Sacraments – Page 5 – What Does This Mean?

(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

Children of the Heavenly Father Forgive

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

Ever the great catechist, Jesus, gives us, his catechumens, the same lesson in a different form. We ought to forgive one another so that we might be reconciled to one another but more importantly be reconciled to God our heavenly Father who forgives us or debts for the sake the Lord Jesus Christ who suffered on the cross for the sins of the world. We are after all children of a Father who forgives.

Peter’s question gives Jesus the opportunity to give the parable of the unforgiving servant. We might want to be like Peter, “Lord, how many times do I have to forgive?” He still does the same thing over and over again. He never says he is sorry for what he does. There does not seem to be any genuineness. Do I really need to give forgiveness? When is enough, enough?

It is so much easier to give forgiveness when the person who committed the sin against us says they are sorry. But perhaps we need to take a step back. In today’s world repentance, confession, and absolution are all confused. Peter along with the disciples didn’t seem to get it right away either, as his question reveals.

Let’s go back to last week for a moment. God says he hates sin. He takes sin so seriously that he sends his men to speak his warnings as well as how sin is dealt with. Acts of sin bring judgment and if the warnings are not heeded that judgement will come. And it will not end well for the sinner. So, we need to know what our sins are. We need to know what God says is sin, and we learn that by his 10 commandments. Jesus does a deep dive excursus on these commandments in the Sermon on the Mount and now here we are where Jesus starts talking to his disciples about when they are being sinned against no matter the context, go to the person who committed the sin against you call out the sin that was committed, call it by name and be reconciled, granting forgiveness.

Only when we identify sin as sin, are we able to then move on towards repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Knowing sin comes by knowing God’s Word where He defines it. Because let’s face it, if we do not know what God defines as sin, we will not be able to tell a person that they sinned against us in order that we forgive them properly as God desires us to do. Also, when we sin against someone else it difficult to repent of something, we don’t know to be a sin. And if we don’t believe what we are doing to be sin, then we certainly will not seek the forgiveness of sins found in Christ Jesus.

So first we need to know what sin is. And we should also add in we need to know what the consequences of sin is. God tell us straight up: “The consequence of sin is death.” But God does not desire the death of the sinner. That is already established. In His great mercy, God has given us His Son Jesus Christ as the one who stands in our place, taking into himself the punishment of death and hell that should be for us. Christ comes proclaiming that God has been reconciled to his creation in the giving of the Son at the Cross. Forgiveness of sins comes by way of the cross where the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ flowed.

Yet, we keep on sinning. We still transgress against every single one of those 10 commandments. We are sitting ducks for the hungry serpent seeking to devour his next victims, especially if our consciences are so seared that we feel no guilt, regret, or shame for our sinful words and deeds. The world has thrown the Law of God out the window and the really the word sin, except for the most egregious things or the sin of being politically incorrect, or speaking against the tide of culture. You can see the moral degradation all around us. And what is worse is that we, who ought to know better being Children of God by Holy Baptism, go along with it. Like the World, we sin against God thinking we know better than He. Or we think we can declare God’s Word to be obsolete and behind with the times and thus follow the flow of culture. We allow our own children and grandchildren to follow in the ways of the world far too often, to do things which are contrary to God’s word. Sins which we let go unchecked causes pain to not just the person who commits the sin but there is also collateral damage done. A so-called individual sin that shouldn’t hurt anyone hurts a lot more people than you think and can lead many to their own sins too. And he heard what should happen to someone who causes a little one who believes in Christ to sin. Repent. Yes, we all have left sin unchecked. We have failed to identify sin as sin. We have failed to seek out our brother when we have been wronged. And we have tried to cover up our own actions and deeds where we have sinned against someone else.

We need to be made aware of our debts. And if we are honest our debts are to numerous to count. Unfortunately, this practice has all but been lost, especially in our Lutheran Churches, but when Luther lived He went to confession. Private Confession. Now at the time it was taught that you must confess every sin that you had ever done since your last confession. In other words, you had to innumerate your sins. Luther could spend hours at a time in that confessional booth. On one occasion Luther left the confessional only to come running back to the booth because he forgot one or two sins. The Church no longer says that we need innumerate our sins. For who can know all of his errors? But knowing our debts and our sins are important because then we just can see how merciful our Lord and God is to us for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. And by our Lord’s messengers, the Gospel is proclaimed so that faith in Christ be created. We hear Christ was crucified for Me. He died for Me.

For we are like the one with a 10,000 talent debt. We have sin up to our eyeballs and we won’t stop sinning. There is no way we can pay what we owe. We can only throw ourselves at the mercy of the Judge. Lord, mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us. And God has had mercy on us for the sake of Christ, who came to die for the sin of the world, paying the debt we owe. Paying not with gold or silver but with his holy and precious blood poured out for us and the world at the cross.

Last Sunday we talked a little about how God deals with the problem of sin in the Kingdom of Right, the Church, by going to the heart and changing them. Ezekiel talks about a heart transplant. When our hearts are changed by the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, we then can forgive those who have brought us pain, suffering, and grief because of sins. A sinful heart will not forgive. But a heart made new in the image of Christ will. Mercy has been shown to you by God your Father in Heaven. If you are children of the Father in Heaven, you then will also show mercy to your brothers and sisters. For God did not send Christ only to pay for your debt, but Christ paid the debt of all mankind. Christ died for the sins of that person who has sinned against you, so then you also should forgive them. Just like God forgives you. It plays out time and time again when you hear the news of a senseless death, if Christians, the family will speak forgiveness to the person. One such event the brother of such a victim spoke directly to his brother’s murderer and said “I hope you go to God with all your guilt, all the bad things you might have done in the past, I know I speak for myself, I forgive you, and I know if you go to God and ask Him, He will forgive you. And I love you just like anyone else.” The world cannot even begin to deal with this type of behavior. At the time political activists and journalists came unglued and unhinged at the forgiveness given by this man to the murderer of his brother. They wanted hate to spewed. The did not want forgiveness to be offered but anger to held on to. But you, a child of the Heavenly Father, forgive your brother, for your Heavenly Father has forgiven you.

But it is hard to do! It is hard to do because we are still sinful and we are still sinned against! We still agonize over the hurtful and angry words spewed our way because of our own positions and opinion. We don’t like to give forgiveness to some who can’t say “I am sorry.” We hurt when people do not take our words in the kindest way. We can get burned by those whom we confront about a sin they do not really want to have exposed. And it hurts too when you know you have sinned against someone and try to ask for forgiveness but rather than hearing “I forgive you,” you get “its okay.” That is not the same as hearing absolution. Use the words Jesus has given us to speak his love to one another. Forgive one another for the sins that you commit against one another.

So how are we able to do all this in the midst of being so hard and so contrary to the way of the world? Be where Jesus is, acknowledge your own debts to the Lord, your own sins for what they are, deserving of death and hell. But call upon God to be merciful and Just, as He has promised to be. For again, he does not desire the death of the sinner, but that the sinner turn and be reconciled to Him. And God has done all the work to forgive and reconcile us to Himself. He has had mercy on you. He sent His Son to be your Savior from sin, death, and hell. And having been made a child of the Living God, be like your Father, who continues to show His mercy to us who sin constantly against him, let us show mercy to those who sin against us.

Be made ready and capable to pass this mercy of your Heavenly Father on by filling up with Christ’s mercy at His Supper. Therefore be a vessel through which the mercy of the Lord may be made known to those who may have never seen God’s mercy before. Forgive richly because you have been richly forgiven by your Heavenly Father for the sake of Christ Jesus your Lord.

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

Baptism and Waiting for Christ’s Final Advent

Encore Post: We confess in the 4th part of Baptism: “What does such baptizing with water indicate?” Answer: “It indicates that the Old Adam in us should be daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”

“Where is this written? Answer: St. Paul writes in Romans chapter six: “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

When we confess this part of Baptism we see that there are two men at war within us, the Old sinful Adam and the New Man, created in the image of Jesus, to do the good works which God had prepared beforehand for us to do. And sometimes because we are still in our sinful flesh we will fail, miserably in fact, in not sinning. But we know from Jesus himself and explicitly from St. John that if we do sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who graciously forgives our sins.

Only when we die or when Christ returns in His final Advent will the fight that is within us be completely done. Our sinful flesh fights against our desire to actually do things which are pleasing in the sight of our Heavenly Father. You just need to watch children who hear their parent’s instruction concerning cleaning up their toys before breaking out more and kinda begin to put things away before becoming too enamored with the toy train in its box. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, said our Lord of His Disciples. We see in them ourselves too, our spirit is willing but our sinful flesh is weak and sinful.

But Christ promises in Baptism we have salvation, and as Paul says we have are united to Jesus’ death and resurrection that we may live a new life. What we are in Baptism is not fully known, but in the final Advent of our Lord our Old Adam will be stripped away and we will be like Jesus is, pure as He is pure.

Baptism prepares us for Christ’s Final Advent, and we pray with all the saints, “Come, Lord Jesus. Come!” And Jesus responds, “Behold, I am coming soon.”

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

The Need of a New Heart

Encore Post: God used Moses to give his people the Lord’s Law on Mt. Sinai. It was the Lord’s holy will for Israel. And in effect, the way that Israel was called to live was to serve as an effective witness to the nations that surrounded it. Their way of life was to point to the Law of the Lord and bring life to the nations. That is why that he calls us to teach our children and their children. I think that is a call to remember the 3rd commandment because on the sabbath day Israel was to remember what the Lord had done for them and their salvation (Exodus out of Egypt). The generation with Moses were either eye witnesses or they were the generation that followed the eye witnesses of those events.

Israel was told not to forget the things they had seen, lest they lose life. But the problem was that Israel had a bad heart. And that is our problem too. We don’t listen and take to heart what the Lord our God tells us. If we look long and hard at our own hearts, or better yet, let’s let God talk about our heart. According to Him, we have a heart of stone. Israel could not be the witness the Lord called them to be, and neither can we. We utterly fail to walk in the way of the Lord. And we can’t make our hearts of stone alive. We need a new heart.

Dear Christian, you have been given a new heart, a new spirit.. This happened at your Baptism. This heart is made in the image of the One, the Word made flesh. Jesus walked in the ways of the Lord our God, His Father. He walked in the statutes and laws of His Father on your behalf. It was through Him and by Him that the nations learn of the mercy of God. And because of this wonderful One, Jesus Christ, you have life everlasting. Your heart is made alive in Christ, through baptism into His name. There at those baptismal waters you were made God’s child. He made Himself your God. And in and through Christ you certainly and do keep the laws and statutes of your Heavenly Father, for He has done them for you. And now we want to walk in His Way which leads us to life everlasting.

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

See Also: The Law of God is Good and Wise | Fence, Mirror and Guidebook | What is Baptism? | Baptized into Christ’s Body | Sabbath as Day the of Salvation

The Faith of Children

Encore Post: Evangelicals reject infant baptism is they think faith is all about understanding and agreeing to a series of teachings about God, Jesus in particular, and how we are saved. Since infants and young children have little ability to understand things intellectually. For Lutherans and the Holy Scriptures, faith is not an exercise of our reason, but a trust in God’s promises.

The problem with understanding faith this way is that even adults do not always have an ability to think, and, when they do, may still reject the Gospel. Lutheran theologians point out that we do not think when we sleep or in a coma. Sometimes disease can take from us our mind in old age or brain trauma. Yet such adults are not considered by anyone to have lost their faith.

On the contrary, Jesus and the Apostles tell us children do have faith. In fact, Jesus praises their ability to trust God. (Matthew 18:2-6, Mark 10:13-16) John the Baptist and Timothy believed in the womb (Luke 1:41-44, 2 Timothy 3:15) So, faith is all about trusting in God to save us and children are the most trusting of all people. Jesus does not urge children to become more like adults when it comes to faith. He urges adults to become more like children.

Children are Sinners, Too

Encore Posts: On the surface, we might think that the Evangelical challenge to infant baptism is about the practice itself. If the objection was that simple, perhaps there would be much less passion in the debate.

I believe the real issues are deeper than that. For Lutherans, the emotion behind our defense of the baptism of infants comes from the assurance that our children are saved by baptism. For Evangelicals, the objection comes from their belief that children are not accountable for their sins until they can ask Jesus to be their personal savior and because they believe baptism is a human act of obedience. In short, they do not believe in original sin.

Original sin is the name theologians give to the teaching of Holy Scripture that all people are born as sinners and that that state is inherited from Adam and Eve, resulting from their first sin in Eden. The big problem that we have is less that we commit sins, than that we are conceived sinful. (Psalm 51:5)

Everyone, including children, are accountable to God for who they are and the sins they commit from the very beginning of their lives. (Romans 3:10-19) Every thought we have inclines to evil (Genesis 6:5, Genesis 8:21). These thoughts are the cause of all the sins we commit. (Matthew 15:17-20) Only by being born of water and the Spirit can we see God’s kingdom. That is why we baptize infants and children.

How Good is Good Enough?

Encore Post: One day, a sincere rich young man came to ask Jesus a common question — perhaps you have asked yourself the same question: “What do I have to do to get into heaven?” (Mark 10:17) From the way Jesus responded to him, we know the man wasn’t arrogant, looking for an easy way out or looking for a loophole in God’s law. He truly wanted to live with God forever. Yet he was asking the wrong question. He thought salvation was something you earn, even though his own polite words should have told him that. You do not earn an inheritance. It is something given to you by your father.

The young man was likely a Pharisee, but not an opponent of Jesus. He called Jesus a good teacher. Jesus reminds him gently what he should already know — there is no good person. Only God is good. He then set out to show him this path was a dead end. If someone was going to earn salvation, Jesus in so many words said, you needed to obey the Ten Commandments. The young man still didn’t get it. He told Jesus he always had kept these.

The fellow must have been very good at it, for Jesus did not challenge him directly. He dodged the question entirely. Rather than talk about what someone can do to be saved, Jesus told him how he could make his obedience to God’s law complete — he could become his disciples — sell all his goods, give it to the poor and become Jesus’ disciple. This is was not ready to do, because he was very rich. The scripture does not tell us if the man ever conquered his trust in riches to trust in God. Some people think this man might even have been the Evangelist Mark himself. But at this moment, he was not able to do this.

Eternal life, after all, is not something we purchase, but something we inherit from God. It is a gift that comes in Jesus’ last will and testament — the New Testament in his blood, shed upon the cross. Jesus is good because he is God himself. So he was able and willing to take all our evil upon himself and pay the price for it — death. Now that he has done so, he gives us that inheritance — his body to eat with bread and his blood to drink with wine. With this gift, God writes his law upon our hearts, so that we want to follow him now and forever.

Bread From Heaven Five Ways

Encore Post: From the time that people began to plant crops until this very day, bread has been a basic food for people. God fed His people in the wilderness with manna to teach them to trust their Heavenly Father for daily bread. Later Satan would tempt Jesus to make stones into bread rather than trust Him. Jesus quoted what Moses said to Israel about Manna: “people do not live only on bread but on every word that God speaks.” (Deuteronomy 8:3)

Later, God would do other miracles with bread. The Prophet Elijah would feed the widow and her son with bread — their flour and oil did not run out for years. Elisha would feed one hundred men with a few loaves. Jesus would feed crowds in the desert with a few loaves and fishes. The crowds knew what it meant — Jesus was the Messiah and like Moses and Elijah.

Jesus also used bread in another way. During His Last Supper, Jesus took bread, broke it, blessed it and gave His body for them to eat. To this day, when we gather for communion, Jesus feeds us with His body — the true Bread from Heaven. When we receive this bread, we are given strength for our journey through this life to life everlasting.

Why do Pastors Baptize?

Encore Post: Because God calls the church to organize its work in an orderly fashion, the church has designated those God has called to bring his word to them to be the usual baptizer. Their pastor represents God, who is actually the one who baptizes, and represents them, acting on their behalf. They welcome new Christians into the church and into the congregation to which they now belong. Pastors maintain a record, so there is assurance, even years later, that they were baptize.

Since the days of the apostles, pastors have baptized new Christians. We see this in the book of Acts, in the letters of St. Paul and in the writings of the earliest leaders of the church. Pastors need to know whom God has placed in their care. When they baptise, they know the new Christian bears the cross of Christ and is in their flock. They will faithfully nourish them and hand their care to the next pastor when their ministry in a place comes to an end. Finally, when pastors baptize a new Christian in a regular service of a congregation, those believers brothers and sisters get to know them. They recognize their fellow laborers in Christ, with whom they live, grow and will likely die.

When an emergency threatens the life of someone not baptized and a person is brought to its waters without a pastor or away from worship, their pastor will announce that baptism in church with a rite of thanksgiving, so their congregation can rejoice that God has found his lost sheep and brought him or her home.

Being Gathered Around the Bread of Heaven

Faith is not something that is our own initiative. Jesus tells us that much on a number of occasions but in John 6, Jesus is explicit about how the Father draws us. It is the Lord’s doing. And that is a message of wonderful comfort to us who can fall into despair.

Elijah was such a man who needed comfort. He was in despair so it appears even after that wonderful event at Mount Carmel. Jezebel wants him dead. Elijah flees and heads out to the wilderness. The wilderness is not a place to go alone. In the Old Testament, the wilderness is considered a place of testing, you might like to think of as spiritual testing. Elijah’s own feelings lead him to cry out to the Lord, effectively begging the Lord to take his life because he was no better than his fathers (other prophets). Elijah is not seeing the Word of the Lord converting the hearts of his hearers. So he is tired and worn out.

Elijah receives comfort from the very Angel of the LORD. I like to think this is the 2nd Person of the Trinity, in his Pre-Incarnate state. We also need to remember the blessing of this food. The cake (or bread) is not made by man. Man was supposed to eat bread by the sweat of his brow. This bread is made by the Son, for the strengthening of Elijah’s faith and also his body. For later at Horeb, the Lord is gracious to him telling him that Elijah’s preaching is not in vain. 7000 were kept safe from bowing down to Baal.

The Sacrament of the Altar is for the weak and despairing needing to be strengthened by the Words of Jesus, specifically “for you”. We are indeed weak, and the christian walk under the cross is too great for us to go it alone. Jesus tells us that much too in our reading from John 6. We don’t initiate or activate our faith. We don’t initiate our coming to Jesus. And we don’t initiate the strengthening of our faith either, rather we are drawn and gathered around the living bread of heaven which came down from heaven being sent by the Father. And who the Father gives to his Son the Son will never cast out. What peace and comfort we have in the coming of this Jesus, our bread of life.

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