Lutheran Church of the Resurrection

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The season of Lent is like a 40 day annual check-up that everyone should undergo regardless of age. Knowing that annual physicals are exactly the kind of thing that we are prone to postpone and put off, the Church schedules it for us.

Lent is a time for us to come to the Great Physician and have Him examine us according to His Word. And no matter how often we come or how recent our last visit has been, the report is always seems to be the same: ‘the patient is infected with a deadly disease which causes him to put his trust in false gods, indulge in immoral behavior, put the Lord God to the test and grumble about the life that God has given him.’

I. 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
This is the particular diagnosis of the spiritual health of the Israelites that Dr. Paul shares with his congregation in Corinth. He shares it with them because it the diagnosis fits them too. And it fits us too.

So, if our diagnosis is the same as the Corinthians and the Israelites, what is the prescription? What then shall we do? “Repent.” Dr. Ezekiel agrees with Dr. Paul. “turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O House of Israel.”

• ‘Turn back’ from your ‘idolatry’ and ‘fear, love and trust in God alone.’
• ‘Turn back’ from your ‘immorality’ and lead a sexually pure and decent life and husband and wife love and honor one another.
• ‘Turn back’ from your ‘testing’ God demanding He might prove His faithfulness to you over and over again.
• ‘Turn back’ from your ‘grumbling’ and ‘complaining’ about the way He provides all that you need for this body and life and be content with all that you have and thankful for all that God has given you.

The Israelites ignored the diagnosis and refused to take the cure prescribed. They said they didn’t need to, they would be just fine, they could take care of themselves. ‘I don’t like to take drugs.’

And sadly, “most of them perished.” They didn’t just die, they perished. Everyone dies. But they ‘perished.’ “Dying” is not the end. It’s just the old wound from the fall of Adam that we all bear the scars of his wound. Continue reading →

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I. Death Threats Against Jesus
I don’t know if you caught it or not but there is something terribly wrong about both our Old Testament reading and our Gospel reading for this morning. I’m sure you were just as shocked as I was to learn that the Old Testament Church had its own ‘goon squad’ they called in, to knock off a prophet who wasn’t careful to preach an agreeable sermon.

The Muslims have nothing on Israel. The priests and prophets and the people didn’t like Jeremiah’s sermon so they put a ‘fatwa’ on his head. “You shall die!”

It doesn’t get any better in the New Testament either. Jesus was in the region of Galilee where Herod was governor, and some Pharisee informants came to Him and said, “You better get out of here. Herod wants to kill you.” What they didn’t tell Him was that the Pharisees in Jerusalem had been cooking up their own assignation plot against him for some time now.

Once you get past the shocker that the ‘holy people of the most- high God’ are as willing to knock someone off as the Mafia, the question becomes, ‘why?’ Why would anyone want to kill the one “whose feet brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says, “Your God reigns?” (Is.52:7)

Why would you want to kill the ‘author of life,’ ‘the good shepherd,’ ‘prince of peace,’ ‘the light of the world,’ ‘the true vine,’ ‘THE SON OF GOD’?

Jesus told the parable about a man who planted a vineyard and put His servants in charge of running it. But every time he sent someone to collect some of the precious wine that He was due, the tenants beat and killed them. Finally, the Master said, “I will send my son. Surely they will honor Him.” But when the Son arrived they killed Him too. The thing is, these are not barbarian pagans we’re talking about here. THESE ARE GOD’S OWN PEOPLE. Why do they do it?

Incredibly, the answer is the same for the Church as it would be for the Mafia and the drug cartels. He interferes with our plans; He threatens our organization; He cuts into our profits; He wants to be the boss but there’s only room for one boss around here, and it’s not going to be Him as long as we can help it. Continue reading →

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I. He was made man.
In the Nicene Creed which we just confessed together, there is this very interesting phrase in the 2nd Article which speaks about the 2nd Person of the Trinity, where we say of the Son, “who was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man.” There is something unusual about the last part of that phrase, “and was made man.’ It’s as though there is an indefinite article missing. Wouldn’t it be more grammatically correct to say, “he was made a man,” which is just what we celebrate at Christmas. God became a man.

For example, it would be perfectly normal for us to say, ‘Bob became a plumber’, or ‘Bob became a father.’ But we would never say, ‘Bob became plumber,’ or ‘Bob became father.’ That just doesn’t work. But when it comes to Jesus, we say, ‘Jesus became man.’

It would certainly work if we were to put a ‘definite’ article there. “and was made THE man.” That works. And in some cases, that’s exactly what we want to say. When Pontius Pilate points to Jesus who had just been flogged, he says, “behold, THE man.”

But that’s not what we say in the Creed. We say, “He became man.” Even though it may not be the best grammar in the world, what this means is that Jesus is somehow the embodiment of all mankind. As goes Jesus, so goes mankind, humanity, the whole human race along with him. Continue reading →

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The text for our consideration is the Gospel reading from the 9th chapter of St. Luke’s gospel, beginning with verse 28, “Now about eight days after these sayings [Jesus] took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.”

Over the years I have enjoyed hiking a lot of the mountains in Maine and New Hampshire and on several occasions I’ve invited you to come along. And some of you have accepted the invitation and some of you have declined. If anyone whom I have not invited to come along would like to be invited, please tell me. I love the company. But I understand that mountain climbing is not everyone’s cup of tea.

Of the 12 disciples, Jesus invited Peter, James and John to go up the mountain with Him. It’s hard to say ‘no thanks’ when Jesus invites you to climb a mountain with Him. Or, maybe they were pleased. I wonder how the other 9 felt about not having been asked. Were they disappointed, or were they relieved? Can you tell that I’m already thinking about the summer?

Matthew, Mark and Luke each give their report on this episode. John, the one gospel writer who was actually present does too, but not in any detail. John simply summarizes the whole thing saying, “we have seen His glory, the glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14).

Both Matthew and Mark’s accounts are very similar to each other. But Luke’s account has a lot of information that only he includes, and it’s those details that are unique to Luke’s gospel that we’ll try to focus in upon today.

A. “To Pray”
For instance, only Luke tells us that Jesus went up the mountain ‘to pray.’
• Only Luke tells us that when Jesus was baptized, it was “while He was praying the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Him, and the Father said, ‘This is my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (3:21).
• Only Luke tells us that on one occasion, “He went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God,” which is most likely, exactly what happened at the Transfiguration. (6:12).
• Eight days before the Transfiguration, Luke tells us, “Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And He asked them, ‘who do you say that I am?’ (9:18).
• Several times, Luke tells us that Jesus left the crowds for a solitary place in order to pray.
• Matthew, Mark and Luke each tell us that after Jesus ate the Passover Supper in the Upper Room with His disciples, He led them to the Mount of Olives to pray. But only Luke tells us that as He prayed, He sweat drops of blood.

When the Son prays to the Father through the Holy Spirit there is a Trinitarian conversation taking place like in the beginning when “God said, ‘Let US make man in our image.” The Son has not left the Trinity like He was away on a business trip and would be back soon. Where the Son is there is the Father and there is the Holy Spirit for there are not three Gods but one God. In Him the fullness of godhead dwells bodily. (Col.3:2). Continue reading →

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It’s all just “talk, talk, talk.” How many times have you heard that? How many times have you thought or said that? “He’s all talk, no action.” “He says one thing but does something else.” How often have you come to the same conclusion? Somehow, we expect that what a person says and what he does should be consistent with each other. When parents tell their children, ‘do what I say not what I do,” children are not impressed, and rightly so.

It’s this hypocritical inconsistency between what we say and what we do that has given ‘talking’ a bad name. And that sometimes carries over to the particular kind of talking that is called “preaching.” “Don’t preach to me.” How many times have you heard that? How many times have you said that? No one likes being “preached to.” Which presents a certain challenge for those who have the vocation of “preacher.”

“Preachers” are called to speak God’s Word. Preachers who speak what is not God’s Word are called “false preachers.” It’s just “talk, talk, talk.”

Jeremiah was born to be a preacher. No, actually Jeremiah was conceived to be a preacher. Long before Jeremiah could talk, he was consecrated by the Lord to be a talker. Not just a “talk, talk, talker,” but a ‘preacher.’

Jeremiah didn’t think he was old enough to be a preacher. “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, reasoned like a child.”

Maybe he felt he still needed to build his vocabulary or improve his self-confidence or the style of his delivery, all those things that we think make a man able to preach. He was afraid. Afraid that he would screw up, afraid that people would reject him, afraid that he might even be persecuted for preaching. Because nobody likes to be preached to.

But the Lord said, “Do not say that I am only a youth; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you.” And Jeremiah did not take this as just “talk, talk, talk.”

“Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, ‘Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

That’s a lot to expect from preaching isn’t it? To paraphrase Luther’s explanation of Holy Baptism, ‘How can words do such great things?’ ‘Not just the words, but the authority and power of God that is in the words does these things.’

You and I are fond of saying things like, “I’M A MAN OF MY WORD,” as if that was supposed to mean something. But that only carries as much weight as the man behind the word and the man is a fallen, sinful, weak, just a child. But to say, “I’M A MAN OF GOD’S WORD,” well, that’s saying something different. Continue reading →

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The Church’s annual observance of Christmas is rightly one of the happiest and most enjoyable of its annual celebrations. The account of God Himself, entering into this world by taking on human flesh and dwelling among us is announced by the angels, “behold, I bring you good news of great joy that shall be to all people.” (Luke 2:10).

The Church’s exhortation to its people is that we should strive to hold onto this “Christmas spirit” for as long as possible.

But it does seem as though it is the Church itself that puts a real damper on the ‘love and peace and joy’ of the season long before the eggnog has gone bad. What was it thinking when it set December the 28th, as the day when we are to recall and recount the terrible occasion of Herod’s order to kill the baby boys in Bethlehem two years old and under? I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen a Christmas pageant that included this part of the Christmas story.

The point is, this is the world that God entered in the birth of Jesus Christ. The “spirit of Christmas” lasts but a moment and almost immediately the darkness tries to overcome it. The Christmas story is set in a pool of human blood. And even as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, we know that He will also be murdered and His blood will also be poured out into this pool.

The “spirit of Christmas” that shapes and defines the worship of the Christian Church is the Holy Spirit who transforms our momentary happiness into a deep appreciation of the willingness of almighty God who controls all things by His omnipotent power, to humble Himself and enter into this world, as vulnerable to the forces of evil as we are. To save us, to redeem His creation, to make all things new, to “bring you good news of great joy that shall be to all people.”

The occasion for our consideration of Herod’s ‘slaughter of the baby boys of Bethlehem’ this morning is the 40th anniversary of the legalization of abortion in this country. Herod is responsible for killing all the baby boys in Bethlehem and the vicinity around Bethlehem. He was really only interested in the death of one particular baby boy, but he had no qualms in killing them all to be sure he got the one. For Herod, it was all for one. For Jesus, it was one for all. Continue reading →

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Someone in the village of Cana in the region of Galilee was getting married. Weddings are such a special day for the bride and groom. Holy Matrimony unites an individual man from one family and an individual woman from another family together into a mysterious union whereby the two become one new family.

It’s interesting to see just how God established this thing that is called “marriage.” In the beginning, God took an individual man and separated an individual woman from his side so that there were two separate individuals. Then, through marriage, He united the man to the woman again and made the two one. From one flesh, God made two fleshes and then joined the two fleshes together again and made them one flesh. What God rent asunder, He joined together again, and man it not to rend it asunder again. “And God saw all that He made and it was very good.”

And somehow, that ‘very good’ still resonates in the heart of mankind no matter the place or culture or the religion and weddings are universally happy and festive events.

Someone in the village of Cana in the region of Galilee was getting married. And they invited Jesus to come to their wedding. Jesus doesn’t crash the wedding with his disciples, He was invited. They must have known Jesus although we’re not told how.
• Cana and Nazareth are very close to each other on the west side of the Sea of Galilee.
• Or maybe they had known each other as children.
• Maybe they were among the children who played together in one of those caravans of families that made the annual trek to Jerusalem for the Passover, maybe even in that one when Jesus was 12 and was left behind.
• Maybe the groom was a carpenter and worked on a project that Jesus the carpenter was working on.
But unfortunately, John doesn’t tell us.

What we can say with a good deal of certainty is that they did not invite Jesus to come to their wedding because they had sat in on one of His sermons or witnessed a previous miracle. It wasn’t because they ‘believed in him.’ Continue reading →

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The text for our consideration is from the Epistle reading assigned for the Day of the Baptism of our Lord, from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, the 6th chapter, especially these three verses, “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Rom.6:3-5)

The holy day of Christmas is the celebration of God come into this world according to His promise. He who created the world, entered the world. The writer and the director of the pageant has written Himself into the story and has the lead role. He knows how the story begins and He knows how it will end and He knows every little scene and all of the dialog and action that will happen between these two points.

The Christian Church never gets tired of telling the story, rehearsing the scenes and repeating the dialog and even physically moving the movements over and over again. Because somehow we know that this pageant about God becoming man and dwelling among us in the flesh involves us. After all, He comes to where we live and move and have our being. And so we are also a part of this story, and have our and parts to play with lines to speak and movements to make.

When Jesus was born in the little town of Bethlehem, the angels spoke their lines and sang their song right on cue. And the shepherds in the field hear the angels and responded by going to “see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”

And as we speak their lines and sing their songs, and even as we have done this morning, recreate their movements, we understand that we are not simply recalling and reenacting an old, old story, but that we are actually participating in the story itself, as though it were happening in the present moment, not only some 2,000 years ago but now, not only in a little village in the Middle East but right here.

As we retell the story, we understand that it is both ancient history and current event. It happened long ago and is happens right now as we retell it. We worship the Christ child this morning, right alongside those shepherds from 2,000 years ago and we are moved to respond right along with them. “When THEY saw it, THEY made known the saying that had been told THEM concerning this child.” And so do we.

With each new recital, the story is brought forward in time and another generation of men and women, boys and girls become participants in it. It becomes ‘our’ story. And “when WE see it, WE make known the saying that has been told Us concerning this child.”

It’s really a very mysterious kind of pageant isn’t it? A story that happens both in the course of human history but that also transcends the boundaries of time and space and happens again and again, every time and place that it is retold, reenacted. Continue reading →

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If you’re going to ask St. Matthew to bring you to the Christ, as we have done this morning by reading from his gospel, then you better be prepared, not to just observe the Christ or learn something about the Christ, but to worship the Christ.

Chronologically speaking, the first to meet the Christ child are the shepherds. Luke records their story. Luke tells us that the shepherds found the baby just as the angels said, and that they ran and told everyone what had happened, but we never read that they ‘worshiped’ Him.

Chronologically speaking, the next to meet Jesus are the Magi from the East. Matthew records their story. And from the beginning to the end of their story, it’s all about worshiping the Christ. “Where is he who is born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” “And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him.”

It is interesting that Sts. Matthew, Mark and Luke all record the account of the leper who comes to Jesus saying, “Lord if you will, you can make me clean.” But only St. Matthew tells us that the man ‘knelt before Him’ when he made his request.

Matthew, Mark and Luke record the episode of the ruler who came to Jesus imploring His help for his dying daughter. But only Matthew tells us that the ruler ‘knelt before Him,” when he made his request.

Matthew, Mark and John each record the accounts of Jesus walking on the stormy sea. But only St. Matthew tells us that after the sea grew calm and Jesus was in the boat with that they all “worshiped” Him.

Same holds true for the accounts of the Canaanite woman who pleads for her daughter (Mat. 15:25); the mother of the sons of Zebedee who pleads for her two sons (Mt. 20:20); and the account of the Resurrection. Only Matthew tells us that they ‘worshiped’ Jesus.

There is one more place where Matthew directs our attention to those who worship the Christ, but we’ll come back to that at the end.

The point is, if you’re going to ask Matthew to take you to Jesus, you better be prepared to worship. That’s what he is leading us to Jesus to do. Continue reading →