jews was born for them, too.

So they packed up their gifts and prepared their rations and made the long journey.  They probably didn’t have the star to guide them most of the way, but that was OK.  They saw it when it first rose in the sky and they knew where to go—to the land of Judea, the land of the Jews.  And naturally, they went to Jerusalem, the capital city and the home of kings.  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.

It says that When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.  Now, isn’t that something! Foreigners, Gentiles, non-Jews notice the sign of the birth of the King of the Jews and are so excited about it they travel hundreds of miles to worship Him.  When the Jews hear about it, they’re troubled. And so it would go throughout Jesus’ life, to the point that, after the Jews crucified Him, the Gospel was still taken first to the Jews, and was still rejected by most of them, while many of the Gentiles welcomed the Gospel with open arms.  It’s as God said through Isaiah in chapter 49, Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, their Holy One, to Him whom man despises, to Him whom the nation abhors, to the Servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD who is faithful.

There’s a continual warning in that for us in the Christian Church.  Those who are surrounded by the Gospel for a long time, like the Jews were, can eventually become tired of it and grow apathetic toward it, and even become opposed to it.  It’s not a matter of lacking knowledge, either. The priests and scribes knew the prophecies of Scripture. They were able to direct the wise men to Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah.  They knew the Scriptures, but they no longer acknowledged their deep need for the Christ to save them from their sins. May God always guard us from getting so “used to” the Gospel of Christ that we take it for granted.

As soon as the wise men heard that the Scriptures revealed Bethlehem as the King’s birthplace, they believed and started on their way again. And now, it says, the star showed up again and pointed them to the very house where Jesus was—definitely not a normal star.  Why didn’t the Jews notice such a strange sight—a light in the sky pointing to a house? Well, maybe they were unable to see it.  The light of Christ blinds those who think they can see already and opens the eyes of those who sit in darkness. The wise men believed in Christ and so were given all the light they needed to find Him where He was, and they rejoiced exceedingly.

They fell down and worshiped the Baby.  They offered precious gifts—gold and frankincense and myrrh.  As Isaiah said,  They shall bring gold and incense, and they shall proclaim the praises of the LORD. And that was it.

It’s a simple story, isn’t it?  Not hard to understand—if you pay attention to the prophecies about the Christ, like the ones we heard from Isaiah, and take them to heart. Christ was born for all men, Jews and Gentiles, because all are sinners, both Jews and Gentiles.  Christ died for all men, shed His blood for all men, and calls all men to Himself as the Savior and Redeemer of sinners.

How does He call?  He sends forth His Light and His Truth.  And what is His Light?  His Light is His Word. How does He send it out?  Through the Church and her ministry.  God the Father has caused the Light of His Son, Jesus, to shine to all nations by the working of His Spirit in the Word.

To where specifically does He call us? He calls us to actual churches, throughout the world, to hear actual preachers proclaim His Word in truth and purity.  Here He calls us to repentance and faith in His Son. And once He has called us through the Word, He calls us again to very specific places—to the Sacraments, to real water and a real Meal on the altar, to the real Absolution of Christ spoken by an ordained pastor to individuals.  This is where His light leads us, to find Christ here in His Sacraments, to have our faith strengthened here, to receive salvation from Christ here, which is the true Christian worship of the King.

Here He also sanctifies us and makes us kings and priests, who are given the privilege of offering gifts more precious to God than gold, frankincense and myrrh. As St. Peter says, You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

Here in the Church we offer ourselves to God as living sacrifices.  Yes, the gold—the money—you put in the offering plate is part of it, but only as a token of your whole self.  All your works of service to your neighbor in accordance with the Word of Christ are offerings to the King. Every deed of service and love as a husband, wife, son, daughter.  Every attitude of respect and honor toward parents, toward authorities.  Faithful, hard work at your job.  Honest and fair treatment of your employees.  Helping your neighbor in his or her need. Your songs of praise. Your time spent in God’s Word. God has sanctified all these things for the members of His Church.  All are acceptable and pleasing in God’s sight, being cleansed by faith.

Isaiah prophesied to Israel, Your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side.  Brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, you are the sons and daughters who have come from afar, not to the land of Israel, but to the House of Israel, to the Head of Israel, which is Christ, to the New Jerusalem, to the Church of the living God.  You are the ones who now bring gold and incense and proclaim the praises of the Lord.

That’s why we celebrate Epiphany.  The Light of Christ went out from Israel already at the time of His birth, and it has been going out through the Church ever since, reaching you and me in our time and place.  Epiphany is a celebration of God’s grace that has brought the Light of Christ to us Gentiles, bringing us into the house of Israel.  In the words of Isaiah, O house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord! A blessed Epiphany to you! Amen.

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