The State, as we learned, is to wield the sword and keep rampant evil and sin at bay. The Church is given to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.
So, how do we citizens of the State and the Church fit into both categories? What ought we be doing? The answer, I believe, comes through vocation.
One vocation that we all have is being citizen of the State. This vocation is informed by the many others we have, as well as the Word of God, especially the vocation that comes from being baptized into Christ. Each vocation places duties on us, and the Small Catechism gives us a small picture into some of those duties. Peter in his first letter reminds us to honor all, even the Emperor.
Christ our Lord says in the Gospel of John, be in the world but not of the world. And Paul also reminds us that our citizenship truly lies in heaven. But we aren’t in heaven yet, but we live in that hope. We are here in the world to serve our neighbor through our various vocations, and that includes the State and our government leaders. The Church is in the unique position to inform the State of God’s law and gospel.
We are even given the command that when the state compels us by law to do something against the Lord’s will, we are to obey God rather than men. The Church has a voice in the public sphere, particularly to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. How else will the citizens of the state receive the grace of God? Certainly, they will not see that grace from the State. That is not the State’s job or purpose.
What do we do as citizens of the State? We desire peace and prosperity. We pray for our government leaders in our worship services, even those we don’t agree with politically. We pray that the Lord God use them to fulfill their vocation as leaders and give us a peaceful and quiet life that allows us to worship our God and Savior Jesus Christ without fear.
Encore Post: The Church and State have always had an interesting relationship at least here in the U.S.A. And if we look across the pond to Europe, the history is even more blurry because for the longest time the Church and the State were essentially working together. The Holy Roman Empire, for instance, was given that name because of its connections to the Holy Roman Catholic Church. The Pope actually was the one who crowned the emperor. Hence, Luther and the Lutheran Confessions dealt with both the Emperor and the Pope during the time of the Reformation. The Church and State went hand in hand, so it seemed.
However, that is not necessarily always a good thing. St. Paul tells us that the Church and the State serve two distinctly different purposes. The State was given to curb evil and violence. The State wields the sword. You could say that they help people follow and enforce the first use of the Law. The State (government) keeps its citizens from committing rampant sin against other civilians and even themselves.
The Church has the purpose of proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ for the salvation of the world. The Church has no use for the sword in this endeavor. Rather, the Church’s weapon of choice is her pastors’ voices proclaiming the Word of God to sinful men and women in the world. That means the Church is to inform the people, even the leaders of the State, of their sin and proclaim to them forgiveness of their sins in and through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
This post begins a series about the State and Church relationship and we will explore a bit more how we as Christians can and should pray and inform the policies of the State as well as when the State makes us Christians do things that are against our deeply held beliefs and conscience.
Encore Post: Prior to King Josiah, there was another king who followed in the commandments of of the Lord. His name was Hezekiah. His story is covered in 2 Kings 18-20. There, the author of Kings tells us that Hezekiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, cutting down the Asherah poles. He recognized the idolatry which ran rampant among the people. Judah was actually bowing down before the bronze serpent that Moses made in the wilderness! Hezekiah broke it into pieces. He was zealous for proper worship of the Lord.
The Rabeshakeh, that is a spokesman for the king of Assyria, spoke to Hezekiah, telling him that no god had saved the other surrounding countries. So, would Hezekiah’s God save Judah? The king of Assyria, Sennacherib, speaks of himself as a god, able to give a land that is good as if not better than what God had promised to the people of Israel way back in his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and again to the people as they were coming into the Promised Land.
Hezekiah, though afraid of the impending doom for Jerusalem, does what a faithful Christian ought to do in time of distress. He spoke with Lord’s servant Isaiah and inquires of the Lord with prayer. God has been mocked in the speech of Sennachrib, and Hezekiah pleads that God hears it. He does and gives peace to Hezekiah, promising that Sennachrib will die by the sword in his own land.
We learn from Hezekiah to rely on God alone when we are in distress as well as times of plenty. Isaiah the prophet and this story of Jerusalem being under siege tells us to rely on God, who gives us our daily bread. For he also gives us the blessed forgiveness of sins in the saving work of Jesus on the cross who took upon the siege of the devil at the cross and won for us the true promised land, the promise of the new heaven and new earth that is to come.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana
Today, the church remembers and celebrates St. Mary Magdalene. Before the new hymnal came out, the appointed Gospel lesson was Luke 7:36-50. There, we hear about an unnamed prostitute anointing the head and feet of Jesus while He ate with a pharisee. We learn more about Mary from the next chapter of Luke’s gospel: she had seven, yes, seven demons cast from her. Put that all together and you a picture of a woman who knew God’s grace and knew it came from Jesus, God’s own Son in the flesh. It makes complete sense that she stuck so close to Jesus, following him and providing for him and the disciples out of their means.
You might say Mary is an unlikely saint, but becoming a saint is not something that we do for ourselves. No, God must do the work of making saints. Just as He did for Mary, He has done for you.
Just think about who God chooses to be his own. Abraham, he was the son of an idolater and a liar, as the story in Egypt shows. Jacob was a deceiver. Judah took a prostitute, who happened to be the wife of his dead son. David, the best of the Old Testament Kings, had a man killed because he would not lay with his wife to cover up the fact that David had taken her for himself and that a child was on the way. The ones chosen by God are not saintly by the world’s standards at all. And that’s just in the Old Testament! The new testament is just as littered with unlikely saints, Paul being the most profound.
But that is what our Lord does. He does not find saints, instead he makes them. He makes saints out of sinners. He takes hold of them, gives them his love, through his Son Jesus, and says, “Forgiven, free, mine!” He makes them clean; He cleanses them just as He cleansed you by water and the word to be his holy bride. And that’s no matter who you are. Jesus wants you for Himself. He came that you might be His and His alone.
You may have heard of the book The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, maybe not. It’s a riveting tale of fiction that depicts that Mary Madgalene was the wife of Jesus in an earthly sense. And that Jesus was a mere human. Scripture and the Church Fathers never say such a thing.
The Bride of Christ is His Church—the whole Church. Mary, like you and I, are members of this body. You and I, along with Mary, are the bride of Christ by faith. Christ has made Himself one flesh with us. Christ has given us all that He is and all that He has. Christ went so far as to die for us, that having cleansed by his own blood, He might present to himself a clean and perfect bride. This bride did nothing to deserve Christ’s love and devotion. This bride did not take hold of Christ, but Christ sought her out and made her His bride. He clung to her even through death, and He still clings to her now that she might be with Him always.
Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb that first Easter all upset, empty, and drained from the previous day’s events. Before Jesus, she was the prostitute and woman with seven demons. Her life was a living hell. Then Jesus took hold of her. She was granted new life in Him, but as she walked to the tomb had hell really won? Had death and hell taken Jesus away from her? The images of the cross and the sound of the stone being rolled in front of the tomb screamed, “Yes!”
But the tomb is empty when she walks up. However, her thoughts only make her feel worse. Had someone stolen the body? Where did they take him?
“Why are you weeping?” The angels know the truth of the resurrection, but Mary is unable to consider the resurrection. “Why are you weeping?” asked the man, whom she assumed to be the gardener. She is standing outside of a tomb. Why do you think she would be crying? Dead men don’t rise.! She still is looking for the dead body and asks for the location.
Then the most perfect word comes from the mouth of this man: “Mary.” The Shepherd calls His sheep by name. Mary knows. She goes to Him and does not plan to ever let Him go again. However, Jesus has one more thing to teach Mary. “I am giving you my body and blood to cling to in a better and even fuller way, a way for all people to cling to me. You shall cling to me by Word and Sacrament. And most importantly, I will cling to you, that you have life everlasting.”
That is what we have. We have a Lord and Savior who clings on to us. It is He who makes us His saints. Unlikely and full of sin as we are, yet He loves us just as He loved Mary. That same mercy and grace that was shown to her is shown to you day in and day out. Recall how Christ called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light via the waters of holy baptism. Look to the altar and recall the sacrifice Christ made, giving up his body and shedding his blood for you and your forgiveness. All works done by Christ for you to make you his own.
So let us take our place at the table of unlikely saints with St. Mary and receive again that grace and mercy of Bridegroom Jesus Christ and rejoice in the love shown to us all. Christ has made his Bride forever.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp Christ Lutheran Church Noblesville, Indiana
Encore Post: On the 6th of July, the church commemorates the prophet Isaiah. If you have never read the front part of the hymnal, I highly recommend it. The Church sees the good in remembering the saints.
Isaiah did what every other prophet did: speak the word of the Lord to the people, even the kings of his day. He preached the Law of God, proclaiming that judgment was coming on Judah and the northern kingdom in the form of the Assyrians, and later the Babylonians. He preached to them repentance. But Isaiah also offers much gospel and forgiveness from the Lord. We only need to look to Isaiah 40. But even before that we see throughout his book that he preaches Law and Gospel.
In the three-year lectionary of the Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod, we find Isaiah’s book is used on a whopping 77 Sundays. That is over 50% of the Old Testament lessons, when you consider the season of Easter replacing OT lessons with readings from Acts.
Perhaps we should ask why Isaiah is so prominent in the lectionary. Perhaps it is because Isaiah preaches Christ’s kingdom in a way that the Gospels preaches it. Some even called Isaiah “the fifth Gospel” because Christ and His work come through so clearly. Even the name “Isaiah” conveys Christ. His name means “YHWH’s Salvation”. And it is no surprise that two of Isaiah’s favorite words to use in the book are the verb “he shall save” and the noun “salvation”.
Isaiah’s prophecies of Christ are quite clear, and perhaps that is why we like him so much. Isaiah also is quoted a number of times by the Gospels too, and Isaiah 52 and 53 are highlighted in Acts as the text that converted the Ethiopian Eunuch.
So we in the Church give thanks to the work that the Lord did through His prophet Isaiah, as we remember and commemorate Isaiah today.
Ezekiel was a prophet during the age of exile. His name can be translated as “Strength of God; whom God will strengthen; God is strong; the man of God strengthens.” And really, his name plays a role in the man’s nature. He needed the strength of God, like his contemporaries, to grasp and trust in the work that God was accomplishing before the eyes of all the nations.
We see Ezekiel mentioned by name twice in the Bible (Ezekiel 1:3; 24:24). The same name also appears in 1 Chronicles 24:16, but there the man is a priest during the days of David and translated as Jehezkel. All we know of the exilic prophet comes from the book attributed to him.
Ezekiel and his life are inseparable from the political upheaval of the seventh and sixth centuries BC. It is likely that Ezekiel was a young contemporary of Jeremiah. If Ezekiel was in his “thirtieth year” when he experienced his inaugural vision and received his call to be a mouthpiece of the Lord, he would have been a boy when Hilkiah the priest discovered the Book of the Law in the Temple in Jerusalem (2 Kings 22). It is conceivable since Ezekiel was of a priestly family (Son of Buzi, of the line of Aaron), he may have witnessed his own family members carrying out the idols at Josiah’s command, only to return a generation or two later.
In 605 BC, Ezekiel’s world shifted as Nebuchadnezzar II came to the throne of Neo-Babylonian Empire. Nebuchadnezzar was able to drive Egypt out of region of Israel, and the Babylonian forces carried off the first wave of Judaeans. This likely was the group that included Daniel and his three friends. Ezekiel was carried to Babylon around 597, when Jehoiachin surrendered to Babylon, but remained in place as king. But that was not the end of things for Jerusalem. Ezekiel prophesied in Exile, warning what was to come upon Jerusalem. Jerusalem was sacked in 587 BC. Ezekiel never left Babylon. Early Jewish tradition (The Lives of the Prophets) recounts that Ezekiel died in Chaldea for having rebuked a leader of the Judaean exiles for worshipping idols.
As God’s mouthpiece to those in exile, Ezekiel frequently performed sign-acts to get the message across. Ezekiel carried in his body the oracles he proclaimed. During his ministry as the mouthpiece of God, Ezekiel is rendered unable to speak (Ezek 3:22–27; 33:22), move (Ezek 4:4–8), and mourn his wife’s death (Ezek 24:15–27). He also was made to cook food over human and cow dung (Ezek 4:9-17).
Ezekiel’s message is not simply doom and despair over the coming judgment against Jerusalem that came to fruition in 586 BC. Ezekiel, while bearing witness to YHWH’s leaving the Temple in Jerusalem, shows that YHWH did not leave His people while in exile. Instead, He went to His people, foreshadowing how the true temple of God, the Word made Flesh, would come to seek His people like a shepherd seeking lost sheep and make it known to all that He is God. Ezekiel proclaims both God’s Law and His beautiful Gospel for all believers. In the final chapters of his book, Ezekiel writes about the end, prophesying of the glorious temple to come and the water that flows out of it to water trees that bear fruit in all seasons. Ezekiel seems to be picking up Psalm 1 and looking forward to Jesus’ proclamation that He is the water of life (John 4:13-14 and John 7:37-38).
Rev. Jacob Hercamp Christ Lutheran Church Noblesville, Indiana
Encore Post: Jesus, when he asked the disciples who the Son of Man was, got some interesting answers. His disciples gave him the answers, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
The book that bears Jeremiah’s name and the next book in our Bible, Lamentations, speaks a lot about suffering. But this is not the only thing, nor it is the last word. There is hope; there is Gospel. Jeremiah is given some of the sweetest words of the Gospel that we have recorded for us in all of Scripture. The mourning of the believer will be turned to song. The Lord’s love is never ending. Great is His faithfulness. In Christ, the true Son of Man, the one who suffered even worse than the weeping prophet, Jeremiah, has set us free from sin and death by his own death and resurrection.
So yes, Jeremiah should have been in the conversation of the Son of Man because He is a type and figure of the very Son of Man, Jesus, who suffered and died and rose to win salvation and everlasting life for us, poor, miserable sinners.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp Christ Lutheran Church Noblesville Indiana
Encore Post: Elijah is not credited with any of the books of the Bible, but he is remembered as one of the most powerful prophets of the entire Old Testament. His stories are legendary for those of us who listened to our moms and dads read bible stories before bed. He was the prophet who prophesied a 3 year drought. He was the prophet who worked the miracle of flour and oil, and raised the widow’s son from the dead. He was the prophet who called down fire on Mount Carmel in the midst of the Baal priests. And we can’t forget about him being taken up to heaven by a whirlwind and a chariot of fire.
Elijah was the Lord’s man. But even after great triumph and acts of the Lord, Elijah shows himself to be afraid. I should say, it is difficult to determine if Elijah is afraid or he is tired of preaching to people who do not believe. You can read Dr. Maier’s great commentary on Kings from CPH for that answer. But what we do know is that Elijah runs to Mount Horeb wishing to die because he thinks he is the only prophet of the Lord left. The Lord is merciful to Elijah. The Lord tells him the truth of the situation. The Lord has 7,000 men who have not bowed down to Baal.
What a great comfort to Elijah! He is not working in vain. The Lord worked to bring about repentance and faith in the time of great apostasy then, and He still works now through the preaching of His Word. What great comfort for us now! The Word of the Lord remains the same.
In the days of Malachi, the Lord promised to send Elijah prior to the great day of the Lord. Jesus plainly tells his disciples that John was the Elijah. And we must not forget that Elijah was on the mountain of transfiguration with Jesus and Moses, speaking about Jesus’ own exodus.
What a man of the Lord! Elijah was used by the Lord to bring about repentance and faith when there were few who believed and worshiped the true God of Israel. Thanks be to God that in these days, where the world appears to be going in that same way, there are those who preach the same message of Elijah.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, IN
Six months is all that separates the Baptist and Jesus, at least by earthly age. And so typically on June 24th, the Church celebrates and remembers the birth of the Baptist. For with his coming into the world, the Sun of Righteousness also would follow soon after.
Zechariah, when he was confronted by Gabriel, was confused and unbelieving of the news that he and Elizabeth would have a son. As part of the sign that Elizabeth would have a son, Zechariah would be mute until the child was born. And when he named the child John, in accordance with what the Angel told him, Zechariah’s mouth was loosed. He could speak. And the people were filled with awe and asked: “What then will this child be?”
Being filled with the Holy Spirit, Zechariah prophesied the song that we commonly call the Benedictus, Latin for “Blessed.” Zechariah’s song does not answer the question of the people right away. He first prophesies of the One that his own son would point to as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
This song is not about John, but about Jesus. And He had actually been in Zechariah’s house for the past 3 months via the womb of Mary. And the redemption of God’s people was the plan from of old as far back as Adam’s fall. John still proclaims that message into your very ears every Advent season, preparing us for the coming of our Lord, the Sun of Righteousness.
Some think John’s preaching is fire and brimstone, and it might be on that side, but how else to rattle and crack the hearts of stone of a dead people? The preaching of repentance puts you to death, but not only that, it raises you to life. John’s preaching causes the Light of the Lord’s mercy to shine upon you. It gives you the new birth of the Holy Spirit, and gives to you the Name of God by his Grace, granting you peace that passes all human understanding. John preaches not his own word but the Word of the Lord, in order that they might be made alive by the Gospel and Comfort of the coming of the Lord Jesus who would die for the sin of the world and be raised from the dead on the 3rd day and would then lead the way unto everlasting life with the Father in Heaven.
John’ preaching of repentance is the preaching of the forgiveness of sins. But John’s preaching is really the preaching of Christ! And thus by John’s preaching, you are not just prepared for Jesus’ coming, but it is by this way and means that Christ comes to you in love and visits you with tender compassion.
Christ did not just visited Zechariah or the people of Judea and Galilee, but He has come and visits you with tender care and mercy this day. He has redeemed you just as we swore he would do, giving you the forgiveness of sins which He won for you by his cross, now by giving you His body and blood in the Sacrament, the Covenant/Testament of His body and blood. That you may be led in the way of peace forever.
John was the forerunner, the preparer, the preacher who pointed to Jesus without fail. May the preachers of this day follow on coattails of John and continue to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins, that ears and hearts be prepared to receive Christ now and always, for it is He who has released you from all sins, and has removed from us one and for all fear of death and hell and now guides our feet into the way of Peace.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp Christ Lutheran Church Noblesville, Indiana
Encore Post: One of the most common stories of redemption in the Old Testament comes to us in the book of Ruth. That whole book is about her Redemption. Remember Boaz was her kinsmen redeemer. There are redeemers in the Old Testament, but the story of Ruth and Boaz is one that has always caught my attention. By that act of redemption, Ruth is grafted into the genealogy of Jesus, the redeemer of the world! But what do we mean by “redemption”?
Redemption is one word that dutifully describes the work of Christ’s atoning sacrifice for us. Redemption has to do with gaining possession of something in exchange for payment. Dr. Luther is a master at talking about the term of redemption when speaking about the meaning of the second article. There Luther says in line with Scripture, “[Jesus Christ] has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins from death and the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His innocent sufferings and death….”
It is not like however, that Jesus is paying Satan, as if Satan has power over Jesus. No, its not like that at all. While, humanity was in the grasp of sin and death, it was not Satan who needed the payment of Christ’s blood. Rather it was Holy and Righteous God.
God, who is indeed Holy and Righteous, could not be in the presence of sin. Therefore He certainly could not be in the presence of sinful man, and allow them to live. However, by the work of the Son, Jesus Christ, He came to redeem sinful man. He came to gain possession of humanity from the grips of everlasting death for himself.
Jesus pays what we owe to God, who has been gracious and merciful to us, having sent his own Son into the world to be our redeemer. Jesus is the bride groom is who pays the dowry to have His bride. And He pays that price with His own body and blood at the cross. Christ’s bride is the Church. And He dresses her in his own clothing, and presents her to Himself. Redeemed and a possession of Christ forever.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp Christ Lutheran Church Noblesville, Indiana
