Modesty is not Prudishness

In a culture where humor is so often reduced to a crass lowest common denominator–sexual double entendre or adolescent innuendo about body parts–it can be hard for a Christian to know exactly how to respond.  To what extent should we go along with such humor in our entertainment or conversation?  We don’t want to seem prudish to friends and family and coworkers and neighbors.  On the other hand, the topic of human sexuality and morality is not something to treat lightly or unseriously. 

Prudes are wrong in their approach not because they’re against sexual sin, but because they tend to look at sexuality as something that is inherently tainted and sullied by its sensual nature, necessary perhaps for procreation, but something that is far too fleshly and physical to be considered good or godly.  Their attitude doesn’t reflect a belief that human sexuality is a good gift of the Creator, that He is the One who made the one flesh, physical, sexual relationship from the very beginning, before sin ever entered into the world.  They fail to recognize fully that sexuality and sexual activity is a gift to be received and enjoyed within marriage by husband and wife, for their mutual delight and companionship, and for the creation of new human life where God grants it. 

Those on the other end of the spectrum who engage in raunchy humor really have the same problem as prudes.  The raunchy also fail to treat human sexuality as a gift of God.  They diminish it with their humor and treat it merely as a commodity to be manipulated for their own pleasure.  They revel in the fallen world’s caricature of sexuality, in the enjoyment of the misuse of God’s gift.  Human sexuality is not treated as something special and divinely given but merely as an expression of lustful desire.  In the end, by rejecting the goodness of God’s gift, both the prudish and the raunchy commit the very same error.

The attitude of the Christian, then, toward human sexuality is a glad modesty.  On the one hand, crude joking is rejected because it isn’t in keeping with the goodness of the gift God has given.  “But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks” (Ephesians 5:3-4).  On the other hand, the sexual relationship within marriage is never treated as something to feel guilty or embarrassed about, since God Himself is the One who joined the husband and wife together and placed them in this relationship (Matthew 19:6).  Scripture even says things that will make some blush.  “Rejoice with the wife of your youth. . . Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; and always be enraptured with her love” (Proverbs 5:18-19).  The Song of Solomon (or Song of Songs) is full of positive sexual references.

1 Peter 3:3-4 speaks with regard to women about this modest approach:  “Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel—rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.”  1 Timothy 1:8-10 speaks of “propriety and moderation.”  And Proverbs 31:30 teaches, “Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.”  Such modesty in behavior and dress is certainly also to be reflected in a person’s speech and choices in entertainment.

This, of course, applies equally and perhaps even more so to men, whose task it is not to use women for their own pleasure but to lead a life of self-sacrifice and self-giving for them.  This now quaint notion of manliness and gentlemanliness was reflected in the old, traditional marital vows (which have been restored to some degree in our “new” marriage liturgy).  The man says to his bride as he places the ring on her finger: “With this ring I marry you; my worldly goods I give to you, and with my body I honor you.”  Christianity affirms the goodness of the physical aspects of the marital relationship without reducing such things to a juvenile punchline.

And here finally is the most important reason why we wish to treat human sexuality with glad modesty and respect.  The marital relationship is an icon and an image of the nature of God Himself.  The God who is love speaks of creating man in His image precisely at the time when He makes us male and female and gives us to live in the self-giving relationship of marriage (Genesis 1:26-27).  The triad of lover, beloved, and the love that binds them together is a reflection of the Holy Trinity.  The three persons of the Godhead are perfectly united as one in love, even as He reaches out to us in love and self-giving, that we may be joined to Him and share in His divine life.  God is husband to His people (Jeremiah 31:32).  The church is the bride of Christ Jesus.  He loved her and gave Himself up for her to make her holy.  Husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies, for the church is the body of Christ.  “The two shall become one flesh.  This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:25-32).  Such mysteries are to be treated with respect and joyful thanksgiving in our bodily speech and conduct.

Modesty in sexual things is not prudishness.  Rather, it is the way of faith, of receiving what is given by our Creator and Redeemer as a good gift.

The Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist (April 25)

Mark 14:51-52; 15:46; 16:5-6

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

    St. Mark was just a young man during the days of Jesus’ earthly ministry.  We know this, not only because of the tradition which identifies Mark as the rich young man who at first turned away from following Christ, but also because of a little story that only Mark includes in His Gospel.  Mark inserts this brief account as a way of identifying himself and the contact he had with Jesus at a very crucial moment. 

    Here’s the scene:  Jesus had just been arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.  The disciples had all forsaken Him and fled from the armed group that came out to arrest Him.  And then Mark writes this,  “Now a certain young man followed Jesus, having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body.  And they laid hold of him, and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked.”

    Some have suggested that the upper room where Jesus had just met with His disciples was in fact in the house of Mark’s family.  We know that after Pentecost Christians gathered in this house to pray for Peter when he had been put in prison (Acts 12:12).  So it is quite conceivable, after Jesus had washed the disciples’ feet and instituted holy communion on this night in which He was betrayed, that a curious young Mark had followed them from his house to Gethsemane, keeping His distance to spy out more of what was going on.  This would explain why He was only clothed in a linen garment.  He may not have been expecting them to go anywhere at that time of night and hastily wrapped this linen garment around him when they left so that he wouldn’t lose track of them.  But whatever the reason, this young man, Mark, was there at the scene of Jesus’ arrest and only escaped by leaving His garment behind.

    Now why does Mark include this account in His Gospel?  What are we to learn from this little story?  Well, I believe the key to understanding Mark’s point is the linen garment.  The word for this garment in the Greek indicates that this was a very fine piece of cloth, of the more expensive variety.  Mark’s family was well-to-do.  And this particular kind of garment crops up only two times in all of the New Testament.  It is what Mark wore on this evening before Good Friday, and it is what our Lord’s body was wrapped in when He was buried.  It is written in Mark 15, “Then [Joseph of Arimathea] bought fine linen, took Jesus down, and wrapped Him in the linen.  And he laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock.” 

    It is no mere coincidence that this type of linen shows up only two times in the Scriptures, first on the young man, Mark, and then on the Savior, Jesus.  Mark is trying to teach us something.  And here is his point: This expensive garment represents the things of this world–worldly wealth, worldly loves, the passing and fading glories of this life.  This is what Mark is wrapped up in.  And this is what we wrap ourselves in to cover the shame and nakedness of our sin.  Here in this garden is a picture of what we have done ever since the days of Adam and Eve.  We hide from God.  We keep our distance from Him.  We envelop ourselves with earthly stuff and earthly pursuits that help us to ignore the reality of our nakedness and our fallenness before God.  We drape ourselves with the approval of our friends and the praise of people.  We cover ourselves with our own supposed goodness, denying the truth of what still lies beneath.  We trust in our own thinking and our own abilities to protect us from the cold night air of death.  However, we are really only shrouded in deceit.  In the end all of these worldly garments will be stripped from us, exposing us for who we are.

    But in fact such apparel must be stripped from us.  We must be rid of the dark clothing of our rebellion and our unbelief, so that we may receive new, eternal garments.  We must no longer be those who follow our Lord at a distance and then flee at the first sign of conflict.  Rather, we must humbly and penitently follow Him all the way to the cross.  For it is there alone that we find help and deliverance.  There at Golgotha Jesus wears the filthy rags of our sin.  There He bears our shame.  There He is clothed with all of our idolatry and our worldly loves, and He receives in His own body the hellish judgement and wrath that they bring.  Jesus is wrapped in our faithlessness and fallenness, and He suffers them to death on the cross for us.  Jesus stands in our place; He wears our mortal clothing in order that we might be wrapped in His immortality and share in His life.

    Do you see now the connection that Mark is making with this linen garment?  The garment of sin is taken off of Mark–and off of you–and put onto Christ.  The Lord wears your sin all the way into the grave, where He leaves it to rot forever.  No longer does sin have any power over you.  For it is dead and buried in Christ’s tomb.  He paid the full price to redeem you from it.  Satan and the grave cannot harm you any more.  For Christ rose in victory over them on the third day.  His resurrection in the body means that you are entirely forgiven and fully restored to God. 

    Mark records the account of Jesus’ resurrection in such a way as to amplify this truth and to lead us to see the new clothing that we have in Christ.  Very early on that Easter morning, the women came out to the tomb.  The stone had been rolled away from the tomb.  Then Mark records this, “And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.  But he said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed.  You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.  He is risen!  He is not here.  See the place where they laid Him.’” Notice that Mark describes the angel as “a young man,” the very same Greek word used to describe the young man in the Garden of Gethsemane.  But notice also that this young man is wearing “a long white robe,” a different sort of clothing than the previous linen garment.  What are we to make of this?

    I believe that there are two things going on here.  The first is that Mark wants you who hear this Gospel to see yourselves in that long white Easter robe.  Just as you are to identify with the fearful, fleeing, naked young man in Gethsemane and repent, so also you are to identify with this angelic, shining, white-robed young man and rejoice–believing in your hearts that Christ has indeed been raised from the dead for you, confessing with your mouths the same joyous Easter Gospel that this angelic messenger proclaims.  For so you are saved.

    Through Jesus’ cross and empty tomb, you truly have been changed and made new–from sinners to saints, from unclean to holy, from darkness to light.  Having been baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, you are robed in His perfect righteousness, the flowing garment of His forgiving love.  It is written in Galatians, “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”  The very life and presence of the crucified and risen Lord is now your clothing.  So it is that in Revelation the faithful are described as “those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb”; and again, “a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’”

    And there is a second thing that is going on in Mark’s resurrection account with this young man in the tomb.  Mark refers to the angel in the same way that he had earlier referred to himself in order to reveal His purpose as an evangelist.  For he and the angel were not all that different.  The angel was sent from God to announce the good news of the resurrection; Mark was sent from God to proclaim and declare the Gospel of the risen Jesus.  The angel was a messenger, and Mark was a messenger, one who recorded the saving words and works of Christ so that they might sound forth in and through the Church until the end of the age. 

    You, then, are like the angel, too.  For the words of the Gospel have also been put on your lips, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.  You, too, are given to confess the living Lord, both here in the divine service and out there in your daily callings, so that those who must confront the grave and its immovable stone might know Him who broke down the doors of death and who now brings life to all who believe.

    Before we conclude, it should be noted that St. Mark was not always perfectly saintly following his conversion.  Once he was taken along as an assistant on a missionary journey.  But he soon got cold feet and returned home.  Perhaps he was still a bit spoiled from his wealthy upbringing and couldn’t handle the stresses of this work.  The sinful nature that had earlier caused him to turn away from Christ on the road and flee from Him in the Garden still dogged him here.  But Mark now lived in the forgiveness and the renewing mercy of Christ.  Eventually he would return to assisting in missionary work.  In fact, he became steadfast and faithful in these tasks, for St. Paul wrote to Timothy, “Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry.”  We see in Mark, then, a wonderful picture of God’s love for us, how the Lord doesn’t forsake us when we fall and when we fail, but He forgives us and lifts us up and gives us a new start.  Later, Mark would serve as an assistant to the Apostle Peter, under whose guidance the Gospel of Mark would be written.  By the grace of God alone, Mark has his place as an evangelist in the church.

    It is traditional in Christian art for Mark to be depicted as a lion.  Some say this is so because His Gospel begins with the roaring voice of John the Baptist in the wilderness.  Others say it is because Mark’s Gospel is one of action, stressing the powerful works of Christ.  But perhaps one could say most of all that Mark is depicted as a lion because He sets so clearly before our eyes the One who is Himself  the Lion of the tribe of Judah, namely, Jesus, our Lord and our Redeemer.

    For this, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all give thanks to God.

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

The Bread That I Shall Give Is My Flesh

 John 6:1-15

✠ In the name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

    At the end of today’s Gospel, the people said about Jesus, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”  When they spoke of “the Prophet,” they were referring to the promise that the Lord had made to Moses, when the children of Israel were afraid to hear the thundering voice of God on Mt. Sinai.  The Lord told Moses, “I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth.”
 
    And in that sense, the people were right.  Jesus is that promised Prophet, the New and Greater Moses, who speaks God’s words to His people, who leads you and feeds you and intercedes for you.  Just consider what happens in today’s Gospel.  In the same way that  Moses led the children of Israel through the Red Sea, so also Jesus goes across the Sea of Galilee (6:1), and a great multitude follows Him.  And why did they follow Him?  Because of His signs which He performed on those who were diseased (6:2), like Moses who had performed great signs in Egypt before Pharaoh.  And just as Moses went up Mt. Sinai with the elders of Israel, and they saw God and ate and drank, so also Jesus here ascends a mountain with His disciples, and in Him the people would see God and eat and drink (6:3).  Furthermore, it is written here that the Passover was near (6:4), the sacrificing of the unblemished Lamb whose blood protects from death.  In this Gospel, then, the Lord is teaching you that He is your greater Moses.  He alone is the One who sustains and leads you safely across the wilderness of this fallen world.  He is the One who comes after Moses, your Joshua, who leads you through death into the Promised Land and eternal life.

    Jesus is not only your Moses, He is also your manna.  He said, “I am the Living Bread which came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world (6:51).”  So when we hear of a miracle like the feeding of the 5000, we know that its significance doesn’t end with the earthly bread of that time and place.  No, here is pictured the true Manna, the Bread of Life which is still being distributed to the multitude today, to you in the Sacrament of the Altar.

    Seeing all the people coming to Him, Jesus asks Philip a question to test him.  Now when the Lord tests you, He does so not to find out information about you that He didn’t already know, but ultimately to direct your faith to the right place and strengthen it.  And so the Lord asks, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?”  In this way the Lord leads Philip to despair of his own ability to do anything to solve this problem.  “Even if we had 200 days’ worth of wages, we still couldn’t buy nearly enough food.”  The disciples were helpless to do anything.  The first thing about having the right faith is knowing what not to trust in.  The disciples were not to trust in themselves or their own resources.

    It’s the same way with you.   Jesus asks this question to show you that the bread of life is not something that you can acquire with your own spiritual resources and or by your own goodness.  You simply have no ability to come up with what is necessary to attain eternal life.  You must learn to turn way from and despair of your own resources to solve this problem.  You’ve got nothing to barter with to make yourself right with God.  You can’t purchase this heavenly bread.  Rather, God offers it to you freely in Christ.  His forgiveness and salvation are granted to you without cost; for He has paid the price.  As Isaiah 55 says, “You who have no money, come, buy and eat.”

    Only those can receive the bread of life, then, who acknowledge their spiritual bankruptcy before God, who recognize that of themselves they can lay no claim on God’s eternal gifts.  Those who think that they are worthy of the Bread of Life will not be given life at all.  For they are still trying to “buy” their way into God’s good graces with their own spiritual qualifications.  Only to the poor in spirit does the kingdom of heaven belong.  Our righteousness is like the rotting Old Testament manna that was kept overnight; it’s goodness doesn’t last.  Only those who hunger and thirst for the righteousness of Christ will be satisfied.  For His is the food which endures to everlasting life (6:27).

    One of Jesus’ disciples, Andrew, said to Him, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?”  On the surface it appeared that this bread and fish would be useless to help feed the people.  But with Jesus it was more than enough to do the job.  It’s the same way with the Sacrament of the Altar.  Someone might ask, “What good can a little bread and wine do?  How can these elements help my soul or give me any eternal blessings?”  But in the hands of Jesus, such elements are more than enough.  For what counts is not the impressiveness of the bread and wine but the miracle that our Lord does with them.  You must focus not simply on the elements only but on the Word of the Lord who stands behind them.

    “Then Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’  Now there was much grass in the place.”  The Lord invites you also to do the same thing today, for the Psalm says, “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall lack nothing.  He makes me to lie down in green pastures.”  Right here is your grassy pasture where He calls you to come for rest.  It is here that He leads you beside the still waters of His living Word.  It is here that He prepares a table before you, spread with heavenly food.

    “And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.”  Here is the great miracle, that as the disciples handed out this food given them by Christ, there was always more and more.  The more they handed out, the more there was.  First there were five loaves in the basket.  Then, as this was distributed, the disciples would reach in and find more and more loaves ready to be given out.  And likewise with the fish.  Thousands upon thousands of people were fed, and the food never ran out.  Everyone was filled and satisfied; no one was left out.  The Lord more than covered all of their needs.

    Isn’t this also how it is with the gifts that Christ gives in Holy Communion?  In bread and wine He multiplies His body and blood, and through His ministers He distributes them to His people, that you may receive all that you want of Him who is the Living Bread from heaven, and that your souls may be thoroughly satisfied with His mercy.  There is always more and more of this Bread of Life to be given out.  For this bread is the flesh of God Himself; and there is no limit to God.  He offered up His body for you on the cross to purchase your forgiveness.  And now He offers up His body to you in Holy Communion that you may receive that full and limitless forgiveness.


    Like the five loaves and the two fish, our Lord’s love is ever-expanding.  It’s reverse mathematics; the more that He gives, the more that He has yet to give.  It can’t be measured; you can’t put a boundary around it.  So when you come to the Lord’s table in penitence and faith, you need never fear that the sin you bring is bigger than the Lord’s forgiveness.  The cross covers it all, and then some.  The shed blood of the Passover Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world.  When you eat the Living Bread from heaven in the Sacrament, you receive the fullness of Christ’s pardon, all that you could ever want.  And there is still more even beyond that.  For when you eat this Supper, you are partaking in the very life of God Himself.  Jesus said, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day (6:54).”

    After the 5000 were fed, Jesus told the disciples to gather up what remained, so that nothing would be lost.  We also do the same thing here in Holy Communion.  What remains after the Supper is gathered up and placed into the tabernacle there on top of the altar.  From there it is carried out to our hospitalized and shut-in members.  In that way the Lord’s love also reaches out to them in their need so that they might be drawn in and joined with us in this same holy communion.


    Finally, when the disciples gathered up what remained, they filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves.  Five loaves became twelve baskets–more than when they started.  Five is the number of the Law, for there are five books of Moses.  Twelve is the number of the apostles.  In this miracle, then, we see a transition, from the old Israel, guided by the Law of Moses, to the New Israel, the Church, built on the doctrine and ministry of Christ’s apostles, as we say in the Creed, “one holy Christian and apostolic Church.”  It is written in Acts 2 of the early church,  “They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers (Acts 2:42).”  This is what the 5 becoming 12 means for you: You have been freed from the judgment of the Law by Christ, who fulfilled it all for you; and your life is now to be found in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking and receiving of the Bread of Life, and in the prayers and liturgy of the church. 

    The multitudes back then wanted Jesus to be king–but only to keep their bellies filled and their appetites fed.  But you know that Jesus is much more than that.  He is the King who goes off to the mountain by Himself where He will be crowned with thorns, that His flesh might become the life of the world.  That’s the real Jesus–your Redeemer-King and your Manna from above.

    ✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

The Lord is Good

Matthew 20:1-16
Septuagesima

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

    Lutherans are often accused of not being very good at promoting good works, of getting people to lead a more Christian life.  I don’t usually harp on all the things you should and shouldn’t be doing but on the fact that we’re saved by God’s grace alone and that good works do not make us right with God.  To some that sounds like saying we can live however we please.  But, of course, we’re not saying that good works aren’t necessary; they are.  God’s Law is still in force.  The Ten Commandments are still commanded.  They’re not the Ten Suggestions.  God has told us to do them, and so we should.  In fact, we must.

    However, this also must be pointed out: If you do good things in order to gain some eternal reward out of it, is that truly a good work?  Or if you do something good out of fear that if you don’t you’ll be punished, is that truly a good work?  In both cases the good deed is tainted, isn’t it?  It may be good humanly speaking, but it’s not in God’s sight.  For with Him it’s not just the outward act but what’s going on in the heart that counts.  Love and trust in Him is what He seeks.  If heaven is the reward we get for living a good life, we’re hopelessly lost; because then living a good life would end up being a self-serving thing, which in fact is the opposite of doing good before God.

    Let me illustrate it this way: Valentine’s day was just celebrated.  If a husband gets his wife a card and flowers or some other gift only because he feels like he has to or else he’ll be in the dog house, is that really love for his wife?  Or if he does something romantic because what he truly wants is to score some points that he can cash in on, is that really love for his wife?  What he does might be good outwardly speaking, but what makes it real love is when it’s done without thought to rewards or consequences, but with a desire for the good and the happiness of the spouse and their marital communion.

    So what God has done is this: He has enabled you to do truly good works by taking the eternal threats and reward entirely out of the mix.  The reward is already yours before you even start working.  It’s been purchased by Christ for you; it’s a done deal, whether you entered the vineyard at dawn or at the 11th hour.  Your reward, your eternal life in Christ is not in doubt.  The denarius is yours through faith, simply by trusting Him.  So now what?  Now you are truly free to do the work God has given you to do from the heart, out of love for Him and love for your neighbor, without any thought of what’s in it for you.  All the tainted motives you might have are taken away in Christ.  Fear of what might happen to you, self-serving goals no longer have a role to play since Jesus has already given Himself to you with every blessing.  You are set at liberty to do good, not because you have to in order to win God’s favor, but precisely because you already have God’s favor in Christ, and because your neighbor needs you.  In a sense you are free to do as you please.  For what pleases the heart of faith is not to go back to living in the same old shallow, empty, self-serving ways, but to live in Christ, loving and trusting in God and serving others.  That’s why it is written that without faith in Christ, it is impossible to please God.  Only in Jesus are you truly free to do good.

    When we forget that, that’s when we’ll start to grumble and complain, like the children of Israel in the wilderness, like the laborers in the vineyard who worked all day.  You only grumble and complain like that when you think God owes you, that you deserve better based on what you’ve done.  “I’ve worked harder than that other guy; I’ve done more for the church.  So I deserve better than him.”  “It’s not fair that God is letting me go through this hardship.  I’ve lived a good life and been a good person.”  You can only talk and think that way when you believe it’s your works that run the show with God.  And when your works run the show, then it’s all about you, not Jesus.

    The laborers in the vineyard wanted the landowner to be fair.  But in fact He was more than fair.  A denarius is a good and proper wage for a full day’s work.  That’s exactly what they received.  The landowner wasn’t being miserly; he didn’t stiff them.  It’s just that the landowner was extremely generous to the others.  He treated even the ones hired at the 11th hour as if they had worked all day.  You might say that it was by grace that they received their denarius.  The landowner wasn’t unfair but good and gracious.  Besides, he had the right to do whatever he wished with His own things.

    Beware of applying standards of fairness to God, as if the clay can tell the potter how to do his job.  Beware, because generally the fairness argument is just a mask for promoting our own interests.  That’s why we love to grouse about the rich and income inequality.  “They don’t deserve it, and we deserve more for all our hard work; it’s not fair.”  But whether or not that's the case, that's not how God wants to deal with us, on the basis of what we deserve, as if we had a contractual arrangement with Him, a business deal, a pre-nuptial agreement.  Rather, He wants our relationship to be one of real love, freely given, no strings attached.  As soon as it’s about what we think God owes us, then we’re not seeking to love Him but to use Him.

    We should beware of wanting God to be fair with us, anyway, as I’ve often told you before.  For then we’d be in grave danger.  If you want fair wages, then here’s what the Scriptures say, “The wages of sin is death.”  Those who end up in hell are really in the end only getting what they asked for, namely, the just and fair payment for their faithless works.  “Go your way,” the landowner said.  Have it your way.  Hell is filled with grumbling and complaining against God.  You might think that hell would mostly be about regret.  But regret quickly shifts to anger and blame, especially toward God.  The damned actually believe that God is wrong, that He’s being unfair.  This worsening bitterness and teeth-gritting frustration is part of their unending torment.

    Repent, then, of dealing with God as if He were against you, as if He needed to be negotiated with and badgered into loving you.  Turn away from your anger with Him.  Trust that He is good, that He is merciful and abounding in steadfast love.  He is blessedly unfair with you, pouring out on you the fullness of His generosity in Christ.  He does love you.  He will provide you with all that you need.  After all, if the Father has given you His own Son, will He not also graciously give you all that is good and necessary and right for you?  Remember that the laborers who were hired later in the day went to work without being told what they would be paid, just trusting in the goodness of the landowner, that He would give them "whatever is right."  So you also, even though you can’t see what the future holds, even if life doesn’t seem to be fair–trust in the goodness of your heavenly Father; stake your life on His grace in Jesus.  Know that He will give far more than you could ever dream of.

    Just like the landowner dealt with those hired at the 11th hour, so the Lord treats you as if you did all the required work, from the beginning to the ending of the day.  For what you failed to do, the Lord Jesus has accomplished perfectly on your behalf in His perfect life and death and resurrection.  He Himself is the true Laborer in the vineyard who brings you the generous reward at the end of the day.  He began His work even before dawn on Good Friday, being condemned by the Jewish authorities.  He was questioned by Pontius Pilate, flogged, and then crucified at the 3rd hour.  Darkness covered the land from the sixth hour, noon, until the ninth hour, as a sign of the judgment He bore in your place.  Our Lord cried out “It is finished!” and died as the perfect and complete sacrifice for your sin.  See how He did all the work for you!  He who is the Rock was struck, and water and blood flowed forth from His side for your cleansing and your forgiveness.  He was buried at the eleventh hour just before sundown to sanctify your grave and make it a place of rest from which you will awaken and rise in glory on the Last Day.

    “The Lord will save the humble people, but will bring down proud and haughty looks.”  And so we look not for fair wages but mercy and grace from God.  We know that it is only by the Lord’s goodness that we are even in the vineyard, no matter how long we’ve been there.  We consider it a privilege to be able to contribute to the health and the growth of the vineyard, which is Christ’s church.  We are not jealous of the newcomer or of the one converted in his dying days, but we rejoice that the same mercy that saved us has also saved another.  Even a faithful lifelong Christian recognizes that of himself he deserves nothing and that it is only because of Jesus that he has forgiveness and life.  As it is written, “The free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).”  And again, “By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:8-10).” 

    Let us then be truly full of good works by trusting in the grace of Christ alone to save us.  Or as St. Paul puts it, let us run in such a way as to obtain the prize of life with Christ, which He Himself has won for us.  Let us run with the certainty of faith, setting our hearts on Him, disciplining our bodies and minds, more than even a dedicated Olympic athlete, filling ourselves with His words and His life-giving body and blood.  Come and lay hold of the denarius Christ earned for you–not because it’s owed; but simply because it is His good pleasure to be generous and loving toward you.

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

You Can Make Me Clean

When we think of the term "unclean" in Scripture, we usually associate it with matters of the soul. Unclean spirits attack and torment. Sin pollutes us. The sins perpetrated on us leave us feeling contaminated. 

But in a hospital visit today, it struck me that Scriptural uncleanness also has a very palpable and physical meaning, too. For in Matthew 8, a leper comes to Jesus saying, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." (8:2) Think about what sickness and disease do to us. No matter how well-bathed, no matter how good your hygiene, you feel unclean. Bodies decay and stink, wounds ooze, limbs swell with fluids, cancer eats away at healthy tissue, mucous and phlegm congest, bowels malfunction. The average hospital visitor feels strongly the need to disinfect upon leaving. Nurses and doctors know better than most that what they’re dealing with is uncleanness, viruses and bacteria and diseases that require very tangible fleshly help to bring about some sense of cleanness and order to the body. A patient’s comments about messed-up hair or lack of make-up or decent clothing are commentary on this deeper feeling. "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."

And in response Jesus says, "I am willing; be cleansed." (8:3) What marvelous words those are! Here the Lord’s heart is opened to us and we see His great desire to make us clean in both soul and body. This is the very purpose for which the Son of God was made man, to purify you from all that ails your flesh and spirit. Later in this chapter, it is written, "He Himself took our sicknesses and bore our infirmities." (8:17) This is your Savior, the One who took into His own flesh all that attacks your flesh. He knows, He has felt your sickness in the deepest way possible. In His scourging and on the cross, His body was opened up and laid bare to every pathogen that threatens your life. He died a bloody, infected, unclean mess. But by that very death, He conquered all your sickness and your disease and the grave itself. For in the body of God made flesh, all corruptions of the flesh met their match and their end. Jesus’ body did not see decay or corruption in the grave (Ps. 16:10). By the wounds of Christ you are healed and cleansed. The One crucified and now risen in the flesh is your cure.

"I am willing; be cleansed." This our Lord spoke to you in your baptism, washing you, giving you the sure hope that your lowly body will be transformed to be like His glorious body (Philippians 3:21). Every divine service you hear those words. For in the absolution God speaks words that are life to you and health to all your flesh (Proverbs 4:22). And the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, which you receive at His table, cleanses you from all sin (1 John 1:7). It is surely the medicine of immortality and the guarantee of health and marvelous wholeness that will be yours in the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come.

Jesus can make you clean. He is willing. Be cleansed.

Inherit the Kingdom

Matthew 25:31-46
Trinity 26
Mt. Zion Lutheran Church
Greenfield, Wisconsin

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

    When we Lutherans hear a Gospel like today’s Gospel, we may get a little uneasy.  On Reformation Day we recently celebrated the Scriptural truth that we are saved by God’s grace alone through faith in Christ alone apart from works the Law commands.  But now it almost seems that the sheep are at Jesus’ right hand and have eternal life because of those good works that they did–giving food and drink and clothes to the needy, visiting those who are sick and in prison, welcoming the stranger, and so forth.  Is the Bible being unclear or contradictory here?  The words of this Gospel are holy and true.  How are we to understand them rightly?

    First of all, we misunderstand passages like this because we don’t listen to them carefully.  We’re naturally drawn to those words that talk about us and what we do.  But before Jesus says anything about our works, He speaks about His grace: “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’”  Notice how those words give the basis for everything else that follows.  The sheep on the right hand are called “you blessed of My Father.”  By the goodness  of God alone they have received blessing from Him.  And what’s the blessing?  That they would “inherit the kingdom.”  I will remind you once again, inheritances are not about what you do but about who you are.  If you’re in the family, you’re in the will, you get an inheritance.  If not, no dice.  You who were once children of wrath through your sin have been made to be children of God in Christ.  You are baptized into Him; you are washed clean of your sin by the blood that He shed for you on the cross.  Through faith in Christ, you are truly a part of God’s family.  And so you inherit the kingdom.  You are sheep because you have been given to wear the pure white fleece of Christ, the Lamb of God.  The kingdom was prepared for you by the Father through Jesus “from the foundation of the world,” before you and I were even around. 

    It’s who you are, not what you do that determines if you’re on the left or on the right.  If you’re a sheep, you’re on the right, if you’re a goat, you’re on the left.  Sheep have been made to be what they are by grace, having been brought to penitent faith in Christ.  Goats are what they are by the rejection of grace, through unbelief, disowning God’s family and Fatherhood, turning away from the gifts freely given them in baptism. 

    Now faith by its very nature is active in love.  For our faith is in Christ, who is love incarnate.  And so from the sheep’s faith flow these loving works that the Gospel mentions.  Putting to death the selfish old Adam in us through repentance, we seek by faith in Christ to do good and to help those in genuine need and to bring relief to their suffering.  Those good works will be judged by Christ as righteous and will be commended.  Those works, though, do not save the sheep.  For after all, there are plenty of unbelievers who also feed the hungry and help their neighbor, aren’t there?  There are a lot of charitable deeds done by Mormons, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and just plain atheists.  So what’s the difference?  The difference is that the works of the sheep are cleansed and sanctified by Christ through their faith in Him, while the works of the goats are not.  In other words, Jesus not only declares us righteous, He declares our works righteous, too, and receives them as gifts. It is written, “Without faith (in Christ) it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6).  Apart from faith in Jesus’ forgiveness, our works remain stained and corrupted.  Isaiah 64 says that apart from Jesus, even our very best good deeds are nothing but filthy rags before God.  Only through Christ can we do anything that is truly good in God’s sight.  As one theologian put it, “People are anxious over the necessity of good works for salvation; God is anxious over the necessity of salvation for good works.”

    And here’s another key point:  Note that Jesus specifically mentions that these deeds done for Him are done for His brethren. “Brethren” is a very particular term in the Scriptures.  It doesn’t just mean anybody and everybody.  The early church fathers took the term “brethren” in this passage to be referring to preachers, Jesus’ brethren who stand in His place and speak His words to His people.  Therefore this passage is talking at least in part about supporting the ministry of the Gospel, as you do with your offerings, and caring for the needs of those who are called to carry the good news of Jesus’ to the nations, especially if they are poor or persecuted or imprisoned as was the Apostle Paul.  To do that even for the least of the brethren, even the lowliest of missionaries and ministers, is to do it for Jesus who sent them.  It is to show forth faith, which desires to hear the living voice of Christ in the preaching of the Gospel.

    The term “brethren” can also refer to all Christians in general, the family of believers, those who have been made to be brothers and sisters of Christ through their faith into Him.  Those who are baptized are members of Jesus’ body.  So to do something for them is to do it for Jesus Himself. This oneness with Christ is renewed and strengthened each time we are fed with His very body and blood in Holy Communion.  When you relate with each other, then, you’re dealing not just with a motley assortment of people but with the body and blood of Christ.  “Whatever you did for one of the least of these My brethren you did for Me.”

    Now the odd thing in the Gospel is that the sheep on the right hand seem blissfully unaware that they did these things.  You’d think they’d remember their good deeds done for the least of these brethren.  But that’s not how faith is. It doesn’t keep a record of good works, it just does them, without thinking about it.  The very best deeds you’ve done are the ones you’ve forgotten about or that you weren’t even aware that you did.  The character of Christian good works is such that they become better and better the less you are aware of them.

    For now because of our sin we still focus on our own good works and remember them and talk about them and take pride in them.  For that we must all repent.  But our faith will be brought to perfection on the Last Day, when the sheep are blessedly unmindful of the things they have done. For faith always focuses on the deeds of Christ.  “When did we do all these things?  All we did was believe in Jesus!”  Faith forgets itself that it may forever remember and Christ and His eternal gifts.

    Our Lord Jesus won those gifts for you by becoming needy in your place.  He was weak and hungry when He was tested in the wilderness.  On the cross He hung without clothing and said, “I thirst.”  He Himself took your infirmities and bore your sicknesses in His own body on the tree.  He was treated like a stranger amongst His own people.  He put Himself into the bondage of your hellish prison so that He might burst the bars of your captivity from the inside by His mighty resurrection. Through Christ you are set free from death and the devil; you are released from your sins; you are cleansed and forgiven in Him.  He made Himself to be the least of the brethren so that you would receive the greatest of His mercies.  It is He who showed the truest and highest charity, paying with His own blood to redeem you. 

    That’s how you receive the eternal inheritance, which was prepared  from the very foundation of the world.  It is written in Revelation 13 that Jesus the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world.  The reality of the cross holds sway from the very beginning of creation.  It’s all a gift to you, given through the merits of Christ.

    Let us never forget, then, that the separation of the sheep and the goats occurs at Calvary. That’s where destinies are decided.  It was a goat who was crucified at Jesus’ left, one who mocked Him and didn't believe.  But crucified on Jesus’ right was a sheep who prayed in faith, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”  And Jesus said to him, “Today, you will be with Me in paradise.”  Brothers and sisters of Christ, you are at Jesus’ right hand.  For you were adopted into the family of God by water and the Word.  All that the Father has is yours.  And so you also are given to pray to the risen Jesus, “Remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”  And Jesus responds by giving you the Paradise of His own body and blood, where you are with Him and He is with you.  He says to you even now, “Come, you blessed of My Father, come to the altar; receive the kingdom prepared for you, given and shed for you, from the foundation of the world.”

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

You Are Not Born to Eternal Life When You Die

It has become common in obituaries in recent years to say that the deceased was "born to eternal life" on the day that they died.  I'm sure part of the intent behind that phrase is to find a more pleasant, less harsh way to describe death.  We used to say that the departed "passed away."  But that still doesn't fully hide the harsh reality of our mortality.  "Born to eternal life" is much more positive.

But there's just one problem with that phrase: it's not true.  As Christians we know that our birth into eternal life is not grounded in our death, it's grounded in Jesus' death.  Eternal life doesn't begin when life in this world ends.  It begins when we are crucified with Christ in baptism and raised with Him to a new life by water and the Word.  (Galatians 2:20; John 3:5; Titus 3:5)

We have eternal life already right now through faith in Jesus. "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life" (John 3:36).  That's not just a future but a present reality.  The eternal life we have in Christ begins in this life, continues through our earthly death, and is consummated on the Last Day when our bodies are raised with Christ to share in His glory (Philippians 3:21; 1 John 3:2).  This is how Jesus can say that those who live and believe in Him will never die (John 11:26).  It is true that those who have died in the Christian faith are no longer burdened by the troubles of this world and our fallen nature.  But they already were born to eternal life, ever since they believed and were baptized.  

If we're going to talk about any future (re)birth, let us have in mind the resurrection of the body at Christ's return.  And if we're going to talk about being born to eternal life when we die, let the reference of that death be your baptismal burial and resurrection with Jesus.  "We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.  For if we have been united with Him in His death, we shall certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection" (Romans 6:4-5).

Suppressed Truth is Still the Truth

Truth that is suppressed, even by civil law, still remains the truth.

Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Thanks be to God for the Truth in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ, by whom unworthy sinners like me are freely declared righteous by His redeeming grace.

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

John 14:6  Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

Mother Nature, Father God

Genesis 1:1 - 2:3
Trinity 21
Pastor Aaron A. Koch
Mt. Zion Lutheran Church
Greenfield, Wisconsin
Sermon Audio

✠ In then name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

    Throughout much of the history of mankind, there has been a battle going on between the religion of mother earth and the religion of Father God.  The religion of mother earth is paganism, where different elements of creation are thought to have some sort of supernatural or divine power.  Certain gods would be connected to certain pieces of land, or the sun, or the water.  Pagans would speak of the spirit of the trees or of the animals as forces they would have to appease or show proper respect to.  In other words creation itself was seen as being divine.  All the worship of idols was at its root a worship of the creation rather than the Creator.  Romans 1 speaks of this when it says, “Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man–and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things . . .  (They) exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator.”  The very term “mother nature” or “mother earth” is really a sign of our who we are as fallen creatures.  Formed from the earth, we are dust, and to dust we shall return.

    Of course, in this scientific age, we believe we’ve advanced beyond all the superstitious paganism of the past.  In our technological wisdom we can now explain everything logically and rationally, even down to the level of subatomic particles.  The wisdom of this age is that there is no personal, transcendent being called God.  Rather, it is said, through chance random processes spread out over billions of years, dead elements came together to form living things which developed over time into the vast variety of living plants and animals that we see around us today.  In this way all living things are connected because we are all joined somewhere on that same evolutionary tree of life. 

    But do you notice where that leaves us?  Right back with the pagans.  After all, if there is no eternal Creator God, then nature, the stuff of the universe must be eternal.  The material world is the only thing that’s real and everlasting.  And so, once again, man ends up giving his honor and love to the creation rather than to the Creator. 

    And it goes even further than that.  This evolutionary mindset inevitably begins to take on the characteristics of the old pagan religion.  We are intrinsically religious beings.  And if the Creator is excluded from the scene, then even a supposedly logical and scientific culture will begin to speak of the creation in spiritual terms.

    For the pagans of our culture, if you want to get closer to the divine you don’t go to church, you go to nature–so you can find inner peace and your spiritual connection to the universe.  Their temple is the forest or the mountains.  Cutting down a tree or retrieving natural resources from the earth is often viewed as an act of desecration.  It is seen as an attack on something sacred.  You hear the same sort of reverence and awe being shown for whales and dolphins and other animals, a mystical and worshipful tone being used to describe these creatures.  The whole Biblical order is turned upside down as animals are often implicitly portrayed as being higher than human beings because they are more in harmony with nature and with the “circle of life.” 

    Being spiritual today for many means being “green,” honoring mother earth.  And so the worst sort of sins don’t involve breaking the 10 commandments but rather not being environmentally pure.  In today’s society it would be a worse sin for me not to recycle properly than it would be for me to misuse the holy name of God, more immoral to have a large “carbon footprint” than to download pornography.  There is more outrage over someone abusing an animal than there is over the abortion of an unborn child.  And don’t even think about questioning the seriousness of global warming; just bringing that up is sheer blasphemy!  Environmentalism has become a religion in our day, as dogmatic as any medieval church.

    But here’s what the Scriptures say to all this: Human beings are not merely animals who happen to have highly developed brains.  God created man in distinction from the animals.  Only man is created in the image of God.  Only man is given that value and that status far above the animals.  Human beings are given a unique role as stewards of God’s creation.  God commanded man, “Fill the earth and subdue it.  Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”  As those who bear the image of God, human beings are given to be the overseers of God’s creation, managing it, taking good care of it according to His purposes as His representatives.  We are even commanded by the Lord to subdue and have dominion over creation. In that way we continue His work of setting creation in order.  Man, therefore, is not below nature, in a position where he must reverence and worship her.  He is over creation by God’s own design to be a good steward and caretaker of what the Lord has made.  It is not to creation but to the Lord alone that all reverence and worship belongs.

    When there is a shift away from the worship of the Creator to the worship of the creation, from Father God to mother earth, then there is also a shift away from objective truth to a moral relativism, whatever suits our needs and our feelings at the moment.  For the Creator is unchanging and eternal; creation on the other hand is constantly changing and shifting.

    For instance, rejection of God the Father as our Creator has led to a rejection of the distinction between the sexes in our culture, as if man and woman were interchangeable.  The truth of our creation as male and female for the purpose of marriage and procreation has been corrupted.  Let me say it very clearly: acceptance of homosexual behavior is pure paganism.  It’s no longer about the unchanging God who ordered us as male and female, but the disordered and changeable nature of our inner thoughts and desires.  You know that you’ve been influenced by pagan thinking if you are tempted to believe that it’s actually a virtue to accept and approve of someone’s gay relationship or gay marriage.  Evil is called good and good is called evil.  “But what if they love each other?” it is said.  Not only is that a disordered and sinful love, it is a relationship that by definition cannot fulfill one of the primary purposes of marriage, namely to “be fruitful and multiply.”  Homosexual relationships are lifeless when it comes to producing children, not by health defect or by age but by their very nature. 

    Of course, we must also point out the heterosexual rejection of Scripture, too, where not only is marriage ignored or cast aside, but where the words “be fruitful and multiply” are conveniently ignored or rationalized away, and the sexual relationship simply becomes an instrument of one’s personal pleasure.  How far we’ve fallen, where if someone has more than a couple of children, they’re treated almost as if they’re polluting the earth and needlessly burdening themselves rather than being abundantly blessed by God.

    Romans 1 speaks of how pagan belief leads to sexual immorality.  It is written, “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves. . . For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;  and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.”

    Don’t be fooled–this blurring of the lines between male and female isn’t just a side issue.  It is intimately connected with who God is as our Father and what He has done for us in Christ and our relationship to Him as a bride, as His chosen people who look to Him as the source of every good and perfect gift.  This stuff matters deeply.  For instance, in the ELCA, which bears the label of “Lutheran” in its name, there are congregations which pray not to Our Father in heaven but to Our Mother within us or some other non-masculine name.  Such churches, which of course approve of female priestesses to lead the worship of their god/goddess, are of a very different spirit from us.  Just because they use the name Lutheran doesn’t mean that they are.  Our culture’s incessant push to make the sexes interchangeable isn’t without consequence for the church.  Not only does it blur the distinction between Creator and creation.  It also blurs the distinction between the Redeemer and the redeemed.  It affects our faith in Jesus.

    You see, we believe that creation today is far different from what it was in the beginning.  Before man fell into sin, all was good; there were no cycles of death or decay or evil.  But, as proof that man is over creation, when he rebelled against God, all creation fell and was cursed with him.  Romans 8 says that all creation groans and is in bondage to decay.  While nature can be beautiful, it can also now be harsh and desolate and dangerous.  The circle of life is really the circle of death, where the strong survive and the weak die–and even the strong are eventually overcome. 

    All of this is the wages of our sin, which is death.  We have turned away from God and what He created us to be to try to become like God Himself.  We wanted to treat creation not as something that belonged to God that we were stewards of but as something that belonged to us to use however we pleased.  We ended up becoming like the animals, living according to our own instincts for survival or pleasure.  The image of God has been corrupted and broken in us, cutting us off from eternal life with Him.

    However(!), (and I know it took me a long time to get here, but here’s the most important part:) the same God who created us in love has entered into His fallen creation in order to redeem and recreate us in Christ Jesus.  Colossians 1 says that Christ Himself is the image of the  invisible God.  In other words, when man was created in God’s image in the beginning, that means he was created in Christ, who is the image of God and His eternal Son.  Already then, from the foundation of the world, Jesus was the heart and source of our life.  And in order to restore the image of God to us who had lost it, the Son of God came and shared in our humanity, true God became true man, that our humanity might be restored and the image of God might be imprinted on us again. 

    When God created all things in the beginning, He did so through His Word.  He spoke, and it was so.  “Let there be light,” and there was light.  The Gospel of John tells us that the Word was the Son of God, Jesus, the 2nd person of the Holy Trinity.  It is written, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . All things were made through Him . . . The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”   Jesus is the One who became a part of His own creation to renew it.  As your blood brother, He took your place under judgment and was held accountable for your sins.  Just as all creation groans, so He groaned and breathed His last for you on the cross to break the curse of death and free you from your bondage to decay.  The shed blood of Christ cleanses you and renews you and puts you right with the Father again. 

    And the creation account itself foretells and foreshadows this saving work of Christ.  For notice how the days are marked: it’s not morning and then evening the way we usually think of it, but first evening and then morning.  First it’s darkness, then it’s light.  First it’s the shadow of death, then it’s the light of life.  Jesus dies in the darkness of Good Friday to subdue creation, and then He rises at the dawn of Easter on the first day of the week to be the Light of the world, to put an end to death and to bring about a new creation. 

    The Scriptures say that in the world to come there is no night.  For the light of Christ will be all in all.  And that light of the new world has shined on you already, for it is written, “If anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation.  The old has gone, the new has come.”  As the Spirit of God hovered over the waters at creation, so you were given a new life by water and the Spirit in baptism.  You descended into the depths and rose again with Jesus to a life that never ends, enlightened with His gifts.

    So do not think of the earth or nature as your mother; rather let us speak of mother church.  For the saying is true, “No one has God as his Father who doesn’t have the church as his mother.”  Here is the source of your life.  For here is Christ your Savior, who continues to speak His powerful, creative Word: “Your sins are forgiven,” and they are.  “This is My body and blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins,” and it is.  Jesus is the new Adam who has dominion over all creation for your good.  He has subdued creation and set things in order again and made them new by His death and resurrection.  He is crowned with glory and honor at the right hand of the Father.  Considering all of this creating and saving work of God in Christ, we can only repeat what He Himself said: It is very good.

✠ In then name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

Meditation on Daniel 6 for the Easter Vigil

✠ In the name of Jesus ✠

    This final reading from Daniel teaches as clearly as any of the previous readings about Christ’s burial and resurrection, and about our own dying and rising with Him.
    Daniel was one of many Israelites who had been taken captive by the Babylonians and carried away to live there in exile.  During the 70 years of exile, these worshipers of the Lord were outsiders, strangers in a strange land.  They longed to return to the Promised Land which God had given them.
    Isn’t that also how it is for God's New Testament people?  We also as Christians are like exiles in a foreign land, carried away for a time because of our sin.  This is not our true home.  St. Paul writes in Philippians, "Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself."  As citizens of heaven we do not desire to follow the ways of the world, and therefore the world is often set against us.  The citizens of the world will try to make trouble or trip up those who are faithful to the truth of the Word.  In that sense we are not only in foreign territory but we are in enemy territory.
    That was certainly how it was for Daniel.  Because he was faithful to God and because he was distinguishing himself above all others in his service to the king, his enemies set out to undo him.  They knew that Daniel faithfully worshiped the Lord daily, praying toward Jerusalem.  And so they tricked the king into making a law that would forbid Daniel or anyone else from doing that for 30 days.  Anyone who broke that law was to be thrown into the den of lions to be killed.  Daniel, of course, refused to obey such a godless order, and he was condemned to death.
    This is also how it was with Jesus.  In His day he was upsetting the power structure by refusing to bow down to the man made ways of the Jewish leaders, and therefore he was a threat.  They set about to get rid of him.  Though he was blameless in every way, yet through deceit and trickery and betrayal they schemed to have him arrested and sentenced to death.  Not only did they bring false testimony against Jesus, but then they manipulated the mob into forcing Pontius Pilate to crucify Jesus.  Just as Darius didn't want to kill Daniel, Pontius Pilate didn't want to kill Jesus.  But through the conniving of Christ's enemies, he decided that was the politically expedient thing to do.  In the end he sent Christ off to His death as the innocent Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
    When Daniel was placed into the pit where the lions were, a stone was brought and laid over the entrance to the pit.  And the king sealed the entrance with his own signet ring.  So also Christ was laid in the tomb, and a stone was laid across the entrance to the tomb.  Furthermore, that entrance was sealed with a Roman seal and guarded by Roman guards so that no one could come and steal the body.  Both Daniel and Christ seemed to have been defeated.
    But when Darius came to the den of lions early in the morning (as it was on Easter), he called out to see if Daniel was still alive.  And Daniel responded, "My God sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths, so that they have not hurt me."  Is that not exactly what Christ did in an eternal sense through His death and burial?  He is the Angel, the Messenger of the Father, who shut the lion's mouth.  I Peter 5:8 says that the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  But Christ through His death confronted the lion and defeated him.  He shut his mouth forever.  For He took away the sin with which Satan could mangle us.  Now the devil has no power over us, just as the lions had no power over Daniel.  The beasts of Satan and sin can no longer bring us any eternal harm.  Christ has shut the lion's mouth.
    Daniel was taken up out of the pit unharmed.  So also Christ arose from the tomb in His full resurrection glory as the conquering Son of God.  But all those who were set against Daniel were thrown into the lions' den in Daniel's place, and it is written, "The lions overpowered them, and broke all their bones in pieces before they ever came to the bottom of the den."  So it will be for all those who are set against Christ and against those whom He has chosen in baptism.  Those who lay traps for the people of God will be caught in their own snares.  Trusting in Christ and clinging to Him, we will see our vindication in the end.  Satan and all those who reject or ignore Christ will be cast into the pit of hell. 
    Let us then live patiently as exiles in this world.  Let us pray with the Psalmist, "Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies; In You I take shelter."  For truly the Lord is our shelter from Satan, the world, and the grave.  He is a mighty refuge and a strong fortress to save us.  He has gone down into the pit and He has come out vindicated and victorious, and He now gives us to share in His resurrection.  Even as Easter will surely be revealed in all its glory in the morning, so our Lord Jesus will surely be revealed in all His glory when He comes again.  And we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is, no longer exiled, but home with Him in the New Jerusalem above.  

What Darius the king said is certainly true of our Lord Jesus.
“For He is the living God,
And steadfast forever;
His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed,
And His dominion shall endure to the end.
He delivers and rescues.”

✠ In the name of Jesus ✠

Only Human

Meditation on John 19:1-22

People will sometimes blame their failings on the fact that "they're only human." However, the problem since the fall of Adam is not that we are human but that we are less than human. Our sin has dehumanized us, turning us in on ourselves rather than outward in love toward God and others. Beastly thoughts and words and actions often proceed from us. Survival instincts dominate. So it is written, "Man is like the beasts that perish" (Psalm 49:12).

And we don't like anyone drawing this to our attention, either. Better if they can be ignored or shut up. This is the behavior of those who are less than men. It is the behavior of the chief priests and the officers when they see Jesus. He is a threat to their territory and domain. And so they growl for His crucifixion.

But before they can cry out their desires, Pontius Pilate speaks words that were more true than he realized. He presents a bloodied and beaten Jesus and says, "Behold the Man!" Here is the One who is truly and fully human, who is not degraded and corrupted by His own sin. Here is the only real Man, who lays down His life for fallen creatures like you to raise you up as the people of God, His own beloved bride, His Church. He willingly allows Himself to be treated inhumanely to rescue you, to restore your humanity, to give you to share in His life and His glory. By His wounds you are healed and forgiven.

Behold the One who wears thorns on His head as a crown, to redeem you from the curse on the ground which you were created out of. Behold the Ram whose horns are caught in the thorny thicket of sin, who is offered up in the place of you Isaacs as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Behold the woman's Seed who is crucified at Golgotha, the place of a Skull, whose cross is driven like Jael's tent peg into the skull, whose pierced feet crush Satan's head and defeat the power of death.

This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. The chief priests don't like this inscription that Pilate placed over Jesus' head and ask him to change it. But the earthly authority whom God has established proclaims the truth. "What I have written, I have written." Jesus truly is the King of the Jews, that is, the King of all those who are the true children of Abraham. He reigns in mercy over His baptized ones, over all you who believe in His promises, and who are credited with His righteousness by grace alone.

The Wedding of Philip Koch and Paula Graumann

Marriage of Philip Koch and Paula Graumann
June 30, 2012

    “A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”  Little did I know a couple years ago that this kind and gentle young lady who spoke with me after class about heading out a day early for break, that she would be the one whom my son would be leaving for.  “A man shall leave his father and his mother.”  We already had a little taste of that, Philip, when you were out here working last summer and asked Paula to marry you not too far from this place.  We’re glad, Paula, that you’re the one he’s leaving home for, and we all have great happiness in your being united as husband and wife today.

    But why is it that the Scriptures only talk about the man leaving his father and mother?  Doesn’t the bride also leave father and mother, too?  This could have something to do with how brides often maintain a little closer connection and contact with Mom and Dad than the groom does.  But the real reason why God’s Word only refers to the man leaving has to do with this: marriage is created by God as a picture of something greater, as you know.  Marriage is a temporary institution that ends on the Last Day.  But it reflects an eternal reality, the union of Christ and His holy Lady, the church. 

    So here’s where those words ultimately point us:  Jesus, the Son of God, left His Father in heaven to be joined to His wife, His chosen people.  In order to save us who had fallen into sin and death, He literally joined Himself to our flesh and blood and became man.  “A man shall leave His father and mother.”  Jesus even had to leave His mother Mary behind for a time on the cross.  Jesus is the second Adam, who was put into the deep sleep of death for us on the sixth day, Good Friday.  As the first Adam brought death into the world through sin, so Jesus brought life into the world by dying our death for us, taking away our sin and conquering the grave Easter morning.  In the same way that Eve was created from Adam’s side, the Church is created from Christ’s pierced side, from the water and blood that flowed, the living water of Baptism which makes us members of His body, the blood of Christ poured out in the chalice of the Lord’s Supper, by which we are cleansed of all sin.  Through these Sacraments, the Church is Jesus’ radiant bride, dressed in the beautiful white garment of His righteousness. 

    Philip and Paula, that eternal reality is what God has given to form the heart of your marriage.  In leaving your father and mother, Philip, you are doing as Christ did, that you may give of yourself and lay down your life for your bride.  In receiving him as your husband, Paula, you are a picture of the Church, who honors her groom and submits to Him and His love and returns that love with a glad heart.  Philip, you die for her.  Paula, you live for him.

    Now, of course, neither of you are going to do this even close to perfectly.  Otherwise, there wouldn’t be those words in your vows, “until death do us part.”  Only sinners die.  In small ways death creeps into marriage even before we die–in little fights and unkind words or silence, in stubbornly trying to get your own way when the other person isn’t living up to what you thought your spouse would be.  It is tremendously important, then, especially in those times, to hold fast to the love of your heavenly Groom, Jesus.  His forgiveness and grace in marriage gives you new life and a new start each day with each other.  Love and forgive each other in Him.  As you receive mercy from Lord in divine service, as you show mercy and forgiveness to each other–in that way above all, you will reflect Christ and the church as husband and wife.

    Now before I conclude, marriage sermons are expected to offer a little advice it seems, so let me pass along something I heard from a fellow pastor, which is a good insight: He said, you really only need two pieces of furniture to have a good marriage–a table and a bed.  You don’t need a TV or a recliner or any other stuff, though they may be nice.  What you truly need are a place to eat together and a place to sleep together.  For those are the places of communion in a marriage, where the liturgy of marriage goes on, where husband and wife commune and share of themselves with each other.

    So it’s a good idea to ask yourselves these two questions from time to time: Are you eating together each day (without the TV on or computers or cell phones)?  And do you go to bed at the same time?  Those two things can be too easily neglected, and can be the beginning of troubles–no marital communion and sharing.  So tend to those things.  Eat together. (Which is a good time to have devotions together, by the way.)  And sleep together. (You’ve got permission to do that as of today.)  The best marriage talk is table talk and pillow talk.  Guard your bed and your table.  Don’t let anything interfere.

    Philip and Paula, you’ve got no idea what you’re getting yourself into today.  It’s true.  (Ask the married folk here.)  You can’t really know until you actually make the vows.  So what you’re promising today is, despite the unknowns, you’re going to stick with it no matter what.  And you’ll do that not because you’ll always have overwhelming romantic feelings, but because God Himself has joined you together, and because Christ, the true Man sticks with His chosen Lady, the Church and never gives up on her. He’ll never give up on you.

    In the end that’s the most important thing.  The most important day of your life is not today, as important and special as it is.  The most important day of your life is the day you were baptized into Christ, joined to the holy death that He died in your place and raised up with Him to be children of God.  Always look at each other in that way.  The person you are standing next to, whom you are about to commit yourself to, is a person for whom Christ died.  See each other as God sees you, through the cross of Christ, one who is forgiven, one who is a beloved child of God.  He is everything for you, and you are everything to Him.

    A man shall leave his father and mother–and son, that’s a good thing and the way God planned it–but just remember that you’re always welcome to come back home, with the wife God has graciously given you, to bring some smiles and laughs as you always do, and perhaps eventually some grandkids, too.  This is the beginning of a new life for you, and we’re pulling for you and praying for you, and soon we’ll raise a toast of Cana wine to you.  You are God’s good gifts to each other.  May the Lord richly bless you in your married life and the new home you are establishing in His name.  Amen.

Dr. Jastram's Dead Sea Scrolls Presentation

For those of you who weren't able to get to see the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Milwaukee Public Museum with the rest of the group from our congregation, or for those who you who will yet be going, here's a video of Dr. Jastram's presentation which we saw beforehand on site. This particular presentation was given on the campus of Concordia University for students and other interested parties. His presentation is helpful in putting the significance of the display into some context for us as Christians, particularly how these scrolls support the reliability of the Scriptural text. It's about one hour long.

The Difference Between Abstinence and Chastity

Father Hollywood has a good post here. It gets to the heart of the matter concerning the topic above and how this all relates to Mother's Day.