Had there not been controversies surrounding the Person of Jesus Christ, we likely would not have the Nicene Creed or the Athanasian Creed, for that matter. However, we see that already that even in the time of the Apostles, there were misunderstandings about Jesus that led the church to believe in a Jesus that was different from the Scriptural Witness. John, in his Epistles writes of some people who denied Jesus having come in the flesh and others denied Jesus was the Son of God.
As I said in the very first post about the Nicene Creed, The Apostles’ Creed, though correct, could be said by many of these types of people. Words and meaning could be manipulated leading many astray. This became very apparent in the days of Arius, who held to a view that Jesus was a creature and not the “very God of very God, begotten, not made, being one substance with the Father.”
There needed to be a preciseness concerning the words chosen to confess the Scriptural understanding of the Lord Jesus. They had to stay with what Scripture said about Him, or utilize words that conveyed the same meaning. To combat against Arius’ teaching and a host of other’s the Orthodox Christian church fathers went on to write the 2nd article in such a way that would not allow for a follower of Arius to confess it. Arius and his followers would say Jesus a son of God, made but not begotten. Arius would say, “There was a time when the Son was not.” The argument came from Proverbs 8, where personified Wisdom speaks, “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old.” That sounds as if Wisdom is a created being, being the first thing created. The problem with this approach is that we should never take one verse of Scripture and interpret it without looking at other verses concerning the same idea. John, for instance, in the first chapter of His Gospel says, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Jesus, also in the Gospel of John says, “Before Abraham was I am.”
The great church Father Athanasius took great pains to defend the Orthodox and Scriptural position of the Lord Jesus Christ being the very Son of God as well as the Son of Mary. Athanasius and his fellow brothers in arms utilized the word homoousias (same substance with the Father) against what Arius liked (homoiousias, similar substance, but not the same substance). The term homoousias is not found in the Scriptures but it conveys the point of Jesus’ eternality with the Father as presented to us in John 1, for instance.
The 2nd Article of the Creed then lays down the line of the position of the Orthodox and Scriptural confession and says to the followers of Arius, “You cannot confess a different view of the relationship between the Son and Father, and call yourself Orthodox.”
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.
Yesterday the church not only celebrated Good Shepherd Sunday but she also remembered the Evangelist Mark. Mark’s story is one of a wayward sheep who was ultimately brought home, if we follow Church tradition. He was the rich man who came to Jesus asking the Lord what he must do to inherit eternal life. The sheep heard the voice of the Good Shepherd but wanted to show himself to be able to guide himself to the final destination. Jesus recited the 2nd table of the Law to him, all those commands that can be summed up as love your neighbor as yourself. The man replies, “I have done all these since my youth.” Jesus looked at him, loved him, and said to him, “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.” The sheep went away sad, disheartened and sorrowful because he had great possessions.
The sheep went away from the Good Shepherd sad that day. The hook of the shepherd was used ever so gently to correct the sheep, but the sheep refused correction. “How difficult it is for anyone to enter the kingdom of God! With man it is impossible!” But the voice of the Good Shepherd kept echoing in his head, and the sheep knew it to be something he needed to hear, much like the prodigal son finally came to his senses. Mark didn’t go too far on his own but still stayed on the fringe. We also know Church tradition also holds that it was Mark who was around Jesus on the night of his betrayal ran away naked into the night. All the sheep were scattered that night as the Shepherd was struck.
But like a sheep, when the way of missionary work got tough, Mark left their way. Sometimes for a sheep the grass looks greener elsewhere or at least the way seems easier and more pleasant. Mark fit that category of a sheep that needed continued correction and exhortation. And also, us. Jesus fulfilled the Law, yes, but He did not abolish it. He still speaks His Law ultimately in love that we repent and confess our sins and follow Him. The Law is still good for us to hear because we need to be reminded that we fail to love our neighbor as ourselves, and that we too have our pet gods that we hide away, gods we don’t even know we have until Jesus’ word calls us out. “Go and sell everything you have. Give to the poor.” Wealth and possessions, those were Mark’s god for a time. A more pleasant and easier life. That was Mark’s god at a later time. We have the same issues, when one idol falls, we are quick to pick up another. Perhaps for us it is the government who promises to take care of us until they don’t. Then it’s the money because we have that as well. Maybe its our family. We jump from idol to idol. We are sheep that have heard the Good Shepherd’s voice but need gentle correction again and again. This is not a one-time deal. Jesus continues to teach us and lead us that He is our God and we His people. And the best part of it is that He promises not to forsake us through it all. For He came and fulfilled all that we could not. He loved his neighbors perfectly for you and for me. He loved you by laying down his life for you.
We are the sheep for whom He came to lay down His life. Mark is the man Christ loved. He is a man of many for whom Christ died. And He speaks forgiveness to Mark and to you as well. He finds you in the pit of your sin and pulls you out of it. He brings you to repentance and faith in Him and leads you home.
Mark is a remarkable man in the New Testament, a good picture of our ourselves. He walked with Paul for a time and then again later after their reconciliation, and He also listened to and worked with Peter. It was from this time that Mark wrote the Gospel that bears his name. He put down on paper the words which Peter spoke for all the world to know. Perhaps His Gospel is meant when Paul calls for the parchments when he asks for Mark to be sent to him. We will never know. But we do know what Mark wrote he wrote that all would come know Jesus as he knew Him: This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Mark does not call him the Good Shepherd but you can see the image work well in Mark. Mark tells us that Jesus looked upon him with love, and we know Christ went out of His way to bring him into His pen of the Church. Christ our Lord has done the same for us. He came and sought us out and speaks in love to us now calling us to follow Him. His Words endure forever and His way is the only way that leads to everlasting life.
Let us give thanks to our Lord who has sought his oft wayward sheep and led them home. May we rejoice in the fact that our Lord continues to do the same for us now and keeps us steadfast in His Word and Way by giving us His Word and His Sacraments by which our faith may be strengthened along the way, firmly believing that by His provision and work at the cross, where He laid down his life, we will be saved.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 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 the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
If you have not done so take a long hard look at the bulletin cover. Note what you see. You see a man leading a sheep. The shepherd is not driving the sheep, but leading it.
Note also the sheep. Look at the sheep’s head, attentive to the way of the shepherd. Following closely in tow. Note finally the staff. It is the tool by which the shepherd helps the sheep stay on his way if the sheep goes astray. But this staff is not just any staff, and this shepherd is not just any shepherd, but this is the shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep on a cross. The way that this Shepherd goes is through death and into life forevermore.
The depiction of the Good Shepherd has been the toil of many a sacred artist in the past two millennia and many thanks to Abby for drawing this one for us. It conveys the point of the Good Shepherd. We would do well to enjoy the arts particularly sacred art more. For it teaches the faith far better than many sermons. This is why Luther desired that the Small Catechism have woodcut prints of the various episodes of the Bible. It taught the Faith, and if nothing else, enhanced the learning of those who thumbed through the pages. So, it is with the depictions of Christ our Good Shepherd.
What kind of Shepherd does this? One who is committed and united to his sheep. By the Incarnation, the Son of God is effectively yoked to humanity forevermore. You might have seen another picture of the Good Shepherd with the Lord Jesus carrying a lamb draped over His neck. That imagery should not be missed. Does it not look like a yoke? Does it not look like a stole that a pastor wears these days? That the sheep is Christ’s responsibility from this time forth and forevermore? Just as it is the responsibility of the Pastor to feed the sheep of Christ’s flock with only the true and pure doctrine of Christ. This is why pastors are called pastors in the first place. The word literally means shepherd in Latin.
In our own depiction of the Good Shepherd, the sheep follows in His path. The path of the Good Shepherd is good for the sheep. But we sheep may not always think so. How often have you questioned what was going on in your life? How often have you wanted that thing or way of life which you did not have? How often has it seemed that the grass (another way to talk about daily bread) you are getting is not as green as you think it ought to be? Is there grass greener elsewhere? Perhaps you have said this under your breath, “Does this Shepherd know what He’s doing? If He’s such a good shepherd, why does it seem that the wolves are always after me? Why is His way hard? Maybe I should shove off on my own.” Repent.
Our Good Shepherd is not without an instrument of discipline when He must deal with sin. He carries His hook. He speaks His Law. He puts to death and yet brings to life. He has wounded, and yet promises to heal. The prophet Isaiah talks of God’s work in two senses. One sense is alien to Him: the work of His Law, which brings punishment upon the law breaker. The other is the work of His character which is Love: you know that as the Gospel that declares to you forgiveness for the sake of the Good Shepherd. Your Shepherd does not beat the sheep, but He certainly brings punishment to bear when it is needed to save His sheep from utter destruction. Think of what He allowed the nation of Israel to go through in the Old Testament. He threw them out of the Promised Land. They were rightfully punished for their rebellion against His Way. We, too, have been rightfully punished in various ways for our sins of straying from the Way of our Good Shepherd and disregarding His voice. We confess that we deserve both temporal and eternal punishment when we confess our sins. But ultimately, the God’s Law serves His blessed Gospel. God’s Law condemns everyone. You have not lived up to the demands of the Lord. We all like sheep, have gone astray. All going his own way rather than the way of the Lord. His ultimate work is to save you. And if He must bring the sheep to nothing in order for the sheep to be saved, He will do that because it is for the ultimate and eternal good of His sheep.
The Lord our God has done what He said He would do. He has done everything for the ultimate good of the sheep. The Son came becoming the Lamb to be the shepherd who would lay down his life for His sheep. He did not send a hire hand, but He came down to get his own dirty in finding and securing His flock! He would be the means by which the sheep would be saved. He went to the cross for all His wayward sheep, ever last one of them. And He forgives all our sins against Him and His Father.
You have the promise in those waters that you are united to your Good Shepherd now and forevermore. It is a promise to be believed. For there is nothing in our reason or strength that will make sense of the promise Jesus makes to us here. Our minds and reason are fallen. Our reason says Baptism is our work and profession faith, but God’s Word says the exact opposite. It is God who is working to bring faith and salvation to light. Which will you believe? The Word of God or your reason? Are we listening to the voice of the Good Shepherd or something else?
Baptism and forgiveness of sins is a promise to be heard again and again because we sheep are pretty hard of hearing, and we are stubborn things who easily forget and go our own way. Jesus is your Good Shepherd and He has laid down his life for you, that you be safe with him forever, sins forgiven. Now He leads you to the sheep fold, the house for all the sheep. You listen to His voice for you are here where He promises to be in flesh and blood for you to forgive your sins. You are following Him just like the picture on our bulletin. Trust and believe in what He has spoken and done for you in laying down his life, and believe how He now delivers that victory to you in Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
Look again at your bulletin, you know where the Lord leads His sheep. He leads his sheep to His home. David in the 23rd Psalm does a masterful job in conveying himself to be a sheep and the Lord his shepherd in the first 3 verses but in verses 4-6 David no longer uses the 3rd personal singular pronoun He to speak of the Lord. Instead, David switches to a second person singular, “You.” You are with me. Your rod and staff they comfort me. You prepare a table… Ah yes, the Shepherd is leading His flock to the table. A table in the presence of my enemies, but these are enemies who have been defeated by the Good Shepherd and can cause no more harm. They are no match for our Good Shepherd. The flock will rejoice in the goodness of their Shepherd who has laid down His life for the sheep only to take it up again. And they will rejoice at hearing His voice. “Take and eat, this is my body given for you. Take and drink this is the New Testament in my blood shed for you.” The Living Body and Blood of your Shepherd, you receive. What promises to believe and what a blessing to have our spirits restored by such food from Heaven. It is His life to give, and He now gives it to you, that you might live forever in his presence in His House Forever. And truly your cup does overflow. By this we know Love, that he laid down his life for us.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp St. Peter’s Lutheran Church La Grange, MO
Now that the Resurrection of our Lord has passed, the Body of Christ, turns her attention to her Lord’s ascension and His promise that “it is for your benefit that I go away.” It is an audacious promise for the disciples to belief because what is better than having Jesus “present” with them? How is it better for Jesus to go away? It makes no sense to our human minds. What if I told you our Risen Lord Jesus is more present with us now after His ascension than He was while He walked on Earth during His Ministry?
Christ hears our prayers and all the prayers of the saints around the world with His own human ears. So also, now that He has ascended, He can be at every altar in His body where the Sacrament of the Altar is being celebrated. And this, my friends, is better for us. He, as the God Man, ascended to the right hand of God so that He could be with His Church in a way far more beneficial than merely sitting on a throne somewhere in Jerusalem. Hence, why we hear the words of Luke as the apostles leave the mountain. They were rejoicing, for they knew Christ had not left them, but rather was with them forever (Luke 24:52–53, cf. Matthew 28:20). They firmly believed that wherever they gathered together in the name of Jesus and according to His commands, there Jesus was with them physically in flesh and blood for the forgiveness of sins and salvation. The Church has repeated those commands more often than any other words of Christ a in remembrance of Him. They are “Take, eat” and “Take, drink.”
Let us give thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ, who came in the flesh, died, and rose in the flesh also ascended in the flesh. He does it all for our benefit that He may be with His whole church on Earth in His flesh and blood for our forgiveness and eternal salvation.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp St. Peter’s Lutheran Church La Grange, MO
In the first post for this series on the Nicene Creed, I tried to give a very brief sketch of the historical landscape and context out of which the Nicene Creed came. The Church was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and heretical teachings concerning the Trinity were being espoused, particularly, against the Person of the Son. If you are looking at the sheer numbers of the words written for each article, the 2nd article has nearly doubled when compared to the Apostles’ Creed (130 – 71).
So when we compare the first article of Nicene Creed to the Apostles’ Creed there is very few differences. Nothing in the substance has changed, but now in Nicene Creed, the authors took great pains to explain that EVERYTHING, all things visible and even the invisible, were made by God the Father Almighty. If the Apostles’ Creed did not already make it clear saying God the Father Almighty was maker of heaven and earth, the Nicene Creed makes the claim of God being the Creator all visible and invisible air tight.
You also should note the opening phrase, I believe in One God. This takes us all the way back to the words of Deuteronomy 6:4. The Nicene Creed confesses the truth of the Triune Monotheistic God. Another way to put is how the Athanasian Creed says it, “We worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity.”
In the later Athanasian Creed the first article concerning creation did not even need to be addressed because of how sufficiently the Nicene Creed deals with it. But we must also take a moment and appreciate that the Nicene Creed does not paint itself in a corner to say that God the Father Almighty was the only Person working in creation. In the second article, we confess in line with Scripture that the Son also was active in creation, when we confess “by whom all things were made.” Also in the third article we confess in line with Scripture that the Holy Spirit is the giver of life. Creation then is a Trinitarian act in and of itself. All Three Persons work in concert with one another to create all things visible and invisible.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp St. Peter’s Lutheran Church La Grange, MO
In the past few days and weeks, I have been pondering a specific topic. I have been thinking about where society has gone and how quickly it fell. We see the symptoms of sin all around us, but still sixty years ago there was a common morality amongst the majority of people. What happened?
I believe we can go look back at when people stopped believing Scripture to be God’s Word and see that as the moment in which society began to fall apart. Now fewer and fewer people hold to the premise that the Bible is the Word of God.
In the modern era, the first questions were about the miracles that Jesus did, or the miracles presented in the Bible in general. Did Jesus really feed the 5000? How did Jesus heal leprosy? And what about Jonah? Jesus’ rose from the dead? Many of these things were said to be mythological and not in fact the truth. Rudolph Bultmann led the charge in the 1930s and 40s. This is somewhat reminiscent of Thomas Jefferson and his bible. Jefferson cut out any miracle that occurred because he was unable to rationalize it. For Bultmann and Jefferson before him they still saw the words of Jesus as somewhat authoritative and something to give moral guidance.
However, there was a problem. For as much as they desired to “find” the words of Jesus in the midst of the miracles and build those up, they were undercutting the foundation of the faith! Those who followed them not only continued to question and deny the miracles spoken of in the Bible, but now the very words of Jesus were also in question. Are they really Jesus’ words? And who really is Jesus? And why should his words matter to us when it comes to morality?
This my friends is where we find ourselves now. For the decades and many more years of doubting and denying the Bible to be God’s Word, and Jesus Christ being the Son of God in the Flesh, we now are in a time where the very ground of our common morality has receded. If people deny that their existence comes about because of creating and sustaining God, there is no authority higher than themselves by which to be governed. If that’s the case then there is no morality, except for “do what is right in your own eyes.” Hence why abortion is seen as a right to be granted at all costs, and marriage can be between two men, two women, or in some states, multiple persons. Of course, these are two of the big hot button issues, but it’s also the reason for no fault divorce too.
What is extremely saddening is that there are churches who deny Scripture as God’s Word and follow the world in this push for personal morality. When we fail to believe that the Bible is God’s Word, we will ultimately not believe a single piece of it including the very point that each person is made in the image of God and thus is deserving of dignity and love. Hence why we have so many divisions. In this sinful day and age only certain lives appear to matter because of our sinful and stubborn hearts.
What do we do? First, we all ought to repent and confess of our sins of failing to trust in the words of our Lord. Then, be forgiven by the Lord Jesus Christ who did indeed die and rise from the dead, and live in that reality and see our neighbors as those for whom Christ died and rose for as well. Let’s get back to trusting that the words and deeds of Jesus as presented in the Bible are true. Let’s get back to knowing Jesus as He confesses Himself to be: The very Son of the Father. Let us read the Bible as it is: God’s Word. The sooner we do the better it is for all lives.
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 unto you from God our Father and our Lord and Jesus Christ. Amen.
In St. Peter’s epistle, we hear about the precious, priceless gift, the inheritance of salvation. And that we are to endure through the sufferings that come our way, for by the sufferings that are placed upon us in, God tests our faith, refines and strengthens it. And Peter continues along those lines today in our reading.
The Epistle Lesson for the third Sunday of Easter in the three-year lectionary, series A, sets up in a chiastic structure hinging on the Resurrection of Jesus. Peter exhorts us first to serve the Lord with fear. This is a call to the first commandment. “You shall have no other gods. What does this mean? I should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” This call to conduct ourselves in the fear of the Lord is good and right because we know what has taken place. We who have heard the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ have no excuse, as it were. We should lay hold of it and keep it precious. So, Peter rehearses the Gospel for us here again.
Notice, it is the Gospel that motivates true fear, love and trust in the blessed Trinity. It is the Gospel which motivates us and to actually do good works in love for our neighbors. Sure, the Law can scare us into submission and order, but it is only through the Gospel which we desire and willingly do what the Law of God commands. By the Gospel we see the Law as God’s will for his creatures. This is what is called the 3rd use of the Law. In this use, the Law is seen as a guide for the way we are to live. And how does the Law become something that which we desire to do? Peter tells us, by knowing the Gospel. But not just knowing it but knowing it as it is preached. Knowing that the Gospel of Jesus is for you and then living in the truth of the Gospel.
You were born of perishable seed, says Peter a little later in the reading. Perishable means you have an expiration date. Because of the fall of Adam and Eve, our parents, we have been exposed to sin and death. We are now inclined to sin and do things which are against the will of the Lord. We are inclined to chase after other gods, and set them up as our idols. We are inclined to forget our neighbor and only care about ourselves. And we will die because the wages of sin is death. All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower falls. Human futility abounds. We are unable to stop sicknesses from ravaging our bodies. Oh we might think we have found a cure for one thing or another, and by God’s grace perhaps we have in some cases, but then something else comes. Crops fail. By the sweat of our brow we will eat our bread. Nothing comes easily, but we will toil in the earth to carve out our lives. We act violently against one another via words and actions. And at some point we too will wither and fade away, expire.
But Let us remember what Peter says, “you were ransomed by the blood of Jesus!” You know the full story for you have heard the Gospel preached to you. Do not forget it, for the Gospel preached for you is life giving. You were ransomed away from these futile ways! You have been brought of the ways of death and into the ways of life. You are set free! And this is again the gift which is far more precious than gold or silver. For if gold or silver could have been used to make our problem of sinfulness go away, what good would Jesus coming in the flesh be? But your salvation cost much more, and required an imperishable payment: the very physical body and blood of Jesus Christ, God in the flesh on the cross. Given as a ransom for you. What love the Lord has for us. Hear the words from a favorite hymn of mine 544. Oh love how deep, how broad how high, beyond all thought and fantasy, that God the Son of God should take our mortal form for mortal’s sake.
And at Easter Christ was raised from the dead. “True God He first from death has burst! (LSB 483, stanza 2)” Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! And his death is death’s undoing. Jesus’ death not like a grass withering and fading away. Instead it was the brilliant plan of salvation. Isaiah 53 says that the suffering servant Christ, who is our ransom, grew up like a young plant. He appeared weak in the eyes of the world and Satan yet it was by his death at the cross that death’s grips on all humanity came to an end. Since Christ was sinless, death had no claim on him, and likewise death has no claim on you who have been brought into the body of Christ Jesus through the waters of holy baptism. “And yours shall be like victory over death and grave.”
So you are set free, ransomed from the futile ways, ransomed from sin and death by the Lord Jesus Christ who came in flesh and blood to die and redeem you. And this gospel is what is preached to you. This Gospel is for you. That you live now a life of faith and hope in the holy Trinity, who has worked your salvation, loving God and neighbor.
No longer are you mere perishable seed, but have been born again by the living and abiding word of God that comes to you in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. Oh sure our flesh is still broken and futile and will ultimately fail us and succumb to death in this life. But by the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ you have the imperishable seed planted within you. You are given the imperishable life won for you by Christ. And this life begins in the water and the word being poured over you, when you were made a temple of the holy Spirit, who took up residence within you and gave you new life. A new life that is obedient to the exhortation that Peter spoke at the beginning of our reading. By the Spirit, we actually desire and want to obey the commandments of God. We then do fear, love, and trust in God above all things and love our brothers and sisters as ourselves all because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who ransomed us from death and gave us life that is imperishable just as he is imperishable.
What comfort then that Christ Jesus through Peter gives to us this day! Christ’s blood sets us free from sin and death, and Christ’s resurrection and everlasting life is made ours by the preaching of this Gospel to us that we might live according to the Gospel of Christ now and always, trusting in God, who raised Christ from the dead, that we too will be raised to life everlasting and that we can even live this way now for the sake of our neighbors.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! Alleluia!
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.
We are just a few weeks past the biggest event in the world, the day of our Lord’s Resurrection, where you and all the world were reconciled to God on behalf the Crucified Lord Jesus Christ. Sin is forgiven in Christ. You have new life in Christ. You are being led by the Lord Your God. But our hearts and our minds are easily led astray. Our minds easily turn elsewhere and instead of being of one heart and mind focused on the Words and Deeds of our Lord. The church, much like the ancient Israelites a mere month after their own salvific event of the Exodus and the cross of the Red Sea where the Egyptians were thrown into the sea, is easy to complain and mumble and grumble asking what the heck the Lord is doing. What has the Lord done for us lately.
We fail to remember and do the things by which we receive the very victory and life Jesus won for us by His death and resurrection from the dead.
John in his beautiful Epistle does not want you to forget what the Lord has done for you. In the first verse, John commands you to Look and See. That is an imperative command. He is telling you look and behold for yourselves this Love of the Father. And you know this Love. This Love is not a feeling or an emotion. This Love is a person. The Love the Father has given us is His only begotten Son, and Love was given to us in this way, that He offered Himself up for us at the cross. And He continues to offer Himself to you in His Flesh and Blood by His coming to you now in Word and Sacrament. Jesus is still in Flesh and He still here for you and your salvation building you up in Him who is Love.
And by this Son, Jesus, you are called and gathered to be children of God. What Jesus has done for you at the cross, where sins are dealt with once and for all, where sins are paid for by His blood, you now receive in Holy Baptism. You are washed and purified from sins by Baptism. And you are made a child of the Heavenly Father. Behold, the Love of the Father. See Love as the Person of the Lord Jesus displaying His marks of His cross. John says elsewhere in the Epistle that God is Love. If God is Love, then the Incarnate Lord Jesus is Love in the Flesh for you. And He is still in the Flesh for you, and in Baptism you are then united to the Resurrected God-Man Jesus who is Love. Then then in Christ are being built up in love.
You have been washed in the water and Word. You have been given God’s Love, Jesus. But that was a long time ago for many of you. I mean my baptism was October 9th 1988. Long time ago. The events of Easter were even longer before that. What has the Lord done for us lately? Often, we are no different than Israel who grumbled not a month after the great event of the Red Sea where the Lord destroyed the Egyptian army that chased after Israel on the Exodus. We too are a sinful and rebellious people and we murmur against the Lord. Have we forgotten all that He has done already and spurn what He gives us now? Do we really think that God saved us from Egypt to bring us to die in the wilderness? Or are we failing to believe and trust in His promise?
We are prone to think that Jesus is gone, that Jesus is not here with us. It’s easier to rationalize that Jesus is gone than to believe His promise that upon His ascension He in his human body can be everywhere at one time and the specific promises to His Church by which people who are dead in trespasses and sins are made alive in Him. That by those specific things, He unites Himself with us and we with him? And in so doing he offers us His love, mercy, and forgiveness? What is Jesus doing now? Is He gone or what?
Would you, who are married, tell your wife on the day of your wedding that you love her and you will continue to love her the rest of her life, but never tell her again that you love her? Would you never kiss her again after kissing her on your wedding day? Would you expect her to remember your love that you pledged to her on that day if you never displayed that love again toward her? You should express love and gratitude, constantly reminding her of the love you have for her. You would do nice things for her, buying her or picking a bouquet of spring flowers, sweeping the kitchen floor, carrying laundry, rinsing the dishes. Things that display your love for her. And likely you do these all the time.
So, it is with the Lord. For Christ is here for you in love and devotion. Why do doubts arise in your hearts? See his hands and his feet. Pierced for your salvation. And he actively gives you that salvation. He continually cleanses you from your sins. He is your advocate with the Father, the propitiation for your sins. He is constantly showering you with his love and His devotion, like a husband making sure that his wife knows his love for her.
What has Christ done for you lately? He purifies you as He Himself is pure. Now the hard part, we don’t see this much on this side of heaven. More often than not we see ourselves as dirty and unclean in our sins. We are continually shown our sins and our failings. We are told according to the Law we deserve temporal and eternal punishment, that is we deserve the consequences for our sins. So, are you pure? If you only look to yourself, you know the answer. This is the curse of Law. We would be like the one who is lawless. We would be children in the dark.
But our Lord who loves us, who has made called and gathered us to the heavenly Father by the cross, has called us children of God. This is a promise to be believed. Yes, it beyond all our understanding, but why would God speak a promise like this if He did not mean it for our good? Yeah, we may not understand, but we know His Word is true, so we are called to believe.
And by His sacrifice at the cross, by His hands and feet, we are God’s children. And we are loved, loved so much that He constantly calls us back from sin and he works to purify us. This is the call to remember our baptism, the promise that we are indeed called children of God.
Our Lord is active right this minute purifying our hearts and our minds by the preaching of His Word, the proclamation of the Gospel. Jesus is delivered to you. Love in a Person is given to you. And you have Love placed onto your very lips when you eat and drink His body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins. Hence the prayer we pray is answered immediately when we pray that with fervent love we reach out to one another. We are infused with the very Love of Jesus.
There is only man who was pure from sin. The very Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. He was pure for you that he might give Himself up for you at the cross. And the Crucified and Risen Lord now purifies you from the inside out. For His resurrection to be ours on the Last Day, the actual flesh and blood of Jesus as the new mankind must come to us. And He does come in Flesh and Blood. And He does what He promises. He saves you and gives eternal life by His Body and Blood. He first washes you and calls you his brother and sister, children of His Father in baptism, and then puts Himself into you by the Sacrament of the Altar.
In Christ there is no sin, and now He comes into you. You are pure because of Christ. “No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.” You are in Christ my dear friends in Christ. You are children of God! Believe the promise from God, and hold Him to it.
When God looks at you for the sake of Christ, you have no sin, that is the promise. He has cleansed you. He has washed you in His blood. You are in incorporated and find your home in Him, and He likewise finds a home in you via the Sacrament of His body and blood. Think about how awesome this truly is: When you receive the Lord’s Supper, Christ, by creative power of His promise, is physically choosing to abide in you. His love abides in you because God is Love.
Will you sin in this after baptism? Yes, you will because you still live in this sin filled world in your sinful flesh. But you have a Love given to you that appeared to take away sin. Confess your sins, repent, and believe the promise of Christ. You have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, who is the propitiation for your sin. And this Love, the God-Man Jesus, is given to you here every week. You receive Jesus, Love in the Flesh, for you that you might not forget, but always rejoice in the Gospel. What has God done for us lately? Well, everything that you might be like Him when He appears. Little Children, let no one deceive you and lead you otherwise.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp St. Peter Lutheran Church La Grange, MO
We Lutherans have two ways to speak about Absolution. In some instances Absolution is spoken of as a Sacrament, and in other places, it is not. It might be a good time to remind ourselves how the Evangelical Lutheran Church defines a Sacrament. How we define the term Sacrament makes all the difference.
Absolution does not have a physical element. It merely is the Word of Christ of forgiveness. There is nothing to which the Word of Christ is added. By Augustine’s definition Absolution is not a Sacrament.
Note: The following is greatly indebted to the edifying sermon from the Rev. Dr. Robert Preus, preached at Concordia Theological Seminary on Maundy Thursday, 1988. Find it here.
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The day we know as Maundy Thursday was a very full day for our Lord. The day began with His disciples asking him where He wished to have what would be the last Passover meal. He likely taught in and around the Temple, as was his custom when He was in the holy city. And then in the upper room, our Lord institutes what we know as the Sacrament of the Altar, where our Lord gives us His body and blood to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. In so doing, He ushers in the New Covenant in His blood. Even later that same day Jesus then went to the Garden of Gethsemane as was His custom to pray there. While there He would be betrayed by one of his own into the hands of sinners. He was tried before the chief priests, scribes, and elders. And He looked on in love when Peter denied him those three times. A very long day in deed.
But particular to this service for Maundy Thursday, we will recall the events in the upper room recorded for us in St. John. Jesus gave himself over to His disciples in love and service. As John aptly states, He loved His own to the end. Not just Thursday or at the beginning, but that He loved them to the very end. And I suggest He still is in the process of loving His own until the end of the age.
What does Jesus’ act of washing His disciples’ feet on the night he was betrayed and instituted His Supper mean? What should we take away from this act that John records for us? It certainly teaches us his love for his own. He displays divine love, a love that is humble, a love that is unlike any love known to man in the world. A love not of this world. It is a love that motivates the incarnate God to go to the cross for his fallen creation. The love he displays in the act of washing his disciples’ feet is made even more manifest and apparent when he is nailed to the cross for our sins.
Washing feet is an act of humility. And Christ our Lord calls His disciples to imitate this act of humility. But people do not understand humility. The act of Jesus washing feet and any other act of humility is more often than not understood as a sign of weakness rather than a virtue that should be emulated. Peter, speaking for all of the disciples, gives this vibe when he says that he will not be washed by Jesus. “It’s below my master to do this thing.” It’s eerily similar to the event when Jesus told Peter and the disciples what the Christ must do, suffer, die, and then rise. There Peter thought it all beneath his Master to suffer in that way. But like there, Jesus rebukes Peter, “If I do not wash your feet, you have no part in me.” Peter takes the rebuke and gets the hint that what Jesus is doing is at least signifying something very important. So, he goes whole hog the other direction, “not just my feet but also my head.” He wants it all. But then Jesus teaches him that its only his feet which are dirty and need washing.
Another lesson that we receive from our Lord’s washing of his disciples’ feet is not so different than our first lesson. But now we see that Jesus teaches that his forgiveness is also perpetual. Sometimes we are led to believe that I have to do something first before I get forgiveness. That forgiveness is dependent upon me rather than dependent upon the work of Jesus at the cross. But this night Christ our Lord teaches again that the forgiveness of sins is His to give, and He gives it abundantly.
Think about the times that Jesus walked the earth. There were no sneakers or boots like we have nowadays. The roads were dusty, people wore sandals if they wore shoes at all. People did not drive cars, some rode on the backs of various animals, but more often than not people walked. If people were walking around, even after a bath, their feet were always dirty. And it was custom that servants would come and watch the feet of anyone sitting at the table. They would wash the part of the body most susceptible to being dirty from the day, feet. So it is with the spiritual life.
One final lesson which our Lord clearly wants to teach his disciples on the night before His death is that his disciples follow in his example. So, does that mean we should have had a ceremony to begin the service where we all washed each other’s feet? Not exactly, so what does it mean that Jesus washed his disciples’ feet and what does it mean for us to follow in his example? Washing feet is not something that we do just one day a year but it is a command. That is why we call this Thursday Maundy Thursday. Maundy comes from the Latin word Mandatum. This is where we get the word mandate. Jesus gives his disciples a new command. Its Command Thursday. And feet washing is the command. To wash feet means to humble ourselves as our Lord humbled himself.
This is what feet washing looks like. And it is hard! It is hard because you are commanded to wash the feet of not just your friends but your enemies! And you are called to do this daily. Humble yourselves before your enemies? Daily you will meet people with dirty feet need to be encouraged, who need to hear the good news that Jesus died for their sins and that they are forgiven. These people will not always be nice people even though they are Christians. They come in all shapes and sizes. Some are gloomy, others proud, arrogant, mean.
In the book and class called Love and Respect, there’s a lesson about the different cycles. One is called the crazy cycle. In the crazy cycle, the wife won’t show respect until she is shown love and the husband won’t show love until he is shown some respect. You see how that makes the cycle a continual spiral downward. But we find a connection here. It would be easy to serve those who were nice and appreciative. It takes someone to be mature to break the cycle. To get over the fact of being disrespected or unloved. To show love and respect when it isn’t deserved.
Christ our Lord did that. He came to His own and they did not understand. He came and died while we were still His enemies. He washed the feet of those men who would run away from him when he was arrested. He showed love and forgiveness to His enemies, and He commands us to do this as well. We are commanded to wash feet.
Have in your own mind the mind of Christ Jesus our Lord. Receive His life blood and His body into yourself and be enlivened to live in righteousness and purity before him. Receive the washing which Christ has given to you in Holy Baptism. Return to the promise of the Gospel often. Receive the forgiveness of sins. Go wash your neighbors’ feet. Love them as Christ loved. Humble yourself before them. And the love and the forgiveness He has goes until the end.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp St. Peter’s Lutheran Church La Grange, MO
