Sermons – What Does This Mean?

It’s a Good Friday For You

With yesterday we looked at how Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, how He humbled himself to the place of servant even though He was the master, and the one who deserved to be served. He served His disciples last night attempting to prepare them for the greater service and humiliation of the very Son of God going to the cross for the sin of the world.

To suffering the Lamb goes. And all this He does willingly out of His great an amazing love for you. No sin too great no sin too small. All sins are dealt with on this day once and for all. The wrath for all the sin of the world is poured out on this one Man, the God-Man, Jesus Christ. Poured out on Him instead of you. And He loves you so much that He would rather take upon Himself the punishment than see you languish under the eternal condemnation of the Law. It’s a Good Friday for you.

Last night we heard how the Lord’s love is continual and perpetual. He loves His own until the end. And today my dear friends in Christ Jesus, this love is made even more manifest for you. Behold the very Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He is the One who takes your sin away. He is the one who pours out his blood for you and for your salvation. God became man for this very day, to serve you in this way. It’s a Good Friday for you.

The author of the sermon letter to the Hebrews speaks of our Lord going to the cross with joy. He saw the joy that would come from his sacrifice on the cross. He saw the joy of your salvation. You and the world being welcomed back into the Father’s embrace. Christ our Lord cries out on the cross, in agony and pain, but he carries it through to the end. Until your salvation is accomplished. Then like he said, he laid down his life on his own accord. He gave up his spirit and said, “It is finished.”

The great high priest, the God Man Jesus came with his body and offered it as the once and for all sacrifice for sins. This He does to fulfill all righteousness and all the words of the prophets. God with us from the womb unto the tomb. He endured it all and did it with joy because He knew what His sacrifice would win: your salvation. It’s a Good Friday for you.

Know His love, feel His embrace. See how He loves His own. How he nurtures and takes care of His bride. He lays down His life. By His stripes we are healed. He drinks the cup put before Him and fills that cup now with His own blood that we might have His life in us. And have it abundantly at that. It’s a Good Friday for you.

The cross that was a barren thing, a couple pieces of dead wood nailed together are now the place where life is given to you freely. It is your tree of life. You have your life because of the Life that hangs on the tree. He pours out His blood, and gives it you. Come and receive your life from His cross. Eat of his flesh and drink of his blood for these you have His love and His life now in you. It’s a Good Friday is for you.

See the Love of God in the Suffering Servant, your Lord Jesus, who set Himself like flint to go to the cross for you and your salvation, loving you unto the end. He has done it. The battle done. And you have life and have it abundantly for his sake.

Look to the cross and rejoice for the One who was long promised to come, has come. He has shown Himself by His self-sacrificial love, and He still showers us with His love and mercy via the preaching of His Word and Administration of His Sacraments. Sing the praise of Him who died upon the cross. And look to the cross for all mercy. Live in its shadow. By that, I mean to say come often to where the gifts of the Christ’s cross are given to you. Come then to the altar and have your eyes be fixed on Jesus on the cross. Baptism and Christ’s Supper only have their power by the event of the cross. By these Sacraments you are brought to the cross, and your eyes oriented on Christ’s sacrifice and love for you. It’s a Good Friday for you.

In the account of St. John 13 from last night, Jesus told His disciples where He was going the disciples could not come at first. He is speaking about the cross. He is speaking about his death. He must confront and battle Satan and death and defeat them for us. And by His death He conquers death once and for all. Death is swallowed up. Death took a bite of the wrong guy for He has power over death. And so now you do not need to fear death but rather look to the cross and our Lord’s passion. The cross takes the terror of death away. For your sins are taken away for the sake of Him who died for you loving you unto the end. It’s a Good Friday for you.

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

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

St. Mark: A Wayward Sheep Brought Home

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

Yesterday the church not only celebrated Good Shepherd Sunday but she also remembered the Evangelist Mark. Mark’s story is one of a wayward sheep who was ultimately brought home, if we follow Church tradition. He was the rich man who came to Jesus asking the Lord what he must do to inherit eternal life. The sheep heard the voice of the Good Shepherd but wanted to show himself to be able to guide himself to the final destination. Jesus recited the 2^nd table of the Law to him, all those commands that can be summed up as love your neighbor as yourself. The man replies, “I have done all these since my youth.” Jesus looked at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing; go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow me.” The sheep went away sad, disheartened and sorrowful because he had great possessions.

The sheep went away from the Good Shepherd sad that day. The hook of the shepherd was used ever so gently to correct the sheep, but the sheep refused correction. “How difficult it is for anyone to enter the kingdom of God! With man it is impossible!” But the voice of the Good Shepherd kept echoing in his head, and the sheep knew it to be something he needed to hear, much like the prodigal son finally came to his senses. Mark didn’t go too far on his own but still stayed on the fringe. We also know Church tradition also holds that it was Mark who was around Jesus on the night of his betrayal ran away naked into the night. All the sheep were scattered that night as the Shepherd was struck.

But again, the words of Jesus the Good Shepherd kept coming back to Mark, they kept working in Him. Because Jesus looked upon him and loved him. And that Love did not end but continued to the end of Mark’s course in this life. Because after the resurrection of our Lord, it was the mother of Mark who had the upper room where the church gathered for the breaking of the bread and the prayers. Mark was there and became a companion of Barnabas and Paul for a time.

But like a sheep, when the way of missionary work got tough, Mark left their way. Sometimes for a sheep the grass looks greener elsewhere or at least the way seems easier and more pleasant. Mark fit that category of a sheep that needed continued correction and exhortation. And also, us. Jesus fulfilled the Law, yes, but He did not abolish it. He still speaks His Law ultimately in love that we repent and confess our sins and follow Him. The Law is still good for us to hear because we need to be reminded that we fail to love our neighbor as ourselves, and that we too have our pet gods that we hide away, gods we don’t even know we have until Jesus’ word calls us out. “Go and sell everything you have. Give to the poor.” Wealth and possessions, those were Mark’s god for a time. A more pleasant and easier life. That was Mark’s god at a later time. We have the same issues, when one idol falls, we are quick to pick up another. Perhaps for us it is the government who promises to take care of us until they don’t. Then it’s the money because we have that as well. Maybe its our family. We jump from idol to idol. We are sheep that have heard the Good Shepherd’s voice but need gentle correction again and again. This is not a one-time deal. Jesus continues to teach us and lead us that He is our God and we His people. And the best part of it is that He promises not to forsake us through it all. For He came and fulfilled all that we could not. He loved his neighbors perfectly for you and for me. He loved you by laying down his life for you.

We are the sheep for whom He came to lay down His life. Mark is the man Christ loved. He is a man of many for whom Christ died. And He speaks forgiveness to Mark and to you as well. He finds you in the pit of your sin and pulls you out of it. He brings you to repentance and faith in Him and leads you home.

Mark is a remarkable man in the New Testament, a good picture of our ourselves. He walked with Paul for a time and then again later after their reconciliation, and He also listened to and worked with Peter. It was from this time that Mark wrote the Gospel that bears his name. He put down on paper the words which Peter spoke for all the world to know. Perhaps His Gospel is meant when Paul calls for the parchments when he asks for Mark to be sent to him. We will never know. But we do know what Mark wrote he wrote that all would come know Jesus as he knew Him: This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Mark does not call him the Good Shepherd but you can see the image work well in Mark. Mark tells us that Jesus looked upon him with love, and we know Christ went out of His way to bring him into His pen of the Church. Christ our Lord has done the same for us. He came and sought us out and speaks in love to us now calling us to follow Him. His Words endure forever and His way is the only way that leads to everlasting life.

Let us give thanks to our Lord who has sought his oft wayward sheep and led them home. May we rejoice in the fact that our Lord continues to do the same for us now and keeps us steadfast in His Word and Way by giving us His Word and His Sacraments by which our faith may be strengthened along the way, firmly believing that by His provision and work at the cross, where He laid down his life, we will be saved.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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

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

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

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

Held Captive by the King Who Comes in Hope

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

When we think of Palm Sunday there is a lot going just with the reading from John that began our service. But then throw in the other lessons and the entire reading of our Lord’s Passion and it’s a whole different animal. But what we see when we hear the words of our Lord’s passion is the fulfillment of the word of hope that Zechariah that obscure post exilic prophet spoke of in our Old Testament lesson for the day.

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O Daughter of Jerusalem! Behold your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.”

The people who first heard Zechariah preach this had a very hard question before them. Would God do what He promised and give them a king from the line of David who would sit on the throne forever? They had no king; the line of David already then was in shambles and near obscurity. Had God gone back on his promise? Are you also questioning God about something? Does God really love me? Has God forgotten about me and my pains in this life? Am I going to receive relief in my time of languishing?

But rejoice! Yes, shout aloud! Rejoice for the Lord has not forgotten you but brings you this word of hope. Your king comes! He is righteous. And has salvation for you. A word of great hope. God has not forgotten you, but He is working in his time to bring about your salvation. And the son of David, Jesus Christ would come fulfilling the prophesy proclaimed.

But the king would not be like the kings anyone was used to. This king would not come in riding on a war horse but rather a donkey, a beast of burden. He is not wearing armor for war, nor is war what he is about. But rather its all about removing the weapons of war, the chariot, the war horse and bow. Peace and reconciliation is His Word to His people. He does not coerce submission and obedience by force, but rather He showers you with mercy and love. He comes with salvation. He comes to fix the broken relationship between His Father and us. He comes also to fix our broken relationships on earth. Christ’s Forgiveness and mercy rule the day. What a great promise of hope!

And this word of the Lord spoken by the prophet captivated the hearts of his hearers. Just like Jesus captivated those whom He healed and cared for during his earthly ministry. There was hope, and this hope held their listeners captive.

What about you? As we enter into Holy Week, we as Christians celebrate and revel in the Lord’s grace, mercy, and love for us. May the proclamation of hope in Christ Jesus be made your own! We hear again the passion accounts of our Lord. We recall the words of our Lord at the cross, “Forgive them Father”. We remember his crown of thorns. We recall his title: “King of the Jews“. We know why He does it all. He does it all out of love. He does it so that we would have forgiveness of sins and life everlasting. He has come to you and grants you salvation, having received salvation from Him in Holy Baptism. You have everlasting life for the sake of your Lord Christ Jesus who died in your place on that cross and rose again on the third day.

But what now? Are we not like the people of Zechariah’s day? Are we not waiting for the return of the King? Are we not all wondering why He hasn’t come already? When everything will be made right? When the relationships on this earth will be reconciled, when the spears will be beaten into plowshares? When His peace shall reign from the river to the ends of the earth. It has been a long time. But we, like the Israelites of Zechariah’s day, have been granted a word of peace and hope to trust in. Christ our Lord and King who has come now promises to be with us and give us his peace. He is with us always even to the end of the age. And we have his signs and tokens of love in the means of Grace: Baptism and His Supper. They are the ways by which His love, mercy, and grace shown at the cross are delivered and made yours. Your hope is anchored in the one who has come, and He has promised to come again to take us to where He is.

We know the end of the story. We know how this week of our Lord’s passion ends. We see the King of Glory, the King of Peace go to a cross for the sin of the world. Christ the King, battles against Satan, He sizes him up, and beats him at his own game. He rises from the grace on the third day, defeating death once and for all. He swallows up death forever so that you are brought out of the waterless pit and be given new life in Him.

You are living the new life promised to you by Christ now by your baptism. You are a child of the kingdom of peace. Do not forget that, hold on to the promise of your Lord who has bled out for you and gave up his life for you. Be at peace and hope in him. Look to the covenant which he spoke and now gives to you, “the new covenant in my blood,” He says. That is a token and pledge of the forgiveness won as well as the reconciliation between God and us in a vertical direction, and that same meal also promises and reconciles us to one another. Be forgiven by the Lord and forgive one another for the sins committed against each other.

Return to your stronghold. The stronghold is your Lord and Your God, who goes to his throne of the cross to win for you salvation over sin, death, and devil. Be held captive by His Word of Hope and Peace.

Rejoice and Hope in the one who has come, who brings righteousness and salvation to you, now and always, Jesus Christ. Amen.

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

The Sign of Hope We Have Waited For

At this time last year, we were just being told of the impending lockdowns to stop the spread of Covid-19. We would not have celebrated the Annunciation last year as we were in the middle of a Lenten Midweek Sermon series where pastors from area congregations swapped pulpits. And the 25^th of March fell on Wednesday. While I was saddened to see what happened because of the lockdowns and such, I was glad to celebrate this blessed day of joy and hope. The long-awaited sign, prophesied by Isaiah, was coming into existence. The Angel Gabriel came to Mary and announced to her that God was becoming man, and she would be his mother. The Word of God was becoming flesh in order to dwell among us, that we might see his glory.

A day of hope is what we need as we have been walking in the world. Isaiah’s prophesy was spoken as a rebuke against Ahaz’s unbelief in the Lord. But for you who have been called to faith in the true God, it is a word of hope, which holds you captive. It is the sign we all long for, the word which first came Eve and Adam on the day of their fall into sin. That God would become Man. And this Man would defeat sin and death for us by offering his body and blood up for the sin all the world at the cross.

Mary is rightly called the Godbearer (Theotokos) because in the moment of the preaching Gabriel, God assumed human flesh, and the flesh of Word of God Himself was conceived in the incarnation. This is the sign of God working to bring about our salvation. This is confirmation of the Lord’s promise coming true. God had not forgotten.

But the incarnation and Christmas are just half of the story. This Son of the Most High, has to do the work of salvation in His flesh. He is to serve in humanity’s stead, standing in our place, taking upon himself our pains and our sufferings, our sin. He is to suffer what all men suffer, death. But the Lord Jesus does this because it is the will of his Father, whom sent Him.

Jesus will be born to the Virgin. The sign of God’s promise will shine forth, and then He will grow up and will save His people from their sins. He will take up the throne of his father David when he ascends to the throne that is his cross. And he shall become stand as a signal for all peoples. Isaiah prophesies later: He (The Lord) shall raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

Christ will lift up the lowly. He will fill the hungry with good things, he will bring down the mighty from their thrones. He will bring the word of love and hope to you who have been sitting and waiting in the darkness of this sin filled and broken world. Be at peace in the word announced to you by the Lord’s messenger. Christ loves you, and He became flesh in order to save you from everlasting death. He has remembered his mercy and now shows you that mercy by his death on the cross, taking the place that all humanity deserves for their sins of unbelief and abandonment of His Word.

God has promised, so He has done. We are very close to Holy Week in the Church year. We will be gathering together to hear the passion accounts as written for us by the Evangelists. We will see our Lord do His Father’s will, offering himself for us at the cross. This is how sin is taken away, the body and blood of God is broken and poured out for you.

May this word of our Lord Jesus Christ, The God – Man for us and for our salvation, give you hope in the midst of the darkness. He has come and He has died and He has risen again. And He remains in His flesh even upon His ascension to the right hand of God the Father. Forevermore is Jesus the God–Man, who serves you as your great high priest having offered himself for your salvation, that you might have everlasting life with God forever. And He now comes to you to give you tangible hope, a sign. He gives you the means by which you are given His forgiveness. He gives you Baptism and His Supper. Look to the promises contained therein. You are made a child of God, receiving everlasting salvation. Then you receive the very body and blood of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. You receive the very body of God in His Supper and it is life giving. What hope and what peace we now have in promises of God. Hope in the One Who has Come Born of the Virgin to offer himself up for us all. And let us now hope in the promise of His return that He might take us to be with Him forever.

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