This is My Beloved Son: A Meditation on Luke 9, for the Sunday of the Transfiguration

And it came to pass about eight days after these

sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into

a mountain to pray.  And as he prayed, the fashion of

his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white

and glistering.  And, behold, there talked with him

two men, which were Moses and Elias: Who

appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should

accomplish at Jerusalem. But Peter and they that

were with him were heavy with sleep: and when they were

awake, they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with

him.  And it came to pass, as they departed from him,

Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here:

and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for

Moses, and one for Elias: not knowing what he said.

While he thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed

them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud.

And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying,

This is my beloved Son: hear him.

And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone.

The feast of the Transfiguration marks a transition from the light and joy of Christmas and Epiphany, to the Lenten walk toward the Cross.  At this literal mountain top experience, Jesus’ disciples are given a vision which would sustain them through a coming time of great darkness and fear.  While Jesus did not need the confirmation of this vision to accomplish the work He was pressing toward at Calvary, He knew His disciples did.

And what specifically did His disciples learn from this vision?  It is interesting to note first that Jesus did not invite all His disciples to the mountain—only the chief disciples, who were Peter, John, and James.  After previously teaching His disciples not to wrangle and bicker about who was to be greatest in the kingdom of God, Jesus does in fact establish order among His followers—an order of service and sacrifice which would continue even after His earthly ministry was complete.  Peter, James, and John would receive this special revelation so as to strengthen both themselves and their brethren, and not to become lords over them.

And what did they see?  Jesus was transformed in their sight to reveal His divine glory, and was conversing with both Elijah and Moses about the work of the Vicarious Atonement He was heading toward.  Both Moses and Elijah were in fact alive and in God’s fellowship in heaven, still actively aware of what was transpiring on earth, and in full cooperation with Jesus’ mission to save the world from sin, death, hell, and the power of the devil.  The disciples see that there is no division between Moses (the great law-giver and author of the Pentateuch,) and Elijah (the great prophet who conquered during the great contest with the prophets of Baal and was eventually swept up to heaven in a fiery chariot.)  Rather, Moses and Elijah (the living icons of both the Law and the Prophets) point to Jesus.  While Moses and Elijah shine with heavenly glory, it is a lesser glory reflecting the great and undiminished glory of Jesus.

Confused, Peter tries to establish equity between Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, by proposing booths to revere them all.  God the Father corrects Peter by taking Moses and Elijah back to heaven, and leaving only Jesus in their sight, while declaring:  This is My beloved Son, hear Him!  For all the glory of the heavenly host, from the holy angels to the saints and martyrs, prophets and apostles, there is still only one voice we should cling to:  Jesus Christ.  True prophets all point to Jesus; true apostles are all sent by Jesus to point others to Jesus; true saints live by grace through faith in Jesus; true martyrs confess Jesus through suffering even unto death; true angels bear the Word of Jesus, and work according to His will in heaven and earth.  In all of Holy Scripture, and the entire history of the people of God from the Creation to the Last Day, Jesus is the center and summit of everything.

This is true, because only Jesus is fully God and fully man, uniting in His one indivisible Person the Most Holy Trinity with the whole human race.  Only Jesus, fully God from before the beginning of time, and yet born of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a particular time and place, could be nailed to the Cross in both His natures to satisfy the just wrath of a holy God against a sinful and fallen world.  Only Jesus could bear the eternal punishment of every wicked soul that would ever walk the face of the earth, and rise again victorious on the third day.  Only Jesus could posses all authority in heaven and earth to preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins to the whole creation, and to give that authority to His Apostles and their pastoral successors in every generation of the Church.  Only Jesus’ Word could make the demons flee, storm the gates of hell and death, granting eternal life to all who would repent and believe His Holy Gospel.  Only Jesus would ascend into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, until the time was fulfilled for Him to return and judge the living and the dead.  Only Jesus could be the true vine into whom all who would be grafted by grace through faith would live forever.  Only Jesus could be the way, the truth, and the life for all people of every tribe and tongue.  Only Jesus.

For all the glitter and glamour of our times; all the distractions of electronics or drugs or sex; for all the vanities of celebrity and political theater; for all the pomp and tradition of church and state; for all the suffering and death of broken families and broken nations; for all the false prophets and wicked deceivers both inside and outside the Church; for all the misguided hopes and aspirations of sinful people; for all the clutter and confusion and distraction of this fallen world, there is still only one focus given for all to see, hear, believe, and live:  Only Jesus.  Hear the Word of God pierce your own cloud of confusion, pride, sorrow, or despair:  This is My beloved Son, hear Him!  For He comes to seek and to save you, and give you what He knows you need to walk the path before you.  Amen.

The Greatest of Gifts: A Meditation on 1st Corinthians 13, for the 4th Sunday after Epiphany

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of

angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding

brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the

gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all

knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could

remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing.

 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the

poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have

not love, it profiteth me nothing…

And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three;

 but the greatest of these is love.

Depending on the Christian tradition in which we received the faith, it may be easier or harder to ignore the gifts of the Holy Spirit within Christ’s Church.  St. Paul begins in chapter 12 of his first epistle to the church at Corinth, by describing a certain order or priority of gifts within the Church at large:  And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.  Each of these have their proper place, and provide for the people of God a continuing benefit as we sojourn through this world as the Church Militant.  The words of the Apostles and Prophets are set down for us in Holy Scripture, helping the Church measure any new proclamation of Apostolic or Prophetic authority.  Those who are well formed in the Apostolic and Prophetic Scriptures are ordained into offices of teaching, so that they might faithfully teach others the Word of the Lord, passing the faith from one generation to the next.  Some servants in the Church throughout her history God has used to work miracles and healings, which bolster the faith of His people in His Word.  Through others, God has accomplished works of service, of government or leadership, and even the ability to speak in new languages, so that His saving Word might be proclaimed to the ends of the earth.

These gifts are all good, as they remain in their proper order, and remain servants of the Word of God.  In so far as each of these great gifts continue to point people to Christ through faith and repentance, that they might receive His free gift of grace unto eternal life, they are to be applauded and even sought after.  Wherever God places such gifts within His Holy Church, we ought to give Him thanks for such blessings, and resist the Rationalism of our age that tends to dismiss the miraculous works of God.  It is important, however, to remember that these gifts of themselves do not save anyone—not even the one through whom they are worked.  St. Paul was not saved because he was an Apostle, anymore than Moses was saved because he was a Prophet. No pastor or teacher or miracle worker in any age is saved because of their gifts, anymore than they can save anyone else through their gifts.  No administrator, or bureaucrat, or social justice advocate, or speaker of strange tongues saves themselves, either.  Rather, each of these is saved solely by grace through faith in Christ alone, and in this grace of Christ raised up to do the works of faith Christ gives to each one by His Holy Spirit.  Wonders, miracles, services, and offices do not save—only the Blood of Christ, which is the font of every grace in the Church.

And so St. Paul continues to teach the people of Corinth about greater, abiding gifts which Christ gives to His Church:  Faith, Hope, and Love.  While all the offices and miracles of the Church will come to an end, these three abide forever.  The Prophets and Apostles will one day have nothing left to prophesy or be sent out to witness; the teachers and pastors will one day have nothing left to teach and no one left to tend in Christ’s stead; the miracle workers, healers, and social servants will one day have no one left in need of such care; the administrators and bureaucrats will one day have nothing which needs their administration; the speakers of strange tongues will one day have none who need such communication.  One bright day, known only to God, when the promise of His Kingdom is fulfilled and we dwell together with Jesus face to face, all the shadows and partialities of this fallen world will themselves fall away, leaving us in that perfect communion with the Holy Trinity we were always created to have.  There, in that perfected fellowship, St. Paul tells us that we will know even as we are known, and the sufferings of this world will forever pass away.

But unto ages of ages, our faith which trusts the Word of God unto eternal life endures; our hope which rests on the promises of God, rests forever fulfilled; and our love, which is the reflection of God’s love for us in Jesus Christ, binds us together in perfect harmony and peace.  These three great gifts of God abide forever, and St. Paul teaches us that the greatest of them all, is love.  What does this mean?

It means despite their protestations to the contrary, the Church does not belong to the Theologians, who may be better or worse teachers of Apostolic doctrine.  It does not belong to modern day prophets or apostles who think they see what others cannot.  It does not belong to pastors, who may be better or worse under-shepherds to the true and only Good Shepherd in whose Office they minister. It does not belong to the servants of mercy and mission, with all their hospitals, schools, and shelters, and all their divinely reflected compassion to the poor.  It does not belong to the workers of miracles, through whom flow the power of the Holy Spirit to the wonder of all.  It does not belong to the speakers of strange tongues, though their gifts bring the Gospel to every nation and tribe.  It does not belong to the administrators and bureaucrats, who serve either better or worse for the benefit of their larger organizations.  It does not belong to book stores, to publishing houses, to governments, to committees and conferences and task forces.  The Church belongs to God, who Himself is love.

The Father of love, who brought the universe into existence, and sustains it according to His own gracious will; the Son of love, who gives Himself as a ransom to save His fallen creation from sin, death, hell, and the power of the devil; the Spirit of love, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, enlivening and sanctifying the whole household of faith unto everlasting life;  to this Most Holy Trinity does the Church belong, because it is He who has created it, redeemed it, and sanctified it by His grace.  In this One Holy Church, the very Bride of Jesus Christ, we see the love of God poured out for the salvation of the world.  Never ending divine love is the beginning, the middle, and the consummation of His Church for all who will repent and believe His saving Gospel.

What St. Paul is trying to teach the people of Corinth, and the people of our day, is that while God gives to His people an infinite variety of gifts, each and every one of those lesser gifts is ordered relative to His greatest gift of divine love… for without His love, each and every other gift He provides becomes dark, twisted, and evil.  His love for us is the source of all His gifts, which are all given for the purpose of moving us into the fellowship of His redeeming love in Jesus Christ.  What does this love of God look like?

Love suffereth long, and is kind;

love envieth not;

Love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own,

is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;  

Rejoiceth not in iniquity,

But rejoiceth in the truth;  

Beareth all things, believeth all things,

hopeth all things, endureth all things.  

Love never faileth.

In short, it looks like Jesus.  It looks like the Vicarious Atonement of the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the whole world.  It looks like the Word of Jesus’ Gospel which comes to you, calling you away from all the empty vanities of an evil and self-absorbed life, that you might be embraced forever in His forgiveness, life, and salvation.  It looks like the various gifts He offers to you by His Holy Spirit, that you might live out His love toward your neighbor in need.  It looks like His unbreakable promise to wash you in Holy Baptism, to feed you in His Holy Supper, to forgive you through His Holy Absolution, to shepherd you through the valley of the shadow of death, and to raise you again on the last day.  It is a love which crashes through all eternity to meet you right where you are today, calling you into the blessed fellowship of His everlasting life.  It is a love which the gates of hell cannot withstand, and before which death and the devil flee away.  Behold this love of God in Christ Jesus:  hear Him, believe, and live.  Amen.

When the Light is Unwelcome: A Meditation on Luke 4, for the third Sunday after Epiphany

Verily I say unto you,

No prophet is accepted in his own country.

One might think that Jesus' return to His home town of Nazareth would be a welcome and joyous event.  While it must be true that Jesus cloaked His divinity in His humanity as a child, it must also be true that growing up along side Jesus in the same community would be a remarkable thing.  We are reminded by the Apostles that Jesus was human in every way we are, except without sin-- and can you imagine what it would be like to grow up alongside a child that never sinned?  Not the kind of false piety or saccharin sweetness that might mark a very self righteous family, nor the blatant disregard for the holy found in self absorbed families, but an honest integrity that never erred in thought, word, or deed.  This is hard for us to imagine, because we've never experienced anything like it.  The people of Nazareth, however, did.

Now that Jesus was grown (roughly 30 years old) and entered into the ministry for which the Father sent Him, news of His teachings and works throughout the countryside were trickling back into Nazareth.  When Jesus Himself returned, He went to the synagogue as would be expected, and starting from the Word of God began teaching the people why He had come.  From the prophet Isaiah, He read:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

Because He hah anointed me

To preach the Gospel to the poor;

He hath sent me to heal the broken hearted,

To preach deliverance to the captives,

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set at liberty them that are bruised,

To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

When Jesus told them that in that very day, this scripture was fulfilled in their hearing, He was opening their eyes to the reality of who He was, and why He had come.  Unwilling to receive Him and His message, the people however demanded that He do parlor tricks for them-- they wanted to see signs and wonders, even though Jesus knew it would not help them in their unbelief and rejection of His Word.  When Jesus refused, they tried to throw Him off a cliff.

The world really isn't so different today than it was then.  Jesus is still at work in the world through His Word and Spirit, raising up dead sinners to everlasting life by grace through faith in Him.  He is still healing the broken hearted and setting the captives free through His gift of the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation He won for the world through His cross.  He is still searching out the poor, the bruised, and the oppressed, preaching to them the acceptable year of the Lord.  Jesus is still at work in the world through His holy church, where His Word is clung to in faith, and His sacraments are administered according to His own institution; where His Law drives people to repentance in godly sorrow over their sins, and where His Gospel grants joyful eternal life by His grace; where His Baptism washes and unites lost sinners to His life, death, and resurrection; where His Supper feeds them on His own Body and Blood, given for the forgiveness of their sins; where His Absolution is declared by His pastors to His people, that those who have fallen into sin might rise forgiven yet again, restored in faith and repentance.

Of course, the places where Jesus is at work according to His own established means of Word and Sacrament, are often the most ridiculed, harassed, or ignored of communities.  Endless are the scoffers both inside and outside the visible church-- those who establish their own words in place of Christ's Word, and their own rites in place of Christ's Sacraments.  Some of these self righteous communities even strike out in anger against the humble fellowships of Bible believing Christians, demanding of them signs and wonders that they might also believe.  And like it was back in Jesus' time, the self righteous and willfully unbelieving will not be brought to faith, even if they were to see a man rise from the dead.  Such is not a failure of the power of the Gospel or the love of God in Christ Jesus, but rather the awful consequence of a free will bent on despising the only saving Lord.

For the faithful today, we should not be surprised when the light of Jesus' Word is rejected, even in the most violent of ways, from inside and outside the church.  The faith which clings to Christ in and by His Word is a gift of the Holy Spirit, which no man can take for himself, but which every man is free to reject.  Since saving faith is a gift offered to all by Jesus through His Word, we abide in the hope that everyone may repent, believe, and live... even as we know that not everyone will, by their own willful rejection of the light.  For some unfathomable reason, there will always be people who prefer the darkness of their sins, even with the death which creeps so inexorably toward them, to the saving light and life of Jesus.  There will always be those who love their titles and their bureaucracies, their power and their prestige, their pride and avarice and covetousness, more than they love God.  Our task is not to condemn such poor creatures, but rather in pity and love to pray for them-- for such were we, before the light of Christ enlivened us.

If today finds you outside the light of Christ, hear His Spirit calling you through His Word to eternal life, to repentance and the forgiveness of sins which He alone can offer by His grace.  If today finds you alive in the light of Christ, give thanks for the salvation He has won for you, and the faith which clings to His life giving Word-- and pray for those who would rather cast you off a cliff than hear the saving Word of Christ which you bear.  For as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, salvation is only and always the free gift of grace through faith in Christ alone... a gift no one is worthy to receive nor able seize by his own power, but the only gift so freely given which every person in every place so desperately needs.

Thanks be to God, for the inextinguishable Light of His saving Word!  Amen.

A Diversity of Gifts from One Spirit: A Meditation on 1st Corinthians 12, for the Second Sunday after Epiphany

A Diversity of Gifts from One Spirit: A Meditation on 1^st Corinthians 12, for the Second Sunday after Epiphany

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would

not have you ignorant. Ye know that ye were

Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye

were led.  Wherefore I give you to understand, that

no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus

accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord,

but by the Holy Ghost.  Now there are diversities of

gifts, but the same Spirit.  And there are differences

of administrations, but the same Lord.  And there are

diversities of operations, but it is the same God which

worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit

is given to every man to profit withal.

Among the many issues the church at Corinth struggled with, was discerning true disciples of Jesus from false ones.  As it is today, so it was then, that many false teachers, false prophets, and even false miracle workers infiltrated the church, leading many astray into various dangerous heresies.  How were the Christians at Corinth to determine which prophet was correct and which one was lying?  If conflict emerged between divergent teachers, how were the Christians at Corinth to settle the dispute?  Furthermore, how was the church at Corinth to distinguish between the necessary boundaries of fellowship in the church at large; i.e., who was inside and who was outside the true Church of Jesus Christ?

If these questions sound familiar, they should.  No period of time in the history of the Church has been without this conundrum, and at various times and places the Church has done a better or worse job of answering it.  In the Church today, we have teachers and preachers of every shade imaginable, filling book stores with their contradictory variations and speculations on what they understand the truth to be.  There are those who claim prophetic insight and visions of the future, and those who claim various miraculous powers.  Often local congregations are stuck right were St. Paul found the Corinthians, with factions starting over all the wrong things, while the necessary things were hidden or discarded.  The church today, in our time and place, can learn a great deal from how Paul guided the Christians at Corinth.

First, St. Paul addresses the church at Corinth in his Apostolic authority.  In the mix of all the craziness and confusion, the inspired voice of the Apostles (who themselves also reference the Prophets of the Old Testament) settled things down.  It was Jesus who told His Apostles that He and His Word were the measure of all things (the fullness of the Law and the salvation of His Gospel) and Jesus who sent His Apostles out in the power of the Holy Spirit to bear witness to Him.  In all the confusion, all the contradictory voices, and all the miraculous occurrences, Jesus and His Word was to be the final arbiter… a Word set down by His Apostles and Prophets, canonized as Holy Scripture in the Church, and passed on to each successive generation down to our day.

Upon that Apostolic authority given by Jesus, Paul teaches the Corinthian Christians where the boundaries are.  No one curses Christ (rejects Him and His Word in unbelief) by the Holy Spirit, and no one declares Jesus as Lord (receiving Him and His Word by living faith) apart from the Holy Spirit.  Thus the boundaries of Christian fellowship (who’s inside the church, and who’s outside the church) are entirely established by Jesus and His Word; those who abide by His Word in living faith are inside the saving ark of the church, and those who reject His Word in unbelief are outside the church.

That simple distinction brings focus to all the cacophony of various teachers, prophets, visionaries, and miracle workers.  Those who abide by faith in the Word of Christ as testified by the Prophets and Apostles are of His church, and those who do not are not of His church.  Thus, when we encounter teachers, prophets, visionaries, and miracle workers who contradict the Word of Christ, we put them out of the fellowship (excommunication) until they repent and return to faith in Christ and His Word.  Conversely, when we encounter teachers, prophets, visionaries, and miracle workers who abide in the Word of Christ by faith, we know them to be of one body and fellowship with the whole household of faith, whose gifts are given for the benefit of all; i.e., since Jesus is undivided, so too is His Body the Church, united by His One Holy Spirit in His Holy Word, to the glory of His One Father.  The Father, the Son (who is the Word), and the Holy Spirit are One God, indivisible forever, and so too is the Church which is called into existence by Him, and sustained by eternally by His grace.

In this season of Epiphany, Christ’s teaching through St. Paul opens our eyes to who we really are, and who are our real brothers and sisters in the church.  The classifications people like to add which cause separation in the Body of Christ for matters unrelated to His Word are false and harmful to the unity which Jesus bestows upon His people by His Spirit, and have historically born the odious labels of “sectarian” or “schismatic.”  Likewise, the titles and denominational names broadly used are meaningless to those under them, if the Word of Christ is rejected in unbelief; i.e., presumptuous titles of “universal” or “catholic” or “ecumenical” or “protestant” benefits no one, if in reality the Word of Christ is rejected.

As individuals, in the light of Christ and His Word, we are called anew by His Holy Spirit to examine ourselves, returning to the fellowship of His One Holy Church through faith and repentance under His Law and Gospel.  And, as we live together in the true Christian fellowship created by the Holy Spirit in and through the Word of Christ, He calls us to recognize the real and enduring bonds which unite the whole church on earth and in heaven.  This call of Christ in and through His Word refuses to settle for sectarian divisions of His body, or false declarations of ecumenical unity apart from His Word.  But what the Lord speaks by His Word, He is faithful to create through His Word:  one fellowship, one body, one Church, united forever in the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation He won for us upon His Holy Cross.  Hear His Word calling you into His blessed and eternal communion—and see through Him and His Word the innumerable throng which is bound together to you by grace through faith in Christ alone.  Amen.