Persecution in the Church: Meditation on John 9

There are few times in the life of the Christian which are more troubling, than when the leadership of their Church becomes an instrument of persecution to the faithful.  While this is not always prevalent, it does occur throughout the history of God’s people, and the story St. John recounts in chapter nine of his Gospel is one such event.

John paints a vignette of a man, blind from birth, whom Jesus heals.  It starts out enigmatically, as people ask Jesus, whether the sin of this man in particular or of his parents, has resulted in his affliction.  Jesus takes the opportunity to correct their poor theological assumptions, and tells them this affliction has come upon this man, not specifically because of anyone’s sin, but so that the glory of God might be revealed—which Jesus accomplishes, by giving him sight.

The miracle is notable for many reasons, not least of which are that it was witnessed by many; the man was old enough to be previously known by many more; and the man’s parents were still alive to attest to his having been blind since birth.  There was no way to sweep this miracle under the proverbial rug, or to deny its veracity.  It was a brilliant sign that pointed to Jesus, and verified Him as the Messiah He claimed to be.  The miracle made the reality of Jesus impossible to ignore.

But like so many times when Jesus presents Himself undeniably, the hearts of sinful people rebel in irrational ways.  The Pharisees call him in for questioning before their council of leaders, and drill him with questions about what happened and how.  They look for weaknesses in the story, and any attempt to discredit the people and event.  But they can’t find any.  The man speaks the same simple story.  The parents confirm his blindness at birth.  Finding themselves without rational or legitimate grounds to discredit the miracle, the people involved, or Jesus, they eventually demand that the man repudiate Jesus through bearing false witness.

The man refuses—and points out to the teachers of the Law, that God does not hear the prayers of the wicked.  Jesus had healed him, and this point was incontestable, no matter how that disrupted the plans and perceptions of the leaders.  Eventually, unable to contest or break this man, the council repudiates him and throws him out—ostensibly excommunicating him from the visible church community.

But of course, Jesus finds him, and calls the man to Himself by faith.  In this moment, Jesus teaches the people a very important lesson about the nature of His Church.  Though religious leaders (pastors, bishops, presidents, councils, synods, seminaries, etc.,) should not abuse their God-given office as under-shepherds to the Chief Shepherd, evil leaders cannot separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ.  If one pastor or lay board acts the tyrant in a local congregation, or one bishop acts the tyrant in a whole region… or if a large number of evil leaders gather themselves into councils and synods and conventions to embrace the devil and repudiate the Word of Christ, they cannot break the fellowship of the humble and faithful soul with their Savior.  Jesus reminds us, that even if the pastors and leaders of the Church turn their back on Him and His Word, He will always keep those who cling to Him by grace through faith.

In our day, many people find themselves in congregations, synods, churches, or other ecclesiastical constructs, where the leaders persecute the faithful.  The Word of God is under assault by the very leaders called to guard and preach it.  When God raises up witnesses to His Word in these places, the fate of those witnesses may well be excommunication or expulsion from the leaders’ political constructs.  Whether your local, regional, or national church community is plagued by false doctrine and unbelief of a thousand different stripes, from full blown apostasy and heresy to fanaticism and confusion, there is a word of the Lord for you.

If you are one, caught up in the errors and evils of this wicked time, whether you are a leader or a member at large:  Repent!  Return to the Lord and His Word, which alone is your salvation, and alone the Means of Grace that bind you to Him in His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.  Do not deceive yourself into believing your humanly constructed political association will save you.  Only Christ saves, and only by grace through faith in Him and His Word.  Turn, before your destruction overtakes you, as it did the Pharisees in 70 AD, when God sent the Romans to utterly destroy Jerusalem.  Repent, that you may be forgiven, and live.

If you are one persecuted for the Word of God, take comfort:  for there is no one, be they king or pauper, who can take you from the love of God in Christ Jesus.  There is no power of hell or earth that can overcome the love of Christ for you, and none can deny the reality and the power of His Holy Cross.  If they cast you out and revile you, be of good cheer—for here, Jesus will meet you, as he has met his faithful people in ages in past, who cling to Him by grace through faith.

And though it may seem that so much of the world’s political constructs, both inside and outside the Church, are united against the Lord and His Christ, He has always maintained for Himself a faithful remnant.  In this time of Lenten preparation and repentance, we hear the Word of the Lord once more call us to faith.  May the ears of all be opened, the hearts of all be broken, the eyes of all be brightened, that faith and repentance may once more mark the gatherings of Christians in this and every land.  Amen.

While we were yet sinners: Meditations on Romans 5

St. Paul makes many points in his Letter to the Romans, and few have the impact that this one does:

But God commendeth his love toward us,

in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

When we think of those for whom we would give our lives, the list is usually pretty short.  Some might be willing to die for a spouse, or children—some perhaps even for a good friend.  Some might be willing to die to save the life of any imperiled child, or in coming to the aid of a persecuted or attacked person.  Some make a commitment that they are willing to die in the line of their duty, to protect the population at large, such as police, firemen, and military.  But even in these examples, dying for others isn’t something we want to do, but may be willing to do, if the need and opportunity arises.  As General Patton was often quoted as saying to his soldiers, ““The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other guy die for his.”

Compare that with how Jesus gives His life.  We were not His friends when He died for us, but rather, we were enemies of God.  We were completely absorbed in our own pride, avarice, and self idolatry, and much more in harmony with the devil.  Mankind, having fallen and deformed the divine image we were given, were condemned rightly under the weight of our evil desires and deeds.  Jesus does not come to die for His friends and family, or even for the citizens of heaven, but rather comes to die for enemy rebels of His beloved Father.  He lays down His life willingly, for the sake of us… the ones who wanted nothing more, than to kill Him.

And while this certainly should give us pause during Lent, to repent of our sinfulness in all its forms, to deny ourselves daily, and to take up our cross to follow Jesus, it has a still greater purpose.  As bad as you think you are, you cannot be so wicked that Jesus didn’t die for you.  As far as you think you have fallen, you cannot fall so far that Jesus cannot reach you.  No matter how mired in sin and evil you are, you cannot be so foul that the Blood of Christ cannot wash you clean.  There is no length to which He has not gone to reclaim you, and there is no one for whom He has not died.

If you are one who has never known Christ or His Word, never given Him a second thought, and lived your life entirely for yourself—He has come for you.  If you are one who rails against God, despises Him, curses Him, and tries with all your might to destroy all that He has made—He has died to save you.  If you are wounded by others, with your faith fleeting and your love grown cold, angry at God for the life He has given you—He has pursued you in all your pain.  If you are one who has known Him, and yet continually fall in your sinful weakness to evils you despise, loathing your own miserable wretchedness—He has come to rescue you.

And all this, He does out of the only motivation that could impel anyone to do such a marvelous work:  love.  No one could compel God to love you, and God had no need to save you.  His only desire, is to love you.  And in this love that transcends all of time and space, He came into your flesh and bones, that in your humanity, the divinity might suffer and die in your place.  For He so loves you, that He would pay the great price of your sin, bearing it all upon Himself, that you might live with Him forever.  This is the great comfort of His Holy Gospel:  not that you loved Him and sought Him out, but that while we were yet sinners, Jesus loved you and sought you out, giving His life that you might have life forever.

In this season of repentance, while you rightly take up disciplines to control your sinful flesh and mind, to drown your old nature and rise up in the new nature given to you by the Holy Spirit, never lose sight of the love of God for you.  For while you were yet lost in your sins, Christ died for you.  And if His love pursued you into the depths of your sin, it will not abandon you as you struggle to live in Him by faith and repentance.  Be of good cheer, even in your struggles, for God loves you, and He has left His Holy Cross as the eternal sign of that love he bears for you, and for the whole world.  Amen.

Why Jesus really came: A Meditation on John 3

If you listen to Christian programming, or frequent your local Christian bookstore, you might find many conflicting answers to the question, “Why did Jesus come?”  While confusion over this issue isn’t new in our day, we certainly do have it in spades.  From the Prosperity Preachers who hawk their wares, claiming that Jesus came to give wealth and health; to the various Millennialists who think Jesus came to establish His Kingdom through the political systems of this world; to the Process Theologians, who think Jesus came to help us evolve into new levels of spirituality; to the Liberation Theologians, who think Jesus came to institute worldly equality in all things; to the Cheap Grace crowd, who think Jesus came to abolish the Law; to the Legalists, who think Jesus came to institute a new Law; to a thousand variations in between, the answers can be mind numbing.  I can sympathize with the oft recurring Reformation era lament, “God save us from the Theologians!”

Jesus, of course, if we will listen to Him, settles all this out very plainly.  In the third chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus said:

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the

wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

That whosoever believeth in him should not perish,

but have eternal life.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only

begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not

perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not

his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the

world through him might be saved.

And there it is:  Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and to give eternal life to all who would believe in Him.  Not wealth and health, prosperity, equality, politics, institutions, licentiousness or legalism—but the Good News that everyone who comes to Him in faith and repentance, receives grace, forgiveness, life and salvation forever.  Jesus’ mission is simple, yet nearly unimaginable in scope:  He comes to rescue every person, from the dawn of time to the end of the age, from sin, death, and the devil, and to give eternal life to all who will believe in Him.

If this was Jesus’ simple and profound mission, and He accomplished it through His life, death, and resurrection, why is it so hard for people to remain in the light of this simple Gospel?  Why do we have so many variations of theories and propositions?  Why, if Jesus shines so clear a light, is there so much darkness on so central a truth?   Jesus answers this is, too, in the verses immediately following:

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he

that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath

not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into

the world, and men loved darkness rather than light,

because their deeds were evil. For every one that

doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest

his deeds should be reproved. 

But he that doeth truth cometh to the light,

that his deeds may be made manifest,

that they are wrought in God.

The reason so many people resist the clear and simple light of Christ, revealed through His Word, is that people love their darkness rather than the light.  They love their greed and gluttony, their freedom and power, their manipulations and plotting.  They love themselves.  And because they love themselves, their works of darkness cannot bear the selfless and sacrificial light of Christ, so they flee from Christ and His Word, seeking other words to soothe them in the dark.  They search for teachers who will scratch their itching and festering ears, placating them in their unbelief.  They will cling to anything the darkness has to offer, rather than come to the clear and penetrating Light of Christ.

But Christ shines His light into the world, never the less, to seek and to save the lost.  He does not come into the world to destroy it, or to condemn it, but rather, He comes to save.  He is driven by love so deep and so rich, that He will suffer all things for the sake of us, who are lost in our trespasses.  He will shine His Gospel light into every dark corner of the world, and into every darkened heart, calling all to repentance and faith, so that all might believe and live in His grace. And though He calls to all, He forces no one to remain in the light of His love—He coerces none to remain in His mercy and grace.  For those who refuse Him, who love their miserable sins more than His magnificent grace, their condemnation is already upon them as they flee from their salvation and their Savior.  But for those who will turn from their wickedness, and remain by grace through faith in the light of Jesus Christ, there is nothing that can separate them from so great a love, and so great a God.

Be of good cheer, little flock.  His love for you has sent His Son to be your Savior, your Sacrifice, and your Righteousness.  His Light has sought you out, called you, and sanctified you in His grace.  Hear Him. Cling to His Word.  Remain in His light, and live forever.  Amen.

Temptations to Unbelief: Meditations on Matthew 4

Between the flu and my own jumbled thoughts, I took several runs at this iconic text this week.  The subject, which begins our walk into Lent, is the Temptation of Christ.  It is here that we observe the Spirit leading Jesus out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil; the various means of temptation the devil uses against Jesus; Jesus’ response to each temptation, and His victory over the devil.  While much can (and has) been said about each of these elements of this rather short story, what continues to come to my mind as I meditate upon Jesus’ encounter with the devil, is the relationship between Temptation and Unbelief.

Like all evil, temptation doesn’t exist as a thing in itself, but rather is a corruption of something good that already exists.  Temptation, by its very nature, is an attack upon something good and wholesome—a reflection upon something already created good and holy.  But since temptation is not directed at inanimate objects (i.e., rocks are not tempted to be something other than rocks, nor is water tempted to be something other than water,) it must have a more spiritual, rational object.  People are the objects of temptation, because people are the ones capable of choosing against their created order, and contorting themselves into something they were not intended to be.

Of course, tempting people is like shooting fish in a barrel—we’re already twisted and evil as a result of the Fall, and likely to succumb to any of the devil’s many propositions.  In our natural and fallen state, we’re easy prey to temptations of lust and pride, covetousness and idolatry, wrath and murder.  The sinful nature into which our First Parents plunged our race, leaves us always desiring the devil’s ways, and leads us inexorably toward the devil’s end.  That one great temptation the devil worked upon Adam and Eve, and their free choice to Fall away from God, was the devil’s successful strategy to bring sin and death into God’s good creation, and separate people from their Creator.

God was not pleased, however, to lose even one soul to the devil.  After the Fall, God continues to speak His Word to His people, that they might cling to Him by faith, and by faith receive His grace and redemption.  The Word that called Adam and Eve to believe in the Seed of the woman, who would crush the head of the devil and bring salvation to mankind, came in the flesh as Jesus Christ.  This Word made Flesh, the very promise of the Father, suffered and died for the sins of the world, and rose again on the third day to declare His victory over sin, death, and the devil forever.  The Word of God did what we could not do, breaking our chains of slavery to Satan, and calling us into a new and eternal life given to us by His Word.  Jesus sends His disciples to the ends of the earth, proclaiming His Good News of justification and salvation by grace through faith in Him.  The Word of Christ has been sent to pierce the darkness of every corner of the globe, and the despair of every human heart.  Where we find in ourselves only death and darkness, the Word of Christ breaks through with Life and Mercy.  And in every heart that will receive Him and His Word, there Christ reigns in all His grace and glory, holding that one close to Himself for all eternity.

This, I think, reveals the real object of temptation:  the corruption of faith into unbelief.  For the world at large, the devil whispers his poisonous lies, to keep the unregenerate masses from hearing or believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to keep them under his awful slavery.  To the Church, the devil continues to whisper his ancient corruptions, attempting to draw away the Saints from the grace and mercy of Jesus by encouraging them to abandon His Word.  It is the Word of God that breathed the universe (and every person) into existence, and it is the Word of God that breathes new life into every sinner who will hear Him, repent, and believe.  The devil’s target through temptation has always been to separate people from God, by attacking their faith in His Word.  He knows as much as we should, that the Word of the Lord endures forever, and that where His Word of Grace and Mercy are, there is life.  To the world, he tries to keep them from hearing the Everlasting Gospel; to the Church, he tries to get them to leave it.  The devil by himself is incapable of slaying anyone, and so he calls out to us to commit suicide by leaving the Author of Life.  He is a macabre and defeated foe, his head crushed by the heel of the Savior.

As we enter in Lent, I think it is a good time to bring to our remembrance, the link between Jesus and His Word.  As sinners saved by grace through faith in Him, we must always call to mind that we live by His Eternal Word… and apart from His Word, we perish.  In this light, we can hear blessed Luther echoing St. Paul, when he calls us to daily drown our old nature in the waters of our baptism, rising up each day in the power of the Holy Spirit to cling to Jesus and His Word.  This life in Christ, throughout our pilgrimage in this fallen world, will be one of faith and repentance, as we wage war against the devil and his many calls to leave Christ and His Word.  Where we examine ourselves, and find we have been unfaithful to His Word, we must repent—hearing His Word, we must receive Him, and live in Him by faith.  Only there do we find grace, and strength for the journey.  And only there, do we find the life and peace which never ends.

Amen.