Sacraments – Page 4 – What Does This Mean?

Even the Wind and the Waves Obey Him

Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

It is often the case that what Jesus preaches and teaches one day, He reinforces again not too many days later. In the parable from last week, Jesus spoke about the seed which is sown and how it grows. He took us back to the image of creation. We were reminded that He himself identified as the Seed of the Woman who would come and make things new, reconciling us back to God. He came into the world, becoming flesh, to save fallen humanity from eternal death and hell. He was making things new by sowing into our hearts and the hearts of all mankind His Word via the preaching of those He has sent to sow the Word abroad.

With today’s lesson from Mark 4:35 and following we are taught the lesson again of who Jesus is. He is the Word of God made flesh. And we learn also that it was through Him that all things were made. The Word of God, that is the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, gave the seas their limits. It was by Him that the foundations of the earth were laid. (Also see, Proverbs 8) And now He is the world, in the flesh and He only needs to speak, “Peace, be still!” and the winds of the waves of the storm cease immediately.

Jesus’ words have power. They God’s Word, for He is God. His Words are life giving. If the winds and the sea obey His Words, do you not think we should fear Him? If He can make the natural world listen to Him, do you not think He can also bring about disaster by one little word too? We are right to fear Him. Jesus does have power over wind and sea, but He has power over all things. And He as a man born of the blessed Virgin has been given power, dominion, and authority over all things, and will execute that power on the last day. And He do all this as a man.

The disciples were still utterly confused even after meeting with Jesus privately to discuss the last parables. They didn’t get that Jesus was the Seed long promised from the time of Adam and Eve. They did not understand that He was truly God in the Flesh, Immanuel, God with us.

The disciples and we too should really not receive the mercies that we do. We gripe about a lot of different things. We are bound to say something like this: “Life isn’t fair God. You took the love of my life from me via cancer. You gave me bad eyes. Can’t you see this congregation of yours is perishing? What are you doing? What did we do? Do you care, God, that your servants are languishing under this suffering?” Have many of those things reverberate in your mind? Have we done what Job did and say that we are pure and without transgression, that we are clean and there is no iniquity in me? Are we too good for all these bad things to happen to us? Are we just innocent victims of all this? Or are we getting something that we deserve. The truth is if we got what we truly deserved it would be a drowning in the boat, eternal death and hell for us all. For nothing in us is good, our hearts continually commit evil. There is none of us who are good, no not one. We are full of sin of one kind or another, deserving the full wrath of God.

We should do what Job did in the presence of the Holy God. We should despise ourselves and repent in dust and ashes. Confess your sins to God our Father and at the same time trusting in His promise that He shows mercy to the repentant sinner and forgives sin.

When the disciples cry out, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Christ our Lord shows His compassion and mercy upon the poor disciples. So also, He shows us mercy when don’t deserve it. The Lord Jesus loves us, as He loved Job and His disciples. He brought them to repentance and faith by the preaching of His Word. You get a bit of that preaching from Him in Job, and you hear the disciples question who Jesus is because they were still filled with fear of what they had just witnessed. Both Job and the disciples saw Jesus doing what Jesus does. He has command over all creation. He is great, they are small and lowly. They fear, but He has mercy on those who fear Him. He speaks, creating in them repentance and faith. The disciples were learning to trust what Jesus said because when He speaks the thing which He speaks happens.

Jesus, who is the Word of God incarnate, has power over wind and sea. It is only fitting then that the Word which He speaks also has the power to create faith in His people. Think about the man who was paralyzed. Not only did Jesus forgive the man’s sins but also told him to rise and walk in order to show that the Son of Man had authority to forgive sins. All of it happened instantly. The seed is sown and faith grows in the heart. A new creation begins. This is a faith which clings to Christ’s Word, rightly fearing Him, but also loving Him because His Word is not just a word that rains down gloom and doom but rather the promise of the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life in Him because He poured out His blood at the cross for the world, for you.

Christ promises to build His church on earth, and by Him speaking it, so shall it be. And so, if we take this a step further, Jesus showers upon all the world his forgiveness by the preaching of his atoning sacrifice at the cross, His resurrection from the dead for our justification, as well as his Ascension to the right hand of the Father, from thence He now rules over His Church on Earth until He returns the same way He came into Heaven. You hear His Word, so you receive Him, and you grow in your faith in Him.

If Jesus is indeed God, what is for Him to tell His Disciples that Baptism is the means by which a person enters into the Kingdom of God, and is cleansed from all sin? Jesus’ Word does what it says. The same for Holy Communion. What is it for Jesus to take up bread and say to His disciples, “Take and it, this is My body?” And taking a cup and saying, “Take and drink all of you, this cup is the New Testament in my Blood for the forgiveness of your sins?” If he has power over wind and sea, certainly He has power over bread and wine and they will be exactly what He says they are.

And now He, who loves His creation and the delights in the children of man having died to redeem and reconcile them to His heavenly Father, speaks through the mouths of those ministers He has placed into His churches that your faith in Him may grow and His kingdom increase. His Words still have power to do exactly what they say, and remember, His Word never returns void but will accomplish the purpose for which it was sent.

So why do we doubt what He says, when wind and sea obey Him? Why do we doubt that Christ has come to give us forgiveness of sins and everlasting life with Him, purchased and won by his sacrifice at the cross? Have we fallen into the lie of Satan that God does not really love us but rather would love to see us perish in anguish? If that be so, why did He not just let the boat perish? Why did God not just allow Satan to take Job at the beginning? Why did God take Israel out of Egypt? The Israelites believed that God was going to just kill them in the desert. But the Lord God is not sadistic. But He teaching us His way. Suffering comes before exaltation, even for the only begotten Son Jesus Christ. He is not exalted before His suffering and death on the cross. So, we trust in what our Lord is doing, because by these things we are being brought to a right and proper knowledge, fear, love and trust in our Lord that we may be saved from eternal torment.

The 2^nd commandment, which we recited this morning, deals with the name of the Lord. In all times and situations, we are called to call upon Him. In times of suffering call upon Him. In times of temptation, call upon Him. In times of thanksgiving, call upon Him. You have that right, for you are his child and He your Father by the waters of Holy Baptism. He has placed His name upon you at Holy Baptism. He has marked you His own child by the sign of the cross, so talk to your Heavenly Father. In other words, pray to Him. It does not need to be anything polished. Most of the time it will be like the disciples in our reading calling out our gripes and our fears. But this is what our Lord desires because He loves granting you mercy and love. That is His nature. “Call upon me in your day of trouble, I will deliver you and you will honor me.” Our Lord desires to hear our prayers.

Our Lord especially loves to hear you tell Him what He has promised He will do. A prayer might be something like this, “Lord God, you have promised all things work for the good of those who love you. Grant me courage to trust your promise as I carry the heavy burden of cancer in my body. I do not know why you laid this upon me, but help me O Lord to put my trust in you to carry me through the trials and tribulations, as you have promised to do, for the sake of my Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.” Or it might be even less, “God, you promised. Now help me in my sufferings!” Our Lord binds up those who are suffering and are hurting, and renews their strength. Now it may not be exactly what we expect. Healing may not come in this life time, but it will be done because He has spoken, and He will do it.

So come to Him, as children come to their dear Father, and receive from Him everything He has for you in Christ Jesus, who lived, died, and rose that you might know the fullness of God’s love for you. In 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

Good Seed

Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The words of our Lord Jesus should make your ears perk up, as it most assuredly made the ears of His original hearers perk up. Seed, sower, and ground. A word picture of creation. That is what you see when a seed is scattered on the ground, it sprouts up and begins to produce its flower and fruit or grain. It just happens. And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind (Gen 1:11-13). So also, in the beginning when God gave dominion to man and woman, He said to them, “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen 1:26-28) They were to grow and scatter, filling the earth, living before the Lord God forever in gladness.

But the unthinkable happened, the serpent, the murderer from the beginning, came and brought upon Adam and Eve and the fruit of their union and every union since, death (Gen 3:1-19) You plant a seed, but you bury a body. A planted seed sprouts, a buried body is food for the worms. The children of Adam and Eve would be going back to the dust from which they came without any hope.

But in this moment of utter disaster, when all hope of living before God was lost, the Lord God came to the defense of Adam and Eve and spoke that beautiful promise you heard last week. A new Seed, the Seed of the woman who would come and defeat the serpent at his dirty game. This Seed would be planted into the earth and would bear the fruit which the Old Adam no longer could even dream of producing before God.

The Seed is none other than Jesus Christ. His father sent Him, and He was planted into the womb of the Virgin Mary by the preaching of the Angel Gabriel. He was born to the Virgin, in the town of Bethlehem. He came just like a tiny mustard seed in the eyes of the world. Hardly a soul paid a bit of attention to the babe in the stable. And this Seed would grow in wisdom and stature. He was becoming like the noble cedar prophesied by Ezekiel in our reading from his great prophetic book.

Christ would go one to preach and teach these very parables that we heard today and many others. You see He is the seed. He is the Word Incarnate, so when you hear His word preached today, you are dealing with the living and breathing Jesus Christ. You are dealing with the Seed Himself. And He came to redeem you from the dust of sin and death that you might live forever with Him in His Kingdom.

It is He who came to crush the head of the serpent. Jesus reminded His disciples in what manner this would come about. In John 12 Jesus says, “Truly, Truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” There are those who would say Jesus is wrong, that the bible has an error here. A seed has to germinate to produce fruit say the scientists, and they are true. But this Seed, Jesus, He must die in order for you to have life again. He is speaking about the manner in which your redemption would come about. He must go to the cross and die and be buried and in three days rise from the dead. He gives up His life for you. Paul says in his first epistle to the Corinthians, “Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20-28). Jesus went through death and rose from the dead that you, who confess faith in Him, would as well.

The cross of Jesus is the tree which is the refuge of all who are weak and heavy laden with sin and sorrow in this life. Come and take up refuge here in its shadow. The benefits of Christ’s cross comes to you in the Sacraments which Christ our Lord instituted. Through them you are given the fruits of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. Your sins are forgiven. They are washed away by His cleansing blood. You are made new in Christ Jesus in the waters of Holy Baptism. You are made in the image of a new seed, the kind that no longer dies. You will live forever with Christ in the Kingdom that has no end. Your faith is sustained in the eating and drinking of his body and blood.

This is the message which we have received by the preaching of God’s Ministers of the Gospel. This is the promise of Christ Jesus by which you have been called to faith in Him. That yes, while still live in our sinful flesh and still sin much because we fall into many temptations, we have a Lord who has come and has saved us from the wages of sin. Death no longer has dominion over Him, and by faith in Him it no longer has dominion over us. This is our confession. Indeed, we deserve punishment and eternal death for our sins, but for the sake of Jesus our Lord who died for us, we have the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation in His Name. Thanks be to God. We have found shade and refuge in our Lord Jesus Christ.

The world does not look favorably upon our Lord, His cross, our His sowers of the blessed Gospel. But the Word of our Lord is powerful, and will sustain you unto the time that the Lord deems the harvest ready. His Word speaks to you, you literally have the seed planted into you by the preaching of it, and it sprouts and faith grows in the fertile heart. God sends His Word, and it will not return to Him void. Therefore do not stop being edified by the word of God and the preaching thereof. Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. Joyfully hear Christ’s Words for you in order that you be sustained in this faith delivered to you in the waters of Holy Baptism as you traverse this life. Remember you are not alone as you walk in this world. He promises He is with you and never will leave you nor forsake you.

He promises He will create something new. And He has by His Son’s death and resurrection. We may not look like much right now in the world — nothing more than the tree from Charlie Brown’s Christmas — but we appear glorious in the eyes of our heavenly Father. John the beloved disciples says, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”

And you are sustained by the hearing of His Word and the reception of His Sacrament, His Body and His Blood. You are being kept safe in His love, the love poured out for you at His cross. And being seed of His kind by the waters of Baptism, you will bear the same fruit. You are called to a life faith in the Lord as well as a live of service and love to one another. As Paul said last week, “so we believe, so we speak.” So, speak about the new creation you are because of Christ Jesus because He has come to save you. You are of good seed, seed that is imperishable. We are called to talk about what has happened to us in Christ Jesus. It might not look like much with earthly eyes, but the message is true. Let hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

The Sower of Christ’s Word is called to simply sow the Word abroad. God, Himself, gives the growth. And the seed will grow where it will in the time that God has appointed. We will likely not see the fruits of such scattering, but rejoice and be glad that you are called to the labor of proclaiming Christ to those who surround you in this life. And rejoice all the more if the Lord lets you see the fruits of faith come to maturity in those you have spoken the good news of Christ. The Kingdom might look tiny, just like the baby in a manger, or man naked on a cross, but what we are is known to God, and I hope it known also in your conscience. You are of good seed, you are Christ’s. Therefore, you are a new creation and will be numbered with the fruit following the firstfruits of Christ.

David speaks thus of those who trust in Christ for their eternal redemption and it is a fitting way to close this sermon. May we, by God’s grace, be like this, and we are for the sake of Christ Jesus: “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.” 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

The Stronger Man Has Come and Welcomes You Home

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Adam and Eve were in great shape. They had been blessed by the Lord, commanded to have dominion over the earth, to be fruitful and multiply. They were living a good life in the garden, the home prepared for them by the Lord their God. But it wasn’t very long before the serpent came tempting. Eve was simply outmatched; the serpent was stronger than Eve who tried to put somewhat of a defense. Adam on the other hand was less than impressive not saying a single word against the assault of the serpent upon Eve. He was there the entire time at her side, but Adam, who should have been protecting Eve from the serpent, did nothing. Adam failed his wife that day. With their fall, no longer listening to and doing the will of God, they were cast out of the house and family of God. Adam and Eve were strong but the serpent was stronger, and so he bound them and took them as his bounty. He took them into his house of death.

Adam and Eve were now slaves in a strong man’s house. Stuck in sin, slaves to it and their passions, they and their children would meet their eternal deaths. They would be under the burden of their sin, and would face the temporal consequences. The earth would no longer give up its bountiful harvests. Children would not come easily for husband and wife, and if they were to have one or two, rearing children would be its own difficult task. And wife’s desire would be to supplant husband as head of household, and man would then seek to rule over her, neither of which lead to a happy and successful marriage. Rather, strife ensues. Stuck in the strong man’s house, the house of the serpent, to whom they had hooked their wagons when taking the fruit, desiring to be wise, they now were being led to eternal death.

You are the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve. Do you do your own will? Or do you listen to and do God’s will? Do you know His Will? The strong man, Satan, makes you wonder just like he made Eve. And we without the calling of the Holy Spirit in Gospel are bound to believe Satan. Is God’s will actually good for me? He would also lie and say no.

But yet, what if I told you, God’s will is right under your nose, and that it is really good for you? If you answered you did not know God’s will, you are welcome to open your bible and read. Our Lord’s will is made known to you, because God’s Word is His will. It is plain and simple right in front of you. He had given Adam and Eve His will by speaking to them the words concerning this tree. “Let us make man in our image” the Lord said. Creating Adam and Eve and every single of you was His Will. “You shall not eat of the tree in the middle of the garden, for the moment you do, you shall surely die.” More of God’s will was made known to Adam and Eve. Every tree is given you for food, except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That was God’s will.

After our mother and father fell – and plunging all of humanity with them into the depths of death and sin – God’s will is for redemption to take place. He does not utterly destroy His creation in those tense moments after the first sin, but He shows His intense love for it. He makes the promise to save Adam and Eve and all their children who would follow in their sinful ways. Our Lord’s love for His creation never changes. The Lord would save it via the seed of the woman.

Now a woman does not have a seed. She has an egg. This is no ordinary child promised to be born of the woman. He can’t be born the natural way otherwise he would carry the sin of Adam and Eve. But God the Holy Spirit would overshadow Mary and she would give birth to Jesus the very Son of God, and He would live, fight and die for our redemption against the strong man, Satan. For when He looks at us, He sees his mother, sisters, and brothers. Jesus, our Lord came into the world, the devil’s playground, or as others call it, enemy occupied territory, to take for Himself that which was His from the beginning. He, the stronger man, came to bind the strong man, Satan, that He might have His inheritance. His inheritance is you and all the faithful of God. It is you in whom our Lord Jesus Christ delights. And He delighted in you from the moment of creation and even after the fall. His delight in us is made known to us in and through our Lord’s incarnation, life, and ultimately his death on the cross. He did the will of His Father that you might be welcomed back into the family and household of God for the sake of Christ who died and rose for you.

You then, are no longer a slave in the house of Satan; death has no dominion over you because your Lord Jesus has come and has bound Satan by defeating Him at the cross. Death had no hold on Him, and because you have been brought to the waters of Holy Baptism and have been washed in the Water and Word, you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. He, who bound himself to our flesh by His incarnation, now binds you to Himself in the waters of Holy Baptism forever. Rejoice and be glad for He has redeemed you. You are made new and the new man stands and lives before God, ready to do His will, joyfully hearing His Word and trusting in it for everlasting life.

We are led to believe that God’s will for us is something that is extremely personal. I have heard many a prayer asking for God to show His will for a certain person’s life. A question might be posed this way: What is God’s will for me in this life? Maybe it is a prayer in the imperative command, “Lord, show me your will!” We might think we don’t know it, but its most likely we have failed to pay attention to His Word, which is His Will. They are one and the same. The will of your Father in heaven is for you listen to the words of His Son and believe Him that you might be saved from everlasting death and hell. That is God’s will for you and all humanity. Christ says, “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.” Ultimately it comes down to the first commandment, do you believe in the God who says, “You shall have no other gods before me” or do you not? Do you believe the words of the Incarnate Son of God, who in His pre-incarnate state spoke the Ten commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai, or do you not? Are you going to trust in what Jesus says or are you going to put your trust and your hope in something else?

To whose house do you belong? The house of death? Or the house of life? “Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.” These words should make us at least look at our lives and ask if we are really doing God’s will. Are we listening to His Word and believing it as He has spoken? Have we tried to lessen some of the burdens of God’s Word because we don’t like what it says because it may be hard to hear and pierces the heart? When we try to form God or Jesus into something other than what He has said about Himself in His Word we are creating an idol, who is really not God at all.

Repent, and confess your sins and believe in the one who has redeemed you and forgives your sins against God’s will, Jesus Christ. That is is the will of God the Father, for your to believe in His Son and be raised to everlasting life on the last day.

While we wait for that day, we live here and now. Strive in this life to do better in keeping your Lord’s Word front and center in your lives. Fight against your sinful and lazy flesh. Do not roll over on your pillow and attend St. Snooze away on Sunday mornings. Go to your pastor’s bible studies, be in God’s Word so that God’s Word is active in your life, come to the rail and receive all of Christ’s gracious gifts for you. Do not put your faith in a box only to be opened on Sunday mornings, but rather what you hear on Sunday mornings concerning your Lord Jesus and what He has done for you by his death and resurrection should affect every aspect of your life.

Do not just shrug your shoulders when you get the urge to write a note of encouragement to a friend. Do not lie to your mom about having cleaned your room, but rather do the job in the manner she desires and expects. Parents, do not sit idly by when you see your children doing something that will undoubtedly create lasting damage to their faith. In other words, fight against the one who tempts you, for the One who lives in you by Holy Baptism is stronger than the tempter. Confess your sins, but also confess your faith in the stronger man Jesus, who came to die that you might be saved from the house of death. And you now, being bound to Christ by Holy Baptism, have the victory over Satan. Just as Jesus crushed the head of the serpent, so you now are able to tread upon Him because of being bound to Christ. The stronger man has come and bound him who had you bound. You are free. And you’re made a child of household of God. Do not forget whose family you now belong. Trust in our Lord’s abundant promises. Sins are forgiven because of Christ’s bitter sufferings and death in your place at the cross.

You have the same spirit of faith within you as did St. Paul. We then with him should believe and thus speak. We should be speaking this good news that Jesus has bound the strong man, Satan, that all the world might live in peace before our Lord and God forever doing His Will. Things do not look all that good if you look around the world, our own bodies are showing their wear and tear, yet we have the promise to which we have been called, a promise which God our Lord has called all people to believe. And He who has redeemed us now comes to us with His mercy and grace, bestowing to us His body and blood as a pledge and token of the marriage feast that has no end. And He says to you, welcome home my children. Welcome home.

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

The Good Shepherd Who Lays Down His Life

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.

As I said just a minute or so ago, look at and notice the shepherd staff. It has the hook, but it also is the cross. By way of the Incarnation of the Son of God, Jesus became like us in every way. Flesh and Blood yet without sin. The hook keeps the sheep on the right way. The Incarnate Lord Jesus’ way was heading right to the cross. The Son of God became man for this purpose. He became a sheep, a lamb, obedient unto death, following the desire and will of His Father. The Good Shepherd is a lamb, pure and holy, leading the flock, who ultimately lays down His life for His flock.

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.

Jesus the Good Shepherd’s way passes through the cross and shadow of death and into everlasting life. For Christ has laid down His life and has taken it back up! He leads you by the still waters, the waters of Baptism. These waters are a lavish flood of washing away of sin. Your sins are forgiven for the sake of Jesus. He leads you by the still waters. Do not wander from the promises of your baptism, but be immersed in the promises made to you there. This is where you are made a child of God. This is where your sins are forgiven, and where your adversary the Devil has been defeated. You can rest and lie down in peace. You do not need to be alarmed; your Shepherd has defended you against the roaring lion. He struck him a death blow of his own at the cross. He has bound the strong man and has raided his house.

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 23^rd 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 3^rd 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

The Lord’s Supper and Ascension

These are thoughts that I had when reading the wonderful book Without Flesh: Why the Church is Dying even Though Christ is Still Alive by Jonathan Fisk published by CPH. I highly recommend this book to be read for the continued strengthening and resolve to trust our Lord’s Promise made to us in His Supper.

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?

Remember who Jesus is. He is God in the Flesh. God has the power to be everywhere at any moment in time. When Jesus walked the earth before His death and resurrection, He denied himself these rights of His divinity. He was locally present with His Disciples in Galilee. The Church speaks of this as Christ’s time of Humiliation. But before Jesus ascended into heaven, He spoke to his Disciples, “All authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to me” (Matt 28:18). The authority of God has really always been Jesus’ authority. Now He wields all that authority as a man! When He ascends to the Right Hand of God, He is now saying that His body can be anywhere He wants it to go. As Paul says, “Christ fills all things.” He does so in His body of flesh and blood. The Sacrament of the Altar in particular is one of those places by which He promises to give Himself and the forgiveness of sins.

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

What Has the Lord Done for Us Lately?

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 9^th 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

Absolution: A Sacrament?

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.

Luther in his Large Catechism follows in line with Augustine when he defines what a sacrament is. “The Word is added to the element, and it becomes a sacrament.” We should also state Luther looked at the Sacraments as vehicles by which the Lord Jesus Christ gives forgiveness of sins. Hence, why Luther spends much more time speaking about the Word that is added to the physical element than the elements themselves. In the Sacrament of Baptism for instance, the element is water, but Luther asks the question, “How can water do such things?” The answer Luther gives speaks specifically about the Word being added to it. He asks a similar question when dealing with the Sacrament of the Altar where there are two physical elements, bread and wine. He asks about the eating and drinking. Luther answers similarly. It’s the Words that make the elements into a Sacrament for the forgiveness of our sins.

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.

But Luther’s use of Augustine’s definition is not the only definition for “Sacrament” that finds its way in to the Book of Concord. Melanchthon gives another definition when speaking about them, by which we can understand Absolution to be a Sacrament. Even Luther himself in his Large Catechism, speaks of Absolution as the third Sacrament. Melanchthon gives this definition for Sacrament: “Rites which have the command of God and to which the promise of grace has been added.” For Melanchthon’s definition there is no physical element for the Word to adhere itself. And later Melanchthon plainly says that Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and Absolution are Sacraments.

So which is it? Is Absolution the third Sacrament? The answer all depends on the definition which we use when speaking about the term Sacrament. Ultimately though, it does not matter what we call Absolution. It is Christ’s gift of forgiveness of our sins, spoken to us by Christ’s under-shepherd, speaking in the stead and command of Christ.

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church
La Grange, MO

A Life of Washing Feet

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.

So, it is with us. What does it mean then that Jesus is washing his disciples’ feet? He does this to show that his love is perpetual and ongoing. His love does not come and go but remains. It becomes our refuge, our home. It does not fade away, but it continues on. But the disciples of Jesus fail to understand it most of the time. As do we. He’s trying to prepare his disciples for the events that will take place the next day, when He will go to the cross. For there the very nature of God’s love is on display. God loved the world in this way, that He gave His only begotten son that whoever believe in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. He gave His son to offer Himself as a propitiation for the sin of the world. He was given a body and offered himself as a sacrifice for our salvation. That is God’s love. He humbles himself to the point of going to death, death on a cross. This is how we are won salvation. And when a person understands that the Son of God humiliated and humbled himself in this way for our salvation, then we know and understand God. And we glory in it. We cannot help but say in great wonder, “My God, How Great Thou Art.”

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.

You are clean, You are justified, sanctified, forgiven, through the life-giving word of Jesus. Remember what Peter confesses, ‘You have the words of eternal life.” Jesus words are life giving, and his words speak of his love and his words match his action of going to the cross for you and your salvation. You are pardoned for your sins. But until the day of your death, when your soul and body are separated, your feet will get dirty in this world (see stanzas 5 and 6 in particular). You will continue to sin, for you are still in your sinful flesh and you will be tempted to fall. We need the forgiveness of Christ Jesus every day. And you have it every single day. Remember your baptism! Luther would say when being tempted by Satan, “I am baptized.” There is no greater comfort than returning to the promise made by Christ in your baptism. And you can do that whenever you want. Luther encourages us each day to begin the day in Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is in accordance with what Luther writes in the 4^th part in the confession about baptism: “What does such baptizing with water indicate? It indicates that the Old Adam in us should by 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.” See the effects of baptism is daily. We are returning each day to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We can go and confess our sins to God daily in the Prayer He has taught us to pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” You can confess your sins to your brother and sister in Christ and receive the mutual consolation. Or you can speak to your pastor and hear the absolution spoken over you individually. But the point is that God’s forgiveness for you in the Gospel is a continuous thing for you to receive and rejoice in constantly. That is why Christ gives you that forgiveness via different means: baptism, Lord’s Supper, the Word. Rejoice and be glad in them and have your feet washed by your willing Lord and Savior. It is difficult for us to believe this good news of our Lord’s love and forgiveness being continuous and perpetual unto the end, but that is what Scripture says and so we believe.

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.

That means we are to look at ourselves in our various stations in our life, as a husband, wife, son, daughter, worker, boss, student, and take stock of our God given talents and assess how we can use God’s gifts that he has given us not for ourselves but for our neighbors. We aren’t to use our talents for our own gratification but God’s glory. We are to serve them not despise them. Even though they might deserve it because they are sinful and have wronged us in the past. It means we are not to take offense at people when they wrong us and sin against us.

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

One Flesh in Two Persons: Marriage

Encore Post: For six days, God had been creating the world. He spoke and light appeared, earth took form, land appeared out of the great sea. The sun, moon and stars shown in the sky. Plants grew on the ground, fish swam in the sea and animals roamed the earth.

Now Father, Son and Holy Spirit conferred and said let us make man just like us. And so he made us – male and female. He planted a garden, came down and formed Adam (His name means “ground, soil” in Hebrew) from the soil and breathed life into him. But something still was not quite right. Adam was alone.

So God brought all the animals to him. He named them all one by one. While they were good, something just was not right. Dogs and Cats just didn’t do it. So God made woman from his own bones. Now at last man was just like God – two persons in one flesh. Adam called her woman — she-man and named her Eve–life, because she would be the mother of all people. God’s creation was finally complete. He had made marriage and the family. This was very good.

This perfect image of God, holy like him and the closest human beings have to understanding the nature of God, was ruined by sin and its consequences. When people make themselves the center of the universe there is no room for a god or another. Now sin tempts us to look everywhere for pleasure than in the very good gifts God has given to us. As we turn our hearts from our beloved and the Beloved, they grown cold and unfeeling.

This is why God condemns adultery, pornography, same sex relationships and acts, pre-marital sex, sexual assault, rape and all other seeking of desire outside of the love of one man and woman, united in marriage for a lifetime. It divides what God himself has joined together and marrs the image he placed in us. It destroys the image of the marriage of Christ to the Church and obscures the work he has done for us.

But when we were lost, unfaithful to God our husband, Jesus came and sought us to be his holy bride, with his own blood he bought us and for our life he died. When he found us, he washed us, cleansed us in baptism, so that he could present us as his radiant bride. One the last day, he will come for us, and bring us to the wedding and the marriage reception that lasts forever.

(Re)Building a House

Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen!

David had a fine desire. He, who was building his own house in Jerusalem, desired for the Lord to have such a house as well. A temple to dwell in the midst of His people. For no longer were the people wandering in the wilderness, but had finally been brought into the promised land and had taken over Jerusalem and made it their own. It was time for the ark to stop dwelling in a tent, a more permanent structure ought to be built on Mt. Zion. And David had the blessing of the prophet Nathan to go and pursue it.

But then we hear God’s own words about the situation. God did not ask for such a house in all of the time of the people’s wanderings. And in fact, God tells David it will not be you who builds me a house, but rather I am going to build you a house. A house that will not fall. That one of your own offspring will sit upon the throne forever. It’s the continuation of the promise made to Adam and Eve, Seth, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, David, and the list goes on. The house of David, which the Lord promised to establish comes all the way down to a virgin named Mary, who was betrothed to Joseph who was of the house and line of David. Joseph was a nobody. David and his house were just a stump, a nub, a memory of better days for Israel.

From an earthly view point, the house of David had fallen on extremely hard times. The earthly kingdom and rule of the Davidic Dynasty did not last very long at least as one united kingdom. David united the 12 tribes; Jerusalem was the capitol. But already, David’s house was filled with strife. Just a few chapters later in 2 Samuel we learn of David’s sin with Bathsheba, the attempt to cover up of a sexual indiscretion, then ultimately having Bathsheba’s husband killed in battle. The same prophet Nathan who gives approval of David’s desire to build the Lord a house is the man who comes and calls David to repentance and speaks to him the consequences of his sin. David’s sons would fight over the throne, Solomon would become king and remain king over the 12 tribes, but with his son Rehoboam, the country unraveled. Split in two. And the kings that followed in David’s line were pretty awful more often than not. Only a few actually had a desire to follow in the ways of their father David, having a living faith and trust in the Lord. And then the kingdom was taken from them. Babylon came and carried off their king. They carried off the nobles and the rest of the people is subsequent years as the Lord has warned for years by the mouths of his prophets. In the day that Gabriel visited Mary, the people of Israel are no longer free, but under Roman occupation. They don’t really have their own place any more. And violent men still afflict them. The house of David was full of violent men, the sword would not leave that house. The promise of the David’s house remaining forever? Not even close.

But God does not work according the ways of the world. As Paul says, the world considers God’s actions and ways foolish. Consider the cross of the Christ. “The Word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ”

Here is the folly of the Lord now. He sends his Angel Gabriel to Mary to speak to her that she who is a virgin will bear a son. And its not just any son, but the very Son of God. The Son of the Most High. That house of David, in all its shambles? Yep, its being rebuilt. A shoot is coming from Jesse’s stump. The throne upon which this Son will sit forever? It’s not a kingdom of this world. It is the throne of heaven. And even in the womb of Mary, God would be there sitting on His throne. And He would be coming to establish the house of David forever. But it’s a crazy promise. How can this be? Mary is still a virgin. Gabriel speaks the truth, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”

It must be this way otherwise the Son would not be holy. This is a confession of Original Sin. We pass that original sin from Adam and Eve is transmitted through carnal conception and birth from father and mother. But in Christ’s birth? No seed from the father, no original sin. Christ is born without sin and is the perfect man for you. Yet He is also true God come to save and remove from you and all people the sins and the ultimate consequence of your sins: death.

And Mary believed the words of Gabriel, the messenger of the Lord. And like her Father Abraham many generations before, it was credited to her as righteousness. Mary is called the favored one. We sang it today: Most highly favored Lady. She is the Mother of God and rightfully should be remembered. And yet at the same time, she is not a perfect person either. She was a sinner just like you and me. By nature, sinful and unclean. Hence why she goes on to sing her song: “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” She knew she also needed a savior. The human house and line she was a part of needed to be redeemed.

You all know the song, Mary Did You Know?, And you probably have seen the facebook memes floating around with that question to the Virgin Mary and words in the mouth of Mary, “Yes, Gabriel told me.” She was told her son would be called the Son of God, but I doubt that she had any idea of when He would be called the Son of God. The Disciples would call Jesus the Son of God, when in the boat after watching Jesus walk on the water. But other than that, only Satan, the demons use that title of Jesus. It’s used very seldomly. But it’s used most prominently during the time of Christ’s passion. And it’s a Roman Centurion who says, “Surely, this was the Son of God” upon seeing what all took place at the time of his death.

Jesus would be known as the Son of God in his act of love for his people. The King would come into the holy city, to much and great fanfare but his crown would first be one of thorns. He would take his position as King at His cross. “Nails, spear, shall pierce him through, the cross he borne for me, for you. Hail, Hail the word made flesh, the babe the Son of Mary” (LSB 370 What Child is This, stanza 2).

And by his birth, life, death and resurrection, He establishes a house. And it’s a house that lasts forever. It’s a house which you have been brought into, like Mary by the hearing and trusting of the Word. “Behold I am a servant, let it be to me according to you word.” And Christ speaks to you words of comfort and joy. You who were once in the darkness of sin and death, know that Christ has come to carry your burden of sin and death to the cross. You are forgiven for Christ’s sake and welcomed into the house prepared for you.

God speaks wonderful promises. He spoke to David of establishing a house, and now he speaks to you promising that you are part of that house. You are welcomed into that house as His child by the waters of holy baptism. The world says its foolish and weird. How can water do such great things? Its not just water but rather its water with the Word of God along with the faith that trusts this word of God that makes Holy Baptism what it is, a lavish washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior. Nothing is impossible with God. Why doubt the Lord’s promises made to you now if he kept even a bigger promise in the past? He sent His Son, born of the Virgin, as He promised David and those before Him. Jesus came and dealt with sin and death by the cross, and rose from the dead. Just as He said He would. Why we sit back and doubt the promises made by God to us in Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper now is beyond me. But we all do from time to time. Repent. The Lord is faithful and true. Do not spurn His Word and His promises but take them to heart and trust them.

If we cannot be like Mary and say, “Let it be to me according to you word, may we be like the Father of the demon possessed son. “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!” Because we will have times of forget the Lord and doubt his promise to show us mercy and steadfast love. Even Mary seemed to have forgotten who Jesus was when they searched frantically for Jesus in Jerusalem. He had to be in His Father’s house doing His Father’s business. But that is the reason to run to the altar and to receive the body and blood of your Lord all the more. It is the meal of those of the house. Christ welcomes you with open arms to His table. “Come, you who are weak and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” “Come, taste and see that the Lord is good.” Be strengthened in your faith, trusting the words of promise spoken to you: This is my body, This is my blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. What grand promises made to you.

God’s promise to David was kept. The throne of David was established forever, through the sending of His only begotten Son into the flesh via the womb of Mary. And God continues to keep His promises He has made to you. You are part of that house that Christ has established. Let it be. Amen, Lord. Yes, Lord, let it be me to according to your Word.

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