During the Middle Ages, the sacraments became a system of good works by which a Christian earned salvation and the forgiveness of sins. Penance especially became torture instead of comfort. The indulgence controversy exposed the way the sacraments were seen as a burden to be borne not gifts to be cherished.
Early in 1519 in a tower experience, Martin Luther came to realize that righteousness is a gift that God gives, not the standard by which he condemns sinners. Salvation, therefore, was a gift held onto by faith. At first he did not realize how this insight changed everything. But change things it did.
The medieval view of sacraments as a way to earn grace no longer made sense. Confirmation, Marriage, ordination and the last rites did not bring the grace of God to Christians. Penance in the strictest sense of that word was a response to forgiveness, not a condition for it. Luther’s friends urged Luther to help everyday people see the Sacraments as comfort.
Five Hundred years ago, Luther began to do that in three sermons on the only three sacraments he could defend from Scripture as means of grace : absolution, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These sermons had the titles: The Sacrament of Penance (October 1519), The Holy and Blessed Sacrament of Baptism, and The Blessed Sacrament of the Holy and True Body of Christ, and the Brotherhoods.
In the sermon on penance, Luther emphasized that absolution actually forgives sins and reconciled the believer with God. This forgiveness is received by faith and gladdens the heart of the believer. The penance assigned by the priest, rather, reconciles the believer with the Church as is done by the strength which comes from trusting God to keep his promises. Luther also commented that he saw no value in separating sins into two catagories, moral and venial.
The sermon on Baptism divided the sacrament into three parts: the sign of immersing a candidate in water, the beginning of the death of the believers old Adam and faith which relies on the word of God present in the sacrament. For Luther, faith returns to baptism each day and relies on the grace it offers.
In his sermon on the Lord’s Supper, the reformer recommended that laymen be permitted to receive both the bread and the wine. These had been withheld from them by the church at the request of the laity, who feared spilling the blood of Christ.
Luther was not fully satisfied with the way he spoke about the Sacraments in these sermons. In the next year, his A Prelude on the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, the full teaching of these sacraments would take its Lutheran form.
The defining moment of the Old Testament was Israel’s deliverance out of Egypt. It had it all. The people witnessed the mighty hand of God passing judgment on the false gods of Egypt, including Pharaoh himself. A lamb was sacrificed and its blood placed on Israelite doors. That same lamb was eaten as the Passover meal was instituted. Just as it seemed the people were ‘home free,’ they found themselves at the Red Sea. And so God again works a miracle and delivered them through it on dry ground and the people have a sort of new birth on the other side.
The people were slaves no more. They were on their way to the land God had promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob centuries before. And so it is no wonder they spoke of the Lord as the one who “brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.”
Yet maybe the Exodus isn’t the chief thing. In the days of Jeremiah, Israel was a lost nation. Her rulers were evil. Her heart was hard. Her eyes were blind and ears were unhearing. Because of this, exile came and, therefore, the throne of David would be emoty. Nonetheless, even with this awful news of exile, “the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’”
The Exodus points to this greatest event. It is a fulfillment of what would come. In the Exodus, God saved his people from the grips of a man who wanted to be God, from a slavery and bondage that they could not free themselves from. God supplied the delivery and the new life on the other side of the water. And he is the one who led the people through hardship in the wilderness to the land promised long before.
Israel in the time of Jeremiah would be exiled and removed from this Promised Land. Because of their sin, idolatry, and disregard for their God, he removed them from the land. They were unrighteous and broke the covenant God made with them. And so they suffered the consequences of it.
But like Adam and Eve in the Garden, they are given hope. Like the Israelites wandering in the wilderness, the faithful remnant was promised deliverance. And so after the appointed amount of time, the people of Judah would return and rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. But even this return was not the chief event either. It is, however, another shadow of what ws to come. Because from the people who return, God would “raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” And this one who the Lord will send will be called “The Lord is our righteousness.”
We know that this Righteous One is none other than Christ himself. It is he that the entire Old Testament points to. The signs, the shadows: they all point to Christ! The promises are fulfilled in Christ.
In the Advent season, we anticipate the celebration of his first coming. — the incarnation of our Lord. He is the answer to the sin of Adam and Eve. He is the redeemer who leads Israel from Egypt. He is the one who freed you from your sin, disobedience, and unfaithfulness. And the reason he comes is to be once and for all sacrifice for your sins. To be your righteousness. Jesus is the True Passover Lamb. He took your place when he ascended the cross, His blood flowed down the beam like the lamb’s did the doorpost. He feeds and nourishes you in His Holy Supper.
And in doing this we see that he is also the one who “brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them. Then they shall dwell in their own land.” This is another shadow. As we mentioned, God does bring his people back to Jerusalem out of the north. But with the coming of Christ –- his life, his death, his burial and resurrection –- he brings all of his people, the True Israel to himself and the Father.
So as we begin a new church year with Advent, we consider how we should prepare for it. How should you prepare for the first coming of Christ? We prepare in the same way we prepare for his second coming. We Prepare for the Coming Christ by Receiving His Gifts in His Word and Sacraments.
Advent leads us to think about why Jesus was born. He is born in order to die. And so we reflect and give thanks for the Incarnation — for his taking on our flesh and becoming man, for his perfect keeping of God’s holy Law, for teaching us and revealing God’s will, for taking the throne of David and being the all-sufficient sacrifice to redeem us from our sins, for clothing us in His righteousness and for delivering us from sin and death and into life.
But he comes not only in the reading and preaching of his Word, for you know he also comes in his Supper. And so we receive his gift of forgiveness in the Supper. In Egypt, the Passover lamb was sacrificed in place of the firstborn. It was cooked and the family ate it in a meal. It was a shadow of Christ. He is the sacrifice that saves you from your sin and the wrath of God. You are fed and nourished by this Lamb and have your faith strengthened by him.
Finally, we remember the Collect for the first Sunday in Advent. In it, we ask for protection and deliverance. This means we are looking for God to be present and among us. We seek his power and protection now. Because Christ has come, you can be sure that he answers this prayer. He protects you through his Word and his Sacraments. He equips you to live a Christian life. He forgives you when you fail. And he delivers you from evil.
Rev. Brent Keller Peace Lutheran Church Alcester, SD
Marriage customs during the earthly ministry of Jesus were much different than today. The bride waited for the bridegroom in her home, accompanied by her young companions. The groom would come with his own friends and pick her up to lead her to the ceremony. As he approached, the maidens would go out to meet him. A joyful procession would then wind its way through the streets and end up at the place where the marriage feast was prepared. The young women would enter the hall with the rest of the bridal company. Since weddings in those days were celebrated in the evening, the maidens would carry lamps to light their way in the darkness.
In Jesus’ Parable of the Ten Bride’s Maids, the bridegroom was on his way, and the bride’s maids assembled with their lamps. They seek. They wait. They get drowsy. They fall asleep as he is delayed. But then, there’s a clamor. The bridegroom approaches! The ten bride’s maids awake from their slumber. They grab their lamps, trim their wicks, and go to refill the oil which keeps the lamp burning bright. And that’s when the problems start. Five have plenty of oil. They are able to manage their lamps and have them brightly shine like designed. But five have no oil. They are able to prepare their lamps, but can’t use them. Their lights will not shine.
And so these foolish bride’s maids turn to the wise to ask for oil. But the wise bride’s maids brought an extra supply for themselves. They don’t have any to spare. And so the foolish bride’s maids are told to go to the market to buy more. And, despite being the middle of the night and having no merchant to buy from, they go off.
Unsurprisingly, the bridegroom comes while they are away. The wise bride’s maids meet him and process with him to the place the feast has been prepared. They go into the feast, the doors are shut, and the feast commences. Sometime later, the foolish bride’s maids return. They find the door locked and call out, “Lord. Lord, open to us.” But they hear a surprising response: We aren’t told their reaction, but I am sure it was one of total shock.
Jesus’ commentary after the parable should draw our attention today: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” This parable is spoken to those who are disciples of Jesus. He says, essentially, “Keep your eyes peeled.” We are to be aware of what’s going on around us.
When Christ returns, it will be a surprise. Even to those waiting on him. And this is why we are warned. How easy is it for us to think to ourselves that we have all the time in the world? That we will, without doubt, have next year or next decade? How easy it is to become complacent! And when we do, we present to ourselves a very real danger.
Remember that all ten bride’s maids knew about the bridegroom. They all came, seemingly prepared for the wedding. But as things were delayed and drug out, all ten also began to get tired. They did not stand watch or keep vigil. They all slept. And as they slept, the oil burned. As they awoke, some lacked what was essential for light to continue.
The oil of the wise bride’s maids is that of faith. A faith that is continually sustained by the Means of Grace. And with this faith being sustained by what God has given us, Word and Sacrament, the oil of faith endures. Even as we await the return of our Lord, so has every generation of Christians for over 2,000 years. All have waited. All have sat and heard the word and partook of the Sacraments. And each generation has fallen asleep.
But one day,
whenever it is, there will be a cry. All who have fallen asleep will awake. And
those with oil, those with faith, will trim their lamps and shine brightly as
they process to the wedding banquet. But on the other hand, those who awake
without the oil of faith will know what they lack and seek it.
But that’s the
rub. One’s ‘oil’ is only useable by the one who has it. It cannot be loaned or
transferred. Faith can’t be infused to another, no matter how much I would like
it to be so. And so in this morning’s parable, we are warned against growing
weary of waiting for the return of our Lord. We are warned against growing complacent
and being distracted. We are warned against neglecting our faith and being
endangered with the loss of our faith.
Jesus Christ, our bridegroom, is coming. We have all been invited to be a part of the wedding party. We gather in anticipation of his arrival. And while he comes soon, we do not know when that is. And so we strive to remain prepared. Being washed clean in Holy Baptism, we sit and hear his word. We eat and drink his body and blood. In doing so, our Lord fills our horn of oil. And we await his arrival, that we may walk with him along the way to the eternal marriage feast between our Lord and his bride: Us. The Church.
Rev. Brent Keller Peace Lutheran Church Alcester, SD
On November 20, 1844, 175 years ago, missionary pastor Friedrich Wyneken received a call to serve St. Paul Lutheran congregation of Baltimore. After much correspondence, and on the condition that Baltimore wait for him until another pastor was called to Fort Wayne, Wyneken accepted the call. He nominated Wilhelm Sihler to be his successor in Indiana. His two parishes extended the call to Dr. Sihler, who accepted it. Wyneken left the instruction of three candidates for the ministry to his successor. Their education continued to impress the importance of theological education to their instructor, who strongly encoraged both Dr. Sihler and Pastor Wilhelm Löhe to establish a seminary in Fort Wayne. In February of 1845, Pastor Wyneken preached his farewell sermon in Indiana and moved on to Baltimore, arriving in March of 1845.
Friedrich Wyneken was familiar with this parish. When he first set foot in America, he had substituted for their pastor Johannes Häsbärt. His direct, sincere and compassionate care of the members made such an impression on Häsbärt that the pastor personally recommended Wyneken for missionary service in the West. Very likely the members of St. Paul’s remembered that care also.
In his new parish, Pastor Wyneken continued his program of catechesis in Lutheran doctrine and practice. His first series of sermons at Baltimore focused on the differences between Reformed and Lutheran theology, for which he used Luther’s Catechisms and the Heidelberg Catechism as a text. While substantial group of Reformed members of his new congregation withdrew in anger, many of the people wholeheartedly received Wyneken and welcomed his instruction.
At Baltimore, Wyneken added opposition to fraternal lodges to his arsenal of apologetics. The lodge movement was strong in Baltimore and several of Wyneken’s parishioners had joined one or another. After a thorough study of these movements, he became convinced that membership in a lodge was incompatible with Christianity. Through his witness, he brought the issue to the attention of confessional Lutheranism.
Jesus teaches his disciples about forgiveness with a parable about a king who decided to settle the accounts of his servants. One of the servants was brought before the master. he owed Ten thousand talents. A talent was about 20 years’ worth of wages.The math works out to a debt of $11.2 billion. Obviously, he can’t pay it back. And since he can’t, the king decides to sell the man, his family, and all he has. He and his family shall be slaves until they die.
The man throws himself at the feet of the king. He begs for patience and promises that he will pay back this insurmountable debt. Hearing the cry of this servant, the king has compassion. He cancels the debt. Imagine being this forgiven man! What joy you must feel! Surely you would go and rejoice with your family, maybe even have a feast in the honor of your king to extol his mercy, his grace, his salvation for you and your family!
Yet, the man in the parable doesn’t do any of that. In fact, he immediately goes and finds one of his fellow servants who happened to owe him money. The debt? One hundred denarii — about $15,000, so a substantial amount of money. But nowhere near a single talent of the 10,000 he owed his king. And like the servant did before his king, this fellow servant falls on his face and pleads, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you.”
Instead, the forgiven man throws his debtor into debtor’s prison. The news quickly gets to the benevolent king. The forgiven servant is again summoned before the king. The king said: “You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?”
In his anger, the king delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debts. The jailers here aren’t the jailers we think of today. They aren’t just making sure you don’t escape. These jailers are oppressive and often torture their prisoners. Their job is to exact torture and pain. And this man will be under them until all – every cent – of his debt is repaid. He will never get out.
We, too, are God’s debtors. Our debt is sin. We constantly and continually wrack up our debt of sin. A debt that we are hopeless to pay. We also find ourselves before our King, before God. Our debt of sin warrants being thrown into prision. It warrants oppressive jailers who exact pain and torture until every sin is paid for. Being helpless to pay anything back and knowing what we deserve, we plead for mercy.
Christ our king has compassion for us, his Creation. He forgives every sin and debt that we have wracked up against him. Our Lord and Savior bears a great cost of suffering by dying in our place. And in doing so, our sin is forgiven. Our debt is erased because of the cruel oppression and torture exacted on Jesus Christ. We stand before our God and Father forgiven and cleansed from our sin. And knowing what it took to cleanse us of our iniquities, we fear, love, and trust in him above all things. And part of that fear, love, and trust is to forgive those who trespass against us.
Now, we who are forgiven much are to love much. In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray: “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We get to show the mercy we have received to others. It is why we freely forgive and do good for those who sin against us. And why, as we prayed, our faithful Lord grants that what we ask in faith we obtain.
Rev. Brent Keller Peace Lutheran Church Alcester, SD
Text: At … Capernaum there was an official whose son was
ill. When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to
him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of
death. So Jesus said to him, “Unless you all see signs and wonders you will not
believe.” The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that
Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. As he was going down, his servants met him
and told him that his son was recovering … And he himself believed, and all his
household.”
Intro: For hundreds of years,
God’s people had been waiting for the coming of the Messiah. The prophets gave
them signs to look for. So naturally, that was what they looked for. For them,
seeing would be believing. They looked so hard that they missed them. The virgin
had conceived and born a son. Emmanuel was with them. The Messiah had even
added a few bonus signs: he turned water to wine, gave a record catch to
fishermen. The man in our lesson today did not miss these things. He came to
the Messiah for his son to be well and trusted Jesus when he told the man it
would happen. He had faith in Jesus. Believing soon became seeing.
Faith is trusting God to keep his promises
It is not putting our faith in signs
It is not expecting God to make us well
It is not about getting everything we want
It is about putting ourselves into his hands, knowing he will care for us
It is about believing that God will save us.
At just the right time, Jesus became man
He lived in every way like us – except he did not sin
He suffered and died on the cross to pay for our lack of faith
He won for us eternal life, where there will be no suffering, grief or pain.
We can go our way, confident that we are in his care.
“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30–31, ESV)
Encore Post: When we think about the Bible today, we think about it as one book. And so it is. God is the author of all of Holy Scriptures. He spoke though his prophets, evangelists, apostles and — most importantly — his Son. (Hebrews 1:1-2) It has a single theme: how God saved the world by sending his Son to die for us.
Yet in most languages the word for Bible is plural — Biblia — books! In fact, when we call the Word of God the Holy Scriptures you can see that even in English. Scriptures is plural too! The Bible is a library of sixty-six books written over a period of about 1500 years. At first they were written literally in stone and clay tablets. Later they were recorded on papyrus (paper made from reeds that grow along the Nile River) and on animal skins, rolled into scrolls. Copies were made by hand, one by one, a scholar carefully copying it letter by letter. Later the whole thing would be memorized and passed from one teacher to his students.
At the time of Jesus’ ministry, a new form of the book took form. Rather than roll a book up on spindles, small segments were sewed together along one edge creating a codex — the form with which we are most familiar. It was easier to carry, to page through and to read. To make many copies, one person would read it from a desk called a lecturn — a reading stand — and multiple scribes would carefully write it down word for word.
At first the words of Jesus were memorized by his disciples and hearers. It was a part of the way rabbis taught. They would perhaps also take notes on Roman wax tablets from which they would later copy. After a period of time the Evangelists (literally translated gospelists) would bring these together with their own testimony and that of others to produce books from which the faith could be taught. The rest of the New Testament are letters written mostly by St. Paul, St. Peter and St. John, to pass instructions and encouragement to growing churches far away. The ones the church recognized as the very words of God were copied and collected into codices (plural of codex) and carried wherever the Gospel would be preached.
Eventually the Word of God would be translated into many languages and copied in numbers greater than any other book in history. When the printing press came into being, the first book printed was — you guessed it — the Bible. Now everyone could afford to buy one. In our age, the Bible continues to be the most translated and printed book. Yet it also now is in electronic form. It is easier than ever to read, learn and hear God’s own message to you.
When Martin Luther described our nature as sinful human beings, he concluded that we are in curvatus se — we are curved in on ourselves– like a turtle that hides in its shell. We seek to satisfy our own needs, our own comfort, our own desires before all things. We want things to make sense to us and so, in a way, make everything over in our own image — including God. (Ephesians 2:3, 2 Timothy 3:2-5, 4:3-4) Our attitude is like that of Satan in John Milton’s Paradise Lost: ” Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven” (1:263)
Our culture plays to this built-in selfishness, parading all kinds of delights in commercials, music and literature. It plays to greed, jealousy, lust, pride and envy. We are easily hooked by such things which often become obsessions. The problem with such pursuits is it makes things and ultimately ourselves into gods. The irony is these things eventually make us into their slaves rather than liberating us. They set us in conflict with others and make more and more alone. They lead away from God, the source of life, to destuction.
God is very different. From the beginning, his focus was on us. He loved us before he made the world. He decided to make us his childen and rigged the history of the world to adopt us as his heirs. In Christ, he set aside his power and glory to become a man, live a perfect life for us, bear our selfishness and sin to the cross, suffered, died and rose again from the dead to break into our lives. In baptism, he kills this selfish nature and plants a new life in us — one that focuses outward on him and our neighbor.
In the strength he provides us through baptism and the Lord’s Supper and the power of the word that changes hearts, we take up his call to take up our cross daily and follow him. In doing so, we deny our sinful nature and are turned inside out. Instead of serving ourselves or seeking to be served, we serve God and others. As we do this, God meets our needs and those of others.
After Cain killed Abel, the world continued its descent into evil. For awhile, the descendants of Seth, called by Moses the Sons of God, remained separate from the descendants of Cain. They remained faithful to God and his will. However, slowly but surely, they began to marry each other, The Sons of God soon became as evil as their neighbors. This should not surprise us. Because of sin their every thought was evil. So God resolved to destroy the world and all of the descendants of Adam and Eve — except for eight of them. God preserved humanity in the person of Noah and his family, who had continued to serve him. God kept them safe in the Ark he built and resettled the world through him.
The first time we read about the flood, we get the impression that Noah and his family were saved because they were saints in a world full of sinners. But this is not true. They were just as sinful at heart as their neighbors (compare Genesis 6:5-6, before the flood and 8:21 after the flood). The difference was that they “walked with God” (6:9) and were righteous by faith (Hebrews 11:7), trusting God to care for them and obeying His commands. In Martin Luther’s Flood Prayer, which we use in our baptismal services, we confess it this way: “Almighty and eternal God, according to Your strict judgment You condemned the unbelieving world through the flood, yet according to Your great mercy You preserved believing Noah and his family, eight souls in all. ”
The flood reminds Christians of baptism, in which our sins are drowned and we are safely carried to new life. We speak about the Church as God’s new ark, in which he keeps us safe from the evil world. The place in our church building where we sit for worship is named the Nave, which means ship in Latin. Baptism saves us by uniting us with Christ’s suffering and death. In it our sins are washed away, where Jesus received them at his baptism. In exchange, we receive his righteousness by faith. When we rise from the water of baptism, we are united with his resurrection. So, as Christ rose from the dead, we will rise from our graves on the last day.
After the Fall, Adam and Eve followed God’s plan to have children. The Bible does not tell us how many God blessed them with, but they had many during their hundreds of years of life. Because they were made directly by God, their health held up much better than it does for us. Moses does tell us about three sons: Cain, Abel and Seth. When Cain is born, Eve named him the usual naming formula: “I have received a man– the Lord.” Martin Luther and many theologians think Eve believed Cain was to be the Messiah that God promised them after the Fall. (Genesis 3:15) Others see it as Eve thanking God for giving her a child and not taking credit for the birth herself.
Abel grew up to be a shepherd and Cain a farmer. Both Abel and Cain brought offerings to God. Cain gave some of his crops to God because he felt he had to. Abel gave the very best of the very best of his flock because he loved God. God accepted both gifts, but favored Abel’s over Cain’s because Abel gave his gift by faith, while Cain offered his as a work.
Cain was jealous. God warned him to let it go and to work on being a better person. Jealously has a way of feeding our sinful nature. In this case, Cain grew angry with his brother Abel and killed him. This first murder fed the decline of society into the evil that resulted in God’s decision to destroy them all — except Noah and his family.
Nevertheless, God loved him and showed him mercy. He put a mark on him to protect him from death. He got married and had children that shaped the world.
