Encore Post: The Ascension is an important event in the life of Jesus and the Church. It is the final part of the work which redeemed us: the cross, where our sins were paid for, the resurrection where the power of the grave was broken and the ascension which restored all His honor, glory, authority and power. From the days of the early church, over 1500 years ago, until recent years, the church celebrated the Ascension on the fortieth day after Easter, or the Thursday ten days before Pentecost. In the 21st century, many churches celebrate Ascension on the Sunday before Pentecost.
When He ascended, Jesus left His Church a promise, a mission and a blessing. He promised to be with us always, until the end of time. He gave us our mission. We would join His mission to seek and save the lost by going to the whole world, being witnesses to His life, death and resurrection, to proclaim the good news of salvation, baptizing and teaching all He commanded us. As He ascended, He blessed them as Aaron and the High Priest did and as pastors do to this day, giving us His peace. He promised to be with us always, until the end of time itself.
Now the church waits patiently for him to return. On a day that no one knows, Jesus will return. On that day, he will raise our bodies from the grave, judge all the living and the dead, bring an end to sin, death and the power of the devil. God will live among us again, throw the greatest marriage feast of all time. He will dry the every tear from our eyes.
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
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today, in the Church we commemorate Philip and James. We don’t know a lot about Philip except for what is recorded for us in the Gospel of St. John. Philip was called by Jesus to follow him. Philip then found Nathaniel and told him about Jesus. Philip told Nathaniel, “Come and see” when Nathaniel questioned if anything good could come from Nazareth. Philip was in the group of apostles whom Jesus told in Mark 6, “You feed the people,” before Jesus taking the bread, gave thanks, and broke it and gave it to the people, feeding 5,000 men. It was Philip according to John 6 that said the words, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not enough of them to get a little.”
Philip was also the man in John 12, whom some Greeks came to saying, “Sir we wish to see Jesus.” And here in the Gospel for today, Philip is the man who says those words, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
James on the other hand is a bit obscure because of the fact that we have three James to discuss. James the brother of Zebedee is known in the Church as James the Great. James the son of Alphaeus could be a second James, and ultimately, we have James, the author of Epistle James. In some traditions this James, the author of the epistle, is James the son of Alphaeus. But others insist on him being the half-brother of our Lord Jesus Christ, and also brother of Jude. Three James adds to some of our confusion about this Saint remembered today.
It is this James, the half-brother of our Lord, the author of the epistle that we remember with Philip today. Philip was called to faith in Christ early on in the ministry of Christ. James, the brother of Christ later, after the resurrection but before the Ascension of Christ as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:7. Paul gives us the run down of events this way concerning who saw Jesus after the resurrection: That he [Jesus] was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. James was called to faith in Christ in a similar fashion as Paul.
Think of the rivalry that must have been in the house of Joseph and Mary. Jesus was the perfect son, James? Uh, not so much. We know from the Gospels that the family of Jesus thought him to be off his rocker a few times, and then we also know that Jesus said that his family were those who did the will of the Father. And the will of Him who sent Jesus is this: “That everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the Last Day.” When Jesus talks about his family, faith in him as the Savior of the world from sins, is not really talked about much. And if were in that household I probably would have resented Jesus. If a prophet cannot have honor in his hometown, he certainly has no honor given him in his own home. James was not a fan of Jesus and his preaching in the beginning. And we can probably see ourselves in this light too. The natural man, that is the man still slave to sin and death, does not like the light of God’s Law coming and running everything amuck. For it exposes the evilness of our hearts and the sinfulness of our ways. It exposes our resentment toward one another and the like, much like the resentment and animosity that James had toward his brother, Jesus.
Yet, in all grace and mercy, James was called to repentance and faith in Christ. Not only was James granted faith but also zeal to proclaim the reality of Christ’s resurrection and the forgiveness of sins given to the world through Christ’s atoning death by the risen Lord Christ, Himself! The same forgiveness is proclaimed to you still today. For it is the same Gospel and it endures until Christ’s return calling us all to faith in Christ Jesus.
By grace, James became the bishop of the Jerusalem church as the other apostles like Peter and John began to move away from the city in times of persecution. It is likely that during this time of persecution James wrote his letter, quite early on in the life of the church. Paul speaks about going to visit James a few times in his letters as well. And in Acts 15 it is James who oversees the first Church Council and forms the letter, when the church is confronted with the question, “What shall we do with the Gentiles, who believe in Jesus?”
Jesus tells us, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” Jesus has prepared a place for them. They belong. You belong in the home of Christ and His Father.
With the story of St. Philip, we can extrapolate a little bit more from John 6 and Mark 6, that’s where the feeding of the 5,000 is located in those two Gospels. John tells us that Jesus went across to the other side of the sea of Tiberias and there performed this sign on the mountain. The other side of the Sea of Tiberias was Gentile country. And its in the context of that we should hear the words of Jesus from Mark 6:37, “You give them something to eat.” Yes, Philip. You feed them. But do not feed them just any old bread. But feed them the bread of life, which is my flesh, and do not give them any old drink, but give them my blood. Yes, James, the Gentiles belong to me as well. Those who believe in me have the Father and have a place in my Father’s house.
We should also not miss the opportunity to see how Christ gathers these folks on a mountain, just as He gathers all people to himself at the foot of his cross. Where his body and blood are given up in death that we might have forgiveness of sins, and life everlasting. Yes, Philip show me, high and lifted up on the cross, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
And this is what was preached by both James and Philip by the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus. This is still preached to both Jew and Gentile, Christ has come to save you from your sin to prepare for you a place to rest eternally. You have a place with Christ Jesus. And you are already being prepared for it. You have a foretaste of it here on Earth in the Divine Service, where the preaching of Christ is put into you very ears. Here, You hear the risen and living voice of Christ here and now. And here, You receive on your lips the living body and blood of Jesus, this Jesus whom has died for your sins and risen to life and ascended to the right hand of the Father preparing for that place. That He might return and that we might be brought to be with Him forever.
This is the Jesus whom Philip and James preached until their own mouths were stopped by their respective martyrdoms. But the preaching of these saints still goes on. We have James’ own testimony in Scripture crafting his own letter in a similar fashion of Jesus’ own Sermon on the Mount, calling weary Christians to come and be at rest in Jesus Christ. And Philip still calls out to you, “Come and see this Jesus, and follow Him.” For this Jesus will take you home to be with him and his Father forever. Amen.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp St. Peter’s Lutheran Church La Grange, MO
God tells us He is our Shepherd. He tends his flock, leads them to green pastures and still waters, guards them from danger, dresses their wounds, carries their lambs and is always with them. (Isaiah 40:11) This imagery is so powerful that, in ancient times, Kings often compared themselves to shepherds as well.
In the Middle East, shepherds often build a common sheep pen for their town. They would build a wall to keep the sheep from wandering away and to keep wolves and other predators from attacking them. A watchman would guard the gate or door to the pen so that only shepherds could enter. This discouraged thieves. When a shepherd was ready to feed his sheep, he would go into the pen and call them by name. They recognized the voice of the man who cared for them and would follow. He’d take them to good, green pastures and nice, quiet waters. (Psalm 23) He would protect them from wild animals, often doing battle with them, as King David describes what he did as a young shepherd. He would risk his life to save his sheep. (1 Samuel 17:34-37)
Jesus is our Good Shepherd. (John 10:1-18) He calls us by name. He leads us, guides us, corrects us and comforts us with his word. He gives us living water to drink and washes us clean in the waters of Holy Baptism. He feeds us with his own body and blood in his own supper. He appoints assistant shepherds to help feed us, protect us and guide us. He gave his life for us, his sheep. He will be with us always, even to the end of time itself, when he will lead us home, where we will live in his house forever. A Good Shepherd indeed.
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
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed Alleluia!
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
You might say you see Mark in his own Gospel as well. It is also assumed from the context of the story of the rich young man is Mark’s account, from Mark 10:17–31 that we see the author Mark there coming to Jesus asking what He must do to inherit eternal life. There Jesus, after giving him the 2nd table of the Law and hearing the man’s response that he had kept these commandments all of his life, looked at him, loved him and said You lack one thing; go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” That day the rich young man walked away sad.
But You first hear of Mark by name in the book of Acts. He is a secondary companion of Paul through Barnabas. Its also interesting to note that Mark’s mother’s home was a location of a church in Jerusalem, likely the location where the Last Supper took place as well. Barnabas was a Levite but was from the island of Crete, who had returned to Jerusalem. Mark was the nephew of Barnabas. And Mark accompanied Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journey. But in the first tour, after reaching Pamphylia the group decided to leave and head towards Antioch of Pisidia. It involved climbing some rugged mountains, something that Mark had not apparently signed up for. As some others have said concerning Mark, that following Jesus was fine for Mark, as long as he could still enjoy the finer things. Paul had little use for someone who would abandon the mission of the gospel being proclaimed.
No one who still breathing is unable to be redeemed, to be brought back into the fold of Christ’s church, to repent and believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. By the grace of God through the continual proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Mark become the Evangelist who worked with Paul, listened to Peter and eventually wrote the Gospel that bears his name. Who better to get the goods of the Gospel of Jesus from than Peter, the spokesman of the Apostles, who himself had once been on the wrong side of denying the Lord Jesus Christ?
And that is why Mark’s gospel and the fact that we celebrate Mark this day is important. For it is in Mark that we get the baptismal promise: “Whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved.” You can debate whether or not this is actually belongs Mark, but that’s beside the point. Nevertheless the Church has consistently said it belongs to the proclamation. And if you remember that Mark likely got all his stories directly from St. Peter, then it makes all the more sense, for it is Peter in his first epistle that says, “Baptism now saves you.”
And indeed, it most assuredly does. Only in Mark does baptism find itself in the act of Christ’s cross. When the brothers James and John come to Jesus and make the request to sit at his right and left, Jesus responds: You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” Christ drinks the cup and is baptized in his own blood as ransom for many at the cross, and now the baptism with which Christ tells the apostles to proclaim is the baptism which connects us to His cross and passion. And by believing and baptism you shall be saved.
Mark is the only book of the four gospels which expressly calls itself the gospel. Mark begins his book this way: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” And a quick search for the word gospel in the four Gospels, reveals that Mark uses the word eight times, which is one more time than the other Synoptic Gospels combined. John does not even use the word. Gospel means good news. And Mark’s Gospel is indeed good news to those who like himself who fell away and needed to be brought back into the fold of the Church, the household of believers. Like us who constantly are in the cycle of belief and unbelief, falling away for the things of this world. Mark is the only Gospel to record for us the words of the Father whose son is demon possessed. He records this interaction beginning at Mark 9:23: And Jesus said to him, “If you can! All things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe, help my unbelief.” Yes, Lord. We believe, help our unbelief.” And the Lord does help our unbelief.
He gives to you the proclamation of the Gospel as well as Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These are the vehicles through which the grace and mercy of God are given to you. It is like the story of the rich young man only now we don’t leave sad, but we kneeling before our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ at the rail, He looks at us and loves us and we follow him where he leads. For Mark that meant repenting of breaking the first commandment for he loved the goods of the world more than the Lord, repenting of his abandonment of Paul and Barnabas. It being called again by the Gospel of Christ to a living faith, one which followed Christ and proclaiming the Gospel with Barnabas to various places, but it also meant being reconciled. Paul and Mark both had some repenting and forgiving to do towards each other. And by the grace of Christ, it came to be. We hear St. Paul say in the second Epistle written to Timothy: “Get Mark and bring with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.” Indeed, Mark would prove fruitful for he would go on from Paul and meet up with Peter and work alongside Peter likely in Rome and write the Gospel which sits in second position in the New Testament.
For us the proclamation is exactly the same. We too have sinned and we too have abandoned the mission of the Lord in many and various ways. We too need to repent and believe the Gospel. This is the life of the baptized. And remember the promise: All who believe and are baptized shall be saved. What a blessed promise given to us. Lord Jesus, we believe, help our unbelief.
As one professor of mine said in a sermon many years ago, “Mark is a favorite of many pastors” because in Mark pastors see themselves. Pastors fail their people. They fail the charge laid before them, but by the same grace which brought Mark back and redeemed him, we too are called back into the life of faith. Faith given to us by the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ of whom Mark, the Lion of the Four Gospels, now roars.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp St. Peter’s Lutheran Church La Grange, MO
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
