5 January 2025 - Christmas 2 - Matthew 2:13-23

The festival of Christmas is always a day of joyous celebration. We remember God’s goodness and love in the sending of his Son to be our Savior, and as we do so, we are glad.

The story of the birth of Jesus is a declaration that God cares about us. He has not forgotten about the human race in all its troubles, but has made a way for us to find happiness and peace through this Holy Child.

But even as the story of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem always lifts us up in joy and optimism, we are then always brought low again - in a sober-minded sadness - by the story of the deaths of many other babies in that same small Judean town, which is so closely associated with the story of Jesus’ birth.

The good news about Christ is seemingly eclipsed and buried by the bad news about King Herod’s cruelty that immediately follows it. And Herod was indeed a brutal tyrant. The Lutheran historian Paul Maier recounts just a few of his notorious deeds:

“Herod was so jealous of his favorite wife that on two occasions he ordered that she be killed if he failed to return from a critical mission. And then he finally killed her anyway, as well as her grandfather, her mother, his brother-in-law, and three of his sons, not to mention numerous subjects. During a swimming party at Jericho, he also drowned the high priest, who happened to be another of his brothers-in-law. Old and very ill from arteriosclerosis, Herod worried that no one would mourn his death - a justified concern. So he issued orders from his deathbed that leaders from all parts of Judea were to be locked inside the great hippodrome at Jericho. When he died, archers were to massacre these thousands in cold blood, so there would indeed be universal mourning associated with his death.”

Fortunately, this last order of a dying despot was not carried out. But the fact that it was issued shows us something of the man.

And of course, within the past 2,000 years, there have been enough other tyrants in human history - matching and surpassing Herod’s brutality - to illustrate the fact that this world is indeed a cruel and painful place.

And even when tyrants on a smaller scale inflict misery on a smaller number of people, it still serves to remind us that in this life people often do experience much suffering and injustice.

The Christmas story might make us forget about this for a day. But when we read on just a little further in our New Testament, and come to the account of the massacre of the Holy Innocents, we are shocked back into a realization of what the world is really like.

And, of course, that realization may once again make us wonder what Christmas really accomplished. Where is the peace on earth that the angels promised?

The Christmas story is supposed to demonstrate God’s love for humanity. But how can this divine love be harmonized with the depredations and savagery that have continued to occur for the past 2,000 years?

If God loves the world, why does he allow these things to continue? Might we not rather conclude that God is either indifferent to these injustices, or too weak to do anything about them? And if that is so, then what’s the point of believing in him, or of trying to follow his ways?

One thing that can be said in response to these questions, is that our ability to discern the presence of injustice in human affairs is actually evidence for the existence of God, and for the goodness of God.

God is the supreme Good. As creatures of God, according to the way God did in fact create us, we humans have an inborn, intuitive sensitivity to God’s goodness; and an ability to know, deep down, the difference between good and evil, right and wrong.

This is something that God planted in us. St. Paul writes in his Epistle to the Romans - with respect to the Mosaic law and natural law - that

“When Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness...”

So, if there were no supreme being - who embodies Goodness in an absolute sense - then there would be no ultimate criterion by which we could identify, in our conscience, good things as good things, and bad things as bad things. Without God’s moral voice within us, as a standard by which all things can be measured, the perceived difference between good and evil would be an illusion - completely subjective and arbitrary.

Some people in human history - like Herod the Great - stopped listening to the voice of their conscience, and hardened themselves to the natural law that God had planted within their conscience.

King Herod came to think that, for him, it was a “good” thing to kill babies and toddlers, and to kill his wife and other relatives, because this served his selfish desire to remain in power. People like Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, and Chairman Mao, are well-known 20th-century examples of the same sort of thing.

And it would be that way with most people, if most people did not continue to listen to that still small voice of God’s natural law within them, most of the time; and if they did not try to live, and to make judgments and decisions, according to that inner voice from God, most of the time.

And while we’re on the subject, all of us need to admit that there have been plenty of times when we have not listened to that inner voice - and have not listened to the divinely-revealed Ten Commandments, either - in a moment of surrender to a sinful temptation.

Oh, we haven’t massacred people. But we have done things we should not have done, even as our conscience was screaming out to us not to do those things.

But even more can be said about our difficulty in understanding why God does what he does, and why he allows what he allows.

We should not minimize the emotional and physical suffering and sadness that many people in this world do experience. But we can recognize that God’s will for the human race reaches down to issues that are at a deeper level than this pain and sadness.

It is easy to criticize God for not preventing things like the slaughter of the Holy Innocents in Bethlehem. But before we conclude that God failed to do something he should have done, we should make sure we know what God is actually trying to do in this world.

And before we persuade ourselves that God has let us down, we should consider that the story may actually be that we have let him down.

In his relationship with humanity, God wishes to be more than a cosmic policeman, who prevents men from inflicting on others the bad things they want to do. God would certainly be able to set himself up as the head of a supernatural police state.

But God’s purposes are not merely to prevent people - like Herod, and like us - from doing the hurtful things they want to do. Rather, he wants people not to want to do hurtful things in the first place.

He doesn’t intend to be the equivalent of a zoo-keeper, who keeps vicious animals in cages or chains, so that they cannot fulfill their desire to attack other animals. Instead, he wants the animals to be “tamed” - deep down on the inside - so that they don’t have a desire to attack.

It certainly was a problem that Herod ordered the children of Bethlehem to be killed. But at a deeper level - at least as far as Herod’s soul was concerned - it was a more serious problem that he even wanted to issue such an order.

God would have wished that Herod’s inner depravity and hatefulness be replaced by compassion and kindheartedness.

And that goes for all of us. To whatever extent you harbor hurtful feelings and angry intentions toward others, you, too, have a problem in an area of your life that runs deeper than your outward actions.

If God were simply to restrain you in your outward behavior every time you were getting ready to say or do something unkind or cruel, this would not change your heart. This would not remove from you the selfishness, pride, and arrogance that motivate such words and actions.

God does not simply want us to be physically restrained. He wants us to be spiritually regenerated.

Literal police officers perform a valuable function in maintaining order in the civil society. But if God had settled for being humanity’s cosmic policeman, he would never have gotten down to the deeper issues that he really wants to address with us.

It’s difficult to hear about atrocities like the massacre of the Holy Innocents at the hand of Herod. It’s even more difficult to hear about the atrocities that continue to occur even in our own time.

But when these things do happen, don’t blame God for failing to do what we think he should have done for us. Ponder instead what it is, at a deeper level, that God actually wants to do for us.

In his Epistle to the Galatians, St. Paul summarizes for us the reason for Christ’s entrance into this world:

“When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’”

God is not, in the final analysis, a supernatural policeman. He is a supernatural Redeemer.

God’s Son came into the world, not merely to restrain our outward evil behavior, but to buy us back from the power of death and destruction, with the price of his own blood; and to reconcile us to God. St. Paul writes to the Romans that “when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”

God’s Son came into the world to atone for our sins, and to justify us before a holy God with the covering of his own righteousness. He came to deliver to us a heavenly adoption, and to make us to be children of a heavenly Father by the indwelling of his own life-giving Spirit.

God has the right to call us to account, and he does call us to account: for all the times we have ignored his law, and as a consequence have hurt others. We do not have the right to call him to account, when he allows things that we think he should not allow: such as the slaying of the Holy Innocents, and a million other crimes that have occurred in human history.

According to the righteous judgment of God, Herod certainly needed to stop perpetrating his acts of human cruelty on others. He should have mended his ways before he died. But at a deeper level, Herod also needed to repent of his sins before God.

Herod certainly needed to stop being so paranoid and callous in his thoughts and feelings about others. But at a deeper level, he also needed to be reconciled to God, and to become a new creature on the inside, through faith in the Messianic promises of God.

It grieved God that Herod lived and died in the blindness of sin, with his heart turned away from God and his grace. It grieves God today, when people who are alive today likewise shut themselves off from his power to forgive, to heal, and to restore.

It grieves God when those who need the inner deliverance from sin - in time and in eternity - that he offers in his Son, choose instead to criticize him for failing to prevent outward evil actions in the affairs of this world.

The gift of Christmas is God’s gift of salvation to those who have grieved God, but whom God loves nevertheless. The gift that is offered to you, in the Holy Babe of Bethlehem, is the gift of reconciliation with a God whom your sins have offended, but who wants to pardon you and give you another chance.

The gift that is offered to you in Jesus, as he comes to you today in Word and Sacrament, is the gift of adoption and acceptance from a heavenly Father who wants to be alienated from you no more.

The peace of Christmas is not simply the kind of outer “peace” that could be imposed on the world, if the wicked actions of wicked people would be restrained against their will. Instead, the peace of Christmas is the inner peace that comes when wicked people repent and are forgiven, and when they are given a new will, and a new heart and mind in Christ.

God has the power to do this. God wants to do this. God wants to do this for you.

May your life be ever filled with the goodness and grace of the Christchild. Even in the midst of suffering and injustice, may you still know, and rejoice in, the eternal peace that only God can give.

And may God answer the prayer from Psalm 51 that you chant to him, by creating in you a clean heart, today and every day; and by renewing a right spirit within you, today and every day. Amen.

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6 January 2025 - Epiphany - Matthew 2:1-12

In the Middle Ages, in western Europe, the festival of the Epiphany came to be seen as a festival about three gentile kings - from Arabia, Persia, and India - who were guided by a star to come and worship the Christchild. The names that were attached to these kings were Balthasar, Melchior, and Gaspar, respectively.

It was believed that these men each eventually became Christians in the full sense of the term, and were martyred for their faith. It was furthermore believed that the relicts of these three kings were housed at the Cologne Cathedral in Germany - which helps to explain the popularity in Germany of the festival of the Epiphany - or as it is commonly called there, the Day of the Holy Three Kings.

But St. Matthew’s inspired account of their visit, which we heard a few minutes ago, does not say that these men from the east were kings. It calls them “magoi,” or magi - rendered in some English translations as “wise men.” The “magoi” were a caste of religious leaders and astronomical scholars within the Persian Empire.

And St. Matthew also does not say that there were three such magi. Many in the Eastern Church - especially among the Christians of Syria - believe that there were actually twelve magi.

Where did the idea of three kings come from? Probably from the fact that Matthew lists three specific gifts that they brought, so that people assumed that each visitor brought one gift; and probably also from that portion of the Book of Isaiah that was read today as our Old Testament lesson. Isaiah prays to the Christchild from across the centuries:

“The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. ... The multitude of camels shall cover your land, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and incense, and they shall proclaim the praises of the Lord.”

But this passage is not specific enough, with respect to the particular event of the visit of the magi, to establish as a fact that the magi were kings. From what Matthew says about them, there is actually no reason to think that they were kings.

But that doesn’t mean that there are no kings in the story of Epiphany. There are two kings.

The first king is Herod, who was not of the Davidic line, and who was not even Jewish, but who had been appointed as King of the Jews by the Romans.

The second king is Jesus, the legal son of Joseph - whom the angel had called “Son of David” when Jesus’ conception was explained to him in a dream. And Jesus himself was referred to by the magi as “He who has been born King of the Jews.” St. Matthew writes:

“In the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.’ When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.”

Herod certainly took notice when the magi told him that they were looking for this legitimate king, because Herod knew that his kingship was not, in the final analysis, legitimate. He had not been “born” King of the Jews, with David counted among his ancestors, but he had been made the King of the Jews by an invading foreign power.

He was vulnerable to being overthrown by the rightful king. His throne was not secure. So the baby the magi were seeking, whoever he was, was a threat to Herod.

St. Matthew continues his account:

“And when [Herod] had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.”’ Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, ‘Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.’”

The magi did go to Bethlehem. They did find Jesus. And they worshiped him when they found him. They did not worship Herod. He was not the king - the divine king - they were looking for, and they knew it. But Jesus was that king.

In the United States of America, with its Constitutional government, we do not live under a king - or at least not under a conventional, political, earthly king. But we can consider the ways in which people in our society do, in our hearts and minds, recognize the authority of a supernatural “king” or ruler.

Supernaturally, the rightful king of all people is Jesus. The Book of Revelation tells us that “on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.”

He is the rightful king over all human beings, because he has redeemed the entire human race: from the power of sin, the guilt of sin, and the temporal and eternal consequences of sin. St. Paul writes to the Corinthians: “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.”

And St. John writes in his First Epistle that “Jesus Christ the righteous...is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”

We also recall St. John’s description, in his Gospel, of the salient points of our Lord’s conversation with Pilate:

“Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ ... Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. ...’ Then Pilate said to him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world - to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.’ Pilate said to him, ‘What is truth?’”

Jesus is a King over an unusual kingdom. He reigns, not through the power of earthly military might, or through the power of human political skill, but through the power of divine truth: the divine truth that he speaks to the mind and conscience.

All people rightfully belong to him, including those who rebel against his authority, who turn away from the blessings of his redemption, and who submit themselves, in their moral and spiritual life, to the pretended authority of an illegitimate king - a king like Herod.

And the illegitimate supernatural king or ruler - who ultimately stands behind all false authorities that compete with the genuine authority of God’s Son - is a being whom Jesus several times refers to as the “prince” or “ruler” of this world. In various places in St. John’s Gospel, Jesus says:

“Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

“The ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me.”

“The ruler of this world is judged.”

This supernatural being is the devil, or Satan. His claim on the souls of men is not a legitimate claim - just as Herod’s claim on the nation of the Jews was not a legitimate claim. But the devil rules over large segments of fallen humanity anyway, because people listen to him and follow him.

And yet, as the passages that we have quoted say concerning him, the “ruler of this world” is being cast out, and his feigned authority will be taken away from him by the judgment of Christ, the true king of all - just as Herod, not long after the magi visited him, died a loathsome death, and no longer sat on his throne.

As we have noted, Jesus reigns over his spiritual kingdom through the power of the truth that he speaks into the lives of those who do honor his rightful authority over them. In contrast, the devil reigns - while he still has the illusion of reigning - through the lies that he speaks.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus tells us about this, too, when he says that “the devil...was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Satan has, as it were, stolen the throne from which he rules over the deceived mind and hearts that are under his spell. And he has stolen their allegiance, since their true sovereign is the Lord who died and rose again for them - not the liar who has bedeviled them.

And Satan’s reign, such as it is, is markedly different from the reign of Christ, over those who know and believe the truth that he proclaims. Jesus paints this contrast in John’s Gospel:

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

When the magi were looking for their true sovereign, and for the genuine King to whom they owed honor, they were able to tell the difference between the phoney King of the Jews, who had been installed by the Romans, and the real King of the Jews, who had been born to that office and station under God.

Can you tell the difference between the two supernatural kings who are competing for your loyalty and respect? Can you tell the difference between the legitimate king who is telling you the truth, and the pretended king who is lying to you?

Can you tell the difference between the false king who has been judged, and whose reign is coming to an end; and the true king who will reign forever in goodness, righteousness, and peace?

Jesus says: “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

There is an extraordinary spiritual power in the very words of Christ, that gives those words the ability to persuade you of their truthfulness, as you hear them. Jesus also says: “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”

And in the Gospel of St. Luke, when the disciples who had been talking with Jesus on the road to Emmaus reflected on that experience, they said: “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

The devil’s lies are often crafted by him in such a way that they will appeal to your baser impulses. He excuses and praises your pride, your lust, and your greed. He condones and justified your self-righteous anger and your lack of concern for others.

He tells your sinful flesh what it wants to hear. In the short term what he says seems true, if you want it to be true. But in the long term, you come to realize that his words are full of death, and not life.

How often have people believed the devil’s lies, and then in time experienced the consequences of that gullibility and foolishness, as they stood in the rubble of broken relationships and lost reputations, covered with shame and disgrace?

This is so different from the words of Christ, and their effect. His words do, when necessary, bring warning and condemnation on account of your sins - your undesirable and harmful sins of pride, lust, and greed.

But his words also and especially bring hope and peace, when he applies to you, and bestows upon you - through his words - his pure and perfect righteousness, his cleansing and liberating forgiveness, and his regenerating and renewing Spirit.

And the more you meditate upon his words, and let them sink into your soul and conscience, the more confident you are able to be that his words are true, and wholesome, and life-giving. Those who know Christ as king are able to pray the words of Psalm 119:

“With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes! With my lips I declare all the just decrees of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.”

In contrast, those who serve the devil, and who submit themselves to his manipulations and deceptions, can never describe their faith in his lies with such joy and delight. They are the walking dead. But those who trust in Christ have eternal life.

So, there are not really three “kings” in the Epiphany story. But there are two kings in that story. And there are two kings who are even now vying for your attention and loyalty, in the “story” of your life.

One of those kings loves you, and the other one hates you. One of those kings wants to lead you to heaven, and the other one wants to lead you to hell. One of those kings is your real king, who has the right to be obeyed, and who has earned your love and devotion; and the other one is an illegitimate usurper.

Make sure you have found, and are serving, the correct king: the king who speaks to you the truth about human sin and divine grace, about God’s mercy and forgiveness, and about your salvation in him. Join the magi in worshiping the king who was born king of the Jews, and who is also a king for all men and nations.

All hail the power of Jesus’ name! Let angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the royal diadem And crown him Lord of all.

O that, with yonder sacred throng We at his feet may fall!
We’ll join the everlasting song, And crown Him Lord of all. Amen.

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10 January 2025 - Shirley Belair Funeral - 2 Corinthians 4:11-18

Quite a while before I moved to Minnesota, I saw a video - of a certain tongue-in-cheek, humorous character - about the Minnesota “long goodbye.” The video was ostensibly introducing people from other states - who might visit or move to Minnesota - to this aspect of Minnesota’s culture of cordiality.

It recounted how, when guests in Minnesota begin to hint about leaving the home they are visiting, their hosts try to talk them out of it: often offering another cookie or piece of cake, or another cup of coffee, to lure then to stay. Then, when the guests finally do leave the house, their hosts walk out with them to the car, continuing the visit, and maybe then beginning a new conversation about the car, or the weather, or something else.

Everything in the video was in good humor. And since I’ve lived in Minnesota, I’ve seen and experienced some aspects of the Minnesota “long goodbye.”

For example, when I would visit Shirley at her home, and after I had shared God’s Word and sacrament with her and Vernon, I would begin to hint at being ready to leave. And at that point Vernon would almost always offer me another cookie or another cup of coffee.

When I would visit Shirley at the Elim home - with Vernon usually being there as well - when it was time for me to leave, he would want to walk with me down the corridor, would sometimes go down the elevator with me, and would walk with me all the way to the outside door.

During these long goodbyes, the visiting continued, the hospitality continued, and the companionship continued. The goodbye was not a quick wave of the hand, followed by a fast getaway.

It was a prolonged process. But finally I did leave, as Vernon watched me go from the door - having accompanied me as far as he could.

In a more serious way, Shirley, for the past several years, has been engaged in her own version of a “long goodbye”: not from a visit to a Minnesota home, but from this world. She had a serious bout with cancer several years ago - which, fortunately, she did survive. But after that, her health and strength in general began to deteriorate.

Over time, she gradually became ever more limited in her activities, ever more weakened in bodily strength, and ever more tied down to her home: unable to do many of the adventurous and fun things she used to enjoy doing. And after a while, it was no longer possible for her to attend church, which had always been a very important part of her life.

Shirley always knew that Jesus was God’s Son and her Savior, and that he forgave her sins, promised her eternal life, and guided and protected her in all the ups and downs of life on earth.

Being able to gather with fellow believers in his house - to hear his Word, to receive his sacrament, and to sing his praises - was a cherished blessing. Losing the physical ability to do that, was a difficult and sad change.

But just as with the Minnesota long goodbye, so too with the more serious “long goodbye” that Shirley was engaged in: even as she was, in a certain sense, slowly withdrawing and departing from this world; she was also, in a very real sense, still embracing life - joyfully and optimistically.

Her life was still filled with love: especially love for her high school sweetheart turned husband, and for her children and grandchildren.

Her love of nature, and her desire to enjoy nature, likewise continued. She watched through the window, with much delight, as the birds came to the bird feeder. She watched with less delight as the squirrels also tried to steal as much birdseed as they could.

And her love for Jesus Christ also continued. When she was no longer physically able to go to church, her pastors brought church to her. First my predecessor, and then I, visited Shirley and Vernon, to share with them an encouraging message from Holy Scripture, and to administer Holy Communion.

In these ways God’s pardon and peace in Christ remained at the center of Shirley’s life, and continually renewed in her heart an eternal hope. On these visits we claimed and believed the promise of our Savior that where two or three are gathered together in his name, there he is among them.

But eventually, Shirley’s long goodbye from this world did culminate in her departure. She, as it were, finally walked through the door, and finally drove away.

Literally, she fell asleep, and didn’t wake up - until she woke up in the heavenly presence of Christ and all his saints.

But you know what? Even if it might not be as obvious as it was for Shirley over the past several years, we, too, are also engaged in a long goodbye: as we move, ever so gradually, toward our eventual departure from this world.

All members of the human race, because of Adam’s fall, are conceived and born in sin. And along with the sin, comes death. As far as life in this world is concerned, therefore, we are all mortal.

We are all on a pathway toward physical death. Even as we live, we are all also having a long goodbye, away from earthly life.

But the Christian gospel, when it enlivens your heart and enlightens your mind, takes away whatever fear and anxiety might be attached to this inevitability. All of you who know Christ, know that on the other side of death is life again: an immortal, resurrection life, guaranteed by Jesus’ own resurrection from the grave.

Someday our souls and bodies will be reunited, and we will live forever in the new heavens and the new earth. The Book of Revelation says of those who trust in Christ now, and who will be with Christ then - in that future time beyond all time - that

“God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

And, there will be no more goodbyes. St. Paul writes in his First Epistle to the Thessalonians that “we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

And additional words from St. Paul can likewise comfort us: as we mourn the fact that Shirley’s long goodbye has now come to an end; and as we soberly ponder the long goodbye that we and all people in this world are still engaged in. We read in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians:

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Amen.

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12 January 2025 - Epiphany 1 - Matthew 3:13-17

When I was a teenager, one of my household chores was to wash the dishes every evening. One thing that became very clear to me, during these years of my juvenile dish-washing career, was that if you put dirty dishes into clean water, the water gets dirty.

Depending on how encrusted with food residue the dishes in question are, the water can get very cloudy, very fast.

Once in a while, when I was not paying close enough attention to what I was doing, I would, by mistake, put a plate that was already clean into the dirty dish water. And what happened then? The clean dish got dirty.

When you put a dirty dish into clean water, the clean water gets dirty. But when you put a clean dish into dirty water, the clean dish gets dirty.

There is a limited analogy of sorts, between the domestic experience of washing dishes, and the spiritual experience of baptism: our baptism, and Christ’s baptism.

Before Jesus’ public ministry began, the Lord called John the Baptist to prepare the people of Israel for his appearance by preaching and administering a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. St. Matthew’s Gospel reports:

“Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him 6and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.”

The people came, drawn by the Lord’s invitation, to be cleansed of their guilt before him, by his pardoning mercy. They came to be renewed in their faith, by his life-giving Spirit. They came to be prepared - in heart and mind - for the coming of their Messiah.

John’s listeners entered the water in humility and repentance, confessing their sins. But when they emerged from the water, their sins, in a sense, remained behind, in the water.

Their sins were no longer upon them, because the baptism that they had received was a baptism that was for the forgiveness of their sins. Their sins were, in effect, washed off of them, so that they were now clean before God, and at peace with him in their consciences.

And the water in which these penitent sinners had been mystically cleansed, was now, as it were, very cloudy - cloudy and murky with the sin that had been loosened from them by God’s forgiveness.

The men, women, and children who partook of John’s baptism 2,000 years ago were all Jewish. But at a deeper level, these men, women, and children represent all of us - Jew and Gentile alike.

The human sinfulness which John called upon them to confess, is the same human sinfulness that has soiled and corrupted us. The forgiveness that God promised them, is the same forgiveness that we need, and that God, by grace, makes available to us.

Let’s keep that in mind as we move forward in the story. And as we do move forward, we see in the portion of St. Matthew’s Gospel that was read today, that

“Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?’ But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’”

We can understand John’s initial confusion. Everybody else who came to his baptism, came dirty. They came confessing their sins. But Jesus came clean.

To be sure, he came with the deepest sympathy for sinners, and he came with a willingness to be associated with a baptism that was for sinners. But he came as one who was himself not a sinner. As the Epistle to the Hebrews reminds us,

“We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

When this pure and righteous man was dipped into the baptismal water, in a mystery that defies human comprehension, he took to himself the sins of all others - sins that had been, as it were, deposited in that water.

He who was perfectly clean, went into water that had been clouded by human sin, and he came out dirty: not in terms of his own personal morality, which always remained unimpeachable; but in terms of what was now imputed or credited to him.

Jesus came out of the baptismal water covered, as it were, with the dirt of human sin; with the dirt of our sin. St. John’s Gospel tells us that John the Baptist said this regarding Jesus:

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

The Greek word translated here as “takes away” means “lifts up” and “carries away.” Jesus came out of the baptismal water with all of our dirt stuck to him.

With all of humanity’s failures and transgressions credited to him and covering him, he went out from his baptism to begin a three-year public ministry that would culminate in his crucifixion.

As humanity’s Savior and substitute, he carried our sins on a long and bitter trek to the cross, where ultimately he placed himself under the judgment and condemnation of his own divine law on account of those sins: a judgment and a condemnation that otherwise would have been directed against us.

And Jesus died there, under the weight of what had been clinging to him since his baptism. In his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul expresses this mystery of substitution - this mystery of redemption - in these words:

“For our sake [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

From one angle - the angle of humanity’s sin being imputed to Christ - Christ goes into the dirty water clean, and comes out dirty. But from another angle - the angle of Christ’s righteousness being imputed to us - we go into the clean water dirty, and come out clean.

Going back to our dish-washing analogy, and applying that analogy now in a slightly different way: Dirty water makes a clean plate dirty, but clean water makes a dirty plate clean. And it is Christ who causes the water of baptism - the baptismal water of the Jordan River, and all baptismal water - to be glisteningly clean, so that it can make us glisteningly clean in God’s eyes by the power of the Word of God that is attached to it.

We come to baptism as we - like the people of John the Baptist’s day - are drawn there by the Lord’s invitation to us.

Jesus is the one who caused the water of baptism to be clean, and cleansing, for the penitent Jews who were baptized in the Jordan River. And he is the one who causes the water of baptism to be clean, and cleansing, for you and me today.

An order for the administration of Holy Baptism that Martin Luther prepared at the time of the Reformation, included a prayer that contained these words:

“Almighty, eternal God, ...who through the baptism of your dear Child, our Lord Jesus Christ, hallowed and set apart the Jordan and all water to be a blessed flood, and a rich washing away of sins: we ask, for the sake of this very same boundless mercy of yours, that you would look graciously upon [the one being baptized], and bless him with true faith, in the Holy Spirit...”

When Jesus was baptized, the voice of God the Father declared: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, descended into this baptismal situation, and onto this baptized Son.

To be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit today, is to be connected to Christ’s baptism, and to the approval and delight that the Father there manifested for his only-begotten Son.

To be baptized today in the name of the Triune God, is to receive the Spirit of adoption, and in Christ to be a beneficiary of the same divine declaration: “This is My beloved Son” - or My beloved daughter - “in whom I am well pleased.”

St. Paul tells us in his epistle to the Galatians:

“For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

You go into the water dirty. You go into the water confessing your sins. But you come out clean - pure and spotless, in fact - completely covered in the righteousness of Christ, which is imputed to you, and credited to you, for his sake.

Again, St. Paul explains in his epistle to the Ephesians that

“Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”

There are many people in this world who were baptized in childhood, but who sadly no longer live in their baptism, by faith, in this way. For such post-Christian unbelievers, baptism is recalled only with empty sentimentalism or carnal superstition, if it is recalled at all.

But Jesus is deeply grieved when those who had once belonged to him misuse or ignore their baptism into him, in such a manner. He was baptized into the dirt of our sin, and became dirty - for us - under the judgment of God.

This cost him greatly, as it carried him to the cross. And at great cost, he has provided for us a sacred washing of water, with his Word, so that we could be cleansed.

And so he wants to clean us again today, by the power of his Word; through the proper, reverent remembrance of our baptism; in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Christ’s baptism into your sin, by which he took your sins upon himself and carried them to the cross; and your baptism into Christ’s righteousness, with everything that comes along with that, are the defining realities of your life. And if you are a Christian today, they are present realities of your life, today.

There is indeed only one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. Jesus was baptized only once, for you. You, too, were baptized only once.

But every day, Jesus continues to be your Savior. He continues to forgive your sins, and take them off of you.

And as you repent daily, and trust in him daily, you continue to be his disciple. By faith you continue to live in your baptism.

In true humility, you return daily to the water of your baptism, and leave your sins there. In true joy, you return daily to the water of your baptism, where you are made clean and pure in Christ. Amen.

---

19 January 2025 - Epiphany 2 - John 2:1-11

It’s often the case that pretty much the only time you see certain distant relatives or old friends is at funerals and weddings. Usually, when you do have a chance to visit with these people at an event like this, you are glad that you had that chance.

You both may also agree that you should get together more often. Seeing an old friend or a distant relative at a funeral or a wedding should be the beginning of an ongoing restoration of your friendship: like the way it was when you were kids.

But, you are each busy with your own immediate families, with work, and with other activities, and so it just never happens.

After the funeral or the wedding, things go back to the way they were before. The distant relative you saw there does not become a part of your life again. You and your old friend each go your separate ways once more.

The New Testament tells an interesting story about a time when Jesus was at a funeral. And as we heard in today’s Gospel from St. John, the New Testament tells another interesting story about a time when Jesus was at a wedding.

But on both of those occasions, the encounter that the other people in attendance had with Jesus, brought about permanent and enduring changes for them. On both of those occasions, Jesus was not like an old friend or a distant relative whom they enjoyed seeing on that particular day, but who did not become a part of their lives on an ongoing basis after that.

First the funeral, which took place in the city of Nain. St. Luke reports that

“When [Jesus] came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’ Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, ‘Young man, I say to you, arise.’ So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother.”

What happened at this funeral was, to say the least, quite extraordinary. And Jesus being present for this funeral had significant consequences for everyone else who was in attendance.

No one who was there, and who was aware of Jesus’ presence and actions that day, would ever be the same again. His impact on everyone would endure, as all those mourners - from that day forward - would always remember the incomprehensible miracle of compassion that they had witnessed, and that had brought their mourning to an immediate end.

That’s not the kind of thing you can easily forget! In a very real sense, Jesus and his influence were going to stay with them: within their memories, and maybe in other ways too.

From that day forward, every time this widow in particular looked at her now-living son, embraced him, and received care from him in her old age, she would think about Jesus and what he had done at this funeral. This profound blessing from Jesus would be with her and with her son every day thereafter.

And, as we heard a few minutes ago, Jesus also attended what has become a very famous wedding at Cana, in Galilee. St. John tells us that

“Both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”

This was a joyous occasion, but the joy would be significantly diminished if there was no more wine for the wedding guests to enjoy together. Showing proper hospitality at an event like this was an important part of the near-eastern culture of the first century. This would have been an embarrassment and a point of shame that would have followed the bridal couple into their marriage.

But Jesus prevented that from happening. At his mother’s behest, Jesus miraculously changed six large pots of water into wine. And what he produced in this way by his divine power was high quality wine to boot.

Not everyone at the wedding knew about this miracle - at least not right away. But the disciples and Mary knew, and the servants knew.

And it is likely that before long, the bridal couple, and others who were there, also came to know how Jesus had preserved the happiness of the day, and in a sense had thereby preserved the happiness of the new marriage.

St John concludes his account of this episode with these words:

“This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.”

This, too, was something that people would never forget. What Jesus did at that wedding - as an extraordinary special blessing for that couple and their guests, and as a way of showing his approval of weddings and of marriage in general - would stick with everyone.

And as Jesus’ ministry continued in the region of Galilee during the months that followed, many who had been at this wedding no doubt heard his sermons, and were continually impacted by his influence. He became a part of their lives, beginning with that first messianic sign that they had witnessed or benefitted from at the wedding.

Is Jesus at our funerals and at our weddings? Well, if those events are held here in this church, or under the auspices of this church, he certainly is.

A Christian funeral or wedding is a funeral or wedding where the Word of Christ is proclaimed and applied. And we know that where Christ’s Word is, Christ himself is there, speaking and acting.

At a funeral, Jesus speaks these words of comfort and hope to those who trust in him for eternal life:

“I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

He also says:

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.”

These divine promises are spoken not only as a comfort with respect to the departed believer: so that his or her loved ones can be reminded of that person’s Christian faith and hope, and of the outcome of that faith and hope. They are spoken also as a comfort, and as an invitation to faith, for the living who are there, describing for them the joyful eternal future that awaits all who know the grace and forgiveness of God in Christ.

Jesus is there, speaking these words. Jesus is there, soothing the sadness of the mourners. And Jesus is there, showing them - for their own benefit - the pathway of daily repentance and faith that leads to everlasting life, through his death on the cross and his resurrection from the grave.

One would think that the death of a friend or relative would be a time when someone would reflect on his or her own mortality more soberly and seriously than before. One would expect that someone at a funeral might be more open than usual, to hearing what God’s Word says about sin and death, about grace and forgiveness, and about life with God here and hereafter.

But for too many people who attend funerals, they forget what they heard almost as soon as they have left the building or the graveside. The warnings and promises of God do not remain with them, or become a continuing part of their lives.

Oh, they don’t mind Jesus being there at the ceremony. A funeral is a suitable time for a little religious talk and a few prayers. But that’s where it ends - until the next funeral.

Jesus is also present at a Christian wedding. And he is also speaking at a Christian wedding.

Marriage is not an institution that evolved in human society, or that - in its essence - is still evolving. God established marriage in the Garden of Eden to be a lifelong and loving union of a man and a woman.

And with respect to each specific marriage today, Jesus himself speaks these words, as recorded in St. Mark’s Gospel:

“From the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

These words - spoken by Jesus today at Christian weddings, as they are read from Holy Scripture - are words that are filled with divine authority. They are words of warning, against anything that a married person would do to break up his or her marriage.

They are words of invitation, since God takes a personal interest in each marriage, so that he can be called upon for strength, guidance, and protection when a marriage begins to falter, with confidence that God will help.

And they are words of promise, assuring a man and woman who are now setting out together in life, that their loving Father in heaven will bless them in many ways, as they are joined together by him.

But just as with funerals, so too with weddings, Jesus is indeed often welcomed at the events of the day. And his words - to which many people have a sentimental attachment - are eagerly heard and appreciated: for that day.

But after the wedding - both for the bridal couple, and for their guests - how often are those words then forgotten in the real-life, rough-and-tumble trials and struggles that marriages and families often endure? A new, unseasoned, and fragile marriage could especially benefit so much from ongoing input from the one who is the divine author of marriage.

A bride and groom who need help in their own marriage to each other, need to find their place in the church, which collectively is the bride of Christ: whom Christ loves and sanctifies with his grace and forgiveness. But do they?

Is Jesus allowed and invited to become a part of everything they do? Or do they largely ignore him after the wedding day, assuming that they can figure everything out for themselves, and often failing miserably in that misguided attempt?

Jesus does not want to be like the distant relative or old friend, whom you enjoy seeing at a funeral or a wedding, but with whom you do not stay in touch after the funeral or wedding. As you deal with life, and as you face your own death, Jesus wants you to stay in touch with him every day, and to welcome him into your life every day.

What Jesus tells you at a funeral or a wedding is not just for that day, but is for a lifetime. The impact of his words reaches into eternity.

His words and his saving truth are so important. Everything that he wants to do for you - in your struggling family, and in your personal human frailty - is so important.

We’re not at a wedding or a funeral right now, but we are in God’s house right now. And Jesus is with us, speaking to us, right now.

If you haven’t listened to him very attentively before, start listening today. If you have found excuses to ignore him most of the time; and not to include him in everything you do, and in every decision you make, most of the time, drop those excuses today.

Jesus is not here for you today, by his Spirit, and in his Word and Sacrament, merely as the equivalent of a distant relative or as an old friend. Rather, he is here, according to the description of the Book of Proverbs, as “a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

His absolution reaches down deeply into your conscience, and lifts from it all the guilt and stain of your sins. His body and blood enter deeply into your body, and into your soul, and nourish them supernaturally with his divine life.

And, when you leave this building, he will leave with you. When you enter your home, he will enter with you. When you go to work tomorrow, he will go with you.

As he leaves, enters, and goes with you, he will also speak to you: through the message of Holy Scripture that you read and ponder, and on which you meditate. His Word will be a light for your path, and will serve as the guardrails on either side of your path.

You will not forget about him, when the sermon and songs of this morning are finished. You will remember, and he will remember you.

He will remember you tomorrow, next week, next year, and for as long as you live. And he will remember you when he comes into his kingdom, as he even now assures you that you will be with him in paradise.

Lord, thee I love with all my heart; I pray thee, never from me depart,
with tender mercy cheer me.
Earth has no pleasure I would share; yea, heaven itself were void and bare
if thou, Lord, wert not near me.
And should my heart for sorrow break, my trust in thee can nothing shake.
Thou art the portion I have sought; thy precious blood my soul has bought.
Lord Jesus Christ, my God and Lord, forsake me not! I trust thy word. Amen.

---

22 January 2025 - Alberta Wicktor Funeral - Philippians 4:4-7

My predecessor in office here at Bethany Lutheran Church left this comment, in response to the notification of Alberta’s passing and funeral that was posted on the congregation’s Facebook page:

“Blesséd, yea BLESSÉD be her memory! ... I absolutely loved every minute I ever spent with Alberta as her pastor.”

That’s quite a thing to say. And I think I know why he said it. Alberta was one of the most joyful persons I have ever known. My arrivals - when I came to visit her - were always met by a large and welcoming smile.

Some people seem to have an inborn cheerful and optimistic disposition, while others seem to be genetically predisposed toward being sullen, morose, and pessimistic. Alberta was clearly in the first category.

She never complained, at least not in my hearing. When significant changes came to her life, such as moving from her own home to an assisted living facility - changes which are often difficult for older people to adjust to - she accepted those changes in a very good-natured way.

She was almost always able to look on the bright side of any challenging situation, and to see the silver lining in any cloud.

Not only her pastors, but also other people, enjoyed her company. It was not a chore to visit her, but was a pleasure. I think most of us who knew her, would wish that we could be more like her.

I know my wife wishes that I could be a more positive and optimistic person - in general. On my mother’s side my ancestry is Slovak, and my wife often speaks of my Slavic pessimism. I guess that’s a thing.

But pessimism was not a trait to which Alberta was predisposed. Her personality and temperament, according to the way God made her, was very different from that.

But there was also another reason - deeper than genes and DNA - why Alberta’s life was filled with joy. And this reason, is a reason why a deep and enduring joy can be a part of the life of all of us - even those of us who are part Slavic in our ancestry!

St. Paul exhorts us to this joy, explains the reasons why we have this joy, and reminds us of how we can experience this joy personally, in his Epistle to the Philippians:

“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything - by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving - let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Alberta’s life was characterized by joy, not just because she was of a naturally cheerful disposition, but also and chiefly because the Lord was at hand: near her, with her, indwelling her, protecting her, guiding her. God’s peace was with her, and God’s peace was guarding her heart and mind through Christ Jesus, because Christ Jesus - by his death and resurrection - had redeemed her from the power and guilt of sin and from the fear of death.

She was not her own. She had been bought with a price.

Alberta was also thankful for God’s goodness to her. She had had a happy marriage and family life, and a very interesting and adventurous life outside the home.

But as the years passed, and as she advanced in age, she did not dwell on her increasing limitations, on the loss of her husband and of many friends, on her loss of independence, or on any other conceivably negative development in her life which might have tempted others to complain and perhaps to become embittered.

She dwelt instead on that for which she was still thankful: life itself, the love of family and friends, her ability still to have some independence, and especially the peace in heart and mind that her Christian faith brought her. She knew the deep joy of a God-given certainty that Jesus was keeping all his promises to her, especially when he said:

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

Whenever I visited her, it was ultimately for the purpose of bringing her a message of comfort, of instruction, and of hope from Holy Scripture; and for the purpose of bringing her the profound and deep comfort of Holy Communion. She welcomed this pastoral ministry with joy.

There was more here than just a good-natured, friendly lady, welcoming a visit from a well-meaning religious person. This was a penitent sinner, yearning for God’s forgiveness.

This was a faithful believer in Jesus, yearning for a closer union with her Savior. And this was a devoted servant of the Lord, yearning for opportunities to honor and praise him.

She was welcoming her triune God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - to come once again to her, and to bless her by giving her all for which she was yearning in faith.

And, there was joy in all of this: not a superficial, giggly happiness; but a deep contentment and spiritual satisfaction, based on God’s grace in Christ, and offered and sealed to Alberta in the gospel and sacrament of Christ.

As Alberta grew ever older, she knew that it would not be long before she would be called from this world into the nearer presence of Christ. But for her there was joy also in this. “For to live is Christ, and to die is gain,” as St. Paul also writes to the Philippians.

And for all of us here today - as we remember the joyful life of Alberta Wicktor, as we celebrate the joyful life of Alberta Wicktor, and as we seek to learn from the joyful life of Alberta Wicktor - there is joy also for us. Or at least there can be.

Psalm 30 speaks for all of us, and can become a prayer and a confession of faith for all of us:

“O Lord my God, I cried out to You, and You healed me. O Lord, You brought my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name. For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”

Yes, there is some weeping - the weeping of remorse and regret - when we reflect on the mistakes and missteps of our life: things we have done or left undone which angered and displeased God and which hurt others.

There is sometimes a dark night of the soul for us, as we humbly take the measure of our sins; and of what we might need to do to repair and restore relationships, and to make amends for the harm that our mistakes and missteps have caused. There isn’t much joy in that, to be honest.

But there is much joy - an enduring joy - in the morning: in the bright morning of divine forgiveness and reconciliation, when the sun of righteousness rises with healing in his wings.

Alberta knew this. Alberta knew the joy in this.

Alberta knows the joy in this even now, as her spirit is with the Lord, awaiting in heavenly anticipation the day of the resurrection of all flesh, when those who know the Lord will be with him, in the new heavens and the new earth, forever and ever. We read in the Book of Revelation:

“I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’ All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: ‘Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.’” Amen.

---

26 January 2025 - St. Titus - Titus 1:1-9

St. Titus was a companion of St. Paul and a coworker with him in the ministry of the gospel. The New Testament does not give us a lot of detail about his life, but it would seem that he was originally from Antioch, where he became a Christian within the congregation there.

Titus was a gentile. In his Epistle to the Galatians, St. Paul describes Titus as an uncircumcised “Greek.”

Titus is sometimes called an apostle, but this is meant in the broader sense of that term, according to which the companions of the “apostles” in the strict sense, are referred to by the same term through association. Titus did have an apostolic ministry, and was supervised and guided in that ministry by the apostle Paul. But he was not an apostle in the same sense in which Paul was.

In his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul writes that “God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus.” That comfort came specifically in the form of Titus reporting to Paul that the Corinthian Christians had taken to heart the admonitions Paul had addressed to them in his First Epistle to that congregation.

Titus had been Paul’s emissary to Corinth, where it would seem he dealt with the many disorders that had become evident in that congregation. The success of Titus’s pastoral visitation is indicated in his report to Paul that the Corinthian believers had repented, and reformed their ways.

We know from Paul’s Second Epistle to Timothy that Titus was later working to spread the gospel in Dalmatia, along the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea, where the modern state of Croatia is now located. And in the Epistle that Paul sent to Titus himself - from which today’s Second Lesson is taken - we can see that Titus was then working on the island of Crete, where he was active in organizing the church, and arranging for the appointment of pastoral leadership for the Christians there.

According to the later tradition of the church, Titus finished out his public ministry on Crete, and died there of natural causes when he was over 90 years old. He was one of the few leaders of the church in these early years who did not die a martyr’s death. And this is why the ecclesiastical color for his commemoration is white, and not red.

One author has described Titus as “a troubleshooter, peacemaker, administrator, and missionary.” And he was all those things.

But Titus is best known to us, not because of what he did and said, but because of what was said to him by his teacher and mentor, St. Paul. Paul’s Epistle to Titus, in which Paul addresses him as “a true son in our common faith,” is a foundational text for our understanding of how the ministers of the Christian church should be chosen; and for our convictions on how the ministry of the church’s spiritual overseers should be conducted.

As we heard in the section from this epistle that was read as today’s lesson, there are some important moral qualifications for bishops, elders, or pastors in the church, which Titus was to take into account in the leadership arrangements he was to make for the Cretan Christians. In the time of the apostles, bishops (or overseers), presbyters (or elders), and pastors (or shepherds), were interchangeable terms.

These moral traits and ethical qualities are not unique to ministers, of course. All Christians should aspire to be people who could be described as “blameless”; and as “not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, ...hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled.”

Still, in listing these things as qualifications specifically for pastors, Paul is accentuating the fact that the lives of the church’s ministers should be characterized by these traits and qualities in a more noticeable and exemplary way.

And St. Paul also gives what we might call professional qualifications specifically for pastors, that arise from their specialized training and competence, and that are not shared by all Christian men generally. Paul writes that a bishop or pastor must hold fast “the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict” God’s faithful word.

So, the primary qualifications of a pastor, as a pastor, are his understanding of the Word of God; his ability to expound and apply the Word of God among those whom he serves, and among those who come within the purview of his evangelistic outreach; and his ability to rebuke and correct those who defy, distort, or dismiss the Word of God and its saving message.

Having spiritual leaders and teachers who are able to do these things is not optional for the church. When Paul told Titus, “I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city,” this meant that the organization of Christian congregations would be incomplete and unfinished until such appointments had been made.

The specific details of how the ministry of pastoral oversight is set up, and the specific methods by which pastors are trained for their service, have not always been the same in all times and places. But the pastoral ministry in its essence is indispensable in all times and places.

According to the way in which Christ established his church, the church cannot exist without the public preaching and teaching of the gospel, or without the public administration of the sacraments, by properly-trained and properly called men. And so Martin Luther wrote - with respect to what St. Paul told Titus - that

“Whoever believes that here in Paul the Spirit of Christ is speaking and commanding, will be sure to recognize this as a divine institution and ordinance, that in each city there should be several bishops, or at least one. It is also evident that Paul considers elders and bishops to be one and the same thing...”

Because this is God’s will for his church, such a ministry should be valued by all of God’s people. But sadly this is often not the case.

People today often want a non-judgmental religion, where no one is criticized for his views, and where no one is told that there are certain things that he is obligated by God to believe. Tolerance is the modern watchword, not truth.

But the directives that St. Paul gives to Titus don’t fit those expectations. Immediately after the section of his Epistle to Titus that was read as today’s lesson, Paul also writes:

“For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers..., whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not... Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to...fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth.”

Ouch! That’s pretty sharp. But God has the right to be clear and direct with us. Through the apostle Paul, it is indeed God who is speaking here.

And God has the right to expect us to be willing to believe things from his Word that most of the people we know do not believe. As God’s children we do not follow the crowd, but we follow, obey, and trust in, our heavenly Father.

Much of this epistle is dedicated to the promotion of good works, in accordance with God’s revealed moral law, and in the context of the vocations and stations of life in which people find themselves by divine providence.

Guidance is given for older people and for younger people, for masters and for servants. And then Paul summarizes the reasons why Christians should care about these things; and why they should want to lead lives that honor God, and that show forth love and respect for other people:

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”

God’s truth is not “out there,” waiting for us to search for it, and to try to find it. It is already here, with us, wherever and whenever the Holy Scriptures are properly taught among us.

Teenagers often think that disobeying their parents brings them freedom and happiness in life. This is seldom true.

Sinful men often think that disobeying God brings them freedom and happiness in life. This is never true.

The Son of God came into the world to redeem us from our sinful captivity to this disobedience and this foolishness. He came into this world to reconcile us with our creator, and to give us new hearts that desire what God desires, and that love what God loves.

This isn’t just someone’s opinion - mine or anyone else’s. This is the truth - God’s objective, unchanging truth - from which we must never turn away.

This is the truth that God would want the pastor or minister of every church on the face of the earth to proclaim, and to defend: holding fast to the faithful word; that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.

God’s Word does indeed teach a definite moral code. Because these are God’s ethics, all of us - as God’s creatures who are accountable to him - are obliged to commit ourselves to living as God would want us to live, and to treating others as God would want us to treat them.

Those who have authority over others - in the family, in the workplace, and in the larger society - are to exercise that authority with love and fairness. We are to submit to those who have rightful authority over us with love and respect.

We are to bear with the weaknesses of others, with patience and kindness. But we are not to compromise with the falsehoods that are embraced and promoted by many.

And yet, because there is sin inside all of us, we never live up to these obligations fully and consistently. We are not righteous, as God wants us to be righteous, by our own works, because sooner or later our works fail. We falter, and fail.

If we are going to be able to stand before God with a clear conscience, without fear of his judgment, it’s going to have to be by some method other than obeying the law. And God has made a way - a way that he reveals through his servant Paul in the Epistle to Titus! St. Paul writes:

“For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared - not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy - He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

This, too, is the truth. It is a truth that God invites you to believe, when you feel guilty or scared, when you doubt or are afraid, when you yearn for his peace and comfort, when you seek out the meaning of your life as a citizen of his kingdom.

And it is a truth that God would want the pastor or minister of every church on the face of the earth to proclaim, and to defend: holding fast to the faithful word; that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.

You have been baptized into the life of Christ, in the washing of regeneration. You have been baptized into the righteousness of Christ, which is draped over you to cover your unrighteousness, and to make you acceptable in God’s sight. You have been baptized into the hope of Christ, so that you know, through faith in him, what your eternal destiny will be.

This truth is not to be preached only once. It is not to be believed only once. It is the content of the preaching that God wants to sound forth everywhere and at all times, from the lips of all who have been called to be overseers of his flock, and stewards of his mysteries.

Whenever you slip or fall from the moral standards by which God calls you to live, in repentance you may then heed his other call - his call and invitation to return to your baptism, to be renewed in your baptismal life by his Holy Spirit.

In the introduction to his Epistle to Titus, St. Paul summarizes the gospel that he continually proclaims, when he writes that he is “a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began, but has in due time manifested His word through preaching, which was committed to me according to the commandment of God our Savior.”

You - who know the mercy of God in Christ - are God’s elect. For the sake of your faith - and for the sake of the daily renewal of your faith - the gospel of our God and Savior Jesus Christ is continually preached to you.

In this way you are preserved in your knowledge of his truth, and in your hope for eternal life.

Any human teaching that questions, compromises, or rejects this sacred divine teaching, must be repudiated in God’s name by the bishops and pastors of God’s church: if those bishops and pastors are to be faithful to the obligations of their office. Any teaching that points troubled sinners to their own works for salvation, and not to God’s baptismal gift of the righteousness of his Son, must not be heard or tolerated in God’s church.

It is for the sake of his truthful Word, and the teaching of his Word, that God has instituted the public ministry of pastoral oversight for his church. It is for the sake of your faith in his Word, and your justification in Christ by faith, that God gives you pastors who proclaim God’s eternal promises of grace and salvation: promises that God, who never lies, wants you to believe.

Titus, whom we commemorate today, was such a minister sent by God. We thank God for Titus’s example of faithful service.

And by means of the directions that God gave to Titus - in the letter that Paul wrote to him by God’s inspiration - God continues to guide and instruct his church, as he uses the church as his instrument for raising up new ministers of the gospel in every generation. We thank God for his faithfulness, in providing for our spiritual need.

May all Thy pastors faithful be; Not laboring for themselves, but Thee;
And may they feed, with wholesome food, The sheep and lambs bought by Thy blood;
Tending Thy flock, O may they prove How dearly they the Shepherd love!

That which the Holy Scriptures teach, That, and that only, may they preach; May they the true foundation lay, Build gold thereon, not wood or hay; And meekly preach in days of strife The sermon of a holy life. Amen.