We are not alone: Christmas meditations on 1st John 4

I have often wondered, if at root, people are more generally afraid of being alone, than they are of being together with someone or something dangerous.  While the answer might seem obvious, I think the way people tend to live shows a less obvious answer.  From the abused who cannot seem to leave their abuser, to the persecuted who cannot seem to leave their persecutors, the world is full of people who choose to be beaten, abused, tormented, and ultimately destroyed rather than risk being alone… from individuals, to entire nations, who subject themselves to abusive tyranny for the sake of not being alone in the world.  While I think most people are afraid of being chased by wild beasts (either human or inhuman,) I think most people are deep down, more afraid of being entirely alone.

And I think this makes sense, considering how God has made us.  We are social creatures, and left to our devices, we will create social structures.  Every person is conceived and born through the actions of other people, whether their parents are loving and kind, or cruel and selfish.  We emerge into this world through a social construct, and we live all our days in some relationship to other people.  Whether we are citizens of a community or nation, or simply members of our family, it doesn’t matter where we are in the world, those relationships remain.  Even if our families and communities become our enemies, they are still our families and communities—the relationship may be poisonous or prosperous, but the relationship still remains.  We cannot escape our connectedness, even if we are cast off on a desert island.  We still have some relationship to someone, somewhere.

And for all our connectedness and community, there is still one terrifying event we must all endure alone:  death.  It is the truly unnatural thing in all creation, a disruption of all that is created good and pure.  It is the consequence of evil and rebellion, of the disruption of creation itself, brought into the world by the evil and rebellion of its chief creatures:  mankind.  I think death tends to frighten us so much, because we know, deep down, it is so unnatural, and so out of synch with the rest of the created universe.  But then, somewhere deep down, we also know that it is just.  No matter how deeply we dig into ourselves, we find that we are responsible for poisoning relationships with our families, our communities, our friends and neighbors.  We are responsible for wounding those around us, using other people for our own designs, and casting them aside when we have what we want.  We are responsible for the governments of tyranny that oppress through myriad ways, even if they have the veneer of justice and law.  We are responsible for the distortions of this universe, and it is right that we should be taken out of those relationships, stripped of our ability to wound and destroy others, and cast into the eternal prison where the only relationship left to us, is that which exists between those who are utterly alone, without hope of reunion or grace.  Death is the gateway we face all alone, which points the way to our just condemnation, of being alone in our self created misery forever.  This is the gift the devil offered our first parents, so many millennia ago—the gift they took and passed on to us, which at first looks and tastes so sweet, only to poison us and kill us, leaving us alone for all eternity.

But God does not so easily let go of us, even as we try so hard to run from Him.  God, Himself a perfect community in unity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit eternally in perfect relationship with each other, chose to reach out and call us into His community.  This is the great mystery of Christmas—not that we loved and sought out God, but rather, that God loved and sought out us, by sending His Only Begotten Son, to be the propitiation of our sins.  God chose to take the wounded community of mankind upon Himself, and in the Person of His Son, be wounded for our transgressions.  He took the poison of our broken humanity into His perfect and eternal life.  He walked alone through the dark portal of death, carrying the weight of every evil and wicked thought, word, and deed, of every person who was or will be born upon this globe.  For all humanity, the Son of God leaves His perfect communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit, so that He might die for the sins of the world.  This is the meaning of the sign accompanying His birth—He is born of the Virgin, taking our flesh upon His divinity, becoming perfect Man and perfect God in one Person, for the sake of our salvation.  This is the love of God for us, that He would sacrifice His own perfect harmony, to seek and to save us, who without Him, have nothing but desolation and an eternity of solitude awaiting us.  For He so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe in Him, should not perish, but have eternal life.

But of course, the Author of Life could not be held down by death and hell.  The poison of death He took into Himself, He destroyed by the power of His Almighty life.  The gates of hell opened to receive Him, but in so doing, were destroyed by the power of His majesty.  Death and hell were destroyed for all who would cling to Jesus, for Jesus could not be held by the bonds of death.  In Him is life, and not just in this world, but for the eternity to come.  In Him is the restoration of the created unity, flowing out of the blessed harmony of the Holy Trinity.  In Him, we find the fullness of community and relationship, beginning with Jesus as our Savior and Lord, and through Him, to all the world.  In Jesus, all wounds are healed, all sins forgiven, all wickedness cleansed.  In Jesus, the broken relationships and communities of our fallen world, find their reconciliation, healing, and peace, through His boundless grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness.  Where our Lord is victorious over sin, death, hell, and the devil, so are all who are found in Him.

This is the beauty and wonder of Christmas, of the Incarnation of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  Here we see that we are never alone, even though we pass through the valley of the shadow of death.  Here we find, that even if our human communities and relationships are broken and wounded in this world, He is the restoration and the promise of eternal community and life.  Here is the hope of salvation, that no one ever need be alone, even for a moment, in this world or the next.  And here is the promise, that we need not take the false dichotomy of fear, that attempts to choose between wicked community or being alone, but rather to live in the perfect fellowship of the Holy Trinity, together with all the saints and martyrs, prophets and apostles, who live in Jesus Christ by grace through faith.  Here is the victory that overcomes the evil one, death, and hell:  Jesus Christ.

Are you hurting and wounded this Christmas season, by the poor choices of yourself and others?  Do you sit in the dark, afraid to be alone, and afraid to be with others who despitefully use you?  Are you fearful and depressed, weary and broken, weighed down by a world that crushes upon you?  Be of good cheer, dear neighbor—Christ is calling to you.  He is with you.  His rod and His staff, they are here to comfort and protect you.  Jesus saw you, knew you, before He called the world into existence, and His great love for you, took Him to the Cross, the grave, and even hell itself, to save you.  He is the one who seeks you in perfect love, never to harm you, but to heal you and restore you—to bring you into the perfect love and harmony that He has with the Father and the Holy Spirit, that you might live in Him forever.  And there, in that perfect harmony of love and community with the God who created you, seeks you, and saves you, you will find a fellowship with all the others He has brought into that same fellowship with Himself.  Through Jesus, you will find the family you never thought possible in this world, and with His love and grace pouring through you, you will find the healing waters that will pour over all the other people in this world who so desperately need Him, too.  Healed, restored, and blessed to be in the communion of His saints, you will become His means of reaching ever more people with His grace and truth.  Far from the depths of sorrow and despair you once knew, alive with His life and love, your mouth shall carry His Words of forgiveness, hope and salvation—your hands shall do His work to care for your neighbor, and your feet shall go to His mission field.  He shall live in you, and you in Him.

And this is Christmas.  God is with us.  And who shall separate us from so great a love, that crossed all eternity to bring us into His eternal and blessed fellowship?  In Him there is no fear, no despair.  For in Jesus, all are made alive forevermore, and all the pain of this life is washed away in His eternal embrace.  He comes for you—He calls to you.  Hear Him.  Believe.  Live.  Amen.

Born of a Virgin: Meditations on Matthew 1

Virginity is a quaint idea in our time, nearly as outdated in the public mind as rotary telephones and carbon copies (those of you under the age of 20, ask your parents what these are).  Old fashioned ideas like virginity are often snickered at by those who find it ridiculous or unnecessary, particularly in our modern and enlightened age.  While it’s often not said directly, the world’s modern ideal is formed by the conviction that since we’re all just the product of evolutionary animals in a meaningless universe, why not gratify our desires and get all we can before we die?  Indeed, what is the value of virginity, when people are just hormone driven animals, clawing out their own passions upon a merciless globe, fretting every moment that they won’t get what they want before someone takes it from them?  The image of a pack of hyenas around a rotting antelope carcass comes to mind…

Of course, this is not what people are.  The illusion of our time, a strong delusion to be sure, has caused the hearts of many to grow cold, selfish, and hateful.  Even Christians, swooning under the neon advertisements that sell “please me now” wares, begin to doubt the need and usefulness of ideas like virginity and chastity.  Christian schools, like public schools, are full of baptized teenagers, who see their peers chasing the spirit of the age, and ask why they shouldn’t do so, too.  They see throngs of their friends following after the Pied Piper, pursuing sex and pleasure and vice, and wrestle with whether or not to join the throng.  What they don’t see, is where the Piper is leading them.

With all our modern thoughts and values, we continue to forget the eternal truths God revealed to the world through His Word.  To live after the flesh, is to die.  That Piper, the spirit of the age, is always calling and wooing people to their eternal demise; to share his fate in the lake of fire forever.  We would be stupid and naïve to think that the Piper is not very talented at what he does, or that he hasn’t been practicing for thousands of years, refining his call to perdition.  Naturally, he doesn’t show you the pit of hell that yawns wide to receive you at the end, and he is happy to slake your lust and pride for a few measly decades, knowing that your ruin and destruction will last forever.  That wicked Piper calls to every person, in every age, to dance and frolic away from the God who made them and gave them life, into a death and hell prepared for the devil and his evil angels.  His song seems sweet and pleasant, appearing wise in the world’s eyes, but the end of that path is death.  And of course, none of us know exactly how quickly that path may end…

In the midst of this wicked Piper’s call, the Word of God continues to call all people to faithfulness and repentance, to virtue and peace.  The Piper may call you to animalistic death, but God calls you to the fullness of human life.  God knows exactly how and why He formed humanity, and He knows how those good gifts He has given, are best to be exercised.  He knows that in our fallen state, our ears are much more attuned to the diabolical strains of the Piper, and our passions disordered into lust and covetousness.  Knowing our weakness, He put before our eyes His holy and righteous Law, that we might have an eternal guidepost in determining good and evil in every age.  No matter how disorienting and unnerving the call of the Piper, we know what our Lord has spoken simply, clearly, and directly to all mankind.  It is a Law which both instructs and condemns, since it shows us to be broken and wicked people, unable to live the lives of purity and righteousness He has called us to.

But in addition to His holy Law, God has also set forth His blessed and eternal Gospel.  This Gospel is more than the Law, in that it fulfills what the Law could not do.  While the Law could show us what is holy and pure, and call us to personal holiness and purity, it could not in fact make us either of those things.  While the Law remains holy and good, it also remains a mountain un-scalable to broken people, showing us a life and salvation outside our natural grasp.  His Good News, however, brings that life to us in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ.  From the unassailable heights of God’s righteousness, the Son of Righteousness descends, with healing in His wings for all who will believe in Him.  The Son of God comes to seek and to save we poor, lost, and miserable sinners, caught in the thrall of the Piper and dancing ourselves to death at the base of His holy mountain.  Jesus comes to us, when we could not climb to Him, bringing to us His grace, mercy, forgiveness, and life.

The Son of God comes to us, in a way that stands out for all humanity of all times and places to behold:  born of a Virgin.  Rather than taking a strange and unnatural flesh, Jesus takes our own flesh from His mother, making her the Theotokos, or God-bearer… the Mother of God.  The Blessed Virgin Mary, by the grace and mercy of Jesus her Son, becomes the means by which the Son of God comes to us, and the Ark of a New Covenant.  She brings forth in purity and righteousness, the very Son of Righteousness, who has come to give us His righteousness in exchange for our sins.  The Blessed Virgin Mary stands forever as a sign of the love of God for mankind, devoted and set aside to the task of bringing forth the Messiah.  As the Scriptures proclaim, all generations shall call her blessed, for what is accomplished in her is the reconciliation of the world to God through her Son.  She is a sign of purity and faith, of holiness and righteousness, for the sake of her Son who will save the world from the deadly song of the Piper.

While virginity is not a model set forth to all people, it is set forth as a sign of the purity all are called to in Christ.  Blessed Mary, ever Virgin, points to the holiness of her Son, who is the Lamb of God.  Jesus’ own eternal virginity, points to His holy and righteous mission to take away the sins of the world.  While people of all times and places are called to be pure and holy, keeping their gift of sexuality in accord with God’s Eternal Word, it is the purity and holiness of our Savior that we rest in.  His Gospel of Salvation, His forgiveness of our impurity and unrighteousness, calls us to rest in Him and to reflect Him to the world.

We are no longer left powerless, under the spell of the devil’s Piper.  We are alive in Christ Jesus, the Son of God and Son of Mary.  We are given His holiness and purity in exchange for our unworthiness, and called to live in Him by grace, through faith and repentance.  Our sexuality, like all our passions and gifts, are called to be used righteously, in accord with God’s design and Word, whether that is in Godly marriage, or in chastity and abstinence.  And in case the siren song of the Piper would confuse us in our day, God leaves the indelible image of His Son before our eyes, born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and calling all the world to a faith and repentance which brings life instead of death.

May our ears be opened to hear the call of Jesus, that we may turn, believe—and live.  Amen.

Patience and Endurance: Meditations on James 5

As with any season of repentance and preparation, Advent calls to mind this idea of patience and endurance.  Just like everyone else, I tend to leave November behind with an anxious anticipation of Christmas yet to come—the holiday time off from work, the fellowship with family and friends, and the hope that seems to spring up at the beginning of a new year.  But for me, as for many others, this time between Thanksgiving and Christmas can be very hectic and overwhelming, with more things to do than I think can reasonably be done.  There are extra church services, extra hours to work at the office, extra events the kids are chasing, and as seems to be the case this time of year, more people carrying heavier loads of suffering and loss.  It’s no wonder that so many people suffer holiday depression around these colder, darker, and shorter days, when the mounting weight of all their commitments and trials seem more than they can bear.

Despite the suffering or worry that the Church of Christ bears in her day, she is still called to endure patiently as her Lord comes.  This little season of preparation we call Advent, usually no longer than four weeks, is a good exercise for the Church in patience and endurance.  We are called to remember, in the words of St. James, that our Lord calls us to imitate the holy Prophets who came before us, who waited far longer for the revelation of Jesus Christ than our little four week season.  From however far back in the mists of time God gave His promise to Adam and Eve, that a Son would be born of the Woman who would save the world from the calamitous Fall into sin, the people of God waited.  For centuries, as the earth grew ever more violent and evil, they waited; until the Lord saved Noah and his family through the Flood that wiped out the world; until the Lord called Abraham out from his father’s house, to receive the promise; until the Lord sent Moses to bring His people out of slavery in Egypt; until the Lord established the throne of King David; until the return from the Babylonia captivity; until the coming of the Son of Man.  More than 2000 years the people of God waited, patiently enduring the trials and tribulations that etched the history of God with His people from Abraham to Jesus… and however many thousands more, before Abraham to Adam.  For at least 40 centuries God’s people waited for the Messiah who would crush the head of the serpent, and save the people from their sins.  For no less than 4000 years, the people who sat in darkness waited, until they saw the Great Light of Jesus Christ.

Now, 2000 years after Jesus’ first coming, we are sometimes tempted to impatience with whatever God has planned for His world.  And when we yield to impatience, it becomes ever more difficult to endure the trials and afflictions of our day, or to carry the cross we have been given in our own lives.  When we forget how the people of God waited to see their salvation come, we often lose perspective on our own time of waiting for the Lord’s return.  But He is coming.  The great Day of the Lord is coming, and His people will be saved from the hands of their enemies.  He has spoken His promise, and He is faithful.  He is the reward of our patience and our endurance, as He has been for every generation of His people.

And for us, who are so weak and selfish, given to impatience and quitting with the going gets tough, He has left us everything we need to wait for Him.  He has given us His Word to cling to, through which His Holy Spirit works to create and sustain faith… a living faith, that receives grace, forgiveness of sins, and life everlasting.  His Word endures among us, patiently calling us to repent and believe, absolving us, healing us, and strengthening us.  His Word, being more eternal than the mountains and the seas, the stars and the universe itself, calls, gathers, and enlightens all who will hear Him.

Here is the patience and the endurance of the saints, gathered and enlivened by grace through faith in the Eternal Word of Jesus Christ.  His everlasting Gospel of forgiveness and life enters our weak human frame, and gives us His life, His strength, and His power to endure all things.  With Him, in His Word, we wait for Him, to accomplish His Word.  Here we rest, here we work, here we cry, and here we rejoice.  Here we repent, and here we believe.  Here we live.  Forever.  Amen.

How to Meet Jesus: Meditations on Matthew 3

St. John the Baptist is introduced in his prophetic ministry, as one who called everyone to “repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!”  I’m not sure how many preachers these days start their ministries this way, but my guess would be that it’s fairly few.  How many congregational “call committees” are out hunting for a pastor who looks or sounds anything like John the Baptist?  Truth be told, most of us would much rather be told anything other than what God actually sends His preachers and prophets to say.  When the world finally gets tired enough of folks like John the Baptist, they put their heads on platters.

But take a moment to reflect on how you would react, if a scruffy looking fellow, devoid of any finery or pretension, walked into your local congregation, and called everyone to repentance, because the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.  How would you react?  Would you be frustrated, or angry, that someone had the audacity to command you to change your life?  That’s what repentance is, after all—a turning away from evil, and toward God.  That scruffy, intense, poorly dressed preacher with bugs in his teeth (remember, John ate locusts and wild honey…) who looks you in the eye, and issues you the divine warning that you must turn from your evil because God is near, probably makes you really uncomfortable.  In fact, you might get really angry at the nerve of this guy.  He’s telling you to leave your self-idolatry behind; to stop lusting after your neighbor; to stop wasting your wealth while others go hungry; to stop ogling the bikini barista; to stop following false teachers; to stop loving yourself above all things, and rather love God and your neighbor instead.  He pierces through all your fine clothes, your pomp, your pretentions of well being, and warns you that God knows your heart.

This fiery, unashamed preacher of repentance, warns you that while you may think you can fool the guy next to you into thinking you’re a holy and decent fella, God knows every seedy thought that perverts your heart.  He knows the dreams you keep secret from your wife and kids.  He knows the plots you burry deep, away from the eyes of your parents and friends.  He knows exactly how corrupt and selfish you are, how fearful you are to lose the idols you cling to, and how addicted you are to personal pleasure and satisfaction.  He knows… He sees… and He’s coming.  There’s no safe pew for you to hide in, no bible study group or service organization that’s going to save you from His all knowing gaze.  Go ahead, straighten your tie, adjust your skirt, and primp your hair—it means nothing to the God who knows you inside and out.  That boorish preacher, with all his audacity and lack of pretense, shatters your delusional world, and brings you face to face with the reality that God—the only true God—is coming, and you have nowhere to hide.

I don’t think most people think this deeply about what St. John the Baptist’s call to repentance really means—they either ignore it, soften it, or let it slide on by.  I know I usually do.  Since it is given to us for our readings this week, however, we must discipline ourselves to hear this Word of the Lord, and spend some time inwardly digesting it.  While that dirty little sinner in you and I would love to ignore a call to repentance and focus only upon cheap grace that demands nothing of us, we must hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

Jesus does come to seek and to save the lost, but He also comes with unquenchable fire to thoroughly purge out His threshing floor.  This is the practical reality of His coming, which is an encounter with a real God and King.  There used to be an old adage that people would keep their house in good shape in case the President of the United States stopped in for dinner.  But how much more ought we to prepare our house—our body and spirit—for the Advent of our Lord?  Presidents, Senators, Congressmen, Governors, all come and go, but there is only One Eternal and True God who remains forever.  No one changes His Law, or revokes His Word.  God alone is Holy, and He insists that all in fellowship with Him be holy, pure, and righteous as well.  Jesus is coming, but He’s not just coming for a political stump speech; He is coming to judge the living and the dead, and His Kingdom has no end.  When He renders a verdict, it is irrevocable, with none to spare you from His Word.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but His Word will never pass away.

So perhaps, with that perspective, we can hear St. John the Baptist’s cries for repentance for what they are—an urgent plea for mercy.  John no more wants you to burn at the coming of Jesus, than Jesus wants to burn you.  The problem is, that you and I, in our evil and twisted state, love our wicked selves more than we love our righteous and holy God.  We love debauchery and gluttony, lewdness and spite, vengeance and violence, oppression and domination, more than we love God… otherwise, we wouldn’t do those things, or revel in them every time we turn on the TV, cruise the internet, watch movies or play video games.  If we really loved God above all things, and our neighbors as ourselves, we would act like it.  All the time.  Waking and sleeping.  But we don’t, and truth be told, somewhere down deep in us, we don’t want to.

St. John the Baptist’s call for repentance is a call to the world for mercy.  He knows, that everyone who loves their sin more than God, will be given the wages of their sin, which is death.  He knows the fire and the judgment to come, and carries a Word from the Lord, that God does not desire the death of anyone, not even the wicked… not even you and me.  And St. John the Baptist knows that on your own power, you are too weak to turn from your sins, to withdraw yourself from the wickedness that is your undoing.  John knows what God has known all along—repentance comes as a fruit of faith.

You see, for you and I to turn from our sins and truly repent, to be sorrowful for our wickedness and seek to amend our lives, we must have something given to us that we do not have.  We must hear the other great sermon that St. John the Baptist gives, which is “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”  Here the heart is enlivened by the Holy Spirit working through the Word, His Law convicting our conscience of sin, and His Gospel giving us hope and trust in the One who has come to deliver us from our sins.  As we hear the Word of the Lord, that Jesus has given His life as a ransom for all who will believe in Him, so that His death becomes our death, and His life becomes our life, we are born again from above by the almighty power of His Spirit working through His Word.  No longer are we just condemned sinners awaiting a tortuous and just fate, but we are saints whose sins have been washed away by the Blood of the Lamb.  We may be sinners in need of mercy, but we are most wondrously sinners who have obtained mercy!  We have been given life, and peace, and hope, all because of the Vicarious Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Now that we have been given the love of God in Christ Jesus, we have a love to give back to God and our neighbor.  Free from the curse of sin and its consequence, we are free to live in Jesus and for Jesus, who is our eternal life and blessing.  Now that we live by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, we are both empowered and impelled by the Holy Spirit to turn from a life of sin and evil, and toward the God who saves us.  How is it that we prepare to meet our coming King?  We hear His Word, and we keep it.  We hear His Word of Grace and Gospel that tells us our sins are forgiven, and we are freely adopted as His children forever.  And we hear His Law, that continues to call us to drown that old sinful nature so deep down within us, and rise up in our Baptism to a new and holy life.  We live by faith, which casts off the dark shroud of our evil nature, and clings to the blessed light of His eternal grace.  We live to meet our King and Savior, in both Faith and Repentance.

And so, if you are so blessed as to receive a visit from one who comes to you in the spirit of St. John the Baptist, who shakes you from your deadly complacency in your faithless sin, and calls you to repentance and faith in the Son of God, give thanks—for the King of Glory is coming, and He desires that you should meet Him well, clothed in the Blood of the Lamb, with a faith that is ever turning from evil and toward His marvelous light.  Give thanks for God’s gift of the two greatest sermons ever preached by a mere man:

Repent!  For the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand!

Behold!  The Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!

Amen.