OCTOBER 2025
OCTOBER 2025
5 October 2025 - Trinity 16 - 1 Kings 17:17-24
We are told in the First Book of Kings - in the section of that book that immediately precedes the verses that were read as today’s Old Testament lesson - that during a time of severe drought, the Lord told the prophet Elijah:
“Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”
So, Elijah went to the house to which the Lord sent him, which was inhabited not only by the widow but also by her son. But this widow didn’t have enough food for herself and her son, let alone for another mouth that needed to be fed.
They were, in fact, preparing themselves to die of starvation. When Elijah asked her for a piece of bread, she replied:
“As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
Elijah assured her, however, that God would provide for all of them. He told her:
“Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.’”
And, miraculously, things tuned out as Elijah had said. We are told that
“She went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he, and her household, ate for many days. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah.”
One would think that this would have made a very deep impression on the widow, so that she would be very grateful for Elijah’s presence as a guest in her house, and would understand that God was working good things for her and her son through him. But then the events that are described in today’s lesson took place, and the widow’s attitude changed.
“Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman who owned the house became sick. And his sickness was so serious that there was no breath left in him. So she said to Elijah, ‘What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?’”
This reminds me a little bit of a time many years ago, when I called a parishioner, and said that I would like to stop by for a visit. Her response, which I could tell was full of fear and trepidation, was:
“Is there a problem? Did I do something wrong?”
She was originally from Germany, where the state church system in some ways turned the clergy into bureaucrats and enforcers, rather than true shepherds who watch over souls and who establish and maintain caring relationships with their sheep.
A pastor simply wanting to stay in touch with his members, and to spend some relaxed time with them, is not the first thought that comes to mind in such a context. What does come to mind, at the minister’s suggestion for a visit, is, “Is there a problem? Did I do something wrong?”
In his First Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul said: “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.” And when Paul was addressing the elders, or pastors, from the church at Ephesus, in the Book of Acts, he said:
“You know...in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials...; how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly, and from house to house, testifying to Jews and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Paul is here speaking to public ministers of the church, even as he was a public minister of the church. They should imitate him, and follow his example in how they provide pastoral care to the members of their flock.
As Paul taught publicly, so too should they teach publicly, in the worship gatherings of the congregation. St. Paul solemnly charged Timothy, in his First Epistle to him, to
“Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.”
In his Second Epistle to Timothy, Paul severely criticized false teachers, who have no proper call from God, for how they build up a following.
He describes them as “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.” And he observes that “of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women.”
This does not mean that genuine pastors, whom God has called to preach and teach his Word among his saints, should not visit the members of their congregation in their homes - in addition to their public teaching. Remember that Paul, in the example he sets for pastors, not only taught publicly, but also taught from house to house.
But a genuine pastor does not creep into the households of his members. He is not trying to hide the fact that he cares about them, and is eager to spend time with them: encouraging them, teaching them, comforting them, and simply getting better acquainted with their life circumstances - so that he can better serve them with God’s Word.
After his resurrection, Jesus forgave Peter for denying him three times. He also renewed St. Peter in his apostolic office, when he gave him this threefold commission: “Feed My lambs.” “Tend My sheep.” “Feed My sheep.”
There is an intimacy pictured here - the kind of affection that a literal shepherd has for the sheep and lambs of his flock - that certainly does move beyond the public preaching of a clergyman. And as Jesus teaches elsewhere, a shepherd not only feeds his flock, but also guards it against the attacks of a wolf.
You should want your pastor to visit you from time to time, and should welcome him to do so. Sometimes there are special needs that call for special attention.
If you are sick or injured, planning to have surgery or recovering from surgery, grieving over a loss or distressed over a disappointment in life, your pastor wants to visit. Please invite him.
If you have a theological question, or are struggling with some aspect of your faith and how it applies to the issues you are dealing with in life, your pastor is the primary person you should go to for help, clarity, and guidance. If you need to speak with him in confidence about a secret failing, a secret doubt, or a secret shame, that confidence will be kept. Please call him, and set up a time when you can talk.
Sometimes your pastor may want to have a visit for no particular reason: except maybe for a cup of coffee, and an opportunity to see how you are doing. Visits like that are also okay - and maybe even better than simply okay - because they help build a relationship of trust. Go ahead and invite him to come over, or to meet you at the café for that cup of coffee.
And yes, sometimes the pastor will want to speak with you because there is a problem that needs to be addressed. A wolf may be attacking you - perhaps from inside of you. If I call, and you ask with fear and trepidation, “Is there a problem? Did I do something wrong?,” the answer might be yes.
But be assured that in such a case, if it ever happens, everything that would be discussed, would be discussed in the light of God’s Word in Scripture, and not on the basis of anyone’s opinion. Holy Scripture is the primary tool that God uses in exercising his authority in the lives of all of us. St. Paul accordingly writes in his Second Epistle to Timothy that
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
When Elijah was at the house of the widow, God used him and his presence physically to feed the widow and her son, with the miraculous multiplying of the supply of flour and oil. Now, if I were to come to your house, I wouldn’t expect God to cause the coffee to appear miraculously.
But there would be a supernatural nourishing of your mind and heart through the thoughts from God’s Word that we would share on that occasion, as we would recall the Lord’s teaching “that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.”
We do indeed live - eternally - because of the forgiveness, life, and salvation that God bestows upon us through his Word. This salvation was won for us by his Son, Jesus Christ, who lived, died, and rose again for us.
And this salvation is delivered to us in a divine message of hope and healing that calls for faith, but that also creates the very faith that it calls for.
Jesus says that if you abide in his Word, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Abiding in his Word - dwelling in it and letting it dwell in you - takes place not only in church, but also in your home.
Indeed, it takes place anywhere where you might be, whenever you have an opportunity to meditate on God’s gifts and promises, to reflect on God’s instructions and admonitions, and to ponder God’s protection and guidance.
This is why the pastor wants to come to your house from time to time, or to spend time with you in other places when that is what is set up. He wants to speak God’s Word to you, in law and gospel as the circumstances would require. And he wants to pray with you, in accordance with what God’s Word has said.
While Elijah the prophet was with the widow, something else happened that seems to have been more traumatic and jarring to his hostess even than her previous lack of food and impending starvation. It was the death of her little boy.
But Elijah had something to say to that, too, as God called and enabled him once again to be a conduit of God’s miraculous grace to this family. We are told that
“He stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to him.’ Then the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived. And Elijah took the child..., and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, ‘See, your son lives!’ Then the woman said to Elijah, ‘Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth.’”
It would seem that the widow was not a believer in the God of Israel before this happened. Remember that she lived in the land of Sidon, which was not Israelite territory.
And remember what she said to Elijah when he first showed up, and asked for a piece of bread: “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread...”
Elijah’s God was not her God - at least not at this point in her life. Yet at the same time, her conscience was telling her that she had a sin problem in her soul that her idols were not able to solve. So when her son died, she asked Elijah, in exasperation and deep honesty:
“What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?”
Today a comparable anguished cry might be: “Will God ever stop punishing me for my sins?” Or, “Is there any way for me to be free of my guilt?”
When Elijah raised the widow’s son, however - through the power of God that was working through him and through his prayer - that was a faith-creating event for this woman. Deeply embedded in this act was an image and a foreshadowing of the resurrection of Christ - on behalf of the humanity for which he had died on the cross - and also an image and a foreshadowing of the future resurrection of all flesh on the last day.
Jesus’ resurrection was his victory over sin and death for all people. And your resurrection on the day of the Lord will be the sealing of that victory to you personally, forever.
Elijah had not come to curse and punish the woman for her sins. He had come to do something that testified to God’s forgiveness of her sins.
A God who has power over bodily death, and who can reverse it, is also a God who has power over the spiritual death, and the offense, of sin; and who can reverse that - and bring spiritual life, and reconciliation, to a soul that had been dead in trespasses and sins, and had been at enmity with God.
And that kind of blessing could also be the result of a visit from the pastor to your home, if your own faith is floundering. Or it could be the result of a visit to the home of a friend who does not know the Lord, which you may help to set up for that friend.
It is unlikely that the Lord would use me to raise someone from bodily death. That’s not what I have been called to do - although it is not completely impossible that something extraordinary like that could conceivably happen.
But what can definitely happen, through the power of God’s Word, is that a resurrection of the soul can take place for someone who is spiritually dead in unbelief, or close to it. In St. John’s Gospel Jesus speaks of the spiritual resurrection that penitent believers, through Christ, experience already. He says:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.”
The special and personally-focused blessings that come with the Lord’s absolution, and with the Lord’s Supper, might also be as part of a visit from the pastor. He is the steward of the mysteries of God - for your benefit - when God would want you to be strengthened in your faith by his mysteries; and to be assured that your sins are forgiven, and have been removed from you as far as the east is from the west.
But in any case, don’t assume that the pastor calling on you is something to be feared and dreaded. If he suggests a visit, don’t assume that you are in trouble.
And if you ever want to talk with him, or have him pray with you, feel free to call him. God has given you a pastor for your good, and not as a burden. He is always - I am always - willing to serve and be of help. Amen.
12 October 2025 - Trinity 17 - James 4:1-10
Please listen with me to a reading from the fourth chapter of the Epistle of St. James, beginning at the first verse.
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
So far our text.
As quoted in today’s Gospel from St. Luke, Jesus said: “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
And as we just heard, St. James, in his Epistle, spoke in a very similar way: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”
Humility is not usually considered to be a very useful worldly virtue. The concept of “humility” is often associated with the concepts of weakness and fear. The world honors and rewards bold and assertive people, strong and ambitious people, and not humble people.
But the idea of humility does not need to be equated with weakness and fear. If someone is humble, what this means is that he knows what his true place is. And with a proper sense of obligation, he seeks to fulfill the duties of his station in this world.
A humble person understands and accepts the limitations that are placed upon him. He is aware of the legitimate authorities that are above him, and he willingly submits to those authorities - even as he is also aware of the responsibility that he bears, with respect to those who may be under his authority in some realm of life.
A humble person does not arrogantly challenge his superiors, or pridefully attempt to insert himself into a higher status than what properly belongs to him. If advancement is to come, it will come because those who have the power to bring it about see and reward his faithfulness in his current position, and not because he has pushed himself into a role or position that still rightfully belongs to someone else.
A helpful analogy to this true concept of humility is the attitude of a good soldier. A soldier who understands and accepts his place in the command structure is willing to take orders from his commander.
He doesn’t question or defy his orders, with the presumption that he is smarter, and knows better, than his officer. Rather, he submits to his orders, and does his duty according to them.
This is a description of a good soldier. This is a description of a “humble” soldier, in the proper sense of the term. This is definitely not a description of a weak or frightened soldier!
But in this world of sin, there are not as many “good soldiers” as there should be. Human nature being what it is, people are almost never satisfied with what they currently have, or with their current situation.
They always want more - more stuff, more power, more control. They - we - are arrogant and impatient, greedy and selfish. We are not humble.
And we are not at peace. Even with all our intrigues and schemes for self-advancement - even with all the using and abusing of others as we step on them, while climbing our way to the top - there is frustration and disappointment, because we never feel as if we really are at the top.
A compulsive craving for power and wealth is a hunger that is never satisfied. The more you try to fill yourself with it, the emptier you know yourself to be.
And this pathway - paved with betrayals and deceptions - is a very lonely road to travel. When you push others aside so that you can go to the front of the line, you end up being there all by yourself: alienated from others, antagonistic toward others, despised by others.
St. James, as it were, rubs our faces in these destructive realities of our sinful lives, in this sinful world, when he also writes:
“What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. ...”
“You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
Jesus was not a friend of the world in this sense, but he was a friend of sinners in the world. And he was a humble friend of sinners. In his prophecy of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem, before his arrest and crucifixion, the Prophet Zechariah said:
“Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
But Jesus, though he was humble, was not weak or afraid. He was strong, and determined, and focused on the fulfilling of his duty as the world’s Savior.
In St. Mark’s Gospel, Jesus predicted the humiliations that he would undergo as Savior, as well as his ultimate victory. Referring to himself, he said:
“The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.”
When Jesus went on to tell his disciples, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all,” he was not only admonishing them to live and serve humbly. He was also establishing the standard by which he would fulfill his calling.
Jesus “humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross,” as the Epistle to the Philippians teaches. Jesus did not wiggle himself out of the degrading things that he endured as the Lamb of God, suffering and dying as he took away the sins of the world. He faced these things head-on.
And he did not later retaliate against those who had inflicted such humiliating things upon him. He did not devote himself to scheming how to get even with them.
Instead, he forgave them. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” he prays from the cross.
As an anguished wretch of a man, dying for all other men, he cries out, “It is finished.” And with these words - which decree the completion of his atoning sacrifice - he also forgives you. He forgives you, as the law of God makes you ashamed of your self-asserting arrogance.
He extends to you the pardon that his suffering and death won for you, as you - in repentant honesty - see way too much of yourself in St. James’s description of those who love the world, and who love their status and power in the world, rather than loving God and his truth.
In his resurrection, Jesus was finally vindicated and exalted by God the Father. But it was done in God’s way, and not in the world’s way.
As the risen Lord - as the victor over sin and death, and over all his cosmic enemies - Jesus does not now “show off” before the world, boastful and proud. No.
As the ascended Lord and master of the universe, he uses his unhindered divine power to present himself to all his people, all around the globe, in his Word and Sacraments.
Through the humble and unassuming outward forms of human speech and water, bread and wine, the glorious King of Kings comes among us with a heart that is filled, not with greed and selfish ambition, but with love - love for a world of arrogant sinners; love for you and me.
And when this love does indeed touch us, cleanse us, and transform our hearts, St. James continues to speak to us, and in God’s name he sends us forth from this encounter with Christ in a new direction, with new motives and with new goals. He gives us these admonitions, with these promises embedded within them:
“Scripture...says, ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. ... Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”
Psalm 37 encourages us with these words: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
Faith in Christ is not a heavenly means to an earthly end. It is not the manipulative religious mechanism that we employ in order to flatter or cajole God into giving us the things of this world - the stuff, the power, and the control - that we desire.
The Christian religion is not a tool that we use for the fulfilling of our carnal ambitions, under a superficial cloak of sanctimonious piety. The Christian religion is, instead, the negation of all carnal ambition.
Faith in Christ is a humble thing, with a humbling effect. And it is the evidence that God has placed a new defining desire into your heart, mind, and will: namely, a desire for Christ.
You now delight in Christ, and in the earthly callings into which he places you. You delight in Christ, and in the eternal rewards that he promises you.
And when you delight in the Lord, and desire the Lord, the Lord will indeed give you the desires of your heart. Because the Lord will give you himself, when it is him that you desire.
A humble desire for Christ is not a consuming compulsion that can never be filled. By the grace of God, through the means of grace, God’s Spirit continually fills us with Christ: even to the overflowing of our delight in the salvation that Jesus bestows upon us, as we humbly and lovingly share the message of this hope with those around us.
And where there is this fullness - this fullness of Christ - there is peace and contentment. There is true wisdom from God, so that we learn how to navigate through the snares and perils of this world, without being entrapped and destroyed by them.
The prayer that the Spirit of Christ gives us - as we hear and believe the life-giving words of Christ in sermon and Supper - is the prayer of the Psalmist: O Lord, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
To be sure, whatever earthly blessings God wants to give his children in this life, they will receive and accept, with humble gratitude. The opportunities he gives us to serve him and our neighbor in fruitful employment, according to our vocations, we will take, in humble thanksgiving.
But whether we are given little or much, and whatever our standing in this world may be, we are satisfied. We have the risen Christ! And when we have him, we have everything we need.
In Christ, God also raises us up - up from the selfish passions, the self-serving ambitions, and the destructive cravings of this fallen world. St. Paul writes to the Colossians:
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
God in his loving providence may open before us doorways into new and more fulfilling vocations. It is not wrong to walk through such doorways, as the Lord himself may place us in a higher position in life, so that we can better serve him and our fellow man.
Yet in all our prayers for daily bread, and for all the provisions we need for our life in this world, we heed the words of the Proverb:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”
We do not proudly and arrogantly push our way through doors that are not open before us, into the livelihoods and callings of others. We wait upon the Lord, and thus renew our strength - and our patience.
In whatever vocation we currently have - even if it is fraught with frustrations and challenges - we remember these words, also from the Epistle to the Colossians:
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”
And in all things - in all our godly dreams and ethical aspirations - we remember the words of Jesus:
“For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Amen.
19 October 2025 - Trinity 18 - Matthew 9:1-8
In today’s Gospel from St. Matthew, we heard the story of the paralytic whose friends brought him to Jesus, with the hope that Jesus would heal him. This story also appears in the Gospels of Mark and Luke, who add the detail that the man’s friends, because of the crowds, opened up the roof of the building where Jesus was, in order to lower the paralytic to Jesus.
But apart from such minor variations in detail, what this story in all of its versions teaches us - about the paralytic’s true needs before God, and also about our true needs before God - is indeed very important.
We are told in Matthew’s version that some men brought to Jesus “a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, ‘Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.’”
It’s easy to imagine that the men who had gone to all the trouble of bringing their paralyzed friend to the Lord, would have been surprised that this was the first thing Jesus wanted to tell him. The paralyzed man himself, in the midst of his severe handicap and physical suffering, was likewise no doubt thinking about the bodily healing that he needed, as his friends carried him to Jesus.
He was probably not thinking of his soul at that moment. But Jesus told him something that went directly to his soul, seeming to ignore the more obvious physical problem.
If Jesus had said, “Be of good cheer; your paralysis is healed,” that would have made sense in terms of what the circumstances seemed to call for. And if Jesus later wanted to have a conversation with him and his friends about spiritual matters, that would have been okay, too.
But forgiveness was the first thing Jesus wanted to talk about. The paralyzed man’s sinful condition was the first problem that Jesus wanted to address.
And Jesus solved this problem by absolving the man: lifting the sins of this man off of his conscience, and removing those sins from him as far as the east is from the west. And, even in the midst of all the pain, discomfort, and embarrassment that the paralytic was still enduring, the forgiveness that Jesus pronounced upon him, and placed within him, in this moment of peace and hope brought the paralytic great joy.
“Be of good cheer,” Jesus said. And the man - still paralyzed - was of good cheer: not because his emotions had been manipulated by a flowery speech or a passionate song; but because, by the power of Christ’s Word, he knew that everything that had stood between him and a holy God was now gone.
The man was of good cheer, because this holy God had now revealed, through his incarnate Son, that he is also a gracious and loving God - indeed, that this is chiefly what he is, and always wants to be, for his redeemed people.
The forgiveness that Jesus in time would earn for humanity by his death and resurrection, was already such an irreversible certainty in the eternal mind and heart of God, that it could be proclaimed confidently as an established fact. It could be and was proclaimed to the paralytic who was laid before Jesus.
Now, the paralysis with which this man was afflicted was also a real problem. And it was not wrong for him and his friends to seek out Jesus’ help with this problem.
It is not wrong for you to ask God to help you with the many and various problems that you have in your life. In prayer you can and should ask Jesus for relief when you are sick or injured, struggling with an addiction or battling depression.
And just as the problems that people have, extend beyond physical or medical ailments, so too can you ask the Lord to help you overcome emotional and financial problems, or to guide you in finding peace and reconciliation in strained or broken relationships.
Your friends may and should also bring you and your problems to the Lord - perhaps not physically, as in today’s story, but in their prayers. And you likewise should pray for your friends, and for the help from God that they need, regarding whatever it is they are dealing with in this life.
It is not wrong to ask for help in these matters. And God, according to his good and gracious will, can be expected to provide help: either through healing an ailment or restoring a relationship; or through giving you greater patience and a stronger faith as you cope with the problem.
In his Epistle to the Philippians, St. Paul exhorts us:
“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.”
But when you do come to Jesus with your requests - concerning a wide array of issues and trials - don’t be surprised if Jesus wants to talk with you about something else first, and to tell you something else first, before he tells you anything about what was on your mind when you approached him.
After his resurrection, but before his ascension, Jesus in St. Luke’s Gospel gave his disciples their “marching orders,” as it were, as he described for them the most basic, defining message that the church was to take to all people in all nations. He said:
“Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you...”
Jesus elsewhere elaborates on that last point, which is actually a reference to the coming of the Holy Spirit. He says to his disciples in St. John’s Gospel:
“Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
Jesus’ bestowing of this authority upon his church and its ministers is another level of application of what the multitudes had begun to perceive already on the occasion described in today’s text, when they “marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.”
They, of course, were looking at Jesus, who forgave the paralytic as well as healing him. Jesus was obviously a man. Yet the crowds also sensed that there was something divine in him - even though they did not fully grasp what they were beginning to perceive in that respect.
But after his resurrection, the divine-human Lord of the church clearly gave to his disciples the authority to announce and apply forgiveness in his name, so that the power to pardon sin - which originally resides in God - has likewise been given to such “men.” When they would speak in the stead of Christ and by his command, Christ would be speaking through them.
Now, we might think that a special endowment of the Holy Spirit - as John’s account describes it - would be just the right kind of empowerment for the performance of healing miracles and other extraordinary feats on the part of the apostles. And according to the Book of Acts, the apostles did sometimes heal people.
But the apostles also made use of physicians - like St. Luke - because miraculous cures for disease and disability were the exception, not the rule. Over time, as the apostles passed away, miraculous physical healings also mostly passed away from the life of the church.
But the forgiveness of sins - as publicly declared by the apostles, and by ordinary Christian ministers ever since their time - has never passed away. Penitent sinners being set free from their sins was always the most essential and indispensable trait to be found in a church that was truly energized and guided by the Holy Spirit. And this remains so today.
God’s forgiveness - for the sake of Christ - is so important, because the eternal consequences for people who ignore or reject that forgiveness are so horrible; and because the eternal consequences for people who know and receive that forgiveness are so wonderful. In his Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul both warns and comforts us:
“When you were slaves of sin, ... What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The necessity of hearing and believing God’s gracious promise of forgiveness is not attached only to the time of conversion, at the beginning of a Christian’s life of faith, because that’s not the only time a Christian needs this forgiveness.
Christians do have a new nature, birthed in them by the Holy Spirit. But the old sinful nature continues to cling to them as well, and its harmful influences remain.
St. John the apostle, as an aged and revered spiritual father, addressed his First Epistle to his beloved “little children.” That’s how he described the Christians to whom he was writing. And this is one of the things he said to them:
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Jesus knew all this, of course. We see this especially in his institution of the Lord’s Supper, which he wanted his disciples to continue to observe until the end of the world.
Many spiritual blessings are attached to this sacrament, even as many spiritual blessings for Christians are attached to, and flow out from, Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross. But the one blessing that Jesus explicitly mentions in his words of institution, is the forgiveness of sins:
“This cup is the New Testament in My blood, which is shed for you and for many, for the remission of sins.”
Our sins put distance between us and God, but God’s forgiveness instantly heals that breach and reconciles us to God. Forgiveness is the foundation on which all other divine gifts are then built.
Forgiveness in general, and the forgiveness that we receive in our partaking of Christ’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper in particular, is the doorway through which all other divine blessings then enter. The Small Catechism describes it in this way:
“The benefit which we receive from such eating and drinking is shown us by these words: ‘Given and shed for you for the remission of sins,’ namely, that forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation are given to us in the Sacrament through these words. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.”
God’s gracious continuing forgiveness of our sins, both small and great, is the very air that our faith breathes. We exhale repentance every day, and every moment of every day. And we inhale God’s pardon every day, and every moment of every day.
Knowing that God has forgiven you through Christ - who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification - gives direction for every pathway you take in life. Living within the grace of forgiveness, through the cross and empty tomb of Jesus, colors and shapes every decision you make.
God’s absolution is the beating heart of your spiritual life. A relationship with God cannot properly be conceived of, without forgiveness being at the front and center of that relationship.
The strength to resist temptation, and to live in ways that please God and harmonize with his will, is fueled by God’s forgiveness, and by our gratitude for this forgiveness. Being willing and able to forgive those who have trespassed against us, comes about through the change of heart that takes place when our trespasses against God’s law are forgiven by him.
It was for a clear and deliberate purpose that Jesus told the paralytic in today’s story, “be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you,” before he said anything else to him.
And it was for a clear and deliberate purpose that the Holy Spirit inspired not one, not two, but three Gospel writers, to tell this same story. God wants to make sure you get this, understand this, and count the lesson that is taught in this story to be among the most important lessons you have learned from your Savior.
The priority and centrality of God’s forgiveness in the life and hope of a Christian, is reflected in how we as Confessional Lutherans “do church.” This is certainly evident whenever the Sacrament of the Altar is celebrated, and Jesus’ words of consecration are chanted or spoken.
It is evident in the fact that each public service begins with a confession of sins, followed by a declaration of forgiveness in one form or another. It is evident in the hymns that we sing.
And it is evident in the creeds that we confess, where our belief in “the forgiveness of sins,” or in “one baptism for the remission of sins,” is recited among the other cardinal dogmas that we believe.
But, you should not assume that you will find this emphasis in other churches. In fact, you usually will not.
What Jesus prioritized, and what he wants his followers to prioritize, is not actually what many who profess to be his followers do prioritize in their worship, their rituals, and their preaching.
Before he married my sister, my late brother-in-law was a group leader in an Evangelical parachurch organization, oriented toward ministry with teenagers. His responsibilities included leading Bible studies and religious discussions.
When he started attending the Lutheran church with my sister, and started taking adult instruction classes from her pastor, the priorities of Jesus started to become his priorities. So, in the meetings of this Evangelical group that he led, he began to talk more and more about the forgiveness of sins, and about our continuing need for it as Christians.
Before long, he was removed as a leader. He was told by a higher authority in the organization that the need for forgiveness is something you mostly talk about with unbelievers as you are evangelizing them.
Those who are already Christians don’t need to hear about this so much. They need to hear about the ways in which Jesus helps them with their other problems, and about how God’s law can instruct them for holy living.
This sealed and confirmed his decision to leave Evangelicalism, and to become a Lutheran. He knew that he needed forgiveness every day, and that the youth with whom he had been working needed forgiveness every day, because everyone needs forgiveness every day.
You are blessed to be part of a church tradition that has always taken to heart the lesson that Jesus teaches in today’s story from St. Matthew. You are blessed to be a part of a congregation that is faithful to this tradition, and that seeks - with God’s help - to put God’s forgiveness of our sins at the top of the list of what we pray about, sing about, preach about, and think about.
Our church may be smaller than others, and lacking in programs and activities. Depending on your age, our church may not have a large number of people of your demographic among its members.
But one thing you will have here, that you will not have in many other places, is what the paralytic had in today’s account - even though he was originally looking for something else. For the sake of Jesus your Savior, you will have this:
“Be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” Amen.
26 October 2025 - Reformation Sunday - Revelation 14:6-7
“Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth - to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people...”
This verse from the Book of Revelation - chapter 14, verse 6 - was interpreted in the earlier generations of Lutheran history to be a reference to Martin Luther, and to the reforming work that was accomplished through him in the sixteenth century. When we remember that the word “angel” means “messenger,” and does not necessarily refer to a heavenly spiritual creature, I suppose we can understand why those who valued Luther’s work so highly might draw this conclusion.
But today I don’t want to spend a lot of time talking about the identity of the “angel” in this text. Instead I want to consider with you the identity of the “everlasting gospel” that this angel proclaims - and indeed that all true angels or messengers of God proclaim.
That is, after all, what the Lutheran Reformation was all about. Most fundamentally, the Reformation of the sixteenth century wasn’t about Luther, or about any other human or heavenly angel. It was about the everlasting gospel.
The everlasting gospel is the living and universal message of a loving heavenly Father, who sends his Son into the world to save that world from sin, death, and the devil.
The everlasting gospel is the powerful and personal message of a divine-human Savior who brings his forgiveness to poor, lost sinners; and who, by his Spirit, bestows upon them the faith by which they receive and enjoy all the blessings of salvation, and reconciliation with God, that Jesus accomplished by his death and resurrection.
The Bible calls this the “everlasting” gospel because it never changes. From the timeless past God had planned it out, and into a timeless future its blessings for all who are touched and transformed by it, will never fade.
Even when human beings, at different times in church history, have not fully understood or appreciated this gospel, this was always the gospel that God was offering to the world, in the Scriptures and in the sacraments. And even when various heretics, through the centuries, twisted and distorted the message of this gospel, and changed it into a different kind of message, the genuine gospel always survived, and emerged again with its full saving force, to bring God’s grace to a new generation.
The Lutheran Reformers were very much aware of the fact that the only gospel they had the right to proclaim, and to use as the basis for correcting errors that had crept into the church in their day, was this one, unchanging, everlasting gospel.
They knew that they would be inviting upon themselves the judgment of Almighty God, if they presumed to invent something new to proclaim to his people, or if they set forth a message that differed from the message that the apostles had preached to the world in God’s name.
In Luther’s Smalcald Articles, in the Book of Concord, we see a clear summary - drawn directly from Scripture - of what he and all the Lutheran Reformers stood for in this respect:
“The first and chief article is this: Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, died for our sins and was raised again for our justification. He alone is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, and God has laid upon Him the iniquities of us all. All have sinned, and are justified freely, without their own works or merits, by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, in His blood.”
“This is necessary to believe. This cannot be otherwise acquired or grasped, by any work, law, or merit. Therefore, it is clear and certain that this faith alone justifies us. As St. Paul says: For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. That He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
“Nothing of this article can be yielded or surrendered, even though heaven and earth and everything else falls. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. And with His stripes we are healed.”
This everlasting gospel, which had been hidden and distorted by a corrupt ecclesiastical hierarchy at the time of the Reformation, is under attack also today: likewise from religious leaders who should know better.
For example, this gospel, and God’s Word generally, are being attacked whenever a minister or religion professor claims that much of what the Bible teaches is out of date, and reflects the superstitions and ignorance of ancient times, so that it is not relevant to us and to the more enlightened age in which we live.
We are all familiar with recent examples of this sort of arrogant attitude regarding things like the special creation of humanity, the special value of human life, and the divine design of human sexuality and human existence as male and female.
And Jesus is also diminished as a mostly legendary figure who may have been inspired by God, but who was not God himself. He may have preached an uplifting message, but his body stayed in the ground after he died.
We, of course, are members of a more “conservative” church body, and do not endorse or approve of these grievous errors. But we cannot let ourselves off the hook too easily.
There are plenty of ways in which we also may have departed to some degree from what the Scriptures teach, and may have succumbed to the temptation to ignore those parts of God’s Word that do not align with beliefs and values that we have absorbed from the fallen and confused world that surrounds us.
It’s not easy to paddle against the current. It’s easier to “go with the flow” of the contemporary fads of society. And so that’s what we often do, sometimes without fully realizing that this is what we are doing.
The eternal good news of forgiveness through the death and resurrection of God’s Son, is good news only to those who admit their sin and their need for this forgiveness. But it is often too easy for us to redefine sin, and thereby to redefine our need for the everlasting gospel.
Sometimes the only sins we are willing to admit are sins - to be avoided - are the sins that we perceive ourselves already to be avoiding. Otherwise, we tend to find ways to rationalize and justify the improper actions and attitudes that we are no longer trying to avoid.
In his First Epistle to the Corinthians, where St. Paul warns against several sins that we likely do usually try to avoid, he also warns against other sins that we may not try to avoid as we should. Writing by divine inspiration, Paul asks:
“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.”
In his Second Epistle to Timothy, St. Paul also warns that
“In the last days perilous times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.”
Maybe it’s not just “liberal” Christians in liberal denominations who have compromised with the world. Maybe we, too - if we are honest - must admit that, deep down, we are willing to agree only with some of what the Bible prohibits and requires, while ignoring the rest.
And regarding that everlasting gospel, how deeply persuaded are you that Jesus really accomplished and endured what his apostles declared to the world that he accomplished and endured? How deeply persuaded are you that Jesus rose bodily, as victor over death and the grave, on the third day?
And how deeply persuaded are you that God has instituted specific means of grace - including sacraments that are filled with the power of his Word to forgive and to save - that we cannot abandon, without thereby abandoning God himself, according to where he promises to make his saving grace accessible to us?
Again, in his First Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul writes soberly and seriously:
“Brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you - unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures...”
Paul then goes on to say:
“If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. ... And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!”
Turning the Christian faith into little more than an ever-developing philosophy of life, an ever-evolving moral code, or a mere matter of emotion and sentiment, is not an option that is open to us, if we, on this Reformation Sunday, wish to acknowledge and honor the everlasting gospel.
The everlasting gospel cannot be fully embraced, in a completely honest and consistent way, until and unless God works yet another “reformation” in us, and in our hearts and minds.
To the extent that we have tried to reform this gospel, and to make it compatible with our lowered expectations of God and of ourselves, then to that extent we need to be reformed. Our way of thinking must be cleansed and purged, and be restored to what it used to be, and what it was always supposed to be, according to God’s Word.
Reconciliation with God, and justification and forgiveness before God, are received by those who do receive them, through repentance for sin, as God’s Word defines sin; and through faith in the gospel, as God’s Word defines the gospel.
Immediately following the first list of sins and sinners that I quoted from St. Paul a few minutes ago, the apostle says this:
“And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”
From God’s perspective, his ancient ways of enlightening those who are in the dark, of seeking and finding those who are lost, and of breathing life into those who are spiritually dead, are still his ways of doing these things - these wonderful things - today. This has always been so, regardless of what misguided people in the past may have thought; and this remains so now, regardless of what misguided people today may think.
The everlasting gospel that God has always wanted people to believe, is the everlasting gospel that God wants you to believe: not a made-up gospel that is customized to fit the desires and expectations of our time, but the one unchanged and unchangeable gospel that fits the true needs of all people in all times.
Dear friends: Repent of your sins. Repent of all those sins - in thought, word, and deed - that your conscience is bringing to your mind in this very moment. And, believe the gospel.
Believe the unchanging and unchangeable gospel that comes from a God whose love for you in his Son has never changed, and never will change; and whose grace toward you in that Son will never fail. For the sake of that Son, and all that he has done for you, God forgives all your sins.
Remember, too, that this eternal gospel is a powerful gospel, and a personal gospel. It is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.
Through the gospel itself, the Spirit of Christ gives you the faith by which you are able to know with utter confidence that what Christ did for all, he did for you; and by which you are able to be certain beyond any doubt that what God says is true for all, is true for you.
“Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth - to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people...”
This everlasting gospel is the same gospel that God has always offered to the world, as far back as we can recall. And it is the same gospel that God will always offer to the world, as far into the future as we can imagine.
But when we speak of this everlasting gospel, we are speaking also of a gospel that reaches out in all directions: not just backward and forward, but out to all nations, to all cultures, and to people in every conceivable life circumstance.
The Reformation of the sixteenth century was inaugurated in Germany, and was triggered at first by the pastoral protests of a German theology professor and Augustinian friar. But the Reformation was not just for the benefit of Germany, or for people of German extraction.
The everlasting gospel - which is what the Reformation was all about - is a gospel that God wants everyone to hear and believe. And in the midst of the upheavals and trials that people in many lands face, this gospel, in all of its supernatural power, can and will give to all of God’s people everywhere, the assurance of his everlasting love for them in Christ.
This, my friends, is the legacy that has been entrusted to us as Lutherans. An unchanging and unchangeable gospel has been passed down to us, for the sake of our own salvation.
God wants you and me to be honest about our sins, and about our need for what this gospel offers. And God also wants you and me to believe the promises that God makes to us in this gospel - promises of forgiveness, life, and salvation - and by faith to live in those promises.
This gospel - this everlasting gospel - is not for us to modify, or modernize, or revise, according to the dictates of the contemporary world, or according to the desires of our flesh. It is a gift from God, to be received and believed as it is, intact and pure, precisely as it flows out for us from the cross and empty tomb of our Savior.
And this gospel - this everlasting gospel - is not only for us. It is for all men - for all nations, tribes, and people. It is for everyone we know. And it is for everyone we don’t yet know, in all corners of the world.
It is a gospel that brings an eternal hope to those who are trapped in a maze of deception and discouragement.
It is a gospel that brings deliverance and liberation to those who are slaves of their sinful flesh, and captive to their fears.
It is a gospel that brings peace to those with deeply troubled consciences, and that lifts the burden of guilt from those who are crushed by regret and remorse.
Maybe the angel who has the everlasting gospel to preach, in the Book of Revelation, is indeed Martin Luther. In his ministry he certainly did preach the everlasting gospel, even as he also believed it for his own salvation.
Or maybe, in another sense, what the Book of Revelation says about the angel who has the everlasting gospel to preach, can be applied to all faithful Christian teachers: who throughout history have testified to the unchanging reality of Christ and of Christ’s kingdom, and who still do so.
Or maybe, in yet another sense, what the Book of Revelation says about the angel who has the everlasting gospel to preach, can be applied to you. You have that gospel, for yourself, and for everyone else who can hear about their Savior through your testimony.
“Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth - to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people...” Amen.