Corey J. Mahler | Confident.Faith

Readings Revelation 7:2–17 Psalm 149 1 John 3:1–3 Matthew 5:1–12 Homily Transcript We do not commonly use seals these days (at least outside the legal profession and certain hobbies, and, even then, they are still rare), and so it is worth mentioning what a seal actually is. The word used here in the Greek is σφραγις — a combination of sounds that is not particularly pleasing to the English ear, but the Greeks are another people, and other peoples are, indeed, other, and have different sensibilities. At any rate, a σφραγις (I will go back to calling it a seal) has two core meanings: first, the instrument (often a ring) used to make a seal and, second, the seal itself. Figuratively, then, it may be anything that confirms or authenticates. When a man seals something, he is affirming that the contents are as he intends or he is asserting ownership. Such seals are still used by some of us who write physical letters. Now, some may immediately think of the opening of Romans (among other parts of Scripture): Παυλος δουλος Χριστου Ιησου — Paul, a servant (or slave) of Christ Jesus. This is a good instinct, but there is a nuance here that must be highlighted: Letters, for examples, are sealed — σφραγιζω, σφραγις; slaves, for example, are branded — στιγματιζω, στιγμα. Yes, Galatians 6:17: εγο γαρ τα στιγματατου Ιησου — ”From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.“ —, but that is a topic of another time. The two — the seal and the brand — are related. We are, of course, slaves of God, for that is one of the senses of δουλος, but we are certainly more than that, for we are called sons (and daughters) of God, and so Revelation speaks of the mark on the forehead (a place where one might brand, for example, a runaway slave — a fugitivus [from which we get “fugitive”]) not as brand, but as seal. But what is this seal? We know that a seal is a mark of ownership (this is obvious enough from the passage even without knowing anything of etymology, et cetera), and so the question is: When does God mark us as one claimed by Him in Christ? Again, the passage itself gives us (most of) the answer: “I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.“ There is only one ceremonial washing in which all Christians participate: Holy Baptism. Those who deny that Baptism is a Sacrament will simply prove incapable of exegeting this passage. The seal is placed by God, not by men. Now, some will try to contend that faith itself is the seal, but faith is the thing sealed, not the seal, for it is faith that distinguishes you as one claimed by Christ, and Baptism is the seal of that faith. It is in the waters of Baptism that you are washed in the blood of the Lamb and your dirty, sin-stained rags are transformed into white robes. Never let anyone — be it by foolishness or by malice — rob you of the truth of what Baptism is and what Baptism does: In your Baptism, God reached down from Heaven and sealed you as His child, redeemed and washed clean. There are those who will grasp at the fact that a minister did the actual sprinkling, pouring, immersing, or submersing, and say that that man baptized you and not God. Granted, the hands of a man poured the water over you or immersed you into the water. What of it? Who seals the saints in our passage from Revelation? Angels, acting on behalf and at the command of God. Would anyone deny that these saints are sealed by God Himself? Certainly no Christian would deny it. The same for Holy Baptism. What the hands of the agent do at the command of the principal is done by the hands of the principal himself. Your pastor or your father did not baptize you — God did. The same as I can say: Your sins are forgiven. In fact, I can — and certainly would — go beyond this privately. In private, I can very well say: Ego te absolvo. — I absolve you, I forgive your sins. To be absolutely clear: I am not doing so here and I will never do so publicly, for I hold to Article XIV: Niemand in der Kirche öffentlich lehren oder predigen oder Sakramente reichen soll ohne ordentlichen Beruf. — No one should publicly in the Church teach or preach or administer the Sacraments without a rightly ordered call. I am not a pastor, and, absent a rather large fish (or whatever the Appalachian equivalent is — I assume Bigfoot), I never will be one. It is your pastor’s duty to absolve you in the gathered congregation, and when he does so he speaks with the voice of God. Similarly, the man who baptized you did so with and as God’s hands. What then of those who are never baptized? First, I must address the spirit that all too often underlies such questions. When God gives a command, it is a sinful impulse to look for exceptions. God commands us to baptize all nations (yes, including the infants — hence all), and He commands you to be baptized. Second, I will address the actual question: Is Baptism absolutely necessary to or for salvation? I am tempted to give the default attorney response: “It depends.”, but I find this one better and more accurate: “Yes, but no, but yes.” I will explain. Yes, it is necessary to be baptized to be saved: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” (Mark 16:16). No, it is not absolutely necessary to be baptized to be saved — Baptism is one Means of Grace and edge cases do exist (I will not insult your intelligence by commenting on the thief on the cross). Yes, you must not denigrate the Sacrament of Baptism or refuse to be baptized to be saved — denigration and rejection of Baptism are both signs of apostasy and apostasy damns. So, yes, Baptism is a necessary part of the Christian life, but it is not absolutely necessary to be baptized to be saved, but only in the sense that there exist edge-case exceptions. Perhaps similarly, there are cases in which a poison may be prescribed as part of a specific medical treatment, but that fact does not mean you should consider the poison generally good. We can hardly think too much of Baptism, nor can we praise it too highly. Fools are they who would take the work of God and transform it into the work of men (as if such a thing could even be done). By what work of men could we ever be kept safe from the Day of Judgement, from the day of darkness and not light, from the day of gloom and not brightness? Surely the works of man cannot save: ‘We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, because by works of the Law no one will be justified.’; we are indeed saved by works — those of Christ. And yet there are those who will cry: ‘What of Sola Fide — by faith alone!?” To them we reply: Yes, certainly, we are saved by faith alone, but how does God bestow this faith that saves? We know the answer to this question, no matter how much other Christians may (to their great detriment and shame) hate the answer: the Means of Grace. Yes, of course, God the Holy Ghost kindles faith via the Word read or heard, but so, too, does He use Holy Baptism. And we must never forget what a Sacrament actually is: a physical sign plus the Word. Even in the Sacrament of Baptism, the Word is not absent, for water alone saves no one. Was Noah saved by the Flood? No. Was he saved by the Ark? No. He was saved by his faith in God. Do you believe Noah owned the only boat in the antediluvian world? And yet he alone was saved, because he believed God’s word. Similarly, it is not the water alone that saves us, for mere water only makes us wet (and, perhaps, cleans the body); no, it is the Sacrament of Holy Baptism — water and Word — that saves us by bestowing the free gift of faith. To those who would deny this truth, we can repurpose Luther’s comment on the Real Presence: “If a hundred thousand devils, together with all fanatics, should rush forward, crying, How can bread and wine be the body and blood of Christ? I know that all spirits and scholars together are not as wise as is the Divine Majesty in His little finger.” I do not care what the world says about Baptism, for I know what God says about Baptism. And yet I would be remiss if I did not comment on ‘infant Baptism’. And so let me begin by saying there is no such thing. Is there such a thing as ‘man’s Baptism’ or ‘woman’s Baptism’ or ‘German Baptism’ or ‘French Baptism’ or ‘American Baptism’? No. And so, also, there is no such thing as infant Baptism, for the Baptism of an infant is simply a Baptism. There is a great irony inherent in the arguments of those who deny Baptism to young children — perhaps they should read what Christ said about preventing little children from coming to Him; those who argue (to be unduly charitable) against baptizing young children would take Baptism and make it the work of human hands, which is to say that they inevitably believe they they did something when they were baptized. One would think that the passive verb would tell them something. But let us, here, recall what Christ says of those who have not been converted: He says that they are dead in their sins and trespasses. In my experience, corpses do not act. In fact, infants, have an advantage, as their wicked wills do not yet resist the Spirit so actively nor so vigorously as those of adult sinners. In Baptism, the Spirit finds the infant no so much more cooperative as less uncooperative than the adult. But what of the adult convert who comes to the font having already been converted by the Word? Such a man was surely dead in his sins and trespasses prior to his conversion, but he comes to his Baptism already believing the promises of God. Does such a man do anything in his Baptism? The answer, of course, is that he does precisely as much as he did in his conversion: nothing. Now, certainly, he walks to the font and professes his faith before the congregation, but in Baptism itself he does nothing, for it is God Who meets Him in the water and marks him as one redeemed by Christ the crucified. Just as such a man undoubtedly walked (or, more likely, drove) to church to hear the Word or read it by himself, but still did nothing in the matter of his own conversion, for it was God Who met him in the Word and bestowed upon him the free gift of faith. That our hypothetical man drove himself to church or purchased (and actually read) a Bible means something — just as the good works of unbelievers are still good within a certain frame —, but nothing he did or could do justifies him, gives him the free gift of faith: God alone can and does bestow belief. Some argue against this on grounds that more or less boil down to an objection based on a lack of ‘consent’. I would have to ask such a man if he would object to the man who uses the defibrillator to restore his cardiac rhythm or the man who performs CPR to save him from brain damage or death or the man who saves him from overdose with naloxone. You cannot save yourself from temporal death in any of these situations; you cannot save yourself from eternal death in any situation by any means — only God can save you from eternal death and He has ordained two Means by which He will do so. You did not ‘consent’ to your creation; you did not ‘consent’ to your birth; you did not ‘consent’ to your death, and nor will you; and you cannot ‘consent’ to your rebirth in the waters of Holy Baptism or your resurrection on the Last Day. Consent surely has a proper place and time and purpose, but it has nothing to do with your salvation — except in the negative, for you can certainly object, and you can certainly reject God’s free gift. So do not reject your Baptism, do not take off the white robes you were given, lest you hear the words of the Master from Matthew 22: “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?” Man is not spirit alone (and interactions with the spirit of a man are typically mediated by the flesh — by the senses — anyway), and so God has not left us with no way for the flesh, for the body, to interact with His good promises. God has graciously provided us with the Sacraments — Holy Baptism, in which we are sealed in Christ, and the Lord’s Supper, in which the faith given to us in the waters of Baptism is strengthened — and we should esteem and cherish these gifts, for they are, respectively, our seal and confirmation that we are, indeed, invited wedding guests who belong at the glorious feast at the consummation of all things. Amen.

Numbers 6:22–27 Psalm 8 Galatians 3:23–29 Luke 2:21 We will ignore the Gospel today — the Gospel reading anyway, and, even then, only until the end of this homily. Instead, let us, somewhat appropriately, begin with the first reading: For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, / and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, / and her salvation as a burning torch.   — Isaiah 62:1 (ESV) Before we turn to the Christian understanding of this verse, let us look at how a Dispensationalist or a so-called American ‘Evangelical’ might interpret it. First, they will typically conflate Zion and Jerusalem — this is sometimes permissible and so of only minor concern. Second, they will interpret both terms as referring to physical locations: the city of Jerusalem and the hill on which David built his city. This is the heart of their error, but they go further. Third, they will restrict both of these terms by making them refer explicitly to the Jews. This, of course, gives away the game even more obviously than the second point: They are simply rank Judaizers. From a little earlier in Isaiah: It shall come to pass in the latter days / that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains — Isaiah 2:2 (ESV) The Judaizers would have us believe this is a literal, physical mountain. Well, we have survey data and satellite imagery. How tall is ‘Mount’ Zion? It is a hill outside Jerusalem and it is approximately twenty-five hundred feet above sea level. There is a peak nearby, under which the Appalachian Trail passes; that peak, Clingman’s Dome, is the tallest peak in Tennessee, and it is six thousand, six hundred, and forty-three feet tall. It is more than two and a half times the height of Mount Zion, which the Judaizers would tell us is literally the tallest literal mountain. I have included in the written (which is to say online) version of this homily a picture of my dog from one of my camping trips with him; the picture was taken on a rock outcropping just north of Big Baldy, which is the same height in meters as Mount Zion is in feet, which is to say that Big Baldy is more than eight thousand feet tall. The claim of the Judaizers is laughable, but is is even more pernicious. If the Old Testament is meant merely for the Israelites — the ‘Jews’ —, then it is not actually good news at all. But the Old Testament is good news and it is not the ‘book of the Jews’ or any other such nonsense. Was Adam a Jew? Was Noah a Jew? Was Japheth a Jew? Was Job a Jew? Was Abraham a Jew? The answer for all of these is, of course: No. The Gospel was first delivered to Adam and Eve (and Satan, but it is not good news for him, or for his children); neither Adam nor Eve was a Jew. When Scripture speaks in terms of promises and ultimate things, ‘Jerusalem’ is the true city of God — the heavenly Jerusalem, the new Earth. Similarly, ‘Zion’ is the gathering of all believers into the presence of God; where God is, there Zion is. These terms are, thus, somewhat interchangeable, even if there is a difference in nuance. As a Christian, you should find comfort and truth in the Old Testament; and you should read the Old Testament with the sure, certain, and firm faith that the promises therein contained apply to you as an adopted son of God. We, the Church, are the true Israel of God, the promises have always been ours and will always be ours. Thus, let us turn to the twin issues of adoption and inheritance. A central part of the Christian religion is the adoption of Christians as sons of God. Now, there are some very important differences between Roman adoption (the context of Scripture) and modern adoption (a false lens), but I will write more on that in the near future. For our purposes, it suffices for us to recognize that what is in view is inheritance. To be an adopted son of God in Christ is to inherit eternal life. This, of course, is the heart of the Gospel. Christ’s work, His life, His death, and His resurrection are good news because they enable us to become adopted sons of God and inheritors of eternal life in Paradise — in Zion, in the new Jerusalem. But what do we say to those who would draw some distinction between Israel and the Church? On the one hand, we should not forget that mockery is a Christian option, but, on the other hand, we should also give a substantive answer, if not to the Judaizers, then at least for our Christian brothers. One of God’s names in Scripture is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For now and here, I will not focus on why this is one of God’s names; rather, I will focus on what it means, in the context of Scripture, to be a ‘son of Abraham’. Hear the words of Christ as recorded by St. John: “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did. …. “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” John 8:39b–41a, 42b–47 (ESV) He calls those Jews sons of Satan instead of sons of Abraham, and He says that true sons of Abraham would follow in his works. Now, we must remember that the works for which Abraham is praised were undertaken in faith — only those works undertaken by the faithful have any value. But let us turn to the great Epistle to the Galatians to see what Scripture says about the ‘sons of Abraham’: Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written, “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; / break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more / than those of the one who has a husband.” Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman. — Galatians 4:21–31 (ESV) It is not those who are born “according to the flesh”, sondern those who are “born through promise” who are these true sons of Abraham. How is one born through promise? Look no further than the baptismal font. To be born through promise to be born again — it is to have faith. It is those who believe whom Scripture calls sons of Abraham. But what of the physical, blood descendants of Abraham who have no faith in Christ? Christ Himself calls them ‘children of their father, the devil’. For Christians, then, the matter is closed. Christians (i.e., those who believe in Christ) are children of Abraham according to the promise, and the Jews are children of Satan. But let us look at another aspect of this. Naturally, adoption and inheritance are matters of headship and to be children of Abraham means to be inheritors of the promised Seed (i.e., Christ), but the promise did not come first to Abraham. The promise traces to the Garden: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel.” — Genesis 3:15 (LXX) It is to Adam — the father of us all — that the Gospel is first delivered — from the very mouth of Christ, no less. We speak often of ‘the old Adam’, but we would do well to remember that there is also ‘the new Adam’, which is often used to refer to Christ, but is also true of Father Adam. Adam was no dullard — he heard and believed the promise of God spoken in the Garden. Adam believed; Adam was and is a Christian. With regard to this new, reborn Adam, you and I and all Christians are sons of Adam — both literally by blood descent and according to promise, for Christ is His head as well as ours. Adam in his day was prophet, priest, and king and he taught the faith to his sons; not all were faithful, but the one true faith was preserved down the line to faithful Noah, who taught his sons: faithful Japheth, faithful Shem, and faithless Ham. (We could draw, here, an interesting parallel: Satan took one-third of the angels with him and one-third of man found damnation in Ham’s wickedness, but let us leave that aside for now.) We — and I mean my European brothers and sisters — are true sons and daughters of Japheth, for we share his faith. It is no less correct to call ourselves sons of Japheth than to call ourselves sons of Abraham, for the promise was for Urvater Japheth no less than for Shem, the father of Abraham. When we are brought to faith, we are restored into the godly line that descends from Adam through Noah to his sons and then into all the world where believers may be found. The believing Shemite may look to Shem as a true father of his great race. The believing Hamite may not be able to look to wicked, faithless Ham, but he may look to Grandfather Noah. And we, sons and daughters of Japheth and Europa, may look both to our many faithful ancestors before the fall into paganism and after the restoration of Christianity. None has a spotless genealogy; even Christ must count the pagan, the unbeliever, the apostate, and the prostitute among His ancestors. We do not honor our ancestors — a demand of the Fourth Commandment — by following in their unfaithfulness, but by faithfulness to the one true ancestral faith — Christianity. When we are adopted as sons of God, we do not cease to be lineal, blood descendants of our forefathers — the African remains a Hamite and the European remains a Japhethite; rather, we return to the faith of our godly forefathers. The Christian is no rootless cosmopolitan, sondern one who honors both God and his forefathers. God does not play with dice and God does not make mistakes; He Who formed you in the womb and knew the number of your days even before you drew your first breath is also He Who set the times and the boundaries of the nations. What God does, He does not do idly or without purpose. Scripture tells us that the kings of the nations will bring the glory of the nations into the new Jerusalem. You were born into a body, a time, a place, a nation, a people. Your blood is neither accident nor incident, but essential and immutable. If you were born a man, then you will be a man in and for eternity; if you were born a woman, then you will be a woman in and for eternity; and the same holds for German, French, Dutch, Russian, Japanese, and American. Faithful sons and daughters do not deny or denigrate their ancestry or their ancestors, and Christians are true and faithful sons and daughters, for this is commanded by God: Thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother [that it may be well with thee and thou mayest live long upon the earth]. Let us end, then, as promised, with the Gospel reading, or, more accurately, a (very close) paraphrase of a portion of it: Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace according to Thy Word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the nations and the glory of Thy people Israel. We end our Service of the Sacrament with these words, for they express the hope of all Christians: To depart in peace and grace, having seen and believed the promises of the Lord. We see these promises every Sunday in the Sacrament and we confess our belief every Sunday in the Creeds. It is the Gottesdienst, the Divine Service, that prepares each and every one of us for death. God knows the number of our days, but we do not; the Christian takes from this comfort instead of fear or anxiety. I am Christ’s and He is mine. And the Good Shepherd has never yet — and never will — lose one of his sheep. He is the Light to lighten the nations and we are His people — the true Israel. Whenever — and however — death may come — and it will certainly come for each of us —, we know that Christians depart in peace, for our eyes have seen the salvation of the Lord, and will behold His face when they open on the other side of the veil of death, for our God has defeated death and the grave. Amen.

Revelation 14:6–7 Psalm 46 Romans 3:19–28 John 8:31–36 Matthew 11:12–19 The Jews were incensed: ‘We have never been enslaved.’ How could this Man tell them that He could set them free if they were not slaves? Surely some heard His words as holding the promise of deliverance from Rome — surely a sentiment with which we can nearly commiserate on Reformation Day. Others seemed to call to mind more literal, physical chains than those that bind Satan in the pit. Undoubtedly, they recalled to mind the slavery of their ancestors in Egypt, but they had never — themselves — been slaves. How could this Man set them free from a slavery they had never known? "Truly, truly, I say to you everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin." Christ immediately clarifies the matter for them. They are not slaves in irons — at least not physical ones; they are spiritual slaves — slaves to sin. All men are slaves to sin. This is what the Law — as mirror — shows us. Lex semper accusat. (Do carefully note that that is semper, not sola — always, not only.) As slaves, we could not remain forever in the house — in this case, the Kingdom of God. The Son remains forever, and we must be reborn — adopted by the Father through the blood of the Son — to remain in the House. ‘We have never been enslaved.’ He went to His own people, but they received Him not. The Jews rejected the Messiah — they still do so today. They were judged temporally for their faithlessness in AD 70 when Rome sacked Jerusalem and burned the Temple. Could the symbolism be more clear? The curtain rent in twain upon Christ’s death — He bridged the divide between God and man; the Temple destroyed in AD 70 — God dwells in the hearts of believers, not in a house of stone, and the apostate Jews are judged and condemned. To this temporal judgement will be added eternal damnation for all who do not repent and believe. And yet, do we not hear the same refrain from many today? ‘How can you set me free? I have never been a slave!’ Ah, but you are a slave. Irony upon irony, many, today, who are slaves are slaves to ‘freedom’, to ‘liberty’. But let us be more specific: Many today are slaves to the idea, to the concept, to the abstraction of freedom or liberty. There is nothing of freedom or liberty in what many advance as an unfettered good. Is it freedom to believe a lie? Is it liberty to be damned for eternity? Fool, do you believe that the laws of men will carry any weight in the Courts of God? ‘Lord, Lord, did we not preserve ‘freedom of religion’? Did we not uphold ‘freedom of speech’?’ You who would elevate the laws of men to idols, who would raise the Constitution above the Second Commandment may one day pay the price for your sins. ‘How can you set me free? I have never been a slave!’ Fool, you are enslaved to a thousand desires, serving a thousand different masters. You are a slave to the device in your hand and the views in your heart. You are a slave to your unbiblical ideology and your venal desires. You are a slave to worry, doubt, fear, anxiety, and despair. You do not trust God as you ought. In what do you place your hope and your trust? What do you fear, love, and trust? Those are your idols. It is from those that Christ would set you free. ‘How can you set me free? I have never been a slave!.’ When you think of slavery, you almost certainly think first of irons and slave ships. You are a product of the Enlightenment and you do not even realize it. Search the Scriptures for a condemnation of chattel slavery — you will not find one. Do you believe that chattel slavery is a moral evil? You expose your slavery to the spirit of the age. Fool, would you set the things of men above the things of God? His thoughts are higher than your thoughts and His ways higher than your ways, and yet you would elevate your ways and your thoughts above His? What you call ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’ God calls slavery, and the slavery you call a moral evil God does not condemn. The sons of God have a different Spirit from the spirit of this age. Which one do you have ears to hear? ‘How can you set me free? I have never been a slave!’ And that is the problem. Παῦλος δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ. Can you, with Paul, declare — truthfully, honestly, earnestly — that you are a slave of Christ? (Let us not engage in the modern nonsense of "bondservant".) Of course you cannot, because you believe slavery to be a natural evil. How could you possibly be a slave of Christ if slavery is an inherent evil? Fool, you have chosen slavery to the world and her ‘god’ over slavery to the one true God. His yoke is easy and His burden is light, but the devil and the world appeal to your sinful flesh with the appearance of wisdom and promises of pleasure. Our culture has chosen ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’ over God, lies over truth, and Hell over Paradise. What we see around us today is only the beginning of the judgements to come. The Israelites were not special — the Jews are not special. Jerusalem was not special — no city build by human hands is. Do not fall to idolatry in believing that your tongue or your hands will save you — vain are the works of men. Lex semper accusat. Hear the voice of the Law and tremble. See your sins and despair. Recognize the wickedness of our culture and fear. God will not be mocked and His patience can be exhausted. How long do you think He will bear with a nation that murders tens of millions of children, that produces countless hours of pornographic so-called ‘entertainment’ (and it matters little whether such is sexual, violent, or both in nature), that pursues foreign policies that are — at best — at odds with Scripture, that sexualizes and mutilates those children it does not outright murder, that not only tolerates but promotes — at home and abroad — all manner of sexual and other perversions, that deifies freedom and liberty, that tolerates an endless array of false teachers, that calls evil good and good evil? Do you presume upon the mercy and forbearance of God? The axe is laid to the root of the tree and the fire is kindled — repent, turn, and live, or follow our culture into the abyss, into the outer darkness where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Do you tolerate false teaching? false teachers? Our culture — under the old refrain of ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’ — calls this good; Scripture would call this a violation of the Law. Tolerance is not a moral good. God alone is good, and God is Truth. All false statements — all lies — about God’s Word or God’s Creation are pernicious, vile sin, and to tolerate such sin is to become complicit in it. Do not fall for the siren song of our culture; do not follow the devil and the world into the pit; do not obey your sinful flesh; do not enter into the fire that does not consume; do not choose eternal death. The lies of the world seem, at first, pleasant. ‘You can be free.’ ‘You can be liberated.’ ‘You don’t have to be a slave.’ ‘You can forge your own path.’ Ultimately, all such lies boil down to one central, false claim: ‘You can be your own god.’ or, in the original Snake: ‘You [can] be like God.’ A truly ridiculous lie. God is the one true Infinite; you are a finite. He is the Creator; you are a creature. You would make more progress trying to extinguish the sun by spitting at it than you will make if you try to elevate yourself to God’s level. What became of the last creature to mount such an attempt? »"I saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven."« The last creature to attempt to rise to God’s level was cast down from Heaven — and took many with him. It was for Satan and his fallen angels that Hell was constructed, but many — most, even — men will join him where the fire does not consume and the worm does not die. There is only one God, and you are not He. We are fallen; we are sinful; we are doomed to die; but thanks be to God that we are men and not angels, for Christ has died for us. By the Passion and the blood and in the waters of Holy Baptism we are made sons of the Kingdom, coheirs with Christ, our one true Head. Do not reject the gift of faith, do not neglect the Word or the Sacraments. Christ comes to you as He has chosen to do so — in Word and Sacrament. Many listen to the devil, the world, and the sinful flesh, but the sheep hear the voice of their Shepherd. Do not attempt to work your way to God, "[f]or by the works of the Law no man will be justified in His sight[.]" Yes, you must do good works, but these flow from faith — they do not justify you. In fact, you cannot do good works except in faith. Hear the words of Christ: »"Apart from Me, you can do nothing."« And do not make the Roman mistake — good works are not such things as pilgrimages, monastic life, and other such nonsense. What does Scripture say of good works? ‘God has prepared them beforehand that we should walk in them.’ God, in HIs perfection, does not need our good works — He is never hungry or cold or in prison, but our neighbors are. Feed the hungry; clothe the cold; house the homeless; visit those in prison. Do these according to your vocation and your means. Talents, abilities, gifts, resources are not distributed evenly, and this is according to God’s wisdom; use what you have been given to serve your neighbor — and ‘neighbor’ does mean neighbor, the man beside you. If you have been given the ability to teach, then teach the things of God, teach the truth. If you are a parent, then raise your children well and instruct them in the things of God. If you are a tradesman, then do good work for a fair wage or a fair price. If you are a magistrate, then seek justice and do not show partiality. If you are wealthy, then care for the poor and provide for the Church. Do according to your station, your abilities, and your resources. Serve your neighbor, and, in so doing, serve God. Above all else, hold true to God — uphold all truth, for all truth is one. Do not teach falsely and do not tolerate those who do so. Remember your Baptism — you are a child of God, a sheep of His pasture. The Good Shepherd laid down His life for His sheep; by His blood you have been cleansed, you have been made whiter than snow. »"It is finished!"« There is nothing you need do for your salvation: "For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the Law." He was perfect because you could not be; He performed the work you could not. That is freedom and that is liberty. You are no longer a slave to sin, death, and the devil. You are a child of God, so: »"Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His Judgment has come, and worship Him Who made Heaven and Earth, the sea and the springs of water."« Amen.

Genesis 2:18–25 Psalm 128 Hebrews 2:1–18 Mark 10:2–16 Adam walked with God in the Garden., and yet God says that it is not good for man to be alone. We tend to pass over this section of Scripture too quickly. Man, in Paradise, walks with God, and yet God states unequivocally that Creation is incomplete because man has no helper fit for him. God makes woman specifically for man — more, all other creatures are made from the dust, but woman is made from man. Adam immediately recognizes what God has done: This at last is bone of my bonesand flesh of my flesh[.] And so ‘a man will leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.’ This does not mean abandoning one’s parents (for those who do that have forsaken the faith and are worse than unbelievers); rather, it means a shifting of priorities. For the woman, her husband assumes the role of head that her father had theretofore held; for the man, he must care and provide for and protect his wife. The wife is the fruitful vine and the husband is the vinedresser — so also the Church and Christ. “And the two shall become one flesh.” Now, this certainly encompasses the physical union — if it did not, then the woman could not be a fruitful vine filling the home with children — but it is more than that. However, we must get the basics correct before we can move on to more advanced matters. To be blunt: Marriage is sexual intercourse and sexual intercourse is marriage. This is why adultery is such an egregious sin — the man who lies with a married woman steals her from her husband and claims her for himself, and the woman who lies with a man who is not her husband steals and defiles her body, rejecting and violating her husband’s rightful headship. Again: Marriage is more than the physical union, but it is certainly not less — no marriage is truly valid until it is consummated. The natural — and inevitable — outcome of marriage (barring the physical effects of sin on our world and our bodies preventing it) is children. This is by God’s design. There is no better environment for raising children than a home with their biological parents who are still married to each other. And, again, this is why adultery is such egregious sin: Adultery is divorce and divorce is adultery. Adultery destroys homes and causes permanent (in this life) harm to any children in those homes. It is to our great shame that divorce is so easy and adultery is unpunished in our society. But let us return to children. We are told, explicitly, in Scripture, that God’s promises are ‘for us and for our children’. In the Old Testament, all males were circumcised on the eighth day. It was the duty of the head of the household to see that this was done. In the New Testament, the antitype (Baptism) has replaced the type (circumcision). The antitype is always greater, is always more complete than the type. Only males were circumcised — female members of the household were included in the covenant under their head (i.e., their fathers and then their husbands). Baptism, being the antitype, is available to both men and women, boys and girls. Some would contend that children should not be baptized. I would, first, ask where they find such a command in Scripture, and I would, then, second, highlight that they have taken Baptism — the antitype — and made it lesser than circumcision — the type. To contend that children were included in the Old Testament, but must now be excluded in the New Testament, is not merely wrong, but actually demonic — remember: all false doctrines are ‘doctrines of demons’. The Church has always baptized infants; the Church baptizes infants; the Church will — so long as the Earth endures — always baptize infants. But what of those who deny Baptism to children? The people brought βρεπη to Christ — that is, they brought Him their infants. The disciples attempted to prevent these parents from bringing their children to Christ and He rebuked them: ‘Let the παιδια (the children) come to Me, and do not hinter them.’ But Christ goes further: He says that the Kingdom belongs to such as those children and that no one will enter the Kingdom unless he receives it as would a little child. Some who teach falsely may be saved, but they endanger souls with their lies. We must pray that God enlightens them, and, if they will not be enlightened, that they will be struck mute. Better to enter the Kingdom with one’s tongue torn out than to enter the fires of Hell with one’s deceitful mouth intact. The women and children in ancient Israel — even though only males eight days old or older were circumcised — were covered by the head of the household. So today — the children of believing parents should be baptized. ‘This promise is for you and for your children.’ Under the headship of their Christian fathers, Christian children should be baptized. In the waters of Baptism, we are united to Christ as our one true Head; we become part of His body — the Church. It is evil to deny to children this union with Christ on the grounds of (faulty) rationalism and enthusiasm. Satan loves unbaptized children. There are, ultimately, two ‘prime’ heads: Christ and Satan. Those who have not passed through the waters of Baptism and, thereby, from death to life and from the devil’s kingdom to Christ’s Kingdom have Satan has their head; such persons are, as we all once were, dead in sin and trespass. We who have been baptized and believe are no longer members of the devil’s kingdom, slaves to sin and death; we have been given new life and we have Christ as our Head. Baptism is the first death and the first resurrection; those who experience the waters of Baptism will not taste the second death. But do not tempt God and do not return to your old ways. Run the race to win — persevere to the end. Yes, you will stumble and even fall, but Christ will be there to lift you back to your feet — He will lose none of the sheep the Father has placed in HIs hands. ‘Open-eyed my grave is staring, / even there I’ll sleep secure.’ There are some Lutheran graves with two (Latin) words on them: “Baptizatus sum.” — “I am baptized.” You are a child of God — you belong to Him. Christ bought you with His blood. In the first Adam — the head of our race — all men sinned; in the second Adam — Christ — all are offered new life in the waters of Holy Baptism. Christ is the Head of all those who have passed from death to life. He is the Head of the Church. But we are an unfaithful bride — we stray even after our Baptism and we must continually return to the Word and the Sacrament for the forgiveness of our sins and the renewal and strengthening of our faith. To the pharisees that tried to entrap Him, Christ declared that divorce was not part of God’s good plan, and that is good news for us: Christ washes His bride whiter than snow, and He will protect and preserve her. The Church will endure. Amen.

Numbers 11:4–6, 10–16, & 24–29 Psalm 104:27–35 James 5:1–20 Mark 9:38–50 Wealth is a blessing, but it is also a test. Will you be faithful with what God has given you? Or will the corrosion — the idleness — of your wealth testify against you at the Judgement? Do you trust in your wealth or do you trust in God? To trust in your wealth is to set it up in your heart as idol — as your god. For that in which you place your trust and to which you look for good is truly your god. But what can wealth actually buy? A new house, a fast car, and many other such things. There are men with enough wealth that their yachts have smaller yachts moored inside them, helipads for excursions, and entire theaters. ‘Fool, tonight your soul is required of you!’ They will take none of it with them, but their excesses will surely testify against them. As will the words of those who defend such things testify against them. Your wealth is not yours — you do not own or deserve a single penny. All you have comes from and belongs to God. The God Who can demand your soul certainly has dominion over your wealth. Just ask Job in Whose hands our material goods rest. Job’s faith is praised because it was steadfast and because he was faithful with much and with little. The poor widow still tithed. And what does Scripture say about tithing? Yes, certainly, we are — as Christians — free to determine how much we will give (n.b., how much, not if), but we must not ignore the words of Scripture. Not only does God condemn the Israelites for not tithing, He calls them robbers. Further, God — here — invites us to test Him. He challenges us: If we faithfully tithe, He will bless us. The faithful nation receives God’s blessings and gifts; the faithless nation receives the wages of sin. One need not be a prophet to discern the sort of nation in which we live today. We are richly blessed, certainly, but our wealth has become for us a snare and we are spiritually bankrupt. Or do you think that we live in a faithful nation? We are more decadent than Imperial Rome at her height. We sacrifice more children than all of Canaan combined. We are more depraved than Sodom and Gomorrah before the fire from Heaven erased their evil from the Earth. The Amorites took four hundred years for their wickedness to be complete; if nothing else, we are efficient — our wickedness will surely be complete before we hit three hundred years. Are we really such fools that we think God will simply overlook our sins, our manifest crimes, our deep and abiding evil? Yes, if we repent, God, in His infinite mercy and grace, will forgive us. But we do not repent — we are a nation of prideful, high-handed sinners. The entire calendar is slowly being taken over by celebrations of sexual degeneracy, and even pastors — let alone laity — seem unwilling merely to voice Scriptural truth. There is an ongoing — and worsening — epidemic of transsexualism, and the Church is largely silent. Aborted fetal tissue is used for medical experimentation and drug production, and the Church is largely silent. Those who fail to condemn evil become, thereby, complicit in the evil. If these are not the true End Times, then it will surely take a miracle to salvage the shipwrecked and sinking vessel that we call a country. Do we have a single faithful man in a position of power in the left-hand kingdom? Not a single one comes to mind. Perhaps there is a faithful man serving as city dogcatcher somewhere. Nations often receive the rulers they deserve. You may think: ‘What about freedom — of religion, et cetera — and liberty?’ You wicked servant. Who empowered you to relax the commands of God? ‘But surely,’ you may think, ‘there is a separation of Church and State?’ You illegitimate child of Satan and his ‘Enlightenment’. Where does Scripture separate the kingdoms in such a fashion? Where do the Confessions do so? The authors and signers of our symbolic books certainly did not believe in or advance such a separation, for it is wholly foreign to Scripture. Our Confession was presented to the Emperor by princes. Faithful rulers are a great blessing from God. Yet we find ourselves ruled by demons. In no small part, we have done this to ourselves. What battlefield have we not abandoned? For nearly a century, now, we have ceded the left-hand kingdom to evil men. Have we suddenly become Anabaptists? And the right-hand Kingdom fares hardly better. We are surrounded, inundated, overrun by heretics and the heterodox. Sects and schismatics alike proliferate, and we even export them abroad. We are, as a nation, a font of idolatry, false doctrine, faulty theology, and enthusiasm. And our own Synod is not immune. "[I]f the foundations are destroyed, / what can the righteous do?" A great many Christians have, historically, met deaths that the world would consider untimely. You should expect nothing better than martyrdom, and you should — with Job — thank and praise God in all circumstances. We have — in Christ and His Passion — already won the war, but we will not win every battle. But you need not worry, for the God Who created you from nothing and recreated you in the waters of Holy Baptism with His Word will just as easily raise the saint who goes to the lions or to the fire as the one who dies peacefully in his bed and is buried. We live in a fallen world, and it is seemingly occupied, at present, with attempting to find the nadir, but, of course, there is no bottom, no floor when it comes to sin. Things can always get worse. But they can also get better. We are called to make things better. Run the race to the end, serve faithfully, and hear Christ’s words: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’ As Lutherans, we know better than to fall for the Anabaptist lies of quietism, pacifism, and the avoidance of public offices. If Christians do not occupy public offices, then surely someone else will. We are the Church Militant. We are Christ’s body. It is incumbent upon us — it is our duty — to advance the Kingdom. Those who grow up in a Christian nation are — much like those who grow up in a Christian home — more likely to remain in the faith. Christ crucified for sinners is the heart of our faith — His blood washes us white as snow. But it may be our blood He uses to advance the Kingdom. May we not be found wanting. Amen.

Isaiah 50:4–10 Psalm 116:1–9 James 3:1–12 Mark 9:14–29 You may be operating under the belief that our reading from James does not apply to you. ‘I am not a teacher.’ you may say — ‘at least not a teacher in the Church’ you may think. And that may be true, in a strictly limited sense, but the proper understanding of Scriptural warnings and duties is seldom the strictly limited one. Are you a husband? You are a teacher with regard to your wife. Are you a parent? You are a teacher with regard to your children. The central issue for the teacher is the duty to speak the truth, and that is certainly not limited to religious matters. All truth is one. To teach falsely with regard to any truth is to become a false teacher and invite the stricter judgement. Certainly, it is a more egregious violation to stand up in the Church and lie about God or His Word, but do you for a second believe that God will ignore it when you lie about Him elsewhere? The God Who watches as a false teacher preaches works righteousness is the same God Who sees you put pronouns in your bio on social media. Or did you think that God would simply ignore Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok? And do not for a second believe that you will escape scrutiny by declining to take up the task of teacher. If you are a husband or a father — and you had best be the former if you are the latter — then I direct you to the undertitles in the Small Catechism: ‘As the head of the household should teach.’ Just as abortion does not preclude a woman from becoming a mother, but merely makes her the mother of a murdered child — of a child she murdered — so failing to properly teach your wife and children does not prevent you from becoming a teacher, but merely makes you a failed one. And mothers? You are also teachers of your children — God will require their souls from you no less than He will require yours from your husband. And so what does it mean to be a teacher? It is nothing more than to have a duty to instruct someone in the truth. This duty may be — to some degree — assumed, but is more often simply acquired. If God has given you the gift of intelligence, then know for a certainty that He will require from you that you put that gift to proper use. Of all the gifts God bestows, intelligence may be the most dangerous — although it could be debated how precisely the curve interacts with the danger. God does not bestow gifts randomly or without purpose. If God has blessed you with an agile mind, a keen intellect, or a sharp wit, then He has done so for a reason — and it is incumbent on you to make good use of your gift. Failing to use your gifts is just as much sin as is misusing them: From him to whom much has been given will much be required. You may be thinking ‘thank God I barely passed by classes’ or ‘good thing I got all Cs’, but, leaving aside the matter of the correlation between grades and intelligence, you should not be so quick to presume you have not fallen afoul of this duty simply because you are comfortably average, or even if you are significantly below average. To attempt to exercise a gift you have not been given is just as much a sin as failing to use a gift you do possess. If you are not a prophet, then prophesying is sin; if you are not called o teach, then teaching is a sin. And do not neglect the fact that a call to teach one person is not equivalent to a call to teach another. Wives, you are to teach your children; you are not to usurp your husband’s headship and attempt to teach him, nor are you to teach in the Church. Do you enjoy arguing on the Internet? You may be teaching — best make sure you are teaching the truth. Or do you think that you will evade God’s rules on a technicality? The Jews hang special ‘cords’ — called an "eruv" — to — per their rules, not God’s — delineate certain public spaces as private in an attempt to circumvent their fundamentally disordered understanding of what it means to keep the Sabbath. ("What does this mean? We should fear and love God that we may not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred, and gladly hear and learn it.") A sizable chunk of New York City is actually encompassed by an eruv. A reminder: God will not be mocked. And so what are the respective duties — teachers to students and students to teachers? The duty of teachers is simple — if by no means easy: teach the truth; do not mislead your students. Yes, it is a greater sin to lie directly about God, but lying about His Creation is still egregious sin. Do you hold that there are more than two genders or that they are not biologically determined? You are a false teacher. Do you adhere to Neo-Darwinian Evolution? You are a false teacher. Do you deny the reality of the nations? You are a false teacher. To deny any truth is to deny Truth. God’s Creation is a reflection and a product of His Nature; to deny the nature of Creation is to deny the Nature of God — is to lie about God. Teachers, you must speak the truth, no mater the consequences. Praevaleat veritas ruat caelum. The duty of students is to be teachable; in the words of our Isaiah reading, the student must be neither rebellious nor inclined to retreat to his former (incorrect) ways. But this is not a hapless or a mindless credulity — use what gifts and resources God has given you. Hold your teachers to the Word of God. Ultimately, it is the Scriptures that are your one infallible teacher and you must hold all other teachers to the standard of Scripture. This is not ‘me and my Bible under a tree’ — we are not Schwärmer; we stand in a long line of faithful teachers God has raised up to instruct and to protect His Church. We hold to the Confessions because they are faithful to Scripture, because they guide us along the strait and narrow. If you believe a teacher is in error, demonstrate the error from Scripture or the Confessions — if necessary or helpful, enlist the aid of other teachers. The wise teacher will thank you for the correction; the false teacher will reveal himself. God has provided us with a wealth of resources to guide us through this life, and we must make use of them — instruct your children from the Catechisms, read from the Scriptures with your spouse, attend Bible studies, listen to (good) podcasts. There is no excuse for ignorance. Never before in history have we had such a wealth of resources. Yes, there are dangers — false teachers who would lead astray — but God has not abandoned us and the Spirit will lead us into all truth using the Word and faithful teachers. Above all, hold true to the core of our faith: Christ crucified for sinners. Do not fall for the siren song of Gospel reductionism — do not deny the Law or the nature of reality — but boldly profess that all truth is one. The same God Who shed His holy, precious blood for you on the Cross is the God by, for, and through Whom all things were created. Do not deny Him by denying His Creation or His Nature. God will not be mocked. Amen.

Isaiah 35:4–7a Psalm 146 James 2:1–10, 14–18 Mark 7:24–37 For God shows no προσωποληψία — a word that appears only four times in Scripture: in the verse in Romans just quoted, in our reading from James, in Ephesians 6:9, and in Colossians 3:25. A curious word in Greek — if we take the ‘literal’ meaning, then it would be something like ‘face taking’, which sounds quite odd until we actually think about it. To commit the transgression of προσωποληψία is to regard that which is not relevant, or, as our study Bible puts it: ‘to judge unfairly on the basis of worldly criteria’. In our reading from James, this partiality is demonstrated by way of an example — the preferential treatment of the wealthy. But it is always morally wrongful to show preferential treatment to the wealthy? Would not such a blanket condemnation condemn such things as VIP tickets, private jets, luxury vehicles, expensive restaurants, and a whole host of other such things? If the prohibition is not properly understood, yes. But it is not a blanket condemnation, for we must look at the context: The condemned partiality is being shown in the Church with regard to irrelevant, worldly criteria. The wealth or poverty of an individual should not decide where he may or may not sit in the Church, and the poor should not be made to feel unwelcome. And yet the pastor stands before the congregation where others are not permitted to stand, and speaks words others are not permitted to speak. Ah, but that is not according to irrelevant, worldly criteria — the pastor is called and ordained, and so stands before the congregation properly and not due to any partiality. Similarly, we may provide preferential parking, seating, et cetera, to the old or the infirm. The issue is the appropriateness of the criteria we are employing as warrant for our actions. And so, in the words of Leviticus, we rise before grey hairs and honor our elders, but we do not permit the large donor to have his own parking space or a reserved pew, at least not because of his wealth. As you have undoubtedly noticed, this is a matter primarily of the right-hand Kingdom in our reading from James, but the rule applies in the left-hand kingdom as well. We are prohibited from perverting justice — we may favor neither the rich nor the poor. All truth is one, and to subvert justice is to pervert truth. The propriety of any of the aforementioned forms of special treatment afforded the wealthy is a separate matter — the central issue is justice (when dealing with the left-hand kingdom). But let us return to the right-hand Kingdom. In our Gospel reading — and do carefully note that — Christ calls a woman a ‘dog’. Or does He? The Greek word for ‘dog’ is κυων, but Christ calls her κυναριον, not god, but the diminutive ‘little dog’ or ‘puppy’ — the term you would use of a household pet. Perhaps His disciples missed His point, but the woman did not, and she answered Him in kind, saying that even the family dog feeds on the scraps. But what point was Christ making? He was testing her faith and instructing His disciples. There is nothing special about Jewish blood — the blood descendants of Abraham are not saved by their blood. There is only one Blood that saves, and it was spilled on Calvary, and we receive it in the Sacrament. Christ was not insulting the woman — He was teaching. He commends her for her faith while simultaneously making a polemical point against Jewish conceptions of how one is saved. Again: This is the Gospel reading. When Christ came, He healed the blind and the lame as our reading from Isaiah prophesied and the mute and the deaf as the second half of our Gospel reading related. And yet the Jews saw but did not see, heard but did not hear. Trusting in their lineage, many of them rejected the clear teaching of Scripture that we are saved by faith alone. And yet Judaizers persist to this day. Some take the form of ‘Messianic’ Jews, who insist on keeping the ceremonial law — a righteousness of works — by which none is saved — instead of faith. Others take the form of Dispensationalists and ‘Christian’ Zionists, who insist that the Jews are special in some way — a significantly more egregious partiality than that shown to the rich man in our reading from James. You are not saved by your blood — whether it is German or French or Dutch or Jewish or anything else; you are saved by His blood, by the holy, precious blood that Jesus Christ shed to cover the sins of the world. If you would be saved by your blood, then you will die in your sins. Solo Christo — by Christ alone — are we justified, washed in the blood of the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world. It is God Who sets the prisoners free, opens blind eyes and deaf ears, heals the lame and the sick, and makes us white as snow. Do not be deceived by false teachers who would preach another gospel and another righteousness — whether of the blood of men, the Law, or anything else. Outside Christ, there is no salvation. Extra ecclesiam nulla salus — by grace through faith we are made members of the Body of Christ, His Church. With God, there is no partiality. Amen.

Isaiah 64:1–9 Psalm 80:1–7 1 Corinthians 1:3–9 Mark 11:1–10 Mark 13:24–37 It is always darkest before the dawn, and things in our society certainly seem quite dark right now. We live in an apostate nation in an apostate time, and matters are certainly not — presently — trending upward. We undoubtedly commiserate with the psalmist in today’s reading: »O LORD God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers? You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure. You make us an object of contention for our neighbors, and our enemies laugh among themselves.« We are flooded with images and stories of suffering, depredation, and outrageous sin on a nearly constant basis. The misery rectangle in almost everyone’s pocket — or maybe even in your hand — hardly makes matters better. Our culture is full to overflowing with sins — open and notorious — that would make Sodom and Gomorrah blush. At the Judgement, the antediluvians will surely ask God why He spared us for so long. Assuredly, all that stands between our civilization and a watery grave is the rainbow. The state of the world may bring us to cry to God like Isaiah, to implore Him to “rend the heavens and come down”, to touch the mountains and make them smoke, to make “the [them] … quake at His presence[.]” We groan with the Creation, longing for the renewal of all things; we look for the awesome deeds of the Lord. And yet we must not allow our sinful flesh to use the wickedness of our country, our neighbors, and the times to excuse, to diminish, or to conceal our own wickedness. As the reading from Isaiah teaches of man in his natural, fallen state: “There is no one who calls upon [the name of the Lord].” As we confess, we are sinful and unclean; we sin in thought, word, and deed; and we justly deserve both present and eternal punishment. We are just as deserving of punishment — both temporally in this life and eternally in the next — as the rest of our fallen race. There are no righteous men. It is only God’s mercy, patience, and forbearance that keep this world from being swept away in an instant. God has promised never again to flood the entire world, but He has also sworn that this world will end by fire. We may be tempted, given the state of the world, that these are the End Times, but we must remember that only God knows the day and the hour. And yet the wages of sin is death, and so we, as mortal men, are never more than a few moments away from death — and it is appointed for man but once to die and then the Judgement. For us mortals, then, all times are end times. So what are we, as Christians, to do in times such as these? Two things: First, we are to do nothing. No one calls upon the name of the Lord because all are dead in sin and trespass, and the dead do not act. And yet we, Christians, are no longer dead. In the opening of First Corinthians, in his greetings, which comes just before our reading for today, Paul describes himself as “called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus”, and, lest there be any confusion, shortly afterward (and in our reading for today) Paul calls the Christians of Corinth, to whom he is writing, “called to be saints”. There is only one kind of Christian — the called, the Elect. If you believe today, it is not because of anything you did, for no good thing dwells in man’s fallen, sinful flesh; rather, faith is the free gift of God, bestowed via the Word and the Sacraments. You were chosen in Christ before the foundations of the Earth were laid. The faith brought forth in your heart and the regeneration of your soul are no less miraculous than the creation of the Universe. God spoke and there was light; through HIs words He brought for creation. God spoke and you were brought from death in sin and trespass to new life in the Spirit; where you were first given faith through hearing the Word proclaimed or through the water and the Word in Holy Baptism, it was the power of God that brought forth the miracle of faith in your heart. And in what does this faith repose trust? In what do we believe? We believe in Christ crucified for sinners. By His holy, precious blood, we are cleansed of all sin and unrighteousness. Some will ask: How do we know that we are among the Elect? Do not listen to those who tell you to look within yourself for the answer, for that is not where Scripture directs us. Scripture directs us to look outside ourselves, for God has ordained Means by which we receive Grace. We look to the Word and the Supper where the Spirit is active to strengthen faith, and we look to our Baptism. Baptizatus sum — I am baptized. In the words of our hymn: ‘Child of God, I gladly say it: I am baptized into Christ.‘ Our certainty rests entirely with Christ, not with us. In the words of our Epistle reading: “our Lord Jesus Christ … will sustain [us] to the end[.]” As Christ’s work was necessary and is sufficient and complete, we need do nothing. No works of our own ever could or ever would save us. And yet we are saved by works — Christ’s perfect work and His perfect sacrifice. Second, we are to joyfully do good works, not because they are necessary or merit justification or salvation, but because we have been regenerated and now, through the power of the Spirit, have the ability to participate in good works, to cooperate in sanctification. But what are these good works? By good works, we do not mean the sort of human traditions that are lauded by many. You need not go searching for good works, for God, in the words of Ephesians, has ‘prepared such works beforehand’ “that we should walk in them”. We look to the Ten Commandments and to our vocations and we find more opportunity for good works than we could pursue in a thousand years. To keep a home is a good work. To raise godly children is a good work. To care for God’s Creation —of which we are stewards — is a good work. To charge fair prices is a good work. In short, to live our lives where we are — where God has placed us — and to care for those whom God has entrusted to our care is the very heart of doing good works. To paraphrase Luther: ‘God does not need our good works, but our neighbor surely does.’ We know, of course, that good works do not merit justification, do not merit forgiveness of sins, do not merit eternal life, but that is not why we do them. We do good works because we are — as regenerated believers — able to do them. This is something the unregenerate cannot do. When we were without the Spirit, we were dead in sin and trespass and all our works were filthy rages — there is nothing good in fallen, unregenerate man. But we are no longer dead and we no longer serve sin as our masters with works leading to death; we have died to sin and to the flesh and we now live to Christ. In Baptism, we were joined in His death and brought back into new life. We, who once were dead, now live. This is not to say that we will, as Christians, now live sinless lives. Our flesh still clings to us and we will not be free of sin until we shed this mortal body, and put on a restored, imperishable, perfect body. But we need fear neither our infirmity nor death. Christ will sustain us to the end; He will complete the work He began when first we were gifted faith. When He chose you, He knew all your sins — and not just the ones you have already committed. Flee temptation and resist sin, but know that when you fall — and you will fall — there is forgiveness. There is forgiveness because He paid the price, not some of the price, not part of the price, not even most of the price, but all of the price. And that is the Good News: Forgiveness is the free gift of God, and it comes with eternal life. Amen.

Isaiah 42:14–21 Psalm 142 Ephesians 5:8–14 John 9:1–41 We are all born deaf and blind. Hearing, we do not hear; and seeing, we do not see. We know God’s Law, for it is written on our hearts — our consciences accuse us when we stray. We are all without excuse. We have become futile in our thinking, for we sin in thought; we have become futile in our speaking, for we sin in word; and we have become futile in our doing, for we sin in deed. All our suffering, every affliction, and all the evil and imperfection in this world are due to sin. No, you did not break your leg because you failed to tithe — probably. That is not how sin and consequences work. Many, however, operate under that false assumption — that individual afflictions can be traced to individual sins — but hear the words of Christ when He rejects His disciples’ presumption that the man born blind (or his parents) sinned and thereby brought about his condition. Every evil and every imperfection are traceable to sin because we live in a fallen world. When our first parents — Adam and Eve — sinned in the Garden, they ushered death into the world, and with death came decay and degeneration. The very good creation was subjected to futility, and so some men are born blind, some are born missing limbs, and some are stillborn. Great and terrible is the suffering in this world, because great is the power of sin. And lest we think too highly of ourselves, we sin each and every day. Not only original sin condemns us, but each and every one of our innumerable actual sins. We are true children of Father Adam. Naturally, we are sons and daughters of perdition, every bit as separated from God as the dragon in Revelation or as the snake in the Garden. Spiritually, we are conceived, born, and live in darkness, and we spread it everywhere we go. We do not love our neighbors as ourselves, and we certainly do not love God with our whole heart, mind, body, and strength. We justly deserve this present and then eternal punishment. One must wonder what Paul who spoke of certain sins done in secret as being too shameful even to mention would think of all that is not only done in the open but celebrated in our culture. The night is wretched, dark and deep, and evil seems to never sleep. And yet we know that a still more glorious dawn awaits. ‘For at one time we were darkness, but now we are light in the Lord.’ As Christ is the light of the world, so we have become light through our union with Him. But let us return to the man born blind, whose world was one of darkness. With very few exceptions, blind men in the ancient world had to support themselves via begging. It was an uncertain and unpleasant existence. Now see Christ stooping down to create mud with His saliva and His hands. Our text comes from John, who also wrote Revelation, but let us go to the other end of the Bible for a moment — to Genesis. Unlike all else in Creation, which God merely spoke into existence, God formed man from the dust; He, like a potter, took earth and formed it into a man — Adam, father of our race. Then God breathed the breath of life into that lump of clay and it became a living being. The mouth that breathed that breath of life in Genesis is the very mouth that spits in the dust to make mud here; and the very hands that formed Adam from the dust in Genesis here form mud to restore sight to a son of Adam. The true Good News is Christ’s victory over sin and death and our adoption as sons and daughters of the Kingdom, but He also gave us glimpses of the physical restoration that will attend the life to come. Never before had a man born blind had his sight restored, and yet Jesus does so. The man’s blindness was a consequence of sin’s corruption of Creation. The wages of sin is death, and physical imperfection and corruption attend death. Christ’s healing of the man born blind was a little of the Kingdom breaking into the present world — a hint of what is to come. It is easy to miss the true nature of this miracle (although its uniqueness indicates the true wonder of it). The human brain is plastic, which is to say some regions can be retasked under certain circumstances — say, if you were born blind. Not only did Christ heal whatever physical malformation made the man blind (whether of the eye, the optic nerve, or something else), but He also created the wiring in the man’s brain that is necessary for sight. This is an even greater miracle than the healing of the paralyzed. Now, we still live in a sinful and fallen world, and so we will not always receive the healing we desire. Injury, sickness, and death are still very much part of this world we inhabit. It is a matter of ‘already’ and ‘not yet’. On the one hand, the Kingdom is already here — you were raised in Baptism to new spiritual life, the first resurrection — but, on the other hand, we are waiting for the fullness of the Kingdom that is not yet here — sin and death are conquered, but will not fully pass away until the Second Coming. As an heir to the Kingdom, you will never truly die — never see the second death, but, as a fallen human being, you will still taste death, but only of your now-imperfect body that will be raised perfect and imperishable. Just as Christ healed the blind man and then sought Him, so will He one day call you forth from your grave. Death could not hold Him Who had no sin, and death will not hold you, as you have been washed in the blood of the Lamb and made whiter than snow. At the right time, God sent Christ into the world to die for sinners, and nothing could delay or thwart His rescue. You and I were captives, sold under sin. There was nothing we could have done to free ourselves; we could never have paid the price. But Christ paid our debt on the cross. No work of our own would have ever been sufficient, but that is the Good News: We are freely justified for His sake, due His merit. His righteousness is imputed to us. Not only have our sins been washed away, but our Father in Heaven has promised not even to remember them. Many of the pages in Heaven’s record of your life are blank, because your sins were washed away by the blood of the Lamb. You are Christ’s and He is yours, and nothing will snatch you from His hand. Your name is written in the Book of Life. So, rejoice with David, for the Lord is your refuge, your mighty fortress, and the righteous will surround you. Yes, there will be trials, pain, and suffering in this life, but the victory has already been won. Death cannot hold you, for death has been robbed of its sting. Christ has bound death and the devil, and now we plunder his kingdom. In Word and Sacrament, Christ comes to us, and we, as children of the light, walk in the light and share with others what was freely and abundantly given us. And just as with our salvation, we need not fear when we share the Good News, for it is God Who will do the work. So let us work while it is still day, buy joyously in the security of a victory already won and a Savior Who never fails, a Lord Who guides, and a God Who loves us. Amen.

Exodus 17:1–7 Psalm 95:1–9 Romans 5:1–8 John 4:5–30, 39–42 Why do we test God? Has not our Father told us that He watches over and cares for us? And yet we doubt. At Meribah, the Jews grumbled against Moses because they did not trust God. In the words of Moses: “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” Why do we test the Lord? We test the Lord because we do not truly trust Him. We worry about almost everything. We fear what tomorrow may bring. We harden our hearts and refuse to cast our cares upon our Lord. We want to have control. We want to believe that what will happen in our lives is in our own hands, and the outcome will depend upon our own efforts — upon our work. More, we want to keep parts of our lives secret; we want to hide — even from God — so much of what we think and do. Do you not know that what is done in secret will be proclaimed? Before God, deep darkness is as light and night as day. Nothing is hidden from His eyes. And it is not only your actions that condemn you, for God knows also all that you have failed to do and He knows your every thought. He knows the anger and the malice you harbor toward others, and He knows the zeal with which you pursue your own selfish ends. In fact, God knows everything — yes, He has even seen every social media post. If you were to ascend to Heaven, there you would find Him; if you were to dig to the depths of Sheol, there you would not escape Him. He knows your thoughts before you think them and your words before you speak them. You can hide nothing from Him. So what do you bring before the Judgement Seat? You cannot plead ‘not guilty’ before an omniscient Judge. You have not yet lived your full life, but His records have everything from your conception to your death. One sin is enough to condemn you. Your situation is hopeless. Where the worm does not die and the flames do not consume, there will all those who are separated from God spend eternity. There will be no escape — the saints, whether in Paradise or here on Earth, cannot pray for those lost souls and indulgences avail nothing. It is appointed for man but once to die and then the Judgement. All will face Christ at the Final Judgement, and He has only two roles in that court: Judge or Savior. How you will face Him then depends upon how you relate to Him now and, more importantly, how He relates to you. At Meribah, God stood atop the rock and brought forth water for His rebellious desert children. That same God Who appeared at Meribah would be born of a virgin in Bethlehem and die on a cross at Calvary. His blood has washed away our sins. And He still comes to us today — in Word, in Water, and in Blood. In the desert, He provided the water that sustains life; to the woman at the well, He offered living water; and today in the cleansing waters of Baptism, He comes to each of us. He is the Rock of our salvation, the firm foundation upon which all our hopes are built. And He did not leave us at the Ascension. In assuming His authority as the Right Hand of God, He has placed all other authorities under Himself. We will meet Him at the Judgement, but not as Judge. In the cleansing flood of Baptism, He washed away all our sins. When the books are opened before the Judgement Seat, a great many of those pages will be blank, for not only have your sins been washed away, but God has promised He will forget them. Your sins are gone, and Christ will welcome you with open arms; you are a child of the Kingdom. In the desert, He provided manna to sustain His people; to the incredulous Jews, He said they must eat His flesh; and today, He offers us His body and blood in the Sacrament. He is not gone, for He promises to be present where two or three gather in His Name, and He comes to us in, with, and under the bread and the wine, where He gives us His true body and His true blood. He has promised to be with us even to the very end of the age, and His promises never fail. It may seem, at times, like very little is under control in this world — or at least that very little is under control of the forces of good. We should not endeavor to sugarcoat reality — Satan is allowed a great deal of freedom at present (as are we) and Scripture is very clear that trials and tribulations will come. Many have lost their lives for the faith, and many more will do so before the final consummation of all things. We still live in a fallen world, and a minute or two of news media will confirm as much. We do not fear though. ‘What can man do to me?’ Those who can kill the body are nothing; they are as we are — dust. As our great battle hymn puts it: “Nehmen sie den Leib, Gut, Ehr, Kind, und Weib: lass fahren dahin, sie haben’s kein Gewinn, das Reich muss uns doch bleiben.” “Let goods and kindred go, This mortal life also: The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still, His Kingdom is for ever. The German is more explicit: The powers of this world may ‘take your life, your goods, honor, children, and wife’, but there is no victory for the enemy — the battle has already been won. Christ defeated sin, death, and the devil at Calvary. He bound the strong man, plundered his kingdom, and led a host of captives in His train. The Rock of our salvation stands yet, no matter what the world may throw at us. So let us worship, let us bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our God, our Maker. Let us not harden our hearts, for He replaced our hearts of stone with hearts of flesh. “Is the Lord among us or not?” He is with us now and He will be with us always. He brings to us the living water that grants eternal life. But surely there is something we must do? No. The work of Christ was necessary, and it is sufficient and complete. We have been justified by faith, so we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And it is by God’s grace that we are given the faith through which we are justified and receive salvation. All who drink will thirst again, but those who receive living water from Christ will have eternal life. So come what may. We do not fear suffering, because it produces endurance, which produces character, which brings forth hope. When we were weak, dead in sin and trespass, Christ died for us. We were sinners held captive, but we have been freed by His work. There are countless systems that will tell you what to do to get to ‘heaven’ — Christianity is not one of them. Are good works good? Of course; your neighbor needs them and God commands them, but they will not — cannot — save you. If you try to work your way to Heaven, all you will succeed in doing is filling those books that will be opened at the Judgement. Our great comfort as Christians is that many of those pages will be blank. Works righteousness, so called, fills pages; Christ’s blood wipes them clean. I know in which one I will place my trust. The Good Shepherd has promised me that I shall not want. All of Creation rests in His hands, and yet we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hands. At the last, we know, that He will again stand on the Earth, that we will see Him with our own eyes and embrace Him, and He will welcome us, not as Judge, but as Savior and King. Amen.

Genesis 12:1–9 Psalm 121 Romans 4:1–8,13–17 John 3:1–17 Abram was called forth from Ur of the Chaldeans; he was called to leave his country, his kindred, and his father’s house; he was called to sojourn in a land he would never own, except for a small plot of land with a cave — a cave in which he would bury his wife, and in which his children would later bury him. And what did he find in this land? Canaanites — the cursed progeny of cursed Ham. Although their iniquity was not yet “complete” in the time of Abraham, they would later be sentenced to annihilation. Does that mean these tribes were good in the time of Abraham? Were they more Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner or were they more Sodom and Gomorrah? From God’s words to Abraham in Genesis 15, we must presume the latter. For their iniquity, God burned Sodom and Gomorrah with fire from Heaven. For their iniquity, God sentenced the Canaanites to be devoted to destruction. For our iniquity, what will God visit upon us? Are we better than Sodom? Are we more moral than Gomorrah? Are we spared like Zoar due only to some small number of saints? Let us not delude ourselves by closing our eyes to the reality of our culture. Pornography is rampant, and children are increasingly exposed to it at younger and younger ages. Promiscuity is now not only ‘normal’, but even promoted as healthy or good. An incredible number of marriages end in divorce, and a significant percentage of children — a majority, in some communities — are born out of wedlock. Our ‘entertainment’ is increasingly explicit both in terms of sexual content and in terms of violence. We worship the gods of the marketplace — we pay greater attention to the Dow and the NASDAQ than to our neighbor, we care more for our 401(k)s than for our communities, and we decline to take God up on His outright invitation to test Him with regard to tithing. More than sixty million children have gone to their graves — or, more likely, the incinerator or even the research lab — in the name of ‘convenience’ and ‘privacy’. Pick an empire, or a political entity, from history — any empire, or any political entity. With vanishingly few exceptions, what we do on a daily basis would make even history’s most despised and depraved blush. Our god is not El Shaddai — not God Almighty; our gods are Mammon and Moloch. We worship our wealth and sacrifice our children to ensure GDP continues to grow. We live in a dark and blind world. The natural man is spiritually dead — totally unable to move toward or even to respond to God. Yet think of that call of Abram. He was called forth from dark Ur — a center of moon worship, which included human sacrifice. God gave Abram the faith to respond to the call, and that faith was counted to Abram as righteousness. Like Noah, Abram found favor with God — he did not win it with works. For what came first: The faith of the works? Only after he believed did Abram leave Ur, sojourn in Canaan, circumcise himself and his household, offer up Isaac, and otherwise obey the Lord. Works follow belief. When Christ came in the flesh, He found a world just as dark and just as blind as ours. The Jews, despite having the Scriptures, did not recognize the Messiah. Nicodemus, a well-known teacher, did not recognize Christ, and could not grasp how one could be born again; he went so far as to ask how one could return to the womb to be born a second time. But what does Christ say? The Greek is deliberately vague: It can mean one must be born ‘again’ or ‘from above’. These are, of course, both true, and Christ further clarifies: One must be born of water and the Spirit. What is this other than Holy Baptism? “What benefits does Baptism give?” “It works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.” And do not let the enthusiasts tempt you to doubt: The Word of God promises that Baptism works forgiveness of sins and that the promises are for us and for our children. And how does our Lord and Savior here describe Baptism? As a second birth. Now, you were certainly present at your natural birth, but how much did you actually participate? At most, you may have screamed when it was over, and so some infants do at the baptismal font. But why would you think you contribute any more to your second, spiritual birth than you did to your first? Exactly. Let the enthusiasts and the devils attempt to strip the Word of God of its promises and its comfort. We will cling to our Lord and His words, secure in the knowledge that He cannot lie, that He is ever true, that His promises do not fail. Although we, like Abraham, find ourselves surrounded by Canaanites who worship false gods and pursue and commit abominations, let us declare with Joshua and all the saints: “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” God has called us forth from a blind world and a dark culture, and, in the cleansing waters of Baptism, placed His Name upon us and made us sons and daughters of the Kingdom. Das Reich muß uns doch bleiben. The final line of our beloved hymn; a more literal translation: ‘The Kingdom must remain ours.’ It is not that we have earned anything or that we merit the Kingdom. No, the Kingdom is and must remain ours because our Lord is true and His word never fails. Not as wages due our works but as an alien and imputed righteousness due His work. There is no ‘merit of Abraham’ as the Jews teach or ‘excess merit of the saints’ as Rome contends. The devil likes to hum the same tune. All our works, and all those of our forebears and our progeny, are dust, ashes, filthy rags. Would you try to earn Paradise? Then the Law is your master and you stand condemned. But the Son was sent not to condemn the world, but to save it. Your salvation is secure because it is not of works, but of grace received through faith. Who is blessed? Is it the one who labors for a wage — who seeks to climb a ladder to Heaven? No. The one whose “lawless deeds are forgiven”, “whose sins are covered” — he is blessed. Your sins are not counted because they were nailed to a cross with your Lord, God, Savior, and King. He was pierced for your transgressions; He was crushed for your iniquities. His chastisement has brought you peace, and by His wounds you are healed. And so the Lord, Who neither slumbers nor sleeps, Who made Heaven and Earth — He is your help, from this time forth and forevermore. “For God so loved the world, that He sent His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (KJV). It is that self-sacrificing, all-sufficient love of God for τον κοσμον — for the world — that has set you free. You, who were weighed down with sin, blinded by the world, and dead in trespass, have been forgiven. For the sake of Christ crucified, you are an heir to the Kingdom — and that is the Good News. Amen.

Genesis 3:1–21 Psalm 32:1–7 Romans 5:12–19 Matthew 4:1–11 Why do we baptize infants? We could say that it is the historical practice of the Church, that only a tiny — if vocal — minority oppose infant Baptism, and that Scripture commands it — ‘Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’ — and commends it — ‘Baptism … now saves you.’ — but let us go deeper and further back. Let us go back to a Garden, somewhere in the Near East, and a Tree with fruit and a snake. In Adam all men sinned, and do not fall prey to the temptation to minimize this — original sin is not merely a predisposition or the inherited consequences of our forebears’ sin. Original sin is actual sin and it dooms as surely as murder, adultery, and theft. We all die — ‘For thou art dust, and to dust shalt thou return.’ — because the wages of sin is death, and we are all sinners. I will not belabor the point, but suffice to say that we all know that children often act — let’s say — less than angelic. As the psalmist cries out: ‘I was born in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.’ ‘For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.’ In that one trespass in the Garden, all stand judged and condemned, for all stand in Adam. He is the federal head of our race, and we are his fallen and sinful children. But it is not only that one trespass, for we stand doubly condemned — under original, inherited sin and under our own actual sins. Every day, we choose idols instead of God. We are fearful and anxious because we do not truly believe God’s promises — our faith is smaller even than a mustard seed. In envy, we stand condemned of theft; in lust, we stand condemned of adultery; and, in anger, we stand condemned of murder. We sin in what we do and in what we fail to do; we sin with our hands, with our tongues, and with our minds. It matters not if we start at the beginning — we do not love God as we ought — or at the end — we are covetous to our core — or select at random — we do not honor our fathers and our mothers and obey proper authority; we break every single one of the Commandments. So, why do we baptize infants? Because they are in the same sinking ship in which we find ourselves. Conceived in sin and born in iniquity, they are just as spiritually dead in sin and trespass as once we were. In the waters of Baptism, we drown the old Adam and bring forth the new man in Christ. Though the water is, by itself, mere water and the pastor a fellow sinner, the Word makes the water a Sacrament and the hands of the pastor are the very hands of God Himself. None of us was baptized by a mere man, for Baptism is not a work of man — it is a work of God that offers regeneration, forgiveness of sins, and salvation. We baptize infants because we believe the words of Scripture that tell us the promise is for us and for our children. Through the waters of Baptism we pass from the kingdom of sin, death, and the devil to the Kingdom of the risen Lord. In the Garden, Satan distorted God’s command: ‘Did He say you could not eat from any tree?’, and Eve was deceived and Adam ate. Many years later, but perhaps not so many miles from that tree in the Garden, Satan tempted a Man in the desert. He (Satan) used the Word of God, distorting it to fit his purposes, to attempt to push the Son of God from the path that would lead to Calvary. Whatever form the temptations took — fleshly pleasures and demands (the food), spiritual conceit (tempting God), or temporal power (the kingdoms) — Christ resisted them all. Finally, He did what our parents did not — He shouted: "Be gone, Satan!" In the trespass in the Garden, many were made sinners, but Christ’s work is greater than Adam’s, greater than the Fall. Despite many trespasses, all were justified by Christ’s atoning sacrifice. It is that free gift following many trespasses that comes to us in Word and Sacrament. Though your sins are as scarlet, when you wash your robes in the blood of the Lamb, they will be made white as snow. In the words of Isaiah, Christ bore our iniquities so that we can be accounted righteous. This is not our righteousness or grace infused into us; rather, this is an alien righteousness won by Christ in His perfect obedience — even unto death — and imputed to us. We have been declared righteous by grace through faith on account of Christ crucified. You are a baptized son or daughter of the Father, and Christ will not lose you from His hand. Before the foundations of the Earth were laid, your name was written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. The world, the flesh, and the devil will tempt and accuse you, but the work is done — their argument is with Christ. In this life, you are simultaneously saint and sinner. You will be tempted and you will fall, but those sins have already been forgiven. Your every sin was nailed to a cross outside Jerusalem nearly two thousand years ago. In the desert, Christ rebuked Satan and told him "Be gone!"; on the cross, He spoke even more powerful words: "It is finished!" Christ did not say: "It is begun." or "Almost done!" No, He said "It is finished!", because His work was necessary, sufficient, and complete. You can add nothing to Christ’s work, and that is the Good News — it is the announcement of Christ’s victory, and with it the setting free of those who were slaves to sin. If you believe that you can add something to Christ’s work, you will need to travel back two thousand years to Golgotha, and you will need to pull Him down from the cross and climb up there yourself. Instead, when you are tempted to doubt or to sin, join with Christ and say: "Be gone, Satan, for it is finished!" Always remember that he would seek to accuse you here because he was cast from Heaven and cannot accuse you there, before the Father. In and under the blood of Christ, God has become our hiding place, our ever-present help in trouble, and our refuge from the vicissitudes of this life. I am a child of God — what can man do to me? Yes, original sin still clings to our nature and the ground is still cursed (and childbirth, I am told, is still rather unpleasant), but original sin is not our nature and it, too, will finally be burned away when we are raised imperishable — to eternal life at the sound of the trumpet. On that glorious day and for all eternity thereafter, we will never again suffer temptation or sin. Our sin is covered and our transgressions forgiven; in fact, God will not even remember our sins. The world, the flesh, and the devil have their day, but they will not endure. At the consummation, even death will pass away, for death is a consequence of sin and where sin is no more, so also death must be no more. We, however, will be raised in restored, incorruptible bodies. For we know that our Redeemer lives, and as He hung on a cross outside Jerusalem and as He sits enthroned and is here — in this very place — with us unto the very end of the age, so also He will again stand upon the Earth, and in our flesh and with our eyes, we will see God. Amen.

Exodus 24:8–18 Psalm 2:6–12 2 Peter 1:16–21 Matthew 17:1–9 Joel 2:12–19 Psalm 51:1–19 2 Corinthians 5:20b—6:10 Matthew 6:1–6, 16–21 Yesterday, with ashes imposed upon your foreheads, many of you were forced to confront your fallen, sinful state and the mortality that flows from the same: ‘For thou art dust, and to dust shalt thou return.’ Death is the end of all flesh, the end of the whole of this creation that has been subjected to futility. In Adam, all men sinned. Original sin is "that horrible, dreadful hereditary sickness by which the entire human nature is corrupted." Original sin is not your nature — for your nature was created by God and is "very good"; rather, original sin is a disease that clings to your nature — it is a disease that is always fatal. You will die from original — and your own actual — sin. This is the end of all flesh. When God descended in His glory as a devouring fire at Mount Sinai, He delivered unto Moses and the Old Testament Israelites the Law, and the Law proved to be death. Adam and Eve failed — they ate of the fruit; Old Testament Israel failed — they rebelled and whored after other gods; and you and I fail — we sin daily, constantly, unceasingly. Does your mind wander when you read or hear the Word of God? Do you trust — absolutely and without any doubt — in every promise of God? You have failed to keep the First Commandment. You worry because you do not trust God; you grasp because you do not believe His promises; you do not tithe and give of your blessings because you do not trust His Word. He tells you to turn and be healed, but you continue in your stubbornness and your rebellion. Adam and Eve chose death in the Garden; Old Testament Israel chose death in the desert and in the Promised Land; and you and I choose death every day. If we were to rely upon ourselves and our own efforts, then there would be absolutely no hope. We cannot fear, love, and trust God as we ought and our hearts are forever seeking idols before which we can prostrate ourselves. Those ashes on your forehead were not a mere reminder — they are a promise: for the wages of sin is death. "Yet even now." Yet even now, turn and He will heal you. Rend your hearts and not your garments, for the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart. And yet you could not have turned from your evil ways. In sin and trespass, you were dead, and the dead do not turn. And yet God is generous and merciful beyond measure and abounding in steadfast love. The Church Year is divided into three parts: the Time of Christmas, the Time of Easter, and the Time of the Church. Ash Wednesday marks the end of the Time of Christmas and the beginning of the Time of Easter. In under six weeks, we will be celebrating the Resurrection on Easter Sunday, but let us return, for a moment, to the just-concluded Time of Christmas and then refocus on Lent, because there is no Easter without Christmas and there is no life without His death. In His steadfast love, God sent Christ to the little town of Bethlehem, to a humble birth in a manger to a virgin betrothed to a poor carpenter. The eternal Word, Who was with and Who is God, became flesh. That same child just a few decades later would be nailed to a cross for your sins. Christmas leads to Easter, but only through Lent, just as death leads to resurrection, but only through the Cross. ‘Yet even now, turn.’ God knew that you could never turn on your own — the dead do not act — but death cannot stop Christ. "For our sake, He made Him to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." Although those ashes on your forehead were meant to remind you of sin and death, you must also remember that your sins were nailed to a cross in Jerusalem — just outside the city — nearly two thousand years ago. The Son of God and Son of Man — true God and true Man — died so that you might live. The ashes remind us of the price paid — the blood that has bought us. Christ crucified for sinners is our only hope. He did what we could not do; He kept the Law — He lived a life without sin. And what is death? The wages of sin. So death could not hold Him, for death has no claim on the One Who was without sin. So, on the third day, He rose again from the dead, leading a host of captives in His train. Christ is the death of death and so in Him we have new life. You need not turn and be healed, for Christ Himself came to you in Word and Sacrament. In your Baptism, you were drowned to this world — to sin and to death — and raised again in Christ. As we confess in the Nicene Creed: ‘We acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins.‘ He is ascended, but He is not gone. He meets us in Word and Sacrament, just as He promised to be with us to the very end of the age. So serve your Lord with fear — for great are His works — and rejoice with trembling — for wondrous is His mercy and steadfast His love. We are to repent and not to receive the grace of God in vain, and this is precisely what He has enabled us to do. We love Him because He first loved us; we worship Him because of His awesome power and His unfathomable works; and we rejoice because He brought us from death to life. The disease of original sin yet clings to us, but we no longer fear death, for He conquered sin, death, and the grave. He stormed the gates of Sheol; He bought us with His blood; and He gave us the right to call God our beloved Father, for we are now sons and daughters of the Kingdom. When God sees you, He sees the atoning work of Christ, He sees a beloved child. Your sins will not be remembered; you have been justified — declared righteous — for the sake of Christ and His work. We now rejoice in the Law for its sting is gone. Our treasures are no longer here where rust destroys, moths consumes, and thieves steal; our treasure is in Heaven — imperishable and secure. The Son of Man was raised from the dead, and so we, too, shall rise to a new life. Although He found us in dust and ashes, dead in sin and trespass, Christ has clothed us in white, wiped away our tears, and welcomed us as brothers and sisters with the words: "Rise, and have no fear." Amen.

Deuteronomy 30:15–20 Psalm 119:1–8 1 Corinthians 3:1–9 Matthew 5:21–37 The great ‘promise’ of the Law is ‘if…, then…’. “Blessed are those whose way is blameless, / who walk in the Law of the Lord!” “Blessed are those” who are “blameless”, “who keep His testimonies”, “who seek Him with their whole heart”, “who … do no wrong”, and who “walk in His ways”. But what are His testimonies? The Jews contend that there are six hundred and thirteen mitzvot — commandments — in the Torah, but let us not concern ourselves with such enumerations, for God Himself provides us a full statement of His Law in the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt have no other gods. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord, thy God, in vain. Thou shalt sanctify the hold day. Thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother. Thou shalt not murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house. Thou shalt not cover thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is his. You may be thinking ‘So far, so good. I have neither murdered, committed adultery, nor borne false witness against my neighbor.’ Surely blessing and abundance will be ours for our great obedience! But wait. Does not Christ speak of these commandments? Matthew 5:21–22 (ESV): ““You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” How fares your obedience to the Fifth Commandment? Matthew 5:27–28 (ESV): “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. How fares your obedience to the Sixth Commandment? Have you divorced or married a spouse who was divorced? Matthew 5:31–32 (ESV): “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. How fares your obedience to the Sixth Commandment? Matthew 5:33–37 (ESV): “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil. Have you ever failed to keep your promises? Have you ‘merely’ failed to do what you said you would do? perhaps even failed to do what you told God you would do? How fares your obedience to the Eighth Commandment? Perhaps you yet believe that you have kept one of the other commandments. But what does Christ command? ‘Be perfect, as your Father in Heaven is perfect.’ The law demands perfect obedience. The ‘promise’ of ‘if…, then…’ is no promise at all, for the “if” is “if you are perfect”, but ‘all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ and ‘none is righteous, no not one’. Therefore, the cry of the psalmist is practically a lament, a cry for mercy: Psalm 119:8 (ESV): I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me! The Law always kills. You will find neither peace in nor comfort under the Law. Romans 2:12 (ESV): For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. Romans 3:20 (ESV): For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Romans 3:21–25 (ESV): But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. You are not under the Law, for the Law held you captive only until you died to the Law. In Baptism, God drowned the old Adam and brought forth the new man in Christ. You have been set free from the condemnation of the Law by Christ’s atoning sacrifice. You could never have kept the Law, for the standard of the Law is perfection, but you do not need to keep the Law, because God sent Christ to do so in your place. All your sins and your every failure to perfectly keep God’s perfect law were nailed to the Cross with Christ. We are now free to rejoice in the Law, which is perfect and holy, because there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. You were dead in sin and trespass, but you are now alive in Christ and the Spirit. In Christ, the blessings of the Psalms are ours; in Christ, we can stand before God with an upright heart. In this life, there will be trouble; there will be jealousy and strife. But we know, that for the sake of Christ, we have a gracious God. As we move from milk to meat, as we grow in our faith and trust in God, we know that it is not our efforts that will give the growth, but God Who will give the growth. He gave us the faith that grasped justification and received salvation, and He comes to us in Word and Sacrament. Under the Law, all the promises of God were — every ‘if…, then…’ was — “No.”, but in Christ, all the promises of God are: “Yes.” You are a child of God, an adopted son of the Kingdom and co-heir with Christ. Should the world, the devil, or your flesh trouble you, should your conscience doubt or your faith waiver, do not look to yourself, do not seek within for answers or assurance; instead, point to the Cross. If your flesh should tempt you, flee to the Cross, for Christ says that He will lose none from His hand. If the devil should inquire, “Can mortal man be in the right before God?”, point him to the Cross, tell him to drop his accusations, for you are baptized into Christ. If the world should bid you doubt God’s goodness, His love, or His promises, point to the Cross, for He Who did not spare His Son, but gave Him so that you might be saved will surely withhold nothing good. And yet there is real suffering and real pain in this life, and believers are not immune — do not believe anyone who would dare to tell you otherwise. But do not despair. The trials and the tribulations are the Father working on you; He reprimands you out of love, and refines you with fire — not the fires of Hell, for those you will never see, but the fire of sanctification. Although you will never achieve — become — perfect in this life, you will slowly be conformed to the image of Christ, and pain, suffering, and tribulation will all pass away in the twinkling of an eye when you pass on to glory, or when Christ returns. In this life, cherish the knowledge that all things work together for good for those who love God, and we know that we love God because He first loved us. So, Christ the death of death Who became sin for us as the propitiation, Who took upon Himself the curse because we could never pay the price of our redemption, has brought us from death to life, has defeated sin and its curse (i.e., death), and has welcomed us as true sons and daughters of God, partakers in the blessings and in eternal life. In Christ, the “if” of the Law has passed away and only the blessings and the promises of “then” remain. Therefore, God is your life and your length of days, both of which shall be eternal and forevermore. Amen.

Isaiah 58:3–9a Psalm 112:1–9 1 Corinthians 2:1–16 Matthew 5:13–20 Some contend that it is possible to be ‘good without God’. We may find this appealing. Surely if we loose the bonds of oppression, feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked — if we fill full the mouth of famine and bid the sickness cease — then God will notice our goodness and be pleased with us, no? No. We are told in Scripture that our good deeds — our good works — are as "polluted garment[s]" (ESV) or "filthy rags" (KJV), and, yet, neither of these translations is sufficient. What is a filthy rag or a polluted garment? If you have done any work on an automobile, you may think of the combination of oil and dirt that pollutes everything it touches. Those who have raised children may think of rags used to clean up messes. (If you are thinking of dirty diapers, you have come closer.) If you are thinking of a kitchen towel, you are likely a bit off the mark. Some commentators have argued that what is in view here are the ‘garments’ — the strips of cloth — used to wrap the wounds of lepers, but the better interpretation is menstrual rags. Now, we all have the same mental image. Our good works are — our best is — as dirty, blood-soaked menstrual rags before God. Are you still feeling that maybe you want to come before God with your works in hand? So, let us dispense with the nonsense that you can be ‘good without God’. The best person ever to live (other than Christ, of course) was a sinner through and through, and all his works were nothing. If you were to feed every hungry mouth, shelter every one of the over half a million homeless in the US, and preach the Gospel to millions, you would still appear before God in soiled, filthy rags. The original sin that has diseased our nature has wrought infinite separation between man and God; [i]t damns and brings eternal death". You cannot fear, love, and trust God as you should. Everything done without faith is sin, and the wages of sin is death. But we know that that is not the whole story. Adam sinned and in Adam all men stand condemned, but that is contrary to God’s plan and will. You are not meant to sit in dirty rags, in the fear and hopelessness brought by a guilty conscience. You were — and are — meant to be a son or a daughter of the Kingdom, an adopted son of the Kingdom and an heir in Christ. And that is the crux of it. Nothing you could do or could have done would bridge the divide between you and your Creator. The good news is that there is nothing you need to do. ουτως γαρ ηγαπησεν ο Θεος τον κοσμον — for God so loved the world. Christ has done the work you could not do; He has perfectly fulfilled the Law. The wages of sin is death, but death could not hold Him for He had no sin; death has no claim to Him and now death has no claim to you. Washed in the blood of the Lamb — washed with water and the Word — you no longer wear dirty, blood-stained rags; rather, you now stand before the Father cloaked in a robe of purest white and declared righteous by grace through faith for the sake of Christ crucified. ουτως γαρ ηγαπησεν ο Θεος τον κοσμον. What did God love? τον κοσμον — the world. And what did He do? "He gave His only-begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life." Christ came to die for you, for your parents, for your siblings, for your children, for your friends, for me, but, more than that: τον κοσμον — He came to die for all. Christ’s Atonement was necessary and sufficient — all sufficient. Justification is universal, for Christ’s work was once for all. You are justified by grace through faith — made a true child of God and heir in the cleansing waters of Baptism. "Child of God, I gladly say it: I am baptized into Christ. He, because I could not pay it, gave my full redemption price." No longer do we live in fear and uncertainty, for He has promised that He will lose none from His hand. You are "a child of Paradise." Come what may — we fear no bad news — we run the race to win, but in the security that we have already won, because He confronted sin, death, and the devil at Calvary, and conquered them with His blood and our certainty rests on an empty tomb and in a second resurrection. In the forgiving flood of Baptism, which sprinkled us with Jesus’ blood, we were raised from death to life — the first resurrection — and we are now the salt and the light of the Earth. In a world of ignorance, darkness, decay, rot, and death, we have been given new life and a foretaste of what will come when we depart this life. What now of our good works? In faith and Christ’s blood, our good works are now pleasing to God. Our works do not — cannot — save us, for Christ alone is the way to the Father — He alone is truth and life. Nevertheless, we know that God has prepared good works in which for us to walk. Good works are neither price nor guarantee; rather, they are our great privilege. God in His superabundant grace, mercy, and love sent His Son to purchase us — and we were indeed bought with a price. Now, we, like Paul, need know only Christ and Him crucified, for it is not human wisdom, knowledge, or eloquence that wins souls for the Kingdom — you did not come to believe because of human efforts (yours or another’s). The Gospel is foolishness to the perishing, a stumbling block to human wisdom, but for those who believe it is the very power of God. And how do we come to believe? ‘Faith comes through hearing’, ‘given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins’, ‘Baptism now saves you’. Word and Sacrament. Man does not seek out God. For who has ascended into Heaven to bring Christ down? Rather, God seeks out fallen men and gives them the free gift of faith. It is all of grace. Let us then rejoice, for we know the end — Christ has won — and we know our place in it — we are children of Paradise. For God so loved the world, for God so loved us, for God so loved you. What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him. Amen.