(Antiphon) Turn Yourself to me, and have mercy on me, For I am desolate and afflicted. Look on my affliction and my pain, And forgive all my sins.
To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul.
O my God, I trust in You; Let me not be ashamed.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
COLLECT
O God, the Protector of all who trust in You, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy, increase and multiply upon us Your mercy that, with You as our Ruler and Guide, we may so pass through things temporal that we finally lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
OLD TESTAMENT READING: Micah 7:18-20
18 Who is a God like You,
Pardoning iniquity
And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?
He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in mercy. 19 He will again have compassion on us,
And will subdue our iniquities.
You will cast all our sins
Into the depths of the sea. 20 You will give truth to Jacob
And mercy to Abraham,
Which You have sworn to our fathers
From days of old. (NKJV)
GRADUAL: Ps. 55:22a,16,18a
Cast your burden on the LORD, And He shall sustain you;
As for me, I will call upon God, And the LORD shall save me.
He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me.
EPISTLE READING: 1 Peter 5:6-11
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11 To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (NKJV)
VERSE: Ps. 18:1-2a
Alleluia. Alleluia. I will love You, O LORD, my strength.
The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer. Alleluia.
HOLY GOSPEL: Luke 15:1-10
1 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” 3 So He spoke this parable to them, saying:
4“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’ 10 Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (NKJV)
(Antiphon) The LORD was my support. He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me.
I will love You, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
COLLECT
O Lord, Who never fails to help and govern those whom You bring up in Your steadfast fear and love, make us to have a perpetual fear and love of Your holy Name; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
OLD TESTAMENT READING: Isaiah 25:6-9
6 And in this mountain The LORD of hosts will make for all people a feast of choice pieces, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of well-refined wines on the lees. 7 And He will destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces; The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken. 9 And it will be said in that day: “Behold, this is our God; We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the LORD; We have waited for Him; We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” (NKJV)
GRADUAL: Ps. 120:1-2
In my distress I cried to the LORD, And He heard me.
Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips And from a deceitful tongue.
EPISTLE READING: 1 John 3:13-18
13 Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. 15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
16 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. (NKJV)
VERSE: Ps. 7:11
Alleluia. Alleluia. God is a just judge, And God is angry with the wicked every day. Alleluia.
HOLY GOSPEL: Luke 14:16-24
16 Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, 17 and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ 18 But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ 20 Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’ 23 Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ ” (NKJV)
(Antiphon) But I have trusted in Your mercy; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, Because He has dealt bountifully with me.
How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
COLLECT
O God, the Strength of all who put their trust in You, mercifully accept our prayers; and because through the weakness of our mortal nature we can do no good thing without You, grant us the help of Your grace that in keeping Your Commandments we may please You both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
OLD TESTAMENT READING: Jeremiah 9:23-24
23 Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; 24 But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the LORD. (NKJV)
GRADUAL: Ps. 41:4,1
I said, “LORD, be merciful to me; Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”
Blessed is he who considers the poor; The LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.
EPISTLE READING: 1 John 4:16-21
16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love Him because He first loved us.
20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. (NKJV)
VERSE: Ps. 7:1
Alleluia. Alleluia. O LORD my God, in You I put my trust; Save me from all those who persecute me; And deliver me. Alleluia.
HOLY GOSPEL: Luke 16:19-31
19 “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’
27 “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ 29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ ” (NKJV)
Today’s Gospel about the rich man and poor Lazarus is full of hellfire for the unbeliever, and rich in heavenly comfort for the believer. As always Jesus teaches us here about faith and love—how they go together. There is no such thing as ‘faith or love.’ There is only ‘faith and love.’ We see in the rich man what it looks like in this life when someone does not have faith and love. We see in poor Lazarus what it looks like when someone has faith and love. And we see that the end of our earthly life is not the end at all; whether or not a person has faith and love in this life has eternal consequences.
The rich man in Jesus’ story showed in two ways that he had neither faith nor love. As Jesus describes him, he was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. He wasn’t a murderer or an adulterer or a drug dealer. In fact, Jesus describes a man who did nothing wrong at all in the eyes of this world. Anyone who looked at him would say, “Now, there’s a successful man. He is truly blessed by God!” It’s not sinful to dress in purple or to eat gourmet food. Many godly men in the Old Testament were wealthy and dressed and ate well—King David, King Solomon, Abraham himself. But the way Jesus describes this rich man, that he dressed like this and ate like this “every day,” shows us that this man didn’t just happen to be rich. He loved his riches. He lived for this luxurious lifestyle. He lived for clothing, for food, for parties, for serving himself and glorifying himself. There was no room for God in this picture, no daily repentance, no faith in God, no time for God’s Word, no relying on God for every morsel, for every breath. He was an Israelite, a church member, and he certainly didn’t go around denying the God of Israel. He just didn’t rely on God as his only good. He didn’t fear, love and trust in God above all things. He didn’t care much for God at all.
The other way in which he showed his lack of faith and love was in his lack of compassion for poor Lazarus, begging at the rich man’s gate. Lazarus, the rich man’s fellow Israelite, fellow descendant of Abraham, according to the flesh, his fellow church member, since they were both Israelites. But the rich man was oblivious to him. He obviously saw him, and even knew his name, because later he recognizes Lazarus there with Abraham in paradise. He had every opportunity in the world to help Lazarus, even if only to give him some of his leftovers that were destined for the garbage. But no. No compassion. No mercy. No love.
What? Did he not know that his neighbor needed his help? Did he not know that God expects the one who has to be merciful toward the one who doesn’t have? Did he not have the Scriptures? He did. He had the words of the prophets, like the words of Jeremiah that you heard in the Old Testament reading today: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the LORD. The rich man had the Law of Moses where God says, “You shall surely give to [your poor brother], and your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand. For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’
So, why didn’t he help Lazarus? Why did he glory in his riches instead of glorying in God? Because he had no faith in God, no love for God, no love for his neighbor. It’s like John said in the Epistle today: If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
The rich man in Jesus’ story looked and acted an awful lot like the Pharisees to whom Jesus was speaking. The verses just before our Gospel tell us that the Pharisees loved their money, but they had no love for their neighbor. So when they claimed to love God, when they claimed to be ‘children of Abraham,’ it was nothing but a lie, a sort of self-deception. Why? Because those who truly love God also love their brothers. Those who are truly children of Abraham also have the faith of Abraham—faith in Christ by which they are justified before God, and the love for their neighbor that always accompanies faith and flows from faith, just as it did in the life of Abraham.
The rich man represents all unbelievers in today’s world, too, wrapped up in their lifestyle, in their things, too busy enjoying their life to worry about God. You don’t have to be rich, dining on gourmet food and Champagne. There are plenty of people who are just as godless in their infatuation with their beer and video games, their truck and their parties. God is, at best, an afterthought, certainly not the desire of their heart. They have no faith in God, and so they have no compassion for their neighbor, either.
Then there’s Lazarus, the polar opposite of the rich man. Poor Lazarus. No money. No clothes. No food at all. All he had was faith in God and love for his neighbor. Because of his poverty and his weakness, he had no opportunity to show that love to his neighbor, but the intention was there, just as the faith was there. How do we know that? Because, when he died, he was borne by the angels to Abraham’s bosom, and received there by Abraham. Abraham is the father of believers, as the Apostle Paul explains in Romans, not of unbelievers. Without faith it is impossible to please God, as the writer to the Hebrews says. And where there is faith, there is also love. Always. Lazarus didn’t go to heaven because he was poor. He didn’t go to heaven because he suffered on earth. He went to heaven because he had faith in God and the Savior God promised to send. He commended his cause to God, and through faith, Lazarus was pleasing to God, and because Lazarus believed, Lazarus also loved.
During Lazarus’ life on earth, it didn’t look like he was pleasing to God. He didn’t look prosperous. It didn’t look like God was blessing him, or like God cared about him at all. In fact, in the eyes of the world, everything was reversed. It looked like the rich man had God’s favor and like Lazarus was despised by God, but it was just the opposite, and it always is. The things this world prizes, God hates. As Jesus says a few verses before our Gospel, For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.
Lazarus finished out his earthly years in toil and pain and poverty. But then—then he was borne to Abraham’s bosom and, as Abraham says, there he “is comforted.” And that’s the way it is for all believers in Christ. In this world, believers are called heretics and are despised by the world. But there is comfort waiting—a comfort that is much, much greater than any suffering here on earth, a comfort that will last much, much longer than this brief pilgrimage on earth, a comfort for which, if they only knew, if they only believed, the unbelievers of this world would trade all their earthly fame and wealth and comfort. That’s what the Apostle Paul says, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us—in us who believe in Christ.
So it was with the rich man, as he was tormented in the flames of hell. He repented too late. He saw Lazarus, comforted in Abraham’s bosom. And just as Lazarus had longed for a few crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table in life, so the rich man now longs for just a drop of water from Lazarus’ finger. But while the rich man could have easily shared his crumbs with Lazarus, Abraham says that no one can cross over into hell to help the suffering souls there. It’s too late for faith and love after death.
So the rich man pleads for his brothers, that Lazarus might be sent to them to warn them. But no, Abraham says. They have all they need to escape eternal condemnation. What do they have? They have Moses and the Prophets. They have the Word of God. That’s all they need. Let them listen. Let them hear.
What do Moses and the Prophets say? They command love for God and for our neighbor. But they also reveal that no one loves God or his neighbor. As the Psalm says, “There is no one who does good, no, not even one.” So, what then? Moses and the Prophets also testify about the Christ who would come from God, who would be God, who would suffer for our faithlessness and lovelessness and who would grant forgiveness to all who trust in His name. Where there is faith in Christ, there is forgiveness. Where there is forgiveness, there is new life created by the Holy Spirit; there is love that flows from the love God has shown to us who didn’t deserve it. There is compassion, like the compassion of God who came down to us beggars and gave Himself for us.
So it is that, for the unbelievers, there is neither true faith nor true love in this life, even though they may boast about how much they love God, even though they may prosper and enjoy their good things here on earth. And for believers, there is both faith and love in this life, faith that is born of and sustained by the Word of God and the Sacraments of God, love that sees our neighbor in need, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ, and reaches out to help. Why? Because we who believe in Christ are the only ones in the world who truly know how much God has loved us. As John said in the Epistle, “And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” May God continue to sustain and strengthen the faith and love He has created in you through Word and Sacrament, so that you, too, may join Lazarus and all the saints at Abraham’s side in the everlasting comfort of a heavenly home. Amen.
The importance of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity cannot be overemphasized. It is at the heart of the catholic faith, that is, the universal belief of every true Christian. We just confessed in the Athanasian Creed that This is the catholic faith; whoever does not believe it faithfully and firmly cannot be saved. No one can rightly be called a ‘Christian’ who does not believe in the one God who is three divine Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. No one who believes in any other god can be saved.
There are many who do not believe in this God: Atheists and agnostics, who believe in no god at all; Buddhists, Hindus, adherents of native American religions; Muslims and Jews, who do not believe in the Son of God and, therefore, do not believe in the one true God at all; Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses, who do not worship the one God in three Persons but have invented their own versions of ‘god.’
Then there are those who believe in the generic ‘American god,’ the ‘Higher Power’ who sometimes resembles the God of Christianity, but has little to do with Biblical revelation. This American god is represented by institutions like the Boy Scouts of America, who make serving this generic ‘god’ part of their core principles. Well, maybe you heard what happened this week. The BS of A decided that their generic god permits, and even celebrates homosexuality. Now openly gay young people are welcome to join.
But there are also any number of Christians who are Christians in name, but who do not believe in the one God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They may know that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but they don’t trust in Him alone for salvation. Even the pope falls in this category. Last week he preached a sermon in which he praised the ‘good works’ of atheists. The very doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church acknowledges Muslims and Jews as the ‘people of God’ who worship the same God we do, and the official catechism of Rome proclaims that unbelievers, too, can be saved. So much for the Athanasian Creed!
And so much for the words of Jesus. Our Gospel today is rich in Trinitarian teaching. It contains all we need to know and believe for our salvation. Maybe you didn’t even notice the references to the Trinity. Jesus doesn’t lay out doctrinal points one by one. He just tells us about God, and really, that’s the best way to understand what we can understand about the Trinity. The word ‘Trinity’ is not in Bible, and as Luther says, the best way to know the God who is Three in One is to speak about Him as He Himself speaks. We can recite the Athanasian Creed all day long, and it’s helpful to know and review it, but you don’t come to know and trust in God through the Creed. You come to know and trust in Him through His revelation of Himself in Scripture and through the preaching of His Word. To know the Holy Trinity is simply to know God rightly, to know the truth about Him, and to believe in Him as the only True God.
In the Gospel, a ruler of the Pharisees named Nicodemus came to visit Jesus at night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” See how he praises Jesus! But, wait. Why does John tell us that he came at night? Because he didn’t want to be seen with Jesus. He was a Pharisee—by definition, one of those who sought to merit salvation by keeping the Law. He was interested in Jesus; he thought highly of Jesus and even praised Jesus. But he didn’t want to be seen with him. And while Nicodemus apparently believed that Jesus ‘came from God,’ he meant it in the same way that any prophet comes from God. He didn’t believe that Jesus was the very Son of God who was with the Father before the world was made. He didn’t believe that Jesus was the ‘Word’ by whom all things were made, who, for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven. He didn’t believe that Jesus was, in very essence, God from God, Light from Light. Nicodemus is a good example of a man who thinks he believes in Jesus, but doesn’t (yet) believe in Jesus as he must in order to be saved. In other words, he doesn’t confess the Trinity.
Jesus’ reply to Nicodemus reveals Nicodemus’ unbelief. Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Jesus wasn’t impressed by Nicodemus’ flattery, was he? He didn’t express a bit of appreciation for it. Can you believe it? Instead, he drives Nicodemus to see his own desperate need—which is where sinners need to start in our understanding of God, not contemplating the mysteries of the Trinity, but contemplating the depths of our own depravity. He tells Nicodemus in so many words, ‘You don’t know God the Father. You cannot come to Him. Your best works are unacceptable to Him as you are; you are unacceptable to Him as you are. Man is locked out of God’s kingdom by nature, because men are born sinful and self-centered. You’re not good enough to see the kingdom of God. The only way to see the kingdom of God is by being born again; the old man must die and a new man must be born.’
Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Nicodemus can only think in an earthly, carnal way. It sounds like foolishness to him, this ‘new birth,’ this ‘dying and rising,’ this ‘starting over.’ After all, Nicodemus wasn’t a public sinner or a rough character. He had lived a life full of good deeds. Surely they were not to be forgotten!
But Jesus insists, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Ah, so one cannot work his way into God’s kingdom or earn his way into it—because we are sinners, flesh born of flesh, sons and daughters of Adam, whose sin infects us all. Sinners cannot stand in God’s presence. The only way to see the kingdom of God is to be reborn into it, to be born again spiritually and grafted into someone better than Adam—a Second Adam—Christ!
But when a person is born, he isn’t doing that. Someone else is giving birth. The one being born is passive! But that means that all our works count for nothing for getting into God’s kingdom. Well, if I’m not responsible for working my way into God’s kingdom, if I have to be born into it, who’s doing the work? “Born of water and the Spirit.” So God is not only the Father and the ruler of a kingdom. He is also the Spirit who gives rebirth into God’s kingdom. And He does it in connection, not with works, but with water. Baptism! “…baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” God the Holy Spirit gives new birth to sinners in Holy Baptism. God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit mercifully forgives sinners by means of Holy Baptism and adopts us into His kingdom.
You may say, the Holy Spirit is the Person of the Trinity that I understand the least! That’s OK. You don’t have to understand. Just know that when God convicts you of sin through His Word and brings you to repentance, that’s the Person of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, working through Word and Sacrament, is our point of contact with God. It’s the Spirit of God who works faith in our hearts, who turns us into spiritual descendants of Christ, who grafts us into Christ and who dwells in the hearts of believers.
So far in our Gospel, Jesus has spoken of the kingdom of ‘God,’ talking specifically, not of the Son or the Holy Spirit, but of the Father. He has also talked about the Spirit as the one who works through means, like Word and water, to bring men into God’s kingdom. Now Jesus has some words to say about Himself and His place in the Holy Trinity: No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. Jesus reveals to Nicodemus just what it means that He ‘came from God.’ Not like an ordinary prophet who received a message from God, but as He who started out up in heaven and came down and was incarnate of the virgin Mary and was made man. Jesus, unlike His creatures, existed before He was born as a man. Jesus is God! He refers to Himself as the Son of Man “who is in heaven.” But wait. Jesus was standing there in front of Nicodemus. How can He say that the Son of Man ‘is in heaven’? How can He be ‘in heaven’ and standing in front of Nicodemus at the same time? Only God could say such a thing.
And after revealing this amazing truth to Nicodemus, Jesus sums it all up and explains why He, the Son of God, came down from heaven and became the Son of Man in the first place: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. You remember the story of the bronze serpent. The Israelites grumbled and complained against God, and God sent venomous snakes into their camp in the desert to bite them. They were dying and called out to the Lord for help. So the Lord told Moses to make a serpent out of bronze and lift it up on a pole, so that all who looked up at it were healed of their snakebites and saved.
So also Jesus had to be made in likeness of sin, although He Himself had no sin. He had to be lifted up on the ‘pole’ of the cross and suffer and die for the sins of all people, so that all sinners might look up to Him in faith, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
This is what it means to know and confess the Trinity. First, to know yourself as a hopeless and helpless sinner who cannot enter the kingdom of God as you are by nature. Then, to know that the one true God is the Father who sent His Son, also true God, to become true Man in order that He might die for our sins. This God sends forth His Spirit, also true God, in Word and Sacrament to convict us of sin, to comfort us with the promise of salvation through faith alone in Christ Jesus, to bring us to trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life, and so to give birth to us again, this time as God’s children and heirs of eternal life.
This knowledge of—this trust in the Holy Trinity is the catholic faith. Let us give thanks to God for revealing Himself to us as our Savior God who does all things for our salvation, who, by grace alone, permits us to call Him our God, and calls us His children. And let us confess Him joyfully and confidently before the world, the God who is Three in One and One in Three, the Blessed Holy Trinity. Amen.
