Baby Changes Habits

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. … My focus is the First Letter of John where we read: “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”[1] Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’”[2] Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

A baby. The singular most effective way to change shopping habits. By the time a baby reaches its first birthday, parents spend $7,500 at stores like Target. That is why retailers study purchasing habits. If you are pregnant, retailers convince you through coupons and specials to spend $7,500 in their stores. That said, I will examine habits in light of our readings and Lutheran tradition.

Two weeks ago, we heard that John’s motive for writing to his church was to warn members about the dangers of philosophies that tempted them from following the Way, which is, the Person and Teaching of Jesus Christ. In today’s passage, John encouraged Christians to persevere as true brothers and sisters living in the world. He reminded them that not only the secessionists, those who walk in darkness, hate them, but also the world hates them because the world hated Jesus. The world hates Jesus’ followers.

Because the world hated Christians, John exhorted them to love not “in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”[3] He called them to lay down their lives for one another. Here, he referred to a specific event in history, Jesus’ crucifixion.[4] John echoed Jesus’ words in the Gospel, “I lay down my life for my sheep.”[5]

Jesus’ voluntary crucifixion was not only the supreme sacrifice, but also the indispensable means of forgiveness.[6] As we heard two weeks ago and will hear next week, Jesus was the propitiation for our sins. Jesus is propitiation and propitiator. He lovingly paid our debt with his own flesh and blood.

John’s Christians expressed true love in the supreme sacrifice of laying down their lives for one another and through lesser, mundane means.[7] In John’s church, charity did not always imply laying down one’s life, but it always involved helping another at some personal cost. By cultivating such love in the community, John strengthened the Church’s identity and severed malicious behavior at the root.[8]

When John wrote, “If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” he referred to the heart as the seat and source of love, sympathy and pity.[9] Implanted in us to keep us on the straight and narrow, the heart knows right from wrong. It prompts, nags and condemns us. In Romans, we read, “[The Gentiles] show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.”[10]

Yet, there are times when the heart distracts, confounds, refuses to believe the truth or shuns all comfort and betrays us.[11] Jeremiah wrote, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”[12]

Who can understand the heart? … When should you not trust your heart? John’s answer was: When the heart questions or doubts God, who is greater than you, your heart is not your friend.

John knew unrighteous sinners walking in dark shadows falsely accused Christians. Because Satan accused Christians day and night, John offered a strong dose of encouragement to squash the inner voices of anxiety and self-doubt.

He reminded Christians to approach God as the One who knows everything about their hearts, and is still able to forgive. God knows human folly and guilt, disgrace and shame, and thoughts and words before one thinks or speaks them.

Moreover, Christ our Advocate stands at God’s right hand. Through his intercession, God’s knowledge of human misery results in the exoneration that the heart desires rather than the condemnation that the soul fears.[13]

To silence the heart, and refuse to submit to its distractions, betrayals and condemnations, and to focus instead on God and the sweet Gospel of forgiveness, is to turn the turmoil of trouble to joy.[14] John wanted Christians to be confident enough to ask God for whatever they needed. This “whatever” was not some magical thing by which they could twist God’s arm, forcing Him to carry out some human wish that He would not execute. Rather, Christians could ask for what they did not know or have. Having received it, Christians should thank God who alone knows the needs of His children and provides for them.

Because God alone knows our needs and provides for them, John’s Christians could love one another as God commanded them. Their love for one another proved God abided in and among Church members.

About this passage, Martin Luther taught, “If our conscience makes us fainthearted and presents God as angry, still ‘God is greater than our heart.’ Conscience is one drop; the reconciled God is a sea of comfort. The fear of the conscience, or despair, must be overcome, even though this is difficult. It is a great and exceedingly sweet promise that if our heart blames us, ‘God is greater than our heart’ and ‘knows everything.’”[15]

Luther went on to say, “Although our sin is great, … His redemption is greater.” Luther’s insight, as noted by the renowned Catholic Scripture scholar, the late Raymond Brown, was resisted by Calvinists and Catholics alike, but has won the day among most Christians.[16]

Our sin is great. His redemption is greater. Basic Law and Gospel. The Law convicts us because we are guilty of sin. The Gospel frees us because God is loving and merciful.

Our loving and merciful God abides in us – as individuals and as church. How then, brothers and sisters in Christ, do we show love and mercy to one another? To repeat myself from two weeks ago: forgiveness. The mature Christian forgives habitually.

The mature Christian forgives habitually. … How? By believing that our loving and merciful God abides in us, and by practicing forgiveness.

Tell me if I am wrong. Most Christians do not practice forgiveness habitually. I start with me and look no farther than our church doors. If I am wrong, correct me, but I am willing to bet most of us do not practice forgiveness habitually.

We practice ruthlessness, blame, cruelty, hatred, indifference and numerous other bad habits – sins – that are far from Christ’s supreme sacrifice and lesser, mundane ones like having the world’s goods at our disposal and opening our hearts when our brothers and sisters are in need.

What does it take to replace bad habits with good ones? To replace blame with forgiveness, cruelty with mercy, hatred with love? To help answer my question, let’s go shopping.

In 1984, a UCLA professor set out to answer a basic question: Why do people suddenly change their shopping routines?[17] A year of research revealed that most people bought the same brands of cereal and deodorant week after week. Habits reigned supreme. Except when they didn’t.

The professor discovered what has become a pillar of modern marketing theory: People’s buying habits are more likely to change when they go through a major life event. Marriage, divorce, buying a new house and changing jobs alter consumers’ buying habits. And the biggest life event for most people is having a baby. Parents’ habits are more flexible at that moment than at any other period in an adult’s life. Target and other retailers capitalize when you change your spending habits.

Retailers benefit from your change in spending habits after you experience a life-changing event like having a baby. My question is: Has the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead – a life-changing event – changed your habits?

Let’s examine our habits in light of our reading and our Lutheran tradition. John wrote, “We ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. … Let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. … We have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another.”[18]

The application of God’s Word is easier read than practiced, easier discussed than done, easier heard than lived. Living God’s Word is easier when life’s breaks go my way rather than against me. Easier when I receive God’s grace rather than sinners’ scorn. Easier when I have hope in God rather than despair. Nevertheless, as Luther said, “Despair must be overcome even though this is difficult.”[19]

Satan prefers you never overcome despair and hope in God. Satan prefers you never overcome your old habits. Luther, John, Jesus and His Church prefer you overcome despair and bad habits. What do you prefer? Do you prefer being your sinful self or would you prefer being a loving and merciful person? Will our world be a better place if you respond to your brothers and sisters with a closed heart or with a Christ-like heart? Do you want to be a chump for Satan or a champion for Christ?

“Champions don’t do extraordinary things. They do ordinary things, but they do them without thinking. … They follow the habits they’ve learned.”[20] So said Tony Dungy when he interviewed to become a head coach in the NFL. Dungy turned the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, perennial losers, into winners. He did it by getting men to replace old habits with new ones. He did it by getting men to believe in themselves. Dungy says, “Belief is the biggest part of success in professional football.”[21]

We can say the same about our lives as Christians. We believe God is greater than our hearts. We know the Resurrection changes lives more than marriage, divorce or the birth of a baby. Touched by God’s merciful love, we know we can change, but when life is tense and tough, we return to comfortable old habits.

Too often, saved Christians, resort to vulgarities, lies, blame, denial, violence, gossip and other sinful habits when challenged, chastised or confronted. We return to comfortable, sinful habits when life is tense, tough or tempting.

We must believe change is possible to change our habits permanently. Usually, that belief emerges with the help of a group. For Christians seeking to replace old, sinful habits with new, loving and merciful habits, change will happen when we, the Church, hold one another and ourselves accountable. We will do that when our love for God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and His children motivates every thought, word and deed. We will do that we realize that God Father, Son and Spirit loves us as His children, His babies.

If people can stop smoking and drinking; if people can lose weight and perennial losers can become champions, we can change our sinful habits because God loves us and through the Church, the Holy Spirit gives us the means to make it possible. We have the means to make it possible, if only we live God’s Word and Sacraments. For those you love and for the world, live God’s Word and be God’s Sacrament. Children of light, pray to the Holy Trinity for that grace, and when you do, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.

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[1] 1 John 3:18

[2] Psalm 122

[3] 1 John 3;18

[4] Bruce G. Schuchard, 1 – 3 John. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House (2012), 382.

[5] John 10:15

[6] Schuchard, 382.

[7] Ibid, 383.

[8] Luke Timothy Johnson, The Writings of the New Testament: Third Edition. Minneapolis: Fortress Press (2010) 502.

[9] Schuchard, 389. See fn 337.

[10] Romans 2:15

[11] Schuchard, 390

[12] Jeremiah 17:9

[13] Schuchard, 391f. See fn 354

[14] Ibid, 394.

[15] Ibid, 391. See fn 348.

[16] Ibid. See fn 350.

[17] Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks (2012), 191ff.

[18] 1 John 3:16-23

[19] Schuchard, 391.

[20] Duhigg, 61.

[21] Ibid, 86

Casper the Ghost

 

Do you like stories about ghosts? I really don’t like scary ghost stories, but when I was a young boy, we watched a cartoon show called Casper the Friendly Ghost. Did you know that over 75 years that there were five different TV shows about Casper? There were also comic books and movies. And I still remember the opening lines to the theme song: Casper the friendly ghost, the friendliest ghost I know. …

Well, people did and still do believe that ghosts real. That’s why in our Gospel today, Jesus told his disciples to see his flesh and bones because they were afraid that they were seeing a ghost.

He then asked the for something to eat not because he was hungry, but because he wanted to show them that he was not a ghost. Ghosts can’t eat, but people can.

There is only one Ghost we know that exists. This is the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit. Do you know where you can find the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is here with us now in all the people praying together. The Holy Spirit is in our Word when we hear it read and when we talk about God’s Word. The Holy Spirit is here when we receive God’s grace through the Lord’s Supper. Do you know where else the Holy Spirit is? The Holy Spirit is in your heart, and God has poured His love into your heart through the Holy Spirit. That should make you feel very holy.

With that, let us pray. Heavenly Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named: Bless these and all children, and give their parents the spirit of wisdom and love, so that the homes in which they grow up may be to them an image of Your Kingdom, and the care of their parents a likeness of Your love. We pray in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Good Eats!

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. … My sermon today is entitled, “Good Eats!” and my focus is our Gospel (Luke 24:36-49). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

One of my favorite shows is entitled Good Eats! If you have never seen it, Host Alton Brown explores the origins of ingredients, decodes culinary customs, and presents food and equipment trends. Punctuated by unusual interludes, simple preparations and unconventional discussions, he brings you food in its finest and funniest form.[1]

I mention this cooking show because of Jesus’ question, “Have you anything here to eat?” The question leads to three points about food: in Luke, the Lord’s Supper and the Church today.

First, Luke. After the Risen Lord greeted his disciples with peace, they became startled and frightened because they thought that they were looking at a ghost. Stories of ghosts and other phantoms of the night abounded in Jesus’ time, but one point worth noting is that ghosts lack material substance. You can't shake hands with a ghost or invite him to eat dinner with you.

In this Resurrection account, the disciples were startled and frightened precisely because they thought they were seeing a ghost. So, Jesus invited them to touch Him, underscoring his point by reminding the disciples that His glorified Body has flesh and bones.

To deepen this point, Jesus asked his bewildered disciples for something to eat. This was a sign that he was indeed raised from the dead – body and spirit. Recall that Jesus instructed Jairus and his wife to give their girl something to eat after he had raised her to life. Only the living require food to eat.

But there is something more important here than good eats. In Jesus’ culture dining with someone indicated solidarity with that person. To eat with someone meant you identified with that person. To take a meal with another was to offer that person the right hand of fellowship in the deepest sense of the term.

Meal fellowship is an appropriate image for an incarnational Christianity. Meal scenes and meal imagery (including parables spoken at or about a meal) serve as a “main course" here. There are ten meal scenes in which Jesus eats with others in Luke. Three of them have parallels in the other gospels; seven, however, can only be found in Luke, and are integral to and reflective of Luke’s theological interests.

Now, when it comes to sizing up Jesus' table companions, one has to speak in terms of his democratic eating habits. For Jesus it was not the food but the people he ate with that mattered most. His dining partners were diversified and inclusive. Every meal was a shared meal. Jesus never ate alone, and where Jesus was present, salvation was also. That said, there is no better image for salvation than a feast, the major metaphor for salvation.

Lastly, Luke tells the story of the eucharist in a story of meals and journeys with Jesus. Unlike foxes who have dens and birds who have nests, the Son of Man had “nowhere rest his head” (9:58). His entire life was one great journey in which meals and simple hospitality played a critical part for him as well as for his followers. Jesus, his disciples, all who would follow later, and the church itself are a people on a journey, a people of hospitality, both offered and received. The eucharist is the supreme expression of that hospitality, sustaining them and us on the journey to the kingdom of God.[2]

With that, we move from my first point, food in Luke, to my second, the Lord’s Supper. Every time we receive the Body and Blood of Christ, it is like we are with his disciples, sitting at table with Jesus. We receive Him, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. What we receive is no phantom ghost, but the very substance of the Son of God Himself.

Those of you who were present for Maundy Thursday know that I spoke of Mark’s account of the Last Supper. I am not going to repeat what I taught from Luther’s Small Catechism or The Formula of Concord, however, I am going to cite an even earlier work that I recently re-read.

The Jerusalem Catechesis was one of the first catechisms of the undivided Christian Church. Its 24 teachings, given sometime around 350 AD, reflect the deep, sacramental understanding of the early Christian Church, the meaning of Baptism and all the Sacraments and the beauty of our participation in the life of the Trinity through our participation in the Church, the Body of Christ, of which we are members.

Its use of the word symbol means much more than we westerners tend to think. It means an actual participation by grace. That said, the instruction to newly baptized Christians that “it is with complete assurance that we receive the bread and wine as the body and blood of Christ. His body is given to us under the symbol of bread, and his blood is given to us under the symbol of wine, in order to make us by receiving them one body and blood with him. Having his body and blood in our members, we become bearers of Christ and sharers … in the divine nature.

Do not, then, regard the eucharistic elements as ordinary bread and wine: they are in fact the body and blood of the Lord, as he himself has declared. Whatever your senses may tell you, be strong in faith. You have been taught and you are firmly convinced that what looks and tastes like bread and wine is not bread and wine but the body and the blood of Christ.”

My friends, through grace Christ invites us to his holy meal to eat his Body and Blood. Through God’s grace and our belief as a Church body and members, we share in the divine nature. What does it mean for us? With that, we move from my second point on the Lord’s Supper to the Church today.

The Gospel passage we heard today is the last meal story in Luke. In each of the previous nine, Jesus was the host. In this one, the Church plays host. The previous passage, the Road to Emmaus, is one which speaks clearly of hospitality. It is hospitality that is vital to the Church today, and to speak to the Church today, I return to one of the Church Fathers recognized by the Synod, Gregory the Great of the 6^th century. Usually, Gregory’s sermons were detailed exegetical commentaries. Here, he dispensed with that which gave him the opportunity to sing the praises of the great virtue of hospitality.[3]

We know that the two disciples were walking on the road and, while not believing in Christ, spoke of him. The Lord “exchanged a few words with them, reproached them with their slowness in understanding, explained to them the mysteries of Holy Scripture concerning him, and yet, their hearts remaining foreign to him for lack of faith, he pretended to go further. … It was necessary to test them to see if, not yet loving him as God, they were at least capable of loving him as a traveler. Truth journeying with them, they could not remain strangers to love: they offered him hospitality, as one does for a traveler.”

Gregory points out that they begged, urged, pleaded, pressed or constrained Jesus to stay with them. He continues, “This example shows us that we should not only offer hospitality to travelers, but to accept it. The disciples set the table, offer food; and God, whom they did not recognize in the explanation of Holy Scripture, they recognize it in the breaking of bread.”

“As you can see, the Lord was not recognized when he spoke, but he deigned to be recognized when he was given food. Love, dear brothers, hospitality, love works inspired by charity.”

Hebrews reminds us, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Heb 13:2) As does Peter, “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling” (1 Pet 4:9), and Matthew, “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Mt 25:35). 

After citing these passages, Gregory said, “What great virtue is hospitality. Receive Christ at your tables, to deserve to be received by him at the eternal banquet. Give shelter today to Christ who presents himself to you as a stranger, so that in the day of judgment you are not for him as strangers whom he does not know (cf Lk 13:25), but that he receives you as his own in his Kingdom.”

My friends, I am sure each of us has pressed strangers in our midst to accept our hospitality. It may have been one who was a stranger in our country or community. It may be one who was a stranger to God or the Christian Faith. At times, simply offering is met with resistance or refusal. Perhaps people are reluctant to receive hospitality. Perhaps they think that they must reciprocate a gracious act. But our salvation, as we know, is a free gift from God. That is why we should and do offer hospitality to strangers in our midst – to be channels of God’s free grace to them that they too may receive and enjoy salvation through Christ.

I was thinking about this point as I was waiting for Cindy to pick me up a few weeks ago. I noticed that several cars drove up to the Blessing Cupboard. They came when no one was around to notice, took what food they needed and left. For all I know, they are strangers in our midst to whom we offer hospitality. So, I asked Linda Rodenbeck about this ministry, and she forwarded my request to Barb Kraynie.

Barb responded with this. “The blessing cupboard was started in May 2017. I had seen a Facebook page called blessing box. I thought there are many people in our area that could use the help but are not comfortable letting people know. With the cupboard they could come any time anonymously and take whatever they need. It also gives other people the ability to donate any amount anytime that is convenient for them. Not only church members but many people in the community stock the cupboard. We do not keep records of donations and what we give out. Linda has been instrumental in expanding our giving with the Christmas boxes the past two years. She also has used her contacts to get donations from Blackhawk schools and Boy Scouts. When I was working, I drove by the church every day. I would stop and check if food needed stocked. I was amazed the amount that came and went on a daily basis.  I hope this information is helpful.” (Barbara Kraynie)

Friends, this is a wonderful Christian ministry we provide for the community. As we move through this great Season of Easter, open yourself to God’s grace poured into your hearts. Open yourself to divine hospitality, and may the grace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] https://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/good-eats

[2] Eugene LaVerdiere, Dining in the Kingdom of God, p. 9.

[3] https://sites.google.com/site/aquinasstudybible/home/luke-commentary/gregory-the-great-homily-23-on-the-gospels

Freedom!

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. … My focus is the Gospel of Mark where we read: “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”[1]

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’”[2] Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

Chris and Dana step to the microphone. Four years after incurring $80,000 of debt from student loans, credit cards, two cars and the birth of two kids, they are ready for this moment. In unison, they shout at the top of their lungs, “We’re debt free!” … On the heels of their debt free scream, a line from Braveheart – “Freeeee…dooommm!!!”

Daily, dozens of couples and individuals echo these screams. Relieved that they are debt free, these people tell the world their stories of incurring debt and paying it off by heeding the advice of one man, Dave Ramsey.

Dave Ramsey fans travel to Nashville to tell their story and scream on his syndicated radio show because they are relieved they worked diligently, budgeted income and expenses, ate beans and rice, and lived like no one else. They proudly paid their debt.

We too are debt free. After incurring the debt of our sins and our parents’ sins – Adam and Eve – our debt is paid. The difference between the debt paid by Chris and Dana and ours is that Jesus Christ our Risen Lord paid our debt. Christ was payer and pay, propitiator and propitiation, and His payment warrants a debt free scream from each of us.

Our freedom from debt involved no effort on our part. We did not budget income and expenses, work two jobs, use the envelope system, or eat beans and rice for two years. All we did was believe. Believe.

Mark recorded the disciples of Jesus did not run from the cave screaming, “We’re debt free!” Rather, when they left the tomb, “they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”[3]

The thought of Jesus rising from the dead did not occur to them because they did not expect a resurrection. … Think of it. Until this moment, the Bible recounts six people raised from the dead – 3 by prophets and 3 by Jesus.[4] Why would resurrection enter the disciples’ minds? That is why Mark recorded that the disciples fled the empty tomb trembling and astonished, and said nothing to anyone because they were afraid.

Resurrection from the dead … furthest thing from their minds. God’s victory over Satan, sin and death … furthest thing from their minds. A debt-free scream … furthest thing from their minds. In other words, Mark pointed out that the disciples realized God’s victory comes not from an experience of an empty tomb, but from an experience of the Risen Lord.

For Mark, the empty tomb in itself is not proof of the resurrection, but simply a source of wonderment. Faith in the resurrection springs from the actual experience of the risen Lord.[5] Only then did the first Christians understand what the empty tomb meant – that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

The Lord has risen indeed! God indeed conquered Satan, sin and death. Christ paid our debt. We are indeed debt free. Alleluia! Amen!

Unchecked excitement ran through the disciples’ veins and down their spines when the risen Lord appeared to them. They saw Him die. They saw His empty tomb. Then, they witnessed Him alive. The unparalleled experience of witnessing Christ alive impelled them to tell the world of the great Paschal Mystery – Christ’s willful suffering, death and resurrection, and what He taught throughout His life on earth. Peter and the disciples remembered and shared their experiences of Jesus the Christ with greater zeal and zest than any Dave Ramsey disciple.

Today, more than 2 billion Christians around the world celebrate Easter. More than 2 billion people share their own experiences of the risen Lord. More than 2 billion people share their debt free screams with others. More than 2 billion witnesses.

Are we among them? When did we last witness? When did we last share our debt free screams? When did we last share our experiences of the risen Lord with zest and zeal? Or are we still silently wondering what happened?

Is it because we have not pondered how the risen Lord has appeared to us? Is it because it is more difficult to believe God is present in bread and wine, in baptism and confession, in the Word proclaimed and preached by ordinary human beings than it is to believe Jesus rose from the dead? Indeed, God is present to us today, at this moment, but we do not always feel it or cannot articulate what we feel.

Let me share the brief articulated expression of a woman named Sally who became a baptized Christian more than 30 years ago. During the Easter Vigil 1989, Sally – then 62, frail and legally blind – was baptized and received into the Church. Several days later, when asked to share her experience of Christ’s death and resurrection symbolized in baptism, Sally, whose facial expressions and voice reminded one of Carol Channing, exclaimed, “WOW!”

Wow! Wow, Christ is risen and is present to us right now. Does the wow of that experience impel us into the streets like apostles with tongues of fire to proclaim the Gospel in word and deed? Does the wow of Christ Risen sustain me when I return to the humdrum of life’s work? Does the wow of Easter stay with me at home or hospital, in classroom or lunchroom, at the office or the in-laws? Do I feel the freedom of being debt free? Do I feel Victory even when I feel like a loser?

The wow of Easter should take all of us into the world because the world, America, Pennsylvania needs Christians who know Christ’s Victory and the deeper meaning of being debt free. John’s Gospel says that the truth will make us free[6] - not comfortable and not respected, but free in the real sense of the word: able to see and do what is right.

In the Christian tradition, freedom is to be used in the service of others. Working to defend the dignity of human persons and the dignity of the human family is an obligation of our freedom. As debt-free Christians we are obliged, are we not, to protect the unborn child, the immigrant, the disabled, the elderly. If Christians are not involved in ensuring the dignity and rights of others, then we risk living in a state governed not by justice but by thieves.[7] Bi-partisan thieves at that.

Let me close by asking a question that I pray you ponder as you go out from here and make your way home, hopefully not trembling and astonished. You should know that in recording that the women said nothing to anyone, Mark asked the unexpected question to every Christian who read or heard his gospel. Will you announce Christ rose from the dead? Will you demonstrate the power of the Holy Spirit in your life as Jesus did in his? Or will you remain silent when you are afraid?

As church, can we remain silent in public and be faithful to Christ at the same time? Working respectfully and firmly to form the public conscience violates no one’s free will. Actively witnessing to our convictions and advancing what we believe about Christian morality in the public life is not coercion. It’s truth-telling.

Let’s tell the world the truth about our faith, about what we believe. Let’s witness to the point that when neighbors see us walking up their driveway, they will no longer say, “Here come those Holy Rollers,” but, “Here come those Missouri Synod Lutherans.” And when we share with them the good news that we are debt-free because Jesus Christ rose to free us from our sins, may we be overwhelmed by the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, and may it keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] Mark 16:6-7

[2] Psalm 122

[3] Mark 16:8

[4] 1 Kings 17:17-22; 2 Kings 4:30-37; 2 Kings 13:21;  John 11:38-44; Luke 7:11-17; Matt. 8:28-43 (Mark 5:1-20,

Luke 8:26-39)

[5] Eugene LaVerdiere, Luke. Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, Inc. 1986. p. 282.

[6] John 8:32

[7] Attributed to St. Augustine

Death Comes as a Surprise

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. … My focus is John 19, where we read: “[Jesus] said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’”[1] Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

Death always comes as a surprise. Even when we expect it, the moment one dies always catches us unaware. “I didn’t expect it to come so soon.” … “I thought there would be more time.”

When I recall the death of my parents, I remember my shock when my father died unexpectedly. April 16, 2003. My mother called and told me to come home. She then put my Uncle Ted on the phone who told me the reason. My dad died of a heart attack as he prepared for bed. Because he had no prior history of heart trouble, death came as a surprise, a shock.

Three and a half years later, I leaned over my mother, reading Scripture and reciting prayers for the dying. Moments later, a woman from our church, who had volunteered to watch her on that day, said, “I think she’s gone.” Mom took several more breaths. “Not yet,” I replied, and then a moment later when she breathed her last, “Now she’s gone.” Multiple myeloma and amyloidosis, her death sentence, worked its last. November 1, 2006. All Saints Day. Although I waited for death for more than a week, its inevitable arrival still surprised me.

Scripture reminds us that the death of Jesus seemed to come as a surprise for those around him. Even to the end, those who loved and accompanied Jesus, must have been surprised, even shocked that he was dead, dead on a cross.

Scripture also tells us that his closest friends and family members gave Jesus a proper burial. Given the circumstances of the Passover, they anointed his body, wrapped it in a clean linen shroud, and laid him in a new tomb. His community of believers accompanied him to the end.

As a faith community, we accompany our deceased family members and friends to the end. They ask us for the Prayer of the Church and the Lord’s Supper in order to be strong and absolved of sin. We oblige. For their mourning friends and family, they ask for a proper, public viewing and a Christian burial. We oblige. We gather at funeral homes, churches, cemeteries and social halls. We accompany them to the end and remember them. On their birthdays and anniversaries, at the next Christmas and Easter, at family gatherings and on the Day of the Dead, we remember the dead.

Externally, the death and burial of our parents, siblings and friends resembles Jesus’. Yet, his death was different. Jesus did not simply die of a heart attack or a lingering disease. Scripture reminds us, “He was delivered up to death; He was delivered for the sins of the people.” Because of his death, “We have an advocate with the Father; Jesus is the propitiation for our sins.”

He was the propitiation for our sins, and he was the propitiator. He was our paid debt, and he paid our debt. A debt we could never pay.

Because our Advocate was delivered for our sins, we should, as one hymn reminds us, ponder his passion. When we meditate on Jesus’ last moments, we know our God is compassionate. Verse Five of the hymn, Jesus, I Will Now Ponder, closes with these words: “Help me see forgiveness won By your holy passion. If for me He slays His Son, God must have compassion!”[2]

Jesus’ death, which in John’s Gospel, is his moment of glory, reveals God’s infinite compassion for me, a poor, miserable sinner. Because God is compassionate to me, should I not be compassionate as Jesus taught? We read in Luke, chapter six: “Be compassionate just as your Father is compassionate. Don’t judge, and you won’t be judged. Don’t condemn, and you won’t be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good portion—packed down, firmly shaken, and overflowing—will fall into your lap. The portion you give will determine the portion you receive in return.”[3]

With that hymn and passage in mind, find time today to meditate on Jesus’ passion. Reflect upon the depth of His Father’s compassion. Reflect upon the compassion our Father has for you and yours, and how He is the Author of all life – eternal life and human life.

May God bless you in your prayer this Good Friday, and may the Holy Spirit make you a believer in the power of God’s love poured forth from the Cross into your heart. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

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[1] Psalm 122

[2] Jesus, I Will Now Ponder, #440 LSB.

[3] Luke 6:36-38