I am delighted to announce another regular contributor will be joining our blog. Rev. Jason M. Kaspar was a fieldworker and vicar at my home parish while he was at seminary. I believe you all will enjoy having another voice to speak about things Lutheran. Here is his bio, which is also at the blog site, linked to the “About What Does this Mean? page.
I am a Confessional Lutheran Pastor, a member of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS). I was born in Houston, TX. I grew up, the son of a Lutheran teacher. We were always on the move. I lived in 12 cities and towns in the states of TX, KS, MO, MI, MS, and CO. I was a member of 11 LCMS congregations before attending the seminary.
I studied music education at Concordia (University) Ann Arbor, MI and voice performance at Colorado Mesa University, Grand Junction, CO. I served as a cantor, choir director, and vocal coach at multiple congregations in the LCMS alongside my careers including mover, CDL driver, sign installer, and oil field cementing and fracturing lab tech.
Currently, I serve as Sole Pastor at Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool, La Grange, Texas. I was ordained on June 16, 2019 at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Battle Creek, Michigan and installed at Mt. Calvary on July 31, 2019. I am a product of the Alternate Route ordination program at Concordia Theological Seminary and revel in the service opportunities the Lord has granted me at this stage of life.
I am also blessed by the Lord by his allowance for me to participate in a local congregational mission plant in Bastrop, TX. There are three other LCMS pastors from my circuit participating in the mission plant from Smithville, Warda, and Winchester. The four of us rotate duties weekly at Epiphany Lutheran Church of Bastrop, TX, which meets at the 7th Day Adventist Church of Bastrop on Sundays at 11:30 am. Since we all 9 am churches, this minimally impacts our current calls. The impact on Epiphany is highly beneficial. She began meeting together for the Divine Service with the Lord’s Supper every Sunday on February 6th, 2022, inexpensively renting space and local pastors as well.
My doubly great grandfather, Rev. Jacob Kaspar, was a Lutheran pioneer missionary pastor from Switzerland to central Texas, serving from 1867-1900. The first church he planted in Freyburg, TX is 12 miles south of us. All three of his calls are less than 80 miles from my current congregation. He rests in Christ at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church (LCMS) in Anderson, TX. My maternal grandfather is Rev. Melvin R. Boehlke, retired from Bethany Lutheran, Huston, TX. He also served Prince of Peace Lutheran, Belton, TX before receiving his eternal reward.
I’m an avid shooter and an aspiring hunter and fisherman. I’m and experienced cook, enjoying the new culinary frontiers in Central Texas. We recently discovered that the Kaspars are related by my paternal great grandmother and her mother to the Texas Wendish Lutheran immigrants to Serbin, TX of 1854. My doubly great grandmother, Marie Magdalena (Moerbe) Werner was born in 1856 in Serbin, TX, in the second year of the original settlement of Texas Wendish Lutherans. That’s a significant, unknown familial connection to the origin of the Texas district and the Lutheran churches of Fayette, Bastrop, and Lee Counties.
My lovely wife, Mandy, and I were married in 2006 and are enjoying our new lives in Texas.
Rev. Jason M. Kaspar Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool La Grange, TX
A sermon for Rogate, based on Numbers 21:4-9 and John 16:23-33. It was filmed for and will air on Main Street Living’s Sioux Falls, SD market today, May 17, 2020. Main Street Living is weekly television program broadcast in the North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, and Minnesota. It is funded by donation from its viewers and the local congregations of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
Dear friends, in this morning’s text, we find Israel roughly forty years after the Exodus. The generation that disbelieved and refused to enter the land of Canaan has died, just as the Lord had said they would. This next generation will take this land, but we see that their faithfulness isn’t any better than their parents and grandparents. They can’t go the direct route, so they start going around the land of Edom. And as it is easy to do on long journeys, the people got impatient. “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.”
Perhaps I shouldn’t, but I find this humorous. The people say, “Moses, we are out here with no food and no water. And the food that we do have, food that comes from the Lord himself, is worthless.” After 40 years of wandering the wilderness because of your parents, you turn around and act just like they did. They are more mindful of delighting their taste buds than being thankful to their God for sustaining them with a miraculous food.
This defiance and rejection of God’s good gifts, his daily bread to his people, has a consequence. Just like all sin does. This time, the consequences are fiery serpents coming into the camp. People are bitten. Those people die.
Looking around and seeing what is going on, the people of Israel realize that they have sinned. They see death around every corner and know any wrong step may spell their end. And so, they go to Moses, go to their mediator, and ask him to pray for them. “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.”
Moses takes their petition to the Lord. And because your God is a loving God, full of steadfast love, he hears their prayer. And he answers their prayer. But the answer isn’t the answer they expect. He does not take the snakes away. Instead, he gives his people a sign. A promise. Moses is to make a fiery serpent and put it on a pole. I wonder if it resembled a cross. And everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.
And so, it was. The fiery serpent was made, it was lifted onto a pole, and all who were bitten would look at this bronze serpent, remember the promise God made to them when he answered their prayer, and they would live.
It is easy to see the parallel of the serpent on the pole and Jesus on the cross. I think many of us would make the connection without Jesus giving it to us in John 3. Yet it is Christ on the cross that brings us back to the Gospel text. Jesus speaks of his hour coming and even having come when the disciples would be scattered. And yet even with this scattering and the fear and hiding and, in the case of Peter, denying that would occur, Jesus says these things to them so that they would have peace. So, despite the tribulation that would come after his Ascension, they would take heart for he has overcome the world.
The church celebrates the Feast of the Ascension on Thursday. As Jesus returns to his Father, he does so not only as our brother and risen Lord, but also as our mediator. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
Like Israel, we look at the gifts we have from our Father and treat them with disdain. And perhaps I’m just speaking for myself here, but the gift of prayer is one of the easier ones to overlook, take for granted, sometimes perhaps unconsciously ignore. But what a great gift we have in prayer! We are invited to come to the Father and unload our feelings, our desires, our fears. To confess our sin and beg for mercy and forgiveness. And know that, on account of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is given to us.
Jesus is indeed our mediator. He is the one who cut a new covenant between us and God. He is the one who was lifted up and died in our place. His blood atones for our sin. Because of this new covenant, we may boldly approach our Father and ask anything of him because the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and believed that I came from God.
This morning, Jesus invites us to “Ask.” Ask, and you will receive it. Ask, and your joy will be made full. For your Father loves to hear what his dear children have to say. He loves to answer your prayer. What a great and generous promise we have. God listens to and answers our prayer.
So let us pray: O God, the giver of all that is good, by Your holy inspiration grant that we may think those things that are right and by Your merciful guiding accomplish them; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Rev. Brent Keller Peace Lutheran Church Alcester, SD
Dear saints, our Lord tells the disciples, “But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.” But what are the “these things” which Jesus speaks of? We should remember that our Gospel reading picks up in the middle of Jesus’ discourse to his disciples. The full context is the Passover in the Upper Room mere hours before Jesus is arrested. But the more immediate context is Jesus explaining what is soon to come not only to him but to the disciples.
He tells them, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” He says, “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.”
It’s no wonder that the disciples were filled with sorrow. Jesus just told them he would be betrayed by one of them. He spoke of his impending death, but it doesn’t seem the disciples picked up on it. He told them the world would hate them, persecute them, and even kill them thinking they were serving God. Wouldn’t you be sorrowful if you sat with Jesus and heard this?
I think what Jesus says next would be just as shocking: “It is to your advantage that I go away.” It seems hard to believe. Hard to fathom. Imagine hearing this as one of the Twelve: You’ve spent three years with Jesus. You’ve watched him heal the sick and cast out demons. You’ve heard him teach with authority and command the wind to be still…and feel and hear it be still. You’ve heard him tell you that he must die and rise. But it is still a shocking and sorrowful thing to hear.
But why is it to their advantage (and to ours!) that he goes away? It is so the Holy Spirit would come. The text says that the Helper, the Holy Spirit, can’t come; is not able to come until Jesus goes. Not until, on the cross, Jesus cries out in victory, “It is finished!” It is there that St. John says Jesus hands over the Spirit.
Just as Jesus said, the disciples do not see him for a short time, and then they do see him again. During those forty days with the disciples, Jesus will begin to go into the many things that he had to say to them that, at the time, they could not bear. St. Luke tells us just before the Lord ascends, he opens the minds of the disciples so that they would understand the Scriptures.
And, on Pentecost, the Spirit is sent. He comes and begins to convict the world. He begins to reprove and rebuke the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. The work of the Holy Spirit is to expose us to ourselves. God already knows us better than we do. He knows our faults, even the ones we don’t know we have. And so, the Spirit comes to enlighten us.
But notice that this convicting is of the world. It is true that we are convicted of our own sin as the Spirit shows us where we have failed to keep God’s Law. And because he keeps us in the true faith, we are led to repentance. We realize we have no righteousness of our own and look to Christ for our righteousness. We rejoice and sing because we have been judged righteous because of the blood of Christ shed for us. We, by the grace of God, have faith.
But the world does not. The world believes it can dictate what is and is not sin. The world believes it is righteous based on what it does or doesn’t do, think, or say. The world thinks it is clear of any judgment because of its own righteousness. And this is what the Holy Spirit comes to reprove and rebuke. He comes to show the world that this is not the case.
Yet we can narrow the work of the Spirit even further regarding the conviction of the world toward sin. The specific conviction the Spirit brings against sin is because the world does not believe in Jesus. Of all the sins possible, this is the worst. It is the chief sin and trumps all others. No matter how heinous a life someone lives, no matter what evil they have done, it is unbelief that tops it off. Remember what our Lord says to Nicodemus in the night: “He who believes in him (in Jesus) is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
The purpose John has in writing his gospel account is so people would read it, hear it, and believe in Jesus as their Savior. When you or anyone else hears the Word of God, it is the Spirit who works through it. When someone believes and is convicted, it is the work of the Spirit ensuring that the Word does not return to the Lord without accomplishing what it set out to do. So also, when the Word is rejected and unbelief tragically continues, it is the Spirit who judges that unbelief and unrighteousness.
Jesus is risen and he is ascended. His righteousness is laid upon all who call upon him and trust in him as Lord and Savior. Here the world is convicted concerning righteousness because it is only Christ who is righteous. The world, persisting in sin and unbelief, is unable to possess any true righteousness, no matter what good deeds they do in the eyes of men.
Finally, the Spirit convicts the world concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged. Satan is defeated. It is not that he was truly the ruler, but that he had acted as if he was, representing himself as the world’s ruler. That much of the world is under his influence shows the power he has despite his defeat. But this is the work of one already defeated and condemned. He knows he’s lost, so he’s trying to take as many as he can with him.
But you, dear Christian, are not of the world. It is why the world hates you. You are different. You are not under a judgment of condemnation but have been judged and declared righteous. You are not under sin and the penalty of unbelief but have been given the greatest gift possible: faith and life in Jesus Christ.
Know today that the Spirit of truth has come and is still here. He continues to guide us into all truth, which includes correcting us when we sin and lose our way, bringing us again to the Lord in repentance. And he does this for you because Jesus went away for a little while. After all, Jesus was crucified for you. He does this because our Lord ascended to the right hand of the Father where he rules and reigns. So, let us sing to the Lord, for he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. Amen.
Rev. Brent Keller Peace Lutheran Church Alcester, SD
Program note: As I published this morning’s post, it all of a sudden occurred to me that many of my friends may be unaware of my one published hymn on the subject of forgiving a neighbor his sins. (Call me a one hymn wonder!) So, I’ve put the hymn on the blog site in case you are interested. It is “Remember Christ Our Savior.” Feel free to use it or forget you ever saw it.
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear saints, the Latin name for today is Jubilate. It means, “rejoice!” Yet, the gospel text this morning doesn’t seem to lend itself to a lot of rejoicing. Rather, it lends more to sorrow. The Epistle isn’t much different. We are urged to abstain from the passions of our flesh as sojourners and exiles. We hear that people will speak ill of us for being Christian and we have suffering and sorrow to look forward to for trusting in God.
In the Gospel, we find ourselves again in the midst of Holy Week. Actually, we will be in the Upper Room with Jesus and the disciples through the Day of Pentecost. Saints Matthew, Mark, and Luke give us the institution of the Lord’s Supper; St. John gives us more of what else occurred during that remarkable Passover Meal. At or near the end of the meal, Jesus says to the remaining disciples, “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.”
Jesus is speaking of his crucifixion and death. Yes, even in the season of Easter, the death of Jesus is prominent. He had spoken of it many times before. He had predicted it and plainly told his disciples that he must die and rise. But they did not put it together. They see what Jesus does and hear what he says in the Upper Room on that Holy Thursday, yet they are still confounded by it. They ask each other, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?”
Jesus knows they want to ask him about this. He knows they want more information, more understanding. And so, he says to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.” He keeps going, and as he does, I am sure that the disciples grow in confusion. For they are not able to understand what is going on that side of the cross.
But Jesus knows exactly what is going on and what is about to happen. He is about to be handed over into the hands of sinful men. He is about to be put through a farce of a trial and be crucified. He knows that his beloved disciples will scatter and mourn. He knows they will be full of sorrow. And he knows that those who perpetrate all this will be full of joy. They will think they have won and defeated Jesus.
Yet after a little while, they will see Jesus again. Then their sorrow will turn to joy. Of course, this is exactly what happens. We have seen this through the first half of our Easter season. Did you realize we are already at its midpoint? So far, with the disciples, we have rejoiced in Christ’s resurrection. Heard the peace that he brings. Heard what it means for Jesus to be our Good Shepherd.
But in another little while, the disciples will again, in a sense, be separated from Jesus. We are quickly approaching The Ascension of our Lord. It isn’t that he leaves them or abandons them; they just won’t see him as they have the past three years. And though this will also be a sad time for them, it is also a time for joy. For on Pentecost, the promised Helper will come upon the Apostles. They will boldly proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the world will be turned upside down. And through them, the Lord will grow his Church.
For this reason, we have much to rejoice about. Christ is risen from the dead. Death is defeated. Our sins are paid for – we are forgiven. Through baptism, our old man has been drowned and we have been born from above. The good work the Holy Spirit has begun in us is being and continues to be worked.
The enemy has been defeated, but he still howls and prowls among us. The victory is won, but the battle is not over. And because of this, despite all we rejoice about, we still lament and have sorrow. Our flesh, made new in baptism, still pulls us in every direction but the direction we ought to go. The world acts as if Jesus were still dead or as if it just doesn’t care what he said and did. And that’s if they think he was ever here at all. Many hold open animosity toward Jesus and his Christians.
This is why our Lord tells us we will weep and lament. We will and must suffer just as Jesus did. Just as his apostles did. None of us will be spared our own cross, however different it may be for each one of us.
Even still, in our weeping and lamenting of our sins and whatever our enemy throws at us, we are comforted by the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Just as he said he would be, he was taken from the disciples for a time. Then, after that little while, he rose, and they saw him. And even though they had failed him, he was not angry with them. For he had died for them. He came to them in mercy and with love for those who were most precious to him. Upon them, he gave his peace and established the Office of the Keys.
Like the disciples, we fail our Lord. We fear many things in this life: the loss of health, sickness, a lack of financial stability. We may fear being ridiculed or being called out for what we believe and confess. In these times, we are tempted to fear, love, and trust in a god that is not in the God, our Heavenly Father who sent his Only Begotten Son and lives in us through his Holy Spirit. We sometimes are scattered like sheep.
In these times, godly sorrow comes upon us. Such sorrow hurts our conscience as we recognize our transgression of God’s good and eternal Law. We realize it is our sin that caused Jesus to ascend the cross. And so, we turn to him and beg his mercy. We plead that the Father would cover us in the blood of his Son, healing us and washing us clean of our iniquity.
Such godly sorrow brings repentance, which brings joy. For in the absolution we hear God through the voice of the pastor. He forgives you. He gives you his peace, his salvation. And he even lets you see him, though it is dimly and hidden within the Sacrament. You know him there where you see his Body in the bread and Blood in the wine. One day we shall see him fully in his resurrected and glorified body. We will see him with our own eyes in our own resurrected and glorified bodies, as will all the world. It is then that your joy will be full. It is there that our anguish and sorrow will be no more. There, where no one can ever take our joy again.
O Lord have mercy on us! Come quickly, Lord Jesus! Amen.
Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
Rev. Brent Keller Peace Lutheran Church Alcester, SD
Dear saints, today is commonly known as Good Shepherd Sunday. It is the day we hear John 10 and Jesus showing himself to be our Good Shepherd. He is the Good Shepherd because he lays down his life for us, his sheep. It is also called Misericordias Domini. The mercy, or goodness, of the Lord. Our lessons help us to see just how good and how merciful our Lord is.
The people of Israel were shepherded by their leaders. Some were good and faithful. Moses and David are prime examples. They were shepherds of both actual sheep and were also called to shepherd the people of God. While both were flawed and sinful men, they were still faithful in their leadership and their leading of Israel. But other shepherds of Israel were not. In the days of the prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah many of the shepherds, both the political and religious, were unfaithful. They are what Jesus would label as hired hands.
Those shepherds led the people away from God rather than to him. They promoted worship of and sacrifice to the pagan gods of the people around them. As a result, the Lord sent to these leaders and the people his own shepherds in the form of prophets. These brought the Word of the Lord to the people. They called them to repent and return to the Lord their God. But these warnings were not heeded. In the end, God exiled his people from the Promised Land as he said he would if they abandoned his covenant with them.
But that doesn’t mean he abandoned them. Instead, he declares that he will search out his sheep himself. He says that he will rescue them; he will bring them out and restore them to their country. He will feed them in both good pastures and on the mountain heights. Perhaps you are reminded of the 23rd Psalm?
And the Lord does just what he says. He sends Jesus to be the shepherd of his people. God takes on flesh to seek out his lost sheep. Just like the prophets he sent, Jesus comes and calls the people to repentance. Some hear, see, and believe; others hear but don’t hear, see but remain blind, and turn away from their Lord, thinking him to be an imposter or liar. And at the end of his earthly ministry, Jesus lays down his life for his sheep.
He does what earthly shepherds just don’t do. After all, sheep are for raising, selling, clothing, and eating. Yes, you protect them, but you protect them because they are your cash source. But this is not how the Good Shepherd treats his sheep. Rather than seeing his flock as a commodity, he sees them each as a precious child who has wandered off. His search to find and recover them consumes him to the point he dies to recover them.
You and I are part of ‘them.’ We are part of the sheep who were lost and Christ sought out. We are those who were caught up in dangerous valleys or stuck in bushes. Some wind up there because they have strayed on their own. Others have listened to false shepherds and were led away by false teaching. No matter how you strayed, he has gathered us up in his arms and brought us back to the herd.
And it is here that we see and recognize the mercy and steadfast love of our God. It is us who rebelled. We are the ones who wandered off. We are the ones who put ourselves upon a pedestal and make ourselves God. We’ve been doing it habitually since Adam and Eve were deceived. God did not owe us anything. All he had to do was give us the eternal condemnation that we deserved and earned.
Instead, he fills the earth with his steadfast love. The One who spoke creation into existence takes on the very flesh that he created and saw rebel. As our Good Shepherd, he lays down his very life for us on the cross and takes it back up again to show he has delivered us from sin, death, and the devil. Through the shedding of his blood on the cross, he has made his sheep, his people, righteous.
So, shout for joy in the Lord. He has delivered your soul from death. He is your help and your shield. He has borne your sins on the tree. By his wounds, you have been healed. He has washed you clean in baptism. He leads you to eat and drink for your forgiveness in his Supper. Praise be to our Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. For we straying sheep are restored to him. Amen.
Rev. Brent Keller Peace Lutheran Church Alcester, SD
TTT Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. TTT
Dear saints, as I was reading and preparing for today, I remembered something from our midweek series. After our Lord institutes his Holy Supper, he and the Twelve disciples (minus Judas) sang a hymn and go to the Mount of Olives. Once there, he says, “You will all fall away, for it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.” It should not be surprising that this happened. In fact, it happened that very night! The disciples were scattered, Peter denies the Lord three times, and it is only John who is at the cross as his Savior suffers and dies.
Only a few days later, the Eleven were back together. Well, ten of them were together. They had gathered behind locked doors and were afraid. I suppose they had multiple reasons to be afraid. First, the Jews who killed Jesus might come after them next. And second, that same Jesus, whom they had called Lord, was said to have risen from the dead. Like he said he would. After they scattered and abandoned him. Like he said they would. No wonder they were afraid. It was a fear on at least two fronts. A locked door might keep out the Jews, but it fails to keep out the risen Jesus. He simply stands in their midst.
And if the appearance of an angel causes fear and strife, imagine the Lord – that God himself – just appears before you. The typical greeting of the angel is, “Do not be afraid.” Our Lord’s greeting to the disciples is, “Peace be with you.”
This greeting is important. What is it to have peace between a sinful human being and the crucified and risen Messiah? How can sinful humanity, responsible for the death of the Christ, have peace with him? This peace comes to us because he has reconciled himself to us. Because Jesus died in our place, he has redeemed us and made peace with us. We may now come before him and not fear being smite-ed. Rather, we come and receive even more from him.
On the evening of his resurrection, Jesus came to the disciples with both peace and a gift. He appeared and comforted them, reassuring them that there is no animosity between them. There is only peace between Jesus and his disciples. Because he has worked and won their salvation, there is peace.
But he is also there with a gift. And it is a gift we should continue to cherish today. “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.”
This gift is not just for the apostles; it is for us, too. The gift isn’t to an individual; it is to the church. We call it the Office of the Keys. It is to the apostles that our Lord gives the authority and responsibility to teach, administer the sacraments, and to forgive sin. As they went out, they appointed pastors to continue the work. And that work continues through today.
We continually fail in our lives. Every time we sin, no matter what commandment it is that we break, we are breaking the First Commandment. In a sense, we forsake and flee from him at every sin. And when we realize our sin and feel remorse, it is likely that we also fear. We might want to hole ourselves up and hide.
But we can’t hide from God. He knows the things we do that we don’t know that we do. And he is there for his dear children, even when we think it better that he stays away. Instead of staying away, he sends the Son in the flesh. Jesus keeps the Law perfectly for us. He dies for us. He rises for us. He has redeemed us.
And he has sent his apostles and pastors to tell and remind us. Sent them to declare to us that our sins are forgiven. This is what I declared to you today: Almighty God in His mercy has given His Son to die for you and for His sake forgives you all your sins. As a called and ordained servant of Christ, and by His authority, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
It is not my forgiveness; it is God’s forgiveness. It is not my baptism; it is God’s baptism. It is not my supper; it is our Lord’s Holy Supper. It is not my word; it is the very Word of God. I am but a messenger sent to declare it to you. And so, hear it: God sent his Son into the flesh to redeem you from your sin. He died on the cross and rose from the grave. He sends his Word that you would believe and have life in his name. He washed you in baptism and gave you new life. He gives you the Supper to feed and nourish your soul. He absolves you of all your sins for the sake of your Lord Jesus Christ. Peace be with you. Amen.
TTT Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. TTT
Rev. Brent Keller Peace Lutheran Church Alcester, SD
TTT Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. TTT
Dear saints, today we begin to wrap up Lent be entering into Holy Week. Holy Week begins the same way we begin Advent: with Jesus riding into Jerusalem at his Triumphal Entry. When he rides into the City of Peace as its King. But we hear of this entrance from St. John’s point of view rather than that of St. Matthew.
As always, context matters. St. John begins his gospel account speaking of Jesus in a manner the reminds the reader or hearer of Genesis. In the beginning…. Throughout his account, John speaks about the signs of Jesus, seven in all. He often mentions that Jesus is not revealed for who he really is because his time had not yet come. In fact, even at his Triumphal Entry, his time has not yet come. But it is near.
In chapter 11, Lazarus gets sick and dies. Jesus goes to his sisters and comforts them. They confess him to be the Messiah. Moved with compassion, our Lord weeps and raises Lazarus from the dead. This event did not please the chief priests. The plot to kill not only Jesus but also Lazarus was hatched shortly before the Passover.
The day before Jesus enters Jerusalem, he returns to Bethany, where Lazarus and his sisters were from. There, Martha serves a dinner, hosting Jesus, the Twelve, and her siblings. A large crowd gathered, not just because Jesus was there, but because Lazarus was too. And he, after all, is who was raised from the dead. This is when they begin to plot Lazarus’ death along with our Lord’s.
The next day, the large crowd that had come for the Festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. And so, they lined the streets. They carried palm branches. And when he enters, this crowd went out and met him shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord – the King of Israel!”
These cry out to Jesus to save them. The exclamation is a sort of prayer and plea expressed to Jesus. And even after everything Jesus has said and taught his disciples, they still don’t understand what exactly is going on. They don’t see this as Jesus riding into the city in fulfillment of prophecy. They don’t see that it is the King coming into the city.
But that is what was happening. The King of Kings had arrived. He was getting ready for his enthronement. And as he arrives, he is welcomed like a king.
Many people are happy. They line the streets, wave palms, sing Hosanna! They have heard of Jesus. Perhaps seen what he has done. They have some idea of who he is. But others see Jesus and think the opposite. They think he is dangerous. They think he is an impostor. Perhaps some may even know who he is and still reject him. What a scary thought that is! Nonetheless, the Pharisees see what happens, turn to each other, and say, “You see? You are accomplishing nothing. Look! The world has gone after him.”
They see their grip on the people being wrestled away. They see a rival. They see their traditions being overturned. And they hate Jesus for it. No wonder they want to kill him! It isn’t a new desire. They have wanted to put him to death for a while now. But it had not been his time.
But soon after Jesus enters Jerusalem, we hear of some Greeks who were there for the Feast. They find Phillip and tell him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” When Jesus hears this, he says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” The life and ministry of Jesus were all leading to this. All leading to his time.
And glorified he will be. But not yet. There are still things for him to do. Still some preaching and teaching. Still some preparing. When we gather again on Maundy Thursday, we will sit with him as he celebrates the Passover with his disciples and institutes his Holy Supper. On Friday, we witness our Lord take his throne. Not the golden and adorned throne most kings sit, but rather the rugged and splinter-filled throne of the cross. There, we see him in his glory. We see him saving us in real-time. Dying and suffering God’s wrath and hell in our stead. To win our forgiveness and redemption by shedding his holy and innocent blood.
On Saturday, we see him rest and his disciples fear. And then, on Sunday, we see that all the promises he has made to us are true. For on that day, he defeats our last foe and rises from the dead.
But here we are at the beginning of the week. Until the past few centuries, the church met daily this week. They would daily see what Jesus was doing. Even if that was still our practice, we couldn’t do that corporately this year. But as most of us are semi-stuck at home, we can do it with our families. So, I encourage you to walk through Holy Week with Jesus. Read the gospel accounts of what he does. And then, whether with your congregation or at home with your family, rejoice in our Lord’s gifts, remember his suffering, and celebrate his victory for us. Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Amen.
TTT Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. TTT
Rev. Brent Keller Peace Lutheran Church Alcester, SD
TTT Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. TTT
Dear saints, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews writes, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance.” Moses says of this, “And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.” This is certainly true. Yet it can sometimes be hard to see Abraham as righteous. He was a flawed man. Just like the rest of the saints — Old Testament and New Testament — and current day for that matter. He pretended his wife is his sister. Twice. He grew impatient for the Lord to keep his promise of a son with Sarah, and so decided to have a son through Sarah’s servant. He thought they are too old when God told him that the son of the slave woman will not be his heir, but the son of Sarah his wife will be.
But God’s promise to Abraham came to pass. Exactly when the Lord said it would happen, Sarah bore Abraham a son in their old age. Which brings us to our text this morning. God called to Abraham and said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” Moses didn’t tell us Abraham’s reaction. We don’t know if his jaw dropped or if he wept or if he had any reaction at all to this test. But we do know that the next morning the donkeys were saddled, the wood was cut and loaded, and he took two young men and his son Isaac with him.
What must have been going through his mind? Would …. could he actually go through with what God has asked him to do? Kill his own son in a burnt offering? That is what the pagans do! What did he talk about with Isaac along the way? How did he pass the time knowing what he was to do? How does he pretend all is normal and keep this information from those traveling with him?
After three days, Moses looked up and saw the place where they were going. He told the young men with him to stay with the donkeys and that he and Isaac would go and worship and come back. Was he lying to them? Did he think that Isaac would be left in ashes? What would he tell his servants when he returned alone? They know he didn’t take an animal with him.
Moses doesn’t tell us this. He had his reasons. But he does tell us the wood for the burnt offering is laid upon the back of Isaac. We are told Abraham took the fire and the knife in his hand. We are told they walked toward the site together. And on the way, Isaac asks, “My father! Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham replied, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” But as he said this, he knows that Isaac is appointed to be that lamb.
They arrived. They build the altar. Isaac was bound as any other sacrificial animal is bound. Again, what must be going through their minds! We aren’t told by Moses. But we are given a hint of what Abraham is thinking by the writer to the Hebrews. “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.“
Abraham knows
the promise of God and so did his beloved son Isaac. They knew that the Seed which
would crush the head of the serpent would come from Isaac. And so, they knew
that somehow God was working through this sacrifice. They knew the Lord would
provide.
Luther preached on this text in late 1539. It was the day after burying someone he called a ‘famous and outstanding man’ and wasn’t too long after burying two other young noblemen. He said, “At this time, in the present danger of the plague, we are in a state of trepidation. It is as though we did not have the command to live and to call upon God. We have a most dependable Word uttered by the mouth of the Son of God: ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.’”
As we watch and live amid a global
plague, we see a world in constant fear. It has become nearly impossible to
ignore death, something that strikes fear to the core of many. And each day as
we see the number of cases and deaths rising, we know that it is likely someone
we know and love will eventually be affected. Perhaps it has happened already. May
we always remember that we do have the command to live and to call upon
God. That He will provide for us. And, in fact, has and continues
to provide for us.
Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
The angel of the Lord calls and tells Abraham not to harm the child. That he now knows he fears God. Because he didn’t withhold his only son from me. From the angel of the Lord. The angel of the Lord speaking here is none other than the pre-incarnate Christ. He knew the faith of Abraham and the faith of Isaac. He tests that faith and we all see that it is strong as both were ready to carry out what had been commanded.
But Christ stops the hand of Abraham. Because Isaac is not the Lamb that shall be slain. It is Christ himself. God will provide for himself the lamb. And he provides his only-begotten son as that Lamb.
And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
Abraham and
Isaac are a type and shadow. The Father sends his Son to be the sacrifice. The wood
is laid on the back of Jesus. He is bound to the cross. His blood runs down as
he is slain as the curse. As the fiery wrath of God is brought down upon him.
Looked at from
another angle: We deserved to die. But before the just wrath of God could be brought
down upon on us, a ram was caught in the thicket by his horns. And that ram, our
Lord Jesus, was slain in our place.
By faith, even with the death of his son imminent, Abraham looked forward to seeing Jesus. By faith, as we heard Jesus say in the Gospel, “Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” By faith, Abraham and Isaac are saved from sin and death.
It is no different for us today. We are poor, miserable sinners. We are surrounded by the reality of death. But we need not fear, for our Lord walks with us. He is the Helper who drank the cup of his Father’s wrath against sin to its dregs. Jesus is our Savior who tastes death in our place. And he swallows it up to victory. Now, he makes a promise to every believer: “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”
In the midst of life, we are in death. But death has no power over those who trust the words of Christ. He says to you, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” Trials come and go. As you go through them, you may say in your heart, “Yes, these troubles are great. Yes, these problems are out of my control. I can’t fix them, but I don’t need to. That’s not my job. My job is to trust the promises of Jesus. His job is to keep those promises. So even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; my Savior is with me!”
And so, yes, trouble surrounds on every side. Perhaps you get sick and find yourself in the midst of death. You may even die. And unless our Lord returns before it, you and I will die. But you will not see death. You will not taste death. For your trust is in the one whose promises do not fail. It is in him your heart trusts. For as Jesus says, “Whoever believes in me, even though he die, yet shall he live. Whoever keeps my Word will never see death.” Amen.
TTT Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. TTT
Rev. Brent Keller Peace Lutheran Church Alcester, SD
TTT Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. TTT
Dear saints, when
we met a week ago, I was certain we’d be meeting here again just like any other
Sunday. What a difference a few days make! The world is still ripe with
concern, panic, fear, and several other adjectives that apply. More restrictions
in more places. The number of infected continues to climb. Governments continue
to struggle to balance their actions.
And yet, today
is Laetare. It is a day to rejoice. But here we are in Lent and many of
us are stuck at home. Even the most introverted among us may be getting a bit
of cabin fever. So, what do we have to rejoice about on a day like today? As it
turns out, there’s quite a bit.
We heard from St. John that Jesus was attracting large crowds because he was healing the sick. He takes the disciples up a mountain near the time of the Passover and sees a crowd coming. So, he puts the disciples to the test: “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” Left to the disciples and their resources, feeding this crowd is impossible. Eight months of wages wouldn’t do the job. But there was a boy with some bread and fish. The lunch he brought with himself. Using it, Jesus blesses it and distributes it to all present. And unlike the manna from heaven, this food didn’t dissipate in the heat of the day. It remained to provide all present to have their fill, and then it was taken up into baskets that nothing would be wasted.
The people see
the sign, the miracle, and are prepared to make Jesus their king. He is their
King, but not the king they were seeking. They are not looking at things
eternal, but of things only in this world. This is the look of most around us. They
are full of fear at the possibility of contracting a virus. They look for
relief and salvation, not of their souls, but their bodies.
It is tempting
and easy for us to do the same. It isn’t wrong to think about our friends and families
and have concerns about their health. It isn’t bad to desire our own health. But
when the fear of a healthy body consumes us, we can lose sight of the fact that
sickness and pestilence only exist because of our sin. No, I am not saying that
this pandemic is a punishment sent from God. But I am saying that if we were
sinless, we wouldn’t have to deal with such things as sickness or famine or war
or economic depressions.
The world looks
to themselves or government or vapid songs for relief. We look to Jesus. Yes,
we look to God to preserve us in our bodies. But even more, we look to him to
preserve our soul. We look to Jesus not only as a Bread King but as our Crucified
Lord. The One who shows he is King by serving and even dying for his people.
At Pentecost, Peter delivers a powerful sermon. In it, he convicts those present of murdering the Lord Jesus. He shows them Jesus is the Messiah that they were waiting for. That they rejected him and killed him. They killed the Lord of Life! At hearing this, many were struck. They found the vastness of their sin and their need to be saved from their treachery toward their God. They ask and Peter answers what they must do to be saved. “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
About 3,000 were
baptized that day. 3,000 were given the Holy Spirit and added to the Lord’s
church. These devoted themselves to four things in two groups: the teaching of
the apostles and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. They met
daily and had everything in common. They gave to one another as they had need. They
gathered daily in the Temple and one another’s homes.
In many ways,
this is exactly what we do today. We stay devoted to the apostles’ teaching
because it is the teaching Jesus gave to them. We don’t meet daily, but
ordinarily, we meet often. We don’t break bread, that is, share the Holy Supper
daily, but we do it often. We give that the work here continues. We pray, not
only what is on our hearts, but the prayers handed down to us by the church and
from Jesus himself.
True, right now
we don’t gather together daily. Or for the next unknown period weekly. We are
being asked to not gather in one another’s homes. But fear not. we cling to our
crucified and risen King. We trust that he has washed us in baptism. We remember
that he has sent the Holy Spirit to live in us. That we are among those far off
whom the Lord has called to himself. We trust and look forward to resuming our gatherings.
And, ultimately, we look forward to the day that he gathers us to Himself in
heaven.
Our Lord knows
about the pandemic the world is seeing. He cares for those affected by it. So much
so that he shed his very blood for them. So much that he died on the cross so that
they might live eternally. That in that sacrifice, the disease of our sin is
healed and taken away. And so, we rejoice. Rejoice that we are called to be a
child of God. We rejoice that we are forgiven of all our sins, even the sins
that deserve death by sickness and pestilence. And rejoice that our spiritual sickness
is healed by the blood of the Lamb. Indeed! There is much to rejoice for! Amen.
TTT Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. TTT
Rev. Brent Keller Peace Lutheran Church Alcester, SD
