His Word Has Authority - January 30, 2022 - Fourth Sunday after Epiphany - Text: Luke 4:31-44

This morning we continue in the season of the Epiphany. Today is the fourth Sunday after the Epiphany. Just as a reminder, the word Epiphany means appearing. During the season of Epiphany we celebrate the appearing of God in human flesh, and especially the appearing of Jesus to the Gentile Magi. Our text for this morning gives us no less than three examples, proofs if you will, of the fact that Jesus is God born in human flesh, as we will see.
 

Our text picks up from last week. Last week you might remember, Jesus was the hometown boy preaching in His hometown synagogue and being rejected by His own family and friends, even after they recognized that His preaching was a preaching with authority. Their problem, you might remember was that they would not believe and so Jesus did not do for them any of the signs and wonders, any of the miracles He had been doing elsewhere. This morning we continue to see that Jesus teaches with authority and we would respond with a “duh” because after all, we know He is God and God has all authority.
 

Our text brings us again to Jesus’ usual Sabbath synagogue attendance. For those who believe Jesus to be an example to us, and He is an example but He is so much more, but for those who believe Jesus is an example, certainly His usual, every Sabbath synagogue attendance should spark an obedient desire to be in Divine Service every Sunday, you might think.
 

Jesus is in the synagogue and He is preaching and teaching to the people and the people are amazed at His teaching. They are amazed at Jesus teaching because they were used to the teaching of the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law. As for the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law, their teaching was a teaching of quoting the authority of others. In other words, because they really had no authority of their own they would quote others who were thought to be authorities. Today we might say they were “name dropping.”
 

On the other hand, now these people, who were used to the teaching of the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law, were listening to Jesus teaching and they noticed the difference. Jesus did not teach by quoting others or by quoting other so called authorities. Jesus teaching was to speak His own words which, we know He is God, are words of authority.
 

Yet, not only did Jesus teach with authority, He also demonstrated, or proved the authority of His words by His actions. As Jesus is preaching the good news of salvation, bringing comfort to the people in the synagogue, we are told that “a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon . . . cried out with a loud voice,” and challenged Jesus. Now please notice, even though the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law, the religiously educated, professional clergy of the day did not recognize nor acknowledge Jesus and His divinity, the unclean spirit recognizes and confesses Jesus “I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”
 

Notice that at the confession of faith of the unclean spirit, Jesus rebukes that spirit and will not allow him to speak. Certainly this confession of faith is a right confession and you might think would be a good confession. Maybe the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law will believe if this demon confesses Jesus as God in flesh, or not. On His part, Jesus does not accept the testimony of the demon, but keeps it silent.
 

And then, Jesus shows His authority, He shows His divinity, He shows His power over the spirit in freeing the man. Yet, before the demon gives up he makes one last attempt at power by throwing the man down. The response of faith of those present is that “36. . . they were all amazed and said to one another, ‘What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!’ 37And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region” (v. 36, 37). So, that was the first example and proof in our text of Jesus divinity.
 

But Jesus is not done. He continues to show His authority. After leaving the synagogue we are told that Jesus goes to Peter’s house for rest. When He gets to Peter’s house He finds that Peter’s mother-in-law (implying if not outright saying that Peter is married), is ill with a high fever. As they enter the house those present speak for Peter’s mother-in-law, appealing to Jesus to have Him heal her. Would that we would emulate their example of faith, and that we would appeal to the Lord for our family and friends who are in need from the Lord.
 

Again, Jesus shows His authority and the fact that He is true God in human flesh. Jesus stood over Peter’s mother-in-law, rebuked the fever and it left her. Jesus, God in flesh, has authority and thus has power over all creation, even to heal our broken, sick and diseased bodies.
 

What is fascinating is that when Jesus gives healing He gives perfect and complete healing. Notice that Peter’s mother-in-law is perfectly healed with no residual lingering side affects as we see her respond to her healing by immediately getting up and serving them. And so this is the second example and proof of Jesus’ divinity. Also, this complete healing might remind us of a few weeks ago when Jesus did His first miracle of changing water into wine, but not just any old wine, the best of wine. Again and again and again we see that God always gives His best.
 

And still our text and Jesus showing His authority are not done. Our text continues by telling us that after the sun went down, which means that it is no longer the Sabbath and day of rest, Jesus went out to a desolate place. Jesus went out to have some alone time, to be in communion, in prayer with God the Father. Yet, His alone time did not last very long. After the Sabbath and the restrictions of the Sabbath were over, the people sought Him and came to Him.
 

Jesus came for all people. Jesus did not come to this earth for Himself. Jesus did not come to save only one specific group of people. He came to seek and to save the lost and so, even when He intended to have some time for Himself, even though the crowds found Him, He was always ready, willing and able to care for the people. He healed those brought to Him. He cast out demons. He did many signs, wonders and miracles as proof of His authority and power, indeed, as proof of His divine nature, that He is truly God in human flesh. Thus, our third example and proof of Jesus’ divinity.
 

The last two verses of our text remind us that as Jesus spends time in prayer and as the people are bringing those who are sick and demon possessed, Jesus recognizes the people are seeking a healer, not a Savior and thus He tells them that He needs to take the Gospel to others.
 

So, what does this mean for us today? Today we continue to live in a spiritually divided world. We live in a spiritually skeptical world. We have those in our world who outright deny Jesus even denying the existence of a God. We have those in our world which recognize Jesus humanity but not His divinity, in other words there are those religious, cults and sects which believe that Jesus was just a good human being and nothing more. And we have those who believe in Jesus divinity, but deny His humanity, in other words they believe that Jesus is God but that He never was truly human.
 

In our text and in all of Holy Scripture we see that Jesus is who He says He is. Jesus shows Himself to be truly human and truly divine. Jesus is truly human as we confess that He was born of the Virgin Mary. And we confess that He is truly divine, truly God as He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. In our text for this morning we see Jesus, truly human doing things that can only be done by God. The Gospel writer John makes much of what he calls the signs and wonders Jesus’ performed as proof of Jesus divinity, along with His humanity.
 

The greatest gift we see Jesus giving and the greatest gift Jesus came to earn and give is that He brings ultimate healing with forgiveness of sins. Remember, our greatest need is forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness is our greatest need, because without forgiveness our sins would remain on us and we would be eternally condemned, to eternal death and hell, which is the price for sin. And that is why Jesus came to earth, to earn and to give forgiveness of sins.
 

Jesus had to be truly human in order to be our substitute, in order to trade His life, His perfect life for our imperfect, sin filled lives. And Jesus was human and He was perfect. Jesus was human born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus was perfect which is why He had to be truly God, because only God is perfect. Jesus was perfect and never sinned once. And He had to be perfect in order to trade His life for ours.
 

Jesus, true God, gave up the glory that was His in heaven, taking on human flesh and blood in order to live a perfect life for us, because we could not be perfect, which is the demand of the Law of God. After living a perfect life, after fulfilling all God’s commands and promises perfectly, Jesus took our sins, all our sins, all your sins and all my sins, and all the sins of all people, of all places, of all times on Himself. He took all sins to the cross and paid the price for all sin. He suffered and died because of His great love for us. He died and was buried, yet death and the grave had no power over Him. He rose victorious over sin, death and the devil. And now, by faith in Him, faith which He gives to us, when our last hour nears, either at our own passing, or at His return, both of which will be sooner than we know and sooner than we might image, He will gather us and cloth us with His robes of righteousness and take us and all the saints to be with Himself in heaven for eternity. And so we will gather with all the saints before His throne and we will rejoice and say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Preaching the Good News - January 23, 2022 - Third Sunday after the Epiphany - Text: Luke 4:16-30

Have you noticed the way people talk today? It was not so long ago that people spoke about things they knew or things they believed. Logic and empirical data were what determined what was right and true and what was to be believed. That is not the way it is today. Today people talk about how they “feel.” These feelings are what determine what is right and true and what is to be believed. Unfortunately this way of thinking, that feelings validate what is true, does have a profound affect on our Church. Too often today people want only to believe the parts of the Bible which they “feel” are right and thus are true for them. I must confess to you this morning that I come from the “old school.” I really do not care how people “feel” about the Word of God, because I am convinced by Holy Scripture that it is the Word of God and that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the [people] of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17) as Paul tells young pastor Timothy in his second letter to him.
 

Last week, in our Gospel reading, we watched as Jesus performed His first miracle, changing water into wine. This first miracle was one of many which demonstrated to the people that He was God in flesh. We might say that this miracle was one of many which gave proof of Jesus’ Divinity. This week we move to the account of Jesus preaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath and we see the response of the people. Remember, it was the Sabbath, the last day of the week, the day in which God rested from all of His work of creation and the day our Lord gave as a day of rest. Jesus was following His usual custom which was regular, every Sabbath, worship attendance. He was in His hometown and all His family and friends had gathered for worship and to hear Him speak.
    

The custom of the day was to ask the visiting rabbi to read and to make a few remarks on the appointed text for the day after he read it. Jesus is the visiting rabbi and He is asked to read. The portion of Scripture which He read is from Isaiah and the words He read are these: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty for the captives and recovery of sight for the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).
 

After Jesus read these words He handed the scroll back to the attendant and He and everyone sat down for the sermon. Now remember, this was Jesus’ first sermon in His hometown. We might compare what is happening to a newly graduated Seminarian going to his home congregation and giving his first sermon to his family and friends. Jesus read the scroll and sat down. Jesus’ first words are, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Certainly some bold words from our bold Savior. Now, for a moment, our text tells us that Jesus was getting favorable reviews, “All spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth” (v.22). Today we might say there were being nice, but that does not last long.
 

Maybe it was how He said it, or maybe it was what He said, but the crowd did not approve for very long. As they listened to Jesus speak they begin asking themselves, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” In other words, as we might hear it today, they are asking, “Who does this guy think He is?” We watched this boy grow up and now he is preaching to us. The approving crowd begins to become the disapproving crowd.
 

Jesus, being God, knows what they are thinking and so He moves to address the issue that is on their minds. Now realize they did not say anything out loud. Jesus is addressing what they are thinking and so He is saying out loud what they are thinking in their minds. He quotes a proverb which addressed their issue, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb: ‘Physician, heal yourself! What we have heard that you did in Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well’” (v. 23). Jesus had not done any miracles here in His home town and so these people have only been hearing rumors of what He has been doing. He is here now and they want proof, they want to see first hand what they have been hearing, like the changing of water into wine, otherwise they will not believe. And to this Jesus says, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.” And then He goes on to give them two illustrations of what this means.
 

His first illustration is that of Elijah during the drought and the helping of the widow of Zarephath. Elijah was a recognized prophet of the Lord. He is looked up to and revered by these people to whom Jesus is speaking. He was a prophet sent by God to his own people and yet he was not able to find help and comfort among his own people. His own people rejected him, the God who sent him and his message from God. So, instead of finding help among his own people he had to find help from a foreigner. That was His first slap to their face.
 

Jesus’ second illustration is that of Elisha and the healing of Naaman, who also was a foreigner. Elisha was another recognized prophet of the Lord. He is looked up to and revered by these people to whom Jesus is speaking. He was a prophet sent by God to his own people and yet he was not able to perform any works of healing among his own people because they too rejected him, the God who sent him and his message from God. So, instead of being able to help his own people he could only provide healing for this foreigner.
 

Today we might mentally understand both of these illustrations but, in case you missed it, the point that Jesus is making is that both Elijah and Elisha, who are, at Jesus’ time, looked up to, were both despised by their own people when they were here on this earth serving the Lord. And now, right here in front of His hometown, Jesus goes so far as to put Himself in the same category as Elijah and Elisha. He, Jesus, is a prophet of the Lord and yet, He knows that He too will not be accepted by His own people. Of course, this goes over big with the crowd. Our text tells us that “all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.” They were all so upset that they got up as one mass in order to take Jesus out to the edge of town to throw Him off a cliff.
 

Now, this next statement in our text should have tipped these people off. We are told that “[Jesus] passing through their midst, he went way.” Jesus is divine. He is God. He is the prophet, the one sent, the Messiah. Just like their ancestors, they cannot see nor do not want to see that Jesus is who He says He is.
 

And to add proof to what Jesus is saying, the next two verses after our text tell us “31And [Jesus] went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, 32and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority.” These people were not His family and friends and so these people believed. Thus, Jesus was able to do miracles. And, we are told, His message had authority. Notice it was not that the people “felt” like His message had authority, it was not something from the people that gave His message authority, but because His message was the Word of God, it had authority.
 

What does this look like today? Today we address the same issues Jesus was addressing by asking several questions. The questions we will want to ask ourselves today are these, “Do we believe the Bible is the Word of God or do we believe the Bible only contains the Word of God?” “Do we believe that Jesus is the Messiah or that He was just a good man or that He was only God?” And finally, “Does the Word have an affect on us?”
 

So, “Do we believe the Bible is the Word of God or do we believe the Bible only contains the Word of God?” The difference in these two beliefs is the difference in believing that the whole Bible is the Word of God and that we live according to it, whether we like it or not. Or believing that we must some how be the judge of what is in the Bible and, like a detective, find what really is true about God and what is not true. This second way of looking at the Bible brings with it more power for us, because we become the ones who are deciding who and what God is and thus, as many have in our world today, we can create God in whatever image we want. Here I would refer you back to the first commandment and the fact that if we have other gods we stand judged and condemned before God, in other words, this means eternal death and hell.
 

Now, to our second questions, “Do we believe that Jesus is the Messiah or that He was just a good man or that He was only God?” This questions reflects our answer to the previous question because it is only as we believe the Bible to be the Word of God that we can actually believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah and that He gave His life for ours. To believe in anything less is, again, to stand condemned before God, in other words, this means eternal death and hell.
 

Finally, to answer the last question, “Does the Word have an affect on us?” Here I use the word “Word” in the multiple sense that the gospel writer John uses the word. First, does the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ Himself have an affect on us, the way we live, the way we think, what we say and do? And second, does the Word, the written Word of Holy Scripture, the written Word of God, also have an affect on us? To paraphrase our text, when Jesus comes down to Westfield, Texas, a small town on the outskirts of Houston, and when we hear His Word read and proclaimed on Sunday morning, are we amazed at His teaching because His is a message with authority? Does His Word have its way with us or do we constantly refuse and reject His Word. Truly, it is only when, with the help of the Holy Spirit working through this Word of God that we believe this Word of God and are able to stand in righteousness before our God, in other words, this means eternal life.
 

Our words and our actions betray us. We show forth the faith that is in our hearts by our words and our actions. How we respond to the Word which we hear and believe shows if we are like the people of Jesus’ home town or if we are like the people of Capernaum.
 

My prayer for each of us this morning is that the Lord will be with us, filling us with His Holy Spirit especially as He does through His means of grace, as we remember our Baptism, as we hear His words that our sins are forgiven, as we hear His Holy Word and as we are given His body and blood to eat and drink thus participating in His life, death and resurrection, so that as we leave the safety of this building, this sanctuary, where it is okay to be a Christian, and go out into the rest of the world, to our various jobs, occupations, careers, and vocations, so that we will show forth the faith that is in our heart, faith given and strengthened through the dynamic Word of the Word of God. To Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

God, in Christ, Gives the Best Gifts - January 16, 2022 (01/20/13; 01/14/01) - Second Sunday after the Epiphany - Text: John 2:1-11

This morning we continue in the season of Epiphany. The word “epiphany” literally means, manifestation or appearance. Epiphany is the season we celebrate and remember the manifestation, the appearance of Jesus especially to the Gentiles. In other words, Epiphany is often thought of and spoken of as the Gentile Christmas. Epiphany is the season to celebrate that not only is Jesus the Savior of His own people, the Jewish nation, but He is our Savior as well, indeed, He is the Savior of all people, all nations.
 

Three weeks ago we celebrated Jesus’ birth. Two weeks ago, the day after New Year’s Day we celebrated the circumcision and the naming of Jesus. Of course, unless New Year’s Day falls on a Sunday, this celebration is usually skipped over by most churches. Although the coming of the wise men is usually included in most Christmas children’s programs, and as we have heard many times, the wise men really did not show up until some time after Jesus was a year to a year and a half old as the Gospel writer Matthew says, “And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh” (2:11). The day the wise men came to see Jesus is the day we call Epiphany and is celebrated on January the sixth. Here again, like the celebration of the circumcision and naming of Jesus, unfortunately, unless January the sixth falls on a Sunday it is usually skipped and not well celebrated by most churches. We do however celebrate the Sundays after the Epiphany of which today is the second such Sunday.
 

Anyway, two weeks ago we fast forwarded from the time of Jesus’ birth to the time of Jesus being twelve years old and going up to Jerusalem with His parents to celebrate the Passover, one of three festivals the children of Israel were required to attend. And as we noted it may have been His bar mitzvah celebration as well, that is the day He was considered an adult in the temple, something like our confirmation rite. Last week we again fast forwarded eighteen years to Jesus being thirty years old when He came to John the Baptist to be baptized by him in order to fulfill all righteousness and to begin His public ministry. So, up until this time we have really only seen the humanity of Jesus, that is, we have only seen Jesus as a human being.
 

Our text for today brings us to the point that Jesus has begun His public ministry. By the time of our text, Jesus has already chosen, at least some of, His disciples. In our text, His mother, Mary, was invited to a wedding, which was held in Cana. And Jesus, along with His disciples, went with His mother for this festive occasion. Yes, Jesus was human. Yes, He did have a good time. Yes, He did drink wine. And still, He did not sin. Some of you may be thinking of the way in which Jesus has been portrayed in movies and on television over the past years. The pendulum has swung from Jesus being quite a stiff, a King James speaking character, which portrayed His being God so much that He was almost not human. Now the pendulum has swung the other direction so much so that in movies and on television today Jesus is portrayed joking and having fun with His disciples, and, unfortunately in some shows, He is seen as actually doing sinful things and thinking sinful thoughts. Today we see Him in His humanity, in His humanness even to the point of Him not being divine, that is not being God. The fact of the matter is, no matter how Hollywood might portray Him, Jesus is both human and divine, He is both God and man and He is perfect in His humanity and divinity.
 

In our text for this morning we catch up with Jesus and at this time He had done no miracles. He was recognized as a “rabbi,” that is as a teacher. He was recognized as a prophet, but He had not yet begun to do the “signs, wonders, and miracles” to show Himself to be God.
 

This morning, in our text, Jesus begins to reveal His divinity. Jesus had gone down to Cana with His mother and His disciples. The wedding was into its third day. Jewish weddings usually lasted a week. The wine was exhausted, they were out of wine, which could be a social tragedy. Mary, who had been pondering all these things about her Son since His birth, came to Jesus in faith and expressed to Him that “They have no more wine.” Jesus’ words to His mother was that His time had not yet come. The time had to be right. Jesus was on a schedule. Time and again there is the expression by Jesus concerning time. Jesus came to give His life as a ransom for the world and the timing had to be just right, so it begins with His ministry and with His first miracle, the time had to be right.
 

In faith, His mother told the servants to listen to Jesus and to do what He says. And He does not say much. He told the servants, “fill the jars with water.” He was talking about six stone water jars which held about twenty to thirty gallons of water each. These were jars which, we are told, normally were used to hold water for the ceremonial washings which were a regular part of Jewish life.
 

After the servants had filled the jars, then, when His time came, when the time was right, Jesus did a miracle. Notice that He did not wave His hands in the air. He did not say any magic words. He did not make any scene in which to draw attention to Himself nor what He was doing. He simply told the servants, after they had filled the jars of the one hundred and twenty to one hundred and eighty gallons of water, “Now draw some of it and take it to the master of the banquet.” These servants thought they were taking water to the master of the banquet. Certainly they were wondering why He would tell them to do this, because they were out of wine not water. Yet, on the way to the “master of the banquet,” the water was changed into wine, but not just wine, this was the best wine. Jesus had performed His first miracle. And of course, as God, His was a perfect miracle, a miracle changing water into the best wine.
 

John tells us that the reason for this miracle was to “reveal His glory,” in other words, as with all the signs, wonders, and miracles that Jesus performed, and that John so meticulously points out, they show that Jesus is truly God because no human could do the miracles that Jesus did. And in this instant John tells us that the affect of this miracles was that “His disciples put their faith in Him.” Indeed, as was the case many times when Jesus performed signs, wonders and miracles, many people believed in Him. Yes, there were those who refused to believe even when witnessing such proofs, such as the Pharisees and teachers of the Law, but many others did believe.
 

Okay, so what? Why does John tell us about this first miracle? Why do I need to know about this or any of Jesus’ miracles? Let me tell you something about John, especially John as a Gospel writer. One thing you will notice about John, as you read through His Gospel, is that he continually talks about and points to the “signs, wonders, and miracles” which Jesus performed in order to show Himself to be the Christ, the Messiah, true God in human flesh.
 

We know Jesus was a human. We celebrated all the human events in His life, His birth, His circumcision, His attending the Passover, His being baptized. He is a human and it is important that He is a human, because if He were not a human He could not be our substitute, He would not be able to live for us, in our place, the perfect life demanded of us. He would not be able to take our sins upon Himself and suffer the eternal death penalty of hell of us, in our place, He would not be able to die for us in our place. So, we know and we celebrate Jesus as a human.
 

Now, as we look back, we see, clearly, that Jesus is truly God. John shows us that Jesus is God through the “signs, wonders, and miracles” He performs. It is important that Jesus is God, because if He were not God then He would not be able to do the miracles He did. If He was not God He would not have been born sinless. If He was not God He would not be able to rise from the dead. So, we know and celebrate that Jesus is God.
 

Now, some might object, saying, that was then and this is now. The inference being that the past does not affect the present. Let me assure you, Jesus life was in the past, but His life affects us still today. And let me also assure you, Jesus is still alive. He is in heaven where He is seated at the right hand of the Father watching over us, ruling over us and interceding for us.
 

Likewise, Jesus death and resurrection were in the past, but they affect us still today. If Jesus were not human and divine. If Jesus had not lived His life for us. If He has not been perfect. If He had not fulfilled all the promises and prophecies of God. If Jesus had not suffered, died and rose for us, we would still be in our sins. There would be no hope for us. As Paul says, “we would be pitied the most.” These events are of such importance that our lives depend on them. For, to separate ourselves from these events is to separate ourselves from our Savior, and apart from our Savior there is no life, only death, even eternal death. Apart from Christ we would be pitied the most.
 

And so, we do review and relive the events of the past knowing that they do have an effect on us today. The account which we relive this morning happened in the past, but it shows us how our loving Lord deals with us yet today. The usual way of celebrating a wedding was to bring out the best first. You would serve the best first because everyone would be able taste it. It was after everyone had enough wine to drink and they began being a bit tipsy, after everyone had enough to drink so that they would not be able to taste the wine, then the other wine was brought out, the second best wine, the not so good tasting wine, but not so with Jesus. When Jesus does a miracle, He does it first rate. Jesus always gives His best.
 

Even so today, Jesus still brings us and gives to us the best. Jesus does not do things partial or second rate. He does not earn just a little of our salvation and expect us to earn the rest. What He gives to us is His best, His all, complete salvation. He even stirs in us our response to Him, that is our response of faith.
 

As we travel with Jesus during this season of Epiphany, as we will travel with Him through the seasons of Lent, Easter, Pentecost and later again, through Advent, we travel with Him recognizing Him to be our Lord and Savior, truly human, truly divine. We recognize Him for what He came to do and to give and what He continues to do and give. He created us to love us. He gives us life at conception. He gives us faith, forgiveness and life at Baptism. He gives us forgiveness through Holy Absolution. He gives us His body and blood to eat and drink in His Holy Supper. He gives Himself for us. He gives us faith, forgiveness and life. He gives and gives and gives and we are given to. Jesus, God, in Christ, gives us the best gifts. So that all that is left is that He also stirs in us to rejoice and say, to Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Christ - January 9, 2022 - The Baptism of Our Lord/First Sunday after the Epiphany - Text: Luke 3:15-22

Two weeks ago we celebrated the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Last week, in the middle of the week, on Thursday, we, or some of us, celebrated Epiphany and the visit of the Magi, the first non-Jewish, Gentile visitors to see the child Jesus and bear homage by bring gifts of gold, incense and myrrh, an anointing oil. Last week was the Second Sunday after Christmas and our Gospel reading was the only other account we have of Jesus’ life from His birth and visit by the Magi until we hear about Him in our text for this morning and His baptism by John. The Gospel reading we heard last week, you might remember, was the account of when Jesus was twelve years old and He had traveled to Jerusalem with His parents to celebrate the Passover. Last week we were reminded how Jesus stayed behind in the temple listening to the chief priests and teachers of the Law and how He was seen as having much wisdom, at least at that time, at the age of twelve. This was before the chief priests and teachers of the Law knew who He was and I guess He was not yet a threat to them at that time. This week we fast forward and have skipped to the time when Jesus is now thirty years old and is ready to begin His earthly mission and ministry. The Bible does not record what happened from the time of Jesus’ birth until He is twelve years old, nor does it record what happened from the time that Jesus was twelve years old until He turned thirty. The reason these events are not recorded is because they are not important, or at least our knowledge of these events is not necessary for our salvation. Remember, what we have recorded in the Bible is what we need for our salvation. And so we pick up our narrative this morning after Jesus turned thirty and today we celebrate the baptism of our Lord.
 

I might remind you that John the Baptist was about six month older than Jesus. And, although he was a relative of Jesus they probably did not have too much contact with one another, at least not until this point. John was born for the purpose of preparing the way for the Messiah, the Savior promised long ago. John spent his time in the wilderness calling people to repentance and to be baptized with his baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Too many of the people were living their lives, like many people do today, just going from day to day, oblivious of anything other than the cares, concerns and worries of this world. They did their religious duty by attending synagogue on the Sabbath, by attending the three required festivals and they thought that was all they needed to do. How often do we find ourselves today thinking that if we go to church on Sunday, or every other Sunday or so, put our five or ten dollars in the offering plate, that means that we have done all that is required of us and the rest of the week is ours to live our lives as we please. John’s work was to prepare the people for Jesus’ first coming. The work of pastors today is to prepare people for Jesus’ second coming. And unfortunately, just as many people ignored and discounted John, his work and his message, so too today, too many in our world discount and ignore our pastors and the Word of the Lord he delivers.
 

As John worked to get the people ready for Jesus’ first coming, he did such a good job that many of the people were wondering if John might possibly be the Christ, that is, that he might be the Messiah. John’s response to them was that the Messiah is more powerful than John. John uses the comparison of the lowest slave who’s job it was to remove the master’s shoes and to wash the master’s feet. John says he is not even high enough to do this lowly task.
 

And so, John is out doing his work, preaching to the people, getting them ready for the Messiah when one day the Messiah shows up. Jesus comes out to John in order to be baptized by him. In the other gospels we are told that John hesitated to baptize Jesus, suggesting that Jesus should rather baptize him. Here we see John knowing and understanding his place and role. He knew the Messiah would be perfect and holy, a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins was totally unnecessary. John is the one who had a flawed life. John was the sinner and should have been baptized by Jesus, but Jesus, wanting to make sure that He fulfilled all the laws perfectly was baptized by John.
 

At this point in the narrative there is often a question concerning John’s baptism compared to Jesus’ baptism, “What is the difference?” The difference between John’s baptism and the baptism of Jesus is a difference between a baptism with water and a baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire, as John says, “I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” John is looking through time to Pentecost and the giving of the Holy Spirit. Remember, John’s baptism was a complete baptism, a sacramental baptism giving faith and forgiveness of sins. When Jesus commissioned baptism He specifically mentions the element of the coming of the Holy Spirit whom He would send following His return to heaven. Thus, at our own baptism we are baptized with a complete baptism with water and God’s triune name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. At our baptism we are given faith, forgiveness and life.
 

John’s work was to prepare the world for Jesus’ coming. Jesus’ work was to fulfill all righteousness, in other words Jesus’ work was to be the true Israel, to live as Israel was supposed to live, to live perfectly for us in our place, as well as for all people, of all places, of all times. His work was to give His life for ours. His work also consists of judgement, because all those who do not believe in Him are judged to the place of unquenchable fire. The way to heaven, the way to eternal life is a narrow way. Have you ever wondered why all the religions of the world hate Christians? Have you ever wondered why Christians, true Christians are despised by our so called tolerant, diverse thinking world? It is because the Christian faith is a faith in an intolerant God. We worship a God who does not tolerate sin. We worship a God who is a jealous God and who demands our complete faith in Him alone for our salvation. We know that “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Even our Old Testament lesson for this morning reminds us of the justice which our Savior brings. And His justice is such, that only those who believe in Him will be saved.
 

Yet, Christ’s work consists not just of justice but also of grace. Remember, both water and fire can be used to refine or we might use the word, to judge something. And both water and fire can be used to cleanse or we might use the word to give grace to something or someone. Let me put it in these terms, what justice would there be if you stood before a judge with a hundred parking violations and he said, “Well, I know you are a good person and you did not mean it, so I will let you go free this time.” I do not think any of us would agree that this person is a fair or just judge. Likewise, if faith alone in Jesus is what saves, would we say we have a just and fair God if in the end He would say, “Well, I know everyone, even those who hated me and persecuted my faithful followers, and everyone really meant to believe in me, so I will let you all come in this time.” I am sure Jesus would be sitting there asking why He bothered going through what He went through, suffering and dying on the cross. No!, faith in Jesus alone is what saves, unbelief condemns and gains only eternal death and hell.
 

Getting back to our text, we were witnessing Jesus’ baptism. When John baptized Jesus we were given a glimpse of our God, our triune God. We see Jesus, God the Son, standing there in flesh and blood. We see a dove descend in bodily form and we are told that this was God the Holy Spirit. And we also hear the voice of God the Father from heaven stating, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Quite an awesome display.
 

So, what does all this mean? It means that we are in the right place and we are believing in the right Savior. At His baptism Jesus is confirmed by His Father as being the Christ. He is who He says He is, the Messiah. He is the one who was promised so long ago in the Garden of Eden. He is the one about whom the prophets proclaimed would come to save the world, all people, you and me included.
    

At His baptism, Jesus was confirmed in His Christ-ness, in His Messiahship, in His mission and ministry by God the Father. In a very real way Jesus was commissioned, pronounced ready to begin His work. It is after His baptism that He began teaching and preaching, casting out demons, curing the sick, raising the dead and the like. It was after His baptism that, at least for a short time, people began flocking to Him to hear Him and to believe in Him. And it was three short years later that He accomplished our salvation by giving His life on the cross for ours. He suffered the eternal death penalty of hell which should have been ours.
 

And finally, at Jesus’ baptism we are given confidence in our own faith. How do we know that we are right and everyone else is wrong? Quite simple. All the religions of the world can be divided into two categories. Category one consists of all those religions which proclaim a salvation based on how good you are, what type of character you posses, if you have done enough good things to gain your own entrance into heaven, in other words they all point you to yourself as your own savior. Thus, all these religions can never give you any firm confidence that you have done enough, that you are good enough, or that you can be sure one way or the other. And then there is the Christian faith which has as its base in the fact that we are saved, not because of anything within us, but we are saved by someone outside of us, by God and His grace, by His undeserved love poured out on us. We are saved by simple faith in Jesus Christ alone, faith which He also gives to us. And because this is a gift which is given to us and comes from outside of us, we can be sure, we can be confident, we have a hope which is a certainty that we are saved.
 

This morning as we celebrate Jesus’ baptism, I pray that you are reminded of your own baptism. I pray that you will daily be reminded of your baptism because it is through your baptism that you have been made a part of God’s family, that you have forgiveness of sins and that when the Lord returns, or when your last hour comes, you can know for certain that you will be in heaven with Jesus and all the saints who have gone on before. To God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Wisdom and Favor of God - January 2, 2022 - Second Sunday after Christmas - Text: Luke 2:40-52

Today is the ninth day of Christmas. Remember, we do not count the twelve days of Christmas counting down to Christmas as many in the marketing world would do. We count the twelve days of Christmas beginning with Christmas day being the first day of Christmas. Since today is the ninth day of Christmas this Thursday will be the day of Epiphany, which, unfortunately does not get much of a celebration unless it falls on a Sunday. Epiphany you might remember is our celebration of the visit of the Magi or wise men, the first non-Jews to visit the baby Jesus and what is considered by many to be the true Gentile Christmas. Today is the second Sunday after Christmas. It is not every year that we get a second Sunday after Christmas. It all depends on what day of the week that Christmas occurs and this year is one of those special years. All this really means is that it is only once in a while that we get to hear these readings appointed for this the Second Sunday after Christmas.
 

Our text for this morning has been framed, if you will. The framing of the text begins with verse forty, “And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him” (v. 40), and ends with verse fifty-two, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” (v. 52). Our text begins with Jesus growing and becoming strong, filled with wisdom and the favor of God and the word that is translated as favor is the same word from which we get the word Eucharist. Our text for this week follows our text from last week and the presentation of Jesus in the temple as a baby.
 

Our appointed text then ends with Jesus increasing in wisdom, age and favor with God and man. This increasing in wisdom and favor, and so forth seems to be a bit of a theme for Luke with Jesus at a young age. Perhaps Luke is helping us to see the fact that Jesus is truly God and that Jesus is aware of His own divinity. And both of these verses tie into the Old Testament reading and Solomon’s prayer for understanding. With Jesus we get perfect wisdom, knowledge and understanding.
 

The first two verses of our text moves us along in history twelve years from Jesus as a baby and His presentation in the temple to Jesus at the age of twelve, the age of being a Jewish man. “41Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom” (v. 41,42). It might be that this was the time for Jesus to be bar mitzaphed, something like our confirmation, declared to be an adult in the temple.
 

The reason for the trip to Jerusalem was that this was an annual trek to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. It was this Feast of the Passover which celebrated the passing over of the angel of death in Egypt and the delivery of the Children of Israel out of their bondage of slavery. I think it is interesting that the first Feast that we are told that Jesus attends is the Passover because this is a foreshadowing of what Jesus will do. He will take this feast and out of it give us the Lord’s Supper and our deliverance out of our own bondage of slavery to sin.
 

Following the Passover celebration we are told that the group began their trip home. The fact that the family traveled as a group helps us to see the importance of the family group. Also, it was safer to travel as a group and certainly it made the travel easier being able to visit while walking the miles that needed to be walked.
 

After the group had traveled for one day Mary and Joseph discovered that Jesus was not with the group. Here we see a downside to group travel, that if you are not careful you may miss someone. Jesus was twelve years old and so He was old enough to somewhat take care of Himself, yet His parents were concerned and so after they found Him missing they returned to Jerusalem to look for Him. We are told that it took three days to find Him. This three days is perhaps a foreshadowing of the three days in which Jesus would be in the grave before His resurrection.
 

After three days Jesus is found in the temple, not that He was lost. We are told that He was in the temple listening and questioning the teachers. Certainly if nothing else this fact infers His knowledge of His divinity, in other words, Jesus knew He was God and so, as God He is bearing witness to the teachers of a proper understanding of what His word says. I believe it is interesting that it may be that these same teachers may have been the ones who twelve years ago instructed King Herod where to find the new born King, of course they would not believe Jesus to be the one born as Herod had all those children killed. And it may be these same teachers who will, within eighteen years when Jesus returns as a prophet, have forgotten their conversations with Him.
 

When Mary and Joseph find Jesus He acknowledges that He must be in His Father’s house and be about His Father’s business, certainly not simply inferring, but outright acknowledging His divinity, that God is His true father.
 

When Mary and Joseph find Jesus, they express their concern for Him. Notice Jesus’ response to His parents. His answer is an answer of respect, certainly in keeping with the fourth commandment. Jesus is truly God. Jesus is the sinless Son of God and truly human. Jesus knows the commandments, after all, as God He gave them and so here He shows us a perfect example of how we are to keep the commandments.
 

It was not Jesus who was having trouble, but His parents. He knew who He was, why He was born and what was happening. It was His parents that were having a misunderstanding concerning these events as Luke so well points out, “50And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them.” (v. 50).
 

Our text says that Jesus left with His parents and was submissive as our text is translated or subordinate to them. Here again we get a godly example of Christian obedience. Jesus was not inferior in being submissive, nor was He less of a person, rather He understood the importance of the order of creation, the importance of good order in a family and home, and He shows us how that good order works best, and that was by His perfect submission and subordination.
 

And finally our text tells us again about Mary that she treasured up these things. Mary has had an interesting life so far, having had an angel announce to her, her divine conception, having given birth to God in flesh, having had shepherds visit her child, having had Magi from the East, Gentiles visit her child, having had to make a trip to Egypt and back, having had a priest say some interesting things concerning her child, and now this strange encounter in Jerusalem. What else could she do except treasure all these things in her heart?
 

So, what does all this mean? One of the first things I believe we are to take from this text is the fact that Jesus is truly a human being. He grew from being a baby to being twelve years old. He walked everywhere he went. He talked, listened and asked questions. Yes, Jesus was truly human and we know that He had to be human in order to be our substitute. In order for Jesus to trade His life for ours, in order to trade His perfect life for ours, He had to be one of us, a human being.
 

Yet, not only was Jesus truly human, He was also truly divine, He was truly God. We see His divinity and His awareness of His divinity in His being in the temple, in His Father’s house as He described the temple, being about His Father’s business. He see His divinity in His listening to and asking questions of the teachers in the temple. We see His divinity in His perfect obedience to His parents. And we know that Jesus is and had to be truly divine in order to be perfect, again in order to be able to trade His perfect life for our imperfect life.
 

What other conclusion can we get from our text for this morning other than this that Jesus is our Savior. It was because of us and for our sin that Jesus was born. It was because of us and our sin that Jesus was perfect, that He lived a perfect life. Jesus was not perfect simply to be an example for us, please do not misunderstand Jesus’ life. To believe Jesus lived perfectly for us simply as an example misses the mark in many ways and is a confusion of the Gospel. If Jesus was simply an example, that statement implies that we can be perfect like Jesus, which also means that we were not conceived and born in sin, which also implies that our will has not been tainted by sin so that we can choose to be like Jesus. And all that misses the first part of Genesis which reminds us that the sin of Adam and Eve is conceived and born in us so that our will has been tainted by sin so that all we can do, in and of ourselves is refuse and reject Jesus.
 

The fact that Jesus lived perfectly shows the fullness of the Gospel, that is that as God commands that we live perfect as He is perfect and because we cannot live perfect, Jesus was born as a human and lived perfectly for us so that when the time came, He traded His perfection for our imperfection, He took our sins and paid the price for our sins so that He received our judgement, eternal death and hell and we received His reward, eternal life in heaven. And this Jesus accomplished as true God and true man.
 

In our world today we are confronted with something of a dilemma. The world would reject Jesus as He is, truly God and truly man. The world would rather we accept that Jesus is simply one of many ways to some eternal nirvana. The reason for this thinking is because of our sinful nature. If Jesus is who He says He is and as we read our text for this morning the fact that He was aware of who He was, then this understanding would mean that we will be held accountable for our own lives and we will be accountable to God, which means that many souls will be condemned or many people will need to change their lives. Instead, what we see in our world is the accusation that Jesus is a lunatic, why else would He live a perfect life, take our sins and suffer and die for them and then rise from the dead?
 

Let me encourage you this morning. Jesus is who He says He is. Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the one and only way to eternal life. As we approach the end times, it may become more and more difficult to be a Christian in this world, but let me assure you, we have Jesus promise that He will be with us and as He has worked out and given to us our salvation, we can know for certain that when our last hour arrives, we will be with Him in paradise. So, continue celebrating Christmas, until Thursday and rejoice and say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.