21 When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. 22 And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”
The Epiphany of Our Lord is a major festival in the church Year as it focuses squarely on Christ. The traditional Gospel for Epiphany is the account in Matthew 2 where the Wise Men come from afar to worship the young Child Jesus in the house with Mary and Joseph.
The Church Year then fast-forwards to Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan River. St. Luke’s presentation of this momentous event is a bit briefer than the parallels in Matthew 3 and Mark 1. Yet in all three accounts we have the appearance of all three Persons of the Holy Trinity: Jesus the Son, God the Father speaking from heaven, and the Holy Spirit alighting on Jesus in the form of a dove.
Even though all three Persons of the Holy Trinity are co-equal in power, majesty, and might, and the Trinity cannot be fractionalized (for when you have one you have them all), clearly Jesus is the central focus and figure. The Holy Spirit “points’ to Jesus by descending in bodily form, and God the Father literally “points’ to Jesus as He proclaims, “You are My beloved Son.” Even regarding Creation, Jesus is the central Actor “without whom nothing was made” (Jn 1:3).
Why is God the Father pleased with His Son? Jesus has perfectly obeyed His Father’s will, that of fulfilling the Law and living the perfect life for all mankind, suffering for the sins of the world, dying for those sins, and rising again to defeat even death for us all.
Jesus is the One who does it all; He’s the One who gets it right. He is the One who is worthy to take the place of all men, because He is more than a man. He is the Son of God and the Son of Man, the One in Whom His Father is well-pleased. Trust in Him by God-given faith and you are saved.
Let us pray: O God, who by the leading of a star manifested Your only-begotten Son to the Gentiles, mercifully grant that we, who know You now by faith, may after this life have the fruition of Your glorious Godhead; through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Posted inDevotion|Comments Off on Each Day in the Word, Friday, January 6th Epiphany
3 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying:
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of theLord; Make His paths straight. 5 Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth; 6 Andall flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”
7 Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 9 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Luke sets this account in history with the precise and demonstrably true facts of these men, their positions, and their reigns. Among other things, the fact that these historical people are placed correctly in history demonstrates yet another way that Scripture authenticates itself.
And almost all of these gentlemen, we recall, were key players in Christ’s passion and crucifixion playing prominent but unwitting roles in God’s plan of salvation. If nothing else, this reminds us that God has frequently used evil and unbelieving people to accomplish His will, particularly in bringing about the mock trial and horrid torture and crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ.
On one level, the terrible events of that first Holy Week seem grossly unfair and corrupt; they are downright offensive to the idea of human justice. Some might say that Jesus never really had a chance as all the corrupt political powers were overwhelmingly stacked against Him.
But the evil intent of these men in political power at the time was no match for God as He used them for His glory and purpose, even as He used evil and unbelieving Pharaoh in the exodus of the Israelites from their bondage in Egypt, and even used the devil against himself in Christ’s crucifixion and death.
With God, nothing is impossible. So when life seems impossible or all the worldly cards seem stacked against us, we turn in faith to Christ who took our sins into Himself and was crucified for us, paying for all our sins and overcoming the Evil One for us. And by so doing, He demonstrated that He alone has all power and authority, and we are comforted and strengthened by Christ’s words and work on our behalf
Let us pray: O God, our Maker and Redeemer, You wonderfully created us and in the Incarnation of Your Son yet more wonderfully restored our human nature. Grant that we may ever be alive in Him who made Himself to be like us; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Posted inDevotion|Comments Off on Each Day in the Word, Thursday, January 5th
You all know about the star that led the wise men to Bethlehem. You see it on both banners here in front of the sanctuary. What kind of miraculous star that was, we don’t know; we can only guess. But we’re going to focus this evening on how God used that star—and how He still uses other kinds of stars—to point people to His Son.
Who were the wise men who saw the star? All we know is that they were “in the East” when they saw it over the land of Judea. They were obviously keen observers of the sky and of the lights in it, the astronomers of their day and probably scholars in many fields of study. The likely conclusion is that they were from Babylon, where the Jews had been held in captivity some 500 years earlier. The fact that they connected that special star in the sky to the birth of the King of the Jews is clearly due to their knowledge of at least a portion of the Old Testament Scriptures, which the Jews had with them during their time of captivity. They probably focused on passages that mentioned “stars,” like Numbers 24, A Star shall come out of Jacob; a Scepter shall rise out of Israel. That prophecy connects a star with a scepter, or a King. Or there’s the passage you heard this evening from Isaiah 60 about a light rising upon the land of Israel to which the Gentiles would come. So the star didn’t point directly to Jesus. It pointed the wise men to the Scriptures they had access to.
But then, as they journeyed, the star disappeared. So they went to the place where you’d expect to find a king in Judah, to Jerusalem, to King Herod’s palace. And in their excitement, they asked, 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. The reaction they got from King Herod and from the rest of Jerusalem is telling. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. It’s somewhat understandable that Herod was troubled, because he was, supposedly, the king of the Jews. There could be no other. And he had no understanding of the spiritual nature of the Messiah’s kingdom. But “all Jerusalem” was troubled with him. Not excited. Not thankful that they got to be around when the long-promised Messiah finally came. Not relieved that the Son of David had been born to be their Savior from sin. But troubled. The coming of Jesus messed up the status quo. It meant that things were going to change, had to change, although not at all in the way Herod imagined. Herod’s throne was safe, because the kingdom of Christ is not of this world. He didn’t come to remove kings from their earthly thrones. He did come to teach people about the true God, and to expose people’s sin—everyone’s sin—and then to pay for it with His life, and to bring people out of the devil’s kingdom and into His own. But that is troubling to people who wish to remain in their sin and who wish to maintain and to live for this earthly kingdom, for this earthly life.
Most people didn’t want the Christ then, and they don’t want Him now. But some do, just as some did back then.
Herod had his own wise men, his scholars, search the Scriptures to find where exactly the Christ was to be born. And they came up with the right answer, the same passage you heard on Christmas Eve from Micah 5: And you Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah. For out of you will come a Ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Again, it wasn’t the star, but the Holy Scriptures that pointed the wise men to Bethlehem, where Jesus was. And they rejoiced for the guidance of those Scriptures. As for everyone else in Jerusalem who had heard about this, including all those chief priests and scribes—no one was interested in accompanying the wise men. No one at all.
Have you ever displayed such apathy about the Christ? Such apathy about attending church? So that your friends and acquaintances see just how little it matters to you? If so, repent! Because the apathy of believers is a message to the world that Christ and His Word really don’t matter all that much, and that’s not the message Christians want to send.
But the wise men weren’t deterred by the apathy of the Jews. They started off on the short journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, and only then did the star reappear. God made sure that His Scriptures did most of the guiding. But the star still played a role and miraculously guided them to the very house where Jesus was. And when they had come into the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they fell down and worshiped him. And opening their treasures, they presented to him gifts: gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. The wise men had found, not only the King of the Jews, but their own King, too, in whom the Gentiles would find acceptance and a home—an eternal home. And by their visit, and by their gifts, God made manifest, at least to those who knew about it, the divinity of His Son and His kingship over Jews and Gentiles alike. He will be your King, too, if you will have Him. If not, He will still be King, but those who reject Him will have no part in His kingdom.
Now, just as God used a star, or a special light in the sky, as a messenger to point to the Scriptures, to point to His Son, so He uses different kinds of stars to accomplish the same purpose still today. First there are the “stars” that we call pastors. Remember John’s vision in the book of Revelation: He had in His right hand seven stars…The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. The stars John saw in Jesus’ right hand were the angels or “messengers” whom God had placed over each one of His precious lampstands, the churches that He had built in each place through the ministry of the stars, who were supposed to be overseeing the flocks that had been entrusted to their care, pointing them always to Christ—to His birth, to the visit of the wise men, to all His life, to all His teaching, including His teaching in both the Old Testament and the New Testament Scriptures, urging all men to repentance and the forgiveness of sins in the name of Christ Jesus. In that way, pastors or ministers are like that star God used to point the wise men to His Son.
But there’s another kind of star that God uses, too. What did Jesus say about all Christians? You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. And Paul writes to the Philippian Christians, Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world (sometimes translated, “as stars in the world”), holding fast the word of life.
Just as God placed that one star in the sky to point a few men to the Scriptures, and then to His Son, so He has placed each one of you in the world, exactly where He wants you, baptized believers in Christ. And He has called you lights or stars in the world. The world is dark, a “crooked and perverse generation.” But believers in Christ are not dark. We are light, not crooked, not perverse. Our deeds are not to be evil, but good, so that people can see them. Not so that that they can praise us for them, but so that, like the star of Bethlehem, we can point them to the Scriptures, which point them to Christ, which leads them to glorify God the Father for His goodness in sending His Son into the world to save sinners. And, like the Jews of Jerusalem, many people will simply be troubled by the message of Christ. But some will go on to find Him and to worship Him, and to offer Him their lives as an offering, more pleasing to God than any amount of gold or frankincense or myrrh.
So rejoice today in the star of Bethlehem, which was God’s messenger to point the wise men Scripture, and to His Son. Rejoice in the ministry that God has provided, that points you to Scripture, and to His Son. And remember that you are stars, too, placed exactly where God wants you in the world, not to hide your light under a bowl, but to set it on a stand for all to see, so that your words and your works may always be pointing people to Scripture, and pointing them to Christ. And may God bring many people to know His Son through you, whether they know Him and reject Him as the Jews did, or whether they know Him and worship Him as the wise men did, and as we now do. Amen.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
In today’s reading we have a continuation of John’s message from yesterday’s reading.
And what a message it is; it’s all Law, from yesterday’s “Repent!” to today’s “You brood of vipers!” and “Bear fruit worthy of repentance!” John lays waste to anyone’s claim of earthly family lineage as a ticket into heaven and eternity when he says, “And do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’.” Abraham’s faith is faith in the Old Testament promises of God’s Messiah to come, but the Pharisees and Sadducees would rather rely on their supposed connection to a bloodline rather than the blood that Christ would shed for their sins.
How about you? Do you, in any way, claim anything about yourself as a basis for God loving you or taking you into heaven? Do you think that just because your parents were Christians that you have an “in” with God? Indeed, their example is God-pleasing, but they can’t believe for you. Just because you show up in church do you think God will love you more than others who don’t?
If any of that applies, repent, you brood of vipers, and bear fruit in keeping with repentance. When God’s Law has its desired effect, that of killing, condemning, and destroying, then hear the sweet Gospel that Christ, about whom John preached, has paid for all your sins with His holy, innocent, bitter suffering and death. Christ Himself has laid waste all the powers of sin, death, and hell in your place by taking your sins into Himself. Christ has also risen from the dead to give you the sure and certain hope of your own resurrection through God-given faith and trust in Him. You are no longer a child of the devil but a child of God. Rejoice, dear Christian! Christ is yours!
Let us pray: O God, our Maker and Redeemer, You wonderfully created us and in the Incarnation of Your Son yet more wonderfully restored our human nature. Grant that we may ever be alive in Him who made Himself to be like us; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Posted inDevotion|Comments Off on Each Day in the Word, Wednesday, January 4th
3 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of theLord; Make His paths straight.’ ”
4 Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him 6 and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.
We’re not quite done with John the Baptist; not yet. In fact, he will occupy our thoughts for the next couple of days.
When John cries out, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” he is saying nothing less than this: Jesus Himself is at hand, for Jesus is the very embodiment of the kingdom of heaven. And very soon Jesus will take His place in the overall scheme of God’s plan of salvation and make His adult appearance known for three amazing and stunning years of words and actions – all of which was foretold by the OT prophets, John himself being the last of them.
Scripture proclaims John as the forerunner of Christ. John runs before Christ. John is Christ’s set-up man. John is very much like those coming attractions you see at the beginning of a movie which are intended to grab your interest in future movies and plant in your brain a desire to come back for more – including spending a small fortune on buttered popcorn, watered-down soda, and a few boxes of DOTS.
And we know that John’s ministry was laser-focused on one thing, one person: Christ. John pointed to Christ as the One who would take people’s sins away. This is epitomized in Jn 1:29 where he says of Christ and we sing in the Divine Liturgy, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”
John’s message is simple: “Repent,” which is what we as God’s people get to do. Repentance glorifies God. We confess our sins, then Christ forgives us by speaking through our faithful pastor the words of Holy Absolution “as from God Himself.” And John’s work of pointing us to Christ comes to fruition.
Continue to feast on Christ’s Word and Sacraments where the fulfillment of John’s work – Christ – comes to you for forgiveness and strength.
Let us pray: Hosanna to the living Lord! Hosanna to th’Incarnate Word! To Christ, Creator, Savior, King let earth, let heav’n, hosanna sing. Amen.
Posted inDevotion|Comments Off on Each Day in the Word, Tuesday, January 3rd
