Watching Jesus at a wedding feast

Posted on January 14, 2024 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Epiphany 2

Romans 12:6-16  +  John 2:1-11

A friend called me this week. He has been watching the news, listening to people issue warnings about some nefarious schemes being carried out by some powerful people in the world, with dire predictions about the kinds of things we’re going to have imposed on us in the near future. He was very troubled over the state of the world, physically shaken by it. I said, yes, all those things could happen. Or maybe they won’t. Or maybe we’ll face trials that are completely unexpected, and even worse than what’s predicted. What should we do?, he asked. I said, just keep looking at Jesus. Watch how He reacted to mistreatment by His government and by the devil and by the powers of the world. Watch His behavior, in every situation. And remember that He still sits on His throne. I couldn’t think of any better advice to give. Melting in fear won’t help. Rising up and overthrowing the government isn’t what the Christian is called to do. But watching Jesus? Yes, that we can and should do.

Watching Jesus is what the church year is all about, following Him through His life, listening to Him, and learning from Him every step of the way. The seasons of the year give us focus for that watching. In this Epiphany season, we’ve watched the wise men visit baby Jesus in Bethlehem. We’ve watched Jesus devote Himself to God’s Word at age 12. We’ve watched Jesus step forward to be baptized, to be acknowledged and praised and sent on His mission by His Father in heaven. And today we watch Jesus perform His first miracle at a wedding feast in Cana. Aren’t there more pressing things going on in the world that we should talk about? Well, surely there were more pressing things going on in Jesus’ world, too, but He chose to attend a wedding feast that day, and to reveal His glory there, and to have it recorded for us in Holy Scripture.

The timing of this event is important. It’s Jesus’ very first act with His first five disciples, less than a week after John the Baptist had pointed to Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” John, for his part, came “neither eating nor drinking,” that is, avoiding wine and avoiding weddings and feasts and celebrations, spending his entire ministry out in the wilderness, apart from society, preaching to whoever would come out and hear him. But Jesus came participating in all those things. Yes, He was serious about preaching and teaching, but by attending a wedding feast as the first act of His ministry, following His Baptism and temptation in the wilderness, He’s teaching us something about Himself and about the kind of people He’s looking for us to be. He hasn’t come to be a hermit or to change us all into hermits (or monks!), to abolish marriage and the family. The change He came to bring is a change of the heart, a change in our attitude toward sin, toward God, and toward our neighbor. God doesn’t mean for His children to avoid celebrations or family gatherings. He means for us to be a blessing at those gatherings. And so Jesus was.

The wine ran out early at this wedding feast. And Jesus’ mother Mary approached Him about it. They have no wine, she told Him. Some have suggested that Mary had some serving role at this wedding, which is possible, given her knowledge of the situation and her interest in doing something about it. The way she put it to Jesus wasn’t irreverent or demanding. But Jesus’ answer reveals that He wasn’t altogether pleased that His mother seemed to be looking to Him to do something about this minor inconvenience. Why do you involve Me, woman? Jesus wanted to make clear to His mother that, while her role as His mother continued, and He would continue to honor her as His mother, things were going to be different now. It’s telling that in both places in the Gospels where Jesus addresses Mary—here and at the foot of the cross—it’s “woman,” not “mother.” Her role as earthly authority over Him as her Son had come to an end. His role as the Son of God took priority. And she would have no place in guiding Him in the ministry He was now beginning. Only His Father in heaven would do that.

My hour has not yet come, He added. Just as John the Baptist had only a week ago pointed to Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, so Jesus, too, was focused on the sacrifice that lay ahead at the end of His earthly ministry, some three years or so in the future. That was Jesus’ hour. That’s when the Son of Man would truly be glorified. That was the mission. That was the goal, to suffer for the sins of all people, to give His life on the cross, to die the death that we all deserve, so that we might receive His life.

But, starting on that day, Jesus would reveal little glimpses of His glory along the way. Mary must have seen some indication from Jesus that He would do something, because she told the servants, Whatever he says to you, do it. And what He said to them was amazing. There were six large stone jars standing there. He said to the servants, Fill the jars with water. And then He told them to draw some out and take it to the master of the feast. And just like that, the water was changed into wine.

And fine wine at that! When the servants gave it to the master of the feast, he was amazed at how good it was, and how strange that the bridegroom had apparently reserved the best wine until this late hour of the feast. It was clear, at least to the servants and to Jesus’ disciples who were watching, that no tricks were being played here. Jesus didn’t even touch the jars or anything that went into them. But He revealed His incredible power over the creation, His unfathomable understanding of matter on a molecular level and His ability to manipulate it at will, taking simple water and changing it into something much more complex—not unlike the original creation, in which the Son of God participated, when, as Peter says in his second epistle, the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God.

After hearing and watching Jesus for less than a week, after watching Him perform this astonishing miracle, revealing His glory as the Son of God, John tells us that Jesus’ first disciples believed in Him. But they would need to keep watching, because faith isn’t like a light bulb that’s either on or off. It’s more like a fire that needs tending. Over the next three years, the faith of Jesus’ disciples would grow stronger and weaker, and sometimes it seemed nonexistent. But they kept watching, and God sustained them and grew them into the apostles who now make up the foundation of the Christian faith, with Jesus Christ Himself as the chief Cornerstone.

You and I—we don’t get to watch Jesus with our eyes. We don’t get to see His miracles. We watch through our ears, which doesn’t sound as good, at first, until you realize that it’s not the sight of God but the Word of God that does everything. It’s the Word of God that brings us to acknowledge and repent of our sins. It’s the Word of God that reveals Jesus to us as our Savior from sin and that moves us to believe in Him. Next week, when we celebrate the Transfiguration, we’ll hear God the Father calling on to “Hear Jesus!”

So watch Him again today by hearing Him and by hearing the Word of God about Him. Learn about Him from this account of the wedding at Cana, that He did not come to destroy, but to save; not to make life bitter, but to season it with joy, even now, in the midst of all the bitter troubles that we face and have yet to face. You can get caught up in all the madness of the world. Better to get caught up in the life and in the Person of Jesus the Christ. Look up at Him! Watch Him! And be at peace. Amen.

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Behold! The chosen Servant of the Lord!

Posted on January 10, 2024 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the Baptism of Our Lord

Isaiah 42:1-13  +  Matthew 3:13-17

The Baptism of Jesus has traditionally been a very important celebration within the Epiphany season. That’s why many of our Epiphany hymns reference, not only the visit of the wise men, but also the Lord’s Baptism in the Jordan River. It fits very well with the theme of this season, because it’s an important epiphany, an important revelation of the hidden divinity of the Man named Jesus. Coincidentally, it also fits well in our review of the book of Isaiah this year. We turned to Isaiah 60 last week to talk about the visit of the wise men. This week we turn to Isaiah 42, which we’ll consider in conjunction with Matthew’s account of Jesus’ Baptism.

Matthew writes, Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And what happened when Jesus was baptized? The heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Now, what did Isaiah prophesy about the coming Christ?

Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him;

Do you hear the similarities? They’re intentional! This! This, above all, is what we are to take from Jesus’ baptism, that He is the promised, chosen servant of the Lord whose coming was prophesied by the prophet Isaiah, that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ. Here, in this humble ceremony performed in the Jordan River, Jesus was anointed, not with oil, but with water. Here, at His Baptism, Jesus was inaugurated into the office which He would now begin in earnest to fulfill: His Christly office as Prophet, Priest, and King. Even Jesus, the God-Man, didn’t take this office on Himself. He waited 30 years, until this time of His Father’s choosing.

Now, when sinners are baptized, what’s it for? Scripture tells us. Repent and be baptized, Peter said, for the forgiveness of your sins. Get up and be baptized, said Ananias to Saul, and wash away your sins. Baptism now saves you, Peter wrote. For the sinner, Baptism is the washing of rebirth and renewal in the Holy Spirit. You are all sons of God, Paul writes, through faith in Jesus Christ, for as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

None of that was true of Jesus’ baptism. The sinless One didn’t have any sins for which He needed to be forgiven, sins which He needed to wash away. The Savior didn’t need saving. The One who was born holy and who was still holy had no need of a rebirth. The One who was the Son of God according to both His divine and His human natures did not need to be made a son of God. So when Jesus was baptized, there was no change in His status before God, only a public acknowledgement by God of what was already true: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.

Isaiah goes on to describe the ministry that the Servant of the Lord would carry out.

He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench;

St. Matthew will later (in chapter 12) cite these very words from Isaiah 42 and apply them directly to Jesus as a description of His ministry. Jesus was not a loud and obnoxious street preacher. He was patient and kind toward the weak. He didn’t shout and draw attention to Himself. Just consider His baptism. He didn’t make a big show. He humbly stepped forward and asked John to baptize Him. It was God the Father who exalted His Son in that moment.

He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles…He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged, Till He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands shall wait for His law.”

There’s another testimony from Isaiah that the Christ would be sent not only to Israel but to all nations, to the Gentiles, too. Now, Jesus Himself never even went out into the nations, much less did He seek to establish political or social justice in the earth. But His justice includes His righteousness, the righteousness of God which we receive by faith in Christ Jesus, and that message He did send out into the world, not in connection with His own Baptism, but in connection with the Baptism He sent His apostles to administer: Go and make the disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And, as Paul wrote, when we are baptized into Christ, we put on Christ. We are clothed with His righteousness, with His justice, judged by God to be righteous for Christ’s sake, who was baptized just as we are, not because He needed cleansing, but in order offer Himself to all the baptized, so that we can put Him on, be clothed with Him and His righteousness, and be counted before God as His beloved sons, with whom He is well-pleased. People wonder what Jesus meant when He told John that He needed to be baptized to fulfill all righteousness. This is one of the reasons.

Along those same lines, Isaiah continues: Thus says God the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it: “I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles,

Here Christ’s task, His ministry, is further explained. The LORD God, the Creator of all, God the Father Almighty, called His Son in righteousness. In connection with righteousness, as the One who would live a righteous life as mankind’s Substitute, as the One whose righteousness would cover believers in Him, as the One who would teach His people to live righteous and holy lives. And here the Father promises to hold His hand, to help and accompany Him in His earthly ministry, to keep, to preserve Him—until it was time for His sacrifice to take place, and to give Him as a covenant to the people (that is, to Israel), and as a light to the Gentiles. The old covenant God had made with Israel at Mt. Sinai would be replaced by Jesus, the author of the New Testament. And, again, He would be a light to enlighten the Gentiles, too, to bring them into this New Testament in His blood.

To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the prison, Those who sit in darkness from the prison house.

A further description of Christ’s ministry. As we talked about during the Advent season, some of that He did literally. He literally opened blind eyes. He literally opened deaf ears. He literally delivered those who were imprisoned by the devil by casting out their demons. But He also did it spiritually, through His word, revealing the way of salvation to those who were living in the darkness and captivity of sin.

I am the LORD, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images.

This is an important verse, because Jesus claims divine honor and glory for Himself, and yet here the Lord clearly says that He won’t share His glory with anyone. The fact that the Father shares His glory and honor with the Son is yet another testimony that Jesus is Himself is also true God.

Behold, the former things have come to pass, And new things I declare; Before they spring forth I tell you of them.

God’s old way of dealing with Israel—through the Law of Moses, through the Levitical priesthood, through the occasional prophet—was all about to change after the baptism of the Christ. Now He would deal with Israel for a time and show them Himself as clearly as possible. As John writes, For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made him known.

So Sing to the LORD a new song, and His praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you coastlands and you inhabitants of them! Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory to the LORD, and declare His praise in the coastlands.

Yes, the coming of Christ, His revelation to Israel, and now to us, at His baptism is reason for all people everywhere to sing to the Lord, because in this Man who stepped forth from those baptismal waters, the Lord has provided a Savior for all men, that all may believe in Him, be baptized in His name, and be eternally saved.

The LORD shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies.

Sounds like Isaiah is describing Jesus going forth from His baptism, doing battle with the devil in the wilderness for the next forty days, carrying out His ministry for the next three years, crying out, yes, shouting aloud from the cross, “It is finished!”, and then rising from the dead, prevailing against His enemies. Give thanks today, for Jesus’ baptism and for Isaiah’s prophecy that helps us to understand just how important it was. Behold, the Servant of the Lord, the Son of God, going forth to bring salvation to sinners everywhere! Amen.

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The Boy who loved God’s Word more than anything

Posted on January 7, 2024 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Epiphany 1

Romans 12:1-5  +  Luke 2:41-52

A blessed Epiphany to you! Epiphany was yesterday, January 6th, although we celebrated it on Wednesday—the visit of the wise men to find the One who had been born King of the Jews. There are only three Sundays in the Epiphany season this year. Each one gives us a little revelation of the divinity, the divine identity that lay hidden in that otherwise-normal-looking Man named Jesus. He was (and is) the God-Man, the Man who is also God. In many, many ways, Jesus was the same as us, but also different. And it’s both that sameness and that difference that make Him our Savior.

First, we learn something in today’s Gospel about the God-Man’s parents, Mary and Joseph. We’re told that they went to Jerusalem every year for the Passover. That may seem like a small thing, but it took about four or five days to walk from Nazareth to Jerusalem, plus the week spent there, plus another four or five days walking back. Factor in the loss of income for those two weeks, plus the expenses of the journey and the lodging for a family that certainly wasn’t rich. And it wasn’t for a family vacation or for sightseeing or for relaxation. It was to spend that week performing the religious rites and ceremonies God had prescribed in the Old Testament: acquiring a lamb, taking care of it for a few days, then slaughtering it and eating it, accompanied by time spent in the temple, prayers and hymns and a recounting of the history of how God redeemed Israel from slavery. Every year Mary and Joseph made that two-week journey to Jerusalem (with or without Jesus, we don’t know), and during the rest of the year, they would faithfully attend the synagogue in Nazareth on the Sabbath day. What a wonderful example they were for all Christian parents!

When He was twelve years old, we’re told that Jesus went with His parents to Jerusalem for the Passover, where He who was the Lamb of God first participated in the festival that was entirely designed to foreshadow Him, and His own death at a Passover festival, in the same city of Jerusalem, some 21 years later.

Jesus was a twelve-year-old Boy like any twelve-year-old boy. The same as us. At the end of today’s Gospel, Luke tells us that Jesus returned home with His parents, that He was subject to them, and that He grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. He had a family life. He had chores to do, and He did them. He had parents whom God the Father had placed over Him, and He loved and obeyed them, although He was the very Son of God. So He was the same as us. But different in that He always loved and obeyed His parents, from the heart. Never talked back to them. Never rolled His eyes at them. Never even thought badly of them. He was sinless, a perfect Lamb, without spot or blemish, and that qualified Him later on to be the sacrifice for our sins.

Now if Jesus was always so obedient, He must have had a very, very good reason to stay behind in Jerusalem when He was twelve years old. As His parents and the rest of the caravan from Nazareth got up early to start the long walk back to Nazareth, He stayed behind in Jerusalem. Not defiantly, as if He refused to go back. But for some inexplicable reason (maybe because He was so predictably obedient), Mary and Joseph just assumed He was with their relatives or acquaintances who were part of the caravan, and they walked a whole day under that assumption. But when they finally went looking for Him, they realized He wasn’t with them.

But it was already the end of day 1 by the time they realized that. So the next morning they got up and hurried back to Jerusalem. They made a quick search that evening, probably retraced their steps to where they had been staying, and still didn’t find Him. Finally, on the third day, they found Him, right there in the temple, sitting among the Rabbis, the teachers of Israel, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.

We see a bit of Jesus’ sameness and of His difference here. As a human boy, He learned. He was curious. He asked insightful questions, and He answered questions. He was respectful to His elders. He wasn’t snobbish or condescending. Just a humble student, truly interested in the things of God, who loved God’s Word and God’s house. The ideal catechism student. He loved being in the temple of God. The words of the Psalmist describe Jesus perfectly: O LORD, I love the habitation of Your house, the place where Your glory dwells… How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!  My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the LORD; My heart and my flesh cry out to the living God…Blessed are those who dwell in your house…O God, our Shield, behold! And look upon the face of your anointed. For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. That describes—or should describe! —every Christian of every age.

The difference is that it described Jesus perfectly. No sinful flesh ever distracted Him from loving God first, putting God and His Word first. He loved God’s Word more than anything. That love for God’s Word would keep Him behind in Jerusalem, not to skip school, but to stay in school—that was an epiphany, a little revelation of the divinity that lay hidden in that Boy. His astonishing exchanges with the Rabbis were also little epiphanies. His love for Scripture, His understanding of Scripture and of God Himself were deep, not only for a boy, but for anyone. His questions and answers astounded the teachers of the Law, a hint that this Boy was different from other men.

That was also a foreshadowing of what the future held for this twelve-year-old boy. He wouldn’t be some great carpenter, or some politician, or some philosopher. He would be engaged in teaching God’s Word, discussing God’s Word, instructing the people of Israel in the things of God, with better understanding than any of the other teachers, or, for that matter, than anyone else who had ever lived. Because He was the Word made flesh. He had come from the bosom of the Father, as St. John puts in. He knew God the Father perfectly.

But His parents didn’t understand. They loved God’s house, too, but not like this. Why would Jesus stay behind and cause them to worry? Mary said, “Son, why have you done this to us? See, your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” And he said to them, “What do you mean, you were you searching for me? Did you not know that I had to be engaged in the things of my Father?” But they did not understand what he said to them.

It seems that Mary and Joseph had pushed to the back of their minds that, while Jesus was their Son, His true Father—His only Father, in the sense of where He came from—was God the Father in heaven. And while Joseph had certainly given Jesus chores to do, His Father in heaven had given Him chores of His own. One of those chores—which was a delight to Jesus—was being engaged in His Father’s things, namely, in the things that have to do with hearing, learning, and discussing God’s Word, the “chore” of spending time in His Father’s chosen house on earth, the Temple in Jerusalem.

It wasn’t a spectacular epiphany. But it was still extraordinary, and we’re told that His mother kept all these things in her heart. Luke says the same thing after the shepherds visited them and found Jesus wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. She noticed the sameness in Jesus, even as she noticed the differences.

The fact that Jesus was the same as us in His humanity and in His submission to God’s holy Law is essential for our salvation. If we were to be saved from eternal death, we needed a Substitute who was the same as us to die that death for us. As Scripture makes clear, animal sacrifices weren’t really good enough to atone for human sin. It had to be a Man, the same as us. But because that Man was also different from us—different in that His obedience was perfect and sinless and genuine, and different in that Jesus was God—His sacrifice would be enough to atone for the whole world’s sins. This is all part of what we call Jesus’ “active and passive obedience” as our Substitute. He did (actively) what we’re all supposed to do, except that we haven’t. And He suffered (passively) all that we deserved to suffer for our sins. This is what earned our salvation, that Christ was righteous for us, even as a Boy, and now the Father counts His righteousness and obedience to all who believe in Him, as if it were our obedience, as if we had been perfect parents, perfect children, perfect people.

Jesus became the perfect sacrifice for our sins. And now, as those whom God has saved, as those whom God has counted as righteous through faith in Christ Jesus, we have a holy calling, as St. Paul wrote in today’s Epistle, to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—not sacrifices to atone for sins anymore, but sacrifices of thanksgiving.

So parents, as your daily, living sacrifice of thanksgiving, be the fathers and mothers God has called you to be. As Paul writes, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. Spend time with them. Teach them whatever you can. Teach them the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer. Keep urging them, by word and by example, to grow into godly men and women who don’t just attend church regularly, but who show a genuine interest in God’s Word, a firm commitment to sound doctrine, and zeal for knowing God and discussing the things of God.

Children, as your daily, living sacrifice of thanksgiving, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with a promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” Learn obedience. Learn to honor your parents, not just outwardly, but with your attitude and in your heart.

Christians of all ages, make it your goal to imitate Jesus in the ways you can. You can’t be God. But you can be good, honest, dependable, humble, caring, kind, generous, and submissive to those in authority over you. You can devote yourself to living as children of God in a godless world, who are eager to hear their Father’s Word, who love God’s Word more than anything, just like your Lord Jesus did, at twelve years old, and throughout His life. Amen.

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The Light arises on a new Israel

Posted on January 3, 2024 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Epiphany

Isaiah 60:1-6  +  Matthew 2:1-12

You heard again this evening the familiar story of the visit of the wise men—Gentiles who followed the star to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem, who found and then worshiped the One who had been born King of the Jews. We’re going to let Isaiah guide us into the meaning of this Epiphany. But we’re going to take our Isaiah readings out of turn this evening, since the reading for Epiphany comes from Isaiah 60. By chapter 60, Isaiah has already focused on God’s promise to deliver Israel from captivity in Babylon. He’s already focused on God’s promise to deliver Israel from sin through the suffering and death of the Messiah. In these final chapters of Isaiah’s book, the focus now turns to the New Testament period and beyond.

Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the LORD will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.

That’s the Christmas message, isn’t it? The coming of Him who is the Light of men, the coming of Him who is the radiance of God’s glory. Into the midst of the deep darkness of man’s sin, idolatry, violence, arrogance, ignorance of God, and ignorance of salvation, Israel could expect the coming of Christ as surely as the sun rises. Only to Israel would the Christ come. Only over Israel would His glory appear. The glory of the Lord shined around the shepherds of Bethlehem, not of Syria or Greece or Rome. The Christ wouldn’t show up and shine with His light in Europe or the Americas or Africa or Asia. Salvation wasn’t to be found anywhere else, in anyone else—none of the Gentile gods, none of the heathen deities, none of the pagan celebrations. Only the light of the Christ, shining brightly from the land of Israel, would be able to dispel the darkness of sin.

But Isaiah didn’t stop with the Christmas message. He continued with the Epiphany message:

The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising. “Lift up your eyes all around, and see: They all gather together, they come to you; Your sons shall come from afar, And your daughters shall be nursed at your side. Then you shall see and become radiant, And your heart shall swell with joy; Because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, The wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you. The multitude of camels shall cover your land, The dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; All those from Sheba shall come; They shall bring gold and incense, And they shall proclaim the praises of the LORD.

The Gentiles, or “the nations,” would be drawn to Israel, to the glorious light of Christ. That prophecy wasn’t exclusively about the coming of the wise men. But they were the first—the first non-Jews to recognize that the promised Christ had finally come, and that this King of the Jews was not only King of the Jews, but of the Gentiles, too.

The wise men were the first, but they weren’t the last. Some Gentiles heard and believed the Gospel while traveling or staying in the actual land of Israel. But most heard the Gospel as it went forth from Israel with the apostles after the Day of Pentecost and with Jewish believers in Christ who traveled outside of Israel. And never once did any of the apostles say, “Now, you Gentiles, you need to go live in the land of Israel.” No, because, in a sense, all who believed the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Savior of mankind, had already come into Israel.

They came in figuratively, not literally. Most Gentiles have never stepped foot in the land of Israel. Most have not petitioned for citizenship in the nation of Israel. And yet, according to Isaiah, and according to the apostle Paul, we Gentiles have come to Israel. Because the Israel Isaiah foresees is no longer the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob dwelling on a particular plot of land. The Israel Isaiah foresees is much bigger than that.

By believing in Jesus as the Christ—sent to Israel, but sent to be the Savior of all men—we are actually bringing (or, actually, God is bringing) glory to the original people of Israel. As Gentiles, we confess readily that God chose that nation, descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He nurtured and instructed that nation, and prepared that nation for the birth of His beloved Son. By reading and believing the Old Testament Scriptures, we are bringing glory to that original people of Israel, whom God made the recipients and the caretakers of His very words to mankind. Before the time of Christ, the vast majority of God’s believing children were literally children of Israel, leaving us many, many good and godly examples to follow. And we give thanks to God for every one of them. That is God bringing glory to His Old Testament people Israel through the Light of Christ whom He sent to Israel.

But as I said, the Israel Isaiah foresees is bigger than that. The original people of Israel were preserved by God long enough to preserve His Word, long enough to get His Son born into the world, long enough to put His Son up on a cross on a hill on the outskirts of Jerusalem. He gave them the Light of His Son and of His Son’s Gospel, and He shined on them for the time He remained there. But, as we all know, the nation of Israel, as a nation, chose to go back to darkness, rejecting Jesus as the Christ.

Not so with the new Israel! The new Israel that Isaiah foresees is made up of the Jews and Gentiles who believe, who desire to walk in the light of Christ Jesus. It’s a new Israel that embraces the Lord God, which means embracing the Lord Christ. It’s a new Israel that worships God under a New Testament—not one of obedience to the Law, but a covenant of grace and the forgiveness of sins to all who believe. In effect, the new Israel, which is the holy Christian Church, is the offspring of the old Israel, not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

This evening we celebrate the wise men as the first Gentiles to enter into this new people of God, the first men from among the nations to come to Israel, both physically and spiritually, to worship the Christ. Physically, they departed, after worshiping Jesus and offering their gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. But spiritually we have every reason to believe that they remained. And you and I have joined them there, in Israel—here in Israel! —because it’s no longer a place, but a people, no longer a physical genealogy but a spiritual one. Because, as St. Paul writes to the Ephesians, through the Gospel, the Gentiles are fellow heirs with the Jews, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. May this Epiphany (or “revelation”) of Jesus as the One born to be your King, too, fill you with all joy and peace in believing! Amen.

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A lifetime spent seeking and serving Christ

Posted on December 31, 2023 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the First Sunday of Christmas

Galatians 4:1-7  +  Luke 2:33-40

On Monday, we celebrated the fact of Christ’s birth and the identity of the Child who lay in the manger. In today’s Epistle, we learn the reason why Christ was born. As St. Paul wrote in today’s Epistle, Christ was born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those who were under law. He was born of a woman, just like everyone in the world. And He was born under law, just like everyone in the world. Jews, at that time, were still under the Law of Moses. But everyone in the world since the beginning of creation is born under the moral law, under God’s requirement that we should be righteous and behave righteously, and with the threat of eternal condemnation for being unrighteous and for living unrighteously. In other words, Christ was born just as everyone is born, born as one of us men—why? To redeem those who were under law. To redeem us, because no man in history, except for Jesus, has lived righteously under God’s law, so we needed to be redeemed, rescued, saved from the condemnation that God’s law threatens against sinful men. We were born enemies of God and slaves to sin. But Christ was born the Son of God and the Son of Man, free from sin, in order to redeem us from sin, that we might receive the adoption of sons. Believers in Christ already know this. It’s the reason why we rejoice at Christmas time, no matter what the other circumstances of your life may be, because we have been included in Christ’s redemption through faith and have received the adoption of sons. Unbelievers still need to be told the reason why Christ was born, that they, too, may come into the light of Christ by faith and be saved.

Now, what do you do with this knowledge? You spend your life seeking and serving the Christ who was born to save. What does it look like for a son of God, or a daughter of God, to spend his or her life seeking Christ and serving Christ? We have an example before us in today’s Gospel: two Old Testament saints, Simeon and Anna, who had spent their long lives seeking the coming Christ and serving Him while they waited.

First, we meet Simeon in the Temple, 40 days after Jesus’ birth. We know the timing, because Luke tells us the holy family was visiting the temple that day for Mary’s ceremonial purification and for Jesus’ presentation as the firstborn son, according to Old Testament law, 40 days after his birth. In the verses before our text, Luke tells us that old Simeon had been “waiting for the consolation of Israel.” The Old Testament prophecies about the timing of the Christ’s birth were all pointing to about this time. All the signs were in place, including a ruler in Judea—King Herod—who was not of the tribe of Judah (or an Israelite at all, for that matter). There were rumors floating around the area about shepherds in nearby Bethlehem who had recently told an incredible story about the birth of a very special Child. And Luke tells us that Simeon was somehow informed by the Holy Spirit that he would see the Christ before he died—God’s gracious reward to him for a long life of seeking and serving. When Joseph, Mary, and Jesus entered the Temple that day, Simeon recognized Jesus and rejoiced at seeing Him, prompting him to speak the words which we know as the Song of Simeon, that is, the Nunc Dimittis, where Simeon gave thanks to God and told Him, I’m ready to go now, ready to depart in peace, because the Lord had fulfilled His Word. He had allowed Simeon to see the promised Messiah, the Savior sent from God for all people, the Light who would enlighten the Gentiles and bring glory to the people of Israel.

That’s where our Gospel begins. It says that Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken about Him. Mary and Joseph knew that the baby they had brought to the temple was special. But clearly they didn’t fully grasp all the Old Testament prophecies that their Son would fulfill, nor did they expect strangers like Simeon to recognize Jesus for who He was.

But Simeon had more to say: He blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is destined to cause the fall and rising of many in Israel. Christ was, as the Prophet Isaiah had said, a sanctuary for some—a hiding place, a place of refuge. But also a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble; they shall fall and be broken, be snared and taken. Many in Israel—and many outside of Israel, too—would stumble and fall, later on, over Jesus’ claim to be the world’s only Savior, His claim to be able to forgive sins, His claim to be sent from God and to be God. They would stumble over His humility and over His suffering and over His refusal to set up an earthly kingdom. They would stumble over the cross, and they would stumble over the resurrection. Those who stumbled over Him fell into everlasting death. But those who found a sanctuary in Him from God’s wrath and from the righteous condemnation of the Law—tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners of every kind—Jesus would cause them to rise up from death to life, from being alienated from God to the adoption of sons. All of that lay in the future of the little baby lying in Simeon’s arms.

Destined to be a sign which will be spoken against, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. No mother wants to consider that her little baby will one day be hated, mocked, ridiculed, and slandered. But Simeon informed Mary that all such things were in the future for her little baby, and it’s still going on to this day. Jesus would be then and still is now spoken against, both as He reveals sin, which people don’t want to be revealed, and as He claims to be the Lord and Savior of all, which people don’t want to believe. And so the thoughts of people’s hearts are revealed: that they are and remain the devil’s children.

Finally, Simeon warned Mary, a sword will pierce through your own soul, too. What pierces through a mother’s soul more sharply than when her dear child suffers, or worse yet, is tortured and killed? As Mary sat there, thirty-three years later, at the foot of Jesus’ cross, one wonders if she thought of Simeon at that moment and of his terrible prophecy. What was the point of it? Why tell her this now, when her Son is still just a baby? Well, it prepared Mary for the kind of life her Son would lead. What’s more, it was God being utterly truthful and up-front with her, as He has also been with us, that seeking Him and serving Him will not mean a peaceful, comfortable life on earth, for you or for your children, but a life of being hated by the world, even as Christ was hated, and a life of bearing shame and the cross in His name.

All that was taught to Mary and Joseph and to us by the elderly believer Simeon.

Then in our Gospel we meet Anna, a prophetess, and apparently a very well-known one. She was an old woman—either an 84-year-old widow or a roughly 105-year-old woman who had been a widow for 84 years (it’s hard to tell from the wording in the text). The point is, she was very old and had been a widow for many decades. For seven years of her young life she had lived as a dutiful wife, probably into her early twenties. But from her mid-to-latetwenties on, she spent her life, not chasing after men, not dwelling on her loneliness, not engaging in worldly activities, but never departing from the temple, serving God with fastings and prayers night and day. (That doesn’t sound like what young ladies are expected to do today, does it?) At some point she had become a prophetess, chosen by God to reveal God’s Word to Israel, apparently right there in the Temple in Jerusalem, urging people to look forward to the redemption that the Christ would soon bring.

Then she, too, was rewarded for her many decades of faithful service to the Lord. The baby who is God arrives at the Temple to meet her, and, like Simeon, she recognizes Him. She gave thanks to the Lord, and then she spoke of the Child to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. All those decades serving the Lord day and night in His Temple—imagine the people Anna knew, the regular attendees at the sacrifices, the ones who had believed the Lord’s promises to Israel about redemption through the Christ, not from earthly slavery and oppression, but from sin, death, and the devil. To them she was now able to say, “Christ, the promised Redeemer, has been born! And His name is Jesus!”

So what do we learn from Simeon and Anna? We learn a few important things about Jesus Himself: His identity as the promised Christ, His future suffering and its purpose: for the redemption of all people, both Jews and Gentiles. In addition, we learn how to live a long life of seeking and serving the Lord, a long life of faithfulness, of devotion, of studying and clinging to God’s Word, a long life of trusting in His promises; a long life of waiting for the Christ to be revealed (they the first time, we the second time), never giving up hope, never abandoning God’s service, even if the world around us has abandoned it. We learn to keep praying, to keep attending the Divine Service, not as an occasional practice, but as a lifelong, regular habit. We learn to speak the Word of Christ to the people we know, to tell them of the redemption He’s already won, of the redemption He has yet to bring, and of the urgency of seeking Him now in this time of grace. And we learn to give thanks to God for revealing His salvation to us in Christ, whether early or late in life.

What a wonderful example to take with us into the new year! And if you spend the new year seeking Christ in His Church and eagerly waiting for His coming, if you spend the new year serving the Lord in all these ways, you will be rewarded, too, just as Simeon and Anna were, whether your life is long or short. You’ll be rewarded with a strengthened faith, with the strength to meet each new challenge that the year will bring. And, like Simeon and Anna, you’ll get to meet Jesus in person one day, not in terror with the rest of the world, but in thankfulness and joy, to take part in His glorious and eternal redemption. Amen.

 

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