Lutheran Church of the Resurrection

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Of the 150 Psalms in the Psalter, it is number 23 that the vast majority of us know the best and call our favorite and can probably know by heart. Parents who have already taught their little children to recite the 10 Commandments, Lord’s Prayer and Apostles Creed will probably move next to the 23rd Psalm. It serves as an excellent prayer to be prayed together at the dinner table or at bedtime… no matter how young or old you may be.

The image of the Lord as ‘Good Shepherd’ is an easy one for us to embrace. It took a long time for the Christian church to warm up to the crucifix as the icon of its faith and hope. Before sanctuaries were adorned with crosses, the eyes of the Congregation were directed to images of a Shepherd carrying lamb on his shoulders. And very often the lamb was terribly oversized and out of proportion, almost as big as the Shepherd Himself, not because they didn’t know the proper relationship of lamb to Shepherd, but because they wanted to show the enormous weight that the Good Shepherd must bear to bring His straying sheep back to the flock.

A. The Lord is my Shepherd
“The Lord is my Shepherd.” The first and foremost thing to always keep in mind, not only with this Psalm but with the 149 others as well is that this is “God’s Word.” This is “God’s Word” that He gives to us to speak. And so we speak these words to the Lord as if to say, “According to Your own Word, I am one of your little Lambs and You are my Shepherd. I belong to Your flock. Shepherd me according to Your promise.”

This is the same thing that we do at the beginning of every Divine Service when we “invoke” the Name of God that was given to us by God in our Baptism, as it was just given to Anderson, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” We come before the Triune God saying, “According to Your own Word, we are your people and You are our God. We have come to the house of the Lord to receive the precious gifts that you have prepared to give to Your people.”

“The Lord is my Shepherd.” What a remarkable privilege to be blessed to make such a statement. The Lord has made us one of His sheep. It is certainly not that we choose Him to be or Shepherd. Sheep do not choose their Shepherd. He chose us. And the choosing took place in our baptism, just as it did for Anderson today. As of today and for the first time, Anderson can pray the Lord’s Prayer, and join his voice to ours saying “Our Father.” As of today and for the first time, he can pray the 23rd Psalm and say, “the Lord is my shepherd.”

What a blessed privilege and gracious gift this is. Continue reading →

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I. “The Call to Discipleship – Sea of Galilee
It all began while they were fishing on the Sea of Galilee. First, it was the brothers Peter and Andrew who were casting their net, hunting for fish. Jesus called to them from the shore, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” And “immediately they left their nets and followed him.”

Their partners, James and John were also fishing a short distance away. Jesus called to them too and they “immediately left the boat and their father and followed him.” (Mat.4:18-22).

St. Luke writes, “On one occasion…” Peter and Andrew, James and John were washing their nets. Jesus said, “put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” Peter whined about having been fishing all night unsuccessfully, but condescendingly said, “at your word, I will let down the nets.” And when they did so, so many fish jumped into the nets that they had to call in backup for help.

It was then, probably for the first time, that it dawned on Peter just whom this Jesus might actually be. In utter fear he said, “depart from me Lord for I am a sinful man.” But far from “departing” from him, Jesus said, ‘Do not be afraid. From now on you will be catching men.’ And as soon as they got their boats back onto the beach, ‘they left EVERYTHING and followed him.’ (Luke 5:4-11).

These 4 and 8 had “left everything behind and followed Him,’ for three and a half years. What a ride it had been.

The things they had learned from this man. Not just interesting facts and information but wisdom; wisdom that was contrary to the wisdom of the world. They had been taught, “blessed are the happy, for they have life by the tail.” But Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs in the kingdom of heaven.” They were convinced that, “blessed are the strong for they shall conquer the world.” But Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” “Blessed are you when you hunger and thirst for wealth for you shall be satisfied” was countered with “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied…” (Mat.5)

And the things that they saw this man do. Not just amazing things that make you go ‘wow, how did He do that?’ But amazing things that were frightening and disturbing and made you go, “depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Continue reading →

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I. A Disappointing Easter Celebration
I don’t know about you, but the way that the disciples of Jesus spent that first Easter Sunday has always struck me as more than just a bit strange. Wouldn’t it be much more along the lines of what we expect to hear if we read that “on the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the day that Jesus rose from the dead, the disciples and the women who were so devoted to Him, dyed eggs and hid them for the children to find and ate lots of candy and killed the fatted calf and poured the best wine and the banquet was frequently interrupted by one then another shouting, ‘Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!’”?

What I expect to read is that the disciples organized an Easter Parade and marched right through downtown Jerusalem and through the Temple, carrying pictures of the risen Jesus and singing, “Jesus Christ Is Risen Today, Alleluia. (Join me) Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia. Who did once upon the cross, Alleluia. Suffered to redeem our loss, Alleluia.”

That’s the way you spend Easter, right?

But instead of this, what DO we read? “On the evening of THAT DAY, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were FOR FEAR OF THE JEWS…” And they weren’t even all there. Thomas was not with them.

What were they thinking? What were they doing? What were they talking about?

For quite awhile they had found themselves on the wrong side of ‘politics.’ The ‘governing authorities,’ the chief priests, the council, the Sanhedrin, had done all that they could do to interfere with their freedom of speech and freedom of religion; false accusations, rumors, intimidation. And then, just in this last week, they witnessed politics at its worse; bribery, false arrests, blatant lies, rigged trials, stirring up the crowds. And then the ultimate injustice, they had Jesus, an innocent man, put to death.

It’s hard to tell if they still didn’t believe that Jesus had risen from the dead, or if they were simply too intimidated to go public with the news.

II. Jesus Among Them
And then, suddenly, there was Jesus, standing in the middle of the room. “Peace be with you.” He had promised them, “A little while and you will see me no longer; and again in a little while you will see me.” Jesus never fails to keep His promise.

And the disciples turned to see the voice that was speaking to them, and on turning they saw “seven gold lampstands, and in the midst of the lamp stands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, his voice was like the roar of many waves. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.” (Rev.1:12-18).

Now that’s the way you celebrate Easter, right? Continue reading →

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In the 14th chapter of his gospel, St. Luke tell us that Jesus turned to the crowds following Him and said, What king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.” (Luke 14:31-32).

We may not expect to hear advice on military strategy from the lips of Jesus. This is the sort of instruction you go to West Point for – not the scriptures. Yet, here it is. Jesus, sounding more like commander-in-chief than good shepherd.

Which of us who has read the bible – especially the Old Testament – has not been a bit shocked if not a bit turned off by the amount of warfare that contains? And even more shocked to find that most of the time, it is God Himself who is leading the charge?

It may surprise you to learn that every Sunday in the liturgy, this Sunday included, we sing with the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven to the “Lord God of power and might.” In the older liturgy we sing, “Lord God of Sabaoth.” “Sabaoth” literally means “warfare.” We sing to the ‘war Lord.’

So, maybe it shouldn’t surprise us to hear that Jesus talks to us in terms of military strategy. Only a fool goes against an enemy without a plan. And Jesus is no fool.

I’m certainly no military tactician, but I happen to know that there are several different strategies that may be used in a confrontation with an enemy. There is the frontal attack, the surprise attack, the barricade strategy and the divide and conquer strategy. And you can find all of these being employed in the Scriptures. But there is one military strategy that God uses against the enemy of His people that is the most spectacular and memorable of all of them. And it is the strategy that is called the ‘feint retreat.’

A ‘feint retreat’ is when you retreat from the battle and give your enemy the appearance of being trapped or wounded or weak – only to lure him into an ambush. Continue reading →

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I. The Lamb on a Donkey
A Lamb riding on a donkey. Now there’s something you don’t see very often. But this is Palm Sunday and this is what Palm Sunday is all about.

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Passover and on Passover, Israel must choose its Lamb for the sacrifice. It must be young, male, and without blemish. Lots of lambs may be ‘young,’ and ‘male,’ but only One is “without blemish,” “holy,” “pure,” “perfect,” “without sin.” And that One Lamb is riding on the donkey.

So what about all of those other lambs that were sacrificed on Jewish altars throughout the Old Testament? What was all that about? Every single one of those lambs, sacrificed for sin, was only a meaningful sacrifices insofar as they pointed through faith to THIS LAMB, riding on a donkey into Jerusalem.

The first time a lamb is mentioned in the Old Testament is in Genesis 4 where we’re told that Abel “was a keeper of sheep.” And God was pleased with Abel’s offering, because when Abel offered a lamb to God for his sin, he did so in anticipation of that Lamb that would take away the sin of his mother and father, Adam and Eve. Why else would the Lord be pleased with Abel’s sacrifice? It’s not lambs and sheep and goats and bulls that God is pleased with, but faith in that One Lamb that is riding on the donkey.

You don’t hear the word lamb or sheep mentioned again after Abel until you get to Abraham. Abraham raised sheep and would, no doubt, offer many of them to God as sacrifices of atonement for his sin and for his family just as Job had done for his. One day, God told Abraham to sacrifice HIS SON, HIS ONLY SON, WHOM HE LOVES. As father Abraham led his Isaac to the place of sacrifice, it is the son who carries the wood that he will be sacrificed on. And the son goes in perfect obedience to his father. There is no sign of resistance. And yet doesn’t seem to comprehend what is about to take place. He asks, “Father, here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb?”

And Abraham responds with prophetic words of faith so deep that we can only marvel at them, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering my son.” Abraham’s prophesy was immediately fulfilled by a ram with its horns caught in a thicket, but only much later was it fully realized on Palm Sunday by the Lamb that is riding on the donkey.

This is the Lamb that the prophet Isaiah saw, riding over the horizon of history, “who bears OUR griefs and carries OUR sorrows… who is wounded for OUR transgressions, who is crushed for OUR iniquities.

Listen to this. “Who bear our GRIEFS and carries our SORROWS.” What is it that causes us GRIEF and SORROW? What drains your spirit and breaks your heart and weighs so heavy on you that it drains every ounce of energy for living from you? Continue reading →

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I. Background
On Palm Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey. He went straight to the Temple and drove out the money changers and merchants saying, “MY house shall be a house of prayer but you have made it a den of thieves.” After that, Luke tells us that “He was DAILY, teaching in the temple.” (Luke 19)

Luke writes, “One day, it was either Tuesday or Wednesday, as he was teaching the people, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him, ‘Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who is it that gave you this authority.” ‘Who do you think you are acting as if you own this city?’ ‘Who do you think you are acting as if the Temple belonged to you?”

II. The Creation of the Vineyard and the Workers.
“And he began to tell the people this parable: “A certain man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went away for a long time.”

IN THE BEGINNING, there was “a certain man.” Before there was a vineyard and tenants, there was only “a certain man.” In time, this certain man planted a vineyard. He tilled the soil, planted the seeds, watered and fertilized each and every little shoot, nurtured them along until the vines produced a rich harvest of grapes and the grapes made the finest of wines. It belongs to Him because He made it.

ONLY THEN does He bring in workers to work in HIS vineyard. The workers come late in the story.

Their problem as we will soon see, which is also our problem, is that they have no appreciation for history. They think that the world began on the day they were born; and that this vineyard was nothing until they showed up and made it SUCCESSFUL. Oh, how lucky for the Owner that they came to work in this vineyard.

They hardly recall how “a certain man” showed up one day while they were lost, while their days were filled with ‘angry birds,’ and a computer screen and ‘shopping’ and said, ‘come, follow me. I have something very special and dear to me that I want to make you a part of.’ Continue reading →

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“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes grumbled saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’”

It’s not that they thought that they weren’t sinners. The Pharisees and Scribes would have been perfectly comfortable joining right in with our ‘Confession of Sins’ at the beginning of the service. They knew that they were ‘sinners’ because that’s what God’s Word says they are. They were sinners….generally speaking.

They would however, have had a difficult time identifying any ‘actual sin.’ They would not quite know just what to do with that time before the Confession for self-examination. They would have drawn a blank any specifics to confess.

The difference between themselves and those “tax collectors and sinners” was that you could identify their ‘actual sins.’ That was easy. The Kingdom of God with all of its divine blessings did not belong to ‘actual sinners.’ But Jesus was offering it to them. In fact, He was treating them as if it actually belonged to them. And this is why they “grumbled.”

And Jesus responds to their “grumbling” with three, wonderful stories. One is about a shepherd who searches for one, lost sheep BECAUSE IT BELONGS TO HIM; another is about a woman who searches for a lost coin BECAUSE IT BELONGS TO HER; and then, the one before us this morning, about a father who longs for the return of his TWO lost sons BECAUSE THEY BELONG TO HIM.

We sometimes call this parable “The Parable of the Prodigal Son.” But that only covers half of the parable – the half addressed to the ‘tax collectors and sinners.’ But there is that part of this parable that is addressed to the “Pharisees and Scribes.” They are all ‘LOST.’ And Jesus wants them all to come home. Why? BECAUSE THEY BELONG TO HIM.

A much better title for this parable would be, “The Loving Father.” That directs our attention to the real subject of this story. Jesus gives us a picture of a man who has what we will call, ‘a foolish love’ for his two sons. ‘Foolish,’ because the Father must swallow all of His pride and play the ‘fool’ in front of the whole community. But He does it. Why? Because, what kind of Father would He be if He didn’t? Continue reading →

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