Abiding Forever: A Meditation on 1st Peter 1, for the 3rd Sunday in Easter

Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth

through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren,

see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

Being born again, not of corruptible seed,

but of incorruptible, by the word of God,

which liveth and abideth forever.

For all flesh is as grass,

and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.

The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:

But the word of the Lord endureth forever.

And this is the word which by the

gospel is preached unto you.

We lost another good friend this week to cancer, and he wasn’t alone.  In conversation with friends around the country, many have lost good friends and family this week to various scourges, pestilences, accidents, and calamities.  Death is easy enough to ignore when it is far away, but when it presents itself in the people we love, it is impossible to avoid.  The death of our friends and family is a reminder to each of us that death will come to us all, and each of us will transition out of this world into eternity.  It is a reminder of the ancient truth which St. Peter quotes in his first epistle, that even as people observe the brief cycle of life and death with the grass and flowers of the field, so too is the lifecycle of man in the view of eternity.  There are over six billion people in the world today; some who are being born, some who are living out their lives in a myriad of ways, and others who are dying.  And the billions who are in the world tomorrow will not be entirely the same as the billions who are here today.  In about 80 to 100 years, there may not be a single one of the six billion people alive today, still alive then… and yet there will likely be billions more across the earth.  The glory of mankind is indeed like a flower which blooms, and then fades away, brief in time against the ages of the world, or the echoes of eternity.

If our hope, or the pursuits of our lives, were oriented only toward this brief blossoming life, we would surely be a pitiable lot.  Solomon writes in his book of Ecclesiastes about how vain life becomes, if it is only a pursuit of those things which may be done between our birth and our death.  We may build empires and inheritances, but they are passed to others whose lives are likewise as brief as our own, and they may or may not honor the same principles and passions we did.  Life without a context bigger than our own breath becomes a fevered and frightened vagary, a pursuit of vanity after vanity while we try to outrun, out-maneuver, and out-smart death.  A life that we did not choose to enter, into circumstances we did not ordain, influenced by powers we cannot control, and waiting for death’s clock to chime our dismal chord is not a life of meaning or purpose, because it has no perspective and context outside itself.  A life in which we are our own god, by the power of our own word and reason, is a miserable and meaningless life of futility, suffering, sorrow, and pain.  This is not the life which the True God has given to us, but the devil’s lie we too willingly believe as we pridefully try to worship ourselves—a self-absorbed life which can only wait in fear of death, or despair into the oblivion of suicide.

Yet the life which God gives is so much more.  It is a life bound to His eternal, unending life, which can never be taken away or made vain.  His life is the source of all life, and in Him alone there is eternal purpose, dignity, and worth.  United with God, our lives sing in harmony with His, in joyous song that rings out forever.  In Him we find the eternal truth which dispels the vapid lies of devils and demonic men.  In Him there is peace and joy and celebration, where life finds it beginning and yet never has an end.  In Him, there is a context which lifts our eyes above the tragedies of a fallen world, and our minds above the fevered dreams of fearful men.  In Him who called all time and space into existence, who is the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End of all creation—is the timelessness which transcends beginnings and endings into eternal life.  In Him is the purpose we seek, the meaning which resolves the meaninglessness all around us, the joy which dispels all sadness, and the love which heals all wounds.  From Him came the life we live, and in Him is that life made whole.

And how does such wholeness of life come to mortal men?  In Jesus Christ alone—who alone is the eternal Son of the Father, alone took on our human nature that He might live and die in our stead, alone defeated our sin, death, hell, and the devil, and who alone rose from the dead to give His victorious life to all who would believe in Him.  In Christ alone, who is the very Word of God Made Flesh, comes the eternal Word of Life to each and every one of us:  the Gospel of Salvation by His grace, through faith in Him alone.  This is the Gospel which St. Peter refers to in his epistle, which is the eternal Word of God leading to eternal life.  While all of fallen man’s glory comes and goes like so many flowers of the field, this Word of the Lord endures forever, granting eternal life to all who abide in it by faith.  It is the Word by which we are born, by which we live, and the promise in which we pass from this world to the next.  It is a Word which cannot be undone by cancer, by accident, by villainy, or by any other force in all creation.  This Word, this Jesus Christ, is our life, our sweetness, and our hope—our reconciliation with God the Father in the power of His Holy Spirit, uniting our life with the blessed life of the Holy Trinity forever.

This is the Word of Life in which we live, and the promise in which we bury our friends, our family, and all whom we love.  This is the Word of Life which binds our loved ones to the eternally blessed life of God, and which binds us together in Him forever.  This is the Word of Life which gives us the assurance that no one can take His people from His omnipotent hands, and that all who abide in the eternal life of Jesus Christ, abide together in Him, in one great and eternal fellowship which the gates hades cannot resist.  This is the Word of Life which comes to you today, that you might abide forever in the love of God the Father through the Atonement of God the Son, rising up in the power of God the Holy Spirit to reflect the love, grace, mercy, and compassion of the Holy Trinity to everyone you meet.  This is the Word of Life which gives your life meaning, hope, joy, and peace which can never be taken away from you, even by death.  This the Word of Life which exchanges the short lived glory of your brief and fallen life, with the unending glory of the risen Son of God, given to you by grace through faith in Him alone.  Hear His Word of Life to you this day, that you might repent, believe, and live in Him forever, together with all the countless saints who shall live and abide in Him across all the epochs of the world—unbroken, undivided, made whole, and made holy by the Blood of His Cross.  Amen.

Forgiveness: A Meditation on John 20, for the first Sunday after Easter

Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, 

when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, 

came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. 

Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the LORD.

Then said Jesus to them again, 

Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, 

Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; 

and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

When reflecting on the Gospel according to St. John, it can be helpful to remember that John wrote his eye-witness account of the life, death, resurrection, and teachings of Jesus later than his fellow Apostles.  In fact, John lived considerably longer than his apostolic peers, and was the only one not to die in brutal martyrdom (history and tradition tell us, however, it wasn't for the lack of effort on the Roman's part, who tried to boil him alive in oil, and when he didn't die, freaked out and exiled him to Patmos... from whence he later returned with his vision of the Apocalypse we call the Book of Revelation, and lived out the rest of his life as the bishop of Ephesus).  Remembering this we can see St. John filling in the parts of the story his friends hadn't told, and clarifying parts of Jesus' teaching which had become distorted or confused.  Today's reading from chapter 20 is one of these, where John helps us understand an often misunderstood text in Matthew's Gospel regarding the Keys of Jesus' Kingdom, particularly regarding the forgiveness of sins.

In Matthew 16, Jesus asked His disciples long before His passion and resurrection, who they and the people thought He was.  Eventually St. Peter answered on behalf of the disciples that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  Jesus told Peter that this good confession came to him through the Holy Spirit, and that this good confession would be the rock upon which Jesus would build His eternal and unassailable Church (this is how the early Church Fathers such as St. John Chrysostom also understood this text).  Then Jesus told Peter that He would give to him the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, so that any sins he would forgive on earth would be forgiven in heaven, and any sins which he would not forgive on earth would not be forgiven in heaven.  Just as St. Peter had responded to Jesus' questioning on behalf of all the disciples in the grammatical singular, so too did Jesus respond to Peter in the grammatical singular on behalf of the rest of the disciples.

While our Roman friends like to make hay out of the grammatically singular exchange between Jesus and Peter in Matthew 16 (and then hypothesize an unbroken and perpetual chain of Peters ruling as singular kings over the Church of Christ from his throne in Rome, only themselves holding these Keys of forgiveness, and delegating them out by caprice to the rest of the bishops and pastors of the world who submit to him,) St. John deflated this controversy in his Gospel centuries before Rome's errors began splitting the Church east and west.  What was promised singularly to Peter as a future action in Matthew 16 (I will give you the Keys...) Jesus actually fulfilled in the plural when He breathed out His Holy Spirit on His disciples in John 20, making them Apostles by sending them out just as the Father had sent Him:  to forgive the sins of the repentant faithful, and to declare the lack of forgiveness to those who refused to repent and believe.  This commission John recorded in his Gospel's 20th chapter fulfilled Jesus' promise which Matthew recorded in the 16th chapter of his Gospel, and perfectly complements Matthew's post-resurrection Great Commission recorded in chapter 28-- to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything Jesus had previously taught His disciples.  There is no more fundamental teaching of Jesus than the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation given freely by His grace for the sake of His Cross, which He suffered on behalf of all humanity, and which can be received only through faith and repentance in His Name.  Such a great message of salvation needed emissaries to carry it out to the world, which Jesus provided by ordaining His Apostles to that good work of His Word and Spirit, empowering them to freely deliver what He alone had procured for the world through His Cross.

And so it has continued down through the centuries, even to our day.  Today, the Church of Christ continues to ordain and send emissaries of Christ into all the world, baptizing, teaching, and forgiving all who will repent and believe the Gospel of Jesus-- making disciples of all nations, without any regard to culture, nationality, race, gender, class, wealth, or tradition.  Today, there are those who are sent to freely give what only Jesus has won for us all, carried by His Word and Spirit into the world so that they might breath His life-giving Word and Spirit to the lost, the rejected, the downtrodden, the wounded, and the abused.  Today, around myriad altars and pulpits of various decoration and tradition, the faithful gather to hear the proclamation of Christ's Word that their sins are forgiven for Christ's sake, and to have breathed upon them the Holy Spirit which empowers them to rise up and live in this grace, by faith in Christ alone.  Today, the Keys of the Kingdom of God are sent out into the world through flawed human vassals, that the gates of heaven and eternal life might be flung wide open for you and for me.  Today, we can hear the Everlasting Gospel, that our sins are forgiven for Christ's sake, and that death and hell have no more hold over us.  Today we are called by Jesus through His Word preached and His Sacraments administered according to His institution, His command, and His promise.  Today, Jesus' Word and Spirit beckons to you, that you might turn from the ways of evil and death, to receive His forgiveness, life, and salvation.  

Hear Him today. Be forgiven.  Repent, believe, and live.  Amen.

He is Risen: An Easter Meditation on Matthew 28

In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn

toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene

and the other Mary to see the sepulcher.

And, behold, there was a great earthquake:

for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven,

and came and rolled back the

stone from the door, and sat upon it.

 His countenance was like lightning,

and his raiment white as snow:

And for fear of him the keepers did shake,

and became as dead men.

 

And the angel answered and said unto the women,

Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.

 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said.

Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is

risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into

Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.

 

That Jesus Christ was crucified and rose from the dead is the most well attested event of ancient history, with more corroborating historical evidence than Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great.  The authors who recorded the events leading up to and proceeding after Jesus death and resurrection were themselves witnesses, together with innumerable crowds of their peers and countrymen.  The primary record of Jesus is found in the Gospels, but there were certainly other sources that record the realities of ancient Palestine nearly 2000 years ago in perfect concert with the eye-witness testimony of the Apostolic writers, many of which were hostile or ambivalent toward Jesus.  And, since the Apostles wrote their witness in their own community, they set themselves up for examination and critique so that everyone could be confident in their testimony.  The undeniable reality was and is, that Jesus lived, died, and rose again as He said He would, and as the Prophets of the Old Testament foresaw He would centuries earlier.  He is the only Person in the history of the world to do that, and even in the remote antiquity of Judea, it was the most witnessed, public, and well recorded event ever to be written down.

 

The reality of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection changed the world.  It toppled the corrupt bureaucracy of the Pharisees and Sadducees which oppressed, blinded, and fleeced the Jewish people of their time.  It defied the Roman emperor by denying worship to false gods, and to sinful men who vainly claimed deity.  It devastated the sophistries and empty philosophies of the Greek thinkers, who pursued truth apart from the One who is Himself Truth.  It destroyed the hold which demons had taken over the lives of ignorant people through pagan religions and witchcraft.  It showed everyone that there was more to life in this world than temporarily satisfying personal desires and lusts.  It revealed that death had been conquered, and no one need fear it again.  It proved Jesus was and is who He said He was and is:  the very Son of God incarnate, to whom all authority on heaven and earth has been given by His Father, and in whose pierced hands are the Keys of the Kingdom of God which forgive sins and grant life everlasting by His grace.  It showed the world that Jesus really is the Eternal Word of the Father, and that everyone who lives and abides in Him and His Word, will live and abide forever.

 

This is the significance of Easter.  It is not found in the pageantry and pomp of churches old or new, nor is it found in the pontifications or machinations of religious bureaucrats high or low.  It is not found in the stones which form our buildings, be they hallowed halls of worship or academia.  It is not found in the ever glaring light of internet websites, the constant inane hum of the blogosphere, or the vapidity of the 24-hour news cycle.  It is not found in the proclamations of politicians, be they kings or presidents or representatives.  It is not found in the great civilizations of the world, be they built better or worse upon the pragmatic truths of Natural Law.  But rather, the significance of Easter is found only and always in the Person of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen again for the sins of world, that everyone who repents and believes in Him might have forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation in His Name.

 

As you enter this most holy time of the year, may the truth of Jesus pierce through all the fog and confusion of your modern life, through all the pain and suffering which corrupted men and demons bring upon a sin-sick world, and show you once again the eternal truth of His Word:  that the infinite love of God the Father has sought and saved you through the life, death, and resurrection of His Only Begotten Son, His Holy Spirit ever calling to you through His Word and nourishing you through His Sacraments, that you might one day rise from the dead as Jesus did, and with your own resurrected eyes, see the God of your salvation forevermore.  Let the shadows and anxieties of a broken world which plague your mind and vex your soul be dispersed, that your eyes might gaze clearly once more upon the pure light of Christ, crucified and risen for the love of you.  Amen.

Thy King Cometh: A Palm Sunday Meditation on John 12

 

On the next day much people that were come to the feast,

when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

Took branches of palm trees,

and went forth to meet him, and cried,

Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel

that cometh in the name of the Lord.

And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon;

as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Sion:

behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt.

For churches around the world, Lent now transitions to Holy Week, where Christians mark the culmination of what Jesus came into the world to do:  suffer, die, and rise again for the salvation of the whole world.  From the prophecy given to Adam and Eve in the Garden, through the Prophets several hundred years before Jesus, the Messiah was promised who would save Israel from sin, death, hell, and the power of the devil.  This Messiah would be more than a political savior, more than a wise teacher, and more than a social reformer.  This Messiah would be the very Son of God incarnate, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Creator and Judge of all things.  But this Messiah would come in humility, taking the sin and death of His people upon Himself, that He might give His life and grace to them in exchange.  This King of all Creation entered into His creation, that He might save His creatures from the devastation they had brought upon themselves by turning their backs on Him.  This Almighty King came not to destroy His people in judgment, but to save them in His infinite compassion and mercy.

This is what we remember at the beginning of Holy Week, where the Gospels tell us of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, seated humbly on the colt of a donkey, to the ringing praise of the people who threw palm branches down upon the dusty road ahead of Him.  Jesus knew that this praise of sinful men was fickle, and that less than a week later, the mob would be turned against Him by the lying prattle of ruling Pharisees, handing Him over to a foreign governor for brutal execution.  Knowing the Roman cross lay before Him, together with betrayal and abandonment, the King of Creation rode resolutely into the city which He had given to His people over a millenium before as the seat of their earthly kingdom.  In compassion undeterred He entered the capitol city of His people, where the true and eternal King of Israel would be falsely accused, tried, convicted, and condemned by the people He came to save.  Even dying upon His Cross, this King of Israel in gasping breath prayed to His Father to forgive His betrayers and murderers—those who would shove sponges of sour wine into His parched mouth, mock Him as He hung naked and brutalized for all to see, and eventually plunge a spear into His dead heart just to make sure He was really dead.  While the fickle mob saw a revolutionary king and the Pharisees saw a threat to their own power, Jesus saw the Cross He would bear to save His people from their sins.

And of course, He saw not only those who surrounded Him as He entered into Jerusalem, but every man, woman, and child who had ever come into the world from its very beginning, and would ever come into it until its fiery end.  There, on the road into Jerusalem, Jesus saw you and me, our grandparents long forgotten to history, and our children yet to be born.  There, seated upon a donkey’s colt, Jesus saw us among the fickle mob, among the self-righteous Pharisees and Sadducees, and among the violently ignorant Roman pagans.  He saw us, born in our sins which corrupt us to our core, unable to save ourselves from the devil who could whip us into any frenzy of foolishness or passion he desired, because our fallen nature longed more for evil than for good.  He saw us, awash in covetousness, wasting our lives in the pursuit of riches which would leave us exhausted and empty.  He saw us, enflamed by disordered passion, chasing sex and gratification which would never bring forth true and abiding love.  He saw us, distracted by shiny baubles and devices which steal our time in vapid pursuits, until our lives and strength is spent in the cushions of a couch before glittering screens. He saw us, pursuing education in the vain theories of godless men, until our intellect was devoid of reason and wisdom alike.  He saw us, trying to deify ourselves and everything around us, while losing our fellowship with the only true and saving God.  There, on the road into Jerusalem, He saw you and me.

And yet, the Prophet says, “Fear not, daughter of Zion!  Your King comes to you!”  He has not come to destroy you, but to save you.  For you, He entered the den of thieves and murders who controlled the city of Jerusalem.  For you, He endured the vapid praise of the mob.  For you, He endured to false accusations of the religious leaders.  For you, He bore the abandonment of His friends.  For you, He was handed over by His own people to the brutality of the pagan rulers.  For you, He suffered everything the Romans and the Jews could impose upon Him.  For you, He was nailed to a wooden cross.  For you, He suffered death, descended into hell, and rose again the third day.  For you, He bore the judgment you have earned in your evil heart, by your bloody hands, and your wicked mouth.  For you He has suffered all, that in Him you might not perish, but have forgiveness and eternal life in Him forever.

See your King come to you today, having won your redemption, and offering it to you as a free gift of His love and grace.  Hear Him speak His Word of reconciliation to you, that you might know His stripes have healed you, and His Blood has set you free.  Hear His Spirit call to you through His Word, that you might turn from the judgment which must surely come upon the unrepentant evil of the fickle mob, the self-righteous Pharisees, and the brutal pagans.  Hear Him call to you, that you might believe, and live in Him forever, forgiven and free.  Behold your King, your Savior, comes to you, that you might abide in His life and peace forever.  Hear Him.  Amen.