To whom do you yield yourself? A Meditation on Romans 6

As an American, and a veteran, I take a great deal of pride in the freedom of our people, and of our Republic.  As a nation, we were formed in the crucible of war against tyranny, and framed our government with a Constitution that preserved this land as the home of the free and the brave.  We are a people who prize our freedom, enshrine it in our laws, emblazon it on our public buildings, and sing it in our anthems.  We salute our soldiers, those past and present, fallen and survived, for guarding and preserving our freedom.  It is certainly true that we, both as individuals and as a people, have used our freedom in better and worse ways over these centuries we’ve had it, but in our genius and our stupidity, freedom has been a constant and cherished virtue.  Even when we abuse our liberty, we still hold it in high regard, as something worth the price of occasional error.

Our text in Romans for this week, forces us to look a bit deeper than our political and national patriotism is accustomed to peer.  Here we find a universal truth about mankind:  no one is actually free.

As galling as that may sound to American ears, it is true.  Human beings are never really free.  We enter this world by the choices of our parents and the grace of God, and we leave it when we can no longer fend off death.  Not a single human being has ever given birth to himself, nor defied death to live forever, so that he might say, “I am free!”  We enter this life on the whim of others, and from our first breath to our last, the tyrant Death keeps his shackles tightly about our necks.  His power is greater than any can resist, and at the last, he comes to all, taking from them the breath of life they clutch to with all their might.  What is true of the rich and powerful, is also true of the weak and powerless:  all shall die.  The mirage of freedom that we prop up for ourselves between the moment of our birth and the moment of our death, lasts only until it is broken by words like “cancer,” or the defeated voice of the doctor who says, “I’m sorry… there’s no more I can do.”  Natural man, all alone under the tyranny of Death, has no hope of escape, regardless of how posh his castle, or robust his bank account.  Such is the lot of mankind, to be slaves of Death.

But God has something to say to us, chained under a tyrant far greater than any of us could master.  He speaks of the world as He made it, without Death.  He speaks of a world that existed in perfect unity and harmony with Himself, who is the source of all Life and blessing.  He speaks of a world in which He placed man, where He could live in happiness and peace forever, as sons and daughters of the King of the Universe.  And He speaks of the day in which man chose to leave the King of Glory, and serve a deceitful rebel… one who promised much, but delivered only the shackles of Death.  As man chose to leave the Author of Life, they followed the wicked path of the evil one, who led them inexorably into the clutches of a tyrant implacable and merciless.  Having chosen evil over God, they exchanged their good and rightful King, for the brutality of a slave master.  Once servants of God, heirs of His Kingdom, they became slaves of sin and Death, heirs only to hell.

If this were all there was to the story, it would still be true, and just, and right; even if it were eternally and infinitely tragic.  No one enslaved to Death, doesn’t deserve Death and hell—for all have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God.  But our Creating and Saving God was not content to leave us in the slavery we had chosen for ourselves, nor to be the prey of Death.  To rescue His people from their fate, and the chains which bound them to their dark master, He sent His Only Begotten Son into our flesh, that He might conquer Death forever.  In the great Mystery of the Word made Flesh, Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, surrenders Himself to the tyrant of our race, and humbles Himself.  He humbly takes the form of a servant, though He is King of Glory; He brings grace and mercy, though He is Judge of All; He is beaten, spat upon, and nailed to a cross, left to die, though He is the Author of Life; He descends to the place of the dead, and preaches liberty to the souls chained in darkness; He rises from the dead on the third day, having bound Death and the Devil, and in His own flesh paid the price of our sin; He speaks even now to the world the Gospel of salvation, that as He lives forever, so shall all who trust in Him.

And to you, to whom this Word has come from the Author of Life, the Savior of the World, Jesus Christ, also comes the power to break the chains which bind you in sin under the tyranny of Death.  His Spirit comes to you through His Word, convicting you of the evil you know you are guilty of, and giving you faith to believe that Jesus has paid for your wickedness, that you may live forgiven in Him forever.  His Word calls to you, giving you a new birth from above, by Water and Spirit, so that in your Baptism, Jesus’ death becomes your death, and His Life becomes your life.  United to Him in a death like His, you become united to Him in a life like His, where Death no longer reigns over you, and hell is no longer your inheritance.  Your life becomes hidden in Christ, and all that He has won for you, is yours.

You have been bought with a price—the precious Blood of the Son of God.  He has broken your chains that bound you in your sins, conquered your tyrannical slave master, and made you an heir of heaven.  He has made you free indeed, to love and serve Him as you were created to be, in perfect harmony with Him, singing forth His praises forever.  And so we are reminded, that man is always and only in one of two states:  a servant of God who lives forever, or a slave of Death who dies forever. 

Remember the God who bought your freedom and restored your place in His Kingdom, that you may always present yourself to Him in living faith, which serves His righteousness forever by His grace.  Do not turn back to the evil tyrant who enslaved you by sin unto Death.  For the one to whom you yield yourself, is your Master indeed:  Jesus Christ unto life, or the devil unto Death.

By the power of His Holy Spirit, working through His Holy Word:  Choose life. Amen.

Where do you expect to find Him? A Meditation on Luke 2

In the Gospel reading for Sunday, January 5^th, we have the familiar story of Jesus in the temple, and His parents searching for Him.  Much hay has been made by commentators, wondering why Jesus ditched His parents, whether Mary and Joseph should have known where He was, and just what it might have felt like to be the parents who lost the Son of God.  What strikes me as I read this passage again this year, is not so much the hunting, the anxiety, and the eventual finding, but rather, what Jesus is doing and where He’s doing it.

Jesus at this time is 12 years old, which is getting close to when a young Jewish boy would be expected to learn the Torah, receive his instruction, and take his place as a “man” in the synagogue community.  Naturally, no one expected the average 12 year old boy to be fully conversant in the Holy Scriptures, or to have the wisdom and insight of men who spent their entire lives, now gray and bent with age, whose entire time on earth was likely lived in or around the Temple.  Of course, if you meet the average 12 year old, he may think he knows more than all the grey haired teachers (a delusion that engulfs many, well into their 20’s…) but the reality is quickly unveiled when real life crashes in.  That 12 year old who can figure out video gaming systems like nobody’s business, seems infinitely perplexed by the challenge of keeping a small room clean, or the idea that a full belly is linked to hard work…

But Jesus is no average 12 year old boy.  He is the Son of God made flesh.  In His divinity He knows all things, and is Himself the Word who inspires the Holy Scriptures.  And even in His flesh, He is sinless, without corruption or vice.  Jesus is not in the Temple, talking with the elders, Pharisees, and Sadducees, in order to trick them, or play teenage games of sophistry.  The whole point of the Jewish Temple, or the smaller synagogues that peppered the countryside, was to be the place where the Word of the Lord was read, heard, believed, obeyed, and lived.  The sacrifices and the ceremonies emerged from the Word of God, and delivered the promises of the Covenant to the faithful people.  At the center of the people of God, as at the center of all creation, the Word of the Lord endures forever.  Why is Jesus in the Temple, asking questions, listening, and teaching the Holy Scriptures to the elders?  Because this is where He has always been, and shall always be.  Where else in all creation should we expect to encounter the Word of God more clearly, than in the Temple where His Word is calling and gathering His people to believe and live in Him?

And so, this begs the question in our day, as well.  Where exactly did we expect to find Jesus?  It is true, that as the eternally begotten Son of God, He is ever present, all powerful, and all knowing—there is no place in heaven or earth, or under the earth, where He is neither present nor aware of all things.  We can find Jesus at the top of the local mountain range, or in the depths of the sea; if we travel to the loneliest deserts, or the murkiest swamps, He is there; we can find Him in the highest heaven, and the lowest circle of hell; He is everywhere.  But this doesn’t mean we should seek Him everywhere.  Jesus does not command us by His Word to seek Him in the deserts or the wilderness, in heaven or in hell, though He is certainly there.  He sits at the Right Hand of the Father, with all authority given to Him.  His Word and His authority extend to every corner of creation, and His Law continues to speak judgment against all those who try to find holiness in themselves.

But unlike Jesus’ general presence in all creation, He is and has always been present in a special way, where He has gathered His people through His Word.  In the Old Testament, Jesus’ Word called the people together around altars of sacrifice after the Fall into sin, and this call continued through the Tabernacle of Moses, and the Temple built under Solomon.  Around His altar, Jesus called His people to hear His Law and believe His Gospel promises, so that they might repent, be healed, and live in Him forever.  In the New Testament, a different kind of altar becomes the place where Jesus calls His people—an altar where He continues to make present His one great Sacrifice for the sins of the world.  Around this altar, the people of God find the fulfillment of the Law in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.  Around this altar, the people of God hear the good news, that through Jesus their sins are forgiven, their lives are restored, and their fellowship with God has been made complete.  Around this altar, the people all become priests through the grace of their One High Priest, offering their prayers, praise, and thanksgiving for the salvation they have received by grace through faith in Jesus.  Around this altar, the people hear the Word of Jesus through His anointed messengers, who preach the Law and Gospel to them, and administer the mystery of His Sacraments to them, in the place and by the command of Jesus.  Around this altar, the Word Made Flesh dwells among us, full of grace and truth, where we behold His glory, and receive His free gift of salvation.

In a world full of heresies and apostasies, where sects and schisms seek to rend the Word away from the Church of God, sending people back out into nature or into themselves to find God on their own, Jesus is still right where He has always been:  in His Temple, gathering His people around His altar by the power of His Word, that we might receive the gifts He has purchased for us through His Holy Cross.  This is the Church of God, wherever Jesus is present in His Word and Sacraments, and His people gather around Him to receive His grace, by faith in Him and His Vicarious Atonement for the sins of the world.  This is where Jesus can always be found, speaking His Word of grace and mercy, forgiveness, life, and salvation.  He does not call us to seek Him in the wind and the rain, the mountains and the deserts, the heights of heaven or the depths of hell.  Rather, He comes to us here and now, through His Word, calling and gathering us to Himself, that we might live through Him.

Are you struggling to find Jesus, or to understand what He is saying to you?  He is where He has always promised to be, in the communion of His saints, who are gathered around Him in His Word and Sacraments.  From here He calls to you, and invites you to know Him, to believe Him, to receive His Holy Absolution, to be washed in His Holy Baptism, and to be fed with His Holy Body and Blood.  Here he calls to you through His Word preached in the clarity of Law and Gospel, that you might hear, repent and believe—that you might be born from above by Water and Spirit, and live in Him forever.  Seek Him, where He seeks you:  through His Holy Church, which guards and gives His Holy Word, just as freely as she has received it.  Only here will you find the solace and peace you so desperately need, and the grace to live a new year in faith, hope, and love eternal.  Here He calls to you, and seeks you, because it is you for whom He has died and risen again.  Hear Him.  Believe.  Live.  Amen.

Let your waist be girded: A Meditation on Luke 12

New Year’s Eve this year, is the eve of a festival day too infrequently remembered:  the Eve of the Circumcision of Jesus.  For those who may not remember, Jesus was circumcised according to the Law of Moses and the covenant God established with Abraham, like any other young male child of Israel.  Though Jesus is the same God who spoke to Abraham regarding the covenant, and the same God whose finger etched the stone tablets of the Law for Moses on Mt. Sinai, Jesus also voluntarily places Himself under His own Law.  He receives in His flesh the mark of the covenant, and by the shedding of His most precious blood, is counted among the people He has come to save.

While it is fitting that our Lord would fulfill all righteousness and accomplish every jot and tittle of the Law (that He may be without sin, a spotless sacrifice for the sins of mankind,) we should remember that this is done entirely for our sakes.  Jesus does not need the covenant of Abraham to be united to God, any more than He needs the Law of Moses—Jesus is very God of very God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father, through whom all things were made.  Jesus has always been the eternally begotten Son of the Father, united with the Holy Spirit, in perfect communion and harmony.  It is man who needs the Law to see how far he has fallen from the grandeur and beauty of fellowship with the Most Holy Trinity, not Jesus.  Jesus freely places Himself under His own Law, that He might give His life as a ransom for the world.  He takes on flesh and blood, that through the unity of His Divine Person, He might give His flesh and blood for the sins of all mankind.  This is the mystery of the Lord’s Supper, when He says, “This is My Body… this is My Blood… given… shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins.”  Jesus makes His flesh to be food indeed, and His blood to be drink indeed:  a heavenly food, far greater than the manna which fed Moses and the people during the Exodus.  This food is Jesus Himself, His grace poured out through His sacrifice on the Cross, that all who would receive Him by faith, would live forever in Him.  This is the food we really need, that we might live forever.  This is the food Jesus has given to us, that we might have our food in due season, being nourished and enlivened in Him.

When Jesus tells His disciples in the twelfth chapter of Luke, that they should have their loins girded and their lamps burning, He is telling them that they should be about His work in the world.  Jesus tells them that the servants so at work when He returns, will be blessed, and that He will come in to them, and serve them, giving to them that food which is life everlasting.  But with this encouragement, is also an admonishment.  We are called to both be working, feeding the needs of the people given to our care, and to be watching for the Lord’s coming, because we do not know the hour of His return.  We are set at work by the Word of the Lord, to love God and our neighbor with perfect, heavenly, righteous, sacrificial love, and by faith to hear His Word, believe and trust it, and to watch for His return.  It is His calling to all, to remain in Faith, Hope, and Love, and to await His coming, no matter how long He may tarry.

This teaching of Jesus seems to unsettle His disciples, and they ask Him:  is this only for us, or do you speak it to all the people?  Jesus responds with the simplest of answers:  who shall I reward in the Kingdom of Heaven, giving authority to feed the people and provide to them the grace that meets their needs, except those I find so doing when I come?  It is simple, and elegant, and terrible all at once.  Who among us wants to be held in honor or prestige in heaven, or given a place of honor or authority in the Kingdom of God?  That one should be about the sacrificial, selfless, humiliating service of their neighbor in this world, giving to the people what they really need:  Jesus, the suffering and humiliated Son of God.  There is no place of honor or authority in God’s Kingdom, except that which is given by the Suffering Servant, who gives His life as a ransom for many.  The place of highest honor and authority in heaven and earth, is the Right Hand of the Father Almighty, where Jesus is seated, who will come again in glory to judge both the living and the dead.  If we are to be honored by the Son of God, then we must be at work as He has sent us, caring for our neighbors by a faith working in love, which sacrifices the self for the sake of the other.  From the highest ecclesiastical offices in the Church, to the humble hearth of a family home, the expectation is the same.  And to whom much has been given, much will be required.

And so we must ask ourselves, who are our neighbors?  How have we treated them?  Not just the ones we enjoy, but the ones who tax us, who hurt us, who wound us with their insensitivity and selfishness.  What have you done for the one who has slandered you, and despitefully used you?  What have you done for the one who spits upon you, beats you, abuses you, and leaves you weeping?  What have you done for the one who curses you, who threatens you, and speaks falsely against you?  Surely, it is easy to love those who love us, but even tax collectors and brigands do the same.  Jesus, however, loves even you.  He died for every one of those people who lied about Him, cursed Him, and sent Him scourged to die on a Cross.  He gave His life for you, whose sins nailed Him to the tree.  And for all those who wound you, He calls you, to serve them as He served them: to show them the means of their redemption and salvation, which is the grace of God in Christ Jesus.

As we embark upon a new year, we must hear the call of our Lord, to be faithfully at work, waiting for His return.  We hear Him call to us, that despite all our failings and evil, He has sought us out, and saved us by His grace, that we might live by faith in Him forever.  And through us, He calls to all the world, that He might by our hands, and by our mouths, give to the people their food in due season—the food which comes down from heaven, which if we eat of it we shall live forever, even Jesus Christ our Savior.

May your loins be girded, and your lamp burning, that the Lord may find you faithfully at work when He comes, tending to your neighbor with a love born of His love, and a faith born of Word and Spirit.  Amen.

He makes His works to be remembered: Meditation on Psalm 111

It seems to me a point not pondered enough, that we know what we know about God.  It is common in our age to be skeptical, and with a post-modern mindset, to doubt that we ever actually know anything well.  However, setting the self-delusional and prideful philosophies of skepticism and post-modernism aside, consider what it is that we have, regarding God, and how marvelous it is that we have it.

Regardless of how old you may think the earth and stars happen to be, I don’t think anyone doubts that human beings have been on this planet a long time.  And regardless of exactly how long you think people have been on this earth, I don’t think anyone doubts that these people have been leaving a written history of what they thought, did, and encountered, for over 4000 years.  Whether we trace the cultures of China, or Africa, or India, or the Middle East, or many others, we find written histories going back a very long way.  In these written histories, we find mention of verbal histories—stories—told by one generation to the next, preserving histories even before the advent of the written word.  And this shouldn’t really surprise us in our day, either.  We have voluminous written histories in our hands or at our finger tips, some pulled together or culled by modern historians from both ancient and modern accounts, which tell us of the Romans and the Greeks, of the Chinese emperors and the Mongols, of the Huns, Visigoths, and Vandals… and countless others.  And yet, for all our written histories, we also have storytellers, often in our own families, who regale us of tales unwritten, but of importance or significance in our family history.  Just like the ancients, we have in our time both written and oral histories, books and storytellers.

But books and storytellers can be inaccurate, or even lost.  How many tales of heroism and woe, from how many families, across time and distance, have been lost to the mists of history?  Do you know what your great-grandmother did when she was only 10, or your great-great-grandfather pondered when he was 32?  Most likely not, because the stories have been lost, and the storytellers have forgotten them.  But if your great-great-great-aunt happened to write down her wondrous and dangerous travels in a book, there’s a chance the story could be found again.  Of course, there’s also the very real chance, that this book is lost, destroyed, or buried somewhere, never to be found again.  Even if she engraved her story on the face of a stone tablet, years of rain and wind, war and plunder, could very easily see it lost or broken.  If you doubt the power of nature to wash away the words even written in stone, walk through an old cemetery, and see how many names you can still read from the fallen of the Civil War, or the American Revolution.  Left unprotected, many of these names are lost, washed even from the face of the stone marker placed there a mere 100, 150, 200 years or more ago.

Given the nature of stories and history, consider what a marvel it is, that we have God’s story with us to this day.  To be sure, we have many contrary accounts of who God is, and what He’s done—or what He intends to do yet in the future.  The Muslims have their writings, from the time of Muhammad, around the 7^th century AD, with his inspiration to conquer, enslave and subjugate the whole world under Muslim political and religious rule, still sending Jihadists and Taliban off to blow up cities, wage wars, and topple governments in our very day.  The Hindu Vedas, likely much older visions of ancient mystics and committed to writing somewhere around 300 BC, still inspire the culture of India, with its philosophy, polytheism and caste system.  The I Ching and Tao Te Ching, composed somewhere between 1000 and 400 BC, still have a great deal of influence on Chinese culture, with its divination, animism, and personal piety, even under the modern hands of the ruling Communist atheists.  Other religious stories and texts, from all over the world, with greater or lesser antiquity or authenticity, have shaped people’s understanding of God (or the gods, spirits, forces, etc.,) and the cultures within which they have lived.  And it is certainly true, that an honest appraisal of the stories or texts of Islam, cannot be made harmonious with the Hindu Vedas, or the Chinese Tao Te Ching, or other world religions’ stories about God.  In the end, if the stories conflict, some or most of them must be at fault, if any of them can be true.  And if so, how is one to understand who God actually is, what He has done, and what He intends yet to do?  How is one to sift the conflicting accounts?

While there are certainly other religious texts around the world, some purporting great antiquity, there is a religious text that is very different from the rest.  The Muslim Koran, with a text that dates within a century or so of their prophet, is a fairly recent revelation, dating back only to the 7^th century AD—and due to the actions of an early Muslim ruler, all the competing and confusing textual variants of the Koran in his day, were burned, leaving only a single text to attempt to understand the mind of Muhammad… a text that continues to drive bloody conflict, conquest, and enslavement.  The older Hindu and Chinese texts are written down long after the visionaries are said to have received them, putting centuries if not millennia between the original idea and its initial writing… and many questions that naturally arise, whether the final written form has proper continuity with the original (perhaps mythical) seer.  And bundled together, the religious texts of the world seem to describe a variety of paths to satisfy God, or gods, or spirits, or ancestors, or the universe in general, through human acts, sacrifices, or meditations.  Each of these ancient texts describes some way to appease, mediate, avoid, or employ the gods for the practitioner’s interests in this world or the next.  There is, however, one ancient account of God that is very different.

There is one, where the writing begins about 1500 BC with a fellow named Moses, to whom God comes to reveal Himself, His Name, what He has done, and what He is going to do.  While Moses, born of a Hebrew slave in Egypt, and yet raised in Pharaoh’s household, would likely have known the oral histories of his people (both Hebrew and Egyptian,) God doesn’t leave him to remember the details of Abraham 500 years before his time, or of the events going back to creation.  Rather than leaving Moses to wonder if he had the story right, God gives him the pertinent details down to his time, and leaves him with prophecies of things yet to be done, some nearer in time, and some further.  After Moses, this same God speaks to Joshua, to tribal leaders and Judges, to kings and prophets.  This same God, ratifying what He has said previously, demonstrating His power through miracles and wonders, and then pointing forward to what He will do in the future through prophesy, leaves a trail of witnesses to His one message, from the dawn of time down to Moses in the oral histories, and in written form—by the authors themselves—from 1500 BC through the first century AD.  Even if we might wonder about the content of the oral histories before Moses, God still ensured that we had a written record of His Words and deeds, His plans and His intentions, knit together over 1500 years of authors, times, and places.  And all along, from the beginning to our very day, His people have been carrying forth these writings, the story of our God’s wondrous deeds both past and yet to come, faithfully preserving the witness God has left us of Himself.

This unique, ancient, and prophetic witness is no accident.  God has always wanted people to know who He is, what He has done, what He will yet do, and what He has to say to the people of every time and place.  He has always wanted them to know where they came from, that though they are now fallen and broken, they were originally created good and pure.  He wants everyone to know, that He is not the one who broke us, but that it was our own pride, and the whispered lies of evil spirits, that lured us into rejecting Him, and by rejecting Him, to reject life itself.  He calls to all, so that all may know His great love for mankind, and all the world—that while we were yet broken, dying, rebellious and prideful monstrosities, He brought forth a plan to save us, not only from our own corruption, but from the wicked spirits which hold broken people enslaved.  He sends us the message of His Messiah, His very Son, who in the power of His Spirit, would be born of the Virgin at precisely the right time and place, that in His very Person, having united human nature with His own blessed divinity, He would die for the sins of the world, that all who would believe in Him, might live in Him, forgiven and free. 

From the words Moses records God having spoken to our first parents, when they fell in the Garden, regarding a Seed of the woman who would crush the head of the lying devil who led them into death and captivity, to the words Jesus spoke as He hung dying on the Cross so many centuries later, declaring the work of redemption finished, the united witness of God is one of hope and life.  He shows us His holiness through His Law, that we might know, in every day and age, how far we have fallen from His wondrous creation, and how greatly we need to be saved from our own broken depravity.  And through His Gospel, He shows us just how far He has gone, through time, space, and eternity, to rescue every last one of us, by His marvelous grace, through simple faith, in His blessed Son.  Here is the message that distinguishes the truth from the lie—not that God would give us a mysterious and dubious path to find or appease or manipulate Him—but rather, that He has done all things to seek and to save us.  The message that God has maintained for all times, peoples, and places, is that He alone is God, and He alone can rescue dying mankind, giving life and forgiveness in the place of the death and destruction we each have earned.

These are the wondrous deeds God has ensured will not be forgotten, in this or any age to come.  The work of salvation in His Son, proclaimed by the Church of God, clung to by all the faithful in His Word given through His Prophets and Apostles, is the Everlasting Gospel which shall ring throughout eternity.  By this Gospel, God the Father calls to you, that you might live in His Son through the power of His Spirit, forgiven and free to live out your faith in a love that reflects His endless and boundless Love.  And His wondrous works continue every day, giving new life by grace through faith to dead and dying sinners who hear and believe in Him, until that Last Day when all evil is eternally imprisoned and the saints of God shine forth with the brightness of the sun in His Kingdom.

This message, this history, this story of our God, has been preserved by His grace, for you—and for all those who will come after you.  This unique, ancient, present and future Word of God calls to you, that you may live in His love and grace forever, for this is His revealed will in Jesus Christ His Son.  Lies, deceptions, false prophesies and faulty human philosophies will come and go, but this Eternal Gospel of Jesus Christ—the Word of the Lord—shall endure forever.  Hear Him.  Believe, and live.  Amen.