Pandemic Sermons – What Does This Mean?

Entry Into Passiontide

TTT Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. TTT

Dear saints, today we begin to wrap up Lent be entering into Holy Week. Holy Week begins the same way we begin Advent: with Jesus riding into Jerusalem at his Triumphal Entry. When he rides into the City of Peace as its King. But we hear of this entrance from St. John’s point of view rather than that of St. Matthew.

As always, context matters. St. John begins his gospel account speaking of Jesus in a manner the reminds the reader or hearer of Genesis. In the beginning…. Throughout his account, John speaks about the signs of Jesus, seven in all. He often mentions that Jesus is not revealed for who he really is because his time had not yet come. In fact, even at his Triumphal Entry, his time has not yet come. But it is near.

In chapter 11, Lazarus gets sick and dies. Jesus goes to his sisters and comforts them. They confess him to be the Messiah. Moved with compassion, our Lord weeps and raises Lazarus from the dead. This event did not please the chief priests. The plot to kill not only Jesus but also Lazarus was hatched shortly before the Passover.

The day before Jesus enters Jerusalem, he returns to Bethany, where Lazarus and his sisters were from. There, Martha serves a dinner, hosting Jesus, the Twelve, and her siblings. A large crowd gathered, not just because Jesus was there, but because Lazarus was too. And he, after all, is who was raised from the dead. This is when they begin to plot Lazarus’ death along with our Lord’s.

The next day, the large crowd that had come for the Festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. And so, they lined the streets. They carried palm branches. And when he enters, this crowd went out and met him shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord – the King of Israel!”

These cry out to Jesus to save them. The exclamation is a sort of prayer and plea expressed to Jesus. And even after everything Jesus has said and taught his disciples, they still don’t understand what exactly is going on. They don’t see this as Jesus riding into the city in fulfillment of prophecy. They don’t see that it is the King coming into the city.

But that is what was happening. The King of Kings had arrived. He was getting ready for his enthronement. And as he arrives, he is welcomed like a king.

Many people are happy. They line the streets, wave palms, sing Hosanna! They have heard of Jesus. Perhaps seen what he has done. They have some idea of who he is. But others see Jesus and think the opposite. They think he is dangerous. They think he is an impostor. Perhaps some may even know who he is and still reject him. What a scary thought that is! Nonetheless, the Pharisees see what happens, turn to each other, and say, “You see? You are accomplishing nothing. Look! The world has gone after him.”

They see their grip on the people being wrestled away. They see a rival. They see their traditions being overturned. And they hate Jesus for it. No wonder they want to kill him! It isn’t a new desire. They have wanted to put him to death for a while now. But it had not been his time.

But soon after Jesus enters Jerusalem, we hear of some Greeks who were there for the Feast. They find Phillip and tell him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” When Jesus hears this, he says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” The life and ministry of Jesus were all leading to this. All leading to his time.

And glorified he will be. But not yet. There are still things for him to do. Still some preaching and teaching. Still some preparing. When we gather again on Maundy Thursday, we will sit with him as he celebrates the Passover with his disciples and institutes his Holy Supper. On Friday, we witness our Lord take his throne. Not the golden and adorned throne most kings sit, but rather the rugged and splinter-filled throne of the cross. There, we see him in his glory. We see him saving us in real-time. Dying and suffering God’s wrath and hell in our stead. To win our forgiveness and redemption by shedding his holy and innocent blood.

On Saturday, we see him rest and his disciples fear. And then, on Sunday, we see that all the promises he has made to us are true. For on that day, he defeats our last foe and rises from the dead.

But here we are at the beginning of the week. Until the past few centuries, the church met daily this week. They would daily see what Jesus was doing. Even if that was still our practice, we couldn’t do that corporately this year. But as most of us are semi-stuck at home, we can do it with our families. So, I encourage you to walk through Holy Week with Jesus. Read the gospel accounts of what he does. And then, whether with your congregation or at home with your family, rejoice in our Lord’s gifts, remember his suffering, and celebrate his victory for us. Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Amen.

TTT Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. TTT

Rev. Brent Keller
Peace Lutheran Church
Alcester, SD

Where Is the Lamb?

TTT Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. TTT

Dear saints, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews writes, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance.” Moses says of this, “And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.” This is certainly true. Yet it can sometimes be hard to see Abraham as righteous. He was a flawed man. Just like the rest of the saints — Old Testament and New Testament — and current day for that matter. He pretended his wife is his sister. Twice. He grew impatient for the Lord to keep his promise of a son with Sarah, and so decided to have a son through Sarah’s servant. He thought they are too old when God told him that the son of the slave woman will not be his heir, but the son of Sarah his wife will be.

But God’s promise to Abraham came to pass. Exactly when the Lord said it would happen, Sarah bore Abraham a son in their old age. Which brings us to our text this morning. God called to Abraham and said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” Moses didn’t tell us Abraham’s reaction. We don’t know if his jaw dropped or if he wept or if he had any reaction at all to this test. But we do know that the next morning the donkeys were saddled, the wood was cut and loaded, and he took two young men and his son Isaac with him.

What must have been going through his mind? Would …. could he actually go through with what God has asked him to do? Kill his own son in a burnt offering? That is what the pagans do! What did he talk about with Isaac along the way? How did he pass the time knowing what he was to do? How does he pretend all is normal and keep this information from those traveling with him?

After three days, Moses looked up and saw the place where they were going. He told the young men with him to stay with the donkeys and that he and Isaac would go and worship and come back. Was he lying to them? Did he think that Isaac would be left in ashes? What would he tell his servants when he returned alone? They know he didn’t take an animal with him.

Moses doesn’t tell us this. He had his reasons. But he does tell us the wood for the burnt offering is laid upon the back of Isaac. We are told Abraham took the fire and the knife in his hand. We are told they walked toward the site together. And on the way, Isaac asks, “My father! Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham replied, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” But as he said this, he knows that Isaac is appointed to be that lamb.

They arrived. They build the altar. Isaac was bound as any other sacrificial animal is bound. Again, what must be going through their minds! We aren’t told by Moses. But we are given a hint of what Abraham is thinking by the writer to the Hebrews. “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.“

Abraham knows the promise of God and so did his beloved son Isaac. They knew that the Seed which would crush the head of the serpent would come from Isaac. And so, they knew that somehow God was working through this sacrifice. They knew the Lord would provide.

Luther preached on this text in late 1539. It was the day after burying someone he called a ‘famous and outstanding man’ and wasn’t too long after burying two other young noblemen. He said, “At this time, in the present danger of the plague, we are in a state of trepidation. It is as though we did not have the command to live and to call upon God. We have a most dependable Word uttered by the mouth of the Son of God: ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.’”

As we watch and live amid a global plague, we see a world in constant fear. It has become nearly impossible to ignore death, something that strikes fear to the core of many. And each day as we see the number of cases and deaths rising, we know that it is likely someone we know and love will eventually be affected. Perhaps it has happened already. May we always remember that we do have the command to live and to call upon God. That He will provide for us. And, in fact, has and continues to provide for us.

Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

The angel of the Lord calls and tells Abraham not to harm the child. That he now knows he fears God. Because he didn’t withhold his only son from me. From the angel of the Lord. The angel of the Lord speaking here is none other than the pre-incarnate Christ. He knew the faith of Abraham and the faith of Isaac. He tests that faith and we all see that it is strong as both were ready to carry out what had been commanded.

But Christ stops the hand of Abraham. Because Isaac is not the Lamb that shall be slain. It is Christ himself. God will provide for himself the lamb. And he provides his only-begotten son as that Lamb.

And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

Abraham and Isaac are a type and shadow. The Father sends his Son to be the sacrifice. The wood is laid on the back of Jesus. He is bound to the cross. His blood runs down as he is slain as the curse. As the fiery wrath of God is brought down upon him.

Looked at from another angle: We deserved to die. But before the just wrath of God could be brought down upon on us, a ram was caught in the thicket by his horns. And that ram, our Lord Jesus, was slain in our place.

By faith, even with the death of his son imminent, Abraham looked forward to seeing Jesus. By faith, as we heard Jesus say in the Gospel, “Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” By faith, Abraham and Isaac are saved from sin and death.

It is no different for us today. We are poor, miserable sinners. We are surrounded by the reality of death. But we need not fear, for our Lord walks with us. He is the Helper who drank the cup of his Father’s wrath against sin to its dregs. Jesus is our Savior who tastes death in our place. And he swallows it up to victory. Now, he makes a promise to every believer: “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

In the midst of life, we are in death. But death has no power over those who trust the words of Christ. He says to you, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” Trials come and go. As you go through them, you may say in your heart, “Yes, these troubles are great. Yes, these problems are out of my control. I can’t fix them, but I don’t need to. That’s not my job. My job is to trust the promises of Jesus. His job is to keep those promises. So even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; my Savior is with me!”

And so, yes, trouble surrounds on every side. Perhaps you get sick and find yourself in the midst of death. You may even die. And unless our Lord returns before it, you and I will die. But you will not see death. You will not taste death. For your trust is in the one whose promises do not fail. It is in him your heart trusts. For as Jesus says, “Whoever believes in me, even though he die, yet shall he live. Whoever keeps my Word will never see death.” Amen.

TTT Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. TTT

Rev. Brent Keller
Peace Lutheran Church
Alcester, SD

Rejoicing in a Day Like Today?

TTT Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. TTT

Dear saints, when we met a week ago, I was certain we’d be meeting here again just like any other Sunday. What a difference a few days make! The world is still ripe with concern, panic, fear, and several other adjectives that apply. More restrictions in more places. The number of infected continues to climb. Governments continue to struggle to balance their actions.

And yet, today is Laetare. It is a day to rejoice. But here we are in Lent and many of us are stuck at home. Even the most introverted among us may be getting a bit of cabin fever. So, what do we have to rejoice about on a day like today? As it turns out, there’s quite a bit.

We heard from St. John that Jesus was attracting large crowds because he was healing the sick. He takes the disciples up a mountain near the time of the Passover and sees a crowd coming. So, he puts the disciples to the test: “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” Left to the disciples and their resources, feeding this crowd is impossible. Eight months of wages wouldn’t do the job. But there was a boy with some bread and fish. The lunch he brought with himself. Using it, Jesus blesses it and distributes it to all present. And unlike the manna from heaven, this food didn’t dissipate in the heat of the day. It remained to provide all present to have their fill, and then it was taken up into baskets that nothing would be wasted.

The people see the sign, the miracle, and are prepared to make Jesus their king. He is their King, but not the king they were seeking. They are not looking at things eternal, but of things only in this world. This is the look of most around us. They are full of fear at the possibility of contracting a virus. They look for relief and salvation, not of their souls, but their bodies.

It is tempting and easy for us to do the same. It isn’t wrong to think about our friends and families and have concerns about their health. It isn’t bad to desire our own health. But when the fear of a healthy body consumes us, we can lose sight of the fact that sickness and pestilence only exist because of our sin. No, I am not saying that this pandemic is a punishment sent from God. But I am saying that if we were sinless, we wouldn’t have to deal with such things as sickness or famine or war or economic depressions.

The world looks to themselves or government or vapid songs for relief. We look to Jesus. Yes, we look to God to preserve us in our bodies. But even more, we look to him to preserve our soul. We look to Jesus not only as a Bread King but as our Crucified Lord. The One who shows he is King by serving and even dying for his people.

At Pentecost, Peter delivers a powerful sermon. In it, he convicts those present of murdering the Lord Jesus. He shows them Jesus is the Messiah that they were waiting for. That they rejected him and killed him. They killed the Lord of Life! At hearing this, many were struck. They found the vastness of their sin and their need to be saved from their treachery toward their God. They ask and Peter answers what they must do to be saved. “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

About 3,000 were baptized that day. 3,000 were given the Holy Spirit and added to the Lord’s church. These devoted themselves to four things in two groups: the teaching of the apostles and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. They met daily and had everything in common. They gave to one another as they had need. They gathered daily in the Temple and one another’s homes.

In many ways, this is exactly what we do today. We stay devoted to the apostles’ teaching because it is the teaching Jesus gave to them. We don’t meet daily, but ordinarily, we meet often. We don’t break bread, that is, share the Holy Supper daily, but we do it often. We give that the work here continues. We pray, not only what is on our hearts, but the prayers handed down to us by the church and from Jesus himself.

True, right now we don’t gather together daily. Or for the next unknown period weekly. We are being asked to not gather in one another’s homes. But fear not. we cling to our crucified and risen King. We trust that he has washed us in baptism. We remember that he has sent the Holy Spirit to live in us. That we are among those far off whom the Lord has called to himself. We trust and look forward to resuming our gatherings. And, ultimately, we look forward to the day that he gathers us to Himself in heaven.

Our Lord knows about the pandemic the world is seeing. He cares for those affected by it. So much so that he shed his very blood for them. So much that he died on the cross so that they might live eternally. That in that sacrifice, the disease of our sin is healed and taken away. And so, we rejoice. Rejoice that we are called to be a child of God. We rejoice that we are forgiven of all our sins, even the sins that deserve death by sickness and pestilence. And rejoice that our spiritual sickness is healed by the blood of the Lamb. Indeed! There is much to rejoice for! Amen.

TTT Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. TTT

Rev. Brent Keller
Peace Lutheran Church
Alcester, SD

Sermon on the Pandemic

We all know the news of our day. There is quite a bit of panic over the virus that has swept the world. Runs on supplies. Stocks tanking. Schools, sports, and even countries have shut down. People of Facebook and Twitter are afraid.

I get it. It’s a bit of a scary time. Even if you’re healthy and at no real risk, you could unwittingly be a carrier and expose someone who is vulnerable. It’s why I don’t blame businesses for telling people to work from home and sports leagues from shutting down. Some schools have closed. And while I don’t like it, I understand and am not going to complain about hospitals and nursing homes closing their doors to everyone except the patients, residents, and staff. They are rightly protecting their patients and residents. Let us hope and pray that this does not get to the point that they force everything, including churches, to close their doors as happened with the 1918 flu epidemic.

The impact on everyone is yet to be known. But even though many won’t be severely affected, they are worried. The more common fear for most is that a loved one will be. And worse, that they could accidentally expose them because they didn’t know they were infected. It is my hope and prayer that this passes quickly. That the death toll is as low as possible. That sanity returns and runs on things like toilet paper and soap quickly end. But in the meantime, we wait and watch for the next announcement.

I get the concern among many. But that said, plague and pestilence are not new. It has afflicted humanity since the Fall. During the late 1500s, the Black Plague devastated Europe. One pastor in Germany, Phillip Nicolai, lost around 1300 of his members from it. He lost 170 in a single week. His response to the tragedy was not fear, panic, and running away. It was to write a series of meditations and a couple of hymns for his flock, one of which you know: “Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying.“

There’s no indication we are up against anything like that. But picture something like that did come at us today. What would be our reaction? Surely there would be panic in the streets, but what about us? What about the Church? We could turn to the Introit appointed for today:

“My eyes are ever toward the Lord,
for he will pluck my feet out of the net.
Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.”

This is not a text only for widespread sickness, but for any time of trial. It is for when you are being attacked and amid temptation. For when you have succumbed to your temptation and find yourself lamenting your sin. This is the text for you.

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
O my God, in you I trust;
let me not be put to shame;
Consider my affliction and my trouble,
and forgive all my sins.
Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!
Let me not be put to shame,
for I take refuge in you.

In the portion of the Psalm we hear today we hear several petitions of prayer. David prays for victory, for forgiveness, for deliverance. Not included in the appointed reading are petitions for teaching and redemption.

In times of trial and tribulation; in times of sickness, pandemic, and distress; the Christian response is to repent and call out to our Heavenly Father. We call out to him and recognize our sin. We repent of our sin. We plea for forgiveness. That he would clean us of our sin. And that, having his perfect absolution, we are freed to serve our neighbor, as did Pr. Nicolai. Knowing the love and grace of God, he stood up in the face of death all around him and proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ to those around him. Especially those dying of the Plague.

While sickness among us will drive us to realize our own human frailties, the early church used this Sunday in Lent as the day of renunciation of the devil and the exorcisms of the catechumens. This is the day that men and women with battles raging in them and outside of them confessed that Christ will be their God. Even if it means rejection of their livelihoods or exile from their families. This is the day they announced their step out of the darkness of sin and the rule of Satan and into the light and service of the Lord Jesus.

Born in sin, we are essentially the goods of the strong man; of the devil. He has claimed us and guards us as his property, waiting for our eternal destruction. But the heart of Lent, the heart of the Gospel, is that God has kept his promise to Adam and Eve in the garden. He has sent the Seed in Jesus Christ. And he is the stronger man. He comes and attacks the devil, crushing his head. He takes away the goods that the devil has stolen from God and stored up as his own.

This happens for all men at the cross. And it is applied to you at your baptism. There, at the font, the Holy Spirit makes your body his holy temple. At baptism, the unclean spirit goes out of the person, and the Holy Spirit makes the body holy. Your bodies, death brothers and sisters, are not an empty house, swept and put into order. Your bodies are a holy temple of God. Your state is not worse than before, but it is eternally better.

Perhaps our cleansed bodies are what makes it [somewhat] easier in times such as these. For we know that our God is not only just, but he is also merciful. We know that his mercy extends to all, but especially to us as his adopted children. This is why we may, at all times, call out to him with our eyes ever toward him. Why we may turn to him in every trouble, trial, and temptation, putting our trust in him and knowing he will not put us to shame. Rather, he will continue to have mercy on us in peril and pestilence; forgive and cleanse us of our sins.

But those who still belong to the strong man fear, and fear greatly. They see peril and pestilence as a potential real and present harm to them. And it is. Not only to their flesh but to their souls. And so, we pray not only for ourselves but for those far from our merciful God. We lift not only ourselves up in our affliction, but also our neighbor who fears and is far from Christ. We pray for their physical safety and that the Light of Christ would reach them, cleanse them as he has cleansed us, and send to them the Holy Spirit who would make them his holy temple as he has done with us.

We don’t know how long or how bad this pandemic will be. We don’t know if we will contract it. If a friend or loved one will. And if we or they do, how severe the case will be. We don’t know what restrictions will be placed on us by the authorities, which, I remind you, that God himself has put in place.

But we do know some things. We know that our Lord Jesus Christ took upon our flesh to free us from the strong man. We know he paid for our sins on the cross, bleeding and dying to win victory over the strong man. We know that he has cleansed our bodies from all evil and sent the Holy Spirit to live in us and sanctify us. We know that we are always able to cry out to God in all situations and tell him whatever is on our mind. And when we do, we know that he will hear us and answer our prayer in the way that benefits our eternal good. O my God, in you I trust…Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!…for I take refuge in you.

Rev. Brent Keller
Peace Lutheran Church
Alcester, SD