DECEMBER 2025
DECEMBER 2025
7 December 2025 - Advent 2 / St. Ambrose - Malachi 4:1-6
In today’s reading from the Book of Malachi, the prophet serves as the mouthpiece of God in telling us what the coming of the Lord on the last day will be like. He says:
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,” says the Lord of hosts, “that will leave them neither root nor branch.”
This is very similar to what the last of the Old Covenant prophets said during his ministry. John the Baptist - the immediate forerunner of the Messiah’s first coming - for redemption - said this regarding the Messiah’s second coming, for judgment:
“His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.”
This imagery is truly frightening - and it is meant to be. No one should want to be on the wrong side of Christ when he returns to judge the living and the dead.
What people should want - and what the gospel causes people to want, when it has done its saving work in their lives - is the ability to welcome Jesus, when he comes again in glory, with great joy and celebration.
We who know him by faith now, will not be on his wrong side then, and will not be condemned by him then. He tells us in St. John’s Gospel that
“God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned.”
The Book of Malachi likewise describes the very different way in which God’s redeemed and forgiven people will experience the visible return of Christ to this world, when God says through Malachi:
“But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves.”
For the wicked and unbelieving on that day, the fire of God will be a consuming fire of destruction. But for those who fear the name of the Lord, the fire of God will be like the contained and controlled fire of the sun: that is, a warming and healing fire.
And Jesus is described as the Sun of Righteousness, who comes with healing in his wings: or we might say, who comes with healing in the rays of light that emanate from him.
The English word for the sun in the sky and the English word for the son of a father sound the same, even though they are totally different words. We are, of course, accustomed to referring to Jesus as the Son of his Father in heaven.
But this passage from Malachi is talking about the other kind of sun. Jesus is a sun of divine light, shining down upon his people as he descends to the earth.
That is not a frightening image - especially when the power to heal is attached to this light - because we know that we need the special kind of healing that comes from this special sun. And on the last day we will likewise need an even more special kind of healing.
The first and most basic healing that we need is the healing of the soul. And primarily this means the healing of hearts that have been wounded by sin. These wounds are usually self-inflicted. But they are healed by God’s forgiveness in Christ.
God’s Word speaks this kind of healing, and this salvation, into us. The Prophet Jeremiah already understood this, when he prayed:
“Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for You are my praise. Indeed they say to me, ‘Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come now!’”
Jesus is, of course, the great physician, and the great healer. The bodily healings that he performed on some, during his earthly ministry, always pointed toward the deeper healing of the soul that all people needed and still do need. And so he said:
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Those who are sick with sin, when they repent, will receive from Jesus the healing medicine of his forgiveness.
And on the last day, a profound healing of the human bodies of all of us will also occur. St. Paul soberly reminds us in his Epistle to the Romans that the wages of sin is death, and this include also physical death - even for those whose sins are forgiven.
The ancient curse of Eden remains with us. But it will not remain forever. On the last day we will be raised from death, in the most marvelous healing imaginable.
This will not be like the raising of Jairus’s daughter, the raising of the son of the widow in Nain, or the raising of Lazarus. Those people were restored by Jesus to the mortal lives they had before. And they all eventually died again.
When we are sick or injured, we call out to God for relief from our bodily suffering. And God often answers those prayers by physically healing us: usually through the ministrations of physicians, but sometimes in ways that the doctors can’t explain.
Yet we, too, will all eventually die. At some point, the medical treatment won’t work, and the healing won’t come. And our bodies will be laid to rest in the embrace of the earth, to await the resurrection - even as the bodies of Jairus’s daughter, the son of the widow of Nain, and Lazarus are now awaiting the resurrection.
When that great and final healing comes - from Jesus, as he himself comes - the resurrection will be a resurrection to immortality. It will be like the resurrection of Jesus, not like those other temporary restorations.
Of course, the power of Jesus’ resurrection effects us, and changes us, even now - while we still walk the earth as his disciples. But we look forward to even more than this. St. Paul gives us this hope in his First Epistle to the Corinthians, where he writes that
“Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.”
That, dear friends, will be the deepest of healings for our sin-scarred and dead bodies. Penitent and believing Christians have already been forgiven their sins, and in Christ are counted as righteous before God by faith - so that the guilt of their sins is, as it were, removed from God’s ledger.
St. Paul tells the Colossians, and he tells you, that Christ has made you alive together with him,
“having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
But when the final and ultimate healing takes place, in the general resurrection, we will not only be counted as righteous, but will actually be perfectly righteous in every respect. All the effects of humanity’s fall into sin, and of our own personal sins - all death and disease - will then be removed from us.
Let’s break away from this for a minute and listen to what the Book of Genesis tells us about the time when the Lord appeared in the form of a man and wrestled with the patriarch Jacob:
“Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when He saw that He did not prevail against [Jacob], He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. And He said, ‘Let Me go, for the day breaks.’ But he said, ‘I will not let You go unless You bless me!’ So He said to him, ‘What is your name?’ He said, ‘Jacob.’ And He said, ‘Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.’ ... So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: ‘For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.’ Just as he crossed over Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip.”
St. Ambrose, the famous fourth-century bishop of Milan whose feast day is observed today, was a very important teacher in the ancient church. He taught his people not only through his sermons - which were marked by great rhetorical skill - but also through hymns, in which his poetic gifts shone forth.
We sang his well-known Advent hymn, “Savior of the Nations, Come,” last Sunday. In one of his writings Ambrose spoke about the marvelous healings that come from Christ now, and that will come from him on the last day, in the context of comments that he made concerning that Genesis account. Ambrose said:
“Because Jacob’s faith and devotion were unconquerable, the Lord revealed His hidden mysteries to him by touching the side of his thigh. For it was by descent from him that the Lord Jesus was to be born, of a virgin. And Jesus would be neither unlike, nor unequal to, God. The numbness in the side of Jacob’s thigh foreshadowed the cross of Christ, who would bring salvation to all men by spreading the forgiveness of sins throughout the whole world, and would give resurrection to the departed by the numbness and torpidity of His own body. On this account the sun rightly rose on holy Jacob, for the saving cross of the Lord shone brightly on his lineage. And at the same time the Sun of Righteousness rises on the man who recognizes God, because He is Himself the Everlasting Light.”
St. Ambrose spoke about the healing power of Christ and of his forgiveness - as received by faith - also in a commentary concerning the woman with a flow of blood who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment, as recorded in St. Luke’s Gospel. Ambrose wrote:
“The woman was immediately healed, because she drew to [Jesus] in faith. And do you with faith touch but the hem of his garment. The torrential flow of worldly passions will be dried up by the warmth of the saving Word, if you but draw near to him with faith, if with like devotion you grasp at least the hem of his garment. O faith richer than all treasures! A faith stronger than all the powers of the body, more health-giving than all the physicians!”
When God forgives us, he also changes us. The inborn universal cancer of sin that causes people who do not know Christ to live according to the base impulses of pride, greed, and lust, is in remission for Christians.
It’s still inside of us, and there can be recurrences. The sinful nature still lurks in the darker corners of our human existence.
But the passions that ooze out of that old fallen nature no longer enslave us and control us. And while we live here below, the Spirit of Christ now bears his fruit in us and through us.
This is the kind of healing that Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, brings to us. In his Word and Sacrament he rises upon us today. We thereby know even now the warmth of the forgiveness that restores us to peace: peace between us and God; and peace within ourselves.
And this is the kind of healing that Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, will bring to us on the day of his bodily return to this world from heaven above: in a way that will be so stupendous, and so astounding, that we can barely conceive of it or imagine what it will be like.
Yet the resurrection of Jesus demonstrates that it can happen. And God’s Word promises that it will happen. And we will live for eternity: in glorified bodies that will be healed of all weaknesses and infirmities, for eternity.
The Lord says: “And to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings...” Amen.
14 December 2025 - Advent 3 - 1 Corinthians 4:1-5
Faithfulness in preaching God’s truth - on the part of those whom God has entrusted with this duty - is often not rewarded in this life or in this world. We recall the story of Jeremiah the Prophet, who in God’s name condemned the sins of the rulers and people of Judah, and warned that the temple and the nation would be destroyed if they did not repent and reform.
The priests and “court prophets” responded with threats to Jeremiah’s life: “This man deserves to die! For he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.”
The killing of Jeremiah on account of what he had said, ended up not happening. But the necessary repentance and reform didn’t happen, either.
Jeremiah was ignored. Before too many more years had elapsed, Judah was conquered by Babylon, the temple was destroyed, and the people were carried away into captivity.
John the Baptist, who figures prominently in today’s Gospel from St. Matthew, was likewise a devoted preacher and teacher of God’s Word whose faithfulness was not rewarded in this life. Today’s reading finds him in prison, sending messengers to Jesus.
The reason why he was in prison, is because he had condemned the adulterous relationship that King Herod Antipas was engaged in with Herodias, the estranged wife of his brother. John the Baptist, who was - in effect - functioning as Herod’s pastor, did not demand that he abdicate.
But he did call upon Herod to repent of this immoral relationship and to bring it to an end. What happened instead - after the events described in today’s account - is that John was beheaded, at the instigation of Herodias.
In today’s lesson from the First Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul writes, in reference to himself, Apollos, and Peter:
“Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.”
Elsewhere, in his Epistle to Titus, Paul again uses the word “steward” in describing the nature and character of the ministry of a pastor or spiritual overseer in the church. To Titus he writes that a bishop or overseer, as “a steward of God,” must be someone who is “holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.”
The term “steward” was ordinarily used in the first century Greco-Roman world, as the title or job-description for a man who was the highest-ranking member of the service staff in a wealthy person’s home. The steward oversaw the other staff, and was in charge of managing the resources, supplies, and property within his employer’s household.
Among his primary duties was making sure that there was enough food for everyone in the house, and that the food was high-quality food. St. Paul is picking up on this imagery when he links the work of God’s stewards - in the household or family of God - with the congregation’s need for sound spiritual nourishment.
With reference to today’s text from First Corinthians, Luther said that Paul is referring to “all apostles and all heirs to the apostolic chair, whether Peter, Paul or any other.” He went on to explain that “The word ‘steward’ here signifies one who has charge of his lord’s domestics,” and he points out that the word - in Greek - signifies
“one capable of providing for a house and ruling the domestics. ... Now, God’s household is the Christian Church – ourselves. It includes pastors and bishops, overseers and stewards, whose office is to have charge of the household, to provide nourishment for it and to direct its members, but in a spiritual sense. ...the stewards of God...provide spiritual food and exercise control over souls. Paul calls the spiritual food “mysteries.”
The word “mystery” in Greek refers to something that is real yet hidden. A murder mystery, for example, is a book or a movie in which someone is killed, but the identity of the killer is hidden, until Inspector Poirot or Jessica Fletcher figure out who committed the crime, and reveal what had been hidden.
In the context of the Christian faith, the “mysteries of God” are the sacraments, or more broadly the means of grace. What is seen is the simple earthly elements of water, bread and wine; and what is heard is the ordinary sound of a human voice. But what is hidden within these sights and sounds is the power of God to forgive sins and to regenerate sinners.
The Holy Spirit is working through the washing of water with the Word. The body and blood of Christ, which were shed and sacrificed for our salvation, are truly present in the bread and wine.
And God himself is speaking through the voice of the preacher who consecrates a sacrament, or who proclaims to God’s people the Biblical message of law and gospel. The Apology of the Augsburg Confession - with its own unique translations - quotes from First Corinthians and also from Second Corinthians, when it says that
“a minister who consecrates shows forth the body and blood of the Lord to the people, just as a minister who preaches shows forth the gospel to the people, as Paul says, ‘This is how one should regard us, as ministers of Christ and dispensers of the sacraments of God,’ that is, of the Word and sacraments; and..., ‘We are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.’”
In commenting on St. Paul’s Epistle to Titus, Luther expands on what the duties of a bishop or pastor are, especially in regard to how God’s Word is to be taught and applied. He says that
“A bishop - that is, a minister of the Word - ...is the steward to whom the Lord has entrusted everything. If a bishop thinks about his calling, he sees that he is a bishop by the rite, the oracle, and the command of God; and, secondly, that he has in his hand the possession and the property of Christ. What is that? It is the Gospel and the sacraments.”
“He has been appointed a minister of the Word for this, that he should distribute these things...to his brethren - that is, that he should diligently preach the Gospel and administer the sacraments, instruct the ignorant, exhort the instructed, rebuke those who misbehave, moderating and tempering them by the Word and ministering to them with prayer and the sacraments.”
So that these mysteries can be present and active for the salvation of his people, God provides stewards of his mysteries to the church: by rite, oracle, and command. And when a church prays for its pastor, it is always to pray that he “be found faithful” - to quote today’s text once again.
A pastor’s faithfulness as a steward of the mysteries of God is properly measured by whether he consistently says what God wants us to hear, and not necessarily what we want to hear. Again, as Luther reminds us, God wants his called servants to be diligent in instructing the ignorant, in exhorting the instructed, and in rebuking those who misbehave.
When we sin, our old flesh doesn’t want the pastor - or anyone - to rebuke and warn us. Initially and reflexively we may chafe under such an admonition and lash out against it.
But there is also a new nature within us: a nature that God’s Spirit has birthed within us, and that lives on by the enduring power and grace of our baptism. That new nature welcomes these necessary rebukes and warnings, admits the fault, and rejoices in God’s merciful desire always to forgive us, to restore us, and to help us by his Spirit to amend our lives.
And it is indeed the pastor once again - as God’s steward and representative - who is the chief conduit of God’s forgiveness and restoration, when we do repent. The announcement of God’s forgiveness that he makes to you flows out from the cross and empty tomb of your Lord.
He channels what Jesus would say to you. Or more precisely, what Jesus would say to you, Jesus is indeed saying to you through the pastor’s lips.
To the ministers whom he sends forth to preach in his name, Jesus says: “He who hears you, hears me.” Your pastor is a steward of the absolution that Jesus instituted for his church and for the world, when he told his disciples: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.”
And when he exercises that stewardship according to the Lord’s will, he becomes the mouthpiece of Christ for penitent sinners. It is therefore Jesus - your crucified and risen Redeemer - who speaks to your heart and conscience, saying: “I forgive you all your sins.”
All Christians have the Word of God, not only for themselves, but also so that they can share it with others in private conversations and personal interactions. All of us can admonish and comfort our neighbor. We can assure our neighbor of God’s love and forgiveness, and remind our neighbor of God’s willingness always to help and guide those who pray and seek his help.
The sacraments, however, are special institutions of the church, and their administration always has the church - the whole body of Christ - in view. St. Paul writes in First Corinthians that we were all baptized into one body; and that we are one bread and one body, for we all partake of the one bread of the Supper of the Lord.
And so it is the ministers of the church - the public servants of the gathered body of Christ - who are the stewards of those public mysteries, and who are responsible for making sure that they are administered according to the Lord’s Word and institution. That’s why our church teaches that when a layman administers a baptism in an emergency situation - which he should do - he thereby “becomes the minister or pastor” for the duration of that emergency.
Especially in regard to the most profound mystery of Holy Communion, the pastor is called precisely to be the steward: the overseer, the manager, the supervisor, the tester, the examiner. Paul tells us that “the cup of blessing which we bless” is “the communion of the blood of Christ,” and that “the bread which we break” is “the communion of the body of Christ.” And he warns that
“whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”
The stewards of this sacred mystery are not trying to read hearts or minds as they carry out the responsibility that God has entrusted to them. But it is their duty to make sure that communicants are able to examine themselves: through having been taught the meaning of these things; through having demonstrated that they learned what they were taught; and through having confessed that they personally believe what they learned.
A pastor will also have an ear and an eye open to what someone is still confessing, in word and deed: as a communicant or potential communicant gives evidence of his faith through what he says, how he lives, and where he worships.
An analogy might help to illustrate this. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety does not issue a driver’s license to every 16-year-old who thinks that he knows how to drive safely. The DPS allows on the roads of the state, only drivers who have been taught how to drive safely, and who have demonstrated in their road test that they learned what they were taught.
DPS officials are stewards of public safety on behalf of all the citizens and licensed drivers of Minnesota. They not only protect us from people who don’t know how to drive being behind the wheel; but they also protect those people from themselves, and from the danger that comes with their not knowing how much they don’t know about safe driving.
To an ever increasing extent, the beliefs and standards of the world in which we live - and of liberal religious groups that have compromised with the world - are out of step with the beliefs and standards of the historic Christian faith to which we still hold. Faithful pastors who help us to be faithful to our Biblical beliefs and standards - through the ministry of Word and Sacrament that they conduct among us - are certainly not honored by the world for this.
Instead, they are patronized on account of their supposed irrelevance, mocked on account of their supposed ignorance, criticized on account of their supposed intolerance, berated on account of their supposed judgmentalism, and condemned on account of their supposed hatred.
Make sure you stay on your guard against any temptations gradually to align yourself - spiritually and morally - with the world’s hostility toward God as he actually exists, and as he reveals himself in Holy Scripture. Make sure you never end up on the same side as those who called for the killing of Jeremiah, or instigated the beheading of John the Baptist.
The reading from First Corinthians that we heard today - regarding the stewards of the mysteries of God whom God places among us, and regarding the respect we owe to them - is the ordinary lesson appointed for the Third Sunday in Advent, according to the lesson series we use at Bethany.
It is providential that this was the appointed Epistle for the very day when you will convene as a congregation prayerfully to discuss your need for a new steward of God’s mysteries here, and when the men of the church will become the instruments of God in his sending of a new pastor to you.
Your prayers this day will most properly include a humble request that God will send you a steward of his mysteries, to serve God among you and to serve you in God’s name: by absolving, instructing, and communing you; by baptizing your children and any new disciples who are drawn to the Lord in this place; and by proclaiming to you and teaching you the whole counsel of God.
Your prayers this day will also most properly include a request that God would help your new pastor to be and remain faithful in all his work, and that God would guide and embolden him to be conscientious and careful in everything he does and says.
That would include his being diligent in instructing the ignorant, in exhorting the instructed, and in rebuking those who misbehave. That would also include his being diligent in bringing God’s comfort to the hurting, God’s pardon to the penitent, and God’s strength to the weak.
As you pray, you also want him always to turn to his Savior in prayer, before he turns to you in preaching.
And your prayers this day will also most properly include a resolve that, with the Lord’s help, you will strive always to listen to your new pastor when he teaches you from Scripture, and to support him when he acts among you in accordance with Scripture. And with the Lord’s help you will resolve to endeavor always to honor him for his faithfulness; for his diligence; and for his devotion to Christ, to the mission of Christ, and to the church of Christ.
The world will not honor him, but you will. And Christ, the Lord of the church, will bless both you and him as God’s Word continues to reign over you and within you, governing your thoughts, your words, and your deeds; shaping your faith and renewing your hope in Christ for everlasting life.
“Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.” Amen.
21 December 2025 - Advent 4 - Philippians 4:4-7
In his Epistle to the Philippians, from which we read a few minutes ago, St. Paul makes it clear that he wants Christians who are living in this world to rejoice. He repeats this exhortation, just in case it didn’t fully sink in the first time:
“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! ”
The opposite of rejoicing is, of course, being sad, or worried, or scared, or discouraged, or anxious. And so Paul reiterates his point about rejoicing, by then also saying: “Be anxious for nothing.”
He doesn’t say, merely, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” He says, in effect, “Don’t sweat any stuff, big or small!” Don’t be frightened of any threat. Don’t be alarmed by any perceived danger. Instead, Rejoice always.
Now, the Christian rejoicing of which Paul speaks is not flamboyant or showy; not over-the-top in exuberance, or with uncontrolled emotions.
It is instead a sustained, calm, and peaceful rejoicing of the heart, which manifests itself outwardly in a demeanor of reasonableness, mildness, patience, fairness, and moderation. The Greek word that Paul uses, and that our translation renders as “gentleness,” can mean all those other things, too.
The inner joy that resides within a Christian can keep him balanced and unflustered as he navigates through the many challenges and trials of life. And it can and should be noticed by others, that a Christian is in fact balanced and unflustered, at times when others may be losing their composure and their clearheadedness.
Paul writes: “Let your gentleness be known to all men.”
But how is this done? Where does this persistent joy come from?
Are we to apply self-help techniques to ourselves, in the way of “the power of positive thinking,” in order to create this rejoicing inside of our minds and hearts by our own psychological self-manipulations?
Or are we to sing our way into joyfulness through an externalized kind of wishful thinking? Politicians through the decades have known how to get people to do that. The Democratic Party in the time of Franklin Roosevelt wanted everyone to sing this:
So long sad times, Go long bad times, We are rid of you at last.
Howdy gay times, Cloudy gray times, You are now a thing of the past.
Happy days are here again, The skies above are clear again,
So let's sing a song of cheer again, Happy days are here again.Not to be outdone, the Republican Party, in the era of George Bush Senior, unofficially adopted this as a theme song:
In every life we have some trouble,
But when you worry you make it double. Don't worry, be happy.
Ain't got no place to lay your head,
Somebody came and took your bed. Don't worry, be happy.
The landlord says your rent is late,
He may have to litigate. Don't worry, be happy.
Ain't got no cash, ain't got no style,
Ain't got no gal to make you smile. Don't worry, be happy.So, is that all it takes? A catchy, uplifting song, to whip up enthusiasm, and to make people feel good - at least in that moment? Is St. Paul suggesting such a thing when he says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice”?
Well, no. That’s not what he means. He is talking about something much deeper, and much more objectively solid and enduringly stable.
Note especially that Paul does not simply say, “Rejoice always.” He says, “Rejoice in the Lord always.”
Rejoicing “in the Lord” is rejoicing because you are in the Lord. As recorded in St. John’s Gospel, Jesus says to his disciples:
“you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. ... Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ... If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”
And rejoicing “in the Lord” is rejoicing because the Lord is in you. St. John writes in his First Epistle:
“He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. ... In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ... By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.”
Our rejoicing in the Lord is, therefore, anchored to something - to someone - of infinite strength and durability, namely Christ himself: the Son of God; and our Savior from sin, death, and the fear of death. So, even if the darkness of death hangs over us, we will rejoice still: because of Jesus, and because of what he has done and promised.
“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” - to quote from St. Paul’s Second Epistle to the Corinthians.
The deep joy of your salvation comes, and stays, only when you are connected to Christ, and stay connected to him. And the rejoicing of your heart that Paul encourages, is not based on a pretense that there are no unsettling and alarming things surrounding you that could easily tempt you to be anxious, and not to be joyful.
Your joy in the Lord, and the certainty and comfort of your faith, are always under threat from the real devilish forces of sin and death that surround you in this life. And so, that’s why Paul also encourages and guides you with these words:
“The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”
A lot can be unpacked from that small phrase, “the Lord is at hand.” It can mean that Jesus’ second, visible coming is imminent, and that he will deliver his people from all that is distressing to them when he does come.
So, they can rejoice even now, because very shortly, they will no longer be contending with the troubles of this world, but will be in the heavenly peace and sinless purity of the next world. This aspect of what it means to believe that the Lord is at hand is reflected in the refrain:
“Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.”
But the encouraging thought that “the Lord is at hand” can also refer to Jesus’ invisible presence with his people at the present time - in the midst of the troubles of this world.
In faith and hope, we do await his visible return to judge the living and the dead, and to vindicate his saints, at the end of the age. But as we wait, we also recall what Jesus promised his disciples before his ascension:
“Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
The Lord is at hand - right here, as close as he can be - to forgive us in our guilt and remorse; to comfort us in our sorrows; to teach us in our ignorance; to enlighten us in our darkness; to calm us in our confusion; and in our fears, to renew to us his love and his peace.
Jesus is at hand to do these things for us always - so that we can rejoice in him always - because his Word and Sacraments are at hand always.
His gentle voice is heard in the words of his Holy Absolution. His gentle touch is felt in the reception of his Holy Supper. His wisdom and his righteousness are put into us, and draped over us, in the reading and proclamation of his Holy Scriptures.
And Jesus is at hand - intimately at hand - through his mystical union with us, as he fills us with his grace, and draws us into his life, by his indwelling presence. This aspect of what it means to believe that the Lord is at hand is reflected in this hymn verse:
His kingdom cannot fail, He rules over earth and heaven;
The keys of death and hell Are to our Jesus given:
Lift up your heart, Lift up your voice! Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!In all of these ways, Jesus - as God in human flesh; and as the Savior and companion of humanity - truly is “our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.”
And when you know that Jesus is at hand - right there with you - you thank him with rejoicing, and with rejoicing you talk with him. By prayer and supplication, in Jesus’ name, you let your requests be made known to God.
And in the faith that Jesus gives you and renews to you always, you rejoice always: to know that he is always listening to your prayers, always caring about you and your true needs, and always caring about those whom you care about, and about their needs.
So, that is the context for St. Paul’s exhortation: “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!”
Our rejoicing in the Lord comes from the Lord. It does not depend on the absence of stress and trouble, because in this fallen world stress and trouble are not absent. But it does depend on the presence of Christ.
This daily rejoicing is not manufactured through a daily stirring up of emotions, but it arises naturally from a daily resting in the grace of Christ.
This continual rejoicing is sustained in the continual rhythm of trusting in the ever-present Lord, with a certainty that he forgives and saves; and of calling on the ever-present Lord in prayer and supplication.
St. Paul writes:
“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”
Please rise.
“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Amen.
24 December 2025 - Christmas Eve
As an example of beautiful prose and story-telling, the Christmas narrative from St. Luke’s Gospel is not excelled by any other ancient tale. Its magical charm, and the emotional pull by which it draws all who hear or read it into the events that are described, are unsurpassed. And the story has everything.
A young woman expecting the imminent birth of her first baby, with that all-too-familiar combination of excitement and worry, is being looked after and cared for by a similarly excited and worried husband. And they are far from home, relying on God and on each other, because they don’t have anyone else to rely on.
In this story we also have the shepherds, out in the fields with their flocks. Theirs is a simple and uncomplicated life. They live at the fringes of the larger society.
Some of them - maybe the younger teenage members of the group - might dream of bigger and better things in their future. They know the story of David, the shepherd boy who became king. David is no doubt the local hero for these shepherds, who are watching their flocks just outside his historic hometown.
But they also know what the economic and social realities are. So they are mostly resigned to having a future that will be pretty much the same as the way things are now. They don’t expect anything exciting to happen to them.
The power-players of the ancient world are also in the story - although from a distance. Humanly speaking, it was Caesar Augustus, sitting in regal splendor in the magnificent marble palaces of Rome, who set all the events of the story in motion.
And Quirinius, who represents Caesar’s power in the region where the story takes place, is also a part of this tale - but likewise from a distance, although not as much of a distance. The decisions and actions of these men are impacting the lives of everyone else in the story in some significant ways, even though Caesar and Quirinius are oblivious to what is really happening in Bethlehem on this night.
And for those who are drawn to the supernatural in a gripping story that is marked by other-worldly mystery, the supernatural is very much a part of this account. First one angel, and then a host of angels, appear to the shepherds: forever changing them, and the trajectory of their lives.
And then there is the baby. He is the central figure in the story. At first glance there is nothing unusual about him. He was born in an ordinary way, was swaddled in an ordinary way, nursed from his mother in an ordinary way, napped in an ordinary way.
But there is also something very extraordinary about this baby. It’s not in anything that can be seen outwardly, but we are talking about what the angel told the shepherds about him. And what he said to them in this account is almost beyond human comprehension.
To the Jewish minds of the shepherds - steeped as they were in the ancient prophecies and promises of the Hebrew Scriptures - what the angel said would have made sense, as far as the meaning of his words was concerned.
Of course, the pagan power-brokers of the age would not have been able to understand what the angel was talking about, in his descriptions of the baby as in some way connected to King David; as the Christ or the anointed one; and as the Lord. If anything, Caesar and Quirinius would have suspected that some kind of sedition was cloaked beneath such words.
In contrast, the Jewish shepherds would have understood that these words were not a direct threat to anything that the Romans cared about. But they would no doubt have struggled fully to grasp what these words now meant for them.
Especially the word “Lord,” as in “Christ the Lord” - in reference to the baby - would have gotten the shepherds’ attention. The story-teller Luke knew that such shepherds would have known, that it was the established custom among the Jews, that the special testamental name of God - Yahweh - was never spoken out loud.
This was one of the ways in which they sought to honor the Second Commandment. In the synagogues, the rabbis and cantors who quoted or chanted from the sacred text would say or sing the word “Lord,” rather than the name of God that was actually written.
So Luke, in the tale that he tells, wants us to wonder about what the shepherds were wondering about, and to conclude what the shepherds concluded. Is that what the angel was intending to communicate to them about this baby: not only that he was the Christ, but that the Christ was and is God himself, who had now entered into the world clothed in humanity?
As hard as it may be for mortal men to believe this, that’s the conclusion they would eventually reach.
And in the meantime, as the shepherds were still contemplating this - and everything else the angel had said - they needed to act on what he had told them. They needed to go to where this baby was, to gaze upon him, and to let him gaze upon them.
As we listen to this story, the author also wants us to notice the announcement from the angel, that the birth of this Savior was a joyful message of good news for all people. As members of an impoverished and mostly unnoticed underclass in the society, the shepherds would have been used to situations where something that might be good news for others, was not good news for them.
But in a way that brings hope to the downtrodden and courage to the oppressed, Luke tells us that this message was for them. An angel had actually visited them to deliver it specifically to them!
And as we read this story, we are to see that the use of the word “Savior” in the angel’s message - which was a familiar word to anyone familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures - would also have triggered some deep reflection on the part of the shepherds.
They knew that God was the Savior of his people. That is the big back story to the Christmas story.
God had saved the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. God had saved the Israelites many times over, from the attacks of Canaanites and other earthly enemies, during the time of the judges and the kings. God had saved the Israelites from their Babylonian captivity, so that a remnant could return to the promised land - where they now were.
But now, the idea of God in the flesh being a Savior seems to mean something different: something more, and something deeper. Now God in human flesh was a Savior for all people, and not only for the people of Israel.
The whole human race needs salvation, not merely from the slavery of Egypt, but from the slavery of sin. All people need salvation, not merely from the attacks of Canaanites, but from the attacks of the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Everyone needs salvation now, not so that they can be restored to the land of Israel, but so that they can be restored to fellowship with God, and have a place with him and all his saints in his eternal kingdom.
This account of the birth of Jesus truly is a thought-provoking masterpiece of dramatic story-telling. It speaks to the deepest aspirations of the human heart.
It lifts the human mind to reflect upon things that really matter, for time and for eternity. And this story poses to each of us, deep and probing questions about the meaning and purpose of our own lives.
As we hear this story, we think about how great it would be if there really was a God like this, who loves everyone: including people like the shepherds; including people like me.
We try to imagine what it would be like to be touched in mind and heart by those life-giving words of the angel - as the hearts and minds of the shepherds were touched and transformed - so that we could experience for ourselves similar changes in our lives: which are now dreary and aimless lives; guilt-ridden and discouraged lives.
And with all of humanity - in its pain, and with its dreams for something better - we would pray and hope and wish that this story could be a true story. A hurting humanity would love for this story to be a marvelously real account of real history, about things that really happened in a distant place many centuries ago; and a wonderfully real account of things that can happen for us, and to us, here and now.
And you know what? The best thing about this beautifully-written story - this story of the birth of a Savior - is that it is true. It is real. This really did happen.
At a human level, St. Luke tells us at the beginning of his Gospel that this work was based on information he received from “those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses” of the events that he describes. In this way his readers could “know the certainty of those things.”
And in regard to the story of Jesus’ birth in particular, Luke identifies in the text the reliable eyewitness from whom he got that information: “But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.”
That’s the way ancient historians indicated their sources. And Luke’s source was someone who would never have forgotten what happened to her and what she did, what she saw and what she heard, on that stupendous and magical night of her son’s birth.
And so Yes, we can know that these things really happened - even by the canons of human history. But beyond that, we also have a word and a promise from God that pertain to all of Scripture: including Luke’s Gospel; including this part of Luke’s Gospel.
St. Paul writes to Timothy - and to you - that the Holy Scriptures “are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus,” and that “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”
So, that inner sense of wonder and delight that you experienced as you heard the reading of the Christmas Gospel tonight, was not just the wishful thinking of your emotions. It was the testimony of the Holy Spirit, assuring you that what you were hearing is true.
That inner feeling of cleansing and of a new beginning in your life, that came upon you as you heard the announcement of the angel that a Savior for all people has come, was not just a subjective psychological phenomenon. It was the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, forgiving and washing away your sins, and impressing upon you the reality of God’s grace to you in his Son.
Once the shepherds had heard the angels out in the fields, and once they had seen their Lord in the manger, they were never the same again. And if the Christmas Gospel has truly touched you this night, you will never be the same again, either.
And this is what God will do for you, and in you, every time you gather in the Lord’s house to hear his Word - his real and true Word - and to receive his sacrament - his real and true sacrament. Everything that the Scriptures say, is something that God is saying. And everything that God says, is real and true.
All the sacred history in Scripture is real and true. All the warnings and words of admonition are real and true. All the promises and words of comfort are real and true.
What the Bible says about Jesus, and what Jesus says in and through the Bible, are real and true. Jesus speaks to you.
Jesus forgives you, and he teaches you his ways. Jesus renews your faith, and he teaches you how to trust in him.
Jesus gives you strength and fortitude to face the challenges and trials of this world, and he teaches you how to pray. Jesus promises that he will never leave you nor forsake you, and he teaches you how to live and how to die.
These are the blessings that come from having a real Savior from sin and death. These are the blessings that come from having Jesus as a real friend and companion.
These are the blessings that come from hearing and believing the real and true story of Jesus’ birth, announced by real angels from heaven to real shepherds in the fields.
O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray;
cast out our sin and enter in; be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels, the great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel! Amen.
25 December 2025 - Christmas - Matthew 1:18-25
Please listen with me to a reading from the first chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, beginning at the 18th verse.
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus.
When my grandmother was born in 1908, her parents decided to name her Gladys Mae. That’s what they told the doctor who delivered her, and that’s what the doctor reported to the town clerk.
But then her parents changed their mind, and decided to name her Catherine Margaret instead. Catherine was her grandmother’s name, and Margaret was her aunt’s name, and so that seemed to make better sense. This was the name that was written in the family Bible, and by which she lived for many years.
But then, in adulthood, she needed a copy of her birth certificate in order to get a Social Security number. The town clerk’s office was contacted. But no birth for Catherine Margaret was recorded. Only a birth for Gladys Mae.
It was eventually straightened out, through my grandmother’s father signing an affidavit, testifying to what her name was really supposed to be. But before it was straightened out, she had two names: the one registered with the town clerk, which was her legal name, and the one written in the family Bible, which is the name she went by.
In today’s text, is St. Matthew telling us a similar story regarding the name or names of the Messiah? Did God the Father at first choose a certain name for his Son, and arrange for that name to be written down in Old Testament Scripture? But did he then change his mind, give his Son a different name, and reveal that alternate name to Joseph?
St. Matthew quotes from the Prophet Isaiah, when he writes:
“So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel.’”
But St. Matthew also reports that the angel who had been sent by God to Joseph, told him, with respect to Mary’s pregnancy:
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus.”
So, was Jesus originally named Immanuel, according to Biblical prophecy? But was he then given a new and different name soon before he was born?
Well, not exactly. What happened with respect to my grandmother, with her indecisive parents, is not what happened with respect to our Lord. God the Father was not being indecisive here, but he was making two important points.
According to the Biblical concept of a “name,” God’s “name” is not only the specific term or terms by which he is known. His “name” also includes everything that reveals something about his character or his will.
In today’s text, Matthew points out that, in Hebrew, the word “Immanuel” means “God with us.” Immanuel is therefore a “name” for Jesus - even though Jesus did not actually go by that name - since the meaning of the word “Immanuel” conveys an important message about Jesus, and about who he is.
Jesus was not a mere man who later, in the imagination of his followers, was lifted up to be a kind of god. Rather, he was the one true God from all eternity, who in the fullness of time lowered himself to became a man.
In the mystery and miracle of the incarnation, God’s eternal Son - the Second Person of the Holy Trinity - became a part of human history. The creator became a part of his creation.
The eternal divine Word took to himself a human nature from his mother Mary, and became our brother according to the flesh. And this union of the divine and human in the person of Christ is a permanent union.
The humanity of Jesus was exalted in his resurrection and ascension, but it still exists as an exalted humanity. Jesus not only was God with us, but he is God with us, and will always be God with us.
This is most vividly experienced by us in the Lord’s Supper, where we do not received a mere symbol; and where the real presence of Christ is not limited to his divine nature or his divine Spirit, either. Jesus comes to us in his body and blood - his human body and blood - and touches our humanity at the point of his own humanity.
Jesus is “God with us” in a very special way in this sacrament, but he is God with us in all times and places, in heaven and on earth, now and forever.
He is God with us everywhere and always, because that’s what Immanuel means. And that’s why Jesus is “named” Immanuel. It is an enduring testimony to who he is as God in human flesh.
But the thought of God being with us, all by itself, is not necessarily a comforting or happy thought. Why is God with us? What is he going to do to us?
Jesus being Immanuel could mean that God is with us, so that he can condemn and destroy us, on account of our sins. Indeed, on the Last Day, the divine-human Immanuel will be visibly present with the entire human race, precisely to be the judge of the living and the dead.
And we must honestly admit - as we do admit in the Small Catechism - that “we daily sin much, and deserve nothing but punishment.”
This is why that second name of God’s Son, and the meaning of that second name, are also very important. “Jesus” in English comes from the Greek way of writing the Hebrew name Joshua or Yeshua. And what Yeshua means in Hebrew is “Yahweh saves” or “the Lord saves.”
So, in Christ, and in the gospel of Christ, God is with us: not to pour out his wrath upon us, but to save us. God comes to us and lives among us in the Babe of Bethlehem: not to give the human race the punishment that it deserves; but to give the human race a second chance, and a way back to fellowship with God through repentance and faith.
In St. John’s Gospel we are told:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
And the Book of Acts quotes St. Peter: “We believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus.”
That’s what “Jesus” the word means. And that’s what Jesus the person does. As the angel told Joseph, the child to be born was to be named Jesus, because “He will save His people from their sins.”
Jesus is able to save his people from their sins because Jesus is Immanuel - God with us. Only God, who is the creator of heaven and earth, can make us to be new creatures. And we are made to be new creatures in Christ.
Only God can forgive sins. And God does forgive sins in Christ, who is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
We are so thankful on this Christmas Day, and on every day of our lives, that we are able to know Immanuel before Judgment Day comes, not only as Immanuel, but also as Jesus.
He is the Lord who saves us, by his perfect life, by his innocent death, and by his glorious resurrection. He is the Lord who saves us from the guilt of sin, from the power of sin, and - ultimately - from the consequences of sin: as he promises us a resurrection to eternal life.
The birth of Jesus marked the beginning of his life among us. It is indeed a key component of the story of our salvation.
And the names of Jesus that today’s text from St. Matthew tells us about - the earlier name that God had revealed through Isaiah, and the later name that God wanted Joseph to give to the baby - are also key components of the story of our salvation.
If Jesus did not have both of those names, and if the meaning of those two names did not define who he was and what he came to do, there would be no story of salvation for us to tell and to believe.
But our Lord does have those names. And we do have that story, to which we can cling forever.
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
“So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us.’” Amen.
28 December 2025 - Christmas 1 - Luke 2:22-40
I remember watching an episode of the old Phil Donahue show, many years ago, on the subject of evangelical Christianity. One of the guests was Cal Thomas, a well-known commentator and columnist who was himself an evangelical Christian.
As he was talking about his faith in Christ as humanity’s Savior from sin, an angry person in the audience, who identified herself as Jewish, responded to his comments in a tone of shocked outrage. She asked if he was really saying that she had to convert to his religion in order to go to heaven.
Thomas responded that this was not something that was simply his opinion, but that the Bible itself teaches that Jesus is the only Savior, and that salvation is available only through faith in him. As I listened to this exchange, I did not disagree with the essence of what Thomas was saying.
But I thought about how I would have answered this woman’s question differently, in a way that perhaps would have provoked some deeper reflection on her part. When she asked, “Are you saying that I have to believe in your religion in order to be saved?,” I thought to myself that I would have said:
“That’s what the Jewish apostles told my pagan ancestors, when they brought the message of Jesus to them, and when they told them that they needed to forsake their idolatry, and believe in the way of salvation that is provided by the only God who really exists: the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
That kind of response to this woman’s misunderstandings and misperceptions would have been completely in accord with the words of Simeon the prophet: words that we heard in today’s text from St. Luke, and that we sing for ourselves, in a slightly different translation, in our Communion Liturgy:
“Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.”
For those of us who are Gentile believers in Jesus Christ, every time we hear or sing these words, we are reminded of how much we owe, humanly speaking, to the ancient people of Israel.
What would the world have been like, and what would it be like now, if God had not chosen this nation, many centuries ago, to be the repository of his Messianic promise? To be the custodian of the inspired Hebrew Scriptures? To be the nation into which humanity’s Savior would be born, and through which his salvation would go forth to the world?
The setting in which Simeon originally spoke or chanted these words is significant. Jesus, as the firstborn son of Mary, had been brought to the temple to be formally presented to the Lord. This was in keeping with God’s command in the Book of Exodus:
“Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.”
The firstborn from among the offspring of the livestock were to be consecrated to the Lord through sacrifice. But God made it clear that the human firstborn from among his people were absolutely not to be sacrificed, but were to be redeemed through the offering of an animal substitute.
Moses had conveyed this divine command to the Israelites in preparation for their entrance into the land of Canaan. This was a land that was to become their land.
This was a land that was to be purged of the idolatry and wickedness of the Canaanites who were living there at the time. This was a land in which the Hebrew people were then to live to the glory of God, according to the moral code that he had made known to them in the Ten Commandments.
Now, the Canaanites actually had a religious idea that was in some ways similar to what God commanded to the people of Israel. They, too, believed that the firstborn was to be seen as belonging to their god, Molech.
But in regard to their own firstborn children, they did not make a substitution from the animal kingdom for the sacrifice. The firstborn sons and daughters of the Canaanites were themselves burned on the altars of Molech.
This practice was an abomination to the Lord. Most obviously, it resulted in the death of a child. But it also resulted in the destruction of the natural affections of parents for their children, and of children for their parents.
According to the way God created human beings, parents are supposed to love and take care of their children. They are not supposed to kill them.
When a perverse culture and a demonic religion attack this most basic human impulse in such a direct and systematic way, the people who live in such a society become hardened in their conscience, and lose touch with some fundamental aspects of what it means to be human. The devil, who inspires such an evil mockery of God’s ways, is thereby able to accomplish much harm and damage, at so many levels.
And the Canaanites were not the only pagan society that practiced child sacrifice, or other forms of human sacrifice, in the darkness and deception of their idolatry and error. Not by a longshot. It’s much easier to count the number of pagan societies that did not practice such abominations.
Almost all of them did: The Aztecs in Mexico. The Druids in Ireland. The Huns in Asia and Europe. The list could go on. And it would not be a short list.
Just about every one of you sitting here today, if you are not descended from the people of Israel, are likely descended from remote ancestors who participated in human sacrifice - or who believed in it, and falsely believed that they benefitted from it.
And along with the human sacrifices in these pagan societies, came a general lowering of the value of human life. It would have been very unpleasant to live among such people: shrouded in such darkness; spiritually deceived by such lies.
But all of that changed when Jesus came, as a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to God’s people Israel. As Simeon was able to see by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was, in his person, the fulfillment of all that Israel was and was intended to be.
In his person, he was, most decisively, the ultimate seed of Abraham, and the heir of the promise of Abraham. In his person, he was, most decisively, the ultimate heir of David’s royal throne, and the eternal king over God’s people.
He was the glory of God’s people Israel. Everything they were ever supposed to be, he was - and then some. Everything they were ever called to do, he did - and then some.
Simeon was no doubt very familiar with what the Lord had spoken through the Prophet Isaiah many generations earlier, in regard to his chosen people, and in regard to the chosen Messiah, who would arise from among his people:
“I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
Simeon knew that the baby he was holding in his arms on that day was the one who would bear our griefs and carry our sorrows; who would be esteemed as stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, because of our sins.
Simeon knew that this firstborn - unlike all the other firstborn of Israel throughout its history - would someday be sacrificed for the redemption of all other men; that he would be wounded for our transgressions, and crushed for our iniquities.
And Simeon knew that in the gospel and sacraments that would go forth from Israel, this child would sprinkle many nations: cleansing them from their sins.
Over the years and centuries that followed the coming of the Christ, his apostles, and their missionary successors, brought the message of Jesus to the world. In so doing, they brought the light of God to people who had been languishing in the deepest darkness.
In their preaching, filled with the saving power of God himself, they brought the life of God to people whose hearts had become completely disconnected from their creator, and who were trapped in a state of hopeless, spiritual death.
But as they believed in Christ, their souls were saved from sin and death. Their humanity was restored. The institution of the human family, and the love of parents and children within the family, became, in Christ, what it was always supposed to be.
As descendants of those in various lands who received the gospel from the apostles and other early missionaries, we are grateful beyond words for these ministers of the Lord, and for their faithfulness to the calling God had given them to preach the good news to all creatures.
And we are grateful to the pastors and teachers of our own time, who passed that gospel on to us personally, in our own baptism, and in the instruction in God’s Word that we have personally received.
We have the gospel, and the forgiveness of sins that has been proclaimed to us in Christ, because of God’s redeeming love for all nations. We would have no gospel, and no salvation, if the light of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had not been kindled for us across all national and ethnic boundaries, from Israel.
We would have no hope, and no eternal life, if Jesus - the Son of God in human flesh - had not been supernaturally revealed to us - and to our pagan forebears - through the preaching of his Jewish apostles.
It makes it all the more poignant, therefore, when we consider the sad fact that a majority of the Jewish people did not embrace their Messiah when he appeared among them 2,000 years ago. But we know that God, in his love, wants all men to be saved from their sins, and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
We can therefore be certain that he wants those in our day, who trace their family heritage to the Hebrew patriarchs, also to be saved from their sins, and to know in their own lives the fulfillment of the Messianic hope of their ancient ancestors.
And so, together with Cal Thomas, and all others who have been filled with the peace of God’s grace through faith in Christ, we do not refrain from telling our Jewish friends and neighbors of this peace. And the Christian Church is able to see, with great joy, that many from among the people of Israel - in every generation - do indeed turn their hearts to the God of their fathers, and believe in Jesus as Savior and Lord.
And yet, we are also saddened when we look around us, and see what amounts to the re-paganization of our country. This process began in Europe several decades ago. And now it is happening here.
Of course, it has never been the case historically, that everybody in a mostly-Christianized society actually believed in the Christian faith. There have always been hypocrites and heretics; those who were stubborn unbelievers, and those who were chronically indifferent.
But what’s happening now, is that the beliefs and values of the Christian faith are being explicitly repudiated to an ever increasing extent. And a new set of pagan-like beliefs and values is taking their place.
It is truly heart-breaking to ponder how many of the firstborn of our land are sacrificed on the altar of the new American “Molech” - the god of self-indulgence and convenience - in the abortuaries of our cities.
It is truly heart-breaking to ponder how the natural affections that people should have for each other in families, are now often betrayed and obliterated by all sorts of bodily and psychological abuse; by the physical and emotional abandonment of children, and by the despising and belittling of parents.
And we here - even here - are not unaffected by this. It’s all around us. Through the revived paganism that surrounds us, and attacks us, the devil is attempting to draw us away from Christ, and away from the life-giving love of the God of Israel that has been made known to us in Christ.
What’s also happening - both in Europe and in America - is that after Christianity has been largely marginalized or even destroyed, a militant form of Islam then comes in, to capitalize on this spiritual confusion and aimlessness. And in other parts of the world - where the old-fashioned kind of paganism never completely disappeared - Islamic fanatics are likewise pushing their way in: using intimidation and violence to silence the Christian witness that would otherwise give the people in those places a life-giving alternative to both paganism and Islam.
The whole world needs a renewal of what Simeon was talking about in today’s text. Our society, too - and each of us individually - need a renewal of what the liberating and forgiving gospel of Jesus brings to people.
We and all people need the light of Christ, to break through the dark clouds of unbelief and despair. We and all people need the revelation of Christ, to vanquish the demonic lies that have captivated so many minds and hearts.
And in Christ, as we believe the promises of Christ, God will enlighten us. God will transform our minds and hearts.
And God will draw us back to himself, and fill us with an eternal hope built firmly on the perfect life that Jesus lived for us, on the sacrificial death that Jesus offered for us, and on the glorious resurrection that Jesus experienced for us, to give us victory over all our fears.
The God who sent his Son into the world, and who sent the message of his Son to all nations of the world, will not abandon us. And he will not abandon his struggling people - and those who will become his people through faith - in any nation where they may live.
I’ve always believed this. And now, through circumstances that dropped upon me unexpectedly and much to my surprise, I have been divinely called - or perhaps better, divinely pushed and pulled - to put that God-given belief into action in some new ways.
Most of you know that I was a missionary professor in Ukraine, from 1997 to 2005, when I had more youthful energy, more hair, and less weight. I thought those adventurous days were behind me, and that I would be able to serve this congregation, calmly and peacefully, for the remainder of my active years as a minister of the gospel.
There’s a part of me that still wants to do that. But there’s a slightly bigger part of me that has been persuaded that I need to do something else instead. So, on January 1st I will begin my new duties as the World Outreach Administrator for the Evangelical Lutheran Synod.
I would ask that, in the future, when you chant in the Communion Liturgy that familiar text from Simeon, which confesses Jesus to be a light to lighten the gentiles, and the glory of God’s people Israel, you would in that moment offer a very brief, silent prayer for me and for the work that I have now been called to do for the advancement of world missions: on behalf of the congregations of our synod - including this congregation.
May God increase our wisdom and strengthen our faith, as we face unknown challenges and obstacles. May God use us as his instruments, as we proclaim the alone-saving Gospel of Jesus Christ: in bringing the light of Christ to many who are now enshrouded in spiritual darkness; and in revealing Christ’s reconciling forgiveness, life, and salvation to many who are now alienated from God.
May Simeon’s confession of who Jesus is, also be our confession. And may that confession give shape to our words and actions - in Princeton, Minnesota, and among all people, all around the world - so that by the power of his Word which we speak, God’s name will be glorified; God’s grace will heal and comfort the souls of men; and God’s kingdom will come, and his will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
“Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.” Amen.