Month: October 2020

Dear saints, most of what we know about St. Luke we find from outside of the Sacred Scripture. Eusebius tells us he was born in Antioch in Syria. It was in Syrian Antioch that the Holy Spirit called Barnabas and Saul to begin what became the first of three missionary journeys for St. Paul. Nowhere in the Gospel of Luke or in the book of Acts does he mention himself by name. In the introduction of both books he uses the first person describing the method by which he wrote. In the second missionary journey, he uses ‘we’ to describe what the party was doing and experiencing. He does this again in the third missionary journey and through the rest of the book.

Luke was not a Jew and was likely an educated slave, something not uncommon in those days. He was likely emancipated, which was also not uncommon. He may have stayed at Philippi as pastor as Paul and Silas continued their second missionary journey.

St. Luke is commonly remembered as a physician. But today, his commemoration, he is called the Evangelist. In fact, the only mention of him being a physician is when St. Paul calls him one in the Epistle to the Colossians. His role as evangelist was made clear in our Collect as we pray, “Your blessed Son called Luke the physician to be an evangelist and physician of the soul.” And as we ask that “the healing medicine of the Gospel and the Sacraments may put to flight the diseases of our souls that with willing hearts we may ever love and serve You”

When Luke writes his account of our Lord’s Gospel, the church only has the Gospel written by St. Matthew. That account was written by a Jew to a Jewish church with Jewish converts. Those who heard it would automatically understand the nuances that Gentiles would not. Gentiles would not understand the significance of the genealogy in chapter one. They would not understand the various feasts and laws and observances without additional instruction.

But more and more, the church was becoming more Gentile and less Jewish. This makes sense: as the Gospel spread throughout the world, more Gentiles heard it. Because there were more of them, more of them believed. And so, St. Luke did what continues to happen today: He takes the work and testimony of someone else and uses it. He adapts it to his audience. What St. Luke writes is not original, but he uses it in an original way. In the books of Luke and Acts, we find not a pious layman, but a serious and studied theologian. And guided by the Holy Spirit, he writes a magnificent two volume set.

Think about it: Had the Holy Spirit not used Luke, what would Christmas be without, “And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed….” With only Matthew’s account, we would only hear of an angelic visitation followed by a man trying to figure out how to get rid of his betrothed without causing too much strife.

St. Luke shows us our Lord rebuking a demon and commanding it to come out and be silent. It does. We have Jesus telling the lame man to take up his pallet and walk. He does so. Telling the dead man at Nain to get up. He does and speaks. Luke tells of the sinful woman invading a Sabbath meal and having her sin forgiven by Jesus. Without St. Luke, we would not have many masterful narratives or miracles. We would not have the road to Emmaus. “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road?” We would not know about the parable of the Prodigal Son.

This is why we remember and thank God for St. Luke today. Not because he was a physician of the flesh, but because his Gospel was centered on Christ, the True Physician of our souls. St. Luke focuses us on the Creator coming to his creation to release it from its disease of soul, making it a new creation. Jesus heals his creation by casting out demons, raising the dead, forgiving sin, and healing the sick. And all this he does by the power of his word, which creates and does what it says.

Our Lord’s miracles testify that God had invaded his creation and blessed it by releasing it from its bondage brought on by its fall. Jesus brings freedom to all the captives of sin and death. In him, all creation undergoes a healing. He brings mercy to and for all. But the world rejected all this by rejecting him.

And being rejected, he is nailed to The Tree. And there, on that cross, all sickness and death was put on him. The world shook and grew dark. And in his death, it is recreated through his shed blood. This new creation, our forgiveness of sin and salvation, comes only through the blood of Jesus.

In the Gospel lesson today, our Lord sends the 72 out to do exactly what he has done: heal the sick and proclaim that the kingdom of God has come near. When they return, we find they cast out demons as well. They proclaim the reality of the new creation through Jesus Christ. Proclaim liberation through word and miracle. It is a reality centered in the words of absolution: “Peace be to this house.”

These sent ones demonstrated peace in their presence. Sent with no provisions, they were provided hospitality by those who received them as heralds of this peace. And their peace was the medicine needed for lives broken by sin, sickness, and death. Through their preaching and miracles, it was shown that the kingdom of God was near. They brought to those who received them a foretaste of the feast and the kingdom which was present at the very birth of Christ, and a peace that now reigns in heaven.

Recall again our Collect. The Word and the Sacraments are the healing medicine of the church. St. Ignatius called them the ‘medicine of immortality.’

Just as Jesus and his 72 healed those who heard and believed, so also have you been healed. You have been healed by water and blood. By word and spirit. Like the 72 sent by our Lord, he sends pastors to this day into the harvest fields as lambs among wolves. And they take with them the medicine of Word and Sacrament. They take with them the means for mission and healing. This medicine comes to all places: from sick room to nursing home to church building and cathedral. It comes to the broken hearted and the captive. To sinners like you and me. And that the kingdom of God draws near is proclaimed.

And so, I proclaim to you that the kingdom of God is also near here. The peace of Christ which passes all understanding now rests upon you. And in the presence of the Lamb, we partake and celebrate with all the saints in a foretaste of the Feast which is to come. The table is set. Your Savior invites you to eat and be filled. So, rejoice that your names are written in the heavens. In the Book of Life. Amen.

Rev. Brent Keller 
Peace Lutheran Church 
Alcester, SD  

©2020 Brent Keller. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com.

That question hides a host of other questions and notions behind it. Can’t I be a Christian without going to church? Doesn’t God love me enough to come to me where I am? And, I don’t much like church. What are the minimum number of times I can attend?

A certain wise Lutheran pastor often says, “is wrong question.” His criticism isn’t looking to invalidate the question. It is looking to redirect us back to how we should speak. If these are the wrong question, what might the right ones be?

Can’t I be a Christian without going to church? A better question here might be: What are the benefits for Christians in attending church services? The divine service is a blessing to us from God. We get to confess the Christian faith together, which uplifts and strengthens us together in the faith. Also, our Lord has promised to deliver His gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation in His word and Sacraments here.

Doesn’t God love me enough to come to me where I am? A better question might be: how can I trust that God does love me? Trust in these words, “Given and shed for you.” Our Lord, Jesus, suffered and died for our sins. Like the thief on the cross, He doesn’t leave you in silence to trust within yourself. “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” He sends pastors to serve you in the Divine Service. There, you will hear His word and receive His communion for the remission of sin.

I don’t much like church. What are the minimum number of times I can attend? That’s kind of the problem, isn’t it? I don’t want to go. That’s the voice of unbelief drawing you away from your baptism and the family of God. Ignore that voice. Go where God promises to be for you.

O Lord, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells… But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity; redeem me, and be gracious to me. My foot stands on level ground; in the great assembly I will bless the Lord. (Psalm 26:8, 11-12)

That’s the voice of faith. It can’t be kept away from the Lord’s house.

Do I have to go to church? No, you don’t. You can choose to stay away from the gifts of God and the gathering of the faithful. You can exclude yourself from His gifts to you. But also, you may attend the gathering of the faithful to hear His Word. You will come to hear and receive the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation from the absolution, the hearing of the Word, and the Lord’s Supper. Faith can’t be kept from the house of the Lord.

These gifts and the whole congregation are for you. They are given to lift and build you up in the faith.

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX

©2020 Jason Kaspar. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

The Prayer of the Church is the last item for the Service of the Word before the Service of the sacrament begins.  Formalized prayers are referenced often in the writings of 2^nd (100s) and 3^rd (200s) century Christians.  But, we don’t see examples until 4^th (300s) century, AD. 

The prayers appear suddenly in the historic record.  Like the fossil explosion, the prayers appear en mas all over the Christian world, sharing common forms.  These prayers were much longer in the ancient church than we find today.

These prayers shared some common features.  First, prayer addresses God by name and identifies His attributes and worthiness of our prayer and we beg for His mercy.  Then, we petition the Lord concerning our needs on Earth.  The sequence of our needs goes from great to small: The Church, our government, and ourselves. 

Each of these uses a great to small sequence as well.  For the church, we pray for the whole church on earth, our synod, our district, our circuit, and our own congregation.  For our nations, we pray for Earth, our nation, our state, our county, and other subdivisions.  These divisions encourage our prayers to be as brief or as lengthy as we want them to be.

Getting back to the question, we pray for the church first because the kingdom of God is over the kingdoms of this world.  Our citizenship in the heavenly kingdom calls for us to submit to God before Caesar.  In the same way, we pray for His church before the fiefdoms of kings, princes, or constitutions.  These governments are gifts to us from God, but they are also subject to Him.

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX

©2020 Jason Kaspar. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

Over the two years since he posted the Ninety-Five Theses, Luther frequently preached and wrote about the sacraments, especially Penance, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The engagement with theological opponents and the encouragement of friends and admirers drove him to study the scriptures to determine what the sacraments were and what God had to say about them. Gradually he began to see that the church had drifted away from the Biblical understanding of the sacraments as gifts that offer grace. Once bull Exsurge Domine was published against him, Luther felt free both to address his opponents and to fully explore the nature of the sacraments according to the Scriptures.

At the time of the Reformation, the Church in the West saw salvation as a balancing act. They believed that when a person sins, he or she adds to the debt of guilt which must be paid if he is to enter God’s presence. When a person receives a sacrament or does a good work, it pays off some of that guilt. If a person sins with some of that guilt left to be paid, he or she must go first to purgatory to pay it off. If a person died with more grace than sins, the merit goes into the treasury of the saints, which the church can give to people through indulgences. The chief means by which grace is given to believers is through sacraments (Latin for “holy things”) which Christ entrusted to the priests of the Church. So, through the seven sacraments, the Church had control over the everyday life of believers. In The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, Luther destroys the whole system.

Luther began work on the Babylonian Captivity in August and completed it on October 6th, 1520, five hundred years ago. It came off the press on October 8th. In it Luther defines a sacrament as God’s Word combined with a physical element, by which God gives his grace and promises the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. Using this definition, he argues there are two, maybe three sacraments, which we call: baptism, confession and absolution and the Lord’s Supper. A Christian who believes the promises of God’s word in the sacrament, receives what its promises. The power, then, resides in God’s word, not in the priest offering it or the work of performing the rite.

The impact of this work was felt immediately. Humanists distanced themselves from Luther. Others were moved by the clear, simple and Biblical presentation to join the Reformation movement. The outlines of Lutheran theology were now in place and the breach with Rome unrepairable.

©2020 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

Dear saints, this morning’s Gospel text contains two of the four events that occur at a Sabbath dinner and a ruling Pharisee’s house. Though we are not explicitly told everything he does this day, Jesus would have begun his Sabbath like he begins every Sabbath: by attending a service at the Temple or the Synagogue. Afterward, he is invited to a dinner and accepts the invitation, even though he surely knows the invitation is intended to trap him.

Our Lord arrives and is being watched carefully. The religious leaders are hoping that he does something they can accuse him of breaking the Law for. And behold, there was a man there with dropsy. We are not told if he was there to trap Jesus or if he showed up hoping that Jesus would heal him. Today the man’s affliction is more commonly called edema. His body was holding water. He may have been suffering from congestive heart disease. His body would enlarge; he would gain weight. He would be seen as cursed or as having committed some sin to warrant such punishment. And while we have drugs to alleviate the condition today, there was no man-made cure or relief at the time.

Jesus sees the man and loves the man. He intends to heal him, but first tests those invited to the dinner. “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” Those present remain silent. Perhaps because they are unsure if Jesus means according to the Mosaic Law or the rabbinical law. The answer would be different. As they remain silent, Jesus takes the man and heals him of his disease.

But before any of them object and claim the Lord has broken the Sabbath, he poses another question: “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” Our lesson says they could not reply to him. They were silenced because Jesus has just made their hypocrisy clear. Of course, they would pull out their son. None would be willing to lose an animal. They would rescue man or beast and call it justified work. Nor would they rebuke the priest serving, that is, working in the Temple on the Sabbath as breaking it.

This reminds me of when Jesus says, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” The Sabbath is a day of rest rather than a day of burden. It was given to us that we would rest, relax, and worship. That we would be filled with the Word of God and receive his gifts. It was so we would receive mercy and compassion. Like a man with dropsy or who had fallen into a well.

You and I are those who need mercy. Our condition is worse than a man with dropsy or in a pit. And God is kind to you. He is merciful to you. He provides for you and grants a place to gather and receive all your spiritual needs.

This we consider as we look at the other half of our lesson. Jesus heals the man and silences the others invited. Those who invited pretend to keep the Sabbath by attending worship, but then work to trap Jesus. They worship God with their lips, but their hearts are far from them. But Jesus still does, knowing they are trying to trap him. He loves them enough to come into a hostile house for dinner. He silences them and observes how they seat themselves. How they honor themselves and promote themselves by choosing the choice spots. Thus, we have our parable. Jesus says that, when invited to a wedding feast, you should choose the lowest seat rather than the highest. Rather than assuming you are a distinguished guest and being wrong, you should assume you are not so you will be lifted up.

This is not advice. This parable is mocking the Pharisees. They were so covetous of honor, Jesus was effectively telling them: “Since you want honor so much, don’t do something that would dishonor you. Instead, feign humility so you will be seen and lifted up to the place of honor you so desperately seek.”

But the parable hits us as well. Who of us does not want to be recognized? Does not want to be honored? Sure, we know not to sit at the bridal party’s table. But we are tempted to seek glory in honor in other places. And to feign humility hoping that we are exalted is still evil.

While it is important for us not to be prideful, that is not the point being made in this parable. The point is the One who should take the highest spot at the first table has been humbled. He has been taken from his seat of glory, taking on our flesh, and was born of the virgin. He walked under his Law. He was rejected by his own. He was crucified like the worst of criminals were.

And the reason was so that you, who are not even worthy of the least of seats, would be lifted up. That you, who deserve nothing but evil and condemnation, would be forgiven, cleansed, and saved. That you would be made worthy to sit at the table in the Wedding Feast.

Jesus goes to the Sabbath dinner because he has come even for those who oppose him. He goes to show them what mercy looks like. What humbleness looks like. He perfectly keeps the Sabbath day and shows mercy at the same time. He demonstrates true humility. Jesus does what the religious leaders did not and refused to do.

Having taken the lowest seat, the Lord Jesus has now taken the highest seat through his death, burial, and resurrection. And in doing so, he invites all who are humble of heart to his own Wedding Feast. All who repent and believe in his sacrifice are called to it. This sacrifice is applied to you by water and the Word. Through the Body and Blood of the sacrificed Lamb. You are no ox; you are the beloved of God.

But your invitation to this Feast is not as a guest. Rather, you are elevated as Jesus’ holy and pure bride and he gives you the seat of honor. He has healed your own case of dropsy. He has healed your soul and softened your heart. He works in you and through you. You are given the ability and desire to love and serve Him and your neighbor. He prepares your feast. Your Bridegroom and Lord has had mercy. Amen.

Rev. Brent Keller 
Peace Lutheran Church 
Alcester, SD  

©2020 Brent Keller. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com.