“Phillip, Nathanael, and Jesus,” John 1:43-51

⁴³The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” ⁴⁴Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. ⁴⁵Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” ⁴⁶Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” ⁴⁷Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” ⁴⁸Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” ⁴⁹Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” ⁵⁰Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” ⁵¹And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (ESV)

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Jesus is the Savior of the world, as St. John writes, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16).

“God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17).

God “desires all men to be saved to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).

By yourselves, you would not know this. You would believe God to be ‘for you’ only if you did right, but against you if you did wrong.

The Lord reveals differently. Instead of being ‘for you’ on the basis of how good you are or because of the wrong that you don’t do, God judges you on the basis of something far distinct.

God judges you, not on the basis of your action or inaction, but on Jesus Christ. As you have Jesus, the only One through whom God shows mercy, as Savior, then God’s favor is upon you.

God’s Son, the beloved of the Father, is the ONE through whom God shows mercy, even as St. Peter says, “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Your works don’t, and won’t, save you. Only Christ will, and does. His death on the cross was not for nothing. It was there that He took everything of yours, your sin, your death, your idolatries, and your pride, everything that separated you from God, and there, reconciled you to God.

“If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation” (Romans 5:10-11).

“God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:19).

But Jesus mercy doesn’t stop there. Jesus not only took from you what you and your sin brings on you. Jesus also declares to you His righteousness, His goodness, His holiness, and His life as your own.

What was yours, He took. What is His, He freely counts as your own, as St. Paul writes, “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power” (Colossians 2:9).

You can’t be complete unless you are. Of yourself, you are not complete. But in Christ, you are complete. In Him, there is no lack.

“It pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight – if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard” (Colossians 1:19-23).

This hope of the Gospel is what God gives through His Son Jesus. He declares it to the world. He declares it to you, that you believe and continue in such blessed faith.

Also, and especially, did He reveal it to His chosen people, as St. John writes, “He came to His own” (John 1:11).

It was Simeon in the temple who, taking the baby Jesus up in His arms, blessed God and said, “My eyes have seen Your salvation Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel” (Luke 2:30-32).

It was “Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher,” who gave thanks to the Lord, and “spoke of Christ to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem” (Luke 2:36, 38).

Jesus made Himself known to Philip and Nathanael. By means of Jesus’ Word through the Apostles’, Jesus made Himself known to others. Jesus makes Himself known to you. This Epiphany-tide, Jesus manifests Himself to you. You know this to be so because of, and on account of, His Word. Though you have not seen the nail prints in His hands nor His side that was pierced by the spear, you see Christ by faith. And in this you are blessed.

Jesus Himself says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). You have believed, and you do believe, the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets. But you do not believe because you have brought yourself to faith.

By your own reason and strength you cannot believe in Jesus Christ or come to Him. The Holy Spirit has called you by the Gospel and enlightened you with His gifts (Apostles’ Creed, Meaning to the Third Article).

“This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalm 118:23).

God gives you hearts to believe, ears to hear, eyes to see, mouths to confess, and lips to praise Him who has so wondrously given.

God’s Kingdom truly does come to you. Your heavenly Father gives you His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace you believe His holy Word and lead a godly life, here in time and hereafter in eternity.

Through the Word, God gives you that same Spirit. And there also does our Lord give faith, for “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).

You hear that word of Christ in the Words ‘Take Eat’ and ‘Take drink’ for the forgiveness of your sins. You hear that word of Christ as the pastor announced to you that your sin is forgiven in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Here, heaven is opened, because here, Christ comes to you, giving His body and blood, forgiving your sins, announcing absolution, giving eternal life, delivering from death, exalting the humble, lifting the lowly, granting peace, and clearing conscience. Your Lord gives more than meager crumbs. Though you might expect only little, so much more does your Lord give.

The Jesus who spoke to the Nathanael and Philip of our Gospel reading from St. John is a man of flesh and blood. But He is not only man. Jesus is also God.

His manifestation to Israel and the Gentiles would not have been noticed had not the Word also been given. But it was. And Simeon, and Anna, and then the wise men from the east, these believed what they had heard. And believing, they saw Jesus for who He really was.

You too have the Word, the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ. And you see Him for who He truly is; God and man in one person; having two natures, human and divine, ‘true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary’ (Apostles’ Creed, Meaning to Second Article).

This we believe, teach, and confess because God has revealed it. We also believe that in Jesus, heaven is opened, just as He had said to Nathanael, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (John 1:51).

Reflecting on Genesis 28, these words describe what Jacob saw on his way away from Isaac and Rebekah his father and mother to Laban…The account reads as follows: “¹⁰ Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. ¹¹ So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. ¹² Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. ¹³ And behold, the LORD stood above it and said: “I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. ¹⁴ “Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. ¹⁵ “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” ¹⁶ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” ¹⁷ And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” ¹⁸ Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. ¹⁹ And he called the name of that place Bethel (‎ בֵּֽית־אֵ֑ל)…” (Gen. 28:10-19 NKJ)

In his dream, Jacob saw a ladder that went up to heaven. Angels of God ascended and descended on it. There, God was above the ladder—In the New Testament, Jesus has come. God is now become man in the person of Jesus Christ. We don’t look to the heavens to find where Jesus is. We go to where He promises to be. There, heaven is open to us, because there – Jesus is. There is the house of God.

We believe that where Christ is, there heaven is truly open, because there, God forgives our sins for Christ’s sake. Christ is our mediator. “If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). Where sin is forgiven, heaven is not closed. Where Christ has forgiven, heaven is now open. Heaven open means that God’s blessing is upon you. Heaven open means that God’s grace and favor is on you. Greater things do you see and will you see. Amen.

“Jesus and the Father,” John 14:8-11

⁸Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”

⁹Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

¹⁰Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

¹¹Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. (ESV)

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

The words that draw our attention this morning are those of our Lord recorded in St. John, the 14^th chapter, where in the revelation of our Lord Jesus to His disciples, Philip says to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father.” Jesus responds with the surprisingly direct – and profound – words, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” And then, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves” (John 14:8-11).

The works of the Lord Jesus bear witness to Who Jesus is – then – and now. Up to this point in the Gospel, those works of Jesus include the following: turning water into wine (John 2); giving a lame man use of his legs so that he can walk (John 5:1-9); the feeding of the 5000 with five barley loaves and two small fish (John 6:1-14), giving sight to a man born blind (John 9), and the raising of Lazarus from the dead (John 11). Such works are works only God can do. These were not the works of a charlatan or of a magician. Those receiving what the Lord gave were truly in need and unable to meet the need themselves. Such works testify of Jesus’ identity – as they reveal Jesus’ divine authority over creation and over sins’ effects – even death. The resurrection of Jesus reveals that authority of Jesus over death. In His raising Lazarus from the four-day tomb, Jesus showed that death did not have the ruling word. Jesus did. Jesus Himself rose from the dead three days after His crucifixion. Here, too, death gave way to life. The Lord’s Word came pass. “I lay down My life that I may take it again. “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father” (Jn. 10:17-18 NKJ).

Jesus spoke these words in the context of using Shepherd language. Jesus is the Good Shepherd – laying down His life for His sheep (i.e., John 10:14). “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep” (Jn. 10:11 NKJ). When the going gets tough – Jesus did not flee. He willingly bore what was given Him – what was placed upon Him – what the Father had given Him to bear – to carry – to do – for you – that you live – that you have peace with God – that you have the certainty of God’s good favor – because of Him – because of Jesus.

Jesus’ work in raising the dead, healing the sick, feeding the hungry – all that Jesus did – all that Jesus does – Jesus did – Jesus does – freely – without condition – without charging interest – gratuitously –unconditionally – and not dependent upon the faith to follow. Such works – freely done and given – show forth the goodness and kindness of God. So also, His death and resurrection – and the gifts of forgiveness and life flowing from His work for your salvation. These gifts no one merits. No one earns life eternal from God. Everlasting life – salvation – peace with God – these gifts God gives without condition – also the things of our earthly life – these are gifts of God, too – gifts of God for which we give continual and never-ending thanks. “All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true” (Luther’s Small Catechism, Explanation to the First Article of the Creed).

The works that Jesus did prior to today’s text when Phillip made that request of Jesus bear witness to Jesus and Who He is – the Son of the Father. This includes – also and especially – His own death and resurrection – in obedience to His Father – His life for yours – that you live. The benefits of Christ’s work for your salvation God gives in the means of grace – in the Word and the Sacrament. These – too – show the work of God and are the work of God – though not all believe.

All that has been said thus far – of Christ’s work – and that work testifying of Jesus’ identity as the Father’s Son – and the work that Jesus still does today – these are what God does. Yet, God’s work – and all that Jesus does – remain hidden – revealed in the Word. This is not because the work itself is hidden – by no means. It is there for all to see. But apart from the Word – the work appears as something other than God’s doing. We attach God’s work to that which is not. And that which is not God’s work we attribute as being God’s work. The biblical text records the truth – what we cannot know of ourselves.

Some might understand the Bible only to be literature of the past – of a bygone era – obsolete and outdate. Some might say that same about gathering around that Word preached and proclaimed and eating and drinking, as in the Lord’s Supper. Some might say these are irrelevant. Centered as the church is on the risen Christ – preaching Christ crucified – baptizing babies and adults with water – giving bread and wine to eat and to drink – forgiving sin – preaching hope for a decaying and dying world? All can seem as nonsense and empty – meaningless and a waste of time – if not true – and irrelevant as some – even many – might say – either with words – or by their actions of not giving heed and attention.

What God does – however – is recognized – known – believed – not according to sight or experience – by feeling or what we think. What is hidden to us but by faith is revealed – made known – in the Word – the Word of the Lord. the Word and the Sacrament – administered in the church – the baptizing and the Holy Communion – the preaching and the absolving – these have their basis – not at all in man-made ritual or routine – but in the Lord’s institution and given -for the benefit of His people. These are always relevant – as God’s work is always relevant.

Faith is given in Holy Baptism – as God applies water and Word. New life is granted there as God cleanses of sin by “the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). Penitent sinners – those who are sorry for their sins and seek God’s mercy in Christ – find peace in the absolution – as the pastor forgives sin “in the stead and by the command of Christ.” Communicants partake of Christ’s body and blood according to Jesus’s own words – believed or not.  As believed – they receive for their good. Not believed – they still receive the body and the blood of Christ – but to their judgment (1 Corinthians 11:29), being “guilty of the body and blood of our Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:27).

What the church is about – her mission – the preaching and the teaching – the baptizing and the distribution of Holy Communion – these are not about her. These have to do with the Lord – the Lord Who reveals Himself in His work of saving and redeeming – His work of giving the benefits and blessings of the holy cross – life and salvation – forgiveness of sins and peace with God – to the undeserving – to the unworthy – to the sinner – to the one burdened by God’s Law – to the one who seeks God’s mercy and kindness.

The request of Philip in today’s text, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough,” could be said to be the request of one seeking God. But lest the god be one of our own making – we do not deny the Word of our Lord Christ, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 10:9). This we confess – just as Jesus Himself says. This we believe. Jesus is God – in the flesh. Apart from Him – there is no God – capital “G” – only false gods – lower case “gs” – who are no gods at all but imaginations of the sinner’s heart. Apart from Jesus – there is no salvation. There is only true and enduring life in the “living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious” (1 Pet. 2:4 NKJ). To we “who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,’ and ‘A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense’” (1 Pet. 2:7-8 NKJ).

And where is this Jesus to be found? Where do we know of God and His will and favor toward us sinners? Where do we hear God’s voice and know of His tender mercies toward the undeserving and the outcast – those burdened by sin and those struggling with temptation? In His Holy Word. In the preaching – in the Absolution – in Holy Baptism – in the Holy Communion. That’s where! Not be experience – not based on feeling – not dependent on excitement – or lack thereof – only in the crucified and resurrected Lord Christ – revealed in Holy Scripture – the Word made flesh (John 1:14). The Word that He speaks is spirit and it is life (John 6:63). Have Jesus any other way than the Jesus revealed in the Bible – and you have a different Jesus – a different god – who is no God at all. There is no other God than He Who sent His Son because He so loved the world (John 3:16). There is no other Jesus than the One Who died and rose again – and Who gives you the benefits of His cross in the means He has instituted.

Whoever believes Jesus believes the Father also. Conversely, whoever believes God – also believes Jesus – for Jesus is God. Jesus Himself says, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me” (Jn. 14:1 NKJ). These were the first words of today’s Gospel text. They direct us to the truth. Jesus is to be believed as God – because He is. His Word and His Work testify to this. His work then. His work now – forgiving sinners – giving new life – baptizing – preaching – administering the Lord’s Supper – all benefits and blessings of God through Jesus’ cross – ours – yours – according to God’s promises. Amen.

“The Baptism of our Lord,” Luke 3:15-22

¹⁵As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, ¹⁶John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹⁷His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

      ¹⁸So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. ¹⁹But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, ²⁰added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.

      ²¹Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, ²²and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (ESV)

In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (v22). God the Father spoke these very words to His Son, Jesus, immediately after Jesus was baptized. Born of a woman, conceived of the Holy Spirit, this man, baptized by John in the river Jordan, received what was for sinners.

Sinners came to be baptized by John. They came to freely receive the washing of water and word. As a prophet of God, John did and spoke as God gave him to do. People came.  He baptized them. Their sins were forgiven them. “Jesus also had been baptized” (v21). As the people, as the sinner, so Jesus.

In the 2^nd Article of the Apostles’ Creed, we confess, according to Holy Scripture, Jesus to be God and man. We confess Jesus to be “true God, begotten of the Father from eternity and also true man, born of the virgin Mary” (2^nd Article of the Creed, Luther’s Small Catechism). The Bible teaches the high Christology of Jesus—God in the flesh—without sin, perfect, holy, without blemish, without fault. And yet, John baptized Jesus, even as John baptized the people.

That sinners should be baptized is a given. The Bible teaches that man’s thoughts and ways are contrary to God’s; that all sinners are corrupt and deserving of God’s wrath and righteous judgment. There is not that proverbial “spark of good” in any of us for which God looks upon us in any favorable way. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23 NKJ). “The wages of sin is death,” says the Lord (Rom. 6:23 NKJ). We cannot save ourselves.   

Salvation must come from Another if the sinner is not to be lost to the devil and hell. Enter Holy Baptism, the work of God, by which God forgives the undeserving and cleanses the unrighteous; by which God creates anew and gives faith.

Luther had it right. “Baptism is not just plain water. It is the water included in God’s command and combined with God’s word.” Also, Baptism “works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.” (Luther’s Small Catechism, Baptism, First & Second)

Accompanying John’s baptism was the very forgiveness of sins. No mere ritualistic washing was John’s baptism.  Through it, God saved through faith those who believed in the very One Whom John proclaimed and to Whom he pointed, the very One baptized by that same John in the Jordan, the very One of Whom the Scriptures testify, Who needed no baptism, no forgiveness, no saving, yet Who Himself was baptized, not for Himself, not because He needed it, but for you, that you have life and salvation, believing God’s unmerited mercy in Christ through the very means by which God gives such salvific gifts.

He Who needed no forgiveness was in the Jordan, anointed by the Father for their, for your, salvation. Such is the work of God in Christ. It is not what you do for Him. It is what He does for you. It is not what you bear and the burdens that you carry by which you are pleasing to God. It is what Jesus bears for you and the burden He carries by which you have everlasting life and peace with God.

As your Mediator between “God and men,” “The Man Christ Jesus” was crucified on the cross, there putting to death all that leads to your eternal judgment, putting to death that condemnation you rightly deserve (1 Timothy 2:5). He “gave Himself a ransom for all,” (1 Timothy 2:6), even “As the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28 NKJ). Now, because of Jesus, that condemnation and judgment for your sin is no longer yours—because it was His.

“You, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight” (Col. 1:21-22 NKJ).

“You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold…but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God” (1 Pet. 1:18-21 NKJ).

The baptism with which you were baptized was into the Name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Of this baptism, St. Paul writes in today’s epistle: “As many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:3-4 NKJ).

You are no longer your own. You belong to the Lord. Your identity is not determined by what you do or by what you’ve done, or by what you don’t do or by what you haven’t done. It is not you who decide what you are or how your life will be. Your identity is determined by Whose you are.  Your life is what is given to you. As Christians, God’s people, you are God’s.  Your identity is found in Christ. He who submitted Himself to water and word, to suffering and death—He reconciles you to the Father. You are His. You belong to Him.

There is salvation in what God does and the way God does it.  There is comfort and blessing in what God works and where God Himself says He works.  Thus, is water and Word not mere anything. It is the means by which God births anew, not of the flesh, but of the Spirit (John 3:6).

Hear Luther from His Large Catechism:

¹⁷ Baptism is quite a different thing from all other water. This is not because of its natural quality but because something more noble is added here. God Himself stakes His honor, His power, and His might on it. Therefore, Baptism is not only natural water, but a divine, heavenly, holy, and blessed water, and whatever other terms we can find to praise it. This is all because of the Word, which is a heavenly, holy Word, which no one can praise enough. For it has, and is able to do, all that God is and can do [Isaiah 55:10–11]. ¹⁸ In this way it also gets its essence as a Sacrament, as St. Augustine also taught, “When the Word is joined to the element or natural substance, it becomes a Sacrament,” that is, a holy and divine matter and sign.

¹⁹ We always teach that the Sacraments and all outward things that God ordains and institutes should not be considered according to the coarse, outward mask, the way we look at a nutshell. But we respect them because God’s Word is included in them. ²⁰ For we also speak of the parental estate and of civil government in this way. If we intend only to recognize that they have noses, eyes, skin, and hair, flesh and bones, they look like Turks and heathen. Someone might start up and say, “Why should I value them more than others?” Because this commandment is added, “Honor your father and your mother” [Exodus 20:12]. I see a different person, adorned and clothed with God’s majesty and glory. The commandment, I say, is the gold chain about his neck. Yes, that is the crown upon his head, which shows me how and why one must honor this flesh and blood.

²¹ So, and even much more, you must honor Baptism and consider it glorious because of the Word. For God Himself has honored it both by words and deeds. Furthermore, He confirmed it with miracles from heaven. Do you think it was a joke that, when Christ was baptized, the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended visibly, and everything was divine glory and majesty [Luke 3:21–22]?

²² I encourage again that these two—the water and the Word—by no means be separated from each other and parted. For if the Word is separated from it, the water is the same as the water that the servant cooks with. It may indeed be called a bathkeeper’s baptism. But when the Word is added, as God has ordained, it is a Sacrament. It is called Christ’s Baptism. (Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions)

The Father Himself testified to the glorious work of element and Word when Jesus Himself, Who Himself needed no baptism, was Himself baptized, and received His Father’s approval. John the Baptist did His job. And He Who is without sin sanctified the waters of Holy Baptism for all who would be baptized, not that they declare their own status before God (as if God doesn’t know) and not to show others the work that they did, but that they receive all that God freely bestows. Because of Jesus’ baptism, so also do all baptized in the Triune Name receive God’s approval. And they have it, as do you, because Jesus has it, in Whom they believe, in Whom you believe. Amen.

“Promise Fulfilled,” 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16; Luke 1:26-38

2 Samuel 7:1–11, 16—¹Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, ²the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.” ³And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.”

      ⁴But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, ⁵“Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in? ⁶I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. ⁷In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’ ⁸Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. ⁹And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. ¹⁰And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, ¹¹from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. . .  ¹⁶And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’” (ESV)

Luke 1:26–38—²⁶In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” ²⁹But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. ³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, ³³and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

      ³⁴And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

      ³⁵And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. ³⁶And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. ³⁷For nothing will be impossible with God.” ³⁸And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. (ESV)

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Psalmist, in Psalm 89, writes, “I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David: ‘Your seed I will establish forever, And build up your throne to all generations’”

(Ps. 89:3-4 NKJ).

Such a promise did God give to King David in our Old Testament reading from 2^nd Samuel. There, David, the second king of then united Israel, having peace all around from his enemies because God gave Him that peace, wanted to build a place for that which located the presence of God with His people—the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant was found in the Holy of Holies in the then Tabernacle and later, the Temple.  It was there that the High Priest went once a year on the day of Atonement with a sacrifice for his own sins and sins of the people. It was there, in the Holy of Holies, that the Ark of the Covenant remained, according to God’s Word, according to God’s promise to and for His people.

King David wanted to construct a more permanent place for the Ark of the Covenant and the things of God. The Tabernacle was movable, transportable, not stationary. David and the people were established, as God had given them such establishment. David’s request met with the approval of Nathan the prophet. But not with God. God had other plans. God had a different establishment in mind, with David in the picture, but David not the one doing. God doing. God giving. God establishing.  It would not be David who would build a house for God. It would be God Who would build a house for David—forever—and forever would the Son of David be on that throne reigning. Not what David desired, but what God would do would last, last into eternity: Gift, undeserved, complete blessing.

Hear how David responded to this Word of the Lord through Nathan the prophet.

“Then King David went in and sat before the LORD; and he said: ‘Who am I, O Lord GOD? And what is my house, that You have brought me this far? And yet this was a small thing in Your sight, O Lord GOD; and You have also spoken of Your servant’s house for a great while to come. Is this the manner of man, O Lord GOD? Now what more can David say to You? For You, Lord GOD, know Your servant. For Your word’s sake, and according to Your own heart, You have done all these great things, to make Your servant know them. Therefore You are great, O LORD GOD. For there is none like You, nor is there any God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And who is like Your people, like Israel, the one nation on the earth whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people, to make for Himself a name– and to do for Yourself great and awesome deeds for Your land– before Your people whom You redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, the nations, and their gods? For You have made Your people Israel Your very own people forever; and You, LORD, have become their God. Now, O LORD God, the word which You have spoken concerning Your servant and concerning his house, establish it forever and do as You have said. So let Your name be magnified forever, saying, ‘The LORD of hosts is the God over Israel.’ And let the house of Your servant David be established before You. For You, O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed this to Your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house.’ Therefore Your servant has found it in his heart to pray this prayer to You. And now, O Lord GOD, You are God, and Your words are true, and You have promised this goodness to Your servant. Now therefore, let it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You; for You, O Lord GOD, have spoken it, and with Your blessing let the house of Your servant be blessed forever’” (2 Sam. 7:18-29 NKJ).

Humbly, David acknowledged God’s promise, God’s gift, God’s Word. This was grace—the grace of God. David wanted to do something for God, something that God had not commanded. God would be worshiped the way He would have Himself be worshiped, not according to the desire of man’s heart, but according to His Word and will. God would build for David a house and in the established house would God fulfill His Word—to David—and for all nations. That house and then that kingdom would stand forever before the Lord.

As the Lord had said, so it would be. As the Lord had spoken, so would it come to pass. King David’s son through Bathsheba did have the Temple constructed, but King Solomon was not to be that king to rule forever. His house fell. His reign came to an end. Another would come according to God’s promise.

Years later, God fulfilled that promise. The Seed of the woman promised to Adam and Eve in the Garden after the Fall appeared. “When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, bornof a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law” (Gal. 4:4-5 NKJ). In that virgin Mary years ago, betrothed to the man named Joseph, the promise of Immanuel, God with us, was fulfilled. “The virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isa. 7:14 | Matthew 1:23 NKJ).

The Gospel according to St. Matthew tells us the account of Joseph after Mary had conceived the child. The Gospel according to St. Luke tells us not only about what took place when Jesus was born. St. Luke also tells us what happened about nine months before. Today’s Gospel reading is just about what took place before Mary’s labor and Jesus’ birth into the world, all in fulfillment of that promise to David so many years before.

The words of the angel Gabriel that especially stand out with reference to God’s promise to David through Nathan the prophet are these, “Great,” “The Lord will give him the throne of His father David,” “He will reign over the house of Jacob forever,” and “of His kingdom there will be no end” (v33).

In Jesus, God’s does give David “a great Name.” Forever does Jesus’ kingdom continue. To it there is no end. Even the death of our Lord on Good Friday did not end it. Just as Jesus had spoken, and as the Scriptures testify, so did Jesus rise again from the dead (Luke 24:46; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4). He now sits at the right hand of the Father, His reign having no termination.

Though the time from the promise of One to reign on David’s throne to its fulfillment was many years, and from the Seed of the woman way back in Eden to Christ’s appearance even more, time, for God, is not an issue. What He says is and will be, whatever the length of time and duration from promise to fulfillment. It is not a question of “if,” but “when;” not of doubt, but of confidence.

It is necessary, therefore, to have that Word, that promise, of God for such certainty. Where there is no sure Word or promise of God, there is not that certainty, but only speculation and uncertainty. These are not of God. God would have you be sure of what He says and gives. Such is what God gives you in His Word.

To Mary, the angel Gabriel gave Word that she would conceive and bear a Son and call His Name Jesus. She did. In fulfillment of that Word, also was that other Word made sure. As sure and certain as Mary conceived and did bear a Son, even being a virgin and not having known a man, so also would the Child be born to her “Be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (v32-33).

The forever reign of Jesus is Good News—Good News indeed! It wasn’t when He was born that He saved the world. It was when He died that He redeemed us, that He delivered us from sin and death and eternal judgement, the very things that we deserve. Like Adam and Eve and David before us, we want our own way. We think our way is better than God’s; more pious, more just, more righteous, more holy. God puts us in our place. He takes from us what we deserve and gives to us what we don’t deserve. Jesus takes our holiness, our righteousness, our justness, our piousness, which are not, and His Father declares us as having Christ’s holiness, His righteousness, and His justness as our own—through faith (Romans 3). This is what Luther calls “The Great exchange.” What is ours, against us, Christ has on Himself. What is His, for us, Christ reckons to be ours.

When Jesus was conceived, He became man to bear our sin. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21 NKJ). By Christ’s death, we have life, eternal life. We now have peace with God. On our own, without Jesus, we think that we must strive to create and maintain our status with God. This is the deception of all religions, which are all false, except the one religion, the true religion, which teaches God became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14).

Like David who wanted to do a good work where there was no Word from God, so we, too, want to do it on our own, without the approval of the Word. Waiting on the Lord is not naturally our disposition. But then the Lord speaks, and reveals what He makes known—in and by His Word—and there, God gives us all that we need for such certainty before God that we endure to the end and face life—and death—with confidence, absolutely sure of His forgiveness—His grace His favor—His goodwill—His mercy—His doing—His kindness—His love—because of Christ—the One promised long ago—the One born of the virgin—the One who died and rose again—the One Who is coming again for our redemption (Luke 21:28).

In that One—Jesus is His Name—is our Immanuel, God with us. The presence of the Lord is no longer where the Ark of the Covenant is or where it was located in the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle and then the Temple. Where Jesus is—there is God for us. And where Jesus is is where His Word is, preached and given according to His institution in water, bread, and wine.

We don’t have to wait long for Jesus’ Word—it’s already here. Amen.

“The Lord Will Cause Righteousness and Praise to Sprout Up,” Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

¹The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;  ²to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;

        ³to grant to those who mourn in Zion — to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.  ⁴They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. . .

        ⁸For I the Lord love justice; I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.   ⁹Their offspring shall be known among the nations, and their descendants in the midst of the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are an offspring the Lord has blessed. 

        ¹⁰I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.  ¹¹For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations.  (ESV)

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Using the happenings of the cycle of growth and increase of vegetation and produce from the land, the Lord God reveals that so His righteousness and praise will go forth—before all the nations.  Two things draw our attention here. First, the definiteness of the Lord’s doing. Second, all nations would take notice.

Concerning the certainty of the Lord’s Word coming to pass, that righteousness and praise would sprout up, reflecting on God’s promises and His Word throughout Holy Scripture—God is faithful to all that He says. From beginning to end, the Bible clearly reveals the working of God’s Word. What He says—happens. What He says—Is. “God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light” (Gen. 1:3 NKJ). To Abraham, God said, “Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son” (Gen. 18:14 NKJ).

“And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him– whom Sarah bore to him– Isaac” (Gen. 21:1-3 NKJ).

Again, to Abraham had God said, “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions” (Gen. 15:13-14 NKJ). For 400 years, the sons of Israel were slaves in Egypt, but “by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm” (i.e. Deuteronomy 4:34), God delivered His people. “And the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians” (Exod. 12:36 NKJ).

God promised a Deliverer, a Savior, through the virgin, saying, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isa. 7:14 NKJ). — “When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4-5 NKJ). Jesus had said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (Jn. 2:19 NKJ). On the third day, Jesus rose from the dead, “according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:4).

What our Lord God says, what His Son Jesus says—happens. Of this truth the Scriptures testify. Today’s Old Testament reading is no different. Righteousness and praise God will bring about before all nations. Righteousness and praise God has sprung up and sprouts up for all nations to see. The promises of Old God has kept, keeps, has fulfilled, and fulfills in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Truly, Jesus is the Righteous One, through Whom, by faith, you are righteous before the Father.  Because of Him, your praises also ascend to God and spring out before the world in the confession of His Holy Name and in holy living.

The Righteous One is your righteousness. His praise is also your own, as God has given you a new mind and new heart. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17 NKJ). Whereas we were once dead in our trespasses and sins, God has now made us alive by His life-giving Word (Ephesians 2:2; John 6:63; 15:3)—the same Word that creates out of nothing (Genesis 1:1) — “calls those things which do not exist as though they did” (Rom. 4:17 NKJ)—does not return to the Lord void but accomplishes what He pleases and prospers in the thing for which He sends it (Isaiah 55:10-11)—raises  the dead to life—and gives life eternal to those who believe in His Name according to His Word, “Whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (Jn. 11:26 NKJ).

What God has done in Christ is for all the world to see. Because of sin and death, the world is not as it ought to be. Such truth we see all around us, as well as within ourselves. Our own hearts are not as they should be. We do not do as we ought to do. We are not as God would have us be. But for the helpless, God gives help. For those who can’t, God does. For those condemned, God saves.

When Christ died on the cross, for the world He died. Jesus even said, “If I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself,” and “This He said, signifying by what death He would die” (Jn. 12:32-33 NKJ). If you want to be righteous in God’s eyes, that is, holy and acceptable to Him, and if you want His favor, then look to Jesus, the One whom God sent, not yourself, not any other. In your own goodness before God you will have none, you will not be able to stand, nor will you find welcome. These are found only and through Christ, Who St. Paul says, “became for us wisdom from God– and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—that, as it is written, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.’” (1 Cor. 1:30-31 NKJ).

Having Christ as your righteousness before God, such righteousness before God is certain, for it is not coming from you but from Him Who is Right, Holy, and True—completely—because He is God; God for you, and now, in Him, you have a new heart, a new heart that sings true and godly praises to God, not of self. In Him, your mouth has been cleansed. You now confess His Name and your salvation in Him. In Him, you have a new heart, a cleansed mouth, and the desire for God’s Word to be in your ears and on your lips. Such is what God’s Word brings about, creating in you, as it does, a new heart and a right spirit within (Psalm 51:10).

The truth that not all the world acknowledges God, His Word, and His work is not a testament to God’s lack or inability. It is testimony of the world’s corruption, that it doesn’t even acknowledge its Creator and Savior. Jesus’ death on the cross was met with disdain by many in His day. It still is. But this doesn’t change what is, what God has done, what God continues to do, or what God will do before all the world. These things are not dependent on the world and its ways. God’s grace continues to be extended; His mercy—bestowed; His forgiveness—given; Life—granted. All this, despite those who continue to refuse what God so freely gives.

Who God is, revealed in Christ, shows this with clarity, and not according to people and our own ideas about how God works or should work. Apart from God’s revelation in Christ, these are wrong. In today’s Old Testament reading from Isaiah, who does the Anointed One of God bring good news to? Who does He bind up? Who does He proclaim liberty to and the opening of the prison to? To whom does He give comfort?

The Anointed One of God, the One Messiah-ed, says, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;  to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn” (v1, 2).

In the immediate context, for Isaiah’s hearers, these words certainly applied to those suffering under God’s righteousness judgement because of their sin, who saw and felt their need. Their problems were real. Their sufferings were tangible. But to them, God would bring about help. An overview of the text clearly shows God’s goodness and mercy—and to those who cannot but receive God’s goodness and mercy. Historically, the children of Israel were unable to help themselves and when they tried, they failed. There was nothing that they could do to help their situation. Before God, this is always the case. We deceive ourselves into thinking that somehow God’s pleasure or displeasure toward us is dependent on we ourselves. It’s not. God’s pleasure toward you is revealed in His Word. His mercy is made known to you in His Son—His love, revealed in Him Whom the Father sent to the cross.  By the Word, God gives the true diagnosis of our condition before Him. By that same Word, God gives the true remedy for that condition—His Son. Thus, does our Lord help us now and so is He continually our help—always—according to His Word—and for all time. Amen.

“By Whose Authority?”, Matthew 21:23-27

Audio

²³When [Jesus] entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” ²⁴Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. ²⁵The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ ²⁶But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” ²⁷So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. (ESV)

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

What things? What things was Jesus doing and saying that might have prompted the question by the chief priests and elders of the people, “By Whose authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” (Matthew 21:23).

Theirs was a question that got to the point of what Jesus was doing and saying.  Theirs was a question that got to the point of where Jesus’ authority was from—why Jesus was saying and doing what He was saying and doing.

Though the answer is obvious from what Jesus was doing and from what He was saying, unbelief doesn’t seek the truth. Unbelief does not want to hear the truth that is against it. Unbelief does not accept the truth.  Unbelief rather fights against it. Having no answer before the truth, unbelief cannot but either deny the truth or refuse to hear it. It then seeks to silence it.

But what was Jesus doing? What was Jesus saying?

Most immediately, Jesus was teaching.  And the teaching of Jesus was not as the scribes, as Jesus “taught with authority” (Luke 4:32). The teaching of Jesus was unlike the teaching of religious teachers of the day. The religious teachers—they had studied.  They were learned. They knew how to communicate religious truth and the Old Testament as they understood it. But they did not have what Jesus had.  They did not teach as Jesus taught. They did not have the Oneness with the Father that Jesus has with the Father. They did not have the authority of the Father to speak on the Father’s behalf all that the Father gave Jesus to say. The religious teachers, the chief priests and the elders, they had a derived authority, but theirs was not the authority of the very Son of God, Who Jesus was, the authority of the Father which Jesus had.

And not only did Jesus teach, and with authority (Luke 4:32)—in the temple.  Jesus also healed—in the temple.  As He was in the Temple earlier, Jesus healed the blind and the lame. They came to Him there, and there, Jesus healed them (Matthew 21:14).  This, the chief priests and the elders could not do.

Most readily, then, the “these things” that the chief priests and the elders were asking about concerned Jesus’ teaching and His healing, the latter thing they themselves were not able to do; the former things, to Jesus there was no comparison.

There is still more to add to the “these things” that the chief priests and the elders were asking Jesus about. Included in the “these things” by which the chief priests and the elders were inquiring about Jesus’ authority is the combination of Jesus’ action and word occurring in the temple just the day before.  On that day, Jesus had not only healed the lame and given sight to the blind.  In the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophet Zechariah (9:9), Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey—that day we call Palm Sunday. 

Matthew records for us the words of that prophet, “Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey’” (Matt. 21:5 NKJ).

Matthew also records that, “Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ Hosanna in the highest!’” (Matt. 21:9 NKJ).

Hosanna, Save us, they were calling out, to the Son of David. Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord. Hosanna, save us, in the highest.

These are the words that they people were saying. And in their saying, they were saying of Jesus, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee” (Matthew 21:11).

This title to Jesus and the words of the people acclaiming Jesus as “Son of David”, “He Who comes in the Name of the Lord,” and to Him, “Hosanna,” these words the chief priests and elders were not willing to accept or to ascribe to Jesus.  They saw Him much differently than the people did, even though they also heard and saw the same things. They were not willing to take Jesus at His Word, nor according to what He did. They were thus not able to receive Him as He is.

Upon entering Jerusalem on a donkey, Jesus then also, “Went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, ‘It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves’ ” (Matt. 21:12-13 NKJ).

These things Jesus also did, just the day before the chief priests and elders asked Him about the authority He had to do them—to teach, to heal, to cleanse the temple, to permit the people to acclaim Him as coming “in the Name of the Lord.”

The “these things” that Jesus was doing and saying undermined the religious establishment. Jesus was both speaking and doing the very things that put into question the very teachings and practices of the day, and not least of all the chief priests and elders who were given the task of teaching the people the truth of God according to His Word, which they were not doing, as is clear from their rejection of Jesus as the Holy One of God.

But more than this, Jesus was both fulfilling and revealing the very authority by which He was doing and saying these things, confirmed ultimately by His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead.

As Jesus cleared out the temple, He was clearing out His temple, His house. It was to be “a house prayer,” Him at the center. Jesus healing. Jesus teaching. Jesus doing. These are what His Father in heaven had given Him authority to do—authority also to lay down His life and authority to take it up again—in resurrection—for the salvation of sinners.

Jesus was on His way to the cross. Timing here is important. It was early Holy Week. Jesus had just entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Things are heating up. The tension between Jesus and the religious leaders is increasing, as the fulfilment of God’s plan for the redemption of sinners, through the death of the first-born and only begotten Son of God, draws near.

The asking of Jesus’ authority is a relevant question.  If Jesus is only a man, as many suppose that He is, His authority is not definitive and revealing. He, therefore, is of little consequence, the very way that most continue to perceive Him today.

However, if Jesus did what He did and said what He said; and does what He does and says what He says; because He has authority from God to do so, because He is God; for what He says and does as the Son of God is only given Him to do and say by the Father, which He does and says, then Jesus’ authority is God’s authority and to not listen to Him is not to listen to the Father.

The authority of Jesus therefore presents a dilemma, not to the believer in Him as the Son of God and Savior of the World, for so Jesus reveals Himself to be, but to the unbeliever, who questions Jesus’ authority, His Words and His deeds, not only as salvific, but as true and genuine.

To reject Jesus as the Christ, as the Messiah, as “He who comes in the Name of the Lord,” is to clearly deny the truth; not, the truth which we make it out to be, but the truth as God establishes it according to His Word.

We do not establish truth as it is.  Nor do we as God’s people only make the claim that the Bible is true. It already is, whether one believes it or not. This is the difference between objective truth, that which is already true, outside of ourselves, and subjective truth, that which we desire to be true, according to what we want to be true.

The problem is that subjective truth cannot stand before objective truth. What I want to be true cannot be true simply because I want it to be. It falls and fails because I am seeking to establish something as true which is not. Truth is not established as truth because I want it to be true.

“The Truth” (John 14:6) standing before the chief priests and elders in today’s Gospel reveals the dilemma of facing the truth and denying it.  This is what they were doing. They asked Jesus, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” (Matthew 21:23, ESV), not because they wanted to believe—they didn’t—but because they didn’t want to believe, as expressed in their response.

To their question, Jesus also asked a question. Jesus says, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” (Matthew 21:24-25, ESV).

Though the chief priests and elders knew the answer, that Jesus’ authority was from heaven, they claimed not to know, choosing instead to deny the truth by saying, “We do not know” to Jesus’ counter-question—because they did not want to believe it and affirm it. They neither wanted to believe Jesus, nor were they open to doing so.  They came to Jesus with their own agenda, and with their own agenda, they would continue in their unbelief.

The reasoning of those chief priests and elders and how they got to the answer that they gave is revealing. It shows their fear, not of God, but of the people, and the hardness of their hearts to accept the truth right before them.

If they were to accept the baptism of John as from heaven, then they would be accused of having rejected God (which they did). If they were to answer that the baptism of John was from men, they were fearful of what the people might do, for the people took John as a prophet (of God).

They were caught in their tracks.  But there is something else going on here, too. Jesus’ question about John’s baptism being from God or from men is revelatory concerning Jesus and His authority to do those “these things” that the chief priests and elders were originally asking about.

John the Baptist was the one who had given this testimony “when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’  He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ.’ And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the Prophet?’ And he answered, ‘No.’ Then they said to him, ‘Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?’ He said: ‘I am `The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Make straight the way of the LORD,’’ as the prophet Isaiah said” (Jn. 1:19-23 NKJ).

It was that John the Baptist who said of Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29, 36). It was also that same John the Baptist who baptized Jesus in the Jordan River, over whom the heavens opened, the Spirit descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove, and the voice from heaven called out, “This is My Son with Whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).

This is the John that Jesus was talking about, and of whose baptism the chief priests and the elders denied as being from heaven, from God.

Because they denied the one, John and his work, they could not but also deny Jesus and His work. The ministry of the two, the baptism of John and the work and Word of Jesus, are of God. John pointed to Christ and to His work. That was John’s ministry. To deny his work as God’s is also to deny Christ’s work as God’s, and to deny Christ as God. In contrast, to believe John’s baptism as from God also leads to faith in Jesus, Whom John proclaimed.

This is what Jesus is getting at in the text.

The text of Holy Scripture is for our learning—not merely for head knowledge and knowing—but for our believing (Romans 15:4; John 20:31).

Such believing has Christ Jesus as center and central. Because Jesus is from God, because He is God, revealing such by both His Word and deed, by His death, resurrection, and ascension, so we also confess Him to be our Savior. Unlike the chief priests and the elders of Jesus’ day, and unlike many today who are  ignorant of the truth of God’s Word (yet claim enlightenment) and compromise the truth for acceptance by the world, God gives us to continually confess the truth—not to deny it—but to believe it and to speak it. Jesus Christ be praised.

The authority of Jesus over death and the grave is eternal life. To believe in Him is to believe in the One Who sent Him. And the One Who sent Him, because He so loved the world (John 3:16), did so, not that we question His authority—but that faith unto everlasting life be and remain ours in Him, for so Christ died and rose again, not for His sake, but for yours. Amen.

Prayer: Almighty God, You exalted Your Son to the place of all honor and authority. Enlighten our minds by Your Holy Spirit that, confessing Jesus as Lord, we may be led into all truth; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen. (Collect of the Day)

Audio

Nothing to Fear but the Lord Himself — Gottesdienst

 

via Nothing to Fear but the Lord Himself — Gottesdienst

 

Proverbs 9:10

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

 

Matthew 16:24-26 NKJ

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

 

Matthew 10:28-33 NKJ

“Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.”

 

The Ascension, Day of Pentecost, and The Visitation, all in May

In the Name of the risen Lord Jesus Christ!

He is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Alleluia!

The church continues rejoicing in the blessed resurrection of our Lord. The church continues glorifying the King of king and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16).

Even at this time…And always!

Though uncertainty be in the world, the Word of God IS certain.

Jesus is no longer in the tomb.  Jesus is no longer dead. Jesus is risen, just as He had said (Matthew 28:6)!

This month of May includes two special days in the church year, not to be neglected (also a third, in addition to the Lord’s Days, Sunday). The church year cycles according to the life of Christ (think Time of Christmas and Time of Easter) and the life of church (think Time of Pentecost).

The first of the special days noted this month of May, is The Feast of the Ascension of our Lord, Thursday May 21. Forty days after the Lord rose from the dead on Easter Sunday, Jesus ascended into heaven. The readings for ‘The Ascension’ are: Acts 1:1-11; Ephesians 1:16-23; and Luke 24:44-53.

Of this occasion, the Psalmist earlier writes (Psalm 68:18; See also Ephesians 4:8ff).

Jesus also speaks of this in John 20:17, “I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God’” (NKJ).

Jesus’ ascension, however, does not at all mean that He was to no longer be with his disciples (or us).  His threefold office of prophet, priest, and king continues, today, just as Jesus continues to preach His Word (Luke 10:16; Romans 10:14-17), make intercession for us (Isaiah 53:12; Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25-29), and reign (Matthew 28:18; Ephesians 1:20-23).

In Word, and Sacrament, Christ continues to be, not only among us, but for us, giving forgiveness and life eternal, the blessing of His redemptive work on the cross. Therefore, Christians long to hear the Word preached and to receive the Lord’s Supper often, especially during the days such as we are living in.

The second of the significant days in the church year during this month of May is the Feast of Pentecost. The readings for this special day (Sunday, May 31) are Numbers 11:24-30; Acts 2:1-21; John 7:37-39.

The Day of Pentecost is the day that Jesus sent His Spirit upon His disciples, that they preach Christ and Him crucified for the salvation of sinners. This they did, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and many believed (i.e. Acts 2:41).

By the power of that same Spirit, working through the very Word preached, and spoken with water (Holy Baptism) and bread and wine (The Sacrament of the Altar), God continues to create, sustain, and strengthen faith in Christ (Luther’s Small Catechism, Meaning to the 3^rd article of the Creed).

A third special day (as noted above) appearing on the church calendar in May is The Visitation, Isaiah 11:1-5; Romans 12:9-16; Luke 1:39-45(46-56). This is the day commemorating Mary’s visit to Elizabeth, who was pregnant with he who was to be named John (the Baptist).  Just a few months before, the angel Gabriel had visited Mary, announcing to her the “Good News of great joy” (Luke 2:10), that Mary would bear the Son of God (Luke 1:35) [The Annunciation of our Lord, dated March 25, 2020].

As the greeting of Mary entered the ears of Elizabeth, so also had John “leaped in her womb” (Luke 1:41).

With the Word of our Lord, we, too, rejoice in the Lord’s undeserved kindness and unmerited mercy.

Though we don’t know with certainty how long Covid-19 will affect us and influence our lives as it has, we are certain that Covid-19 is not the greatest of our fears. Neither is sin or death for that matter — because of Christ Jesus.

Jesus did indeed die.  He is risen from the dead. He has ascended on high. He reigns forevermore. His Spirit He sends. Jesus will return in glory! Amen.

Prayer on Ascension Day: O Jesus Christ, Son of the Most High God, who having left Your earthly humility, are seated at the hand hand of your father as Lord over all things; we beseech You to send us Your Holy Spirit, give us faithful ministers, preserve Your Word, curb Satan and every tyrant, and mightily uphold Your kingdom on earth until Your enemeis are all laid at Your feet and we through You are victorious over sin, death, and all things. Amen. (Lutheran Prayer Companion, 48)

 

 

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“The Transfiguration of our Lord,” Matthew 17:1-9

¹And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. ²And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. ³And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. ⁴And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” ⁵He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” ⁶When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. ⁷But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” ⁸And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

      ⁹And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

On the mount of transfiguration, to a select three, Jesus manifested Himself in all His glory

Flesh and blood no longer concealed Christ’s divinity, the truth that Jesus is God.  Though Christ’s humanity concealed His divine nature both before and after that mountain top experience until His glorious resurrection, the disciples saw a glimpse of what was under the veil.

To those three, Jesus revealed Himself as the Son of the living God in a real, tangible way.  They saw with their own eyes and heard with their own ears the glory and honor of God the Father and Christ, His beloved Son.

We do too.  God reveals Himself through His Holy Word and through His visible means called Sacraments.  By these do we see the God of heaven and earth working among us, planting and cultivating the seed of faith within our hearts, calling us to believe the Gospel, and strengthening the faith which God Himself has given.

It is as St. Peter says in what is our Epistle reading this day.  He spoke thus about his presence on the mount of transfiguration:

“We did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain” (2 Peter 1:16-18).

Peter was certainly there on the mount, just as the Scripture says, and just as He recounts in his second letter.  But then He speaks of a greater assurance than His experience on the mountain.

He speaks of the word, the prophetic word, the prophetic word which was confirmed, namely, what God had given—that word which had come to pass.

Of this word, Peter says, “You do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place” (2 Peter 2:19).

The Psalmist speaks a similar note where He writes, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).  So it is.

The Lord’s Word leads the way to go and lightens the path.

This is none other than to Christ, the Word made flesh, who dwelt among us (John 1:14).

Hearing Him is hearing God.

Looking to Him is seeing the glory of God, not condemning us for our sins, but saving us through crucifixion and cross.

In humility, Christ lived; but not in honor before men.

Through His Word and work alone will you see and know Christ for who He really is, not as only man suffering and dying, but as the almighty God, saving and delivering all who trust in Him.

God reveals Himself through the very means that He Himself gives.

It’s not for you to decide when, where, or how God manifests His glory.  This is in His hands.

If it be through a baby being born of a virgin, so be it.

If it be through a man “despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” then it is (Isaiah 53:3).

If it be on a mountain to only three disciples, Christ speaking with Moses and Elijah, Old Testament prophets of the Lord Most High, so it is.

And if it be by means of Word with water, Word with bread and wine, and through Word preached, we recognize these as God’s works and give thanks.

Christ says, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:39-40).

By this reference to Jonah, the Lord shifts our gaze from seeking Him anywhere to where He promises to be—to Christ Himself.

Whether it be to the glory on the mountain or to the humbleness of the plains, Jesus Christ remains and always will be the One to whom you are to look.  He is your only salvation.

Just before the account of the Transfiguration, Jesus asked a question of His disciples.

He said, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” (Matthew 16:13).

“So they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’” (Matthew 16:14-16).

Peter’s answer was right on.

From that time on, the Gospel says, “Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day” (Matthew 16:21).

It is this same Christ who is your Savior.

 Jesus doesn’t save through power and might, but through obedience, suffering, and death.

It was not on the Mount of Transfiguration that Christ took away your sin.  It was on another Mount, Mount Calvary.

There, He crushed the serpent’s head and canceled out your sin, for good.

By His death, there is life.

Peter was right in declaring Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the Living God (Matthew 16:16).  But the Jesus promised in the Old Testament and fulfiller of the New is He who tasted death for all and slayed sin by shedding His own blood.

It seems too earthy of a thing that God become one of us, not as a figure of Greek mythology, but as it is in truth, God in the flesh, not for Himself, but for us who are by nature dead in our sins.

But this is just the kind of God we have.

The popular spirituality of the day focuses on personal benefit and self-progress, self-desire and gratified fulfillment.

The spirituality of God directs to the Lord Jesus and His Word, recognizes and acknowledges sin and looks to God for mercy in Christ.

True spirituality attends to God’s revelation, to His Holy Word and there, in Christ, finds its dwelling place.

The Christian faith is a “revealed” religion.

It is not made up by man.

It is not a religion of how to get right with God.

It is not a religion that preaches positive thinking, self-help, or self-improvement.

The Christian faith is a religion with Jesus at the center:  Jesus receiving God’s justice and God forgiving the real sins of real sinners.

Here, man does not get right with God; Nor does man get a right relationship with God.

It is God who makes the move, taking from you what is inherently yours and giving you what you don’t deserve.  He takes your sin and death and gives you eternal life.

God reconciled you and the world to Himself through His Son on Calvary’s cross (2 Corinthians 5:19).  It is not you who do for God.  It is God who does for you.  Everything depends on Christ.  Take Him away, and you have nothing.

On the cross, Jesus died for sinners, none excluded.

This was the fulfillment of the words spoken through the Law and the Prophets.

Representative of them were the Moses and Elijah on Transfiguration’s mount.  These were the same saints of the Old Testament: Moses, the one who led the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt (Exodus 13); and Elijah, the one through whom God also spoke, even raising a dead woman’s son (1 Kings 17:17-24) and later taken to heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11).

On the mountain called Sinai, God gave Moses the Ten Words (Commandments), that the people of God live according to them.

On another mountain, Mount Carmel, God revealed Himself to be the true God, in contrast to the false prophets of the false god (god with a small ‘g’) Baal, by consuming a sacrifice with fire from heaven.  Thus, seeing this work of God, the people proclaimed, “The Lord, He is God!  The Lord, He is God!” (1 Kings 18:20-40).

On yet another mountain, the mount of transfiguration, Moses and Elijah appeared, talking with Jesus.

In Jesus, the words of Moses and Elijah find fulfillment.

Jesus Christ came, not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17).

It is right to say that the Bible is all about Christ.

Though the Bible appear to many like just other book, there is Christ, revealing Himself as your Savior; not Christ against you, but Christ for you.

Christ for you in birth, Christ for you in Baptism, Christ for you in transfiguration, Christ for you in suffering and death, Christ for you in Resurrection and Ascension, Christ for you in His Second Coming.

Jesus’ words, “Rise, and have no fear” (Matthew 17:7), He also says now to you.

Though your sins trouble you, and though you are indeed a sinner in thought, word, and deed, those sins no longer condemn you.

 Before God—alone—you have everything to fear.

In Christ, you are not alone.  In Christ, you have nothing to fear.

Even as Jesus worked and spoke humbly in the flesh to His disciples before us, Jesus today still works humbly and lowly, in Word and in Sacrament, His glory hidden, revealed by Word.

The voice from heaven on the Mount, of Jesus, heard by the disciples Peter, James, and John, is also for you to hear.

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” (Matthew 17:5). Amen.

 

Heavenly Father, give me everlasting peace through Your Son, Jesus Christ. Calm all of my fears before You, for Jesus is my Savior. Give me boldness and sure confidence of Your mercies, always. Amen.