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 

Christmas Day John 1:1-14

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was toward God, and God was the Word. This One was in the beginning toward God. All things through Him came to be, and without Him came to be not one thing which came to be; In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind; and the Light in the darkness shines and the darkness did not overtake it.   There came to be a human, sent on a mission from God, whose name--John. This one came for a witness, in order that he might witness concerning the Light, that all might believe through him. That one was not the Light, but that He might witness concerning the Light. The Light, the genuine one, which enlightens all mankind was coming into the world.  He was in the world, and the world through Him came to be, yet the world did not know Him. To His Own He came, and those who were His Own did not receive Him. But as many as did receive Him, He gave to them authority to become God's children, to those who believe into His Name. Ones, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but out of God were born!  And the Word came to be flesh and tabernacled in us, and we saw his glory, glory as the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
 
My very first day of confirmation class in 1978, Pastor Ginter wrote these words on the chalkboard. As a good student, I copied them down into my notebook, but I didn't have the foggiest notion what they meant. "In the beginning was the Word..." OK. But what word? Was it a single word or a whole sentence?  It must be a special word, since everything that exists came to be through this amazing word. And how exactly  was the word "light"? Was it on one of those newfangled computer screens? I was clueless.
 
It wasn't until the very end of the class, and hour and a half later that it finally began to click for me. The word became flesh and was with us on the earth. Folks saw this word's glory, begotten from His Father. I started to "get it". This mysterious Word was actually the Son of God–Jesus! Ever since that day, I haven't read the word "word" in the scriptures the same way. Now I see "Word" and always think "Jesus".
 
If you look on the front cover of your bulletin for today, the Greek "O Logos" is printed there. It means "The Word". Jesus is this word made flesh. He is God "incarnate". This incarnation is not about Americans driving down the interstate, but it is about the Word becoming flesh. Like meat-eaters are called "carnivores", Jesus is in-carn-ate, meaning to have meat on His bones–flesh. The Word by Whom God created everything, like when He said "Let there be light", had come down to the earth, in the flesh.
 
Now I know this is a bit of a challenge. Many of us hear "Word of God" and instantly think "The bible". While the bible is the book of God's words plural, the singular Word of God is always Jesus the Christ.  The words of God in scripture can only enlighten you because they are about the Word of God–Jesus. The words of holy writ can only bestow you life eternal because Jesus, the Word is your life!
 
The only reason that you recognize Jesus as the Word of life for you is because He has enlightened you to believe it. Many in the world remain in darkness, by their own choice. The temptations abound to think that you don't need Jesus, because you feel like you are already pretty good on your own. You have earthly parents, so why would you need a heavenly Father too? You've already been born into this world, so why should you want to be born another time to a heavenly life in the world to come?
 
People who think that they are already pretty enlightened folks are deceiving themselves. There is only one true, genuine light that can actually enlighten you. That light is Jesus! No matter how smart you think you are, no matter how high your IQ, no matter how much you have learned, no matter how well read you consider yourself to be, you remain in utter darkness without Jesus. But those who believe, receive Him and come to know Him as He is. The Word of God Who enlightens and gives life to all mankind!
 
You have been reborn, of water and the Word, Who is Jesus! Born anew in your baptism, you are raised up to new life in Jesus' Own resurrection. By this gift of God, He has given you special authority as children of your heavenly Father. Because of the Son of God–Jesus, Who died for you on the cross, you become a son of God. You believe in His name, the name into which you have been baptized!
 
But not only has the Word of God–Jesus, come to you to bring you into His heavenly Father's family through your baptism, but He also comes to you incarnate this day–in the flesh. Yes, the flesh and blood Jesus comes to you this Christmas morn to feed you from His feeding trough manger. He gives you His incarnate body to eat, and His blood to drink in the Lord's Supper. His flesh tabernacles in you today!

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

Proper 19 1 Timothy 1:12-17

I myself am gracious to the One Who has empowered me–Christ Jesus, our Lord, that faithful, He regards me, established into service; the one before being the blasphemer and a persecutor and an arrogant one; but I was mercied because of ignorance I acted in unbelief; yet the grace of our Lord over-swelled with faith and God's love–the one in Christ Jesus. Faithful-the word, and worthy of all approval, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of which I myself am the first. But through this I was mercied, so that in me, first, Christ Jesus might show the whole patience, the prototype of those about to believe upon Him unto life eternal. And in the King of the ages, undying, invisible, only God, honor and glory into the ages of ages. Amen.  

The great St. Paul wasn't always so great. Nor was he regarded as a saint. Nor did he even go by the name of Paul. Known by His Jewish name of Saul, he was a prominent pharisee, as upright as any Jew could be, even to the point of persecuting that new sect of Jesus-followers called Christians. He spoke against this so called "Christ", and was given great authority to attack Christians, imprisoning some and having others put to death. He even approved of the stoning of St. Stephen. He was lost.

So how did this poor lost soul known as Saul, ungreat, and unsaintly though he was, become the great St. Paul? Jesus had to come and find him, that's how. On his way to persecute the Christian church in Damascus was where Jesus found him. Jesus stopped Saul in his tracks, blinded Him with a light, wrapping him up like a deuce. Then, when he followed Jesus' instructions to go to Ananias' house, he was baptized, regained his sight, and began using his Roman name of Paul to serve Jesus.

You are not unlike Saul because you too have been arrogant just as he was. You've acted selfishly and stubbornly in your own name. You've done what you alone have wanted to do, not caring what God desires. You have spun things in your own favor to place yourself in better light, even when it casts a shadow on your neighbor's reputation. You have acted as though you mattered most.

You are not unlike Saul aka Paul. For just as He was baptized and began using a new name, you too have been baptized. But not in your church's name, or in your pastor's name, or even in your own name, but in the Name of Father, Son and Holy Ghost. God has given you His Own name at your baptism, making you His very Own dear child. You are adopted into God's household at your baptism, receiving God's Own family name as your own. Your home now is in His heavenly mansion, forever..

You are not so very different from Saul in that your actions have been anything but holy at times. As Saul has blasphemed against Jesus, your words have taken His name in vain, and have dishonored your Savior. As Saul persecuted the Church, so have you misled believers by your wrong-headed opinions and your attempts to mislead others away from how you know Christians are to behave.

Yet you are just like Saul/Paul in that you are declared to be holy despite your unholy thoughts, words and actions. This is because Jesus died on the cross for you just as much as He did for St. Paul. Jesus proclaims that you are forgiven of all your unholy sins, and that He has exchanged them for His Own holy righteousness from the cross of Calvary. His strong word has bespoken you "righteous", so that like St. Paul, you can be called a saint, shining bright with the glory of Jesus' Own holiness as your own!

You aren't dissimilar from Saul who sinned in his great ignorance. You too are ignorant when you act apart from your God-given faith. You wrongly assume it isn't so bad to take the first misstep of a transgression. Then you figure, it isn't so bad if you take just a couple more steps into Satan's dangerous territory as you keep trespassing there. But then you are stuck in sin, dreadfully lost.

But you are very much in the same boat as the great St. Paul, who was found by Jesus when he needed saving the most. Jesus has found you as your Good Shepherd as well, bringing you to the green pastures of the Lord's Supper, where He feeds you with His body given, and gives you to drink of His shed blood for the forgiveness of your sins. He mercied you there just as He once mercied the great St. Paul. Your greatness now is in Christ Jesus, the Word Who dwells in you richly.

So, just as the great St. Paul once was lost, but then was found by Jesus, you too were once lost in your trespasses and sins; but Christ found you and has returned you to His holy sheep-fold. Paul is a prototype of your own salvation, for just as Jesus mercied Him, so has He likewise mercied you! This Word is faithful: Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Through this you are mercied!

Amen.

hymns this week from LSB:
#707  Oh That the Lord would Guide my Ways
#609  Jesus Sinners Doth Receive   stanzas   music
#611  Chief of Sinners though I Be

Proper 15 Epistle

In faith Abraham offered Isaac, being tested, and the only begotten he offered, the one having received promises, to whom it was spoken that in Isaac your seed will be called, considering that even out of dead ones God was able to raise, from which him also in a parable he received...And these all having been witnesses through the faith did not receive the promise; God, concerning us, a better thing He foresaw, in order that not apart from us they be perfectly-completed. For this reason also we, being enveloped in so large a cloud of witnesses, may we lay aside all impediments and the constricting sin, through perseverance we run the contest before us, we fix our gaze unto the Beginner and Completer of the faith–Jesus, Who on behalf of the joy He was devoted to, endured a cross, a disgrace he despised, and on the right of the throne of God He has been seated. For you consider the One enduring such a hostility by the sinners into Himself, in order that your souls not become weary (or) give out.    

A rookie ball player is called up to the majors, taking his first at bat. He is baptized by fire. A young marine is deployed into a war theater, facing his first tastes of battle. He is baptized by fire. A newbie volunteer fire-fighter responds to her very first call. She is baptized by fire, but hopefully not literally. Being baptized by fire is not an easy thing. It's dangerous, dreadful and sometimes deadly. You don't want to be baptized by fire, if you can help it. But one person couldn't help it. His name was Jesus!

You see, Jesus' baptism was quite different from yours. Oh, it looked similar when Jesus was in the Jordan river with John. But your baptisms was to wash your sins off of you. Jesus' wasn't. His was a baptism by fire. Fire is a symbol in the bible of God's judgment. Where you and I are cleansed from our unrighteousness in baptism, Jesus wasn't. Quite the opposite. Jesus came to embrace sin and death. Jesus was so devoted to the joy of your salvation that He willingly endured the cross for you.

Not just for you, but for everyone. Jesus endured His baptism by fire at the cross for all people of all times and; places. Your Savior received God's fiery judgment against your sins nailed to Himself, and also Abraham's sins Christ bore in His body on the tree. All the guilt, shame, and; disgrace of every single sin of mankind Jesus became at Calvary. It wasn't a shame Jesus liked. He despised it. Yet He was willing to endure it for your sake, and for the  whole world. He's baptized by fire, for you.

With such an awesome thing that Jesus was willing to do for you and all people, you'd think everyone would look to Him with awe and wonder. But people don't. Sometimes you don't. You consider Jesus on Sunday, then He's out of your mind by Tuesday. Or sometimes even by the time you get to the church parking lot. Your consideration for Jesus and what He does for you is often lacking.

Abraham, by faith, considered God's promises, trusting beyond all logic as God told Him to kill his only son Isaac, through whose line the Savior Jesus was promised. Abraham would have done it, trusting that God who gives life could restore it to Isaac in resurrection. You are given to consider God and His promises in the same way. You are to consider Jesus who took Isaac's place in death, and your place as well on the cross. You consider the only-begotten Son of God baptized by fire for you.

With such a great cloud of faith-filled witnesses in the bible, you ought to be just as faith-focused as they were. But often you aren't. Your gaze drifts away from Jesus who bore your sins on the cross, and instead you find your eyes fixed on your favorite sinful habits. You gossip, waste money, indulge your whims and act selfishly until your sins become impediments to your Christian walk, ensnaring you.

Yet Jesus remains there for you, at the right hand of God's throne. This is not a location, but a power. God's mighty right hand comes down to wash you in your baptism, to mark you with the sign of the cross in Holy Absolution, and to feed you with His body and blood at Communion. Jesus, by the power of His Spirit re-fixes your gaze to Himself, and where He promises to be for you in His Word and in His sacraments. For there Jesus promises to be to forgive you, save you, and give you life forever.

So when life's race becomes rough making you feel you are being baptized by fire, there is no reason for you to despair or grow weary. For your Savior has already been baptized by fire in your place at the cross. For in Christ Jesus there you are perfectly completed. Your faith in Christ a gift He both authors and finishes for you, keeping you in the true faith unto your life everlasting. He likewise does everything by His grace for you, announcing it from the cross, "It is finished!" to you, Abraham, and all.

Proper 7 Galatians 3:23- 4:7

For before faith was to come, by the Law we were guarded, confined into the faith about to be revealed, so the Law came to be our child-leader into Christ, so that out of faith we be justified. And the faith, having come, we are no longer under a child-leader. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many as into Christ are baptized are wearing Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, there is not male and female; for all of you are in Christ Jesus. And if you are of Christ, then the seed of Abraham you are, according to promise–heirs! And I say, for the length of time an heir is a child, he doesn't differ from a slave, being lord of all, but he is under guardians and house-managers until the time set of the father. So also we, while we were children, under the elements of the world we were enslaved. And when the fulfillment of time came, God sent out on a mission His Son, begotten of woman, becoming under the Law, so that the ones under the Law He may redeem, so that as sons we may be taken from it. And because you are sons, God sent out on a mission the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying, "Daddy, Father!". Consequently, you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, also an heir, through God..  

Many moons ago when I was in college, our Synod came out with a CTCR document called "Women in the church" (1985). It was hotly debated in that day, with some upset that it didn't allow for women pastors. Those who argued for women pastors cited the passage, "there is no longer male and female", as if that were the last word to be had in the matter. But it wasn't, of course. In fact, it wasn't even the last point St. Paul is inspired to make on the topic in our epistle for today. For all in Christ are Sons!

Oddly, after telling the folks that their own gender didn't matter, Paul seems to go an entirely different route with Jesus' gender. It mattered a whole lot! Jesus was not some genderless "child" of God. He was very much male, and as such, He is very much a Son of God. The legion of demons knew this well, addressing Jesus plainly as God's Son. Jesus refers to Himself countless times also as the Son of His heavenly Father. So how does our gender matter so little, but Jesus' matters so very much?

Whether you are a male or a female doesn't matter because you no longer live, but Christ lives in you. In Christ you have become a son of God, through THE Son of God. You were taken from the condemnation of the Law in your baptism, where God adopted you into His heavenly family. You were washed clean of all of your sins, and made holy to bear God's Own family name from that day on. You are no longer disobedient slaves of God under the Law, but sons of God by Jesus' forgiving grace.

"But I'm a gal" at least half of you are thinking. "It's just plain odd to be a female-Son!" Yes that would be odd, but remember, that's not how God sees you. You are a son of God, regardless of your gender, because you are wearing Jesus–the Son of God! At the blessed exchange of the cross Jesus became your sin and was dealt it's severe punishment in your place. You, in trade, received His holy righteousness by faith, to wear for eternity. God the Father looks down on you seeing only Jesus!

Your sonship from God comes with a very special bonus. As a son, you become an heir of God the Father! In bible times, the gals were never part of the inheritance, but sons were. As a son of God you have Jesus last will and testament already given to you. Not just a promise, but delivered through the cup of the new testament in Jesus' blood shed for you. You eat and drink from this last will and testament at the Lord's Supper, receiving the gifts of life and salvation through this sacrament.

Yet some of you want to cry out, "Why are women not allowed to do what men do in our church?" This is not what God has given you to cry out. He has placed the Holy Spirit of His Son into your hearts so that you will cry out a different thing: "Daddy, Father!" Instead of questioning about what some people want to do, God gives you to holy sonship, that your cries of prayer recognize by faith just who you are in Christ Jesus, an ever-blessed son of God! Repent of your foolish cries, and embrace sonship.

So refrain from the Law questions of "what do I get to do", for you are no longer children still under the Law. Instead, you are blessed by God to rejoice by His Spirit in the fact that, regardless of your gender, you are all Sons of God in Christ Jesus your Savior. For the Son of God died for you at Calvary under the Law to redeem you from its curse, forever. No longer are you under the guardian of the Law as a child, but since faith has come, you are fully grown sons of God in Jesus God's Son.

Hymns today from LSB:

#731  O God, Forsake Me Not
#825  Rise, Shine, you People
#594  God's Own Child I'll Gladly Say It


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