In January of 1521, Pope Leo X, formalized the excommunication of Martin Luther in his bull Decet Romanum Pontificam. The decree removed, as far as the Pope and the structure of the church were concerned Luther’s right to teach the faith, exercise the pastoral office and receive the sacraments. It was not published until October of 1521, since it also excommunicated most of Germany’s princes and city-state governments. Emperor Charles V needed their financial and military support, especially against Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Islamic Ottoman Empire, then rising in power. His armies were marching towards Belgrade through Serbia and Hungary as these events were happening.
To address these challenges, and the threat to religious unity Martin Luther and his friends represented, Emperor Charles convened a diet (a cross between a parliament and a diplomatic conference) at the city of Worms in Southwest Germany. In January of 1521, negotiations began between the Emperor and his advisors and Elector Frederick the Wise and his advisors to summon Luther to the Diet to defend himself. The Emperor favored the papacy and the institution of the Church, but he knew to move too strongly against Luther would at best deprive him of badly needed support. Frederick was the key prince in the empire and Luther’s protector. So he agreed to give Luther the hearing that the reformer requested and a safe conduct pledge to go to Worms and return to Saxony.
The imperial summons was worded very graciously, addressing Luther with all the titles due to him as a priest and professor of theology. It was vaguely worded, stated as a request for Luther to answer questions about his books. It could be viewed as allowing everything from a full hearing to a simple demand to renounce them all. The safe conduct was generously worded and issued also by Frederick the Wise and Duke George of Saxony. In the back of everyone’s mind was a similar safe conduct given to Jan Hus one hundred years before, which was violated by the then Emperor. Hus was burned at the stake shortly thereafter. Luther and his prince would be relying on the young emperor’s sense of chivalry and his desire to keep peace in Germany.
To placate the Pope and his supporters, the Emperor also issued a mandate to sequester all of Luther’s books. The Emperor’s officials conveyed to Georg Spalatin that this was for show, that the intent was to give Luther a fair hearing. The Elector, his advisors and Luther’s friends were not entirely sure what the truth was, but advised Luther it was likely safe to attend, given the support of the princes and the estates. Luther was determined to confess the truth before the empire, even if it cost his life. He agreed to go.
Dear saints, on this Sunday last year (the Third Sunday of Lent), I began the sermon by saying:
[W]e all know the news of our day. There is quite a bit of panic over the virus that has swept the world. Runs on supplies. Stocks tanking. Schools, sports, and even countries have shut down. People on Facebook and Twitter are afraid. I get it. It’s a bit of a scary time. Even if you’re healthy and at no real risk, you could unwittingly be a carrier and expose someone who is vulnerable. It’s why I don’t blame businesses for telling people to work from home and sports leagues from shutting down. Or even staying home this morning instead of being here with us. Closer to home, some schools and even churches have closed. And while I don’t like it, I understand and am not going to complain about hospitals and nursing homes closing their doors to everyone except the patients, residents, and staff. They are rightly protecting their patients and residents. Let us hope and pray that this does not get to the point that they force everything, including churches, to close their doors as happened with the 1918 flu epidemic.
I went on to say that we did not yet know what the impact would be or how severely we would be affected. Well, we now know. The impact was and is widespread. Fear is still prevalent in our world. There are still worldwide shortages on certain supplies. While the stock market has rebounded, there are millions out of work even today. Schools, states, and countries are still shut down even if sports have resumed with empty to partially filled stadiums. In some places, churches are still closed because the state or country says they must be, labeling churches as ‘nonessential.’ Even as casinos and strip clubs are open and deemed essential.
In just over a year, our nation has reported over 500,000 deaths and there has been more than 2.5 million die worldwide. Compare this to the estimated 75-200 million who died over eight years of plague in the Late Middle Ages. This is a bad virus. But it is no bubonic plague. Especially when you consider the population of Europe then and the world now.
You might be asking yourself, “Why is pastor rehashing all this?” I do for a couple of reasons. First, because we see through the Old Testament, as we do in our lesson from Exodus, that plague can be brought by the finger of God. When the Egyptian magicians, by their dark arts, could not replicate the plagues brought upon Egypt, they recognized that it was the Lord who was behind it. The plagues were judgments upon Egypt and her false gods. They were used to deliver Israel from slavery and, eventually, into the Promised Land.
But there is a second reason I decided to revisit the topic of plague and pestilence this morning. And that is to point out another reason God brings things such as pandemics upon creation: to show humanity their false gods, that they would turn and believe in the true God. This is another constant theme of the Old Testament. Calamity was prophesied upon the wicked and a call to repentance was issued. Sometimes the people repented and were spared. Other times they persisted and were destroyed, and even those who did repent and trust in the Lord were sometimes caught up in the destruction.
I am not saying that God sent this virus. I have no “Thus saith the Lord” to say one way or the other. I am, however, saying that we should see what has happened and continues to happen as a call to repentance. Every man, woman, and child should recognize that it is our sin that brings such calamities upon the world. We turn our fear of our mortality into our god and abstain from gathering before the Lord our God. We look to government for our respite and rescue rather than Christ as the Redeemer of our souls. We hope for a shot when we have the Medicine of Immortality right here before us. We deserve all this and more.
In fact, our sin is the reason that the figurative finger of God mentioned by the Egyptian magicians is now a real and physical finger of God. This morning’s Gospel lesson tells us about the voice of God casting out a demon who had made a man mute. Having been cleansed, the man begins to speak. It causes the crowds who witnessed this miracle to marvel.
But some saw what Jesus did and decided to blaspheme. They said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” and others sought another sign beyond the miracle they had just witnessed. The first responded to the love and compassion Jesus had on the man with hatred in their hearts; others respond with unfaithfulness, as they would not accept any sign from our Lord.
But what Jesus did for that man is what He has done for you. He has had mercy upon you and cleansed you from your uncleanness. We have three enemies in this world: the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh. These are enemies that we cannot conquer. And in fact, the devil is even the strong man Jesus mentions in the lesson and parable. Like Israel in Egypt, we are captive to these enemies as we are by nature captive to sin and enemies of God.
This is why Jesus took on our flesh in His incarnation. Jesus is the Stronger Man who binds the strong man. Jesus is the One who liberates you from your bondage to sin, death, and the devil and frees you from your uncleanness. In the second parable of our text, we hear that a demon cast out of a person wonders the waterless places seeking rest. When it finds none, it decides to return to the person it was cast out of. It finds a body, compared to a house, swept up and put in order. It then finds other spirits more evil than itself and takes up residence there once again. The state of that person is worse than before.
But this is not so with you, dear Christian. Yes, Jesus cleanses you of all uncleanness. He sweeps up the house of your body. But He does not leave it vacant. In place of the evil spirit (whether that was a demon or simply that you are born with a sinful nature), God sends the Holy Spirit. In doing so, He makes your body more than a simple house. He makes it His holy temple. So, when the spirit returns to you, it finds no place for solace or rest. Your state is not worse than before. It is eternally better.
All this He does for you in your Baptism. Because Jesus walked on earth, because He was baptized in the Jordan, because He was tempted in all the ways we are and did not sin, because He kept the Law perfectly, He was a worthy sacrifice to atone for the sins of the world. For your sins and mine.
I began to wrap up last year’s sermon by saying:
We don’t know how long or how bad this pandemic will be. We don’t know if we will contract it. If a friend or loved one will. And if we or they do, how severe the case will be. We don’t know what restrictions will be placed on us by the authorities, which, I remind you, that God himself has put in place.
Well, here we are a year later. We can see the proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel,” but we do not know how far away from the exit we are. All of us know someone who has contracted the virus. Some of us have had close calls. Some of us have had it, and a few suffered greatly. We have been allowed to live mostly restriction-free here but see where others have been curbed greatly. Even if we grant the premise that all decisions and restrictions were put in place without malice, we also know some of those decisions were more harmful than helpful.
But, dear Christian, remember also what we know:
We know that our Lord Jesus Christ took upon our flesh to free us from the strong man. We know he paid for our sins on the cross, bleeding and dying to win victory over the strong man. We know that he has cleansed our bodies from all evil and sent the Holy Spirit to live in us and sanctify us. We know that we are always able to cry out to God in all situations and tell him whatever is on our mind. And when we do, we know that He will hear us and answer our prayer in the way that benefits our eternal good. O my God, in you I trust…Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!…for I take refuge in you. Amen.
Rev. Brent Keller Peace Lutheran Church Alcester, SD
Dear saints, on the sixth day, God creates man from the dust of the earth. Because there is no helper suitable for the man, he creates woman from the man’s side. They are joined together in the first marriage. They are given the directive to be fruitful and multiply, filling and subduing the earth. God looks at all He created over those six days and declares them very good.
But the next thing we hear in the Bible is how the devil, disguised as a snake, tempts Adam and Eve. The temptation is three-fold. They are tempted with gluttony, for the food they were not to have, as the fruit of the Forbidden Tree was delightful to the eyes. They are tempted with vain ambition, for the serpent promises that their eyes would be open and that they would know good from evil. They are tempted with avarice, a desire for or seeking out of a high place, for by eating the fruit they would be like God.
Even though Adam and Eve know what God has commanded them; even though they know they share a perfect union with Him and one another, Eve takes the fruit and eats it. She gives some to Adam, who was there during the entire event and did not intervene and protect his wife, and he eats with her.
It is then that their world crashes around them. Indeed, their eyes are opened. They know good from evil. They know that the promise of being like God was a lie. They know they are now unworthy to be seen by Him, let alone look upon Him. And so, in shame, they hide.
As you recall, The Fall brings upon creation curses. It is why we have famine. It is why the harvest sometimes fails. It is why childbirth is so painful and, tragically, sometimes deadly. It is why, no matter how long you live, you will die. But even more important is the promise made. Even as humanity falls into sin, God promises to save and redeem it. He promises to crush the head of the serpent and rescue His creation.
And as you know, our Lord Jesus Christ is the promised Offspring of the woman.
We encounter Jesus this morning immediately after His baptism. Immediately after the heavens open and the Spirit descends like a dove. Right after the Father speaks and says, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” The first act of the Spirit is to lead Jesus into the wilderness. Paired with the Old Testament lesson, you may see a parallel with Adam and Eve being removed from Eden and put into a type of wilderness. But you also may hear, especially when we consider our Lord’s forty-day and forty-night fast, the wilderness wanderings of Israel.
Adam and Eve enter a wilderness because of sin. Moses leads Israel into the wilderness, through the parted waters of the Red Sea (a picture and type of baptism), as the Lord saves them from their bondage in Egypt. While there, Israel fails to trust the Lord God and will spend forty years wandering. Our Lord is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
The temptations that Jesus faces are the same as those faced by Adam and Eve. At the end of His fast, He is hungry. And the devil tempts the Lord. I cannot tell you if the devil knows of what happened at the Jordan River as Jesus is baptized. But he does know who our Lord is. It is as if he says, “Prove that you are the Son of God. Satisfy your hunger. Use your power. Turn these stones into bread.” But Jesus has not come to show His power for His own sake. He will perform miracles, even miracles involving food. But these are for the benefit of others; not Himself. Tempted by gluttony, Jesus responds by trusting in His Father for what He needs. He looks to the Word of God.
The devil next leads Jesus…well, Jesus allows Himself to be led to Jerusalem. In his hubris, Satan thinks he is leading and directing the Christ. And taking Him to the pinnacle of the temple, the devil quotes Scripture. Again, it is as if he said, “Prove that you are the Son of God. Make a spectacle. Force the hand of God and push Your angels into action! Show these people who you really are.” Here our Lord is tempted with vain ambition. The devil pushes Him to show off, to prove that He is the Son of God. And He is to do this by leaping off the Temple and making God act. Instead of trusting that God is good; instead of trusting that the will of God will be done, the devil would have Jesus have a false trust that God would not let His foot strike the ground. In the midst of temptation, Jesus refuses to put God to the test.
Finally, the devil takes Jesus to a high mountain. In an instant, the kingdoms of the world are shown to the Lord. One final time, it is like the devil says, “You know your mission. You know that you came to save your creation. But you know what you must suffer to do it. Avoid it! I will give them to you right now. All you need to do is bow down before me. Worship me.” The temptation is one of avarice. A temptation for a shortcut.
It is a silly demand. Sure, he might control and, in a sense, rule the kingdoms of the world. But it is because he has claimed power and authority that is not his to have. What he is proposing is that he will give to Jesus what he does not own if Jesus, the God-Man, would worship one of His created angels as a God. So, Jesus responds, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”Jesus is not allured for power through false worship.
At that, the devil leaves and begins to seek another time. Angels come to Jesus and minister to Him. And when He has recovered, He begins His earthly ministry.
Two men. Three temptations. The human, the first Adam, falls into sin, being tricked by the devil. Adam desires to fill his stomach, had the ambition of being like a god, and the avarice of having the same knowledge of God. The God-Man, the Second Adam, remains steadfast and pure. Facing the same temptations, He trusts the Word of God, He does not misplace His trust in His Father, and He is not tricked into false worship promising a shortcut and ease. Through the Temptation of Christ and the other times the devil sought to trick our Lord, we have a great high priest who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
God led His people Israel through the Red Sea, through the wilderness, and brought them to the promised land. He did this even though they were sinful and stiff-necked. He disciplined them. He brought them to repentance. He gave them victory over their enemies. The Church is God’s Israel today. As the Israelites followed Christ in the pillar of cloud and fire, Christians follow Him as He speaks to us through Word and Sacrament. We follow Him through the wilderness of this world and toward the glory in the world to come, in our Promised Land. In a restored Eden.
Like Israel, we constantly sin. We fall into the silly and stupid temptations of the devil. We look to feed our bellies rather than seek what God would give us. We have our own ambitions that benefit the “me” and no one else. We desire the easy road. The path of least resistance and the one that does not cause any pain or difficulty. When we do this, we find that we do not fear, love, and trust God above all things. We find that we are putting our faith in ourselves and displacing God from His throne. May God grant us repentance for this grievous sin!
Let us, therefore, remember that we are like the first Adam. Foolish and easily tempted to sin. But also let us remember we have the Second Adam. God in the flesh and righteous. While He goes hungry, others are fed at His hands. He grows weary but offers others rest. He is the Messiah but pays the tribute, the tax to Caesar. He is called the devil but casts out demons. He is sold for thirty pieces of silver but pays the ransom for all. He dies the death of a sinner but saves His people from their sins. He will not turn bread into stones for Himself, but He gives His body and blood to nourish the souls of His people.
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Amen.
Rev. Brent Keller Peace Lutheran Church Alcester, SD
This question is similar to the one of iconoclasm. Iconoclasts reject any images of the Lord or His saints. But, folks who find the crucifix repellent tend to like other images of Jesus. At Christmas there’s little or resistance to baby Jesus in His manger. We’ll find paintings like the blonde haired, blue eyed Jesus peacefully praying in the garden. We see images of Jesus healing the blind. And, Jesus after the resurrection is featured, but usually without His wounds.
What we don’t see is significant. Him at His at crucifixion. For Jesus, for the evangelists, for Paul, and for the saints in heaven, His crucifixion is the center of his work. Here are a few of the places where we find discussions of Jesus’ work centering upon His death on the cross. These are taken from outside the passion narrative, both before and after.
“Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” [Matthew 20:28 ESV] The giving up of His life on the cross buys you forgiveness.
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” [John 3:14 ESV]. The lifting up is directly connected to the serpent on a pole. Jesus will also be lifted up in that same inglorious way. Yet, for us, it is Jesus’ glory.
“So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” [John 8:28–29 ESV] It’s also the Father’s desire that Jesus should die for us. Sin can only be atoned for by a perfect sacrifice, paying for the sin. It’s not a debt anything in creation can pay. But, Jesus did it on the cross for you.
“But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.” [1 Corinthians 1:23 ESV] “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus’ Christ and him crucified.” [1 Corinthians 2:2 ESV] For St. Paul, everything we preach and everything we know revolves around Jesus’ crucifixion. It’s a stumbling block to the unbelief we constantly battle in our own hearts. The crucifix stands firm against our unbelief.
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” [Galatians 2:20 ESV] Paul also indicates our living as gift from Christ’s death.
“Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” [John 20:27–28 ESV] Even in the resurrection, the glorified body of Jesus’ bears the marks of our salvation.
“And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” [Luke 9:30-31 ESV] The saints in heaven are steadily concerned with Jesus’ death on the cross.
“Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!’” [Revelation 5:11–12 ESV] This Lamb of God who was slain for our salvation is known to us only from His death.
We will sometimes hear folks say “we worship a risen savior.” This isn’t untrue. But, it conceals a weakness in our Christian armor. We don’t like to see the very act that saved us. That was Jesus’ focus. The Evangelists, St. Paul, the saints in heaven, all look to the crucifixion as the very glory of Jesus.
Make sure you have a crucifix among the crosses in your home. Without Jesus, it’s just an image of a method of death, like noose or an electric chair. But, with Jesus on it, the cross is an image of our salvation by Jesus’ death.
Blessèd be the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
Rev. Jason M. Kaspar Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool La Grange, TX
Encore Post: Dear saints, most, perhaps all of you know the sayings, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” or, “Looks can be deceiving.” We know that these sayings have merit. Simply look at the first two kings of Israel. After the people reject the Lord as their King, Samuel is sent to anoint a man named Saul. He had the look of a king. He was tall. He was handsome. And he began his reign well. But we know how it ended. He was rejected by God because of his continued sinful actions.
In his place was a man who no one would have expected. Samuel is sent by God to find a man named Jesse. He is to anoint one of Jessie’s sons as the new king of Israel. This is what we heard a few moments ago. When Samuel sees the eldest, he thinks to himself, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” But this was not the case. God says, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
Each of Jesse’s sons come before Samuel. But none of these sons is the man chosen to be king. Finally, the youngest, a shepherd, is summoned from the field. I do not mean to say that David did not have the ‘look’ of a king. But he is not the one anyone would have sought out. He was not even mentioned until all the other boys had been rejected. And yet he is exactly who God had chosen.
This Old Testament account is a good way to set up our Gospel lesson this morning. Jesus is heading toward Jerusalem because he knows the time of His glorification is near. He knows that it is time to die. Time to suffer on behalf of His creation. Time to redeem mankind from their sins. And so, he tells the Twelve for the third time that this was his mission and destiny.
Like David, Jesus is not the one the people would think is the Chosen One of God. The people think He was born in Nazareth. This would immediately disqualify Him from being the Messiah, for the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem. Even more, Jesus says His mission is to die. But the expectation is that the Messiah will be a military leader. That he will reestablish the earthly throne of David in Israel. We see this in John 6 when our Lord feeds the five thousand: Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain my himself.
But the ways of God are not the ways of man. The wisdom of man stands woefully inadequate even compared to the foolishness of God. And soon, all that is written about the Son of Man will be accomplished. Better said, all will be completed. Finished.
We stand at the threshold of Lent. Our preparation for Lent is completed and we begin another Lenten journey with our Lord on Wednesday. All that Jesus says will happen to Him we will see in Passiontide. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. He will be mocked, treated shamefully, and spit upon. They will flog Him and kill Him. All the while, Jesus will not look like the Chosen One of Israel. He will not look like the world’s Savior. But that is the work He is doing. And on the third day, He will show that He is our Lord and Savior by rising from the dead.
As we journey toward the cross, we will see perfect, divine love shown to all people of all nations. We will see St. Paul’s words in the Epistle lived out perfectly by Jesus. The words of St. Paul are beautiful and pleasant to hear. They epitomize what we desire to be. But we also confess that we do not rise to the demands of what true love is. Even as we marvel and smile at the rhetoric, we are also crushed by the demands of this law of loving others. How easily do we lose our patience or speak an unkind word? How often do we envy the life or things of another? Boast of what we have or do? How easy it is to be arrogant or rude, especially to those who annoy us or that we deem deserving of it. When is the last time you insisted on your way? And how often, even when you know and want to do what is right, you choose to do evil?
Yes, we desire to love. We hope to fulfill the requirement. But we confess that we fail. And we believe; we trust and have faith in the Lord Christ that He loves us. That He sends the Spirit to sanctify us that we would begin to fulfill this law of love. Faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
The Lord is our rock of refuge. He is our strong fortress. Christ Jesus is our refuge and our strength. Because all he speaks of in the Gospel lesson takes place as He said it would, we commit our own bodies and spirits into His hands. In our distress, He is gracious. He hears our prayers and answers them according to His will and our eternal good. Jesus is crucified for you. Your redemption is won. He gives you the strength and ability to love. He has set you free from the bonds of your sins. And He will deliver you from evil. Amen.
Rev. Brent Keller Peace Lutheran Church Alcester, SD
Dear saints, most, perhaps all of you know the sayings, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” or, “Looks can be deceiving.” We know that these sayings have merit. Simply look at the first two kings of Israel. After the people reject the Lord as their King, Samuel is sent to anoint a man named Saul. He had the look of a king. He was tall. He was handsome. And he began his reign well. But we know how it ended. He was rejected by God for his continued sinful actions.
In his place was a man who no one would have expected. Samuel is sent to Jesse to anoint one of his sons as the new king of Israel. This is what we heard a few moments ago. When Samuel sees the eldest, he thinks to himself, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” But this was not the case. “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
Each of Jesse’s sons come before Samuel. But none of these sons is the man chosen to be king. Finally, the youngest, a shepherd, is summoned from the field. I do not mean to say that David did not have the ‘look’ of a king. But he is not the one anyone would have sought out. And yet he is exactly who God had chosen.
This Old Testament account is a good way to set up our Gospel lesson this morning. Jesus is heading toward Jerusalem because he knows the time of His glorification is near. He knows that it is time to die. Time to suffer on behalf of His creation. Time to redeem mankind from their sins. And so, he tells the Twelve for the third time that this was his mission and destiny.
Like David, Jesus is not the one the people would think is the Chosen One of God. The people think He was born in Nazareth. This would immediately disqualify Him from being the Messiah, for the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem. Even more, Jesus says His mission is to die. But the expectation is that the Messiah will be a military leader. That he will reestablish the earthly throne of David in Israel.
But the ways of God are not the ways of man. The wisdom of man stands woefully inadequate even compared to the foolishness of God. And soon, all that is written about the Son of Man will be accomplished. Better said, all will be completed. Finished.
We stand at the threshold of Lent. Our preparation for Lent is completed and we begin another Lenten journey with our Lord on Wednesday. All that Jesus says will happen to Him we will see in Passiontide. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. He will be mocked, treated shamefully, and spit upon. They will flog Him and kill Him. All the while, Jesus will not look like the Chosen One of Israel. He will not look like the world’s Savior. But that is the work He is doing. And on the third day, He will show that He is our Lord and Savior by rising from the dead.
As we journey toward the cross, we will see perfect, divine love shown to all people of all nations. We will see St. Paul’s words in the Epistle lived out perfectly by Jesus. The words of St. Paul are beautiful and pleasant to hear. They epitomize what we desire to be. But we also confess that we do not rise to the demands of what true love is. Even as we marvel and smile at the rhetoric, we are also crushed by the demands of this law of loving others. How easily do we lose our patience or speak an unkind word? How often do we envy the life or things of another? Boast of what we have or do? How easy it is to be arrogant or rude, especially to those who annoy us or ‘deserve’ it. When is the last time you insisted on your way? And how often, even when you know and want to do what is right, you choose to do evil?
Yes, we desire to love. We hope to fulfill the requirement. But we confess that we fail. And we believe; we trust and have faith in the Lord Christ that He loves us. That He sends the Spirit to sanctify us that we would begin to fulfill this law of love. Faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
The Lord is our rock of refuge. He is our strong fortress. Christ Jesus is our refuge and our strength. Because all he speaks of in the Gospel lesson takes place as He said it would, we commit our own bodies and spirits into His hands. In our distress, He is gracious. He hears our prayers and answers them according to His will and our eternal good. Jesus is crucified for you. Your redemption is won. He gives you the strength and ability to love. He has set you free from the bonds of your sins. And He will deliver you from evil. Amen.
Rev. Brent Keller Peace Lutheran Church Alcester, SD
You may have also noticed our new banners from our friends at Ad Crucem. They are green, white, scarlet, violet, rose, blue, and black. Each banner features and orphrey braid design in a cross shape. The center of each cruciform has a quatrefoil with and image of a lamb in it. But, the lambs are not entirely alike.
An orphrey braid originated as a device for concealing seems. When cloth bolts weren’t big enough to make a garment or an altar parament, the braids were used to cover the joint between two pieces. These braids became so common and expected in paraments, that they remained as design feature long after the fabrics were available in adequate sizing.
A quatrefoil is four-sided figure with semicircular sides. The semicircular sides are of the same diameter and they bow outward. Quatrefoils will sometimes also be barbed. A barbed quatrefoil has externally protruding points at the intersections of the semicircular sides. Our funeral pall features a barbed quatrefoil.
The lambs in each quatrefoil are just as you might expect, symbols of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He bears a cross in His hoof and has the Christological aureole (halo) around His head. On both sides, the lamb is facing you in the congregation. The work of Jesus forgiving sin is properly directed towards you.
On the lectern side, we find the sacrificial Lamb of God. The blood flowing from His pierced side into a chalice. This is a depiction of the Son of God working out salvation for us; forgiving sins in the very way He said He would.
“Drink of it all of you; this cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.” (Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-25)
On the pulpit side, we see the Triumphant Lamb of God in His kingdom. This lamb clutches a victorious banner standard. The war banner shows both the price paid for us to defeat sin, death, and the Devil, and the complete victory over them. Jesus won this victory for us. It’s ours through the faith given to us in baptism. That same faith which clings to the promised forgiveness in Jesus’ body and blood. The faith which hopes for the promised resurrection of all flesh.
Now, the colors of our banners are blue, white, green, scarlet, violet, black, and rose. The colors are assigned to help us identify the seasons and festivals of the church year. As we take our annual walk through the life of Christ on earth and the work of the Holy Spirit through the church, the colors serve as signposts along the way.
Blue symbolizes preparation, penitence, and hope. It is used for the season of Advent. The use of blue highlights the different character of Advent as opposed to Lent. While both are penitential seasons, Advent carries a strong current of hope in the salvation being born. The blue is also a royal color prefiguring the kingship of Jesus.
White symbolizes purity, glory, and joy. White is sometimes mingled with gold, symbolizing triumph and our precious gift of salvation. White is used for the festival seasons Christmas, Easter, and Feasts concerning events in the Life of Christ like the circumcision, epiphany, and baptism of our Lord.
Green symbolizes life and growth. It is used for the Sundays following Epiphany and Trinity/Pentecost. These non-festival times of the church year are also called “ordinary time.” They serve as celebrations of the life of the church within herself and within the world. Sundays following Pentecost/Trinity are particularly focused on the growth and expansion of the church through the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Scarlet symbolizes God’s love for us by the blood of Jesus. We use scarlet on the celebrations of Maundy Thursday, Reformation, and the celebration days of saints and martyrs of the church. These celebrations serve to point our understanding toward the once and prefect sacrifice of Jesus for our salvation from sin. Scarlet is also used for celebrating saints’ days. The scarlet there shows the dual purpose of the blood of the martyrs, which accomplishes nothing, pointing to the saving blood of Jesus.
Violet symbolizes preparation, penitence, and contrition. Violet is used for Lent and some churches use violet instead of blue for Advent. In the penitential season(s), we prepare our hearts for the coming sacrifice for our sin. The somber tone of these Sundays is also reflected in an austerity of liturgy. The gloria, the hymn of praise, and the alleluias are packed away for a time. Violet is also a royal color.
Black symbolizes our sin, which is laid upon Jesus. The use of black bookends the season of lent. It is only used for Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. On Ash Wednesday we ponder our sin as we begin the Lenten journey of contrition. On Good Friday and Holy Saturday, the black reminds us of the sin taken on by the spotless lamb of God. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21
Rose is not always used these days. It serves as an oasis in the deserts of the penitential seasons of Advent and Lent. Gaudete, the 3rd Sunday of Advent, and Laetare, the 4th Sunday of Lent, were sometimes dressed in rose or pink. The Rose is thought of as violet with the black removed. That’s not necessarily true in a sense of pigmentation. But, it serves as a fine mental image. Gaudete and Laetare are both Latin verbs respectively meaning rejoice and gladden.
On Sundays, we will now see a constant reminder of the whole of the church year. Each Sunday, the day’s color will be in the front most position.
Blessèd be the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
Rev. Jason M. Kaspar Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool La Grange, TX
Dear saints, the life of a day laborer is not one to envy. You go every morning to a place you know that work can be found. You wait for someone to come by looking for workers. You hope that the work is something you can perform. You hope that you are either chosen for the work or able to get to the vehicle faster than others vying for the job. Then, at the end of the day, you hope that the wages you receive are fair for the often back-breaking work you performed for hours on end. Even if that wage is barely, or even less than what the area lists as its minimum wage.
This is the modern-day setting for the parable Jesus tells his disciples in this morning’s lesson. It is a parable meant to shock the hearer, but I do not think it is all that shocking to us. Why is that? Because we are used to its themes. We confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. We believe that our God becomes man to save us from our sin. We confess that we are not able to do good without the Holy Spirit. We believe that we cannot be saved by our works, but only on account of the work of Christ Jesus our Lord. As a result, we instantly view ourselves as those laborers who work only a part of the day.
But for a moment, let us look at the parable from the world’s viewpoint. People claim they want fairness. And what we hear in the parable does not seem fair at all. We do not see it as fair that someone working for an hour gets the same pay as one that works all day. No one would object at the same hourly rate, but the same net pay? Such a business owner is irresponsible and will not last long. He will not get people to work all day when they know they can relax most of the day and get a full day’s wage for working only in the easy part of the day. His work will in turn not be completed and his projects will not finish on time. He will not get more contracts for business, and his business will shut down.
Looking at the parable through worldly eyes, it simply does not make sense. It is no way to manage a successful business. And I cannot disagree. Therefore, we must look at what is being taught here by our Lord. As always, context is key.
Just before the parable, we have a rich young ruler come to Jesus. He asks what he must do to have eternal life. Jesus tells him to keep the commandments. The man claims to do it, but still knows he lacks something. Jesus replies, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”Upon hearing this, the man goes away sad because he had many possessions. And to the disciples Jesus says,“Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
This perplexes the disciples, and they wonder who could ever be saved. The answer, of course, is, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Yet Peter, remembering his own call, points out that the Twelve left everything they had. What then shall they receive? “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” Thus the stage is set for our lesson this morning.
I will not pretend to know the difficulties of harvesting a field. Especially when many of you do that for a living. I do know that it is not easy work, even if it is less difficult today than in the days before our advanced technology. I am glad that I do not have to lug a sack over my shoulder and handpick corn or cotton or grapes. Especially in the heat of the day. But that seems to be the type of work being done in the parable.
A vineyard owner goes to the market early in the morning and meets with day laborers. They negotiate a wage for working in the vineyard: a denarius. They go and begin the work. Later in the day, the owner goes to the market again. He finds more laborers and calls them into his vineyard. He says he will pay them whatever is right. This happens again two more times. Finally, as the day is nearly over, the owner goes to the market a final time. He finds even more standing and not working. Even these are called into the vineyard. But this time there is no promise of wage; they are only told to go.
At the end of the day, the workers are brought in to receive their wages. Those sent at the eleventh hour are paid first and receive a denarius. Though we do not hear it, the ninth-, sixth-, and third-hour workers receive the same. It is not surprising that those who worked the full twelve-hour shift thought they would receive more. But when they come to the foreman, they receive their denarius. The one they negotiated for and were promised. And for this, for the master keeping his word, they grumble. To one of them, the master says, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?”
As is often the case, if we were to take the time needed to talk about everything in this lesson, you would probably start grumbling that I was talking too long. Some of you might already have such thoughts in your heads. So, let me briefly talk about what we are taught, and perhaps in future years, we shall dig into specific parts and flesh these lessons out.
First, we see that the work given to these laborers is not one they applied for. There was no interview process. Instead, they were sought out and called. They did not get this work for their ability or expertise, but because the owner decided to send them.
The same is true for each of us. The vineyard in the parable is the church and its work. None of us are qualified to work there. There is no application process and there is no way we can choose to work there. This is because we are by nature sinful and unclean. Unless the master, that is, unless our Lord seeks us out and calls us into His vineyard, we will never step foot inside it.
But, dear Christian, you have been called into the vineyard. You have been chosen by God and made able to work in His vineyard. This is the grace that God. Those baptized and those who trust in Christ Jesus as their Redeemer and Savior have a place in the vineyard.
Second, all in the vineyard work. No matter what time the laborer is sent in, there is work to do. And the expectation is they accomplish as much as they can for the hours that they are there.
St. Paul describes this work in the Epistle as a race. There is a reason we are in the vineyard, and that is to work. We seek to keep God’s commandments. We desire that others would hear and, like you, be called into the vineyard. It requires commitment and dedication. It is often tough and grueling work. Especially in times and places where the Church is hated and opposed. But no matter the circumstances, you are called to work and support the Church in whatever situation you are in. In doing this, you earn nothing. But you do receive the mercy and benefits that your Heavenly Father promises you. You do not run aimlessly or box as one who beats the air. You do, however, discipline your body and keep it under control that you will receive the imperishable wreath of eternal life.
Third, the master is faithful and generous. He keeps his word and pays what is promised to the first he calls into his vineyard. He is also generous to those whom he calls later in the day and makes all of them equal in what they receive.
The Twelve left everything they had and followed our Lord. They are promised thrones from which they will judge the twelve tribes of Israel. Abraham was promised that he would be the father of many nations but died without seeing the fruit of that promise. Moses led Israel out of Egypt and through the forty years of wandering in the wilderness. But he did not himself enter the Promised Land on earth. These and many other men (and women) labored long and hard for their Lord. And each of them, like the laborers who toiled the whole day in the scorching heat and sun, receive what was promised to them.
This reward is not based on their work, but the grace of God given to them. As Jesus tells the disciples when asked who can be saved, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”Because God calls all His people into his vineyard, whether you work an hour or twelve hours, the denarius you receive is on account of God’s grace.
Finally, even when you receive exactly what you are supposed to, jealousy is a temptation. Coveting what someone else has and begrudging the master is something anyone can fall into. Even those who only worked half the day and received great mercy and a full denarius.
Far be it for you or me to think to ourselves that some terrible person who has a late-in-life conversion is undeserving and hold them in contempt. May we not think to ourselves that they do not deserve forgiveness. Or worse, that we somehow deserve more forgiveness or greater benefits than they. They receive grace and forgiveness for the same reason, and in the same amount, as you and me. They are sought out and called by Christ. They are made new in baptism by the work of God, not of man. They are saved not because of their work, great or small, but by grace.
When the vineyard owner responds to a grumbling worker, he says more than what I quoted before. He goes on to say, “Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you.”
This is a terrible sentence to hear. He is given the wage he negotiated for and told to leave the vineyard. He has what is his. But where does one go who leaves the vineyard? Who leave what God has created and called them into? And yet this is also a wonderful sentence to hear. The implication is that those who were ‘overpaid’ and did not complain about the owner’s inequality of pay and generosity remain in the vineyard. These do not simply get a denarius and leave the vineyard. They remain there. They are not treated as mere workers but as sons.
Here we see the work God does in the Gospel. It is more than a simple cancellation of our debt of sin. God forgives the sin of Adam and Eve, but He does not allow them back into Eden. Instead, He becomes a man. And as a man, He buys us out of sin. He wins us and our salvation. We now belong to Him. Not as a cow or a plow belongs to a farmer, but as a member of His family. God unites Himself to us, makes us His bride. By grace, we are made bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. God calls us His friends, His brothers, His children, His bride. As a man, He gives us His Body and His Blood in Holy Communion. There we become one flesh with Him, joined together by God. There is a reason it is called “communion.”
The cords of Sheol entangled each of us. Death stared us in the face and looked to devour us. But the Lord is your rock and your fortress and your deliverer. He calls you into His vineyard by grace. The love He shows you is not earned. Unless it is a bad reality TV show, men do not hold auditions or give tests that a potential bride must pass. He is her husband and she his bride because he loves her. And so, we cheerfully receive His grace. We stay in His vineyard. For where else could we go? The vineyard is made for us and us for it. We are mercifully delivered by His goodness to the glory of His holy Name. Amen.
Rev. Brent Keller Peace Lutheran Church Alcester, SD
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
On this day, the church celebrates and remembers another of St. Paul’s companions: St. Titus. As a matter of fact, had I been home we would have had 3 consecutive days of special services. The first would have been the commemoration of St. Timothy. But since I was away we will get to his day another time. But today we remember St. Titus.
Unlike some of the other saints associated with Paul, Titus is relatively unknown. His name does not appear in the pages of the book of Acts, but Paul must have met him along on his first missionary journeys before the council that we have recorded for us in Acts 15. For if you recall, that council had to answer the question: What do we do with Gentile believers? Must they become Jews via circumcision before they can become Christians? Titus was a test case. Titus came from a Gentile family, and was not circumcised. Paul would not circumcise him and the council of Acts 15 agreed that believers Jews and Greeks were not saved via works of the ceremonial law (circumcision) but were in fact saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is where Acts 20 comes in because those words from St. Paul were not just for the men to serve the churches in Ephesus, but for all pastors and churches. Crete had wolves in their midst, and Gospel that had been preached by Paul and others had begun to be twisted in one way or another. Paul is not the only apostle to warn of such things happening. St. John and Peter in their own epistles also warn of such things. And Titus was now the man appointed to bring the churches of Crete into proper and good order, by teaching the doctrine of truth which is Christ. And it was Titus’ duty to teach and instruct now the new pastors that would lead these congregations. What had been entrusted to St. Paul, he was now entrusting to his other spiritual son Titus. And Titus entrusting to the men he was preparing. Handing down the goods of Christ. So, it is now in our day.
The Church has been entrusted with the Words of Christ, as preached, taught, and written down by the apostles. And it is the Church that now calls Pastors into the office of overseer, and gives them the call to publicly proclaim the Word of Truth. And it can be a daunting task as wolves are still around. There are many voices who call themselves teachers of the Word but are not properly called, nor do they speak the Word of God but rather twist it for their own shameful gain. Titus had the Judaizers to contend with and other factions attempting to subvert the sweetness of Christ’s Gospel. Today’s Church, well let’s just say there is nothing new under the sun. All the old heresies still show up from time to time.
Titus also was called to the Cretan people, who by their own prophet some time before called them liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. Paul exhorted him to rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith. They were a people who professed to know God, but they denied him by their works. We still have those kinds of people around now. Sometimes even I can be called lazy. We all must confess that we have failed to live according to the life we have been given by Christ.
The pastor is to emulate the Good Shepherd. He is to speak The Good Shepherd’s Word to the Sheep. It was to this Office that Titus was placed into, so also the pastors of the Church now. He was called to serve under the Good Shepherd, and Feed the Lord’s Sheep. And by that we are called to teach and preach the Word in season and out of season. We called to encourage, exhort, rebuke. We are to call to repentance, and forgive sins for the sake of Christ Jesus who died and rose again. We are to be stewards of the mysteries of God, the ones keeping watch over souls, and we pastors will give an account at the last. Pastors like, Titus, are called to teach what accords with sound doctrine. In other words, we are called to teach Christ’s Word. And in the midst of all this we are called to continually rejoice in the identity given to us by Christ in Holy Baptism. We are Christ’s and so are you!
And it is by Baptism and Christ’s Word that pastors are kept faithful not only in their vocation and office but in their own faith and life as Christians; they should be above reproach, hospitable, lovers of what is good and right and true. And it’s by this same Word that you also are kept in the one, true faith. Gladly hear and learn it do not despise it. By His Word and Sacraments, our Lord Jesus gives you everything that is His—His Father, Spirit, Resurrection, Name, Sonship, and Kingdom, together with St. Titus and all the saints. Amen.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp St. Peter’s Lutheran Church La Grange, MO
Our Sunday morning bible study has been reading Acts and if you join us you could say Acts is a bit of a page turner because of all the events that Luke packs in successive order. The Lord’s Word is going forth via the preaching and teaching of the Apostles and the church is growing rapidly. And You might say it’s a spectacular thing right after another. And Saul, whose name is changed to Paul later, He is one of those spectacular guys, who seems to always be in the thick of the action in the Church. Always part of the spectacular accounts. I mean in a spectacular fashion, Saul was converted. Jesus, after He rose and ascended to the right hand of the Father, revealed Himself to Saul while Saul was off to persecute, imprison, and possibly kill more members of the Church of Christ. Spectacular stuff. And we desire that. We want the spectacular to occur. We want to participate in the spectacular, especially when it comes to God acting in the world. If God would do that, more people would believe. But are made believers by seeing? Or by hearing the preached word?
And we are certainly not the first ones to have those kinds of thoughts come into our minds. When Jesus walked the earth during his ministry prior to his crucifixion, the crowds wanted a spectacular sign. Herod the king wanted Jesus to perform for him. The only sign they got was the sign of Jonah. The Son of Man was swallowed up by earth in death and remained there for a time before rising from the dead. The Cross was His sign. The Cross does not seem all that spectacular to human eyes. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. It is grotesque. Cicero the Roman Orator describes crucifixion as a most cruel and disgusting punishment. It was indeed a humiliating way to die.
This is all spectacular to our ears! But it doesn’t look all that spectacular now. Oh, in the end it will be, but now we see death knocking on the doors of our loved ones and even our own. We see turmoil and strife. We feel our bodies breaking down and our hearts wearing out. We see suffering of both body and soul all around us. It’s as if death has won and we have lost. If we are only waiting for the spectacular to come along. Have we lost sight to the blessings our God gives to us in the ordinary things of this world?
We might look around and see things that look bleak and pretty hopeless in this world. But when we live the life which in Christ Jesus, we cannot help but have hope. We have a spectacular life in Christ! For Christ is risen! And He has promised life everlasting with Him. And as we learn from the account of Saul’s conversion, Christ also knows the sufferings His church experiences. For he is the one being persecuted when the church is under duress. We are not alone. But spectacularly we are gathered into His body. And then He gives his body and blood to us to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening our faith.
It looks pretty ordinary to the naked eye, but for you it is a spectacular thing indeed. For by Baptism, you are made God’s Child, a new creation, granted new life. And this life is nourished by the hearing of Christ’s word and receiving into your very mouth his life blood.
Paul’s story is spectacular. The manner in which he is converted is one for the ages, but what took place next? He was baptized just like you were. And Luke’s account is interesting because of how he adds the final bit, taking food, he was strengthened. Why does Luke add this immediately after acknowledging Saul being baptized? It could be to lead us to consider Saul not only was baptized but then also give the Supper of our Lord. Baptism leads one to the Supper of our Lord. Baptism initiates you into the body of Christ, and the His Supper sustains you and strengthens you in that faith which you have been baptized.
He lived the new life of Christ just like you. He received forgiveness by the preaching of Christ’s death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins just like you. Was Paul’s life spectacular, was He a so-called super Christian, without any problems? Absolutely not. He was chased along by those who opposed him. Because of his conversion the Jews wanted to kill him because He switched sides. He was perhaps the church’s greatest missionary but it is difficult for me to believe that people who met Paul would have picked up on that. Paul was thrown in prison multiple times, stones, thrown out of cities. Paul suffered. He suffered for the name of His Lord.
Suffering is the name of this life. At least at this time. It is the way of the Cross. For Christ, his apostle Paul and now you.
Those are some tall orders if we desire to receive the inheritance. Give up your parents? How hard a saying. In other words, it is like when Jesus says that “if you love father and mother more than Me you are not worthy of Me.” What is your heart clinging to? To earthly things or to the heavenly promises of Christ? It is hard isn’t to truly let go of sins and the things of this world.
But what you cannot do in your own strength, Jesus has done for you. He is the one who did leave everything for you and has given you everything. You have it in your baptism. You have the most spectacular gift of everlasting life delivered to you in ordinary means. But when you know what you have in your Baptism, you are able to let go of yourself, and cling to Christ and Him crucified for your life. And in Christ, even the very ordinary things, like doing the laundry for the family, bathing your children, making the Sunday evening meal, balancing the family check book – All these things are called spectacular in your Father’s sight. For you are serving and loving your neighbor fulfilling your vocations. And you also have the opportunity to forgive those who have hurt you and sinned against you, because Christ has forgiven you for your own sins.
This day we heard the spectacular call of Saul into the faith and service of Christ. Just as spectacular was the call of the Holy Spirit to you bringing you into faith in Jesus Christ who has saved you from sin and grants you everlasting life. What appears to be a quite ordinary thing is pretty spectacular because of the Words and Promises of God attached to them.
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
