Encore Post: To a serious believer, the Ten Commandments seem simple enough. Believe in God and don’t frequent idols — check. Don’t swear — check. Go to church every week, sometimes more — check. Love mom and dad — check. Never killed anyone, never took anything that doesn’t belong to you, never stepped out on your spouse, don’t lie — check on all counts. And then comes coveting… How do you deal with thoughts and feelings?
As we have considered the other commandments, we’ve learned they are not so simple. Still, they seem doable. The Ninth and Tenth Commandments point out the real problem. Our Old Adam and Old Eve want everything for themselves. Everyone at work gets a raise and yours is quite generous. But you know your teammate got more. So you’re jealous.
King David had everything, including many beautiful wives. Yet one look at someone else’s wife — and he took a bath. Committed adultery, lied about it and arranged the murder of her husband. Later he put his finger on the problem. He was sinful from birth — sinful since he was conceived. (Psalm 51:1-5) Jesus summed it up when he said, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” (Matthew 15:19-20)
Let’s face it. We cannot do this alone. Instead, we can turn to the one tempted in every way that we are, except he didn’t sin. (Hebrews 4:15) His suffering and death breaks the power of sin in our lives. When we remember our baptisms, we remember that the Old Adam and Eve were drowned there. We can confess our sin to him, be forgiven and face our fight with the flesh. We also have those in this fight with us — our brothers and sister in Christ. Together we can resist whatever comes to our minds — and hearts.
Encore Post: It all began with a lie. “You shall not die, but you will be like God…” (Genesis 3:4-5) Since then, falsehood has been the go-to sin — the way we try to wiggle out of tough spots. Sometimes it works — for awhile. The trouble with lies is that they multiply like rabbits and it is hard to keep them all straight. A variety of this strategy is to try to build yourself up by tearing others down. It is why it is the staple of garden variety gossip — and political campaigns. It is also when someone is in competition with us that we assume the worst of others — and spread it. The problem is, of course, such lies destroy reputations and lives. It is why God forbids lying about others. But you know all that. It is the common theme of preachers when they take up this commandment.
Martin Luther sees something more in this commandment. It is God’s call to speak up for others — especially those who cannot speak for themselves. So, when when the opportunity comes, we should speak well of others. We should praise people publicly when they do well, help others to see their good side and when we hear someone criticized, defend them. This is especially true if they are weak, defenseless, not present to defend themselves or are in danger. This can be challenging when the person is a friend or loved one, but difficult if they are opposed to us or even an enemy. We may discover that they are not as bad as we think.
Every day we fail to do this. Yet there is forgiveness for us. Jesus suffered the insults and lies of others — even his friends. These lies resulted in his crucifixion. He knew this would happen, yet he willingly suffered that we might be saved. Because he died and rose again, God now sees only the best in us — that we do good because we love him and that we are holy for Jesus’ sake. He now gives us the ability to see the good in others, to pray for them and defend them.
Encore Post: Advertisements are all around us. They call to us: “you can have that bright, shiny, car. If you act now, you can get it for hardly any money at all…” “Buy a lottery ticket and you will win millions of dollars.” The temptation to win something for nothing, to take a shortcut to get what you desire is strong in us. What we may not realize is that at the bottom of it all is taking something that is not given to us or earned by us. In fact, you could see the first sin as theft — taking the one fruit God did not give.
Stealing is obvious when someone breaks into your house and takes your T.V., when they drive off in your car or hold up a grocery store. Less obvious, but just as real, is when someone steals your identity, charges you way more than an item is worth or sells you a property they know will need major repairs. What is less obvious is how each of us steals. We rob people not only when take something, but when we do not give others what we owe them. When someone pays us, we owe them our best work. When we do not help them to protect their possessions and improve their business, they are poorer for it. Even when we sue someone for damages and are awarded more than we need to recover from the harm done to us is a form of theft.
Thank God that he is merciful even to thieves. Jesus forgave the thief on the cross and died for his robbery and ours. Not only that, but in Jesus God gives us everything we need — life, salvation and faith to be generous to those in need. With the strength he gives, we can resist the temptation to steal and become, like him, people who give.
Encore Post: “It is not good,” God said, “that man be alone. I will make a helper fit for him.” (Genesis 2:18) Formed from the rib of Adam, God presented Eve to man. “At last bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh!” replied Adam. … “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh,” Moses concludes his account of the first marriage. (Genesis 2:23-24)
God’s gift was very good. Marriage is the closest picture we have of the nature of God. In it, there are two persons, yet one flesh. It is a reflection of the relationship between Christ and his bride, the church. It is the foundation on which God builds families, where children can be raised in love and security. It is sealed with God’s gift of sexual intimacy. God thinks so highly of marriage that he makes it a part of the ten commandments. That is why he limits sexual activity to marriage.
In our culture, which makes sexual freedom into a god, it can be more challenging than ever to keep this commandment. Everywhere are sexual images, pornography, temptation to all manner of sexual encounters. Jesus makes it no easier when he tells us that even to look at someone not your spouse with desire for her is to break this commandment. (Matthew 5:27-28)
Thank God we have resources that can help us resist these temptations. Marriage itself helps by providing the place for these feelings to be expressed. We also have each other. All of us have these temptations and we can urge each other to be faithful. When we see a friend tempted, we can plead with them and remind them of the consequences of such sin. And when we do fall into sin, we know that Jesus died to forgive our sins and is with us always to help us resist it.
Encore Post: On the surface, “you will not murder” seems easy enough to keep. In spite of what the TV and the Internet like to make us believe, very few people outside the military ever actually kill another person. Most policemen on the job do not draw their weapons even once in their careers. It should be easy to check this one off, we are tempted to think.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us there is a lot more to this command than that. Murder begins in our hearts when we become angry with someone and wish harm to them. (Matthew 5:21-26) hatred has a way of spilling over into action when we give it room to fester.
Martin Luther sees in this command every place God forbids us to harm our neighbors in any way. It also calls on us to help anyone who is hurting, in danger, weak, hungry or ill. God, the Author of Life, wants us to be for life, too. When we do not come to the aid of others, we kill them, even if it is only in a small way. Jesus even promises to remember on the last day when we do not care for them. What we do or do not do to the least important of our neighbors, he will count as having been done to him. (Matthew 25:31-46)
In our modern culture, it is ever more challenging to defend life, protect the weak and care for those who suffer. Mothers are taught it is their right to kill babies in the womb if they do not want to raise them. Doctors urge patients and their families to put to death those who suffer greatly. In some cases, governments take these decisions out of the hands of family and kill patients they find too expensive to treat. Rightly so, Christians come to the defense of the weak and defenseless.
Because God in Christ died so that we might rise again, we seek not to harm others, but to help them as he helped us.
Rev. Robert E. Smith Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne, Indiana
Encore Post: Ash Wednesday works like kind of a speed bump in the lives of Christians. After celebrating the birth of Jesus, listening to the ways in which God revealed himself in the person of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, seeing him in his full glory on the Mount of Transfiguration, we’re tempted to bask in the glory of God’s grace and love. Yet still our stubborn, Old Adam or Old Eve clings to us and threatens to take over our lives. Lest we forget, Lent comes to help us discipline ourselves, repent of our sin and live life, trusting in God and his promises. Ash Wednesday greets us with the words God spoke to Adam — and to us — when imposing the curse that resulted from the first sin: “Remember that your are dust and to the dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:19)
This phrase is a part of the ancient discipline of remembering mortality. (Memento mori — “Remember death”) It is the conscious meditation on the cold, hard truth that all the pleasures and blessings of life are temporary and that death comes to all of us, often suddenly. Ash Wednesday calls on us to stop what we are doing, consider the damage our sin does in our lives — both now and eternally. The collect for the day sets the tone: “Almighty and everlasting God, You despise nothing You have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent. Create in us new and contrite hearts that lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness we may receive from You full pardon and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.”
Repentance is more than saying you’re sorry. The Greek word the New Testament uses for repentance is μετάνοια means “to completely change your mind.” It includes recognizing your sins, being sorry for them and to stop doing them. All of this is only possible for Christians because it is the work of the Holy Spirit that makes us holy. Ash Wednesday wakes us up, reminds us how to use the disciplines of fasting, prayer and meditation, gives us the forgiveness of sins through confession, absolution and the Lord’s Supper. It sets the tone for our forty day meditation. It marks our sorrow with the ashes of the palms from the previous Palm Sunday and with the sign of the Holy Cross, reminds us of the redemption that is ours in the passion, death and Resurrection of Jesus.
May God grant you a blessed meditation on the suffering and death of Jesus that you will be well prepared to celebrate with joy the coming Easter celebration.
Encore Post: The Fourth Commandment is different. This commandment is positive. It urges us to honor our father and mother rather than the “nots” of most of the commandments. It comes with a promise — that you will live a long life. It is the first commandment that even non-believers can keep and their lives will be better in this world. It is the first of the Words to explain what it means to love your neighbor — to do to others what you want them to do to you.
So, why is honoring our father and mother the first commandment about loving our neighbors? Of all of the vocations(callings) that God gives to us, parenting is the most basic. We are not all blessed with children, professions, businesses or crafts, but everyone of us has one father and one mother. A parent is for us a mask that God wears to care for us in this world. When the evil of this world deprives us of a loving father and mother, adoptive father and mother, a step father or mother or a foster father and mother, life is profoundly more difficult and troubled. When a father and mother serve God by caring for their children, providing for their needs, disciplining them and loving them, their children have the best chance of living a happy and productive life. When we love them, thank them, care for them in old age and illness, we encourage them to serve faithfully. Most of all, we set an example for those we care for.
Martin Luther also saw in fathers and mothers a model for all people God calls to care for us. Employers, rulers, pastors, teachers, first responders, husbands and others are called to lay down their lives for those in their care. We benefit from their leadership and protection. When we honor them, we honor God who called them. We, in our turn, then serve those in our care, as Christ loved us and gave his life so we can live. When we honor all our leaders, we live longer, simpler and happier lives in the balance.
Encore Post: The Sabbath rest is ancient. God himself rested on the seventh day, just after he created the world in six days. When God gave his law to his people the command to rest on the seventh day made the top ten. God knew that working without rest would damage his creatures. So he built it in — rest every night and the seventh day. It provided time for his people to worship and to meditate on his word.
Yet for Christians the day they worship — and rest — is a matter of freedom. It belongs to the civil law, the law for the nation of Israel. It is not a part of the moral law, the law for all people. We know this because Jesus called himself “the Lord of the Sabbath” and St. Paul describes that freedom in Romans and Colossians. Still the church chose from the beginning to rest every Sunday, the first day of the week, to remember the Resurrection of Jesus.
While Christians should worship God every and any day, resting on Sunday brings with it the opportunity to hear God’s word preached, to receive his gifts of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, to meet with each other and pray for each other and to study the Word of God. It not so much that we have to go to church than that we get to go to church. At many times and in many places that freedom does not exist.
So we honor Sundays and Holy Days. We use the opportunity to receive the forgiveness of sins and bread for our daily lives. We rejoice to honor our Lord Jesus, who died for us, rested in the tomb three days and rose again, so that we might rest with him forever.
Encore Post: “Mardi Gras” — “Fat Tuesday” or “Carnival” — “Farewell to meat” — are names given to the days full of parties just before Lent. In Christian countries, people celebrated these days, knowing that with the beginning of Lent, they would spend forty days fasting. By the time of the Reformation, the season of Lent had become a very somber time of self-denial, where repentance, meditation upon the sufferings and death of Jesus, dominated the everyday life of Christians. In order to earn some merit before God, the serious believer would not only fast, but give alms to the poor, go on pilgrimages and do anything they thought would please God.
This way of looking at Lent is very different from the way it was seen during the Early Church. The season arose as a part of the process of becoming a Christian. A new convert to the faith spent forty days being taught the basic truths of God’s word, especially about the life, sufferings and death of the Lord Jesus. Forty days is the symbolic period of testing, fasting and discipline done to focus a believer’s mind on prayer and meditation on God’s word. Since the customary day to baptize new Christians moved early on from the day celebrating the Baptism of our Lord to the Vigil of Easter (Holy Saturday), catechumens (new Christians studying the faith) and their Catechists (teachers of the faith) would fast the forty weekdays prior to Easter each year. Since Sundays are always a celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus, they would not fast on the Sundays. They found the practice to be a great blessing and so the whole church soon began to fast with them. Ash Wednesday, therefore, begins Lent, which lasts until Holy Saturday.
Lutherans reformed the practice of Lent, so that rather than being a season of sorrow, it is a season of discipline. Beginning in repentance for sins with Ash Wednesday, it continues in quiet reflection on the basic teachings of the Christian faith. When the Church comes to Holy Week, then it turns to be a witness to the events of our salvation, leading us to Easter and the joy of the resurrection of our Lord and the promise of everlasting life it brings.
For the most part, we will use this Lent to talk about the basics of the faith as Martin Luther explains it in the Small Catechism. May God bless you as you meditate and pray during this season of Lent.
In the Lutheran faith of the Reformation, we have the Absolution*. Like nose-blindness by the baker in his kitchen, we don’t always hear it with great joy. The spoken words of forgiveness are the sweetest sound in the ears of a Christian.
* (This post was inspired by a comment from Rev. Bryan Wolfmueller at his presentation for the Lutheran Writer Round-Up at Faith Lutheran High School of Central Texas on 09 Feb 2024)
“What is confession?” Confession has two parts. First, that we confess our sins, and second, that we receive absolution, that is forgiveness, from the pastor as from God himself, not doubting, but firmly believing that by it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven. (SC 5:1)
For the Romanists (Roman Catholics, Eastern Rite Catholics, Western Rite Orthodox, and the like) absolution exists privately. The penitent must confess. Also, there’s an exchange rate. (Contrition + Penance = a Narrow Absolution) The absolution in this exchange is only available for the specific sins confessed and only if the penance is done correctly. It’s limited. It’s not certain.
Evangelicals (Baptists, Reformed, Anabaptists, and the like) flatly reject verbal absolution. They’ll sometimes pop off, “only God can forgive sin.” This position doesn’t stand up against scripture as cited at the end of this article. They do have strong preaching and teaching of forgiveness. But, there’s no actual delivery. Worse, there’s a limited forgiveness for the “saved.” The concept of “backsliding” and the practice of rebaptism flow from that limitation of God’s grace.
Episcopalians & Anglicans, who lean heavily towards Rome, have a thing like the public absolution. Their assurance of forgiveness is not an actual absolution. Without verbally forgiving sin, the certainty is taken away.
The Enthusiasts (Pentecostals, Holiness Churches, AME Churches, and the like) look inside themselves for assurance. Their certainty rests upon feeling forgiven and demonstrating a zeal in the faith. Without emotional zeal and a feeling of forgiveness, there’s only hopelessness or uncertainty. With the internal zeal, there’s just pride.
Progressive Christians (including many denominations, but encompassing the whole of the ELCA) live in a psycho-social theology. Internally, they’ll embrace a notion that I just have to “Forgive myself.” Externally, they’ll reject the particulars of God’s Law, citing unkindness, racism, or colonialism. For the progressive there is a new Law with ever changing names (Political Correctness, Progressivism, Critical Theory, Wokeness, or whatever term comes next). Forgiveness for me but not for thee. Or, I don’t even need forgiveness. Like the medieval saintly system, the New Law only accepts penance/atonement by you. You have to set things right by being an ally and fighting the close-minded Christians.
Naturally, the pagans (Muslims, Jews, Mormons, Polytheists, Spiritualists, and the like) don’t get it either. They are trying to balance the scales even harder. Only Christianity features a God who comes to us. Only in the Lutheran church do we find the absolution spoken for you. Pastor speaks as he is commanded in the stead and by the command of Jesus. Yes, a man can and does forgive sins.
Pastor doesn’t forgive by his own power, ability, or volition. He does it in the stead and by the command of God. He’s following orders given, like a servant does. “When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.’” (John 20:22-23) “Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 18:18)
Pastors, faithful pastors, Lutheran pastors, forgive the sins of penitent sinners. It’s an inescapable demand of their office. God has given us this gift for our certainty, confidence, and comfort.
That’s forgiveness you can hear.
Rev. Jason M. Kaspar Sole Pastor Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool La Grange, TX
