FEBRUARY 2025
FEBRUARY 2025
2 February 2025 - Epiphany 4 - Mark 4:35-41
Please listen with me to St. Mark’s version of the story that we heard in today’s Gospel from St. Matthew, in St. Mark chapter 4, beginning at the 35th verse.
“On the same day, when evening had come, [Jesus] said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, ‘Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?’ Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace, be still!’ And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, ‘Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?’ And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, ‘Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!’”
So far our text.
This story - both in Matthew’s version and in Mark’s version - is very familiar to us. The New Testament accounts of the storm on the sea, and of Jesus’ calming of the storm, have always been taken as a metaphor of the way in which Jesus takes care of us and protects us through the many storms and trials that we face in this world.
The imagery of today’s text does indeed lend itself to such applications. But imbedded within Mark’s account are a couple details that may not often be noticed, and that can help us to be comforted and instructed by this text in even deeper ways.
The first thing to notice, is that the reason why the disciples set out to sail across the lake on that day, is because Jesus specifically directed them to do so:
“On the same day, when evening had come, [Jesus] said to them, ‘Let us cross over to the other side.’ Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was.”
So, the storms of life in which Jesus protects us are not just the storms that we happen to stumble across, or that come upon us by surprise. Often, the callings or vocations that we are given by Jesus deliberately lead us into such turbulence.
Sometimes we know that a storm is coming, when we step forward to fulfill the duties that Jesus has entrusted to us. But that doesn’t give us the right to run away from those duties.
If God has indeed commissioned us to perform a difficult task, in a difficult circumstance, then we are obligated to do so, regardless of the outward strain and stress that we may experience in the process.
Some close relatives of mine have been called by God to be the parents of a special-needs child. That’s the child God gave them, and that’s the child God wants them to raise with love and devotion.
The challenges are great. The time and effort that are needed, for the special care this special child requires, demand sacrifices on their part - sacrifices that are sometimes difficult to make.
But they cannot avoid this storm, because God called them to sail directly into it and through it.
Yet as God has indeed called them to embark on this journey of love, even so is God always with them on this journey. As they cross tumultuous seas, with frightening waves of temptation toward frustration and discouragement coming at them from all directions, and crashing down upon them, they know that Jesus is with them in the boat.
He himself is at peace in the midst of the storms, and he gives them peace - and joy and confidence - through his presence.
In your own life, and in the callings that God has placed upon you in your life, you may not be dealing with ongoing, enduring challenges that are exactly like this.
But the trials that you do face, as you seek with God’s help to fulfill the obligations that he has given you, are trials that will not swamp your boat, either. Because Jesus is also with you, in your boat.
Sometimes you might not think that you have enough faith to get through your times of testing. But Jesus being with you, and keeping you safe from spiritual harm, do not depend on your having a strong and robust faith.
The faith of the disciples in today’s text was very weak, and in that weakness of faith they were scared. But Jesus was protecting them anyway, and was with them anyway.
Whenever Jesus asks you to cross a stormy sea, he always, always stays in the boat with you. He does not remain in safety, while sending you forth into danger.
He faces every danger with you. He is your companion in all trials.
A vigorous faith in him is not a prerequisite to his willingness to be faithful toward you, within your vocation. But his faithfulness toward you does invigorate your faith in him.
Your faith does not earn his favor and grace. But his favor and grace do restore, refocus, and enliven your faith.
God never sends you to a place to which he is not willing to go, with you, every step of the way. Even if you do suffer as a result of following his will - emotionally, physically, financially - he keeps your soul safe, in every way that really matters.
Christ the Lord is the almighty Son of God, and your Savior from sin and death. What we read in the Epistle to the Hebrews therefore certainly refers to him, and to his faithfulness:
“He has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’”
And in the book of Deuteronomy, we read:
“The beloved of the Lord dwells in safety. The High God surrounds him all day long, and dwells between his shoulders.”
In Christ, God surrounds you in all danger. In Christ, God dwells between your shoulders - that is, within your heart - and fills you with hope and faith.
And this brings us to another point in today’s text that we should make sure we don’t miss. We read that the disciples awoke Jesus - who had been sleeping peacefully in the midst of the crashing waves and howling wind. And they said to him,
“Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”
Because Jesus was with them, they should have known that they would get to the shore, in spite of the waves and the wind. The word of Christ is to be believed. When he says, “Let us cross over to the other side,” we will get to the other side.
St. Paul, in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, reminds us that, as Christians, “we walk by faith, not by sight.”
But as the disciples in today’s story were feeling the spray of the storm, and the violent rocking of the boat, their perception of what was going to happen was not governed by faith in the word of Christ. It was governed instead by what they were seeing.
They were not walking - or sailing - by faith. They were sailing - and it seemed, sinking - by sight.
I think it is fair to say that Jesus calmed the waves, and quieted the wind, because of the disciples’ weakness in faith, and not because they actually would have perished if he had not intervened in this way.
With Jesus in the boat, that would not have happened. Jesus was calmly sleeping, and was not worried, because he knew that they were indeed going to reach the other side of the lake.
The disciples should have known this, too. But they didn’t.
The Epistle to the Hebrews instructs us that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
In the midst of the storms of life that you very vividly see and feel - as you, with God’s help, pursue your calling under Christ - the gospel of Christ, in Word and Sacrament, assures you that “for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” - as St. Paul writes to the Romans.
You believe this promise, not because you can see a lot of outward evidence that it is so, but because God’s Word tells you that it is so. And in the Epistle to the Romans we are also told that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
Christ is your companion in the storm - your vocal companion - by means of his Word.
In the boat in today’s story, the divine master of all wind and waves was hidden beneath the humble human form of the carpenter and rabbi from Nazareth, sleeping soundly in the stern. But even from that hiddenness, he still spoke with divine power.
In the story of your personal storms - whatever they may be - the eternal truth and power of God is hidden beneath the humble forms of the pen and paper of Holy Scripture; and of water, bread, and wine. Though hidden in these ways now, he still speaks into your storms - with divine power - now.
In one sense the Lord’s house, where we partake of the means of grace, is like a harbor from the storm. But in another sense, it is the place where you are renewed and strengthened while still in the midst of the storm.
You don’t come here to escape from your calling in Christ - even temporarily. You come here while still in the midst of that calling, and while still in the midst of the emotional, physical, and financial turmoil that may be upon you because of that calling.
In the absolution of Christ, and in the sacrament of the Lord’s body and blood, you do not receive peace as a replacement for the storm that swirls around you. You receive peace - true, inner peace - in the midst of that storm.
You receive the assurance that all sins of the past - all your previous hesitancy to fulfil the callings of Christ in your life, and all your previous failures to trust in the Word and faithfulness of Christ - are forgiven by the blood of Christ. And you receive the assurance that the living Christ is with you now, in the callings that are upon your life now.
Perhaps Christ is, in a sense, “sleeping” - as a sign of the calmness and rest that his Word also brings to your heart. But he is with you nonetheless, never abandoning you or forsaking you.
And just as with the disciples in the boat, so too with you: even when he is, or seems to be, sleeping, he is still in charge of everything, and is still controlling everything.
Therefore, by his grace, you will get to the shore. In Christ you will live, and not die. For whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
Be still, my soul; thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence, let nothing shake;
All now mysterious, shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul; the waves and winds still know
His voice, who ruled them while He dwelt below. Amen.
9 February 2025 - Transfiguration - Luke 9:28-36
Please listen with me to a portion of St. Luke’s account of the transfiguration of Jesus, from chapter 9 of his Gospel, beginning in the 28th verse:
“[Jesus] took Peter, John, and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. As He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening. And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.”
So far our text.
The transfiguration of our Lord was a remarkable and truly extraordinary event. And in a remarkable and truly extraordinary way, the transfiguration demonstrated two important things about Jesus and his ministry.
First, it was a revelation of the mystery of Christ’s person: That he was not only a man, but was the Second Person of the Holy Trinity in human flesh.
During Jesus’ time on earth, the glory and power of his divine nature were usually hidden, as Jesus lived under the Law in the form of a man, according to the limitations and “ordinariness” of his human nature. But the transfiguration was one of those unusual occasions when the divinity of Christ was manifested.
St. Luke tells us that “As He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening. ” In St. Matthew’s version - which we heard read a few minutes ago - we are told that “His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.”
The light of divine glory was not shining upon him, but was shining out of him: out of his face; and also out of his whole body, so as to cause his clothing to shine as well.
And second, the transfiguration of our Lord was a revelation of the deep and intimate connection that there is between Christ and the Old Testament, with its many types, foreshadowings, and prophecies: all pointing to him and his saving work.
When Jesus appeared in his transfigured state - so that Peter, James, and John could get a glimpse of his divine glory - a portal to heaven was also opened, so that they could also get a glimpse of that supernatural world.
They saw Moses and Elijah, and heard them talking with Jesus about “His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” That is, they spoke of the impending suffering and death of Jesus: where it would happen, how it would happen, and why it would happen.
They no doubt spoke also of the Lord’s resurrection and ascension, which would follow his death in due course.
The transfiguration took place on a mountaintop. During the time of their respective ministries on earth, Moses and Elijah were closely associated with important events, and important encounters with God, that likewise took place on mountaintops: on Mount Sinai in the case of Moses; and on Mount Carmel in the case of Elijah.
The Book of Exodus reports that on Mount Sinai, Moses received the Law of God in the form of the Ten Commandments, to provide a foundation of unvarying moral law on which all the civil regulations for ancient Israel would be built. But these Commandments would also serve as a concrete testimony to all nations, of the standards of right and wrong to which God holds the entire human race.
At the very beginning of these Commandments, delivered to Moses on that mountaintop, the Lord said:
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”
This uncompromising prohibition of idolatry, and this uncompromising demand for complete loyalty and obedience to God, were then unfolded into the nine commandments that followed. To break any of those succeeding commandments, would be to break the first one as well.
With respect to Elijah - the other person who appeared with Jesus in the transfiguration - the First Book of Kings tells us about the “duel” of sorts that took place on Mount Carmel, between Elijah - the Lord’s prophet - and the prophets of Baal. These false prophets of a false god were under the patronage of Ahab - the corrupt ruler of the northern kingdom of Israel - and his pagan wife Jezebel.
Previous to this event, Ahab had rebuked Elijah as the “troubler of Israel.” And Elijah had responded:
“I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals.”
And then Elijah challenged Ahab to send the prophets of Baal to Mount Carmel, where - in the presence of a multitude of people - these prophets and Elijah would each prepare a bull for sacrifice: but would not set fire to the sacrifice. Instead, each side would call upon the deity they served to send fire down from heaven to consume the sacrifice.
The challenge was accepted, and on the day appointed the prophets of Baal went first. From morning until mid afternoon, they attempted to call down fire from Baal, but nothing happened.
Then Elijah took his turn. But first he saturated the bull that he had slain, and the wood on which it rested, with water - which ran over to such an extent that it filled up a trench that Elijah had dug around the place of his sacrifice. Elijah then said this prayer:
“O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.”
We are told that what happened next, was that “the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.”
But that’s not the end of the story. The narrative continues:
“Elijah said to them, ‘Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.’ And they seized them. And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slaughtered them there.”
What happened that day demonstrated God’s holiness and righteousness. In his holiness and righteousness, God received - by the agency of the fire that he himself had sent - the propitiatory sacrifice of the bull, which was offered to him in the stead of the people whose sins had offended him.
What happened that day also demonstrated the wrath of this holy and righteous God against all unrepentant idolaters who violate his Ten Commandments. Idolatry was also a crime in ancient Israel, according to the civil law as given through Moses.
So, in keeping with that law and its penalty for false prophets, those defiant idolaters were executed. Ahab had not been enforcing this Old Testament law, but Elijah certainly did enforce it that day.
And now, in today’s story from the New Testament, Moses and Elijah - with these momentous mountaintop experiences in their background - are, miraculously, on another mountaintop. And in the glory of heaven, surrounded by the brilliance of the divinity of God’s Son, they are talking with that divine Son about his upcoming departure from this world.
That departure will indeed have some significant connections to the events that took place on Mount Sinai and Mount Carmel.
Jesus was talking to these prophets of old about his impending crucifixion. Like the sacrificial bull offered to the God of Israel on Mount Carmel, he was going to be the sacrifice offered to his Father in heaven for the sins of humanity.
St. John, in his First Epistle, declares that Christ “is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” Jesus would be the pure and sinless substitute for the human race, offered in our place on the altar of the cross.
But from another perspective - God’s perspective - he would not be the sinless substitute for the human race, but would become the bearer of all the sins of humanity. As Isaiah exclaims, “the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
And then, on the cross, Jesus would place himself under the judgment of the Ten Commandments, against all the violations of those commandments that have ever been committed by any human being in any time or place: violations that had been imputed or credited to him by God, and that he - as God in the flesh - had freely taken onto himself.
Jesus would be condemned - in our place - on account of those sins. The Law that the Lord gave to Moses on Mount Sinai, which convicts us of the sins that we have actually committed, would also convict our divine-human substitute.
And just as the sacrifice that was offered to the Lord on Mount Carmel was received by the Lord - by which his anger against the sins of the nation of Israel was turned away - so too would Jesus’ sacrificing of himself on the cross turn God’s wrath away from the sins of all nations.
Jesus, on the cross, would be consumed from heaven. And in our place he would feel and experience the spiritual horror of this. “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?,” he would cry.
The actual idolaters at Mount Carmel suffered the just punishment that their idolatry had earned, so that their blood was shed in death. So too would Christ suffer the punishment that idolatry deserves - the human idolatry in all of its forms that would be smeared onto him.
Death was the punishment deserved by the prophets of Baal because of their violation of the First Commandment, and of the civil law of Israel that was built upon it. And death is the punishment deserved by you and me, because of all the times we have broken the First Commandment - together with all the times we have broken the other Commandments, which flow out from the first one.
Jesus would endure this divine wrath and this feeling of forsakenness, until the full redemption price for our sins had been paid. And then, when this agony was over, he would say, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” And he would breathe his last.
But the grave would not contain him. On the third day, with the human sin that had been imputed to him for the cross now lifted off of him, the condemnation for those sins would also be lifted.
Jesus would instead now be vindicated and justified by his Father, in his resurrection, and ultimately in his ascension to the right hand of the Divine Majesty.
This is what Jesus, Moses, and Elijah were talking about. They were talking about mountaintop experiences - but not the kind of “mountaintop experiences” that people usually mean when they use that term. What they were talking about was not exciting and exhilarating, but serious and sober.
They were talking about God’s Law, the demands of God’s Law, and the threats of God’s Law against those who disobey it. They were talking about God following through on these threats: punishing sin and not ignoring sin.
They were talking about Jesus going down from that mountain, turning onto the road to Jerusalem, and making his way to that holy city of sacrifice and atonement - that city of reconciliation and forgiveness - so that all of these things would happen to him, for the sake of our reconciliation and forgiveness.
The reason why God is willing to forgive sin, is not because sin does not really bother him. He is greatly bothered by it. He is deeply offended by it. The entire Old Testament teaches us this, both by what God says, and by what God does, in its hallowed pages.
But God is willing to forgive sin. God does forgive sin. He forgives your sin and my sin, because Jesus did bravely and lovingly follow through on the things that he had talked about with Moses and Elijah.
As you and I turn to him in fear and humility, in regret and repentance, we are able to receive the forgiveness that was earned and accomplished by Christ our substitute. On Calvary he allowed himself to be punished for our idolatry, and for all our sins; and on Calvary he there offered himself as a sacrifice to redeem us, to restore us, to justify us.
St. Paul writes in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians that “For our sake [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Jesus, as it were, descends from the mountain today: the day of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, which is the last Sunday in the Epiphany season. And as the seasons of pre-Lent and Lent are about to begin, he begins his journey to Jerusalem.
We, too - according to the discipline of the church year - will likewise soon begin our liturgical journey to Jerusalem with him. In Lent we will travel on the pathway of repentance and faith, to the cross of Christ.
There, at the cross, we will watch him die. We will watch him die for us.
That’s not the end of the story, of course. And that’s not the whole story. The joy and victory of Easter will also come. And the glory of the Ascension will follow.
All the things that Moses and Elijah were talking about with Jesus, will come to us, and will be made to be very real for us: in the readings from Scripture that we will hear, and in the hymns that we will sing. In the words of this Sunday’s Preface, we as his modern-day disciples can and will say and confess, today and in the weeks to come:
“Jesus Christ our Lord...at his transfiguration revealed his glory to his disciples, that they might be strengthened to proclaim his cross and resurrection, and with all the faithful look forward to the glory of life everlasting.” Amen.
16 February 2025 - Septuagesima - Hebrews 3:12-19
Please listen with me to a reading from the third chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, beginning at the 12th verse.
“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’
“For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”
So far our text.
Past, present, and future. A person’s relationship with God is viewed and understood in all those ways, from all those perspectives.
Today’s text from the Epistle to the Hebrews reminds us that the children of Israel, during the time of their wandering in the wilderness, thought of their relationship with God in these ways. These were the ones who in the past “came out of Egypt, led by Moses.”
They had seen with their own eyes the miracles that the Lord had performed for them in the past - the ten plagues, the parting of the sea, and many other things - by which God had supernaturally liberated them from their slavery in Egypt.
And Moses reminded them of the promise that the Lord had made to their forefathers, that in the future, the people of Israel - the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - would have their own homeland. That was the whole point of their Exodus from Egypt: so that they could travel to that new land, and live there to the glory of God, serving him and enjoying his favor.
But what about the present? As they were wandering in the desert of Sinai, they were aware of what God had done for them in the past, by which God had earned their trust. And they were aware of the future that God had promised for those who do trust in him.
But did they - in the in-between time; in the present time - actually trust in God? Did they, in faith, have a heartfelt remembrance of the Lord’s grace in their past?
Did they, in faith, look forward to the blessings that God had promised for their future: that what was coming was a time of rest from their sojourning, in their own country?
Sadly, in regard to most of them, they did not. The author of the Epistle tells us that it was precisely those who had been led out of Egypt, and who had heard God’s Word, who then rebelled anyway.
They provoked the God who had rescued and liberated them, so that under God’s judgment their bodies fell and were buried in the wilderness. And ultimately, because of their unbelief - in spite of everything they had seen, heard, and experienced - they were not allowed to enter the land of promise.
As a matter of rational, historical recollection, the children of Israel - during their wandering in the desert - did still know in their minds that God had engineered their deliverance from Egypt. But in their hearts, they had, in effect, lost their memory of this deliverance.
They had lost their faith and confidence in the God who had delivered them. This faith and confidence had been replaced by a poisonous cocktail of indifference, presumption, arrogance, and rebellion.
And so the generation that left Egypt was not permitted by God to enter the Holy Land. That generation had forgotten their past with God. And so that generation had no future with God, either.
Past, present, and future. Your relationship with God is also to be viewed and understood in all those ways, from all those perspectives.
What has God done for you in the past? In your baptism, he, as it were, “parted the sea” for you, and by the power of the gospel of his Son, he set you free from your inborn slavery to the power of sin and death.
Jesus’ victory over the devil, in his crucifixion and resurrection, was given to you in baptism, to be your victory in Christ. A new life of faith, in the Spirit of Christ, was also given to you.
And God pledges wonderful things for the future of his people, too. Through the Prophet Jeremiah, he says:
“I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
That’s what God has done in the past. That’s what God promises for his church in the future.
But what about the present? What about your present, right now, today?
As you are wandering through the “wilderness” of life in this world - where God’s people walk by faith, and not by sight - are you walking by faith?
Do you daily recall your baptism in repentance and faith? Or do you think about it only as a quaint ritual of your personal religious history that has no deep and abiding impact on you now?
Do you live in a godly hope of the things that are to come? Or do you live only for the earthly pleasures of the moment, with little regard for what God has done, or will do?
In view of the temptations to doubt and indifference that surround you and all church members in our fallen world - and that come at you from all angles - today’s text gives you this charge:
“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God... For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end...”
In the Calvinist tradition of Protestant Christianity, “once saved, always saved” is a popular slogan that is often used to summarize the belief that everyone who at some point in his life did have a saving faith, will inevitably make it to heaven, and cannot be lost.
There is a sincere desire here to give honor to God, and to emphasize that our salvation is by God’s grace alone. But it is difficult to harmonize this slogan with the warnings of today’s text.
It is also a baseless superstition to think that because you were baptized in the past, you will have a place in heaven in the future, even if you have no genuine, living faith in the present. If you do not know Christ now, it is of no saving benefit to you that you once did know him, but know him no longer.
According to the Scriptures, it is indeed possible for a Christian to hurl himself out of the hands of God, to embrace the lies of the devil instead of the truth of God, and thereby to cease being a Christian. The warnings of today’s text are not for nothing.
If you set your heart on the things of this world once again, and harden your heart against the things of God, then you will perish, just as this world will perish under the judgment of God.
As you consider your wavering commitment to Christ, and as you may even be wondering right now if you still do truly believe in him, your conscience can find no true comfort today in the abstract slogan, “once saved, always saved.”
But your conscience can find comfort today in the living word of God: as that word comes to you today, and renews the promises of Christ to you today. We read in the Epistle to the Hebrews:
“Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”
Today, if you will hear his voice, believe that voice. Cling to Christ now, in the present, when Christ tells you now that he has taken away your sins, and that he has purchased and won you to be his very own, with the price of his blood.
Trust in Christ now, in the present, when Christ tells you now that your sins are forgiven, and that in him you are an heir of eternal life. Believe Christ now, in the present, and receive his gifts, when he bestows his Spirit upon you, and comes to live within you.
Receive Christ himself now, in the present, when he seals to you - in the sacrament of his body and blood - the reality of your baptism into his death, and the pledge of your own rising from the dead on the last day, in the power of his resurrection.
From this perspective, then, you can and will see your relationship with God in the past, as evidence of God’s unvarying grace toward you. God is faithful, even when we are not.
And from this perspective, you can and will look forward to your future heavenly rest, and to an enjoyment of the fulfillment of all God’s promises. You can and will look forward to the eternal homeland that will be the dwelling place of his saints, with a true, God-given confidence that God keeps all his promises.
As your faith is in these ways renewed and built up by the Word of God, consider as well your weak brothers and sisters in Christ, whose faith may still be tottering on the edge.
Think about the people you know - among your relatives, or among your friends - who seem to be forgetting what God has been to them in the past; who seem to be ignoring God’s promises to them for the future; and who seem to be shutting their hearts off to God in the present: closing their ears to his Word and forsaking his house.
Think about them, pray for them, and remember what today’s text tells you about the role that you and other Christians are to play in their lives:
“Exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”
Jesus Christ lived for us all, he died for us all, and he rose from the grave for us all. As St. Paul writes to the Ephesians, God the Father
“raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet, and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
Indeed, Jesus does fill all in all, in the past, in the present, and in the future. He is the alpha and the omega - the beginning and the end - of the universe. He is the alpha and the omega - the beginning and the end - of your life.
And so you pray:
Let me be Thine forever, Thou faithful God and Lord;
Let me forsake Thee never, Nor wander from Thy Word.
Lord, do not let me waver, But give me steadfastness,
And for such grace forever Thy holy name I’ll bless. Amen.
23 February 2025 - Sexagesima - Isaiah 55:10-13
“The pen is mightier than the sword.” This familiar axiom reminds us that the power of words - both written and spoken - can be and is greater, and more enduring, than the power of force and violence.
External threats and coercive pressure can change people’s bodily actions, and make them outwardly conform to a tyrant’s demands - even as they internally resent this oppression. But the power of words can re-shape minds and change hearts, and lead people to embrace new ways of thinking and believing.
The great orators and authors in human history have used their skill with words to instill in their listeners and readers both fear and courage; to bring people to tears or to fill people with indignation. Rhetorical skill can be used to deceive or to inform; to manipulate or to inspire.
When considering the subject of Christian proclamation, we should think about how the power of words is brought to bear on the task that Jesus entrusted to his church and its ministers, when he said - as recorded by St. Mark:
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”
But the Word and message of God, as it is preached and taught - or even as it is read silently from the sacred page of Scripture - is not the same as human messages, which can be strengthened or weakened in their impact and influence, depending on whether or not they are delivered with high rhetorical and linguistic skill.
God’s Word has its own intrinsic, supernatural power. It’s power is not augmented by a preacher with a high mastery of language, and it is not diminished by a preacher with an unassuming and calm manner of speaking. And this doesn’t just apply to professional preachers, either.
I am reminded of a story told in my hearing many years ago by a man named Bill Cetnar, who previously had been a high-ranking member of the Jehovah’s Witness religion. But one day, as he was going from door to door, he came to the house of a simple Christian man who did not slam the door in his face - as often happened - but who talked with him.
He told Cetnar about the grace of God in Christ, about the peace of God’s forgiveness, about the gift of eternal life, and about the confidence and comfort of the faith that God’s Spirit works in those who hear and believe the gospel.
The man was not particularly eloquent or well-spoken, and at the time Cetnar felt that with his well-rehearsed polemical responses to everything the man said, he had won the argument that day.
But as Cetnar continued his story, he said that in the days and weeks that followed this conversation, the words of that man kept echoing in his mind and probing his conscience. He began to lose sleep, as the things this man had told him about Jesus and salvation, over time, caused him to doubt, to question, and eventually to reject everything he had previously believed.
Bill Cetnar became a Christian. Before long, his wife Joan also became a Christian - by means of the same message of Christ crucified for sinners that had changed her husband’s heart, and that he had then shared with her.
What a marvelous story he told. What a marvelous thing happened to him, through the power of God’s Word.
God’s Word truly does have, within itself, the power to convict the conscience and to persuade the will; to convert the heart and to enlighten the mind. It has within itself the divine power of the God from whom it comes, to fulfill God’s purposes with those whose souls it touches.
Through the Prophet Isaiah - as we heard in today’s Old Testament reading - the Lord himself says:
“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud - that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater - so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth. It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”
I want to ask each of you a question. What would you identify as the likely thing - or the likely purpose - for which God has sent his Word to you today?
As God’s living Word comes to you, and gets inside of you, what do you think God might be trying to accomplish? As the inspired Scriptures are read to you, and as their message is expounded for you, what outcome - in you - do you perceive would be pleasing to God?
You know, sometimes people get angry at their pastor - people in other churches, of course, not here! But they get angry at their pastor because his sermons sometimes make them feel uncomfortable.
These sermons make them think about things they don’t want to think about. These sermons do not come across as cheerful and uplifting, but they come across as judgmental and critical. Or so it seems to them.
But do you think it’s possible that God, at least occasionally, wants people to feel uncomfortable when they hear a sermon: if those people have become too comfortable otherwise, with things that are displeasing to God?
Is it possible that a sermon that makes you feel uncomfortable, is making you feel that way, because it is a faithful and accurate unfolding and application of God’s law, as God’s law condemns compromises that you have made with a sinful world, or with your own sinful nature?
In his Second Epistle to Timothy, St. Paul instructs this young pastor regarding the need to be firm and faithful in the preaching ministry to which God has called him. Paul writes:
“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings.”
And yet, as Timothy rightly divided the Word of truth - in distinguishing law and gospel according to the text, and according to the circumstances of his listeners - Timothy would be serving simply as a vessel and instrument of that Word. At a deeper, supernatural level, the Word of truth itself would be rightly dividing itself, through Timothy.
As we heard a few minutes ago, the Epistle to the Hebrews reminds us that “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
A preacher is God’s instrument for delivering God’s Word through the ear and into the conscience. And God’s Word, in turn, is God’s instrument for suppressing and slaying the old nature within each of us, by the judgments of his law; and for enlivening and raising up the new nature that his Spirit has planted within each of us, by the forgiveness and regeneration of his gospel.
In the Book of Deuteronomy, God himself declares: “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal.”
And that’s why you should listen to your pastor, and believe what he tells you, when he speaks these or similar words to you:
“Hear the holy and comforting Word of our Lord: ‘Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.’”
“Lift up your hearts! By the authority of God and of my holy office, I forgive you all your sins, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
These are not the pastor’s words. They are God’s words. And they are God’s words for you: with the inherent power to create the faith that they call for, and to bestow the forgiveness of which they speak.
God is making you alive through these words. God is healing you through these words.
And if you do like some - or all - of your pastor’s sermons, I hope it is not because you think they are entertaining and humorous, or because you think that they soar to the heights of rhetorical eloquence. Rather, I hope it is because you can hear God’s voice through those sermons.
And sometimes, what God would say to you truly will make you uncomfortable - at least at first. That’s what God intends to do, and that’s what he does.
It’s not the pastor doing this. It’s God’s Word doing this, so that his Word will not return to him void or empty.
Through what is preached - when God’s own commandments and their application are what is preached - the Holy Spirit convicts the world “concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.” The Holy Spirit convicts you concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.
God’s ultimate goal and desire, however, always is to comfort those whom he addresses, and whom his Word impacts.
This comfort, however, is always the comfort of Christ: “who 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.’” - quoting the Second Epistle to the Corinthians.
God’s Word will never comfort you on the basis of your glory: your wisdom, your righteousness, or your self-sufficiency. That’s not the purpose for which he sent his Word into your mind and heart.
The message of the cross will comfort you, because in the death of Christ for you, God gives you life. The message of the resurrection will comfort you, because in Christ’s victory for you, God promises that he will never leave you or forsake you.
The message of the gift of Christ’s Spirit comforts you, because by his indwelling you become a new creature in Christ, are given the mind of Christ, and grow into the image of Christ.
The Christian faith is very much a religion of the Word of God. God’s Word gives form and definition to everything in our faith: our doctrine and our morality, our values and our priorities, our inner devotion and our outward ritual.
We read and chant God’s Word; we sing and pray God’s Word. We live according to the instruction and direction of God’s Word, and we die in the hope and peace of God’s Word.
With a humble trust in him, we receive God’s Word and internalize it, over and over again, in sermon and in sacrament.
It is indeed the Word of God - as spoken by Jesus in his institution of each sacrament, and as repeated by the minister today at his command when each sacrament is administered - that makes this washing or this meal truly to be a sacrament: through which forgiveness, life, and salvation are offered and bestowed.
The Christian faith is not a religion of subjective mysticism or philosophical speculation. We are not on a search for God.
Instead, we rejoice to know that in his Son Jesus Christ, whom he sent into the world to be our Savior, God has searched for us - like the woman in one of Jesus’ parables searched for her lost coin - and God has found us.
God speaks, and we hear him. God gives us warnings, and we heed him. God makes promises, and we believe him.
God reveals himself to you, and works for you and in you, by the power of his Word. And you respond to everything that God has done, and is doing, with prayers that have been shaped by his Word, and that match these sentiments from 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.”
The Lord says:
“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud - that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater - so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth. It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” Amen.