Signs and Wonders: A Meditation on Acts 5, for the 1st Sunday after Easter

And by the hands of the apostles were many signs

and wonders wrought among the people;

(and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch.

And of the rest durst no man join himself to them:

but the people magnified them.

 And believers were the more added to the Lord,

multitudes both of men and women.)

Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets,

and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the

shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.

There came also a multitude out of the cities

round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks,

and them which were vexed with unclean spirits:

and they were healed every one.

It is reasonable to ask after such a momentous event as the resurrection of the Son of God for the redemption of the world, what practical impact it would have on the lives of those who encountered it.  To be sure, the world today would not be populated with roughly two billion Christians of various stripes and kinds, nor have had the tremendous missionary explosions that it saw from the first century to our own day, had not something absolutely remarkable taken place that Easter day in Palestine.  The unassailable empirical evidence and implications of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection moved his disciples and their followers to peacefully convert huge swaths of the Mediterranean lands, Africa, Asia, Europe, and eventually the Americas with a Gospel of life and salvation that pierced pagan darkness with light and hope.  Since faith and love in the heart could not be compelled by force or sword, the Christian message of Jesus’ Vicarious Atonement for the sins of the world spread by the preaching of His Word, requiring neither the power of politics nor the coercion of potentates.  While it is true that some erring Christians forgot this in their respective times, the vast and overwhelming witness of history is that the Church of Jesus Christ brought forth the light of saving faith, hope, and love by the simple power of Jesus’ Word and Spirit at work in the world.

What we read in Acts five is the beginning of this unstoppable movement which continues into our own day, and will persist until the Lord returns.  St. Peter and the Apostolic band preached Christ crucified and risen so that the people might have forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation in His Name.  They preached a Gospel of repentance and the forgiveness of sins to all people for Jesus’ sake.  And as Jesus promised them, signs and wonders came with the Word, healing those with disease, freeing those possessed by unclean spirits, and even raising the dead to life.  Such signs and wonders were never ends in themselves, nor were they to provide honor to the workers, but always pointed back to the Word of Life in Jesus Christ.  The Apostles knew that they were branches grafted by grace through faith into the Vine of Christ, and that apart from Him they could do nothing… but in and with Him, they could do all things given to them to do.  Jesus gave them the gift of His Holy Spirit so that they might preach His saving Gospel with power to all the world, and the Holy Spirit by their preaching of Jesus’ Word turned the satanic world on its head.   It was not St. Peter or St. John or St. Paul who did these things, but Christ working by His Word and Spirit through them which accomplished the works which the Father had ordained for them before the foundation of the world.  Such honor and glory, praise and majesty, are not ascribed to the blessed Apostles, but to the Holy Trinity who raised them up, empowered them, and sent them to the ends of the earth in His Name.

One might ask, sitting here in 21^st century America, that if such power once moved the world in antiquity, where has it gone today?  The answer is devastatingly simple:  it has gone where there is faith in God and His Word.  It is easy to forget that 21^st century America and our European forbearers have inherited centuries of Modernism, Enlightenment, Rationalism, and now Post-Modernist Nihilism.  For centuries we have been seeped in the stew of unbelief and incredulity, slowly becoming Materialists who disavow whatever they cannot prove by their own tests and merits.  Into the vacuum of unbelief in God and His Word have come rather a belief in Atheism, Secular Humanism, Naturalistic Evolution, and a valueless cosmos ruled only by blind and uncaring Chance.  Even historic churches who on paper and perhaps even in weekly worship confess the ancient Creeds which enshrine the elemental truths of God and His Word on the lips of His people, in their hearts no longer believe that God spoke the universe into existence by His Word, redeemed the world through His Incarnate Word, and converts the world through His Word proclaimed in the power of His Holy Spirit.  No longer do they believe that God can or will heal the sick, liberate the possessed, raise the dead, or convert the world to saving faith and repentance.  No longer do they believe the Word of God carries the power of God to accomplish what He has sent it forth to do, and that it will not return to Him void.  No longer do they believe the Word, and no longer do they see its power.

Many lament the rise of atheistic darkness upon our land, and fear its well documented horrors which emerge like putrid fruit from a diseased tree everywhere it is planted.  Many lament the newly burgeoning atrocities of a demonic jihadist Islam which moves to dominate and enslave the world, murdering all who would resist its hellish onslaught.  Many fear the newly rising pagan spiritualism which summons forth from ancient depths long vanquished demons to wreak their insatiable havoc once more upon an unwitting mankind.  Many fear that what rises today in our time and place is too powerful to be resisted, and that there is no hope for our world.  These fears are well warranted by an unbelieving people, for the foe who rises behind them is no mortal of flesh and blood, but a powerful host of principalities and powers bent on the death and destruction of the whole human race.  Man alone has no power to conquer them, and apart from God, there is today as in every age, no hope at all for mankind in their shadow.

But Easter has arisen once again, to shine its light into our present darkness.  Christ has risen, and the devil with his host are defeated.  Christ has risen, and hell has been trampled under His feet.  Christ has risen, and death no longer rules our fate.  Christ has risen, and eternal life is offered freely to all who will repent and believe His Holy Gospel.  Christ has risen, and there is no enemy which can stand before Him.  Christ has risen, and His Kingdom has come among men by grace through faith in Him.  Christ has risen, and has given His Eternal Word and Spirit to His people that the darkness might flee at their approach.  Christ has risen, and given His victory over sin, death, hell, and the power of the devil to His Holy Church.  Christ has risen, and given His authority in heaven and earth to His people, that by His Word the gates of hell shall not withstand the offensive preaching of His Gospel.

Christ has risen, and to your dead, cold, unbelieving heart He breathes His life by His Word and Spirit.  Into your breast He breathes faith to cling to His grace in and through His Word.  Into your spirit He pours forth His Holy Spirit, that He might send you in the power of His resurrection life to dispel the forces of darkness and despair everywhere you go.  Upon you the eternal light and life of His Gospel have shined, gathering you into the communion of His saints in every time and place, that together with the whole host of heaven you might reflect Christ into every corner of creation.  Upon you salvation has dawned by the power of His Word and Spirit, that by His Word and Spirit you might stand by grace through faith forever, unassailable by every evil foe.

Hear the Word of the Lord anew this Easter season, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.  For with the eyes of faith you will see the power of God unto salvation for all who repent and believe; you will see the sick healed, the possessed liberated, the dead raised, and the demonic horde put to flight; you will see the Kingdom of God come among men in power; and you will in time see the Lord Jesus Christ coming again on the clouds of glory, to welcome you into your eternal home.  Hear, repent, and believe, and you will see the wonders of your saving God once more.  Amen.

Life Overcoming Death: An Easter Meditation on John 20

The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, 

when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher,

 and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher.

Easter is not just a Christian holiday, or a secular event for family celebration.  Easter celebrates and remembers the most pivotal and crucial event in human history since the Creation:  the victory of life over death.  In the beginning God spoke the universe into existence, and by the infinite power of His own Word gave life to His creation, His Spirit moving to enliven every creature with the breath of life.  When man chose to cut himself off from God and His Word, he brought death into the whole creation, so that every good thing which God had made now suffered under the knowledge of its own destruction.  Apart from the God whose Word is life, there was nothing to prevent the inexorable end of every creature in death.  And so has every person from that time forward, known that with every birthday comes a day of return to the dust from which we're formed.  Every life born under the curse of sin is bound to death, and death's victory over our first parents in the Garden seemed complete.  None would escape the just consequences of their Fall.

But even in the midst of our Fall God spoke His Word of life to those whose rebellion bought suffering and death to every human soul that would ever enter this world.  There in the sadness of their separation God tells Adam and Eve that He would send His Son, born of a woman, to bring forth His victory of life over death.  So even as every generation after Adam and Eve looked forward in grim knowledge of their own just death for their corruption and sin, there was always alive in the world a hope of the Savior whom the God of Life would send.  This Savior was promised by God through His immutable Word, and those who clung to God in the midst of death clung also to His promise of life yet to come.  No one knew when the Savior would come and accomplish the work God promised, but the faithful knew that God would always keep His Word-- because God and His Word are inseparably One.

Millennia passed one to another, and the household of faith waited in hope.  In the fulness of time God sent His Son, His Only Begotten, born of a daughter of Eve so that He might have a full yet sinless human nature from the Blessed Virgin Mary, and also fully divine of the indivisible essence of God His Father.  Fully human and fully divine, Jesus entered the world as the very Word of God made flesh.  This Word of the Father came to fulfill the promise He made to His people:  the Gospel promise that His life would be victorious over their death, and that every soul who laid down in death by faith would rise by grace into life everlasting.  The Word of Life which brought creation forth would restore creation again, banishing death and evil for eternity.

Of course, those millennia of waiting in hope caused many to doubt.  Just how would God accomplish so great a victory?  Every man who came into the world had lost his fight against death, and the endless series of tombs across the world bore witness to death's dominance over every challenger.  Though Jesus spoke words of life and healing to His people during His ministry in Judea, even calling people back from the dead, the people around Him doubted that He could achieve what no other had.  And if His disciples doubted His ability to defeat death, His adversaries doubted Him even more.  His own people's leaders handed Him over to the Romans for crucifixion, putting God to their ultimate test.  The evil which inflamed fallen human hearts tried to conquer the Word of Life by putting Him to death, swallowing Jesus into the darkness of hell itself.  His disciples watched as Jesus gasped His last breath and His Spirit departed His lifeless body.  They watched the Centurion's spear pierce His side and His still heart, from which flowed forth blood and water, providing solid assurance to the Romans and the Jews that Jesus was fully dead.  Like every man who came before Him, Jesus was now dead, with little left but to place Him in a tomb, where death's victory could be memorialized forever.

What happened Easter morning, however, turned all creation on its head.  Death and hell which swallowed Jesus could not contain the infinite and immortal life of the Son of God.  Rather than victory, death now sat in shambles, and the gates of hell were rocked off their foundations.  The tomb which death thought to be its greatest trophy, became instead the empty tomb of its greatest and most total defeat.  Jesus was resurrected because death could not hold the Author of Life, and out from the tomb He came, never to die again.  The promise was fulfilled and death was swallowed up in life, Jesus' resurrection being the eternal sign of His victory.

Easter certainly is the most holy day in the Christian calendar, but in truth, it is not merely a Christian holiday.  Easter is the first day of the new creation, the declaration before all in heaven and earth that Life has overcome death forever.  For every soul that enters this world from its beginning to its end there is hope fulfilled in Jesus Christ, because Jesus has conquered their death and given life to all who believe in Him.  It is a message for all people, and not just for Christians-- a message that our Creator is also our Savior and our Redeemer, having begun the resurrection of His people on that day nearly two millennia ago.  Every soul that dies in Christ also rises with Him in a new life that death can never touch again, leaving death's minions to know for certain that one day every tomb it thought was a trophy shall be cracked open at the return of Christ.  Every soul that rests in Christ's life will return to their resurrected body on that day to inherit a fully restored creation, free of sin, death, hell, and the power of the devil forever.

We live today in the shadow of two great days, with one more yet to come.  The first great day of the Lord was where His Word brought us all into existence, that we might share his fellowship and life.  After our fall, the second great day of the Lord was His Easter victory over death, where He gives His resurrection life to all who will repent and believe His Gospel.  The third great day of the Lord will be that day when He returns to close out the age, by His Word of Life calling all people from their graves unto the resurrection:  of the faithful unto eternal joy, and of the wicked unto eternal perdition.  On that last great day of the Lord, all evil and death will be forever separated from the new creation, and His people will shine forth with His reflected glory unto ages of ages without end.  From Adam through all the great and ancient prophets, the people looked forward to the victory of Easter where Life overcomes death.  From the Apostles to the last child born into the world, the people look forward to the victory of Christ when all that was won on Easter is brought forth into fulfillment for the whole creation.

And so to you comes the Word of Life which brought you into being, saved you from death and hell, and shall come again for you on the last day.  These three great days are universal and call out to every tribe, tongue, and race.  Jesus calls to you by His Word and Spirit, breathing a new life of faith and repentance into your breast, and uniting you into His eternal and blessed fellowship.  Hear His Word of Life to you, give thanks and praise to Him who seeks and saves you, who raises you up in the new life He won for you this Easter Day, and who promises just as surely to come for you once again on the last day.  All praise and glory and honor be to the Word of Life who has conquered our death, who comes that we may share in His life abundantly, and whose Eternal Word is our victory and our salvation forever.  Amen.

Three Men on their Crosses: A Palm Sunday Meditation on Luke 23

And one of the malefactors which

were hanged railed on him, saying,

If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.

But the other answering rebuked him, saying,

Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?

And we indeed justly;  for we receive the due reward of our deeds:

but this man hath done nothing amiss.

And he said unto Jesus,

Lord, remember me when thou

 comest into thy kingdom.

And Jesus said unto him,

Verily I say unto thee,

Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

In the Gospel reading for this Palm Sunday, the appointed lesson comes from Luke chapters 22 and 23.  Perhaps it is a sign of the softness of our age, that our liturgical text no longer corresponds to the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem (hence the palms strewn upon the road, giving the day its namesake,) but rather attempts to encapsulate all of Holy Week into the morning’s reading.  I once asked an older pastor what the logic of this could possibly be, and he responded that perhaps too few people were showing up for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services, so they wanted to get them into the people’s hearing somehow.  Thus our Gospel lesson includes the institution of the Lord’s Supper, the passionate prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter’s betrayal, Jesus’ mock trial, His crucifixion, and numerous other details far too numerous to adequately meditate upon in one sitting.  Even so, I hope I can be forgiven if the focus of my thoughts upon this Palm Sunday, turns to the conversation between three men dying on the same hill, and how illustrative they are to our common human condition.

Upon the hill of Calvary were crucified that day two thieves, and one Messiah.  Both thieves were there as the just sentence of their crimes, though the Scriptures do not share with us either their names nor the details of what they had done.  We might speculate on what kind of theft could justly bear the sentence of crucifixion, since this form of capital punishment was usually reserved for the most serious of malefactors—those who were involved in rebellion or treason, and whom the Roman Empire wanted to make examples of to the people at large through tortuous and public death.  Crucifixion was as much a spectacle for ensuring the people knew the gravity of certain crimes (thus incentivizing them to avoid it themselves) as it was a particularly horrible act of vengeance poured out by the authorities upon the transgressor.  Our western sensibilities have difficulty envisioning such an approach to crime, punishment, and public warning, though we see glimpses of this methodology in the evening news reports coming from brutal regimes around the world.  The Islamic State, when they behead or crucify or rape or torture or burn people alive, hearken back to methods and political theories very similar to those of pagan antiquity.  But regardless of how we might speculate upon the details of why the thieves were there next to Jesus, the Scriptures point out to us the most important detail:  they were there because they deserved to be.

Jesus, on the other hand, very much did not deserve to be there.  He was snatched by a murderous, treacherous, and illegal mob while praying at night in a garden; railroaded in a mock trial by His own countrymen intending only to convict Him; handed over to the territorial governor of an occupational power, who after beating him bloody couldn’t find anything wrong in Him; the chief priests threatened to mob the Roman outpost if Pilate refused to release the murderer Barabas and crucify Jesus; and finally the wonder-working, sinless prophet of Galilee was nailed to a cross to die publicly in the most gruesome, heinous, tortuous, and humiliating way they could think of.  His disciples and followers fled, save a few of the women and St. John, who looked on from a distance.  His chief disciple denied ever knowing Him.  His betraying disciple hanged himself in despair.  With the cruel ridicule of his betrayers and executioners ringing in His ears, the eternally begotten Son of God hung dying on a Palestinian hill, with justly condemned thieves on either side.

What the people could not see until their eyes were opened after the Easter Resurrection, was that this scene was and remains iconic of the entire human race. All mankind stands rightly condemned under the justice of Almighty God, awaiting their well earned sentence in hell; all mankind suffers through their own crucifixion of a life inexorably heading toward death; all mankind is justly dying temporally, condemned for eternity for their evil, wickedness, and pride, with our adversary the devil rolling in lurid satisfaction over our humiliating and tortuous demise.  And yet, into our death and suffering comes God Himself, to take on our flesh, and offer Himself a sacrifice for us all.  Our just sentence He took freely upon Himself, so that in His suffering and death, our sentence would be paid.

Like the two thieves who hung beside Jesus, every one of us can respond to Him and His sacrifice in one of two ways.  We could use our dying and suffering breath to heap scorn upon Him, to malign and dishonor Him, and with the short-sighted insanity of the railing thief insult the Son of God who enters into our suffering to save us.  Or, we could see and hear the Word of God made flesh, by His Holy Spirit working through His Word confess in faith that we are indeed sinners worthy of our death, pray for mercy, and beg Him to remember us when He comes into His Kingdom.  While for those who spurn the salvation of Jesus the Gospel may recede from their dying sight, the eyes of the penitent faithful open to eternal visions of beauty and salvation as they hear their Savior turn to them and say, “Verily I say to you, today you shall be with Me in paradise.”

What is true of these three men on their crosses, is also true of us.  None of them came down from their crucifixion except by death, and none of us will, either.  One by His death conquered sin, death, hell, and the power of the devil, opening the Kingdom of God to all who will repent and believe His Gospel.  One despised the Savior and His salvation, and passed by death into eternal perdition.  One by faith in Jesus passed from death to eternal life.

And there you hang upon the lonely hill of your own life’s crucifix, justly awaiting the day of your own death—but you do not hang there alone.  Beside you is the One who has entered your suffering with you, so that He might lead you from death to life.  Open your eyes to the wonders of the salvation He offers to you there, even in the midst of your suffering—of eternal life forever secured, of evil forever defeated, and your fellowship with your Creator and His people forever restored.  Hear Him, beloved—believe and live.  Amen.

The Duty of Stewards: A Lenten Meditation on Luke 20

Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do?

I will send my beloved son: it may be they will

reverence him when they see him.

But when the husbandmen saw him,

they reasoned among themselves, saying,

This is the heir: come, let us kill him,

that the inheritance may be ours.

So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

 What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do unto them?

He shall come and destroy these husbandmen,

and shall give the vineyard to others.

For those with a soft and squishy view of Jesus, this week’s Gospel reading can seem severe.  What is recounted in Luke 20 continues an increasingly accusatory series of teachings which Jesus levels at the religious leaders of His day, and which the Church in every age ought listen to carefully.  What emerges in this particular parable are the duties and consequences of stewardship.

Stewardship in this passage (not to be confused with the sophomoric euphemism that’s been used to shake down congregations in recent decades for ever greater financial donations to nebulous or nefarious church budget goals) has to do with several key elements.  First, there’s a distinction between the actual owner of the vineyard, and the steward who tends it.  While the steward works in the vineyard, he does not own it any more than the person who takes your money at the cash register in your local pub necessarily owns the pub.  Secondly, the steward serves in the vineyard under the terms established by the owner, and not vice versa.  To invert this relationship would be as ridiculous as inverting the responsibilities and accountability of your local pub owner and his hired kitchen staff.  Lastly, there are consequences which will be exacted upon the stewards by the owner, relative to the faithful execution of their duties.  That same pub owner will reward his kitchen staff according the terms of their employment if they do well, but will fire them if they start giving the clientele food poisoning by being unsanitary.  (For the record, I love a good pub… not that anyone might be able to tell.  Remember to support them for their great brews and food, and the excellent atmosphere they provide for deep theological dialogue.)

While we all may be aware of tensions between workers and their bosses, Jesus’ parable amps things up a bit.  Imagine that the owner of your local pub owns many establishments in many different places, and he expects to see his revenue coming back to him from each.  Imagine also that one of those pubs decided to withhold their revenue from the owner and use it on themselves.  How long do you think it would take the owner to show up with a court order and the police, fire those unfaithful stewards, prosecute them for their theft, and hire new workers for his pub that would faithfully execute their duties?  In Jesus’ story, however, the owner is much more longsuffering about his vineyard and his tenants.  He sends representatives several times to receive what is rightfully his, and repeatedly the stewards abuse his representatives and deny him.  Lastly, the owner sends his only son—the heir of all the owner’s wealth and prosperity—to receive what was his father’s due.  In an unbelievable act of evil, the stewards decide to murder the son of the owner, hoping that the father will die childless, and the vineyard will be theirs forever.  It is a level of insanity, hubris, and wickedness that far surpasses that of a cashier who pockets a few extra bucks from the till, and it brings from the owner a totality of wrath that destroys these unfaithful stewards, giving their duties to others.

While in practical terms the parable sounds ghastly, whether using the business model of 1^st century Israel or 21^st century Portland, this story ultimately isn’t about business owners and workers.  It’s about Jesus.  Who planted the vineyard of the world and the whole cosmos, and set mankind into its primordial garden to tend and care for it?  Who made the promise to save His people after their fateful fall into sin and death?  Who gave the concrete knowledge of good and evil, by speaking His Word of Law upon Mount Sinai?  Who gave the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation to His people by grace through faith in His Word of Gospel fulfilled on Mount Calvary?  Who calls and gathers His people together in every age and place through His Word and Sacraments, promising eternal life to all who will repent and believe in Him?  Jesus.

Of course, who is it that mankind rejected in the Garden?  Who did they reject before they were washed away in the great deluge of Noah’s age, or when they murdered the prophets in Elijah’s age, or when they murdered the Messiah who was Himself God Incarnate?  Who do they reject still, when they substitute their own words, their own traditions, their own pride, their own power, their own prestige, for the Eternal Word of God?  Jesus.

And what is the consequence of either rejecting or receiving Jesus?  The alternatives could not be more drastically different.  For those who receive Him by grace through faith, hearing, abiding, and believing in His Word, they are blessed to serve in His Kingdom forever.  They have the forgiveness of their sins, eternal life, and salvation from the powers of death and hell.  They have the dignity of noble work, and rest in their Savior.  They have peace with God their Creator, and with their neighbors.  Their friends are the saints and angels in this world and the next, a vibrant and joyous throng that sings forever of the wondrous love, mercy, and salvation of their God.  Theirs is the fellowship of Almighty God, in a perfected union which reflects the eternal and perfect unity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, One God now and forever.

But for those who reject Jesus, who deny His Law and His Gospel, turning His grace and mercy and love into wickedness, selfishness, abuse, and evil; those who seize the reigns of power for their own benefit, either in the secular halls of civil government or the sacred corridors of the Church trod by the hallowed martyrs; those who take the world for their own unbridled gratification, shamelessly appeasing the god of their lusts and the appetites of their bellies; those who persecute the Word of God and its bearers, showing their scorn of God by their mistreatment of His people; those who dream that the world belongs to them with all of its produce, denying the God of all creation by withholding their prosperity from their neighbors in need; those who think they can wipe out or marginalize the Son of God and thereby seize the Father’s Kingdom for themselves:  for them, there is nothing but darkness, pain, and suffering forever.  They have what little they had been given in this world ripped from their cold, dead hands, as their day of reckoning arrives.  They have the terror of meeting God as their enemy, with no power of their own to escape Him.  They have the justice of the Law delivered to them in full measure, as the grace of the Gospel they repudiated disappears from their sight.  They have the flames which burn and yet never consume, as the passions and lusts which they once worshipped now become their eternal tormentors.  They have the terrible darkness of hell, having cast away the beautiful light of heaven.  They have the screams of their own lonely despair ringing in their ears, cacophonously merged with the screaming hosts of the hopelessly lost.  Theirs is the solitary containment of evil, forever put beyond the ability to harm or abuse the children of light.

And for you, dear child, which will you choose?  There is no sideline, no middle ground.  There is only God and His stewards to whom He has given His Word and His multitudinous gifts.  For us, there is only either faith or unbelief—to love and trust our Savior resting in His grace, or to hate and reject Him.  The time approaches for the judgment of all, and for all people it is as inescapable as death itself.  Jesus comes to rescue you from the dark fate which looms before you, and comes ever nearer with each passing day.  Hear Him—believe Him—trust Him—and live.

Amen.