NOVEMBER 2025
NOVEMBER 2025
2 November 2025 - All Saints - Revelation 7:2-4,9-17
A lot of world history has happened over the past 2,000 years. The Roman Empire reached its peak, and then declined through the invasion of Germanic tribes from the north.
The Frankish Empire arose in Europe, appropriating to itself the legacy of Rome and absorbing into itself many of those Germans. But then the Frankish Empire was divided, and its successor states descended into fratricidal wars for centuries.
The Ottoman Empire established itself in what is now Turkey, the Middle East, and southeastern Europe; but then declined, and was destroyed as a result of the First World War. The Mongol Empire arose in Asia and spread out in all directions - to China, to India, and to Russia - before it collapsed and contracted.
And there are famous names associated with these major sweeps of world history - names of powerful people, who dominated and controlled the times in which they lived: Caesar Augustus, Charlemagne, Suleiman the Magnificent, Genghis Khan.
These are just the high points of humanity’s history over the past two millennia. Lots of other people who made a mark on this world during that time frame, and who during their lifetimes sat at the top of their own empires, are also remembered long after they are gone.
Their victories and achievements are remembered. Their ruthlessness and power are remembered. Sometimes cities are named after them. Sometimes monuments are built to them.
But also during the past 2,000 years, another empire or kingdom has existed, and has left its mark in the lives of many people on earth. To be sure, this other kingdom is very different from the kingdoms we have already mentioned.
And those from within this other kingdom who are remembered today, left their mark on others in a very different way than was the case with the kingly personages we have mentioned.
The founder of this other kingdom said, in fact, that his kingdom was “not of this world” - although it definitely has impacted this world. And while all the members of this totally different kind of kingdom are described as a nation of “kings and priests,” their collective kingship - such as it is - is anything but a kingship that follows the pattern of Roman, Frankish, Ottoman, and Mongolian rulers.
On All Saints Sunday, we think about this other kingdom - the Kingdom of God, over which the Lord Jesus Christ reigns. And we think about the people - the real, living people, like us - who have been members of this kingdom, and who have helped to make the church on earth to be what it is today.
But the mark that these saints of old have left on the church - and on the world through the church - is the kind of mark that will not be noticed by many people. For example, the world - with horror - certainly does notice the impact that was left by Josef Stalin and Adolf Hitler on human history. History programs on cable TV are often about some aspect of the life and actions of Stalin and Hitler.
But you will likely not ever see a TV show about Teodor Yarchuk, the Ukrainian Lutheran pastor who was arrested by the Soviets when they invaded western Ukraine in 1939. The following year, Pastor Yarchuk - a faithful preacher and teacher of God’s Word - was forced to kneel down, and to receive a bullet to the back of his head.
You will likely not see a TV show about Casper ten Boom, the 84-year-old Dutch watchmaker and Christian layman, of frail health, who rescued and hid his Jewish friends during the German occupation of the Netherlands - protecting them at the risk of his own life, and at the risk of the lives of the members of his family.
When he was found out by the Gestapo, he was brought to a prison where he died ten days later. A daughter and a grandson also died in German custody.
The world usually does not notice such people. But we notice them, and claim them as our own. Under God, they were and are a part of what we are a part of.
To us they are not unknown. And to us they are not unimportant. We admire how they lived. We honor them for how they died. On All Saints Sunday, we remember them.
We remember Pastor Yarchuk, Mr. ten Boom, and millions more like them - from all the centuries of Christian history - whose names in many cases only God now knows. They died as they had lived, and their examples show us how to live, and how to die.
The saints of the Lord who have gone before us, as citizens of God’s Kingdom, were made to be saints by the justification of Christ, received in faith. And as they put on the mind of Christ, and grew into the image of Christ, they bore the fruits of the Spirit of Christ.
They were not, in themselves, without sin. But when their sins were pointed out to them by God’s law, they humbly repented of those sins. When forgiveness in Christ was proclaimed to them, they joyfully embraced that forgiveness, and lived in it.
They trusted in Christ and in his goodness - in the face of every evil threat that was brought to bear against them and their faith. They resisted the popular lies of their time - whatever those lies may have been - and as God helped them, they believed his unchanging truth instead.
In their weakness - when they were weak - they found their strength in Christ. In their fear and doubt - when they were fearful and doubting - they found their confidence in Christ.
They loved God and their neighbor more than life. They loved even their persecutors and slanderers, those who despised them and killed them.
They took up their cross, and as disciples of Jesus followed their Savior all the way to death. Now they live in Christ. And in the resurrection they will live forever.
This is the history of Christ’s church in this world, repeated over and over again - hundreds of thousands of times. This is our history. And this is what All Saints Sunday is about.
“We are not alone.” You hear that sometimes on silly TV shows about aliens from outer space. But we can also say this. We are not alone.
Jesus is with us, as the living Savior who really is alive in his Word and Sacraments: calling us to repentance and forgiving us; healing us and saving us.
Our fellow believers are with us, too: lifting us up before God in prayer; encouraging us in our trials and temptations; and helping us in our needs.
And from the perspective of the entirety of the church’s history, over the past 2,000 years, all the saints of God are, in an important sense, likewise with us. They revered the same Scriptures we revere.
Their sins were washed away by the same baptism into Christ that we have received. They died in the same hope in which we also will someday depart from this world.
And even now, they in heaven enjoy a mystic sweet communion with the same Savior to whom we are united - in the gospel in general; and in the Lord’s Supper in particular, as he comes to us, and draws us to himself, by means of his sacred body and blood.
The “communion of saints” in which we believe, is a communion of God’s kings and priests from both sides of the grave, converging in God’s Son. We’re all connected to each other, not directly, but through our mutual connection to Jesus.
Jesus is just as real to us, in the midst of our struggles in this world, as he is to those who are with him - without sin or temptation - in the next world. And because we are not alone, in all these ways, we are indeed strengthened and encouraged for the challenges that we face.
When Christians in America are mocked, ridiculed, and harassed, because we still believe in God’s institution of natural marriage and the family; and because we still believe in the healing power of God’s forgiveness for all sins - including popular sins and besetting sins; our sins and the sins of others - it helps us to know that millions upon millions of God’s people have believed what we believe.
When they say, “Nobody believes that any more,” they are wrong. But even if they are partly right - as far as modern times are concerned - it would not matter, because across the centuries, we are not alone in what we believe.
We are not alone in knowing the mercy of God; and in receiving the salvation from sin and death that God gives by grace to his people - and has given to his people over two millennia.
When Christians in Syria, Nigeria, or North Korea are killed because of their confession of the name of Jesus, it helps them in that last moment to know that they are members of God’s Kingdom - a kingdom that will have no end.
When they close their eyes in martyrdom, and then in the next second open them again, they see Jesus. And with Jesus, they see the multitude of those who have already come out of the great tribulation; and who have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
They are not alone in life. They are not alone in death. And they are not alone after death.
Following his resurrection, and before his ascension, Jesus gave his apostles, and his church, a great commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.”
And then he gave his apostles, and his church, a promise: “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
From the day of his ascension until today, Jesus has been with his people on earth. And his people have been with him.
Jesus is with us. And we are with him. And until this world comes to an end, Jesus will be with his church.
The church of Christ will always remain on earth, and will be here to welcome Jesus when he visibly returns on the Last Day. But invisibly, Jesus is already here with us.
Invisibly he has always been here, with his people and in his people: leading them and guiding them; inspiring their devotion and fortitude; accomplishing through them noble and honorable things; loving and gracious things.
This we recall on All Saints Sunday. And this encourages us beyond words.
When we look to the past, we can see that Jesus kept his promise, in the lives of those who lived in him, and died for him. When we look to the present, and hear his Word of life spoken to us today, we can see that Jesus is keeping his promise even now.
And when we look to the future - the church’s future, and our own personal future - we are sure that Jesus will keep his promise.
And so, in the confidence of this faith, all the Lord’s saints - his saints on earth, and his saints in heaven; his saints of the past, and his saints of the present - sing together the song of saints and angels:
“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb! ... Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”
9 November 2025 - Trinity 20 - Exodus 20:22-24; Exodus 32:1-20
Prior to the events that are described in today’s Old Testament lesson from the Book of Exodus, and prior to the time when Moses went up on Mount Sinai to receive further instruction from the Lord, God had already begun to reveal to the people of Israel how he wanted to be honored and worshiped by them. At this earlier time - also recorded in the Book of Exodus - the Lord had told Moses to deliver this message to the nation:
“You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven. You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.”
The God of Israel is indeed a God who speaks. He is not a dumb idol, but is real and living. As he communicates with his people, he speaks warnings and judgment against sin and evil, and speaks mercy and pardon to the penitent.
He is a God who makes and keeps promises. The “name” by which he makes himself known is his testamental name: Yahweh, or Jehovah.
This name does not refer merely to his existence as the almighty creator and preserver of the universe, but it refers to him as the God who loves and watches over his people, and who has and maintains relationships with them.
As God’s people would now gather for worship according to his will - on the Sabbath day and on other festival days - they would do so in order to hear God speak. This speaking might sometimes be through Moses, but would also be through the inspired Scriptures, which now permanently enshrine the voice of God in written form.
God also commanded his Old Testament people to offer two kinds of sacrifice on a regular basis, which pictured and implemented two important things: the need for reconciliation between a sinful humanity and a holy God, through burnt offerings; and the need for ongoing harmony and peace between God and man - once reconciliation has been achieved - through peace offerings.
Burn offerings involved the complete destruction by fire of a sacrificed animal, which died in the place of sinful humanity. This sacrifice atoned for the sins that the people had committed against God and his law, and turned away God’s anger and wrath.
Peace offerings involved only a partial destruction of the sacrificed animal, with the remaining part being eaten by those who had made the offering, as a fellowship meal with God. The peace offering celebrated the harmonious relationship with God that the burnt offering had brought about.
So, these sacrifices were also to be a part of the worship life of God’s people - at least in the time of the Old Testament.
Throughout the centuries and on into the New Testament era, the Word of God would continue to be heard and believed, as believers in God gathered for worship, and as they still do so. God’s name would also be made known and would be remembered, according to the saving works that God had done for his people.
But in the New Testament era, with the coming of Christ, the animal sacrifices that God had commanded came to an end, since they found their fulfillment in the true and final sacrifice of Christ on the cross. And the remembrance of the name of the Lord is now attached specifically to a remembrance of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, through whom we have been liberated: not from slavery to the Egyptians, but from a deeper and more serious slavery to sin.
For the Hebrews at the time of the Exodus, however, these fulfillments had not yet occurred. When they gathered, it was to be for the purpose of hearing God speak, with a message that was filled with promises for an earthly homeland in the near future, and with promises for a messianic heavenly homeland in the more distant future.
They were to hear God speak through Moses, or through the Scriptures that Moses by divine inspiration had already written down. They were to be attentive in listening to God speak to them with authority and compassion, with warnings and assurances, with judgment and pardon.
And they were to listen to God’s voice with deep humility and with profound reverence. They were to be humble and reverent also as the divinely-commanded sacrifices were performed on their behalf.
They would always know that God is to be taken seriously, and that his holiness and righteousness are always to be acknowledged. That’s the way it was supposed to be.
That’s what God had told the Hebrews to do. That’s how they were supposed to honor him, serve him, and worship him.
In view of everything he had done for them - rescuing them from bondage in Egypt, and establishing them as a free nation - one would think that they would have carefully remembered this, and carefully complied with this.
But they did not remember. They did not comply. What they did instead, is what is recorded in today’s reading:
“Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, ‘Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ And Aaron said to them, ‘Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.’ So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, ‘Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.’ Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.”
The crowds had approached Moses’ brother Aaron with a request that he fashion a religious idol for them, according to the pattern of the worship practices that they had been accustomed to in Egypt. But instead of completely rejecting this suggestion, and rebuking them for it, Aaron followed the pathway of compromise.
He would let them have the kind of worship event that Egyptian polytheists have, but he would pretend that in this case, it was actually dedicated to the Lord - Yahweh, or Jehovah. But the Lord was not honored by this.
He was infuriated by it. He let Moses know what he thought about what the people of Israel were doing - while Moses was on Mount Sinai - when he informed Moses that they “have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them.”
God had said to the people: “You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven.” But in their new worship, the Hebrews no longer had any interest in listening to God’s Word. They did not rise up with fear and reverence, to hear the reading or chanting of Holy Scripture. Instead, they “rose up to play.”
God had said to the people: “You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen.”
But in their new worship, the Hebrews had done exactly what God had forbidden. They did what they wanted to do, shaping their contrived worship according to their own carnal desires and worldly notions, while completely ignoring - and directly disobeying - what God had commanded.
Oh, they still followed an outward ritual of making burnt offerings and peace offerings. But this was not done according to God’s Word.
And so instead of being emblems and instruments of reconciliation with God, these sacrifices - these profane and desecrated sacrifices - became emblems and instruments of their provoking of God; and of their causing God to threaten to disown and destroy them. In response to what they had done, the Lord told Moses:
“I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them.”
God had said to the people: “In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.” But in the place where the golden calf was being worshiped, with frivolous presumption rather than with humble faith, God’s name was not being remembered.
Yes, the Lord would still come to them. But he would come to curse and punish them, not to bless them.
As I have already noted, there are differences between the way the people of God were supposed to worship in the time of the Old Testament, and the way we are supposed to worship now. We do not offer animal sacrifices, or any other kind of sacrifices that are designed to atone for our sins, because Jesus has already offered the one final sacrifice for all of us.
But we do gather around Word and sacrament in order to receive - by faith - the blessings and benefits of that one final sacrifice. The name of the Lord is remembered among us, especially as the Supper of the Lord is received in and for his remembrance.
And God’s people today do share with God’s people in the ancient past, a common faith in the truth of what God says, when he reminds us: “You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven.”
From heaven God the Father tells us, concerning Jesus: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” And that Son then tells us a lot more.
God is still talking with us, in Jesus’ public sermons and private conversations, as we hear them read to us for our instruction from the four Gospels. God is still talking with us, in Jesus’ words of absolution for penitent sinners. God is still talking with us, in Jesus’ words of institution for each of the sacraments that he left for us.
God is talking, and we are listening. That’s what we come to church for. And therefore we will not follow the dangerous example of those who go to their churches to speculate about what they think might be true for them, and not to listen to what God says is most certainly true for everyone.
We will not follow the dangerous example of those who go to their churches for fun and entertainment - to rise up to play - and not to rise up in reverence in the hearing of the Holy Gospel, or to kneel down in reverence in the presence of the holy body and precious blood of Christ.
We have learned the hard lessons that are taught by the story of the golden calf, and by God’s furious reaction to it. As the Lord helps us, let us never forget those lessons, nor repeat those ancient mistakes.
Dear friends, by the merciful providence of God, we have an opportunity to come here every week to honor God as he wants to be honored: through hearing his teaching, and through believing that what he teaches is true.
We have an opportunity to come here every week, to worship God as he wants to be worshiped: through the faithful remembrance of his name, and of all the good things that he has done for us in the grace and power of his name.
As we live daily within our baptism - daily admitting our sins and daily rejoicing in God’s forgiveness in Christ - we will never hear God say that his wrath burns hot against us, and that he will consume us.
For the sake of Christ our Savior - to whom we cling in faith, and who covers over all our sins with his righteousness - God does not consume us. He restores us, heals us, and welcomes us into his loving presence.
As we daily yearn to be united to Christ - to learn his ways, and to grow in his wisdom - we will always want to be in a place where God causes his name to be remembered. And God will bring us to such a place, as he calls us to his house, and to his altar. Here he does indeed come to us, not to curse and punish us, but to bless us with his gracious adoption as his children, and with the promise of eternal life. Amen.
16 November 2025 - Trinity 21 - Matthew 25:31-46
A common theme in popular movies involves a villainous character who does a lot of harm to a lot of people. Good people are killed, and the evil character seems to be prevailing, until justice is, in the end, meeted out to him: either by a vengeful survivor hero, a skilled martial arts hero, a wise police detective hero, or a brave old-west cowboy or sheriff hero.
The chieftan of the gang of marauders, the brutal crime boss, the sadistic urban murderer, and the corrupt land baron, get what is coming to them. Usually - in most movies - that means that the arch-villain is killed by the hero.
If there was ever a movie where good did not triumph over evil, and where - in the end - the bad guys won, and the good guys lost, we wouldn’t like that movie. And that’s because there is something deep inside of us that tells us that this is not the way these stories are supposed to end.
We have a sense of justice, deep down in our conscience, which also in real life causes us to be troubled when the innocent suffer, and when the wicked succeed in their schemes and prosper. We wonder why God allows this, or perhaps even makes this happen.
The Prophet Jeremiah was also disturbed by these perceptions and these questions. And so he prayed:
“Righteous are You, O Lord, when I plead with You; yet let me talk with You about Your judgments. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are those happy who deal so treacherously?”
What today’s appointed lessons from Scripture teach us, however, is that there will someday be a final accounting, for all the sin and evil that have ever taken place, throughout human history. Judgment day will be that final accounting.
Jesus tells us about this - and about what he himself will do on that day - in today’s Gospel from St. Matthew. He says that
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.”
In his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul tells us a bit more about how we should be preparing ourselves, and others, for this unavoidable future event:
“Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to [the Lord]. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men...”
For the wicked who cause pain and suffering in the lives of others, or who fail to protect others from pain and suffering, even if they don’t get their just deserts during this life, they will get their just deserts in the life to come. Jesus is the “hero” who will make that happen.
Atheists and idolaters, the hypocritical and the indifferent, will all know who the true God is on judgment day. And they will all know that the authority to judge and pass sentence has indeed been given to the Son of God.
No one enjoys believing in hell, and in eternal damnation for those who have hardened themselves against God and his will. I preach that these things are real - frighteningly and soberly real - not because I enjoy preaching this, but because Holy Scripture testifies to this doctrine.
And my call as a public teacher of the church obligates me to instruct and warn you about it. Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel that in the final judgment, he will
“say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ Then they...will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ And these will go away into everlasting punishment...”
Something we do notice here, is that the destination of the unrighteous - after they are judged - is an “everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Hell was not created for human beings, and it does not please God when people hurl themselves into a place where only Satan and the demons actually belong.
But when unbelievers ignore God, reject God, and hate God - which are all just variations on the same wrong attitude - they are thereby making it clear that they do not want to spend eternity in the loving presence of God, and with his redeemed and forgiven saints. If that’s what they did actually want in eternity, then they would be in church now - since the fellowship of the church is a foretaste of the fellowship of heaven.
In his Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, St. Paul explains that “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,” in flaming fire, he will take vengeance “on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day...”
But you know, according to the Scriptures, it is not only the most notorious and brutal tyrants of human history who will experience this. It’s not just the merciless murderers and the ruthless dictators who will hear the condemning voice of Christ on judgment day.
We are often comforted by the words that Jesus spoke toward the end of St. Mark’s Gospel, since these words are frequently quoted: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.” But the very next phrase, finishing the Lord’s sentence, is equally important: “but he who does not believe will be condemned.”
Do you believe? This is not merely a matter of arranging your mental furniture in a certain way, so that you accept certain propositions and historical data as true. The devil has that kind of faith.
He knows that God became flesh in the babe of Bethlehem, and that the death and resurrection of Jesus were real historical events. A saving faith in Christ, and in God’s promises concerning Christ, is more than that.
Our consciences impress upon us the difference between right and wrong, not only so that we can sit in judgment on Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin, but so that we can evaluate ourselves, and our own deeds. And when we do, we come up short. All of us come up short.
There is a common human impulse for people who do admit their failures, to try to undo the damage they have done by trying to do better. We should, of course, always try to do better, in showing compassion to the hurting, in showing generosity to the poor and needy, and in showing friendship to the lonely.
But the good works of the present do not erase the bad works of the past. And besides, those remedial good works are never really good enough. They are half-hearted in zeal and are tainted with mixed motives.
The promises from God that we believe - once we admit that in ourselves and in our own works we have no hope - are promises about Christ’s work for us. The Formula of Concord explains
“that our works cannot reconcile us with God or obtain grace for us, for this happens only through faith, that is, when we believe that our sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake, who alone is the mediator who reconciles the Father. Whoever imagines that he can accomplish this by works, or that he can merit grace, despises Christ and seeks his own way to God, contrary to the Gospel. This teaching about faith is plainly and clearly treated by Paul in many passages, especially in Ephesians 2, ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God - not because of works, lest any man should boast.’” ...
“The conscience cannot come to rest and peace through works, but only through faith, that is, when it is assured and knows that for Christ’s sake it has a gracious God, as Paul says in Romans 5, ‘Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God.’ ...the faith here spoken of is not that possessed by the devil and the ungodly, who also believe the history of Christ’s suffering and his resurrection from the dead, but we mean such true faith as believes that we receive grace and forgiveness of sin through Christ. Whoever knows that in Christ he has a gracious God, truly knows God, calls upon him, and is not, like the heathen, without God. For the devil and the ungodly do not believe this article concerning the forgiveness of sin, and so they are at enmity with God, cannot call upon him, and have no hope of receiving good from him.”
So far the Formula.
The faith in Jesus that gives us confidence to stand before him on judgment day - with a certain hope that we will receive good from him and not damnation - is a faith that knows that we are saved from sin and from eternal death because of what he did for us, in his death and resurrection.
From one angle, he has forgiven and washed away our sins before God. From another angle, he has justified us, and with his own righteousness has covered over our sins before God. We don’t do these things to save ourselves.
By faith we receive the salvation that Jesus has accomplished for us. And, by faith we receive what Jesus continues to do in us. The Formula of Concord goes on to say also that
“good works should and must be done, not that we are to rely on them to earn grace but that we may do God’s will and glorify him. It is always faith alone that apprehends grace and forgiveness of sin. When through faith the Holy Spirit is given, the heart is moved to do good works.”
All of this is involved in how we become well-pleasing to the Lord, and in how and why we will be well-pleasing to him as we stand before him in the final judgment.
The Lord Jesus makes us perfectly righteous in his Father’s sight by his gracious forgiveness, thereby changing our standing with God. And the Lord Jesus puts his Spirit within us, who changes us on the inside, and causes us to become ever more righteous in how we live and act.
There is a natural and necessary connection between the perfect justifying righteousness that God’s Word declares to us and bestows upon us - which we receive by faith - and the ever-growing practical righteousness that takes shape in our lives as we continually learn from God how to think and act as Christians.
As we continue to hear and believe God’s reconciling and forgiving Word, God’s Spirit continues to live in us, and to transform us: bearing his fruit through us as he works in us new desires and new instincts. As Jesus describes what will happen on judgment day, he also speaks of this, when he tells us that he
“will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’”
And Jesus adds, at the end of this account, that “the righteous” will then go away “into eternal life.”
Notice that Jesus tells us that those who are vindicated and approved in this judgment, are those who were “blessed of My Father.” The word “blessed” translates a form of the Greek term “eulogeó.” This is the same term from which we get the English word “eulogy.” It means literally a “good word.”
Those who are here commended, and who are ushered into the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world, are those over whom a “good word” from God has been spoken: a word of grace and mercy in Christ; a word of forgiveness and reconciliation in Christ; a word of regeneration and new life in Christ.
And as this “good word” was continually spoken over them through the means of grace, they continually believed what was spoken. And so they lived in Christ their Savior by faith, and Christ lived in them by his sanctifying Spirit.
That’s why they had been so unselfconscious in their works of love and service to others. They just naturally lived out what God’s Word and Spirit had graciously caused them to be. And God was very pleased.
Again, judgment day is coming, whether people want it to or not, and whether people are ready for it or not. Are you ready?
Are you ready to stand before the throne of Jesus, and to have your faith and life evaluated? When that day comes, what will your eternal destiny be?
If you’re not sure, you can become sure before you leave here today. You have been blessed by God the Father, and are even now still being blessed by him.
His word of warning concerning your sins and their consequences has also been spoken to you, and you have repented. You should repent again. But the “good word” of God’s peace and pardon has also been spoken, and is still being spoken.
The God who created you does not want you to end up in the place that was prepared for the devil and his angels, and not for you. The God who redeemed you through the death and resurrection of his Son wants you instead to end up in the place that he has prepared for you, from all eternity.
Even if your faith is weak and unsure, God’s love for you is strong and steady. Trust in the good word that he speaks over you, and into you.
Hear and believe what he tells you now, when he says that as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed your transgressions from you. Hear and believe him now, when he tells you that eternal life is yours, through Jesus Christ your Lord.
Then you will know that you are even now a sheep of the Lord’s flock. And you will still be one of his sheep - and not one of the goats - on the last day, and into eternity. Amen.
23 November 2025 - Last Sunday of the Church Year - Psalm 35:8-10
Today’s Introit includes this line from Psalm 35, verse 10:
“The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads.”
Let’s listen to a larger portion of the psalm, beginning with verse 8, so as to put that line in its larger context:
“A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it; it shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
So far our text.
Isaiah lived and preached in the southern kingdom of Judah before the time of Judah’s captivity in Babylon. But, Isaiah predicted that this captivity would happen, as a chastisement for the idolatry and other transgressions of the people.
And, he predicted that, after 70 years - once the Jews had been purged and cleansed of these chronic sins - then a remnant would be allowed to return to the promised land. The prophecy spoken by Isaiah that our text recalls, was no doubt understood by many as a comforting and hopeful reference to this future restoration.
The people would travel from Babylon to the Holy Land under God’s protection, in safety. They are further described both as “redeemed” - that is, those who have been bought back - and as “the ransomed of the Lord.”
In a certain sense the people of Judah had indeed been kidnaped from their homeland, by a vicious, pagan enemy. But now, God - behind the scenes - had made his mysterious moves on the chessboard of ancient international politics.
He had brought in King Cyrus and the Persians to conquer the Babylonians, and to liberate those whom the Babylonians had previously conquered - including the Jews. This was like the paying of a ransom, to redeem his people from this captivity and to gain their release.
The Hebrews who were taken into captivity knew in humility that they deserved the punishment they were enduring. They had turned away from God and had thereby removed themselves from his protection and invited his wrath.
They may have feared that their punishment in Babylon would be so severe that they would be totally destroyed as a people. This was not beyond the range of possibility.
The northern kingdom of Israel had been taken away into captivity by the Assyrians. Because of their many betrayals of God, and their despising of his covenant with their fathers, those Israelites simply melted away as a nation, and were absorbed altogether into the idolatrous culture of the Assyrian empire.
Would the people of Judah - the Jews - suffer a similar fate in the belly of the beast of Babylon? Or would they survive? Would God forgive them, preserve them, and someday restore them?
For many, these were indeed the serious and frightening questions that they were no doubt asking, as they were being dragged away from everything they had ever known.
But also for many - as they devoutly read the scrolls of Isaiah’s writings that had been preserved among them even in exile; and as they were reminded of the divine prophecies and promises that had been given through Isaiah - they were comforted to know that they would survive, and that the Lord would indeed forgive them.
Their time in exile would be a time of cleansing and purification. And then, in the Lord’s good timing, he would redeem them and ransom them. He would liberate them and bring them home to the land of Zion.
This was the hope that sustained the Jews in Babylonian captivity for 70 years. And then, after 70 years, they were indeed rescued and restored.
As the Christian apostles and the Christian church of a later time likewise considered the words of Isaiah, the Holy Spirit showed them that many of Isaiah’s prophecies could and should be unfolded also into a deeper and fuller meaning and application. At that deeper level of meaning, not only were the Jews in Babylon being comforted by God’s promise to save them, but fallen humanity as a whole was also being comforted in this way.
The evil forces of sin, death, and Satan, have indeed carried the whole human race off into a dark and fearful captivity. We are all by nature sinful and unclean.
Adam and Eve were in a sense kidnaped from their fellowship with God - kidnaped and carried away by their own sinful rebellion and disobedience - and were brought to a dark place of fear and alienation. Soon after their act of disobedience, when God revealed his presence in the garden, Adam said to him: “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid...”
That’s the natural condition of all men. Each of us was born into a humanity that is no longer at home with God - no longer residing in God’s holy land of righteousness and peace. In sin did our mothers conceive us.
In Adam we were all carried away, all separated from God, all exiled from his presence. And in Adam we were bound and locked up into a captivity to selfishness and base passions; to pride in self and callousness toward others; to loneliness and despair.
We were carried away to our own supernatural Babylon as a chastisement for our sins: the sin we inherited, and the sins we have willingly and gleefully committed ourselves. And we are stuck there.
By our own human wisdom we cannot devise any plan of escape. If it would depend on our own strength, we could see no way out; no pathway home; no restoration to the way it was in Eden, in the embrace of a good and loving God.
But humanity - in its sad and mournful captivity to the world, the flesh, and the devil - is nevertheless able to hear and believe some special promises from God. These promises come to us from all the pages of Scripture, and not only through Isaiah. But they do come through Isaiah.
As we today listen to his words - which are in truth God’s words - they speak hope into our hearts and minds. They comfort us with the certainty that we will be redeemed from the sin and death that surround us, and that permeate us.
It is not Cyrus and the Persians, as God’s instruments, who will rescue us from our Babylon. God himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, will pay our ransom price by the sacrificing of his body and the shedding of his blood on the cross. God himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, will lead us home by the victorious power of his resurrection.
On the last day, our bodies will rise immortal from their graves: purified and purged of all sin and of all the effects of sin. We will be brought home to the Zion of God’s beauty and perfection, in the new heavens and the new earth, where righteousness dwells forever.
For now we do still languish in captivity to this body of death, and we still live with the daily need to repent of the sins that always cling to us. But the promises of God for what will most certainly come for us in our future, are so sure and firm, that we can already rejoice in these blessings: even though we now see them, and dream of them, only from a distance.
The forgiveness of Christ that continually covers us, and the regenerating life of Christ that continually fills us, already now give us a taste of the wonders that are to come.
If you sometimes feel like you are trapped in a foreign and unhappy place, that’s to be expected - because there is a sense in which you are. But you’re not trapped there forever.
If you in your grief can sometimes resonate with St. Paul’s words: “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”; make sure you continue to listen to Paul, so that you will hear the answer he immediately gives: “I thank God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
As a member of a fallen race you were carried away into a captivity to the Babylon of sin and death. But in Christ you will be redeemed.
And by the timeless power of God’s grace, you are redeemed already. You know by faith what will happen to you, because in Christ you know by faith what has already happened to you.
As a member of a rebellious race you were kidnaped and stolen away from where you belonged, in union with God. But in Christ you will be ransomed, so that you can go home.
And by the timeless mercy of God’s means of grace - his Word and Sacrament - you are ransomed already, and you are at home with your creator and heavenly Father already. You know by faith what will happen to you, because in Christ you know by faith what has already happened to you.
Your sins have been washed away. Your heart has been turned from fear to gladness, and from sadness to joy.
“A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The...redeemed shall walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” Amen.
26 November 2025 - Thanksgiving Eve
We are all very familiar with the basic components of the story of the First Thanksgiving in New England. The year was 1621. The “Pilgrims” who had come on the Mayflower the previous year, to establish the first permanent English colony in that part of the new world - at Plymouth - had been through many trials and hardships.
When they first arrived, they were unfamiliar with the land and with what could be grown on it. They were unfamiliar with the climate, and were not used to the severe winters that would have to be endured in their new home.
And they were frightened of the native people. They had heard stories from earlier explorers, and from people who had lived in the Virginia colony to the south, about vicious Indian attacks on Europeans.
The Pilgrims’ most severe trial was the loss of fully half of their number during the first winter, who had died of disease and other causes.
But in spite of these difficulties, as their first year in Plymouth moved forward - after winter - things started to go much better for them. They were especially blessed to find out that the native people who lived closest to their settlement were friendly, and wanted to enter into a cordial alliance with them.
That happened. What also happened is that they met and befriended one particular Indian, named Tisquantum or Squanto, who was very fluent in English.
How he had come to know English is a fascinating story in itself. Squanto and a few other men had been kidnaped several years earlier by an unscrupulous English ship’s master who was exploring the New England coast, and had been sold into slavery in Spain.
But in Spain, a community of Catholic monks saw the injustice of what had been done to Squanto. Their monastery purchased his freedom.
He stayed with them for a while, and it is believed that they instructed him in the Christian faith and baptized him. But when he expressed a desire to return home, his monastic friends arranged for him to travel to England, so that he could eventually catch a ride on a ship from there that would be sailing to the New England coast.
While he waited in England for such an opportunity, he learned English. And then, the year before the Pilgrims arrived, he was in fact brought home on such a ship, skippered by a decent, Christian ship’s master - very different indeed from the one who had so cruelly snatched him away.
Squanto therefore knew by his own experience that not all Europeans, and not all Englishmen, were the same. And he was quickly able to tell that the Pilgrims, in their Christian character, were like the people who had been helpful to him in his time of trial, and were not like the man who had done him harm.
And so he became their friend, lived with them in Plymouth, and sought to be their helper in their time of trial. He showed them what crops could be raised in the New England soil, and showed them how to raise those crops. He joined them for worship in their church.
When harvest time came, in the autumn, the harvest was abundant. The settlers were grateful to almighty God for his grace and protection. And so they held a feast, to celebrate God’s goodness.
And at this feast they also celebrated their friendship with Squanto and the other Indians, many of whom attended and shared in the festivities. They knew in humble gratitude that God had providentially sent to them their native friends, so that they could be God’s instruments for guaranteeing their survival.
The imagery of this gathering, now generally called “the first thanksgiving,” truly is moving and inspiring: with Europeans and natives demonstrating mutual friendship, mutual respect, mutual good will, and a desire for continued mutual understanding. The Pilgrims were also looking and praying for opportunities to share their Christian faith with the Indians, and were optimistic that God would give them such opportunities.
But as the years passed, the story of the first thanksgiving was largely forgotten by New Englanders. The custom of holding a thanksgiving observance in the autumn of each year did become an enduring tradition among them, and this custom was expanded into other regions of the country when New Englanders migrated westward.
But the recounting of the story of the first such observance had not remained as a permanent part of this tradition. And what had also mostly come to an end, was the initially positive and friendly relationship between the native people and the people with roots in England.
A devastating war between the settlers and the Indians - called King Philip’s War - ravaged New England from 1675 to 1678. The generation that had broken bread together in 1621 was now gone.
Their children and grandchildren - on both sides - were neither able nor willing to maintain the good relationship. There were a lot of causes for the war which we need not go into now, but the sad fact remains that the war did happen, with deeply painful consequences.
The settlers did, in the end, prevail in this war. But after a while, their collective consciences seem to have imprinted upon them a deep feeling of regret for how this had happened.
They sensed that something good had been lost, and they wished that somehow things could go back to the way they were in that distant hopeful and happy year of 1621. And so in the 1830s, and especially in the 1840s - more than 200 years after the first thanksgiving - the story of the first thanksgiving was brought back to life.
Books and articles began to tell that story once again, and people began to cling to that story once again. Through the restoration of this marvelous tale, recalled and retold each autumn among New Englanders in America, a yearning for the return of times like that time was no doubt felt by many.
But the reality of the social, political, and military situation in the country told a different tale. Division and disharmony remained. And new divisions and new disharmonies arose as well.
At thanksgiving time, we still remember our national myth of everyone getting along. But our national reality is that everyone does not get along. So in the end, this hopeful story settles out into sadness and disappointment, because we as a nation are not united.
The fault lines of our modern divisions do not run just between Europeans and native Americans. They run in all directions now, even within families: whose members can no longer sit down together for this celebration, can no longer talk to each other, and have forgotten how to love and forgive each other.
What do we - as Christians in the 21st century - “bring to the table,” as it were? What does thanksgiving day mean to us? How do we deal with the hopes and aspirations of the thanksgiving story, and with the disappointments and dysfunctions of the thanksgiving reality?
What we bring to the table, and what we believe, confess, and live out at the table, is the testimony of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Colossians. Here he writes:
“Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.”
Yes, Paul exhorts us to be thankful. The blessings we have enjoyed in this life - both small and great - were not just the result of good luck, and were not ultimately the result merely of human effort, either. As St. James reminds us in his Epistle,
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights.”
And so, for everyone here who has life and breath, who knows the joy of friendship and caring relationships, who has a bed to sleep in and a roof over your head: you are where you should be in this hour, joining your Christian friends and fellow church members in giving thanks to God for all his gifts and for all his wonders.
And the context of this mutual gratitude, is a context in which we are always seeking to grow into an ever deeper unity with each other - and indeed with all who confess Christ, as truth and conscience permit - that is marked by “tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another.”
As we are thankful to the Lord here, with the other people who are with us here, the relationships we have with the Christians we know, are the relationships that are impacted most directly by the character traits that Paul describes, and to which we aspire.
But our desire to be like Christ in these ways extends out to all our other relationships as well - or at least it should. And it extends out to whatever influence we might be able to have on the larger world: so that tensions are diffused, conflicts are de-escalated, trust is restored, and empathy is cultivated.
This doesn’t mean that we will agree with every potentially divisive idea that we encounter, because we won’t. But we will try to understand every idea, and where it comes from, and thereby grow in our ability to interact with it honestly and effectively.
The members of our little church cannot set the entire world ablaze with great fires of love and reconciliation. But we can light a candle. We can be a part of the solution - even if just a very small part - and not a part of the problem.
But in the final analysis, none of these efforts and goals can be successful, without God making them successful, as he not only instructs human minds, but also changes human hearts.
A true and genuine desire for reconciliation and peace in human relationships flows from two fundamental truths: that we have been reconciled to God through the death of Jesus, our substitute and Savior; and that we are therefore at peace with God through the forgiveness of all our sins that the risen Christ bestows upon us in his Word and sacrament.
Where we have failed to live up to what our Lord calls us to, in loving our neighbor as ourselves, we ask God for forgiveness yet again, and for help in doing better. And we thank God for the forgiveness, and for the second chances, that he always grants to the penitent.
When there have been conflict and alienation between nations, tribes, clans, families, and individuals, the gospel can heal those divisions. The gospel, when believed from the heart, allows those who previously were hostile to each other, to be able to join together in thanking God for his goodness.
If there are complaints - even serious complaints - there can also be apologies and restitutions. And there can be forgiveness among former adversaries, as people are together guided by God’s Word to turn over a new leaf in the relationship.
Of all the blessings that we can count tonight, for which we are truly thankful, the greatest and most important are God’s forgiveness in his Son, of all our sins against him; and God’s transformation of our forgiven hearts into hearts that are now able and willing to forgive others.
St. Paul continues in his Epistle to the Colossians, telling us:
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
We are indeed gathered here as a congregation of believers in Jesus, as the Word of Jesus is coming to us in the lessons we have heard and in the hymns we have sung. And his Word renews our faith, and our hope.
In the name of Jesus we offer thanks to God our Father, for all the good things we have been talking about. In the name of Jesus, we reach out to each other in reconciliation and forgiveness if that is needed among us.
And in the name of Jesus we resolve that we will reach out to others in the same way: inviting and welcoming them into our life, inviting and welcoming them to our table, and inviting and welcoming them into the family of God, as we look for and use the opportunities that God will give us to speak his message of salvation to them.
In this fallen world, and according to the attitudes and actions that usually govern the affairs of men in this world, events like the first thanksgiving in Plymouth, in 1621, are few and far between.
But in God’s kingdom - where the everlasting gospel has been preached, and has been believed by God’s saints from every nation, tribe, tongue, and people - what happened in 1621 can serve as a faint image of the wonderful heavenly banquet that God’s reconciled and joyful people will celebrate with each other forever. We hear Jesus speak in St. Matthew’s Gospel:
“I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.”
We close with these words from Psalm 67, which we chanted earlier:
“God be merciful to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us, that Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You. Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy!”
Amen.
30 November 2025 - Advent 1 - Matthew 21:1-9
We read in today’s text from St. Matthew:
“Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, “The Lord has need of them,” and immediately he will send them.’”
Have you ever thought about what it means for God Almighty to need something from us?
We, with a misplaced sense of self-sufficiency, do often refuse to acknowledge our needs. When you require help from someone, do you always admit it?
Or, in your pride, do you tell people that you are okay, even when you are not? Do you assure people that you don’t need any help, even when you do?
On other occasions, we may speak of something as a “need,” even when it is not really a need but simply a desire - often a sinful desire. Fornicators often excuse their indulgence in sexual sin by speaking of their “needs.”
How often have you justified a craving for something that was morally questionable, or defended your acquisition of an unnecessary luxury, by telling yourself or others that you needed it?
But here we have a situation where God actually does need something, and he is willing to say so. Specifically, he needs a female donkey - accompanied by her colt - so that Jesus can ride on her.
We might think that God would not need anything from human beings. People may pretend to be self-sufficient, but isn’t that what God actually is? Isn’t that a part of what it means for him to be God?
Well, in regard to God’s own existence as God, he does not need anything from you or me. But God does not simply exist. God also acts, in this world, and among men.
In order to save humanity from sin, death, and Satan, God became a human being. He personally entered into his creation and became a part of it. The Second Person of the Holy Trinity - the eternal Word - became flesh, and lived among us.
And in order to save humanity from within humanity, there are a lot of things that God needed to appropriate from humanity - and from the created world in which humanity lives - so that those things could be used by him for the fulfillment of his good and gracious will toward us.
For the accomplishing of humanity’s salvation, the first thing God needed from humanity was a genuine human nature, so that Jesus - the Son of God - would be true God and true man. And God - who is without sin - needed a human nature that was likewise not corrupted by sin.
God could not create for Jesus a new human nature from scratch, which would be genetically disconnected from Adam and his descendants. That would not be a human nature at all, but only a copy of human nature. And it would leave Adam and his actual descendants without a Savior.
God needed a human mother for humanity’s Savior, so that he could enter into her womb and take a human nature to himself from her. In this way he would become a real and actual part of the human race to which she - and we - belong.
But he needed to do this in an extraordinary way, so that the human nature that he thereby took to himself would be a pure and perfect human nature. Hence God needed the mother of Jesus to be a virgin.
His conception needed to be a miraculous conception, without the transmission of original sin - which otherwise always takes place through the ordinary reproductive process.
The Epistle to the Hebrews explains why God needed these things, so that Jesus would come into the world in the way he did; and also why we, as the fallen children of man, also needed these things:
“Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, [Jesus] Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. ...in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”
Again, we read in the Epistle to the Hebrews that we therefore “do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
In today’s text from St. Matthew, we are told that on a certain unique occasion, God also needed a donkey. God would not say that he needed something, if he did not really need it.
The Lord did not simply want a donkey, so that he could have improvised with a horse - or with some other creature - if he had to. No. The almighty creator and Lord of the universe - in the humble form of a man; and according to his eternal plan for our salvation - needed a donkey.
Centuries before the events that are described in today’s text, Zechariah had prophesied:
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! 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.”
God needed a donkey, so that this prophecy would be fulfilled. Only a donkey would do.
The donkey was emblematic of Jesus’ humility. He was not entering Jerusalem as a fearsome, worldly conqueror - on a noble steed. He was entering the city as one who had come into the world not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
The donkey - as a beast of burden, and as a working animal - was also emblematic of the fact that Jesus was entering into the Lord’s Holy City to do the hard work of redeeming humanity, and of bearing the heavy burden of all human sin - as he would carry that sin to the cross in our place.
As the donkey labored to carry Jesus down the road and through the gate, so too would Jesus labor to carry to Calvary your sinful pride, and your sinful self-justifications; and to suffer and die there: for the forgiveness of those sins, and for the forgiveness of all human sin.
Jesus told his two disciples that if anyone questioned them when they were untying the donkey and her colt, they should say, “The Lord has need of them.”
Can you imagine a situation where you look outside your window, and see two guys opening the door of your car, getting into it, and preparing to drive it away? You then go outside to ask them what they are doing with your car, and they respond, “The Lord has need of it.” What would you think?
Well, Jesus is not going to send two disciples to your driveway to borrow your car in exactly this way today. Since the time of his ascension, that’s not the way he operates. But there are other things that God does need from you today, for the fulfillment of what he is doing today.
God became a part of the human race in the person of Christ, and in his earthly, human body he suffered for our sins, and atoned for them. The incarnation was a once-and-for-all-time miracle. It will not happen again.
But God does still use things that he needs to get from us, and from the world in which we live, in delivering to people the salvation that Jesus won at the cross.
In Holy Baptism, Jesus’ regenerating and forgiving gospel is applied personally and in a very tangible way to a real human being, who has been conceived in sin, but who also has been redeemed by Christ.
According to the Lord’s institution, God needs water in order to do this - the same kind of earthly water in which Jesus himself had been baptized. According to the Lord’s institution, God also needs the human hand and human voice of an administrant in order to do this.
In the sacrament of Holy Communion we are given our Savior’s body and blood, for the forgiveness of sins and for the strengthening of faith. According to the Lord’s institution, God needs bread and wine for this to happen.
No other earthly elements will do. He needs, here and now, the same elements that Jesus used when he first administered this sacrament to his disciples, on the night in which he was betrayed.
God brings the message of human salvation to human beings through the ministry of human preachers. As this mission is continually carried out in the Lord’s name in each generation, and in all nations, the Lord needs called servants to do this.
Regarding himself and those who assisted him in his apostolic ministry, St. Paul tells the Corinthians: “We are God’s fellow-workers.”
And for the maintenance of these ministers, the Lord needs the material support that comes from the rest of God’s people, so that pastors, teachers, and missionaries can in fact be set apart on a full-time basis to do what God has called them to do. And so Paul also tells the Corinthians that, according to the Lord’s command, “those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.”
God, in Christ, needs all these natural things from you, so that he can give to you - and to your friends and relatives, and to all men - the supernatural things that you need from him.
What you need from him - a new heart, a new life, and a new hope for eternity - you would not be able to receive, if God had not taken your humanity to himself in the conception and birth of Jesus. What you need from him, you would not have, if Jesus had not borrowed that donkey, and if he had not ridden that donkey to his death - and to your salvation from death.
But God did take and use what he needed, so that he can now bestow upon you what you need. As a man among men, Jesus forgives and heals you. As your brother according to the flesh, Jesus is your true friend, your constant companion, your ever-vigilant protector, and your ever-faithful guide.
He uses what he needs to use - ministers and laymen; water, bread and wine - so that the comforting promises of his gospel can be brought to you, and so that the power of his love can remain with you, and work through you.
As the humble servant of God and man, Jesus calls and equips you to be his servant, and the servant of your neighbor. He uses you, and the things that you own and share, as his instruments in meeting your neighbors’ needs - for this world, and for the world to come - even as he meets your needs through your neighbors, and through the things that they own and share.
“Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” Amen.