Jesus is Calling

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon is entitled Who’s Calling? and my focus is our Gospel (John 1:43-51). 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.

After last summer’s Vacation Bible School ended, Linda Rodenbeck gave me a spreadsheet with the names of the children who attended and their parents’ information. I called a few of the parents, and as I began to inquire on the correct pronunciation of one family name, the man on the other end of the call kept asking, “Who’s Calling?!” I responded, “This is Pastor Cwynar from Mt. Olive Lutheran Church.” He then said, “You can never be too sure these days when you answer the phone.”

I get that …  a lot because when I call, your cell phone shows that the caller (me) has an out of state number. Often with first time callees, I send a text immediately afterwards. I learned to do this when I was conducting background investigations for security clearances. Most of the people I called always had good reason to be suspicious.

I thought of these experiences as I reflected upon this Gospel because Jeus is calling His first disciples. These men may have asked themselves, “Who’s this guy calling me to follow him?” And so, let us look at “Who’s Calling.” Then, “Who’s Called.” Finally, “What’s the Call About.”

Who’s Calling? We already know that it is Jesus calling. He calls Philip, who subsequently calls his brother, Nathanael. Our passage opens with Jesus deciding to go to Galilee. Keep in mind that Jesus was in the area where John the Baptist was preaching and baptizing – in Bethany across the Jordan (1:28). Now, don’t try to figure out how Jesus got from there to Galilee in time for the wedding at Cana (2:1). John the Evangelist was neither a cartographer nor a travel guide. He was a mystic theologian. He was not concerned about making geographical sense, but was concerned about a spiritual journey with Jesus Christ.

The other thing we should keep in mind is how this passage fits into the rest of chapter one. After the Prologue (1-18) and the Testimony of John the Baptist (19-28), Jesus is spotted by John who identifies Him as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” After recalling the Baptism of Jesus, John further identifies Him as the Son of God.

Two of the Baptist’s disciples follow Jesus (35-42) and address Him as Rabbi, and after spending a day with Him, Andrew tells his brother, Peter, that He is the Messiah. In today’s passage (43-51), Jesus calls Philip, who then believes that He is the one prophesied by Moses and the prophets, and he calls Nathanael, who also addresses Jesus as Rabbi, and then “King of Israel.” Our passage closes with Jesus identifying Himself as the “Son of Man.”

Now, there are many titles applied to Jesus throughout the New Testament. In the first chapter of John alone, Jesus is called the Word, the Lamb of God, the Son of God, Rabbi, the Messiah, and King of Israel. Today, I focus only on the one Jesus uses to speak of Himself – Son of Man.

Son of Man. When Jesus spoke of himself and His mission, He often referred to himself as “Son of Man.” Many of Jesus’ listeners knew the term from the Books of Ezekiel and Daniel. “Son of Man” highlighted Jesus’ human nature, just as “Son of God” emphasized his divinity. Drawing from the Jewish tradition’s use of the term, “Son of Man” brings together his identity as Messiah and as one who was to suffer for others. It helps highlight Jesus’ identity as one who came to give up His own life and in doing so gave life to others. We read in the Gospel of Mark: “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many” (10:45). And so, the phrase helps us see Jesus’ self-understanding of His relationship to humanity: as suffering servant as found in Isaiah and in the Gospels, when he predicts: “The Son of Man must suffer greatly” (Mark 8:31; Luke 9: 22).[1]

John has his own view of the cross, not as a moment of humiliation, but as Jesus’ consummation of his life’s journey and purpose, the place where he returns to the glory that was his and where he glorifies his Father by bringing to perfection the task given him. John uses a Greek word that has a double meaning. As a play on words, hypsothenai means “to lift up physically” and “to exalt.” The lifting up of Jesus on the cross simultaneously means exalting Jesus.

Because everything is viewed through the prism of the Cross. The use of the term in John’s passion predictions differ from those in the Synoptics[2] stressing not so much the suffering, but the necessity that one believe in Jesus as the one who has been exalted or glorified in order to attain salvation.[3] After Jesus multiplied bread to feed his audience, many of his disciples abandoned Him because they found his teaching too difficult to swallow. He warned his disciples, “what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?” (6:62) In other words, John the Evangelist developed his own “Son of Man” saying apart from the other three Gospels.

The pattern of descent, rejection, and ascent to a prior place in heaven is introduced in John’s Prologue (1:1-18). In light of the Word’s preexistence that we find in the Prologue, rejection and suffering were recast into descent/ascent patterns. In our closing verse today (1:51), the vision Jesus promises is fulfilled in the believing community, the Church. That will be important as I move to my second point.

The other difference between how the Synoptic Evangelists understood Son of Man and John was his unique authority to judge. For Matthew, Mark and Luke, the Son of Man would return in the future as a universal judge. For John, because the presence of Jesus is the revelation of God among men and women, this presence also brings judgment. We read this in chapters 3, 5 and 12.

In Jesus’ words, “whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” (3:18-19) In chapter 5, we hear, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (v. 24) And in chapter 12, Jesus says, “The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.” (v. 48)

John brings together the two judgments. As we heard in that last verse, future judgment is not totally excluded, but present judgment is real. Those who reject or change Jesus’ teaching bring judgment on themselves.

The place where Jesus is lifted up, where he is exalted, the cross, is the focal point of revelation to humanity. Christ on the Cross points to the imminent revelation of the glory of God as John saw it. During the Passover meal when Judas left the upper room, it was night, and Jesus spoke of himself on the cross, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.” (13:31-32) That brings me to my second question.

Who is Called? The text tells us that Jesus called Philip and Nathanael. We learn from Philip’s words something that the disciples would come to know after the Resurrection in Luke’s Gospel. Recall the Road to Emmaus. Beginning with Moses and the Prophets, Jesus interpreted for them all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Lk 24:27) Here, Philip tells Nathanael that Jesus is the one described in the Mosaic Law and the prophets.

Nathanael initially reacts to Philip’s news with disparaging doubt, a reaction that Jesus often encountered among Jews who believed in the Law and the prophets.[4] Yet, at Philip’s insistence, Nathanael’s willingness to come and see the Christ shows that he is not like those who claimed to accept Moses but rejected Jesus and remained in the dark (9:29, 41). We are reminded of this in Paul’s Letter to the Romans when he wrote, “not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring.” (9:6-7) Jesus hails Nathanael and proclaimed him to be a true Israelite, a true representative of Israel because was willing to come to the light.

Some think that this is a reference of Jacob, but he was a man of guile. He deceived his brother, Esau, out of his birthright for a bowl of lentil stew and a piece of bread. (Gen 25:29ff.) Jacob also tricked his elderly father into blessing him, the second-born, instead of the firstborn Esau. (Gen 27) Yet, when he wrestled with God, his name was changed to Israel because he struggled or wrestled with God and man and prevailed.

Others see this as a reference to Isaiah 44, where we read, “I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams. This one will say, ‘I am the Lord’s,’ another will call on the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’ and name himself by the name of Israel.” (3-5) But in the verses that follow, we are reminded that the Lord, the King of Israel, is God, and in the days when people are waiting for the Messiah, the true believer will be the one who is faithful to Yahweh alone. A man of guile would be unfaithful. In Nathanael, the purpose of John the Baptist’s ministry is fulfilled, for he spoke “the reason I came baptizing with water was that he [Jesus] might be revealed to Israel.” (1:31)

Jesus revealed himself as the Son of Man exalted on the Cross. Nathanael shows himself to be a true believer and represents true believers. Jesus is the caller. Nathanael is called. Now, what is the call about?

Do you believe that Jesus is calling you? I do. I believe Jesus is calling everyone of you. I believe Jesus is calling all of you to be His brothers and sisters, His Father’s sons and daughters. Jesus Christ is calling us to be a faithful family to our loving and merciful Triune God. He is calling you simply to be faithful to his teaching.

Like Nathanael, one minute you are resting under a fig tree, and the next, you are confessing Christ as King. One day, you are simply living your life, and the next day, you realize that Jesus Christ has called you. You do not understand or comprehend who Jesus Christ is as fully as you will when God calls you home, but one day you will. For now, keep focusing on Christ exalted on the Cross.

Keep in mind that just as Jesus took an interest in the smallest detail of Nathanael’s life, he also notices the smallest details of your life. Through Jesus, God stirs your heart. Our Father wants to speak to us and show us his love and his glory through His Son on his throne, the Cross.

Let me close by telling you a brief meeting with Pastor Robert Newton, the former District President of the California-Neveda-Hawaii District. It took place in his office in Livermore, California, when I was inquiring about becoming a pastor in the Synod. He explained that as Lutherans we understand that God’s grace comes to us from the Father through Christ on the Cross, and all we have to do – and he leaned back in his chair and widened his arms as if to prepare to embrace something – is receive it.

Friends, through the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ is calling you to receive His Father’s loving-kindness. Whatever it is you do in life, open yourself to God’s grace, and you too will recognize God’s Son as your King. When you do that, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] Dave Andres, “A Question of Faith,” The Catholic Telegraph, February 1, 2019. https://www.thecatholictelegraph.com

[2] John 3:14; 8:28; 12:34; Mark 8:31.

[3] Pheme Perkins, “The Gospel According to John,” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall (1990), p. 953.

[4] Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John (I-XII). Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc. (1966), p. 86.

YOUR CHRISTIAN BAPTISM

 

Do you know what happened on April 14, 1957? That was the day I was baptized! Do you remember your baptism? I don’t remember mine either. I know the date because it’s on the paper stating when and where I was baptized.

You may not know when or where you were baptized, but there are people who were there, and some of them remember. Your parents, godparents and pastor were there. Maybe your grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles and some friends.

Today, we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus. We don’t know exactly when or where Jesus was baptized. We do know that he was baptized in the Jordan River in Israel by John the Baptist.

There were other people present, but we don’t know their names. We do know that God the Father and God the Holy Spirit were also there when Jesus was baptized.

Did you know that God the Father and God the Holy Spirit were present at your baptism? God the Son – Jesus – was also there. That’s why when a pastor baptizes people, he baptizes them “In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”

We say that phrase a lot in our worship service. We say it at the beginning of our Divine Service. And after we confess our sins, the pastor says, “… As a called and ordained servant of Christ, and by His authority, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

It’s good to remember our baptism because it reminds us that Jesus died and rose for us for the forgiveness of sins and to make us His brothers and sisters, children of God our Father. And so, let us pray to God our Father.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named: Bless all children, and give their fathers and mothers 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.

Baptism of the Lord

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon is entitled Baptisms and Biographies. My focus is our Gospel (Mark 1:9-11). 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.

Baptisms and biographies may seem to be incongruent, but when we read about Jesus’ Baptism within Mark, we understand that the Evangelist was writing a biography for his time. Hence, baptisms and biographies are analogous because for many of us, the former marks a significant milestone in one’s life as it did in our Lord’s. This morning, I address Our Lord’s Baptism, Christian Baptism and Your Biography.

First, Our Lord’s Baptism.[1] In three verses, Mark does not explain why Jesus walked 28 miles over nine hours from his hometown of Nazareth of Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. Given that He will baptize with the Holy Spirit, it seems surprising that he assumed the role of a lowly penitent and went into the water. We can surmise that he did so because he recognized John’s ministry as the prelude to his own.

Jesus submitted to a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins not because he was a sinner, but because of his solidarity with sinful humanity, a solidarity that would eventually lead to the cross. Like Moses, Jesus acted as the ideal intercessor, not standing apart from sinners but in solidarity with them (Ex 32:31-32). His baptism anticipated his passion. His immersion into water symbolized his death. He spoke of his death as a baptism (Mk 10:38); and while he acknowledged God’s just judgment on sin, he offered to God the response of perfect repentance on behalf of all people.

Jesus’ emergence from the water was met with the descent of the Holy Spirit from above. The heavens were abruptly and violently torn asunder overcoming humanity’s sin, which created an insurmountable barrier distancing man from God. We read in Isaiah, “The Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear” (59:1-2). God would only come down only after his people had been cleansed of impurity. “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people’” (Ex 19:10-11). So, the Spirit’s descent upon Jesus foreshadowed its descent upon the Church at Pentecost, after sin had been removed by the grace and blood of the Cross.

Note that the Spirit did not simply descend upon Jesus, and perch on his shoulder, but descended into him. According to one scholar, the descent “is an actual going into Jesus, … a possession of him.”[2] This possession of Jesus by the Holy Spirit is so obvious to Mark. Given that both Jews and Greeks believed that the descent of gods into human affairs appeared in the form of doves, Mark encompassed both cultures which populated the Church.[3] In verse 12, Mark wrote that the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness. Mark also wrote that Jesus’ family, who did not quite understand him, thought that Jesus was out of his mind (3:21). To a greater degree the scribes falsely accused Jesus as possessed not by the Holy Spirit but by Beelzebul (3:22). There are several other episodes in which Jesus’ behavior seems odd to those around Him (1:41-43; 6:48; 11:13-14).

With the anointing of the Spirit, Jesus’ baptism became a turning point in his life for here he formally inaugurated his mission as Messiah. By sharing in Israel’s baptism of repentance by John, he committed himself fully to the Father’s call: to be the obedient servant who would be innocent yet “counted among the wicked” because he bore the sins of many (Isa 41:1; 53:11-12).

There is no doubt that the voice Jesus heard was his Father’s, and here we see the Trinity at work. His Father’s words of affirmation – “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” – are full of scriptural echoes. The Psalmist wrote, “The Lord said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you’” (2:7). Isaiah spoke of such a servant when he prophesied, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations” (42:1).

As readers of Mark, we are privileged to know about this secret exchange among the Three Divine Persons of the Trinity. And with that, I now turn from Our Lord’s Baptism to Christian Baptism.

How does the Baptism of Our Lord differ from Christian Baptism? Nowhere in the New Testament does any writer invoke Jesus’ Baptism as a precedent for or as an explanation for Christian Baptism.[4]

The Baptism of Jesus and his first coming to us brought the rule and reign of God, but only as a foretaste of the feast to come. We await the full end-time feast in a way that Simeon and Anna waited – as believers of the old covenant. All things that the Old Testament believers experienced took place as examples for us. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come” (1 Cor 10:11).

As we await the fullness of the heavenly feast, we still live in this old age, and so, we prepare for it by confessing our sins and repenting of them. Baptism with water is necessary for this preparation. This is why Peter said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).

The Church refused to separate this baptism from the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Even after the Holy Spirit was poured out onto Gentiles in Cornelius’ house, Peter asked, “‘Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?’ And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ” (10:47-48). In short, baptism with water and the Holy Spirit are marks of the final age.

Christian Baptism is a means of identification for us as it was for Jesus. As he identified with his people in their sinfulness, in our Baptism, we identify with Jesus in all that he has brought for the benefit of humanity. He is the personification of Israel, humanity and God himself. May I remind you that you who “were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal 3:27).

Just as Christ received the Spirit in his Baptism, we too receive that same Spirit in ours. As Christ was declared to be the Son of God, we too are united to him through Christian Baptism as sons and daughters of God. Paul is quite explicit about this in Romans 8. Perhaps for your devotional reading today, you can choose those first 15 verses of that chapter.

Those of us who are in Christ are heirs according to St. Paul. To the Romans, he wrote “If children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (8:17). To the Galatians, “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (3:29) And as we read in Ephesians, we “were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (Eph 1:13-14).

And so, heirs of God, let’s move from Baptism to Biography. We understand that a biography is the written history of someone’s life. If you are asked to submit a biography for the company or community newsletter, you will be asked to keep it short. If you are writing a biography on Abraham Lincoln, your research will take you to Kentucky, Illinois, Washington and Gettysburg, and will be substantially longer with a perspective others have not yet taken.

Now, allow me to ask and answer a fundamental question: Was Mark a biography? Yes and no. Mark told the story of Jesus, but in a different style from other biographies of his time. His style and content of the story aroused a feeling, and so, Mark’s is not a biography like other biographies, but a development of the actions, sayings, and suffering of a human being on his way through this anxious world of human beings and demons.^[5]

Mark has the capacity to shock and subvert comfortable literary expectations. While there is no doubt that Jesus is the hero of this story, Mark portrays him as an unrecognized, rejected, humiliated, disappointed individual, who was deserted by his closest allies and eventually victimized by a hostile environment. This is not the stuff of an ancient biography.

We must view Mark as a biography based on other ancient biographies, and must examine its Jewish content, though written in Greek, which reflected the rhetorical and biographical conventions of his time.^[6] In other words, ancient biographies, like modern ones, center on a particular person and seek to present an adequate and accurate characterization of that person, including information about other persons and groups of people. In the case of Lincoln, it may include his wife and children, cabinet members, mentors and political allies or opponents. Biographies also reveal the subject’s character and personality. The message of ancient biographies was not simply to provide the reader with information, but offered a message: “go and do likewise” or “go and do otherwise.”

In evaluating Mark as a biography, we must have a firm handle on its chronological and social setting. Whatever its date, Mark was written after the beginning of the Roman Empire and during the rise of Roman biographical tradition, following in the footsteps of the Greek biographical tradition. Unlike Greek biographers, Roman ones added a greater concern for the family traditions, the need for the demonstration of public honor, and, sometimes in the latter two-thirds of the first century, a focus on the hero’s patient suffering and death under a tyrant.^[7]

Although Mark was a biographer, he was more of an editor than a writer, bringing together what was already known about Jesus. He had a working relationship with Peter and Paul.^[8] In Acts, we read, “When he (Peter) realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.” And later, “Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them John, whose other name was Mark.^[9] In chapter 15, Mark is mentioned once again as a companion of Barnabas on his journey to Cyprus.^[10]

This shows that Mark’s account was not a distant evaluation by a scholarly admirer of Jesus, but the personal experience of one who shared closely in the stirring and profoundly disturbing events of Jesus’ public ministry and his confrontation with the Jerusalem establishment. It reflected those experiences as they were passed on in the day-to-day teaching ministry of a living community of His followers.^[11]

Why all this talk about the biography of Jesus? How does it relate to his Baptism? How does it relate to us? Well, a dozen years ago, when I began to prepare for pastoral ministry in the Lutheran Church, I was required to write an extensive autobiography detailing my life experiences in the secular and sacred worlds, as a professional fundraiser and a priest. This first-person biography included relationships with family members and faith communities. I mentioned not only my highlights, but also my setbacks. And throughout, I could see the Holy Spirit weaving together all the moments of my life into an artistic tapestry.

By now, you know that I am always encouraging people to pray more deeply and extensively. One method of prayer that some find helpful is to journal or write an account of what has occurred when praying over a particular Scripture passage. This can result in a biography.

Perhaps this year, you can take time to journal and write your own biography. How is your life interwoven not only with family and friends, but also with Christ and his adopted brothers and sisters? What are the obvious and obscure moments when the Holy Spirit has been active in your life?

As we began this year, maybe you made a resolution to pray daily? Maybe you struggle with that resolution. Maybe prayerfully writing your biography in the form of a daily spiritual journal is a way to see how God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is active in your life. Start from a point in your life – today or your childhood – and reflect on the activity of the Holy Spirit entering you as it did Jesus on the day of His Baptism and the day of yours. What are the highlights of your spiritual journey? Where have you experienced setbacks? My friends, today, prayerfully consider the path God sets before you, and when you do may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] Mary Healy, The Gospel of Mark. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic (2008), 34-37.

[2] James W. Voelz, Mark 1:1-8:26. St, Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House (2013), 126.

[3] Voelz, 126-131.

[4] Voelz, 138ff.

[5] R.T. France, The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text. Grand Rapids, MI, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (2002), 6. See fn 14.

[6] Ben Witherington III, The Gospel of Mark: A Social-Rhetorical Commentary. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (2001), 4.

[7] Witherington, 5

[8] Witherington, 25.

[9] Acts 12:12, 25. See also 13:5, 13

[10] Acts 15:36-41

[11] France, 9.

HOLDING BABY JESUS

 

Do you like looking at and holding tiny babies? Everyone does. Mothers and fathers, grandparents and godparents, aunts, uncles and siblings – everyone – loves holding a baby. When each of our four grandchildren were born, I couldn’t wait for my turn to hold them. Holding a baby makes you feel awesome, and every Christian has wanted to hold the Baby Jesus because that would be the most awesome feeling!

Everyone does not have the same love and respect for babies as Christians. We read in the Gospel of Matthew (2:13-23) that Herod was angry that the Three Wise Men returned home without telling him where the Baby Jesus was born, and had his soldiers kill all the male babies who were two years old and younger.

Herod was evil, but he was not the first ruler to have babies killed and not the last either. Today, we have rulers in the world and our country who think it is okay to have newborn or preborn babies killed. It’s not a happy topic to discuss in the Christmas Season or anytime, but St. Matthew wanted Christians to know that such evil exists, but this evil act fulfilled a prophecy.

The Prophet Jeremiah had a vision that God would gather all of His people and protect them from evil (Jer 31). The Lord said among the people He would protect are women ready to give birth to a baby. Still, God heard Rachel weeping and crying for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they were no more. That means that someone killed them. But when God gathers us in his arms, men and women rejoice because He turns our sorrow to into gladness.

The Baby Jesus grew up to announce the Good News. Jesus died and rose from death to save us from evil people like Herod and to live joyfully as Christians. That is the Good News that we celebrate all year round. With that, we pray.

Heavenly Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named: Bless all children, and give their fathers and mothers 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.

Seasons, Scene, Sense

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon is entitled Seasons, Scene and Sense, and my focus is our Gospel (Luke 2:22-40). 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.

Season. The Sundays after Christmas and Easter are like the second game of the season in baseball. Everyone wants to attend the home opener. The second game, not so much. Yet, like baseball, Christmas has a season. The Christmas Season started with the Christmas Eve Divine Service and runs for twelve days or through January 5^th. On the Catholic calendar, the season runs though the Baptism of the Lord, this year on January 8, 2024.[1] The Byzantine and the Syro-Malabar (India) Churches have different names for some of their seasons, and the Orthodox hold fast to celebrating Christmas on January 6^th. My Serbian high school classmates would skip school in January to celebrate Christmas, and others would lament not exchanging presents in December. In other words, not all Christians observe the Christmas Season consistently.

The Church Year, as you see from page 8 of Lutheran Worship, consists of Seasons and Major Festivals. Lutherans have also maintained some lesser festivals, which are listed on page 9. Periodically, festivals fall on a Sunday, which gives pastors a choice to observe them or not. We often forget that we have retained the Feast of Stephen (Dec 26), unless the words of “Good King Wenceslaus” remind us that the snow that day was deep and crisp and even. We remember the Apostle and Evangelist St. John on December 27, and The Holy Innocents the following Day.[2] The Naming and Circumcision of Jesus are observed on New Year’s Eve and Day.

Unfortunately, many Christians have gotten into the habit of celebrating Christmas as some secularists do. They start as early as November 1^st, skipping through Thanksgiving and cancelling Advent. Of course, the trees are at the curb if not at the local drop off site by December 26^th. Christmas music ends at 11:59 PM on December 25^th, and if it were not for one particular song, we might even forget that there are Twelve Days of Christmas. Lest I belabor the point, we move on to our Gospel scene.

Scene. Picking up with what I said on Christmas, I turn to a sermon by Martin Luther on today’s Gospel.[3] Luther had a keen use of language. Reading his sermon on this passage, you see that he is part Biblical professor and part preacher who does not hold back on his criticism not only of the Catholic Church, but also of his hearers.

As he speaks about the response of Joseph and Mary to Simeon’s words about the Baby Jesus, Luther used the word marvelous more often than Fernando Lamas. These marvelous things were the words Simeon had spoken when he took the child Jesus in his arms. What Simeon publicly said in a holy place about a poor, despised baby, whose mother was poor and insignificant, and whose father, Joseph, was also poor, was rightfully marvelous. Luther asked, “How could such a baby be considered the Savior of all People, the light of the Gentiles, and the glory and honor of all Israel?” Today, it does not seem such a big deal, but it was when Simeon prophesied this.

Some may wonder why his father and mother marveled at what was said about Jesus. After all, did not Mary recall what was said by the Archangel Gabriel – that this child “will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High”? Did she not recall what the shepherds reported? Didn’t Joseph remember what was revealed to him by an angel of the Lord? (Mt 1:20-21) We need to keep in mind that Simeon, whose name means “one who hears,” represented all the prophets who foretold the coming of the Savior, and that when Joseph and Mary saw their poor baby in Simeon’s arms, they clung to “what was said about” that baby.

Turning on a dime, Luther had this to say to those who wish they could have held the baby in their arms. “Some think that if they were to see the baby Christ with His mother, they also would joyously bless Him. But they lie for they would certainly have been averted by His infancy and poverty and His contemptible appearance. They prove it by disregarding, hating, and persecuting such poverty and humble appearance in the members of Christ. But Simeon was not offended at His appearance. Simeon was a preacher and a lover of the Cross and an enemy of the world.”

Luther taught that what Simeon said next can be set into four points. First, Christ “is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel.” Christ is not the cause of this fall; arrogance is. “Christ came to be the light and Savior of all the world, … and everyone is justified and saved through faith in Him. For that to happen, all other righteousness which is sought in ourselves with works apart from Christ must be rejected. … People who rely on works and seek their own righteousness, who must take offense at Christ and faith and must fall … persecute and kill whatever speaks or acts against them.”

Luther reminded his listeners – and us – that we need to be aware that we can be misled by pastors, parents, professors, partners or anyone else who “tell us what God’s Word means.”

Second, Simeon says that Christ is “a sign that is opposed.” Christ is the sign that is always opposed. I know that we often think that our enemies are taking aim at our faith and values, marriage and family life as we once understood it, the Church, our schools and kids, one nation under God and so on. All of this is based on Christ’s teaching. All of our enemies have set their sights on one target, Jesus Christ.

Luther reminds us that even enemies, such as Pontius Pilate and Herod, become friends once they take their aim at Jesus Christ. This, he said is the fulfillment of Psalm 83: “They say, ‘Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!’ For they conspire with one accord; against you they make a covenant—the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites, Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; Asshur also has joined them; they are the strong arm of the children of Lot.” (vv. 4-8)

In Luther’s words, “From this we learn and become certain that we may take comfort and be happy … when many people take offense at our words and faith and oppose them, especially the great, the learned, and the spiritual.” Furthermore, we can take comfort knowing that Christ “is a sign that is opposed, but not overthrown or destroyed.” My father used to say, “What you learn, no one can ever take from you.” It’s why we teach from the Bible and Luther’s Small Catechism. Once we know what we believe, we take comfort knowing that the world’s best and brightest cannot destroy our faith.

Third, “a sword will pierce through your own soul.” This is not a physical sword, but the fact that Mary would endure great sorrow and grief in her heart. Indeed, every parent and grandparent knows heartache. My mother would always say when we were sick, “I wish it were me rather than you.” It’s easier for a parent to suffer than to see your children suffering. Heartache is bitter, and Mary, whose name means bitter, will come to understand that heartache throughout her own life. It is why many women can relate to her when they experience suffering in this life.

Finally, Simeon’s conclusion, “so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” Luther points out that there are two kinds of scandal and temptation among men. The first temptation is to coarse sins – disobedience to parents, killing, unchastity, stealing, lying, blaspheming and so on. These are all sins against the Fourth through the Tenth Commandments.

The greater scandal, the greater temptation is performed by those who “build on their works and themselves” because these disobey the First Three Commandments. Those who commit such sins, says Luther, “endeavor to destroy and interfere with all that belongs to faith and God.” Of course, Luther saw this in the acts of popes, bishops and almost all of the clergy.

He goes on. “In order to protect us, God has set up His Christ as a target (at which they stumble and fall…) so that we … may not accept and follow their life as good. Before God no life is really good without faith; and where there is no faith, there is nothing but lies and deception.”

I summarized Luther’s sermon on this passage, focusing only on that scene involving Simeon, Joseph, Mary and Jesus because something that was said 500 years ago, still makes sense for us today. That brings me to my third point, Sense.

Sense. What do Simeon’s words have to do with life in our world today? As I was preparing this sermon, two articles caught my attention. The first was an interview of Dr. Anthony Fauci with a BBC reporter that was released in late November. The interview occured in Washington, and one scene involved a walk past the church where he and his wife were married. The reporter questioned him on his religious upbringing and its impact on him today. Here is what Fauci said.

"My own personal ethics on life are enough to keep me going on the right path, and I think there are enough negative aspects about the organizational Church that you are very well aware of. I'm not against it. I identify as a Catholic, I was raised, baptized and married in a Catholic Church, but as far as practicing, it seems almost like a proforma thing that I don't really need to do."[4]

Now, it would be easy to target Catholicism, and I am sure that is what some readers did, but that is missing the point. Fauci echoes what a lot of people think regardless of what denomination or upbringing. As it relates to this passage, let’s back up to what Luther said. To think that my own personal ethics on life are enough to keep me going on the right path is foolish arrogance no matter how intelligent I am, or think I am. This is the scandal and temptation to disobey which is performed by those who “build on their works and themselves” because such thinking rejects the First Three Commandments. You shall have no other gods. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

If I think like Fauci, and there are times that I do, and many more times I am encouraged and tempted to do so by others, like sinful Adam, I make myself equal to God. Those who commit such sins, says Luther, “endeavor to destroy and interfere with all that belongs to faith and God.”

The other article I read that caught my interest was simply its title, “Holy Abortion.” This dealt with how mainline Protestant theologians have made choice the preeminent religious value. I will quote only the ending of the article, but strongly encourage you to read it on the website First Things. If you receive my sermons, you will find the site in my footnotes or on my blog.

“Choice has become a religious value, the bedrock of an emergent morality that bears no resemblance to the Abrahamic tradition. It is a stealthy adversary, donning the mantle of Christian love and charity to corrupt traditional faith from the inside. In this topsy-turvy faith, the immoral is called moral. The irresponsible is called responsible. The life-destroying is called life-protecting. Murder is called rescue. The pregnant mother is, in her omniscience and power, her own god. Her volition is sacred and absolute. And her holy abortion is saving the world.”[5]

Friends, God so loved the world, God so loves us that He sent His only Son to save us from making mistakes as grave as Anthony Fauci’s that elevate the human to God and every faulty human choice to an absolute good. We are not God, and we make sinful choices all the time. That is why we need God and one another (Church). That is why Simeon’s words are important to us. As we come to the end of the year, behold the Christ that Simeon did. See in Christ and in Christ’s teaching the wisdom that will lead you not only to a fuller life here and now, but eternal life. See in Christ the only One who can forgive you and me for our sins, love us mercifully and call us to love one another as brothers and sisters in our Father’s family. And when you do, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] A good site for the Lutheran calendar is https://trinitylutheranchurch.360unite.com/the-lutheran-church-year-explained. For the Catholic calendar, see https://www.usccb.org/prayer-worship/liturgical-year/christmas.

[2] For an understanding of The Holy Innocents, see these pages: https://allthehousehold.com/the-holy-innocents/ and https://resources.lcms.org/history/the-holy-innocents/

[3] A Year in the Gospels with Martin Luther: Sermons from Luther’s Church Postil, Volume 1. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House (2018). For quoted sections, see Luke 2:33-40, pp. 178ff.

[4] Jacqueline Schneider “How Dr Anthony Fauci delivers 'inconvenient truths' to world leaders.” November 30, 2023. https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20231130-anthony-fauci-interview-influential-katty-kay

[5] Samira Kahwah, “Holy Abortion,” First Things, December 2023, pp. 37-41. https://www.firstthings.com/article/2023/12/holy-abortion