Easter 2

Ezekiel 37:1-14

April 8, 2018

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

Step into Pastor Ezekiel’s well worn sandals for a moment.  The hand of the LORD comes upon you and suddenly you find yourself in the middle of a valley.  Not only are you in the middle of a valley, but you are in the middle of a valley filled with bones.  And not only are you in the middle of a valley filled with bones, but with dry bones.  And then, here it comes.  The question: “Son of man, can these bones live?”  What kind of question is that?  These are not just skeletons, but these are bones, dry bones long past death, scattered in a mass grave of the valley.  Ezekiel doesn’t dismiss the question as out of hand, as many would do today. That God, the Creator of Life, was Lord over both life and death, there was no doubt. So Ezekiel can do nothing but refer the question back to God. “Um, O Lord God, you know, don’t you?”  But no answer comes; just a command.

“Prophesy over these bones.”  Really? Prophesy to bones, to dry bones? I used to think it was hard to preach to you people, especially when the heads start bobbing.  But imagine preaching to dry bones.  How can they hear, they don’t even have ears anymore? But there is no time for questions.  There’s no time to prepare anything to say.  You are not to say, “I think this, or I think that.”  No, you are to say, “Thus says the Lord.”  You see, O son of man: no one cares what you think.  These bones are here to reap, not the fruit of your mind, but of God’s.  “Thus says the Lord”—a serious responsibility, but also a comfort to pastor and flock that what is proclaimed is not to be man’s opinion, not the interpretation of a person or community, but simply “This is the word of the Lord” and “Thanks be to God.”  Ezekiel 37:5-6 “⁵Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.  ⁶And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD."

And the weird just got weirder.  But “thus says the Lord.”  And you know what the thing about the Lord is?  He’s God, He’s the creator of all there is. He formed Adam out of the dust of the ground, and breathed life into him. For the Lord who created life out of nothing, who defeated death upon the cross, what is to Him to take dried out, scattered bones and make an exceedingly great army of the whole house of Israel, to open up graves and raise His people from them, to place His Spirit into lifeless bodies and make them live?

But Pastor Ezekiel was a good shepherd of his skeletal flock and he gave them the Word of the Lord, foolish as it may have seemed.  And guess what happened when the Word was preached?  The Lord did exactly what He promised.  Ezekiel 37:7-9 “⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded.  And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.  ⁸ And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them.  But there was no breath in them.  ⁹ Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”

Sound familiar?  What if we went way back to Genesis 2:7 “⁷ then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”  And then again, in the upper room on that first Easter evening, the day of our Lord Jesus’ resurrection, the risen from the dead Christ breathed on His disciples and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit..” That’s God for you, isn’t it, always bringing something out of nothing, life out of death!  God created man from dust and gave His life with His breath, with His Spirit.  And now God takes dead men, dry bones, and does the same all over again, filling them with His own breath, just as it was meant to be, so that we breathe in God’s Spirit, and breathe out the Word of God with thanksgiving and praise.

Pastor Ezekiel continues, Ezekiel 37:9-10 “¹⁰ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.”  Pastor Ezekiel saw dry bones.  The Lord God saw His Church, a mighty army, waiting only for His breath, His Spirit, to bring it to life, a life in faith of the in the very Son of Man, in the very Son of God, who has been raised from the dead for us.  And dry bones came to life as God breathed His Spirit into His Church.

Dry bones—that’s what we have heaped up in Nampa today.  We come aching with the burdens of the week and more certain of our shortcomings than of anything we have to offer to God.  Perhaps many of you feel like hope is lost and you are clean cut off.  Your faith seems dry and barren.  Perhaps we wonder in our own lives, in our own vocations, in our own families, even in our own congregation, “Why, Lord, have you brought me here?  All is see is dry, lifeless bones who can’t do anything, much less anything right.”  But the Lord God is still the Lord God, and He still sets sons of men in this valley of the shadow of death filled with dry bones and says: “Prophesy.” 

So here it is: “Thus says the Lord.”  Not thus says me, or thus says you.  God is living, and in Him there is no death.  So listen up.  Christ is risen.  The Lord will resurrect His people to live in eternity with Him.  He will make His breath your breath, and you will know that He is the Lord.  Wake up, God’s children, dry bones, for your Creator and Redeemer and Sanctifier has spoken.  Who cares if nothing in you seems impressive, if your valley seems dry and filled with the shadow of the death?  The Lord our God is breathing, and, when He breathes His Spirit, you live.  So the prayer of the Church today on is “breathe, O Lord; breathe Your Spirit into us, Your remnant, Your Church.  We are dry bones, dead in sin and buried in guilt, but you make something out of nothing and bring life out of death; so breathe and bring us to the Promised Land.”

Christianity stands or falls with the resurrection, the firstfruits of which is that of Jesus Christ.  Because Jesus Christ has risen from the dead we have forgiveness, life and hope in the promise of our own resurrection. Because of the resurrection, the Gospel – the good news about the crucified and risen Lord – God confronts those dead in their trespasses and sins with his saving claim upon each person.  It also means that when people reject the Gospel they are rejecting God’s love and salvation won by Christ. They are rejecting God Himself.  John wrote of this in our epistle, “If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:9-12).

Thus says the Lord, and what He speaks, it comes to pass.  At God’s command, death must surrender its victims. Dry bones no longer, you are the Lord’s mighty army.  Dry bones, no longer, you are alive, wet with baptismal grace, dressed in the flesh Christ took at conception and offered on the cross in death.  God is breathing; He is breathing His Spirit through the Means of Grace.  Breathe in forgiveness.  Breathe out God’s Word of love and praise.  “Thus says the Lord.”  For Christ is risen. He is risen indeed! Amen.

Easter Day

1 Corinthians 15:12-26

April Fools Joke?

April 1, 2018

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

Alleluia Christ is risen, He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Over the years, jokes and hoaxes have been made on this day.  Some have been elaborate and some have been childish and silly.  And no, I’m not talking about April Fools Day, but rather Easter.  

There’s no getting around Easter.  You’ve got to do something with this Jesus.  Like Him or not, believe in Him or not, follow Him or not, there’s no getting around Him. Either He really did die and rise again on the third day, or He didn’t. CS Lewis once quipped, very appropriately about this very fact. “Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to… He is a lunatic, a liar, or Lord (CS Lewis, Mere Christianity)

So which is it?  Is Jesus a joker? Are Christians? Or are we the butt of the joke itself?  The answer to those questions all hinges on today, on Easter, on the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.  The sinful world, unbelievers, the devil scoff at the sight of Christians gathering today.  Jesus might have been a lunatic or liar, but His followers are certain worse, persisting in a fairy tale.  Everyone know that the resurrection is impossible, by definition.  The dead are dead, not alive.  There’s no changing that.

If the resurrection didn’t happen, we are the biggest suckers in all of history, the biggest fools, the most pathetic of everyone.  St. Paul writes it plain clear, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and your are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people the most to be pitied.”

            But if Jesus actually did rise from the dead, then that changes everything.  St. Paul continues, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom of God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:20-26).

Easter is no joke. The world may think lightly of what we do here today and what happened 2000 years ago. They may mock, they may ridicule, they may promote false news, Let them.  Though the Gospel we preach may be a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, we are no fools. By God’s grace, by the witness of the women from the tomb, by the appearance to the Twelve in the upper room, by the Lord meeting His disciples on the road to Emmaus, by the account of Holy Spirit inspired Word of God, we know and believe what happened to our Savior. We know what needed to happen for the sake of the world. 

The world is broken, and we become fools if we think we can fix it of our own power. Evil and tragedy abound. We can argue all day long on legislation, policy, rights and amendments, but at the end of the day, the real problem lies here, in the heart of sinful man. Jesus said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him.  For from within, out of the heart of man, com evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person” (Mark 7:21-23). 

We are defiled, each and every one of us here.  This teaching exposes the uselessness of our own excuses and dismisses the claim that other people and other things are to blame for our own shortcomings and failures. This is no joking matter, your sin is evil, it defiles you, it condemns you.

Repent. Repent of your sinful desires, your sinful inclinations, your delusions of grandeur and attempts to prop yourself up as your own god, your own king, the one who has ultimate control over your own life. Repent from treating Jesus, the Lord of Life, the crucified and resurrected Son of God, as a joke.

It’s no joke. Jesus really was born in Bethlehem.  It’s no joke. Jesus really changed water in wine, healed the lepers and the blind and the lame, walked on water, rose Lazarus from the dead, was transfigured before His disciples. It’s no joke. He really was put on trial, hung on the cross, died and was buried. It’s no joke. Three days later, His tomb was empty. He appeared to His disciples, to hundreds later, He ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. It’s no joke, He really sent the Holy Spirit upon Pentecost and through the waters of your baptism. It’s no joke. He really delivers His forgiveness, His life, His salvation by the means of His body and blood in the Holy Sacrament.  It’s no joke, He really is returning and will call all out of their graves.

Death and the devil and the enemies of Christ may have thought they got Jesus. He was beaten, crucified, died, and buried. But the joke’s on them. Their apparent victory was short lived, as we just sang about. The tables were turned. What sinful man intended for evil, God used for the good of all.

There are times in our lives when it may seem as though Satan has triumphed, as though we are lost. Despair, depression, and doubt are not foreign to our Christian lives.  Easter shows us the lasting victory of the Resurrection of Jesus, both His victory and your victory.  April fools, sin. April fools, death. April fool’s Satan.  The joke’s on you. For Christ is risen, He is risen indeed, alleluia!

Easter Sunrise/Vigil 2018

Remembering Life and Eternity

April 1, 2018

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, alleluia!

It may look as though death is final. Mary Magdalene coming early to the tomb certainly thought so. She wished to complete some of the funeral rituals after the rushed burial of Jesus just a few short days earlier. She didn’t quite know what to expect, and even though Jesus has repeatedly told His disciples that He would be raised from the dead, none of them really got it.  And so when Mary saw that the stone had been rolled away, she panicked and went to tell Simon Peter and John. 

They were all shocked at first. Seeing the empty tomb, the burial cloths folded up nicely in the tomb, they still did not understand the Scripture, that Jesus must rise from the dead.  But this was not a joke. 

As Mary stood outside the tomb, two angels reassured her of this. And if that were not enough, Jesus Himself appears to her.  She too, did not understand at first and did not recognize Him. She expected Jesus to be dead and everyone knows that death is permanent.

And there’s the punchline.  The joke is on death.  Jesus killed death dead. It cannot hold the Lord of Life, the Creator all. Christ is risen, death is defeated. St. John Chrysostom, the Golden Tongued, of the late 4^th century aptly preached, “O death, where is your sting? O death, where is your victory? Christ is risen, and you are overthrown! Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen! Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice! Christ is risen, and life reigns! Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in a tomb! For Christ, being raised from the dead, has become the first-fruits of them that slept. To Him be the glory from ages unto ages.”

The voice of Jesus reaches the dead and wakes them more quickly than a parent can rouse a sleeping child. John 5 Jesus says, “²⁵ “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For as the Father has life in Himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. ²⁷ And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. ²⁸ Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice ²⁹ and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” This resurrection is not just for Jesus, but is the future for all people.

The resurrected life of Jesus changes our life here and now. The salvation of the past, all those readings we heard this morning already, that same salvation God is working now. The same promises kept. The same deliverance. The same grace, forgiveness, and life.  Knowing that death is defeated, that the tomb of Christ is empty, that our tombs will one day be empty as well, we are truly set free to live a blessed and a joyful life here and now.

The Christian’s life is to be a daily celebration of Easter. We worship on Sundays not because it’s a new Sabbath, but because Christ is risen!  This carries over into every day of our life. Eternal life does not begin at our death, nor at our resurrection from the grave.  You have it now, by faith in Christ who has delivered that victorious life to you by means of His Word and Sacraments. That life to love others, to share the good news of Easter, to

Because Christ lives, we too have new life.  Because Christ lives, our death is defeated. Because Christ lives, deliverance from the valley of the shadow of death is a reality. Because Christ lives, we are truly free to live each day in joy and in a peace that passes all understanding. Because Christ lives we are not slaves to fear, to the panic that the Lord is absent, to a hope that is stolen, to weeping outside of tombs and death and evil. Because Christ lives, we too have life

Good Friday 2018

Remembering Death

March 30, 2018

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

This Lenten season, we have had four deaths within the congregation, and there have been several other deaths of the family members or friends of our church family.  If you watch the news, tragedy and evil are reported upon regularly. The sad fact is that we are surrounded by death. We cannot ignore it, and it has always been this way. There was an ancient philosophical group called the Stoics who believed that it was important for people to remember death every day for the purpose of helping people to savor life, to live fully, to not be so quick to take your loved ones for granted. To the Stoic, death was a part of life; you’re born, you grow old, you die. It happens to everyone, and everything, that lives in this world. It is just the last chapter of life, the inevitable conclusion.

Many people today operate with this same sort of understanding. But it is not so for Christians. We remember the beginning, Genesis. We remember that death is not natural, it is not what God intended for His creation. When Christians remember death, we not only recall the end of this earthly life, but our first parents’ disobedience that let loose an enemy upon all creation. Death is not merely what happens when breathing or the heart stops. Adam and Eve did not stop breathing after they ate the forbidden fruit. So what is death, what is it die?

To put it plainly, death is separation from God. It is loosing the home that He prepared for His children. Death is not non-existence, but it is existence in exile apart from God’s love and God’s grace.  In this way, death is an enemy of God and God’s people, an enemy that brings a sorrow and despair of exile and homesickness. Jesus expresses it well upon the cross as He quotes Psalm 22, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

This Psalm expresses the sorrowful truth that death brings. We have lost our true home. The story of our journey, from conception onward, is a story of progressive loss, mounting up until at the end we lose even the body that served as a home for the soul in this mortal life.  What we normally think of death, the stopped heart, the lack of breath, is but a consequence of the exile into which we have all been born.

“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” These words spoken to Adam and Eve after the Fall are spoken to us each Ash Wednesday. Remember death. And as those words are spoken, ashes, the dead and charred remains of last years palms waved on Palm Sunday, an ancient sign of repentance are placed upon your head in the shape of an instrument of death and execution, the cross. To the world, could there be anything more morbid? But for Christians, it is a remembrance. Yes, a remembrance of death, but also of great love that came from the Father as He sent His Son, into our flesh to know this exile, this death, in His own body, nailed to the cross, suffering, bleeding, and dying, for the purpose to open for us once more the way to an eternal home.  Jesus said in John 14, a passage so often read at funerals when death is staring us right in the face, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” While this confused Thomas, who asked what this meant, Jesus’ response is one of His most famous, “I am the way, and the truth, and life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”  Jesus not only shows us the way home, but He is the way, securing an eternal home by fully entering into exile and loneliness, that by His death, His divine life would kill this enemy from the inside out.

So when we Christians think of death, we are to learn to think of it as a defeated enemy.  Death is bad, it is evil, it is an enemy to be sure. Death is not your friend, and it is not good when it rears its ugly head. But it is defeated by the Life of the Word, the Life that not even death can overcome.  And even with such a defeated enemy, God can use to His own good purposes. That is why we call today “Good Friday.”  So long ago, Jesus took the sin of the world upon Himself, dying the death that we all deserve, and robbing this enemy of all its power. We can believe, and speak, and live the words of St. Paul, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21).

In pondering our own death, we also ponder the day of judgment. We confess the Biblical truth that at Christ’s return, at the Resurrection, He will come to judge the living and the dead.  During Holy Week, Jesus Himself taught extensively and explicitly about impending judgment. We would do well to take this more seriously than we often do, for it is a serious thing. We all must give an account to the One who judges justly at the resurrection. This judgment though is not just the deeds done in this life, but it is how one stands before the King. If standing on our own, all our good works will amount to nothing. But with Christ, with the work of His Spirit creating and preserving faith to receive His grace, we are clothed with Jesus’ perfect righteousness.  

We know that is appointed that we die once and after that comes judgment, when the soul appears before God. If one lives with faith in Jesus, he will not be condemned because his sins had been forgiven on earth for the sake of Jesus. No matter when are where we die, by sudden or slow death, God will graciously receive the souls of His children and will on the Last Day will change our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him to subdue all things to Himself. Jesus not only defeats death, but the accusations of the devil are all taken by Christ. “So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this: ‘I admit that I deserve death and hell, what of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where He is there I shall be also!’” — Martin Luther

The Christian then, knowing and believing in the resurrection of the dead at Christ’s return, looks upon death as defeated upon the cross, a time when the body rests in tomb, awaiting the resurrection, while the soul lives on with Christ in His presence, anticipating that same resurrection and the reuniting of body and soul to live in eternity with the Lord and all His saints. By the grace of God in Christ Jesus, we are taught to die a blessed death, and so to live a blessed life.  The work of salvation does not end with the death of Jesus, but continues into the victory of the resurrection.

Maundy Thursday

Faithful and Frequent Reception of the Sacrament

March 29, 2018

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

Tonight we turn to the godly habit and Christian discipline of the faithful and frequent reception of the Sacrament of the Altar. Tonight, on this Thursday of Holy Week, we are reminded and our attention is upon the Lord’s institution of His Supper.  And this Supper is the Lord’s, it belongs to Him, as He serves both as the host of the sacred meal, and the meal itself. Since it belongs to Him, we are bound then to follow His purpose, intent, and manner in which is done.  Rather than thoughtlessly getting in line with everyone else just because it is offered, faithful reception of the Lord’s Supper stops to ponder who, what, and why this gift is given and received.

Jesus presents us with a mystery.  The word “Sacrament” is a Latin translation of the Greek word for mystery.  It truly is a mystery. But it’s a mystery that the Lord has revealed to us, for on the night in which He was betrayed, He took bread, gave thanks, broke it and gave it to His disciples and said, Take and eat, this is My body…” Then He took the cup and said, “Take and drink, this is my blood.”  Often times when talking about the Lord’s Supper, I’ve heard, and done this myself, referring to “it” or a “thing.” But it is much more a “Who.”  In the Sacrament, we encounter Christ Himself. The who is Jesus. Think about this hymn we often sing, “Lord Jesus Christ, we humbly pray That we may feast on You today…”

For we know the what of the Sacrament, based upon the Who, “It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ Himself for us Christians to eat and drink.”  It is the Word of God, combined with these physical elements, in the sacramental action of eating and drinking this holy meal.

Which leads to the why of the Sacrament: these words, “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins,” show us that in Sacrament forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation are given us through these words.  By faith in Jesus’ words, and in the confession of unity that we share, we receive these blessings of life, forgiveness, and salvation. 

This is an important point. Christians have sometimes been confused about an important distinction here: the difference between how salvation was won and how salvation is bestowed or given. There is no question that the salvation of the world was accomplished by Jesus as He offered His body and His blood, His very life, once and for all, upon the cross. That salvation is won, but it only applied to a sinner by means of the Word of God and the Sacraments, received by the Christian, by faith, for their benefit.  As Lutherans, indeed as all Christians should be, we are highly Sacramental.  In other words, we believe the Lord’s Word that He would does not want to work among Christians by any other way than through His external Word and through those means of His Sacraments. In these ways, God’s grace is, this gift, is for you. Approaching the Lord’s Table in a worthy manner means you are approaching it hearing Jesus say that He is giving Himself to you, for you.  We know why we are, what we are receiving, and we confess the unity of faith that we share at this altar. Here, the Lord takes His own body and blood which He used to win our salvation and He imparts them to you, received by faith, to deliver that salvation into your mouth, and into your life. 

When the Lord says that this gift is for you, that you may properly receive it in faith, with thanksgiving and praise, that the Lord gives it to you as a promise that your sins are forgiven and His grace is yours personally, the reaction of faith is to run to church begging for such a gift from the great Giver of all good things.  Those who feel their weakness, really want to be rid of it, and desire a remedy should regard and use the Sacrament as a priceless antidote against the poison of sin that they carry within them. For here in the Sacrament you receive from the lips of Christ forgiveness of sins, and His forgiveness contains and brings with it God’s grace, God’s Spirit, all the gifts of the Spirit, and His protection against death, the devil, and all evil.

How? We know the who, what, and why of the Sacrament. In one sense, we know the how of this mystery.  By the Word.  He simply says “this is”, and it is so.  We do not understand the how, for the Lord has not revealed that to us, and so we leave that to His discretion and do not dare speak where the Lord has not spoken. As He speaks, so we believe, and so we receive because that is what He commanded us to do and promised to give.

Which lead us also to the when and where of this mystery.  Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of Me,” and “Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” And St. Paul writes, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”  Whenever and wherever this word of God is combined with the bread and wine as Christians gather together in the name of Jesus, to eat and drink the body and blood of Christ, there God is delivering the benefits of salvation to His people.

Our Lutheran Confessions assume and describe that in our churches, the Sacrament is offered every single Sunday and feast day, but never assert that just because it is offered, everyone present should feel constrained to receive it.  At the same time, we have to be careful not to make a law about how often a person ought to receive the precious gift. We should not treat it as a burden or as work or forced to receive this gift on the one hand, nor to regard it as unimportant or optional on the other. In fact, it’s assumed that no one will commune who has not taken the time and effort to examine themselves in order to ensure they are receiving the Sacrament worthily, as St. Paul writes, “Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”

Lastly, a word on etiquette.  Because we believe that the Supper is the Lord’s, that the true body and blood are present in, with, and under the bread and wine, that Paul’s admonition to examine oneself and to discern the body lest a person receive it not in faith for their benefit, but under false pretenses or in unbelief receive it to their harm, and that when we commune together we are publicly stating we believe the same things, we take the administration of the Sacrament seriously and according to the Lord’s command. So, as Lutherans, we follow the historic Christian practice of only communing at congregations that share the same confession of faith that we ourselves have professed. If you visit a non-Lutheran congregation, respectfully and politely do not participate in their Communion, recognizing that there are differences in what we believe. If you visit another Lutheran congregation, do not just show up and make your way to the altar unannounced. Arrive a little early, speak to the pastor, introduce yourself, and your desire to receive God’s gifts distributed there.  Don’t be surprised if the pastor asks you questions about which church you belong to, or the who, what, why of the Lord’s Supper.  And don’t hesitate to ask him what the church believes, confesses, and practices.  Lastly, when you bring a visitor here to our congregation, when the Sacrament is being administered, and you know your visitor is not Lutheran, or who has not been instructed in the basics of the Christian faith according to the catechism, or who has not or currently does not profess that same faith, you have a job to do. It’s your job to tell your visitor upfront and before arriving at church that because of our beliefs on what the Bible says about Communion, we do not commune any Christian who has not been examined and absolved, and who does not publicly confess the same understanding of the Christian faith, which is usually done by the rite of Confirmation.

So, we know the who, what, why, and how, the when and the where of the Lord’s Supper. And now the invitation is sent, so come and receive what the Lord has promised. Amen.

Palmarum 2018

John 12:1-11

March 25, 2018

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

This Sunday, Palm Sunday, is the gateway to Holy Week. This week is the most important week of the entire year for Christians.  For we focus again on the very heart and center of the Gospel: the suffering, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is no passion play or commemoration. It is a question of our heart, our soul, in life of that suffering.

So today, we praise our King. Palm Sunday is the first time in Jesus’ life that He allows people to treat Him like a king. As a triumphant and humble king, He enters the city of Jerusalem, the city of the Great King. This is a great moment for which this Jesus, who shall save His people, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the long promised Messiah, the only begotten Son of God has come. His claim to kingship was the main reason for His condemnation by the Jews. Pilate who asks Him, “So You are a king?” to which Jesus replies, “You say that I am king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.” The King of the Jews sent to the cross, this title written above His head, often seen in pictures still “INRI.”

We hear today the beginning of the King’s march to the death. At the end of the Service today we’ll sing the truth and the goal of the Kingly march into Jerusalem, “Ride on, ride on in majesty! In lowly pomp ride on to die. Bow down thy meek head to mortal pain, Then take, O God, Thy pow’r and reign.”  Jesus made the long pilgrimage throughout the years of His human life by way of the cross-crowned hill, always seeking opened doors to hearts and souls, to homes and cities, that He might save and redeem. He came to His own, but His own did not receive Him. The considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted, a man of sorrows. And He was. Sorrowful over the sin of the world, sorrowful over your sin, and so the King was stricken for you, He was smitten, and afflicted by the wrath of God that your sin deserves. He was delivered up to death, He was delivered for the sins of the people ([Mark 10:33]).  And still He rides on. Christ’s work of salvation does not end with death, but continues into the victory of the resurrection.

And so we greet Him today as He comes.  We join in the triumph and the joy.  He comes still as humble as before, riding into our lives by the means of His Word proclaimed, and His Sacraments of Baptism and the Supper.  We have pomp and circumstance today, greeting Him with palm branches just like long ago. We sing Hosanna to Him, proclaiming “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” 2000 years ago the crowds which sang these words thought Jesus came to declare Himself King of Israel and expected to share in an earthly triumph. When they learned His destination was not the throne on Mt. Zion, but that on Mt. Calvary, their enthusiasm disappeared. Jesus’ glory isn’t the kind that they wanted.

So He comes today. His purpose is to bring salvation and blessedness, to heal and make whole and healthy, to set up a spiritual kingdom that will last forever. He looks as little like a King as ever. In His Church are many who shout Hosanna, save us, and yet run from the Garden of Gethsemane when the world comes to crucify this King.  Many call Him Savior, Prince of Peace, King of kings, and Lord of lords, but refuse to do His will among their own families or friends or business. May vow allegiance like Peter, at their confirmation vows, in their prayers, to look good before others, and then deny when the world turns on them like it did on Jesus.

Repent. Repent of your hesitation to open and receive Him as the King of your life. Repent of thinking that somehow you can make Him your king.  No, you can do no such thing.  You do not make Jesus your lord, Savior, or King. It is the other way around. He makes you His subject, His child, the object of His affection, the receiver of His gifts. You are just a little afraid of Him, and you should be. He saps self-confidence and kills your pride. He offends your attempts to make Him into a king of your own making.  His presence, His persistence, His patience disturbs and unnerves. When He comes, He does not let you do whatever you want to do. He gets in the way of your sinfulness, that He might take it upon Himself and give You what is rightfully His. That is what this King does.

So when you approach the altar today to receive the Lord’s body and blood for the forgiveness of sins consider your actions and your heart. The Lord is present, the King of kings comes hidden in, with and under the bread of wine.  Lutheran piety still includes bodily signs of worship surrounding this sacramental action. In most Lutheran churches the communicants still kneel, heads bowed in reverence. Many communicants bow before leaving the altar. It would be blasphemous to kneel and bow if there were not a real presence on the altar of the Lutheran church. No matter what else happens as the Sacrament is celebrated, not to adore and worship would be a sacrilege. Who, in the presence of God, the King of the universe. would not bow down, whether in body or in spirit? (Chemnitz)

Since Jesus truly is the Son of God and Son of Mary, truly the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, if He truly is our crucified, risen, reigning and returning King, if He is truly present in His Word and in His Sacraments, then the events of Holy Week changes us forever.  The Lord places us on the only path to freedom from sin, with a real hope of victory over evil and death. Earlier in His earthly ministry, just before His Transfiguration and just after telling His disciples that when He went into Jerusalem, He would be killed and on the third day be raised, Jesus told them, “If anyone would come after Me, let Him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.”  Let us heed the Lord’s words on today as we begin this most Holy Week, following Him to the upper room, to the garden, to the cross, and with joy to the open tomb of Easter.

Lent 5 2018 Judica

Hebrews 9:11-15

March 18, 2018

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

“…how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” This is our text.

Read Hebrews 9:1-10 for greater context.

Our Epistle reading is one of the important Biblical texts for the theology and practice of worship in the Christian church. The author shows how the Divine Service of the Holy Word and Sacrament differs from the worship of the Israelites and worship in all other religions.  It centers our reliance on Jesus as our high priest before God in heaven and His gift of a clean conscience through His blood.  For an all other religions, worship has to do with attempted rites of self-purification and contact with the divine by acts of devotion. In the Divine Service, Christians receive a clean conscience from Jesus, so that we can serve the living God with a good conscience.

There is a truth that we are shaped by, whether we recognize it or not. God is holy, and you are not. Only those who have been cleansed of sin, who have a good conscience before God, can approach the living God safely and beneficially, for without a good conscience the Father’s face is clouded, His Word is misheard, and His gifts are abused. A guilty conscience regards God as either a parent who lets a child get away with anything, or an angry judge. A guilty conscience mishears God’s Law as an impossible demand for self-improvement or a critical message of condemnation; it mishears the Gospel as a license to sin or as a message of affirmation to do whatever it wants. It takes God’s gifts and turns them into self-entitlements for self-indulgence.

But the purpose of the Divine Service, the reason we come here again and again, is to deliver a clean conscience that enables God’s people to approach Him with confidence, not presuming and demanding anything other than what He has promised.  Our whole Sunday morning is shaped around this way that God deals with us.  The service begins with recalling our Baptism in the Invocation and then the rite of Confession and Absolution. We approach God knowing that our Baptismal identity gives us the right to call Him Father and to stand in His presence. We admit our sinfulness and that we deserve punishment. And we receive His grace through faith in Christ, a clean conscience for the sake of this Jesus who shed His blood for us that we may serve the living God. We sing His praise, we recall His actions in the past, we hear His Word rightly as Law and Gospel to enlighten and confirm, to condemn our sin and show us our Savior; we are led to eat Christ’s holy body and drink His cleansing blood for the forgiveness of our sins, for life and salivation and strength, equipping us to serve our Lord and our neighbor. This all comes from our High Priest, Jesus, who cleanses us with His blood, redeems us from death, delivers to us eternal life, and gives all good things from God.  

Even the shape of our church symbolizes the reality of all this. Where you all sit is called the nave, as in a ship, the holy ark of the Christian Church through which God separates, makes holy, sanctifies us from the multitude of unbelievers and serving the Lord at all times with a fervent spirit and a joyful hope. We have this arch here, and the place up front is called the chancel, and the area right around the altar is called the sanctuary. The altar is combines the function of all the liturgical furniture in the Old Testament temple: it is the place for presentation of all offerings and prayers. It is God’s throne, the throne of grace, the place where God delivers to us the very body and blood of Christ. That is why we reverence the altar, why we kneel as we receive the Holy Sacrament.

Unlike the Temple though, there is no curtain here where the archway marks the difference. In the church, the holy way, the way from earth to heaven, is not blocked. When Jesus died upon the cross, the temple curtain was torn in two. Access to God, and God’s access to man, is not through the offerings of man, but only by and through the High Priest Jesus. He is the mediator, the only mediator, between God and man. He is the sacrifice for our sins, and by His blood we are cleansed, securing an eternal redemption. We have an aisle that provides the way of the congregation to enter the Most Holy. So those who have been washed by Baptism, declared justified by the Word of God, come to Christ’s table to be sprinkled with His Blood. Divine blood that cleanses people entirely from all inward and outward impurity and unholiness and ushers them into the presence of the Father, the heavenly Holy of Holies.

St. Paul catches this idea in his treatment of the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” The Lord’s Supper directs our faith to the cross and to His coming in glory. There we are cured of our sin. There Christian character is gained. There we meet the Lord, there the cross is lifted up and the benefits of Jesus’ death are given to those who partake of His body and His blood, there we are called and purified to serve.

Our High Priest has made us priests. The service of a priest is to sacrifice. Having our sins paid for by Christ, our sacrifice is now turned to the needs of others. As we proclaim the Lord’s death this morning, by our eating and drinking we also declare, Jesus died for us, His blood covers our sin and purifies our conscience, that we may be a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. We celebrate with grateful hearts the miracle that the eternal God became man and died on the cross. In this feast of victory of our God, with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, we bow before the throne of the Lamb who was slain, whose blood set us free to be people of God.