Encore Post: Lucia was a virgin maiden born in Syracuse, Sicily, to a well-to-do family in the Roman Empire around the year 286 AD. She was put to death for her faith around the year 304 AD, during Emperor Diocletian’s persecution. She is upheld in nearly every Christian tradition that remembers and commemorates the saints. Lutherans commemorate her day on December 13th. Other traditions, such as the Roman Catholic Church, hold a Mass on her day in her honor. While Lutherans do not have a festival service with the Eucharist on her specific day, Lutherans with connections to Scandinavia are more likely to hold some kind of service, whether a Divine Service or, more simply, a prayer office on that day.
What do we know about Lucia? Well, unfortunately, we know very little, honestly. The oldest records come from the 5th-century book Acts of the Martyrs. All of Lucia’s accounts agree that she was betrothed to a man who was not a Christian. According to the traditional story, Lucia was born into a wealthy family. Her father was of Roman origin, but died when Lucia was quite young. Lucia’s mother was of Greek descent.
As Lucia got older, she took the Christian faith more seriously, even consecrating herself to the Lord, meaning that she was to remain a virgin. However, she did not mention this to her mother. Her mother, fearing for Lucia’s future, arranged for Lucia to be married to the wealthy young son of a pagan family.
Now, this is where the legend becomes weird to our Lutheran ears. Lucia’s mother was sick with a bleeding disorder (from my reading of the different accounts, it sounds like the flow of blood of the woman in the Gospels). 52 years before, St. Agatha, another virgin, had been martyred. It is said that St. Agatha appeared to Lucia in a dream, encouraging her to persuade her mother to take a pilgrimage to Catania. Mom went and was cured of her disorder, and Lucia convinced her to allow the dowry for her impending marriage to be given away to the poor. This did not sit well with the man to whom she was to be married.
Lucia’s husband was said to have sent word to the Governor of Syracuse, accusing her of being a Christian. The Governor took Lucia into custody and ordered her to burn incense to the Emperor. Lucia refused to do so. The Governor then ordered her to be sexually assaulted. Legend also states that when they tried to move her from place to place, a team of oxen was unable to move her. Then they attempted to kill her by burning, but the wood would not catch fire. Lucia was killed with a sword. Other traditions speak about her eyes being gouged out and given to the man whom she was to marry because he prized her eyes. We do not know the truth of such claims.
Lucia’s name appears to be connected to the Latin “Lux” or “light.” Many traditions, especially those in Scandinavia, connect Lucia to light. She is a bearer of light in the darkness of winter. Some traditions that still occur in households involve setting a crown of candles on the head of the daughter of the house, and her going to each family member’s room in the morning with “St. Lucia Buns.” They are baked goods that incorporate saffron into the dough.
While Saint Lucia may not be well known today, she can serve as a model for keeping the faith and expressing hope in the Lord Jesus, who has called all his Christians to take up their cross and follow Him daily. While Lucia’s story is likely embellished in places, we can and should remember her as a saint who died for her faith in the face of brutal persecution. Like all the faithful who call on the name of the Lord, she has been given the crown of life and basks in the light of our Lord’s mercy.
Encore Post: “Who are you?” That was the question the Jews had when John came on the scene. John confessed and did not deny, but confessed emphatically that he was not the Christ. Okay, that makes sense. He must be Elijah then, for Elijah was said to return according to the prophet Malachi. But John’s answer to that question had to leave the Jews scratching their heads. He said he wasn’t Elijah either, at least not Elijah returned from Heaven. Perhaps he was the prophet who was to come, the Prophet like Moses. Nope, that’s not it either. So, John was a perplexing figure, to say the least.
They couldn’t figure him out. They seem to be on the right track to some extent, but just can’t seem to connect the dots. Especially when John speaks of himself as the voice crying in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord.” While the Pharisees wanted to know more about John, John didn’t seem to care much about making himself known. He had one job. And he was set on doing it well. He was proclaiming the One who was to come. That’s the message that John was to proclaim, not preach himself but Christ.
John preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and that one was coming who would baptize with the Holy Spirit. The work of making the Lord’s way straight was beginning. It was falling into place. For the Lord was coming soon to the river Jordan, and His ministry was quickly beginning. Rejoice!
But the Jews did not rejoice. No, they played the part of John 1. Jesus came to his own and they received them not. John the Baptist makes it sound like Jesus is actually in the midst of the crowd listening to the conversation that very day, when he says, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” Jesus was unknown to these Jews, a face easily forgotten in the sea of people around them out in the wilderness. But to those who heard and believed the preaching of John, they were made sons and daughters of God.
John tries with all his might to make sure, once and for all, that everyone who hears his voice understands that He is not the Christ. Even though John came in the spirit and power of Elijah, and Jesus in the synoptic Gospels, leads his disciples to understand John to be the fulfillment of Malachi 4, John never says that He is Elijah. That would be too much for the people. They would follow John rather than follow Christ. And in fact, even though John worked hard to confess that he was not the Christ, there is still a small remnant of people who hold to John the Baptist as the Messiah to this day. You can learn about some of this in the book of Acts, where a couple of men who were baptized into John’s baptism but had not understood John’s preaching to trust in the one who was to come after him, Jesus.
John was bold and confident. And could be based on God’s Word. John trusted the promises of God, he himself being the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 40, and also the promise that he would have the spirit and power of Elijah. He certainly has the voice and appearance down, wearing rough camel-hair clothing and eating locusts and honey. And he desires you to trust boldly in the promises that God has made. May we be so bold as to hold to every word that comes from the Lord.
Good news would come from the one upon whom the Spirit of God would descend and remain. You have John’s own testimony, a few verses later, confirming that when Jesus came to be baptized, numbering himself with the transgressors, that He saw the Spirit of God descend upon him and remain.You have Jesus’ own words in Luke 4 saying that this prophecy was being fulfilled as the people gathered in the synagogue heard Jesus speak to them. Yet, they acted like the Pharisees and would not believe His Words. And then you have Jesus’ own work healing the sick, the lame, and forgiving their sins, too. What do you do you see and what do you hear? The Lord’s favor was coming and has come in Jesus! Rejoice!
He has come to bring you good news, but he brings the word of restoration. He came to rebuild and restore, to reconcile and bring peace. Isaiah 61 looks forward to the time when the exiles will be brought home. Jerusalem would be destroyed, burned to the ground; it would be devastated. In the return from exile, the Jews would rebuild, yes, but it would be a shell of its former glory. The real temple would come when Jesus came and dwelt in their midst, just as he did, and the temple of his body would be destroyed, but in three days it would be raised back up. God would dwell with humanity forevermore. That God and man are reconciled to one another by the One John proclaimed would come.
John was not trying to fool the Pharisees, the Jews, or anyone else. He was pretty upfront with them. Search the Scriptures, test His words against them, see that John is there fulfilling the purpose he was sent to perform. He is pointing to Christ, not to himself. Don’t worry too much about knowing John is, but rather worry about knowing Christ!
John rightly testifies of Jesus being the bridegroom, and He bears the gifts of the bridegroom for his bride. “Rejoice and be glad for your Bridegroom has come!” says John. And He comes with his robe of righteousness for you! These are your words and John’s words to say, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God!” Why? For He comes bearing my salvation. He comes to set me free. As the beautiful hymn Wake Awake For Night is Flying says in the 2nd stanza, “Zion hears the watchmen singing, And all her heart with joy is springing; She wakes and rises from her gloom.” Rejoice!
You heard John’s forthright preaching. How He calls you to account for your sins, especially the ones that are stuck to the bottom of the pot that is your heart, but once He has scraped them and agitated your hearts, John also points you to the remedy of all your sins. Your bridegroom, Jesus. He comes to you, cleansing you from your sins. We look to the font, the place where water and word washed over us, where Christ calls us His own. We look to the white garment given to us then, reminding us of the pure robe of righteousness that Christ has put on us. And we can continually remember our baptisms throughout all our days, coming to Christ, confessing our sins daily, repenting of them, and trusting His promise to forgive our sins. That is the baptismal life in a nutshell. Continually recognizing our failings to keep God’s laws and to be in alignment with them, and receiving from God mercy and forgiveness, and trying again. Our life is one of repentance. Our robes don’t always look white and pristine. Most time they are as black as coal. But rejoice! Yes, rejoice for Christ comes to cleanse you to raise you up, and bind up your broken hearts, and repeat to you the blessed Good News that He has come and He has come to save you.
And He comes bearing you every good gift. He comes to give you Himself, His own body and blood that is the new covenant, the everlasting covenant. Rejoice! Know and believe the good news that the Lord Jesus has come to save you from sin and death. You who have been sinned against by your loved ones, who have been put down, those of you ashamed of your sins that have come to light, and those that could come to light. Know you have been set free by the Bridegroom who willingly laid down his life for his bride and cleansed her with his own blood. He paid the dowry to take you as His bride with his own blood. You are far more precious to Him than any silver or gold, so he pays with his body and blood. And now he comes to you, giving to you that same body and blood to strengthen your faith in these dreary days, that you might cling ever so more tightly to His promise of His coming again. Eat and Drink believing His Words, receive His peace and comfort that comes with knowing that He comes to you that you might be rescued from the clutches of Satan.
The promise will never be broken. Just like the prophecies that He would come, so He comes known to you in His Word and Sacraments. As John the Baptist says, “Behold Him, Yes here. For Christ is in your midst now. Rejoice, O Bride of Christ, for your fortunes have been restored, and He has come and done glorious things in your midst. He has come to save you.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Encore Post: Zechariah should have known better. He was a Levite and a priest with decades of experience. He was steeped in the Torah, the Psalms, and the Prophets. He knew God had a habit of giving children to the barren—Abraham and Hannah, the mother of the great Samuel, prophet, priest, and judge. When an angel appears to you, you listen. And here the angel of God’s presence, Gabriel, stood before him when he offered to God the prayer of God’s people. He promised a supernatural birth and gave a name to his one and only son, whom he would love. Yet he doubted and was kept from speaking until the birth. His words, “His name is John,” would be his first words after that. In his song, which we sing in the Matins worship service, he prophesied the role of his child, the last and greatest of the prophets. John, the herald of the Messiah, would be the capstone of the Old Testament.
John the Baptist had all the credentials to be the Messiah. His father was a priest, descended from Aaron. His mother was related to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and so perhaps descended from King David. An angel in God’s temple announced John’s birth while his father was offering the prayers of the people to God.
Both of his parents were very old, like Abraham and Sarah, and barren, like Hannah, mother of Samuel. God named him John (God’s gift). In the same way, He named Isaac and changed Jacob’s name to Israel.
The angel announced John would come in the spirit and power of Elijah, one of the greatest prophets. So John would qualify to be a prophet, priest, and king. Yet from the very start, he and his parents understood John was not the Messiah, but the one who would reveal him to the world and prepare the way for him. Jesus called him the greatest prophet. (Matthew 11:9-14) John the Baptist closed the Old Testament. He was the first witness to the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.
[Twenty-Third in a series of posts on Last Things] Encore Post: When people speak of the Second Advent of Christ, the focus almost always is on his descent from Heaven, with all the angels and all the saints who had died. That is a natural thing to do because it is very dramatic. The skies parted, and the army of heaven, with countless members, descended with the Son of God in his full glory. The tombs are rent, the dead raised as the author of life calls them forth in the glorious resurrection of the last day. Then the drama of the destruction of sin, death, and the power of the devil, and the summons to all must obey at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Then the book of life is opened, all secrets are revealed, and those with faith in Jesus are pronounced “not guilty” before the throne of God, for the Son of God, the Lamb who took away the sin of the world, was slain for their sake. Then the unbelieving will be sent with Satan and his angels to the unending lake of fire prepared for them.
But the best is yet to come and gets little attention. Perhaps it is because we merge it in our minds with the state of the dead, who, in this age, die in the Lord. They are with him forever. And yet their state is not yet perfect. Their bodies are yet to be called by Jesus from their graves, so they may be fully restored and improved for eternity.
Perhaps it is because we really can’t understand it. So, the Scripture describes it for us and paints several images for us. Eternal life is — well — eternal! We will die only once and, once resurrected, live forever with the Lord. It will be without sin. Having been defeated on the cross. We are cleansed of it forever. There will be no more sorrow or sighing or grief or pain, for these things will pass away. God will dry every tear from our eyes. Our bodies will be glorified, purged of sin and its curse. We will shine like the stars in the joy of our Heavenly Father. We do not know what we will be like except that we will be like Christ.
Best of all, we will be with Jesus and see him face-to-face. Then, with joy, we will sing his praises forever.
[Twenty-Third in a series of posts on Last Things] Encore Post: When Jesus returns from heaven, all Christians will be united with him forever. Those who have died will rise from the grave, their souls reunited with their bodies. All will be restored to be just like him, sin and death removed forever. While that is much more than enough for us, it is not the only thing he intends. He will make a new heaven and a new earth, removing the effects of sin and death forever. A key event in that restoration is the judgment seat of Christ.
The angels sent forth to raise the dead will gather all before the throne — both the saved and the lost, all angels and demons will be brought before him. Every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Saints and angels will all sing his praises. These events are beyond our comprehension, so the Holy Spirit has revealed in Scripture the things we can understand in words and images, sometimes in ways we can’t easily put together. Yet all are true.
At the throne of judgement, the Book of Life will be opened, where the names of all God’s people are written. Every event in human history, along with every thought and deed we thought secret. The standard for judging these deeds will be God’s holy law. The verdict is clear — God is righteous and no one else. Yet, for the sake of the sacrifice of the Lamb-who-was-slain, all who trust in Jesus will be declared not guilty. All their sins were forgiven and forgotten. All that remains are the good deeds done for the sake of Christ. These will follow us into eternal life.
Jesus himself recounts how this works: whenever we cared for the least of his children, we did it to him. The lost, however, will be remembered for what they did not do. So the saved will shine in the joy of God the Father and live forever with him. The lost will be thrown into hell with the demons, forever separated from God and his love.
Following the judgment, the Marriage Feast of the Lamb will begin. We will live with God and his people forever in a celebration that never ends.
[Twenty-Third in a series of posts on Last Things] Encore Post: Called the “Jewish opinion” by the Lutheran Confessions, the belief in a Millennium comes from a face value reading of Old Testament prophecy and poetry about the Church or about eternal life with God after the Second Advent. It also treats the Book of Revelation, written in a symbolic code called apocalyptic, in a similar way. By doing so, it uses difficult to understand passages to complicate the very clear words of Jesus, Peter, Paul, and other New Testament writers. It is the view of the Pharisees that caused them to rule out Jesus as the Messiah, because he did not intend to battle the Romans and to miss that the Scriptures pointed to the birth, life, sufferings, death, and Resurrection of the Son of God.
The word itself comes from Revelation 20, where the reign of Christ through his church is described as 1000 years. This number is not a literal 1000 years, but is Jewish numerology. The number ten meant to them perfection, and when multiplied by three, the number of God, it means everything is completed. It points to our times when the Gospel has reached every corner of the earth.
While it may seem harmless to believe such things, it detracts from what Christ has commanded us to do. It reads every event, looking for the return of Christ. Instead, we should be ready, as Jesus instructs us, making disciples of all nations by baptizing and teaching them, knowing he is with us always.
[Twenty-Second in a series of posts on Last Things] Encore Post: They were ordinary days. The seaside resort of Pompeii was bustling with the daily activities of the luxurious retreat for the most affluent Romans, who escaped the pressures of the imperial capital of ancient Rome. That is, until Mount Vesuvius buried it in ash for 1700 years. It was a lazy Sunday morning in Hawaii, slower than usual for a navy base — until Japanese bombs shattered Pearl Harbor that December 7, 1941. On a bright, lovely September morning, a pastor drove from downtown Fort Wayne, practicing a sermon for chapel on the first regular day of classes for Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne — a sermon he rewrote on the ride in as he learned airplanes had destroyed the Twin Towers in New York City that September 11, 2001. Life was normal — until the world changed.
On another ordinary day, when people will go about their daily lives as usual, eating, drinking, marrying, working in the field and in businesses, Jesus will return from Heaven. (Matthew 24:37-41) He will appear in the sky with the angel armies of Heaven and the souls of his people with him. Every eye will see him. He will send his angels to gather both those who are saved to meet him and the damned to be judged. ( Matthew 13:41, 49, Matthew 24:30-31) There will be no rapture, where Christ appears secretly to claim his own and leave the world in tribulation. This notion comes from a misunderstanding of the dispensationalists.
At that time, Jesus will break the seal of the grave forever. All people will rise from the dead in the great resurrection of the dead. All souls will be reunited with their bodies, and Christ’s own will be transformed to be just like him. (1 Thessalonians 4:14-17) As great dread has been put in this day, it is for Christians the most joyful day of all, even with the next event — the Last Judgment — coming. For the goal of the suffering, death, and resurrection of our Lord is this day, when all is made right, we are restored to his image, and we will shine like the stars in his kingdom. So, the Church has always prayed: Come, Lord Jesus, come!
Encore Post: Christmas in America doesn’t seem possible without Santa Claus. In an image first drawn by Thomas Nast for Harper’s Weekly in 1863 and shaped to his current form by Haddon Sundblum for a Coca-Cola advertising campaign, the jolly Saint Nick is said to live at the North Pole, making toys for children to give on Christmas Eve. Our Santa’s legend has grown from the Dutch form of the Father Christmas story, where candies were distributed on December 6. Through poems, songs, and TV specials, the story continues to change each year. Many Americans tell their children that Christmas gifts come from him.
Yet the image did begin with the story of a real St. Nicholas, a Greek bishop who cared for God’s people during the most intense persecution of the Church before the 20th Century. Nicholas was born to wealthy Christian parents, who died during his early manhood. Nicholas followed his uncle into the priesthood and was chosen Bishop of Myra, a town in what is now Turkey. His legend says he gave away his parents’ wealth to the poor, but, being a humble man, he did so secretly. One story tells of a father who lost his wealth during a tragedy. Unable to afford a dowry for his three daughters, he feared he would have to sell them as slaves or hire them as prostitutes. Upon hearing the story, Bishop Nicholas resolved to help. On two successive nights, he slipped a bag of gold through the girls’ window. In the morning, the father was greatly thankful to his mystery patron. So he watched on the third night for the donor to appear. Unmasking Nicholas, the saint apparently begged him, unsuccessfully, to keep his generosity a secret. The girls, now each with a generous dowry, were married successfully and escaped a depressing fate. From this story, the Dutch legend of Sinterklaas developed, who is said to give children gifts on December 6. This story came across the Atlantic during the colonization of New Amsterdam (New York).
During the Great Persecution under Emperor Diocletian of Rome, Nicholas was thrown into prison and tortured in an attempt to get him to renounce his faith. Remaining faithful to Christ, he was released by Emperor Constantine the Great. One legend places Bishop Nicholas at the Council of Nicea, where he is said to have slapped Arius the heretic and to have temporarily lost his office for the incident. Restored to office, he stood up for his people, battled idolatry and heresy, and intervened with authorities from time to time to protect his flock and the poor in general.
[Twenty-first in a series of posts on Last Things] Encore Post: Jesus had quite a bit to say about his return. The signs that we are in the last days are clear. He will return suddenly, so be ready! The angels will descend, the dead will come to life again, and we will all gather before his judgment throne. The lost will then be thrown with the devil and his angels into hell, and we will go with him to live forever. But where is the talk about the Tribulation and the Millennium? Jesus never speaks of seven years of special punishment of the world for their sins, or of an earthly reign at the end of time, much less a thousand-year one. So, where does the talk of a millennium on Christian radio, in endless end-time and prophecy books, come from?
The concepts of the Rapture, the Great Tribulation, and a one-thousand-year reign of Christ before the final judgment are less than 200 years old. John Nelson Darby first taught the idea that faithful Christians would be “raptured” — removed from the world at the end of the current age, just as God poured out his wrath in a seven-year “Great Tribulation” when the Anti-Christ would rule and severely persecute people who became Christians, mainly Jewish people. At the end of this period, Christ was to return to rule the world for 1000 years. After that, he was to judge the world, condemning the lost, the devil, and his angels to hell, while the saints would live with God forever.
These views, popularized by the Scofield Reference Bible and evangelical authors, became an established theology among Fundamentalist, Evangelical, and independent Protestant churches. Some pastors and evangelists speculated that current events fulfilled Biblical prophecies, treating the Bible like a giant algebra problem. Some even set a date for the rapture — and recalculated when the prediction failed. Yet the whole view of the end is not accurate.
All the signs Jesus taught apply throughout the time between the Ascension of Jesus and his return at the end of time. No one knows the day or the hour of his return (Mark 13:32). It will be a typical day like any other — until it is not. (Luke 17:26-35) Jesus calls on us to stay awake. We do not know when he is coming for us — at the end of days, or at the end of our days. Either way, we should be about what God has called us to do, so when he comes to take us home, we are ready to greet him.
Encore Post: Great forest fires, earthquakes, hurricanes and floods are all over our news. Acts of unspeakable evil and cruelty occur on almost a weekly basis. A nation routinely kills babies in the womb, celebrates immorality, and lectures the church when it doesn’t join them. All the signs of the end of days fill our TVs, cell phones, and computer screens. It makes you just want to scream, “Tear open the heavens and get down here, Lord, and do something about it! What are you waiting for? (See Isaiah 64)
To most of the world’s religions, the high god who made the world is a distant god, who made the world and is tired of it, going away to leave it to lesser gods and our own devices. We are left alone to deal with the mess that is our world and our part in making it worse. Even more modern thinkers, like the Deists, thought of God as a great watchmaker, who made the world capable of running itself, wound it up, and walked away. Pop songs muse: “God is watching us… from a distance” and “The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, they caught the last train for the coast, the day the music died.” We just have to cope, they advise.
Advent breaks into that mood and reminds us that it is not true at all. The God who made the world and called it “very good” intends to do something about it. He promised to come himself, in the person of his Son, born of a woman, to become one of us. It reminds us that he kept that promise and to prepare to celebrate his coming, receive him as he comes to us each day, and how he will finally come to set things right.
The season of Advent developed over the centuries to do just that. Like Lent prepares the church to celebrate Easter, Advent prepares the church to celebrate Christmas. For some, it was also a season of repentance, as a deliberate counter to the wild and immoral way pagans celebrate their December holidays. So in many places, during Advent, the color is purple or black; the Gloria is not sung, and people fast. For others, it is a season of hope, with blue as the color and carols sung to anticipate Christmas.
Either way, the church cries out: “Stir up your power, O Lord, and come!” Come as you did, born to die that we might live. Come with your grace and live among us. Come and bring us all home to be with you. Come, Lord Jesus, Come!
