Church Year – Page 2 – What Does This Mean?

The Right Hand of God

Encore Post:

[Thirty-First in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism]

In ancient palaces, a ruler exercised power in a very formal way. He would enter the throne room with a herald going before him. All would bow to him and yet watch his every move, every gesture, and listen carefully to every word. His crown identified him as a ruler. The session began when he sat down on his throne. In fact, the word “session” literally means “the time of sitting.” Those who stood near him were very powerful people. Only those of equal power would sit in his presence — especially at his right hand. So, the right hand of the ruler became a figure of speech that stands for his authority, glory, and honor.

When we say that Jesus “ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty,” we confess that he is equal to the Father and is also almighty. (Matthew 28:18). This truth is precious to us for many reasons.

When Satan, the world, and our sinful nature try to rule over us, we can tell them to get lost. They do not rule us — Jesus does. When we baptize and teach others God’s Word, it is not our talents, reputation, or ability to impress others with our words that matter. The authority to do so comes from Jesus, and the power that changes hearts comes from him and the Holy Spirit. When we feel lonely, we are not alone, because he is with us always, until the end of time itself.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Christ is Risen!

Encore Post:

[Thirtieth in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism]

Since ancient times, Christians have greeted each other on Easter with “He is risen!” or “Christ is risen.” The words of the angel to the women at the tomb (Mark 16:6) are still joyful to this day. In Lutheran churches, it is common for pastors to open sermons throughout the Easter season with these words. The greeting is repeated at the end of Lutheran burial services, reminding us of the resurrection. So, why does the resurrection strike such a chord with Christians? After all, the full price for our salvation was completed when Jesus died on the cross.

The reasons we cling to the Resurrection of Jesus are many. The most important thing is that the resurrection of our bodies is tied to it. In baptism, we die with Christ, and when he rose, we rise to new life. (Romans 6:3-4) If Jesus did not rise from the dead, we would remain in our graves. We would have believed in a lie. But Christ did rise from the grave, the first harvest of God’s children. (1 Corinthians 15:20) His resurrection broke the seal of the grave. On the last day, we will rise, body and soul, to live with Christ forever.

The resurrection of our Lord also fulfilled all the promises of God’s word and the predictions of Jesus himself. When he rose, he demonstrated that God’s promises are kept. The three days in the grave — Friday afternoon, Saturday, and Saturday evening — fulfilled these in great precision. So, with the Church of all times and places, we confess, “on the third day, he rose from the dead,” knowing that it makes our resurrection a sure and certain hope. So, we can face death, knowing it has no sting any longer.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

St. Titus, Pastor and Bishop

Encore Post: Titus was a gentile who came to faith through the preaching of St. Paul early in the apostle’s ministry. He accompanied Paul and Barnabas on several trips to Jerusalem and with Paul on his missionary journeys. He was presented to the apostles in Jerusalem as a test case. Did he have to be circumcised to be a Christian or would faith in Christ be all he needed? They decided he did not need to perform the rite.

Titus was a skilled mediator and trusted by Paul to bear his letters to the Corinthian Church, where he brought peace and reconciliation with the Apostle. Later he would be entrusted with bringing order to the church in Crete, where he would serve as bishop into his old age.

The Lutheran Church remembers this faithful pastor and bishop on January 26.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

The Conversion of St. Paul

Encore Post: On January 25th, the week after the celebration of the Confession of St. Peter, the Lutheran Church gives thanks for the Conversion of St. Paul. This miracle brought to faith one of the most important missionaries, theologians, and pastors in church history.

Saul of Tarsus was born to a well-to-do Jewish craftsman. His father made leather and canvas goods, including sails and tents. His father was a Roman citizen, a status his children inherited. His home city had a good reputation, which served him well. His father was a faithful Pharisee and provided his son with both a first-rate classical Greek education and the best training for eventually becoming a rabbi. Like many of his educated countrymen, he had both a Hebrew name, Saul, and a Greek name — Paul.

Paul became a disciple of one of the greatest rabbis in Jewish history, Gamaliel. He excelled in these studies and may well have served in the Sanhedrin. He was so zealous for his religion that he became a persecutor of the followers of Jesus and a witness to the stoning of Stephen, the first martyr.

Intent on arresting every Christian in Damascus, Saul set out with a warrant from the chief priest. Along the way, Jesus appeared to him in a light so bright it knocked him off his mount and blinded him. Jesus identified himself and commissioned Paul to go to the Gentiles. He directed Paul to Ananias, who forgave his sins and baptized him. Paul’s sight was restored.

The Holy Spirit would inspire Paul to write 1/4 of the New Testament. He would take the gospel to the ends of the Roman world, including Spain. The Apostle to the Gentiles fulfilled his mission well.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

St. Timothy, Pastor, Bishop, Friend of St. Paul

Encore Post: Timothy of Lystra had a blessed childhood. His grandmother and mother were Jews who came to Christ. Even in the womb, he heard the Holy Scriptures and was raised loving God, even though his father was a Gentile. He may have already a Christian when he first met St. Paul, or came to faith through his preaching of the Gospel. A kind, mature, and reserved young man, he impressed everyone, including St. Paul. So, Paul had him circumcised and brought him on his missionary journeys. Called as a pastor, he soon became Paul’s trusted and effective assistant. When Paul was near martyrdom, he called for Timothy to come to be with him. After Paul’s death, Timothy served as the Bishop of Ephesus. Church tradition reports that he was martyred in his old age.

On January 24th, the Lutheran Church gives thanks to God for St. Timothy and all pastors. God sent them to proclaim the Gospel, to care for his children, to bring to them the gifts of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, to forgive their sins when they repent, and to be present with them in all the days of their lives. The Scriptures urge us to study their lives, learn from them, and imitate their faith. We do this not because they are holier than us. They are not. It is because they are just like us. Since they lived trusting in Jesus, we, too, can live trusting in him. After all, Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:7-8)

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

The Confession of St. Peter

Encore Post: In northeast Israel, at the base of Mount Hermon, a giant spring gushed water out of a cave that flowed into Huela Marsh, the headwaters of the Jordan River. During the centuries following the death of Alexander the Great, Syria’s Greek rulers built a shrine to the god Pan there. During the earthly ministry of Jesus, Herod the Great’s son Philip built a town nearby and named it after Tiberius Caesar and himself. His father had added a temple to Caesar Augustus to the previous shrine to Pan. A major trade road, “The Way to the Sea,” ran through the town on its way to the Sea of Galilee and the Mediterranean Sea. At the end of his ministry in Galilee, Jesus took his disciples to this location to prepare them for his final year of ministry, suffering, death, and resurrection. (Matthew 16:13-28)

In this place, Jesus asked his disciples who people thought he was. They replied that people said he was a prophet, maybe even John the Baptist or Elijah. Jesus then followed up. “Who do you say I am?” St. Peter replied, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” God the Father had revealed this to Peter, but it quickly became clear that he really did not know what a Messiah was supposed to do. Jesus explained to the disciples that he would soon suffer, die for the sins of the world, and rise from the dead in three days. Peter tried to scold him. It could not happen to him — he was the Messiah, after all. Jesus replied by calling Peter Satan. Anyone who would be his disciple would need to take up his own cross and follow Jesus.

Even though Peter was badly mistaken, Jesus praised his confession that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. The confession was so important that Jesus gave him the name Peter, the little rock. The confession itself is the rock on which Jesus builds his church. Even hell itself cannot destroy that church. Since the early years of the twentieth century, the Lutheran Church has celebrated this confession on January 18th, a day always in the season of Epiphany, when it meditates on how God the Son reveals himself to us.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Jews and Gentiles

Encore Post: The Greeks saw the world as made up of two kinds of people — Greeks and barbarians. For the Romans, it was Romans and pagans. In the 1960s, we saw the world as Americans versus Communists. The Communists saw the world as Communist, Capitalist, or Imperialist. For the Jews, it was Jews and Gentiles.

Of course, for them, God was the source of this separation. He called Abraham out of the Sumerian culture and the service of multiple gods to the service of the one true God. He set him apart from the rest of the world to be a blessing to it. He grew the nation from the descendants of Abraham and Sarah. He freed them from slavery in Egypt, gave them his law, formed them in the desert, and gave them the land of promise.

But there, the other nations — the gentiles — worshiped other gods and lived in great immorality. Not the least of that evil was that they would sacrifice their children for favors from their gods. So God commanded the people of Israel to kill them all and destroy all their possessions. The Israelites did not do this perfectly. Those people tempted God’s people to wander from him and sink into their immorality. God punished them by exiling them to Babylon. Except for 150 years, they lived as the subjects of pagan nations.

They learned a lesson. The Jews — at least the pious ones — tried to keep the law so perfectly they invented their own laws and traditions. Among those was strict separation from Gentiles, to the point of not even eating with them. In the temple, they would not allow Gentiles to enter the temple proper and punished transgression with death.

The celebration of Epiphany marks how the coming of Christ changes this once and for all. Jesus died on the cross for the sins of both Jews and Gentiles. The reason for the division is demonstrated when the temple curtain tore in two from top to bottom. Now, as Isaiah prophesied, the nations come to God through Christ and meet God’s people there. Together we praise him who called us both out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

The Wisemen, the Star and the Gifts

Encore Post: At Christmas time, we see them everywhere. The crèches — Nativity scenes — appear on lawns, in malls, under Christmas trees and especially in our churches. They are not only great decorations, but they are ways to tell the Christmas story to those who cannot read. In virtually all of them, there are three figures bearing gifts. They stand next to camels. Often they look like kings from the Middle Ages of Europe.

Yet these figures were not yet there on the night Jesus was born. Nor were they kings. They were scholars from Persia or Babylon, skilled in the study of the stars. No wonder the star got their attention. No one knows what the star was, but it appeared two years before they got to Bethlehem. They are in the stable because the Christian Church in the West celebrates their arrival on the twelfth night after Christmas. It makes it easier to explain what is happening on both holidays. You can read their story in Matthew 2.

The day that follows is called Epiphany — appearance. It is the first day of the Epiphany season, when the Church celebrates how Jesus revealed himself through his ministry in ancient Galilee and Judea. The church cherishes the Wisemen because they were the first Gentiles to worship Jesus.

The child Jesus did not remain small, however. Like every one of us, he grew up, learned his lessons, and worked with his father and brothers as a craftsman. Both God and his community were very pleased. Yet this is but the first way that Jesus earned our salvation. This season, watch for the other ways Jesus and his Heavenly Father reveal the rest of the story.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

What’s in a Name?

Encore Post: Our names are important to us. They are kind of shorthand for everything we are and have worked to build. They tell us which family we belong to and how close we are to the people who use it. At important times in our lives, our names change — when we get married, if we are appointed to an office, earn a degree or get married. Parents often take a lot of time deciding on the name to give to each of their children.

In the Hebrew culture of the Bible, names meant even more, if that it possible. They were thought to predict the kind of person the child would be. Often, people would change their names when life changed. Sometimes a name was given, along with the reason for its choice. Some of the most important people in God’s plan were named by God Himself.

On January 1st, the Lutheran Church traditionally celebrates the Circumcision and Naming of Jesus. God Himself gave Jesus his name. The name is a form of the name Joshua, which means God saves. (Matthew 1:27) The angel told Joseph, “For he will save his people from their sins.” In one sense, we dedicate each new year in Jesus’ name. In another sense, God dedicates us in the name of Jesus.

In the circumcision of Jesus, God’s son began his suffering for our salvation. He lived a perfect life for our sake, suffered and died on the cross for our sake, rose again from the dead, and ascended into Heaven for our sake. In our baptism, God’s name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is given to us. We are now his children, and we will live with him forever. On the last day, Jesus will return for us. He truly is Jesus because he saves us from our sin.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Lord, Now Peacefully Release Your Servant

Encore Post: Simeon patiently waited for years. The Holy Spirit told him he would see the promised Messiah. On the day that the Son of God suddenly appeared in his temple, the Holy Spirit led him to the Court of the Women in the temple. There he did as countless rabbis did, took a baby in his arms. This time, the infant was different. He was the Son of God. Simeon’s song — the last in Luke’s musical — is sung by the church in the vespers, compline and in divine services.

We know the song by the first of its words in Latin — nunc dimittis: “Lord, release…” Simeon’s words sum up the checking off of the last item on the ultimate bucket list. He had held God himself in his own hands. He knew that in this Son of David, God would save his people — both Jewish and Gentile. He could die in peace.

When we sing the song of Simeon after the Lord’s Supper, we, too, have received the Lamb of God in our own hands and mouth as we eat his body with bread and drink his blood with wine. We, too, can go in peace. When we sing the song in the evening, we do it as we prepare for bed, knowing that we have seen the Lord in his Word.

There is one other time when we sing this song. When a pastor senses that the Lord himself will soon call us to be with him, the pastor will sing this song with us or for us. If he has time, he will bring us the Lord’s own supper as bread for our journey. If he is present with us when the angels come for us, he will sing this song for us again: “Lord, now let your servant go in peace, according to your word. For his own eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people. A light to lighten the gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.” I did this for my own wife twice during her last hours, just before the angels carried her home to be with Jesus. May we then rest in his peace, now and to the day of the resurrection of all flesh.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana