The Day of Pentecost comes on June 9th, but we have already been working up to it with the last few weeks of the season of Easter. Jesus promises to send the Paraclete, that is the Holy Spirit (John 14:25-31, John 16::1-15).
Pentecost was originally was a harvest festival, the ingathering of the winter wheat. In the Old Testament, it is called the Feast of Weeks. The feast began fifty days after Passover. It was also a day to celebrate again Moses receiving the Law and God’s Covenant made at Mt. Sinai in Exodus 19-24, where there was wind and fire.
In Acts 2, Luke records the first Pentecost after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension. Just like the events at Mount Sinai, there was a great, mighty rushing wind, God’s Word, and a harvest. Only this time the fire came in flaming tongues over the disciple’s heads. They declare God’s Word and each person in attendance heard the mighty acts of God proclaimed in their own language. Faith was created by hearing. The Holy Spirit made this possible, and also created the faith in each person that they might make this eternal truth their own: that Jesus died on the cross to take away “MY” sins.
This is something that the Christian ought to do, for remembering the Sabbath is commanded by our Lord. Yet it is truly for our own benefit to hear God’s Word for by hearing we are brought to repentance and faith in Christ for our salvation, just like those 3000 that first Pentecost Day.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp St. Peter’s Lutheran Church La Grange, MO
Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God our Father and our risen and ascended Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Throughout the entire Epistle of 1 Peter and here again, the great apostle warns and prepares his readers and hearers to suffer for the faith. To be made a participant along with the sufferings of Christ Jesus. As we heard in a few stories from the book of Acts this Easter season, may we too rejoice as we are counted blessed to suffer for the sake of the Name of Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately as the Lord speaks of his disciples on the night of betrayal, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. We don’t like to suffer. There are names for conditions for people who like to suffer. Suffering is not something many people look forward to, of course it comes, knocking like the undesired guest you feel compelled to invite to thanksgiving dinner because he’s family, you smile and you bear it but you certainly aren’t happy he actually showed up.
But suffering for the sake of something can bring about good results. The most suffering I have every put myself through was when I volunteered to run Cross Country for my High School. The tempo distance runs, the 400 meter sprints followed by 3 minute rests and the circuit began again. The extra stretching to keep my calves from locking up. The pounding of pavement sending shock up my legs. It was suffering I willingly put myself under for the sake of the team. I was the 5th runner. You needed 5 to qualify for the state races. It was the carrot I kept chasing, helping the better runners have a chance to qualify for state races. And you know what? I actually saw my times get better over time. I actually began to look forward to the runs. And when it was time to lay it all out for the sectional race, I put down my best time all year, pushing through the rigorous cross country course to run my personal best. The past suffering helped push me along.
You can see this with any endurance racer. You have to suffer in order to endure a marathon. You have to grit it out and push your body to the brink to prove to yourself it can be done when it counts. And usually this suffering results with a good outcome.
Christians, as Peter tells us, should expect suffering. And like the suffering of a runner, Christian suffering results in good on a much greater scale. The Christian never suffers alone, but always with Christ. And suffering with Christ is a blessed suffering.
Its been a while now but you can do a quick search of the most dangerous countries toward Christians. You probably have an idea where most of those countries are located: most being located in the Middle East and North Africa. And like I said last week, we have begun to feel some of the pinch. Nothing like these places where there are people dying for the sake of the Name of Christ. We have little to no idea what true suffering for the sake of the Name actually looks like. Many of us should repent because of our anger for what we think we are suffering. They are in the fiery trials, we are like sitting on a hay bale roasting a marshmallow. Little to no comparison.
But the sufferings are likely coming our way. Peter told his hearers to be ready. So we too must be diligent and awake. We should be looking to the sky, awaiting the Lord to return at any time. We should be made ready by the hearing of the Word of Christ. We should be joyfully receiving from Him the forgiveness and life everlasting he has purchased and won for us by his own suffering and death on the cross. And you have these precious gifts before you this day. Earnestly desire them. Do not despise them. For only in these gifts of Christ are you made ready for the day of suffering.
But are we ready? Or are we ignorant because we have been blessed to not have the sufferings of many of our brothers and sisters in the faith? I would suggest that in a way we have been lulled to sleep. We have grown complacent and actually we in America are falling away from the faith without any fire at all. Matt Walsh, a commentator of church and culture affairs, effectively said the same thing in a recent interview with Issues, Etc. Do not be lukewarm concerning the faith. Do not be like the church of Laodicea which the risen and ascended Lord scolds saying, “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor blind, and naked.” “I counsel you to be from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.”
Yes repent and do not be lukewarm when it comes to your confession of Christ in word and deed. But know that you will suffer for the sake of the Name of Christ. Expect it.
Not all suffering is created equal. Some suffering is justified and some is not. But only Christian suffering, that is suffering for the sake of the confession that Jesus is Lord and God will be a blessing.
So what then is Christian suffering? Christian suffering has to do with Christ and our relationship with Him. You are blessed if you are insulted for the name of Christ, for “the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” Christian suffering is that suffering that comes simply by being a Christian and holding to the confession that Jesus is Lord and God, the redeemer of the world. In the day of judgment the Christian who suffers will be blessed. He will rejoice and be glad in the unveiling of Christ’s full glory and splendor, while the ungodly will stand in complete and utter terror. The Christian might suffer for the Gospel of Jesus now, but suffering in the world is temporary, the suffering Christian has a promise to be taken to a place where God wipes away all tears. There shall be no sorrow, no suffering, and no more fear. For the Lamb will be their shepherd and will guide them to quiet and restful waters. He will be with them forever. The Christian suffers here and now in the world but it is only temporary, for you will be called to your eternal home, the place which Jesus has gone to prepare for you. The world and the ungodly might rejoice now, they will suffer the consequence of their unrepentance.
The suffering of a Christian is rewarded by God. This is not a salvation issue, you do not have to suffer so that God saves you. But, suffering for the sake of Jesus is an almost given in this world and climate. God promises to exalt those who are prepared to suffer for the sake of Jesus. It is only in Christ that we can withstand the attacks of your sinful nature, the world, and ultimately Satan. Satan might roar like a lion, but he has been chained. He has been conquered by the greater lion of the Tribe of Judah.
Let us pray then to our Risen and Ascended Lord that we may stand fast when our time of fiery trials come that we may remain steadfast in the one faith of Jesus Christ, who has indeed destroyed the power of sin, death, and Satan by dying on the cross and having been raised to new life on the third day. It is He who fights to keep you, it he who is with you in your sufferings, your Christian sufferings. The Christian suffers in order to participate in the sufferings of Jesus. Holy Scripture testifies that god, who has called us, is faithful. So when He has begun the good work in us, He will also preserve it to the end and perfect it, if we ourselves do not turn from Him, but firmly hold on to the work begun to the end. He has promised His grace for this very purpose. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp St. Peter’s Lutheran Church La Grange, MO
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today, in the Church we commemorate Philip and James. We don’t know a lot about Philip except for what is recorded for us in the Gospel of St. John. Philip was called by Jesus to follow him. Philip then found Nathaniel and told him about Jesus. Philip told Nathaniel, “Come and see” when Nathaniel questioned if anything good could come from Nazareth. Philip was in the group of apostles whom Jesus told in Mark 6, “You feed the people,” before Jesus taking the bread, gave thanks, and broke it and gave it to the people, feeding 5,000 men. It was Philip according to John 6 that said the words, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not enough of them to get a little.”
Philip was also the man in John 12, whom some Greeks came to saying, “Sir we wish to see Jesus.” And here in the Gospel for today, Philip is the man who says those words, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
James on the other hand is a bit obscure because of the fact that we have three James to discuss. James the brother of Zebedee is known in the Church as James the Great. James the son of Alphaeus could be a second James, and ultimately, we have James, the author of Epistle James. In some traditions this James, the author of the epistle, is James the son of Alphaeus. But others insist on him being the half-brother of our Lord Jesus Christ, and also brother of Jude. Three James adds to some of our confusion about this Saint remembered today.
It is this James, the half-brother of our Lord, the author of the epistle that we remember with Philip today. Philip was called to faith in Christ early on in the ministry of Christ. James, the brother of Christ later, after the resurrection but before the Ascension of Christ as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:7. Paul gives us the run down of events this way concerning who saw Jesus after the resurrection: That he [Jesus] was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. James was called to faith in Christ in a similar fashion as Paul.
Think of the rivalry that must have been in the house of Joseph and Mary. Jesus was the perfect son, James? Uh, not so much. We know from the Gospels that the family of Jesus thought him to be off his rocker a few times, and then we also know that Jesus said that his family were those who did the will of the Father. And the will of Him who sent Jesus is this: “That everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the Last Day.” When Jesus talks about his family, faith in him as the Savior of the world from sins, is not really talked about much. And if were in that household I probably would have resented Jesus. If a prophet cannot have honor in his hometown, he certainly has no honor given him in his own home. James was not a fan of Jesus and his preaching in the beginning. And we can probably see ourselves in this light too. The natural man, that is the man still slave to sin and death, does not like the light of God’s Law coming and running everything amuck. For it exposes the evilness of our hearts and the sinfulness of our ways. It exposes our resentment toward one another and the like, much like the resentment and animosity that James had toward his brother, Jesus.
Yet, in all grace and mercy, James was called to repentance and faith in Christ. Not only was James granted faith but also zeal to proclaim the reality of Christ’s resurrection and the forgiveness of sins given to the world through Christ’s atoning death by the risen Lord Christ, Himself! The same forgiveness is proclaimed to you still today. For it is the same Gospel and it endures until Christ’s return calling us all to faith in Christ Jesus.
By grace, James became the bishop of the Jerusalem church as the other apostles like Peter and John began to move away from the city in times of persecution. It is likely that during this time of persecution James wrote his letter, quite early on in the life of the church. Paul speaks about going to visit James a few times in his letters as well. And in Acts 15 it is James who oversees the first Church Council and forms the letter, when the church is confronted with the question, “What shall we do with the Gentiles, who believe in Jesus?”
Jesus tells us, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” Jesus has prepared a place for them. They belong. You belong in the home of Christ and His Father.
With the story of St. Philip, we can extrapolate a little bit more from John 6 and Mark 6, that’s where the feeding of the 5,000 is located in those two Gospels. John tells us that Jesus went across to the other side of the sea of Tiberias and there performed this sign on the mountain. The other side of the Sea of Tiberias was Gentile country. And its in the context of that we should hear the words of Jesus from Mark 6:37, “You give them something to eat.” Yes, Philip. You feed them. But do not feed them just any old bread. But feed them the bread of life, which is my flesh, and do not give them any old drink, but give them my blood. Yes, James, the Gentiles belong to me as well. Those who believe in me have the Father and have a place in my Father’s house.
We should also not miss the opportunity to see how Christ gathers these folks on a mountain, just as He gathers all people to himself at the foot of his cross. Where his body and blood are given up in death that we might have forgiveness of sins, and life everlasting. Yes, Philip show me, high and lifted up on the cross, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
And this is what was preached by both James and Philip by the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus. This is still preached to both Jew and Gentile, Christ has come to save you from your sin to prepare for you a place to rest eternally. You have a place with Christ Jesus. And you are already being prepared for it. You have a foretaste of it here on Earth in the Divine Service, where the preaching of Christ is put into you very ears. Here, You hear the risen and living voice of Christ here and now. And here, You receive on your lips the living body and blood of Jesus, this Jesus whom has died for your sins and risen to life and ascended to the right hand of the Father preparing for that place. That He might return and that we might be brought to be with Him forever.
This is the Jesus whom Philip and James preached until their own mouths were stopped by their respective martyrdoms. But the preaching of these saints still goes on. We have James’ own testimony in Scripture crafting his own letter in a similar fashion of Jesus’ own Sermon on the Mount, calling weary Christians to come and be at rest in Jesus Christ. And Philip still calls out to you, “Come and see this Jesus, and follow Him.” For this Jesus will take you home to be with him and his Father forever. Amen.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp St. Peter’s Lutheran Church La Grange, MO
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed Alleluia!
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
You might say you see Mark in his own Gospel as well. It is also assumed from the context of the story of the rich young man is Mark’s account, from Mark 10:17–31 that we see the author Mark there coming to Jesus asking what He must do to inherit eternal life. There Jesus, after giving him the 2nd table of the Law and hearing the man’s response that he had kept these commandments all of his life, looked at him, loved him and said You lack one thing; go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” That day the rich young man walked away sad.
But You first hear of Mark by name in the book of Acts. He is a secondary companion of Paul through Barnabas. Its also interesting to note that Mark’s mother’s home was a location of a church in Jerusalem, likely the location where the Last Supper took place as well. Barnabas was a Levite but was from the island of Crete, who had returned to Jerusalem. Mark was the nephew of Barnabas. And Mark accompanied Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journey. But in the first tour, after reaching Pamphylia the group decided to leave and head towards Antioch of Pisidia. It involved climbing some rugged mountains, something that Mark had not apparently signed up for. As some others have said concerning Mark, that following Jesus was fine for Mark, as long as he could still enjoy the finer things. Paul had little use for someone who would abandon the mission of the gospel being proclaimed.
No one who still breathing is unable to be redeemed, to be brought back into the fold of Christ’s church, to repent and believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. By the grace of God through the continual proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Mark become the Evangelist who worked with Paul, listened to Peter and eventually wrote the Gospel that bears his name. Who better to get the goods of the Gospel of Jesus from than Peter, the spokesman of the Apostles, who himself had once been on the wrong side of denying the Lord Jesus Christ?
And that is why Mark’s gospel and the fact that we celebrate Mark this day is important. For it is in Mark that we get the baptismal promise: “Whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved.” You can debate whether or not this is actually belongs Mark, but that’s beside the point. Nevertheless the Church has consistently said it belongs to the proclamation. And if you remember that Mark likely got all his stories directly from St. Peter, then it makes all the more sense, for it is Peter in his first epistle that says, “Baptism now saves you.”
And indeed, it most assuredly does. Only in Mark does baptism find itself in the act of Christ’s cross. When the brothers James and John come to Jesus and make the request to sit at his right and left, Jesus responds: You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” Christ drinks the cup and is baptized in his own blood as ransom for many at the cross, and now the baptism with which Christ tells the apostles to proclaim is the baptism which connects us to His cross and passion. And by believing and baptism you shall be saved.
Mark is the only book of the four gospels which expressly calls itself the gospel. Mark begins his book this way: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” And a quick search for the word gospel in the four Gospels, reveals that Mark uses the word eight times, which is one more time than the other Synoptic Gospels combined. John does not even use the word. Gospel means good news. And Mark’s Gospel is indeed good news to those who like himself who fell away and needed to be brought back into the fold of the Church, the household of believers. Like us who constantly are in the cycle of belief and unbelief, falling away for the things of this world. Mark is the only Gospel to record for us the words of the Father whose son is demon possessed. He records this interaction beginning at Mark 9:23: And Jesus said to him, “If you can! All things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe, help my unbelief.” Yes, Lord. We believe, help our unbelief.” And the Lord does help our unbelief.
He gives to you the proclamation of the Gospel as well as Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These are the vehicles through which the grace and mercy of God are given to you. It is like the story of the rich young man only now we don’t leave sad, but we kneeling before our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ at the rail, He looks at us and loves us and we follow him where he leads. For Mark that meant repenting of breaking the first commandment for he loved the goods of the world more than the Lord, repenting of his abandonment of Paul and Barnabas. It being called again by the Gospel of Christ to a living faith, one which followed Christ and proclaiming the Gospel with Barnabas to various places, but it also meant being reconciled. Paul and Mark both had some repenting and forgiving to do towards each other. And by the grace of Christ, it came to be. We hear St. Paul say in the second Epistle written to Timothy: “Get Mark and bring with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.” Indeed, Mark would prove fruitful for he would go on from Paul and meet up with Peter and work alongside Peter likely in Rome and write the Gospel which sits in second position in the New Testament.
For us the proclamation is exactly the same. We too have sinned and we too have abandoned the mission of the Lord in many and various ways. We too need to repent and believe the Gospel. This is the life of the baptized. And remember the promise: All who believe and are baptized shall be saved. What a blessed promise given to us. Lord Jesus, we believe, help our unbelief.
As one professor of mine said in a sermon many years ago, “Mark is a favorite of many pastors” because in Mark pastors see themselves. Pastors fail their people. They fail the charge laid before them, but by the same grace which brought Mark back and redeemed him, we too are called back into the life of faith. Faith given to us by the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ of whom Mark, the Lion of the Four Gospels, now roars.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp St. Peter’s Lutheran Church La Grange, MO
Our Gospel lesson takes up to the resurrection according to St. John, the first evening of the Week, the first Easter Day, when the apostles had locked themselves in their rooms for fear of the Jews. And all of a sudden there is the Risen Lord Jesus, speaking, “Peace be with you”. And what kind of peace this was for the disciples. This is not some kind a worldly sense of understanding peace. This is much more than a cease-fire treaty. No, this peace is something much more profound and lasting. This peace reached down into the very core of the beings of the disciples. For upon giving them this peace, Jesus establishes them as those who would be sent out to do His work, forgiving the sins of the repentant as well as withholding that forgiveness from the unrepentant.
The world against me rages, its fury I disdain; Though bitter war it wages, It’s work is all in vain. My heart from care is free, no troubles trouble me. Misfortune now is play. And night is bright as day.
Only can we truly sing this hymn and feel this way when we are given the peace of Jesus.
You see wrapped up in the preaching of the death and resurrection of Christ, you have life and eternal peace. The peace is wrapped up in knowing it is Christ’s death which covers your sins and your offenses against God, and you are account righteous by God for Christ’s sake. That Jesus paid for your sins by giving himself at the cross for you. Indeed it was our sins which hanged him to the cursed tree. But it was in this very act that God our heavenly Father exalted Christ. In other words, Christ’s glory and the glory of the Father was manifested in showing grace and mercy to us poor miserable sinners, thus bringing us peace.
For those disciples now apostles, for they were being sent out to do Christ’s work in the world, as we heard in the reading from Acts, they take a beating for what they preach. Just before that Peter had been ordered by the council of the teachers of the Law to stop preaching Jesus and him crucified. And so Peter says those famous words, “We must obey God rather than men.” Peter and John and the rest of apostles for that matter are emboldened to preach the truth of Jesus’ death and resurrection because they are at true peace, and they know exactly what they have to give to those who have ears to hear such proclamation. Peter has something to give to his hearers that is priceless, far more precious than even fine gold. He has the proclamation of our Lord Jesus Christ’s death for our sins and his resurrection for our justification as well as the Baptism and Supper which our Lord Jesus Christ institutes. And in hearing the Gospel of Christ proclaimed via these means, faith in Christ is being created and strengthened by the work of the Holy Spirit.
The apostles then are not seeking these beatings out. Yet, they do not run from them, either. They saw just how Christ had suffered for preaching and teaching the Truth. And they were told they too would suffer and be handed over to the Synagogue and governors, etc. They are given Christ’s peace and endure the suffering that comes with following Christ. The apostles also were not without the Son, for by the Holy Spirit, they were being reminded of the Words of Christ, to make them their own and then proclaim them to you. They were ready to suffer for Christ’s sake. And the witness of those apostles still is being proclaimed to you. Even this day.
Peter and John in our reading from Acts suffer for their preaching of the Name of Jesus Christ. But as I said earlier, they were given the peace in the promise of our Lord Jesus, which far outweighed their temporary earthly suffering, for something far better awaited them. And something far better also awaits you. But indeed, our faith will be tested just as their faith was tested in their sufferings for the Name and proclamation of Christ. May Christ be merciful to us in that hour.
We might not be in the same situation as those specific apostles being beaten for their proclamation of the name of Jesus. But we are in very uncertain times, when government seems to be ever encroaching upon religious liberty, as well as, removing the voice of the believer’s from the public square. But let us not forget the promise of Christ’s peace which in with us by grace. By the grace of God, Peter and John were able to rejoice, as the text of Acts says, “Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.” They saw their present sufferings as a participation in Christ’s sufferings. For by their suffering and even by our own sufferings for the sake of Christ we are being made ready for the glories to come for the sake of Christ Jesus who suffered for us. Christ suffered and has entered eternal glory by his resurrection, and we having been united to Christ, having been born again by Holy Baptism will be brought into the same glory for the sake of Christ. Let us then be bold and follow in the example of the apostles, and proclaim the name of Jesus Christ and the salvation found only in Him.
Peter and John held on to the precious gift and proclaimed the excellencies of the grace and mercy of God. Pastors called to you still proclaim the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who saves us from everlasting death and hell. And indeed, preaching His name, brings you His peace. Peace that the world does not know, nor can it know without believing the voice of Christ in the preaching of His Word.
In my short time as a Pastor, I have heard many people, including myself say, “My prayer life is pitiful.” I have also heard people say they do not know how to pray. Let me first say that prayer is a wonderful gift that our God has given us, for that is how we communicate with our Dear Father in Heaven. He has given us His Word in Holy Scripture, and He has given us His Name to call upon at all times and seasons.
The 2nd commandment tells us about the name of our Lord and God. We shall not misuse it. However, to use it rightly, God tells us to call upon Him and He will answer us. He commands us to pray. But He also attaches the promise that He will hear our prayers and answer them.
Prayer is extremely important, even for Jesus. Luke’s Gospel tells us more than any other Gospel about Jesus praying. On one occasion, the disciples go to him and implore Jesus to teach them to pray. Jesus does not scold them, but rather Jesus teaches them the prayer that we know as the Lord’s Prayer.
The Lord’s Prayer are Jesus’ own words now put on our lips to pray. What special words! And we get to say them to our Lord who promises to hear and answer! Even when we do not know what to say or what to pray for, we have the Lord’s Prayers and the prayers of the saints of the Old Testament in the Psalms at our fingertips in Holy Scripture. We even have Jesus praying the Psalms to the Lord while at the Cross. St. Paul also attests to the Holy Spirit interceding on our behalf when we don’t know for what to pray.
The next section of the catechism deals with the Lord’s Prayer and the petitions that Jesus teaches us to pray. May we all pray the prayer He has taught us to pray fervently to our Father in Heaven who loves to hear our petitions and requests and delights to answer our prayers.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp St. Peter’s Lutheran Church La Grange, MO
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He is Risen, indeed! Alleluia!
I want you to close your eyes for a second and imagine yourself as one of those disciples who was walking away from Jerusalem from our text in Luke 24. Can you put yourself into their shoes? Luke says plainly, that they were some of Jesus’ disciples. But here the men are walking away from the Holy City of Jerusalem down trodden and full of sorrow and probably some fear. While we don’t know the exact conversation that the two men had on the road they were having, what we do know is that their conversation revolved around the events of the past days.
Perhaps that conversation went like this:
Has it really been two days since we saw our Teacher hanging on the cross? Those words, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me” still chill my bones. Where do we go from here? 3 years of following him. 3 years of getting our hopes up. He had to know the priests wanted to get rid of him. They tried to stone him once. I don’t want to stay in Jerusalem any more. For if that’s how they treated our teacher, what is in store for the followers like us? We are likely next to hung from a cross. Emmaus is not too far, perhaps there we can find some shelter. But who is this man following us? He seems to be catching up to us.
What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?
Excuse me? You can’t be serious right? Have you not heard? Have you been living under a rock? Do you really not know the events that have just transpired in Jerusalem? Jesus of Nazareth was hung on a cross and was killed. And we were all but certain that he was the One who was promised to Come, the Messiah who was going to redeem Israel. But he was crucified on a cross at the hand of the chief priests and the Romans. And to add to all this, some of the women in our group said they saw Jesus alive this morning along with a vision of angels telling them Jesus had risen from the dead. Dead men don’t rise from the dead.
“O Foolish Ones, and slow to heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”
Well, I haven’t really thought of that. What do you mean? Tell us more that we might understand. Are you saying Moses, the great prophet spoke about Messiah?
Indeed, Moses, the prophet whom the Lord knew face to face, spoke often of the Messiah. Listen to his own prophesy: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—and later Moses spoke that the Lord would put my words in his and he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.
And many other places in the writings of Moses, the Messiah is promised and spoken of. The Lamb of the Passover, the promise of the seed of the woman, the promise of Abraham, Moses interceding for sinful Israel after the golden calf. The preaching and teaching concerning Day of Atonement. The blood of the Lamb cleansed the people, the Messiah’s blood would have to be poured out in suffering to cleanse the people of sin once and for all.
Okay, so Moses. Who else?
Isaiah spoke of Messiah in this way: “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:3-5).
No! The Messiah was to usher in his kingdom and bring peace, He was supposed to restore Israel to its rightful place and break off the chains of Roman tyranny. He was supposed to be the king riding and leading Israel to victory!
But the King did come to the daughter of Zion riding on a colt, the foal of a donkey triumphantly. And His victory and your victory were sealed at the cross. It was indeed necessary for the Messiah, the Christ, to suffer and die. He did not come to free from Roman tyranny, but something much bigger and worse: He came to free the world and redeem you from sin and everlasting death.
Huh? We are learning a lot. Maybe we should open up the scrolls of Moses and the Prophets a bit more because we are getting schooled right now. Sir, where did you say were from? Okay, so what about the women’s reports? The prophet David, King of Israel writes in his 16th psalm of the resurrection of the Lord’s Holy One, “I have set the Lord always before me, because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the paths of life, in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” The Messiah would be indeed be raised from the dead.
Sir, we have much to learn. Our stop is almost here, please stay and tell us more.
Bread and wine await us for our dinner along with other good things. Wait. What is this? The man from the road has taken the place of host for this meal? Didn’t we invite him to this feast?
“Come the feast is prepared,” he says. “Take and it, this is my body which is given for you.” (Luke 22:19)
This is He! This is the Messiah! This is Jesus, the Christ!
No faster than you see Him and He vanishes. Where did He go? One thing is for sure: Jesus is alive! He is risen from the dead! We saw Him in the breaking of the bread! Come let us go back to Jerusalem to tell the others this wonderful news!
Our fears are gone; Jesus is victorious like He said He would be! Why did we doubt the women? Why were we afraid? Christ has triumphed! He is living! We know He is alive, He is with us in the breaking of the bread. Lord, forgive us for our foolish and sinful thoughts. Why did we doubt! For the Lord has done all things well, He has been raised from the dead. And He has freed us from sin and death forever more. Alleluia!
Come then, let us go to Jerusalem to tell the others what we have witnessed in the breaking of the bread. That our eyes are opened to the resurrection of Jesus at the breaking of the bread. Trust Christ’s own Words, it was necessary for Him to die and suffer for our sisn, and like He said He was to rise again from the dead, and He Did to the glory of the Father! Do not walk in sorrow, do not be forlorn. Christ accomplished what was said of him in the Law and the Prophets. That he would suffer and die and rise and enter into his glory.
He died to save you from eternal death, and He who claimed you at the Font as his own, wakening you to new life now and forever through the Water and the Word, now gives to you his own body and blood that was broken and poured out for you at the cross for you to eat and to drink that you may receive and participate in Christ’s victory over sin, death, and the power of the devil. It is the medicine of immortality. Take heart and eat of the feast prepared by your savior, Jesus Christ, who has risen from the dead, for He is there in the breaking of the bread. That is the place of his glory, his Supper given for you.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!
Rev. Jacob Hercamp St. Peter’s Lutheran Church La Grange, MO
Encore Post: So just where does Jesus go? Well he goes to places that are pretty messy sometimes. If we just consider the 12 disciples who Jesus called to himself at the beginning of his ministry, we see a man in Matthew who was a tax collector. We see a zealot in Simon, we see a couple of brothers who want honor and glory. And that’s just a few of them! What we see in the 12 disciples are sinners! And all the disciples of Jesus including us are sinners! Jesus preaches to sinners like the 12 and still to you and me.
A term that comes from the bible is that of disciple. And that is a great thing to recall. We who follow Jesus as taught in the Bible according to the words of the apostles are disciples of Jesus. We believe the teaching that was handed down by Jesus to the first disciples who were later called apostles who then wrote their Gospels, Epistles, and Prophetic books that make up the New Testament.
The season of Epiphany is a great time to be talking about the disciples because we just heard the reading of Peter, James and John being called to be “fishers of men” and soon we will be hearing the words from the Mount of Transfiguration, “Listen to Him!” Disciples are and to follow and to listen to their master, their Lord Jesus. Peter on the mount shows a desire to stay on the mountain and bask in the glory, but that is not where Jesus stays. No, he goes, setting his face like flint towards Jerusalem, getting ready for the Cross, where He would atone for the sins of the world. Many people, even Peter, don’t want this to be the case, but it must be so. That is why Jesus was sent.
A disciple then follows Jesus to the cross. That is where our journey takes us, the place where our salvation is won. The place from which comes all our blessings including the blessing of being able to tell others about Jesus’ wonderful work there for all humanity. Disciples then don’t just keep this message of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus to themselves, but rather disciples tell others who do not know about Jesus to follow Jesus unto that Promised Land which he has entered and will ultimately gather us together with all the faithful disciples who have gone before us.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp St. Peter’s Lutheran Church La Grange, MO
This text for Advent 1 for the 3 year lectionary is something we hear on Palm Sunday. It seems to be well sowed into the fabric of Holy Week, so why does it show up at the very beginning of the church year? That is a question that I have been rolling around in my head for the past week. And I think I found the connection, from the Prophet Zechariah whom Matthew quotes. “Behold, your king is coming to you.”This quote is the reason that this is read on the first Sunday in Advent. “Your King is coming to you.” We always think that Advent is preparing us for Christmas, well, because it does, but the season prepares us for something so much more. It prepares us for the other ways that Christ our King, comes to us.
We see in Palm Sunday a Jesus entering Jerusalem to a parade, but only a couple days later the city is no longer cheering but crying out “Crucify!”At the cross we see the title given again to Jesus. The first being when the magi visit. It seems that no one fully understood the title king at his birth nor at his crucifixion, for His Kingdom is not from this world. The throne he sits on is actually a cross, to which he willingly goes to die for the sins of the world.
Christ’s Kingdom has already come to you, believers of his word. He proclaims we are in his Kingdom right now via the Word and Sacraments. He mercifully comes to you in His Divine Service to forgive us our sins on account of his suffering and death. And He promises us everlasting life because he rose from the dead. Having risen and now ascended to the right hand of the Father, we trust his promise that He will come back to take us to Himself.
Christ will come again, no longer riding humbly on a donkey, but in all his divine majesty and glory. He is coming back to judge the living and the dead. And we who believe look forward to that this final coming of Christ the King. Why do I say we look forward? We are awaiting Christ’s final coming in which he will set all the world right, and remove us from sin and from the sufferings of this world. Behold, your king is coming to you in mercy, oh faithful ones, now and always.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp St. Peter’s Lutheran Church La Grange, MO
Encore Post: We confess in the 4th part of Baptism: “What does such baptizing with water indicate?” Answer: “It indicates that the Old Adam in us should be daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”
“Where is this written? Answer: St. Paul writes in Romans chapter six: “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
When we confess this part of Baptism we see that there are two men at war within us, the Old sinful Adam and the New Man, created in the image of Jesus, to do the good works which God had prepared beforehand for us to do. And sometimes because we are still in our sinful flesh we will fail, miserably in fact, in not sinning. But we know from Jesus himself and explicitly from St. John that if we do sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who graciously forgives our sins.
Only when we die or when Christ returns in His final Advent will the fight that is within us be completely done. Our sinful flesh fights against our desire to actually do things which are pleasing in the sight of our Heavenly Father. You just need to watch children who hear their parent’s instruction concerning cleaning up their toys before breaking out more and kinda begin to put things away before becoming too enamored with the toy train in its box. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, said our Lord of His Disciples. We see in them ourselves too, our spirit is willing but our sinful flesh is weak and sinful.
But Christ promises in Baptism we have salvation, and as Paul says we have are united to Jesus’ death and resurrection that we may live a new life. What we are in Baptism is not fully known, but in the final Advent of our Lord our Old Adam will be stripped away and we will be like Jesus is, pure as He is pure.
Baptism prepares us for Christ’s Final Advent, and we pray with all the saints, “Come, Lord Jesus. Come!” And Jesus responds, “Behold, I am coming soon.”
Rev. Jacob Hercamp
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church
La Grange, MO
