Second Sunday after the Epiphany John 1:29-42

On the next day, he (John) sees Jesus coming to him and says,"Look, the Lamb of God, the One taking away the sin of the world. This is on behalf of Whom I myself said, `After me comes a man Who before me is come to be, because before me, He was'. And I, myself didn't understand Him, but in order that He be shown to Israel, through this I myself came in water baptizing." And John testified, saying that, "I saw the Spirit coming down like a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. And I, myself didn't understand Him, but the One Who sent me to baptize in water, That One said to me, `Upon whomever you see the Spirit coming down & remaining upon Him, This is the One baptizing in the Holy Spirit.' And I, myself have seen & have testified that This is the Son of God!"  On the next day again John was standing and two of his disciples and he looked at Jesus walking; he says, "Look, the Lamb of God!" And his two disciples heard him speaking and they followed Jesus. And having turned, Jesus also seeing them following says to them, "What are you seeking?" And they said to Him, "My Great One, (which is to say, when interpreted, `Teacher') where are you staying?" He says to them,"Come and you will see." Then they came and saw where He stayed and alongside Him they stayed that day; the hour was about the 10th. Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter was one of the two hearing from John and following Him; This one found first His own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah, (which is interpreted `Christ')."  He brought him to Jesus.

Why aren't more people Christians? Why are there so many empty pews here today? How can we get more people as members, involved in our church? These are all really questions about "evangelism". But the answers vary throughout Christendom. Some place the burden on the shoulders of those who should be seeking for Jesus. Others answer that it's a burden on the ones who are already church members. But in today's Gospel, the answers to evangelism center on the gospel-giver–Christ Jesus!

People aren't church-going Christians because they don't know Jesus. Oh, they probably know the basics about Him. But they don't know Him, just like John the Baptized didn't know Him at first. They don't understand Who Jesus is for them. They don't comprehend just what Jesus does for them, Even you would remain ignorant of the saving knowledge of the Christ if God didn't do something to help.

So God sends proclaimers like John to testify about Jesus and Who He is. He sends preachers like John to witness to the things Christ accomplishes. Once John comprehended just Who Jesus was, he told people! Every week God gathers you all here to here this testimony about Jesus, your Messiah, anointed to be your Savior. You hear the witness, week in and week out, of Jesus the Christ and all that He does to save you by giving His life as forfeit on the cross, so that by His death you now have life!

People aren't yet church-going believers because, they are looking for love in all the wrong places. They are searching, but not finding. Some look to be comforted in human relationships, others by a bottle, and still others search for answers within themselves, but never find them. They need help! Without God's direction, even U2 would be saying, "We still haven't found what we are looking for." .

But God has helped you! He has given you that gospel invitation, "Come and see!" God used someone to bring you to Jesus for the first time. For most of you, He was revealed to you as the Christ, showing Himself as your anointed Savior when you were baptized. Just like John baptized in water to reveal Jesus to people, so too have you been baptized so Jesus could reveal His saving love to you. You are baptized into Jesus' death and resurrection, by His Holy Spirit to make you His Own!

People aren't yet church-attending Christians because, quite frankly, they haven't really looked at Jesus as they should. Oh, perhaps they have considered Him once or twice, but they really haven't looked *to* Him for what He truly is for them. Maybe they prefer to look to themselves, or trust in the temporary things of this world, rather than looking to Jesus. But nothing else is as reliable as He is.
 
This is why John says, not once, but twice here, "Look, the Lamb of God!" Jesus is that Lamb of God Who was sacrificed for all people. Like the Lamb butchered on the day of Atonement in the Old Testament whose shed blood freed the people from their sins each year, Jesus has taken away the sins of the world! His body given to death on the cross and His blood shed for you at Calvary forgive you your sins, replacing them with His Own righteousness. You eat this body and drink His blood today in His Supper!

Amen.

Hymns from LSB:

734  I Trust Oh Lord your Holy Name   (Listen through the prelude. The hymn with stanzas will follow)
402  The Only Son of Heaven     (same again)
404  Jesus, Once with Sinners Numbered
534  Lord Enthroned in Heavenly Splendor  stanzas  music 

Advent 4 What's in a name? Matthew 1:18-25

And the genesis of Jesus, the Christ was so: His mother Mary, having been betrothed to Joseph, before their coming together, she was found having in womb of the Holy Spirit. And Joseph, her husband, was righteous and did not wish her to be disgracefully exposed, intended privately to divorce her. And having thought about these things, look, an angel of the Lord according to a dream appeared to him saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife; for the one begotten in her is out of the Holy Spirit. And she will bear a son, and you will call His name `Jesus'; for this One will save His people from their sins." And the whole of this happened in order that it be fulfilled, the thing spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, "Look, the virgin will have in the womb and will bear a son, and they will call his name, Immanuel" which is translated "with us, God". And Joseph, having risen from the sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded to him, and took along his wife and did not know her until she bore a son; and he called His name `Jesus'.

What's in a name? A rose by any other name would still smell the same, as Shakespeare reminds us. But sometimes a name is highly significant. It's very important for the Christ-child, because His name reveals to us just Who He is, and what He is to accomplish! Which is why, in our story today, the second person of the Trinity receives not one but two names. But before we get into the importance of these two names, we must first consider just Who this Christ-child is and how He came to be so...

Jesus obviously didn't come into this world in the normal fashion. He had a mother who became pregnant with him while still a virgin. She was "betrothed" and considered married to Joseph because the vows were in those days at the engagement, not at the marriage ceremony. But they hadn't come together yet. They didn't know one another in the biblical sense, so there was no way Joseph could be the father of this baby boy. So Joseph, an upright guy, wanted to divorce Mary quietly, shamefree.

Then God's angel comes to him in a dream to explain what has happened. Mary is pregnant, but not from a man. She became with child from the Holy Spirit! No human male was Jesus' father. God the Father was His daddy! This was very important, since human fathers passed on sin and death to their children, from generation to generation. But Jesus had no human father, so He was sin-free. He had no "old adam" in Him to give in to sinning like you have. Jesus had a pure and undefiled flesh!

That's precisely why the Christ is given the name "Jesus", because it means Savior. He is called Jesus because He has come to save His people from their sins. That includes you. The Christ-child was born sin-free to earn eternal life for you by his righteous obedience under God's Law. As a human, Jesus was made subject to keeping God's commandments, and he did it perfectly. He was the only one to live out His life on earth without sinning, thus being the only one worthy of life eternal.

   

But Jesus didn't come to save Himself, but to save His people from their sins. This is why He came in the likeness of sinful flesh, so that He could bear sin in His Own body. Not His Own sins, since He was perfect, but Jesus came to earth to bear your sins in His own flesh on the tree of Calvary. Jesus, Who knew no sins of His Own, made Himself incarnate to become your sins on the cross. He suffered the wages of your sin, dying your death to save you from being forsake by your heavenly Father.

   

Yes Jesus became man, in the flesh to take your sins and their punishment as His Own. For liars, Jesus became a liar. For those who lose their tempers, Jesus became a temper-loser. For thieves Jesus became a thief. For the unfaithful Jesus made Himself to be unfaithful. For gossips Jesus became a gossip. For the foul-mouthed Jesus became foul-mouthed. He died as the transgressor.

But the incarnate second Person of the Trinity isn't just given the human name of Jesus. He is also given another name: "Immanuel". This name is just as important for the Christ, because it is a divine name. It means "God–with us!" With this name, it is revealed to us just what is happening in Mary's womb. It's not just a human baby in there. It's fully God as well! As God, this Christ-child has the power to do what only God can, forgive sins, save souls, deliver from death and the devil, and bestow eternal life!

This Immanuel is God-with us now, and until the end of the age. The incarnate Jesus was with you at your baptism, washing your sins from you to Himself at Calvary. He is in His Word proclaimed, entering your ear as you hear that He has come to save you from your sins. He is in the bread and wine, giving you his ever-living body and life-giving blood for your forgiveness, life and salvation. Jesus is Immanuel, God-with you in the voice of your Pastor forgiving you absolutely when you confess.

Amen!

Hymns for today from LSB:

#341 Lift Up your Heads Ye Mighty Gates!

#357 O Come, O Come Emmanuel

#350 Come, Thou Precious Ransom

#355 O Savior Rend the heavens Wide

ADVENT I Matthew 21:1-11 "OK, So who moved Palm Sunday to December?"

And when they came near unto Jerusalem and came into Bethphage into the mountain of the Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples on a mission, saying to them, "You go into the village, the one across from you, and immediately you will find, tied, a donkey and a colt with her; having loosened, you lead to me. And if ever anyone to you may say anything, you will say that the Lord has need of them; and immediately he will send them on a mission. And this happened in order that the spoken word through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, "Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Look, your king comes to you, gentle and mounted upon a donkey, even upon a colt, a son of a beast of burden.'" And the disciples went, and did just as Jesus had instructed them; they brought the donkey and the colt and placed on them the garments, and He sat upon them. And much of the crowd spread their garments in the way, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading in the way. And the crowds, the ones going before Him, and the ones following after were saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed– the One coming in the Name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!" And He, having entered into Jerusalem all the city was shaken, saying, "Who is this?" And the crowd was saying, "This is the prophet Jesus, the one from Nazareth of the Galilee." 

Happy New Year!

"Um, Pastor. It's December 1st, not January 1st. You're a month early." But the church's new year begins today with Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem. "Pastor, you've got it wrong. That's Palm Sunday". But in the restored lectionary, it is returned to where it belongs, on the first day of the church year. For Advent means "arrival", and salvation arrived in Jerusalem.

So what does Jesus riding a donkey have to do with Advent, which focuses on Jesus' last day return? We must go back to the days of Israel's kings. On his deathbed, David instructed his son Solomon to ride into Jerusalem on his own royal steed. The man whose name meant "peace" entered the city for his coronation. This is a type of the Prince of Peace riding on a donkey to die as King of the Jews.

As Solomon's ancient ride foreshadowed Jesus' Palm Sunday, that day is also a type, prefiguring His return to earth on the last day to judge. As Jesus comes down in the clouds you are snatched up to meet Him in the air, to descend and remain with Him through the final judgment. As the citizens  went out to usher Jesus into the first Jerusalem, so too will you meet and follow Him to the New Jerusalem.

History repeats itself, and that's a good thing. As Nathan the prophet, Zadok the high priest, and the people gathered to welcome Solomon saying, "Long live King Solomon!", so the crowds met Jesus in His day with shouts of, "Hosanna in the highest!" Hosanna means "save us!". But you won't be making any such exclamations when Jesus returns on Judgment Day. For He is already raised to everlasting life. He has already saved you from sin, from death, and from the power of the devil.

You might shout as they did on Palm Sunday, "Blessed–the One coming in the Name of the Lord!" For Jesus is truly the blessed One, from whom all blessings flow. He has already blessed you with salvation, having redeemed you by His blood sacrifice at Calvary. He came to you not as a king of war, but one of peace. Meek, gentle, He came to offer Himself unto death for you, as His riding of a young donkey instead of a war-horse foretold. He is the lamb led to slaughter in silence, for you.

Jesus came once before as your salvation, into Jerusalem where He sacrificed His life to save you. He comes again in triumph at the last day to usher in His heavenly kingdom on earth–paradise restored. So don't get caught up in all the false rapture theories. Jesus isn't coming invisibly to snatch folks from behind the driver's seat of their car. That's nonsense. He who ascended once in the clouds comes back the same way He left to complete His as-of-yet unfinished kingdom of God.

This is why you pray, "Thy Kingdom Come." It has come to you, in your heart by grace thru faith. You have received the righteousness of Jesus in blessed exchange for your sin Jesus bore at Calvary. You have been washed clean in the waters of your baptism, nourished by Jesus' body and blood, and comforted by the gospel. Your spirit and soul are saved, but your body of flesh still may taste death.

Yet your salvation is nearer  than when you first believed, because as each day passes, the last day looms closer. On that day, the Spirit will raise all flesh, and your body will be made glorious as Jesus' Own body is! When Jesus returns your body, soul, mind and spirit will all be saved, and the Kingdom of God will be complete! For this we pray, Blessed–the One Who comes in the name of the Lord! Amen.

.Hymns from LSB:

#335  O Bride of Christ, Rejoice  stanzas  music
#332  Savior of the Nations Come stanzas  music
#516  Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying!
#331  The Advent of our King