Fit for the Kingdom of God

 Jesu Juva

St. Luke 9:51-62                                                 

June 29, 2025

Proper 8C                          

 Dear saints of our Savior~

        Jesus said:  No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.  Now, unless you were raised Amish, you’ve probably never actually put your hand to the plow.  Unless you’ve spent a lot of time at Old World Wisconsin, you’re probably not proficient at plowing.  This is the stuff of Little House on the Prairie. 

        But plowing is similar to mowing.  And most of us have at least some mowing experience.  Plowing and mowing are alike in that you have to keep your eyes forward at all times.  As a little boy, I used to follow two steps behind my dad as he pushed the old green lawn boy around our Kansas lawn.  That’s how I learned about keeping track of what’s been mowed and what hasn’t—about making concentric trips around each section—or about the importance of keeping the first swath straight so that the rest of the lawn lines will also look straight.

        But if I were to put my hands on the lawn mower and look back, the results wouldn’t be good.  No one can mow the lawn effectively and efficiently looking backwards.  It’s only as you look ahead—it’s only as your eyes scan the uncut grass in front of you—that you can guide the mower with precision and accuracy.  No one who puts his hands on the mower and looks back is fit to mow the lawn.  Or, as Jesus says:  No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.

        What about you?  Are you fit for the kingdom of God?  Are you forward-looking and future-focused?  Are you devoted and determined?  Or do you become dangerously distracted?  Do you get easily diverted and detoured?  Not Jesus.  Jesus had a job to do and nothing could deter Him. 

        In fact, in the first sentence of today’s Holy Gospel St. Luke tells us how Jesus “set his face to go to Jerusalem.”  That’s a strange turn of phrase.  When was the last time you “set your face” to go anywhere?  He set his face to go to Trader Joe’s.  (That doesn’t sound quite right.)  It’s a phrase uniquely suited for Jesus.  It means Jesus resolutely programmed His inner GPS for Jerusalem, for Golgotha, for the cross.  He focused unflinchingly on moving forward to the city where He would be betrayed and crucified.  He would not be deterred or diverted or detoured.  He would not look back.

        It doesn’t take a degree in theology to see that this text is all about discipleship—about following Jesus in faith.  It’s clear that when it comes to following Jesus, the cost is great.  The standards are high.  To be fit for the kingdom of God means that we always give Jesus and His Word first place in our lives—that we fear, love and trust in Him above all things—that nothing—not even family—comes between you and your Savior.

        There are a series of quick episodes in today’s text which show how easy it is to look back—to turn away from Jesus and become dangerously distracted.  It began when Jesus and the twelve were about to enter a Samaritan village, but the Samaritans rejected Jesus.  James and John were ready to call down fire from heaven.  They were ready to call in some bunker-buster bombs to scorch those Samaritans into submission.  But Jesus rebuked them. 

        I wonder what He said exactly.  Luke doesn’t tell us.  Perhaps Jesus reminded them that the Samaritans were not the enemy.  Maybe Jesus made it clear that the real threat for His followers isn’t other people, no matter how sinful or rebellious they may be.  The devil is the true enemy of every disciple.  Don’t get distracted by Samaritans—or by angry atheists, by Antifa, or by abortion activists.  They are not the enemy.  Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking to devour you—looking to distract you—looking to destroy your faith in Jesus.  Watch out for him.

        Shortly after that, three would-be disciples put in their application with Jesus.  All three recruits have something that holds them back, something that keeps their commitment from being whole-hearted.  “I will follow you wherever you go,” the first man says.  Really?  Does he know that Jesus is headed to the cross?  Jesus clues him in that His road has no comfortable rest stops, no comfy pillows on which to rest your head at night.  Foxes and birds have homes to go to, but the Son of Man—the Savior—has no place to lay His head.  If you want to follow me, Jesus is saying, plan to be uncomfortable.  Plan for persecution.  Plan for self-denial, self-sacrifice, and service to others—everything except your own comfort. 

        Another would-be disciple said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”  It was the honorable thing to do.  The compassionate thing.  The Fourth Commandment thing.  Perhaps his father wasn’t yet dead, but dying; and the man wanted to care for him in his final days.  What does Jesus say to this grieving son?  “Let the dead bury their own dead.  But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”  Sounds a bit harsh.  But remember, Jesus was headed to Jerusalem—to His own death and burial.  Jesus comes to destroy death and bring life and immortality to light through the gospel.  That good news always trumps the bad news of sin and death.  Jesus’ work is always priority number one.

        A third new recruit tells Jesus, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to those at my home.”  A simple goodbye.  What could be wrong with that?  Maybe a little going away party—a cake or something.  To him Jesus said, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”  There it is.  You can’t press ahead with Jesus while you’re pining for the past. (Remember Lot’s wife!)

        Tough words?  You bet they are.  If Jesus were speaking directly to this group of disciples today, He would be just as tough, I’m sure, condemning all the events—all the people—all the stuff we put ahead of Jesus.  Whether it’s our own comfort and entertainment—whether it’s sporting events and competitions—recreation or wealth or family members—there is something for each of us that makes us unfit and unworthy for following Jesus in faith. 

        Jesus’ words are edgy and demanding.  His claim on us is radical.  It’s all or nothing.  There can be no half-way, lukewarm disciples.  No compromises.  Measured against this standard, each of us is unfit for the kingdom of God—unclean and sinful—weighed down with idols of every kind.

        Only Jesus led a perfect life of obedience.  Jesus always put the will of His Father first.  Even when it was His Father’s will that Jesus should bear your sins, and be rejected and suffer and die in your place—even then, Jesus did not look back.  Jesus set His face and unflinchingly walked the road to Calvary’s cross.  Jesus humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross.  Only Jesus was fit to serve as your sinless sacrifice.  The Son of Man had no place to lay His head until He laid His head down in death.  Jesus had no rest until the rested in the tomb for three short days.

        But in that death you are made fit and forgiven—ready to follow Jesus in faith.  Through faith in Jesus your sins are forgiven and His perfect record of obedience is given to you.  Baptized into Christ, you can leave your idols behind and be filled with the fruit of the Spirit.  The death and resurrection of Jesus means that Jesus has prepared a way for you—the way of repentance and faith.  You no longer have to worry about your comfort, your success, your wealth and all your little idols.  For when you seek first the kingdom of Jesus and His righteousness—then Jesus takes care of all the rest.  You can trust Him with the details.

        Jesus has made you fit for His kingdom.  Instead of placing your hand on the plow or the lawn-mower today, Jesus invites you to open your hand and receive from Him—to take and eat His own body and to drink His blood in this Holy Supper.  This food makes you fit and forgiven.  This food gives eternal life.  The doors of heaven stand open before you.  You can set your face to follow Jesus—from tears to triumph, from death to life. 

        In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The Exorcist Extraordinaire

 Jesu Juva

Luke 8:26-39                                                      

June 22, 2025

Proper 7C                                                

 Dear saints of our Savior~

        There’s no place Jesus won’t go to save. No cross He will not bear.  No hell into which He won’t descend.  There’s no situation so messy, so dark, or so frightening that Jesus won’t go there to rescue and deliver and save.
        Today Jesus sets sail from the safe confines of Galilee into the Gentile country of the Gerasenes. There He’s met by a man who was plagued by demons—multiple demons. So many demons they simply are named “Legion.”  This man spent his days naked, shackled and under guard, away from the city and its people and children. He lived among the tombs among the dead, being dead to the world.  This man inspires both terror and sympathy. We feel for his plight and his condition, and yet we’re terrified of him. We’ll avert our eyes and avoid contact. He’s like the mentally ill homeless we meet on the street corners and under the freeway viaducts—only far worse.

        How did this happen?  Why did this happen? We’ve lost our sense of the demonic today. We take devils and demons far too lightly.  The devil’s been reduced to a Halloween costume. We tend to think in terms of mental illness nowadays. Instead of the tombs, this man would likely be institutionalized. He’d be sedated and medicated, mostly forgotten by society and perhaps his own family. We’d be relieved to have him off the streets and safely away from our homes and schools and parks.

        There was no help for this man.  The local exorcists had likely done their best.  But no one could help him.  The best and brightest are no match for this roaring lion and his demon minions.  Chains and shackles were all that could be done for this man, leaving him to roam and rot among the dead—until Jesus came to town.

        What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? The demons always know who Jesus is. He’s their Lord too; and they tremble in fear at the sight of Him. They know the power of Jesus’ word, and they know their time is short.  The demons are eager to announce Jesus’ identity to anyone who will listen. Anything to deter or derail Jesus from death on a cross.

        I beg you, do not torment me. The demons plead for mercy, but Jesus hasn’t come to show mercy to the devil and his demons. He’s come to judge them and to undo their work. They negotiate because they know their fate and destination:  eternal torment and imprisonment. They bargain for a herd of pigs instead. This is, after all, Gentile country. You’d never see a herd of pigs in Israel. But here in the Gerasenes, there’s pork aplenty.  And with the permission of Jesus, they become demon-possessed pigs that rush headlong down a steep bank and into the lake and are drowned. All this, right in front of the herdsmen who see their pork profits plunging into the sea.

        It’s no wonder they ask Jesus to leave! This was just over the top weird. Frightening. Jesus is just too much trouble to have around. The situation was being managed until Jesus showed up, and then all hell literally broke loose, and now there are dozens of pricey pigs floating dead in the sea.

        This entire scene is a preview of the judgment of the devil and his demons, when they will be cast into the lake of fire to be tormented forever and ever. The unclean spirits are cast into the unclean pigs and thrown into the depths. Look what Jesus can do.  He’s the exorcist extraordinaire.

        Meanwhile, the man is now clothed and in his right mind. Just like that. No rehab. No psych meds.  Nothing. Just a word from Jesus, the demons depart, and the man’s mind is disordered no longer. Everything that had plagued him had gone into the pigs and was drowned in the water—all with nothing more than a word from Jesus.

        He wanted to follow Jesus.  He wanted to join the disciples, and go back to Galilee. Who could blame him? He wanted to go to work for the Man who had literally saved his life from a legion of demons. But Jesus had other plans for him. He sent him back to his home. He would be the Lord’s “man on the ground” in the Gerasenes, among the Gentiles, outside the borders of Israel. Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you. He’s of much more use to Jesus where he is—at home among his family, friends, and neighbors. And that’s what he did. He told everyone in the whole city what Jesus had done for him. And you can be sure the people listened.

        Our curiosity is piqued by accounts like this. We want to know more about the dark and horrible realm of the demonic. Skeptics scoff at the whole thing; but lots of money has been made by movies about demons and exorcists.  The devil exists.  Jesus called him the father of lies and a murderer.  He prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking the stray and the weak, looking for someone to devour.

        The one thing the devil and his demons did not want is for Jesus to go to His cross. That’s why they always shout out and acknowledge who Jesus is: The Son of the Most High God. They knew why Jesus had come. They knew Jesus’ death would be their exorcism from this world. Humanity was captive to darkness and demons; and Jesus came in human flesh to set us free. Immediately after His baptism in the Jordan, Jesus was driven into the wilderness, not by a legion of unclean spirits, but by the Holy Spirit. There He wrestled with the devil and was tempted in every way as we are. He conquered the devil’s temptations with nothing more than the power of the Word.

        We are not as bad off as that poor man in the Gerasenes. We have homes and clothing. We have our sanity, mostly. But the darkness of our Sin runs just as deep. The bonds that hold us captive to Sin and Death are just as strong as the chains that bound that man. We walk in the valley of the shadow of death every day of our lives, blissfully unaware of the forces of evil that target us.  Evil increasingly rears its ugly head in the world—unleashing mass shootings, murder, and mayhem. But behind all that horror is a demonic darkness which our culture refuses to acknowledge.

        We are powerless against it.  But Jesus is not. He entered this present darkness to bring the light of His life. The darkness trembled when Jesus prayed, “Father into your hands I commit my spirit.” The darkness trembled at the sound of His “It is finished.”  He was stripped naked on the cross, as naked as that poor man in the Gerasenes. Adam’s shame was exposed to the world, so that we children of Adam might be clothed and in our right minds. The Law that condemns, Sin that kills, the devil who accuses and lies and murders—all those enemies are defeated in this one death on a dark Friday afternoon. There is no darkness Jesus hasn’t entered. No death He hasn’t died. No sin He hasn’t born. No hell into which He hasn’t descended. There is no place—no situation—where Jesus is not Lord and God.

        You are baptized into Christ. You are clothed with the robe of Jesus’ righteousness. Jesus is the healing of your mind as well as your body and soul. He sets our minds right again through repentance and forgiveness.  Whatever plagues you, whatever troubles you, whatever darkness isolates you from others and drives you into your own personal hell, Jesus has dealt with it in His death. You are a child of Light, a child of the Day, a child of God. Jesus’ death and life are yours. His body and blood are yours. His words of life ring in your ears. He is your shield, your strength against the terrible forces of darkness and death.

        What should you do now?  Return to your home, your life, your vocation, your family and friends and neighbors.  But don’t you dare forget to declare how much God has done for you. He has called you out of darkness to live in His marvelous light. He has forgiven you, raised you, clothed you, and set you free. You are a baptized child of God, an heir of eternal life. You have His Holy Spirit to ward off each and every unclean spirit.  See how much God has done for you—and, see how much more you have yet to receive. 

        In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Uncreated, Infinite, Eternal

 Jesu Juva

St. John 8:48-59                                                 

June 15, 2025

The Holy Trinity C        

 Dear saints of our Savior~

        Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.  With those words our Lord Jesus Christ said a mouthful.  Before Abraham was, I am.  Make no mistake what Jesus is claiming here:  Before Abraham walked the earth nearly two thousand years earlier—before Abram believed the Lord and it was credited to him as righteousness—before Abram was promised descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky—before Abram packed up everyone and everything and set out for the land God would show him—before all that—before Abraham was—the Son of God already existed.  In fact, the Son of God eternally was, and is, and ever shall be.  That’s what our Lord means when He says:  Before Abraham was, I am.

        It’s a claim of divinity.  Jesus is God:  Uncreated, infinite, eternal.  Let no one tell you that Jesus is not God.  His humanity is easy to see and easy to believe.  He looked like an ordinary man.  He was born.  He ate and drank.  He slept and wept.  There was nothing in His appearance to suggest anything other than humanity.  But with His Word, Jesus asserts His divinity—Before Abraham was, I am.

        About three hundred years after Jesus said those words, the church’s confession finally caught up with what Jesus so plainly asserted.  At the council of Nicea, the church confessed that Jesus is God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made.  And a century later, the Athanasian Creed cemented what we know for certain about this Jesus—that He is infinite, eternal, and uncreated.  But what we confess about the divinity of Jesus largely began with these words from the Savior’s own lips:  Before Abraham was, I am.

        Today is the Feast of the Holy Trinity.  And what we confess about Jesus, we also confess about the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Each of the three persons of the Trinity is infinite, uncreated, eternal, and almighty.  Not three, but one.

        You know, if we decided to invent our own religion and our own god, we certainly wouldn’t do it this way—using a Trinitarian model.  We’d probably keep things simple and straight forward.  Why make things more difficult—more mysterious—than they have to be?  Thankfully, we don’t have to make up anything about the faith we confess, or about the God who loves us.  The Holy Trinity has revealed Himself to us in the Scriptures.  We simply believe it and confess it to the whole world.

        Confessing the Trinity with clarity isn’t easy these days; but then again, it’s never been easy.  Just look at the kind of abuse Jesus suffered from the religious folks of His day.  In love, Jesus told them who He is.  In love, Jesus invited them to believe:  If anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.  In love, Jesus asserted His divinity: Before Abraham was, I am.

        But in response, our Lord’s Jewish audience unloaded a barrage of insults and hate—essentially calling Jesus deranged, deluded, demented, demonized, and Samaritan scum.  And when Jesus uncorked the doctrinal truth that He is the eternal Son of the Father—that before Abraham even existed, Jesus existed—that, in fact, there never was a time when Jesus did not exist.  At that point, Jesus’ hearers started looking for smooth stones to start hurling His way.

        Jesus speaks the truth despite a loud and vocal opposition—despite the risks, despite a downturn in His approval rating and a plummeting popularity. Jesus endures the abuse—takes it on the chin; but He defends the doctrine.  When it comes to His teaching, Jesus doesn’t give an inch.  He refuses to back down on the doctrine—even while suffering insults and abuse and threats. 

        Martin Luther, who was no stranger to insults, abuse, and threats, expressed it this way in one of his sermons on today’s Holy Gospel.  Luther asked:  “What does Christ do here?  He [allows] His life to be covered with shame and He endures it in silence; but He defends the teaching, for the teaching is not ours but God’s. . . . There patience ceases and I must venture all that I have and suffer all that they inflict upon me, in order that . . . God and His Word shall not suffer.  For that I perish matters little, but if I let God’s Word perish and remain silent, I do harm to God and all the world” (Day by Day, p.383).

        Luther reminds us why we bother to confess and defend all the doctrinal details about the Holy Trinity—and all the other teachings of Scripture, for that matter.  Why should we bother to defend the most fundamental distinction in all of God’s creation—the distinction between the two sexes—between male and female?  Why bother speaking the truth in love about God’s gift of marriage and family as the center of life—the fundamental building block of society?  Why bother rejecting what is false—and rejecting what is evil—even though (in this world) it means abuse and ridicule and persecution or worse? 

        Why bother?  Because the doctrine isn’t ours.  The teaching isn’t ours.  It is God’s.  But He has entrusted it to you—to believe it and learn it and share it with others.  Luther says that staying silent isn’t an option—that keeping quiet about God’s truth doesn’t help, but harms the world.

        What we teach about the Trinity—what we declare about the Divinity of Jesus—these teachings come from God.  God gives us His truth because He loves us.  And Trinity Sunday is a great time to sharpen your understanding of God’s truth.  Doctrinal dumbness and Biblical ignorance will do you no good.  And you can be sure that, in the long history of the church, doctrinal dumbness has never, ever strengthened the church, but weakened it.  Error begets error.  When the baptized no longer believe anything faithfully and firmly and with conviction, we do harm to our neighbors.

        But God the Holy Trinity wants to use you for good.  You are worthy of rescue and deliverance.  You are precious and priceless.  That’s why God became one of us—became a fellow human being from a little town called Nazareth.  In Jesus, God expressed Himself fully for us men and for our salvation.  His enemies called Him a blasphemer—a Samaritan—said He had a demon—threw the kitchen sink at Him—nailed Him to a cross.  But in truth Jesus was the Word made flesh, God become man, dwelling among sinners . . . to save sinners.

        In Jesus, God was seen.  In Jesus, God was heard.  In Jesus, God was touched.  This same Jesus—crucified and risen—comes here to lead us into all truth.  That truth is that God became a man, went to the cross, endured the agony of sin’s hellacious punishment.  He died for sinners; old and young, rich and poor, wise and foolish.

        To know Jesus is to know our loving God.  For God loved us so much that He suffered and died to forgive our sins—so that you will never see death.  Yes, you will die, but miracle of miracles, even physical death cannot separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

        In Jesus, God has become accessible to you.  He isn’t out of reach or unknowable.  He comes to you in such ordinary, understandable ways:  In simple Words, in the washing of Holy Baptism, in His holy meal.  In these simple ways, God the Holy Trinity makes Himself known to you—and makes you wise unto salvation.

        Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I AM.”  That means that Jesus is uncreated, infinite, divine.  He is all-knowing and all-powerful.  He is just and holy.  He’s all of that and more.  But most importantly, He loves you; and He is always at work for your eternal good, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Pentecost: Clarity over Confusion

Jesu Juva

Genesis 11:1-9                                                      

June 8, 2025

The Day of Pentecost  

 Dear saints of our Savior~

        Anyone who has ever studied a foreign language knows how difficult it can be.  Sometimes it involves years of classes, mountains of flash cards, and day after day of Duolingo.  And just when you think you’re starting to get it—just when you get brave enough to strike up a conversation with someone who is fluent in your foreign language—you usually end up embarrassing yourself—and you quickly realize how much you still have to learn. 

        Today we hear how every language got its start at a place called Babel.  Back in those ancient days the whole world had only one language.  A common vocabulary was shared by every human being on the face of the earth.  Everybody understood everybody.  People could talk-out their differences.  Everybody was on the same page.  People could freely collaborate and cooperate with no confusion.  Nothing got muddled or mixed up.  Nothing was lost in translation because there was no translation.

        Soon after settling in the plains of Shinar, the people of the world quickly realized that the sky’s the limit.  They began to discuss an audacious plan:  Let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens.  They had the technology to do it, too:  bricks and bitumen.  Heaven, of course, was God’s domain; their tower would be trespassing there.  But that didn’t seem to concern them.  What mattered was that they were going to make a name for themselves.  Enjoying the clarity of a common language, there was nothing they couldn’t do.

        That was also the Lord’s assessment of the situation.  For He looked down to see the city and the tower that man intended to build.  Like a divine building inspector, the Lord quickly concluded that this wasn’t good.  “This is only the beginning of what they will do,” He said, “And nothing that they propose will now be impossible for them.”

        Like the people of Babel, we too are living at a time when almost nothing is impossible for us.  We left behind bricks and bitumen long ago.  Now artificial intelligence can do almost anything.  We can communicate to the four corners of the earth in a split second.  Google Translate can coordinate conversations between two people who don’t speak the same language.  Others of you have been stung with bad news from the doctor, only to learn that there’s a new drug—a new treatment—a new technology—a new surgical technique that can help you and heal you.  Will wonders never cease?

        Humanity is united by technology as never before.  It sounds great; but there’s a problem with that.  And the problem isn’t with the technology; the problem is with the people! Humanity is corrupted to the core by sin.  We are a collection of sinners, each of us programmed with the desire to make ourselves like God.  It’s true that we may be capable of almost anything if we just put our heads together.  But as sinners, our skills set always trends toward that which is evil.  And the more sinners you have joined together, speaking the same language, on the same page, the more the evil tends to snowball. 

        Whenever sinners get together around a common goal, it’s not necessarily going to be a good thing.  The same pharmacy that dispenses newly developed, life-saving medications also dispenses drugs designed to kill unborn babies while still in the womb, before they can take their first breath.  The same social media that connects us with one another can also be used as a conduit for adultery and porn and the destruction of marriage.  Whenever humans put their heads together, the result is usually a strange mix of both good and evil.

        God knows all of this.  It’s no surprise to Him.  It’s why He came down from heaven to cause confusion and scramble languages and disperse people into different nations.  At Babel God gave the “gift” of confusion—to curb our sinful ambitions—to hinder our hubris—to put up protective barriers to prevent us from sinking to even lower levels of evil and destruction.

        What does this have to do with Pentecost?  At Pentecost, fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection, God provided a key to cut through the confusion.  The confusion of languages remains, but now, by the Holy Spirit, the good news about Jesus is preached and heard in all the languages of the world.  In the midst of the world’s sinful confusion, God gives clarity concerning Christ the crucified.  By the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit, God calls together His church from every nation, tribe, race and language in the world.  And He unites us all together in one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one salvation through the death and resurrection of one man for all men.

        The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ.  Jesus said, “I am going away, and I will come to you.”  In His going away to the Father’s right hand, He now comes to us by His Holy Spirit.  In His going away He can no longer be seen, but now He can be heard—and heard in any language of any nation on earth.  The Spirit pounds the promises of Jesus into our ears—and teaches us all things and brings to remembrance all the words of Jesus.  In short, the Spirit drums the good news of the life and forgiveness of sins earned by Jesus right into your ears in your own language.  And above all else, the Holy Spirit makes clear:  it’s all for you.  The Holy Spirit doesn’t replace Jesus like some relief pitcher brought in for the last few innings to replace the starter.  No, the Spirit brings the words of Jesus to our ears in such a way that we hear Jesus, we trust Jesus, we see and confess that what He endured on the cross, He endured for us and for our salvation—so that we cling to Jesus by faith—come hell or high water.

        But none of this can happen without the Holy Spirit.  I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him.  Without the Spirit we stay in confusion; but with the Spirit there is clarity in the Christ and His love for sinners.  This world of confusion is passing away.  It has an expiration date.  But Pentecost reminds us that the new has already come in Jesus.  “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.”

        The Day of Pentecost began with tongues of fire and rushing wind and a miracle of speaking and hearing.  But if you read all the way to the end of Acts chapter two, you see that the Day of Pentecost ended very simply—in the water of Baptism and in the weekly gathering of believers around the Apostles’ doctrine, the breaking of bread in the Lord’s Supper, and in the prayers of the liturgy.  In a sense, we have Pentecost every Sunday.  In the waters of your baptism, you have clarity and certainty:  Your sins are washed away; you are a child of Paradise; baptism works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation.  Good news doesn’t come any clearer than that!

        The day will come when all confusion will pass away.  The day will come when all the saints will again be united in one language with the same words—just as we already have one Lord, one faith and one baptism.  That day will not come about by our own doing and ingenuity.  That Day will come when the Holy Spirit—the Lord and Giver of Life—raises us from the dead and gathers us together—body and soul—into the presence of God and of the Lamb.

        We long for that day, we pray for that day, we hope for that day.  And we do so with the confidence and clarity given by the Holy Spirit. 

        In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

The Tree of Life

Jesu Juva

Revelation 22:1-6, 12-20                                      

June 1, 2025

Easter 7C                                   

 Dear saints of our Savior~

        Today we’ve landed at the end of the Easter season.  Seven Sundays sounds about right for remembering and proclaiming that the tomb is empty, that Christ is risen, that we shall go where He has gone.  This joyful Eastertide will come to a fiery fulfillment next Sunday at the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.  Of course, we like to say, every Sunday is a little Easter.  Every Sunday the resurrected Christ appears here among His people.

        Not only have we come to the end of the Easter season, but we’ve also come to the very end of the Bible—the last chapter of the last book.  We’ve been hopping and skipping through Revelation for six Sundays now.  We’ve marveled at the marriage of Christ and His bride, the church.  We’ve gawked at gates of pearl and streets of gold and saints in white robes too numerous to count.  Today we hear one final vision—one last glimpse of the glory to be revealed:  And in this final vision there is a River and a Tree.

        It’s interesting that the Bible not only ends with a river and a tree, but it also begins with a river and a tree.  In the book of Genesis a river flows out of Eden and divides into four rivers.  And in the center of Eden are two trees—the tree of life and the forbidden tree of knowing good and evil.  You know what happened there—how Adam and Eve chose what God had forbidden—how they bit into the notion that they could be like God—how they initiated a sad sequence of sin and suffering that stretches all the way down to us—which will eventually land each and every one of us six feet under.  Their disobedience got them expelled from the garden and banned from the tree of life.

        Today’s reading from Revelation shows how what began in a garden called Eden is fulfilled in a city called Jerusalem—the city built by God that comes down from heaven.  And just as in Eden, there is a heavenly river—the river of the water of life, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.  This brings to mind how Jesus once promised the woman at the well springs of living water welling up to eternal life.  It brings to mind the river of water and blood that flowed from Jesus’ side when He died.  It brings to mind the river of Holy Baptism that makes us into children of God.  And it all flows as a bright, sparkling river running right through God’s holy city.

        There in the center of the city, on the banks of the river, is the Tree of Life.  It’s no longer guarded and off-limits.  Everyone now has access.  It’s open to the public, free for the picking, life for all is available.  The Tree of Life is in-season every season—yielding twelve kinds of fruit on a regular basis.  Twelve, of course, is probably symbolic here; but it shows that there is no monotonous sameness in heaven.  Instead there is a fruity variety adding to the spice of eternal life.  And not only does it bear the best fruit, but even its leaves will bring healing to the nations.

        But when we hear “Tree of Life,” it should take our thoughts to the tree of the cross—the blood-stained tree where the Son of God was lifted up, crucified and cursed—the tree where Jesus earned life and forgiveness for the whole world.  There, on that tree, He became our Savior.  Already now, today, we eat the fruits of the tree of the cross—our Savior’s body and blood—and in eating and drinking we have life in His name.  By the tree of the cross Jesus overcame sin and death and the lie of the devil.  He became our sin.  He died our death.  On the tree of the cross, Jesus took the placed of damned humanity.

        But in between the tree of the cross and the heavenly tree of life comes Easter—the resurrection of Jesus, the open tomb, His ascension to the Father’s right hand, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.  The curse is ended.  Death is done.  In God’s city there is no sin, no death, no condemnation.  There is, instead, the river of life and the tree of life.

        St. John tells us who lives there in God’s holy city: Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life. . . . There’s a subtle reminder here of our sinfulness.  Our robes are stained by sin.  Our robes must be washed.  There’s no saint who has walked through this life whose robe is not soiled by sin.  Our robes must be washed by the blood of the Lamb which alone can cleanse us from every stain and sin.  There is nothing else—no other cleansing agent—that can wash away our immoralities, our murders, our idolatries, lies and falsehoods.

        Note carefully—some are “outside” God’s eternal city.  Some will never get in.  And that’s a source of sadness for us on this side of eternity.  God does make an eternal distinction between those whose robes are washed in the blood of the Lamb, and those who have refused and rejected that cleansing.  Jesus died for all; God wants all to be saved; but all will not be saved.  Sexual immorality and murder and idolatry and lying—these are not unforgivable sins.  But you cannot unrepentantly immerse yourself in a sea of sin and, at the same time, claim the cleansing of Christ.  

        Repent.  Turn.  Come to Jesus who justifies freely.  He lives and He longs to wash away every sinful thought, word, and deed.  He washes away your sin and clothes you with His own righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.  Through faith in Jesus, the city of God is open to you.  You have a share in the tree of life.  You are justified by grace, for Christ’s sake, through faith.  This is the gospel—the good news.  It’s what St. John and all the other apostles taught and preached.  It’s what led them to a martyr’s death.  It’s what carried them through death to the beginning of real life—life with God and the Lamb where they will reign forever and ever. 

        Who are we to change this good news, to amend it, to edit the glorious truth of what God has revealed to us in the Scriptures from Genesis chapter one to Revelation chapter 22?  If only Christians of every age would take seriously the warning not to add to God’s words and not to take away from God’s words.  To deny what God has said—or to preach what God has not said—will always lead people away from Jesus, away from the gospel, away from life.

        And so the church says what God says.  The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.”  That’s the church’s invitation to the whole world until the Last Day:  Come.  That’s also your invitation to those you know who are living—and dying—apart from Christ:  Come.  Like a tall glass of ice water on a hot afternoon, we throw our doors wide open to offer cool refreshment to all who thirst for righteousness and life to the full.  Come, drink freely, [and] without price.  The water of life is free for you and free for all, but costly to Christ who paid for every drop with His very life.

        Jesus says, “Surely I am coming soon.”  It’s His last Biblical Word to the church and the world.  I am coming soon.  To the world it’s a threat.  To the church it’s a promise.  It’s what we all long for.  It’s what we pray for every time we pray:  Thy kingdom come.  Jesus comes already today in unseen ways to give us His goodness and mercy.  But on the Last Day Jesus will come visibly, and you will see Him with resurrected eyes.  Then He will welcome all the redeemed into the city of God where life is the order of the day—where the party never ends—where the river of life and the tree of life will welcome us—not to the end of all things, but back to the beginning of all things—back to Paradise, and a River and a Tree.  I’ll see you there! 

        In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Here Comes the Bride

Jesu Juva

Revelation 21:9-14, 21-27                                  

May 25, 2025

Easter 6C         

 Dear saints of our Savior~

        The Bible begins with marriage; and the Bible ends—with marriage.  In Genesis, in the beginning, it was not good for the man to be alone.  So, from the man’s rib, God created woman—a helper—an ally who was perfectly suitable for the man in every way.  Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 

        Now jump ahead from the beginning to the ending, from Genesis to Revelation, from the dawn of time to the end of time.  Empires have risen and fallen—what is mortal has given way to immortality—the “happily ever after” which every soul longs for has now commenced—but still—still—as the final chapter of earth’s history is revealed and everything is made new, marriage—a marriage—endures for all eternity:  Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.

        If God’s revealed Word begins and ends with marriage, then it stands to reason that marriage matters—that marriage has eternal significance.  Marriage isn’t referred to as Holy Matrimony for nothing.  The relationship between husbands and wives is a reflection of our Lord’s love for His Bride, the church.  As such, marriage is worth protecting and preserving and defending—both the institution of marriage and your own marriage if you happen to be a husband or wife.  As our Lord’s love for His bride, the church, is without limit, so the love between husbands and wives is to be tended and nurtured until death parts them.

        Today’s text from Revelation 21 is primarily about our Lord Jesus and His bride, the church.  The Wedding Day for Christ and His Bride was Good Friday.  That sounds strange, I know.  Good Friday, the day Jesus died, seems about as devoid of wedding imagery as you can get.  But just as Adam’s bride was formed from a rib taken from his side, so was the Bride of Christ formed from His wounded side.  For the water that flowed from that wound is the same water that fills the baptismal font.  And the blood that flowed from that wound is what fills the chalice and cleanses us from all sin.  If, then, the wedding of Christ and His Bride took place on Good Friday, then what we read about in Revelation—the “marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom which has no end”—that’s not the wedding per se, but the party—the reception—the celebration where Christ shows off His Bride in all her radiance and splendor.

        As a pastor I occasionally get to marry people.  I get to officiate.  It’s one of the perks of being a pastor.  And about the best thing I can say about that experience is that I have the best view in the house.  I’ve got this beautiful bride right in front of me in high definition, hanging on the arm of her dashing groom.  I see their smiles.  I see the hope in their eyes.  I hear the promises they profess before God and witnesses.  Most wedding photographers would kill to get to stand where I stand—to get my courtside view of marriage in the making.

        I mention the importance of the view because knowing your viewpoint is critical when you are looking at the Bride of Christ, the Church.  Right now, our view of the Bride of Christ is from below.  It’s an earthly view of the Church.  And what we see of the church here below is not always a pretty sight.  We see divisions and scandals and false teaching—flaws, failures, and sins.  We see corrupt clergy and power struggles and money problems.  It’s such an unpleasant sight at times that it causes some people to turn away in disgust.  You’d think the Bride of Christ would be more glorious.

        That’s our view of the church from below—that’s how we see the church as it appears here and now; but that’s not God’s view of the Church.  His view is the view from above.  And viewed from above, the church is glorious.  Her sin is washed away.  She is without spot or wrinkle or blemish.  She has been clothed by Christ; and she looks regal, royal and radiant.

        That’s the view of the Bride from above—the view that John received in Revelation which he wrote down for us.  Only the Bride of the Lamb isn’t just one person, but a whole city of people.  The Bride of Christ is the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.  Now, I’m making a quick shift here because the text makes a quick shift here; and I don’t want to leave anyone behind.  The Bride of the Lamb is now also pictured for us as a city. 

        And the details of this city are astounding.  It has the radiance of a rare jewel.  And it is clear as crystal.  This clarity means that there’s nothing to impede the light of Christ shining through the city—no shadows to dim and darken the holy city.  Everything is “transparent as glass” in God’s city.  Even those well-known “streets of gold” have a glassy clarity.  Nothing, nothing gets in the way of the light of Christ in heaven.  God’s love and mercy are as bright as a Lake Michigan sunrise. Such clarity defies our imaginations.  We talk about “transparency” in business and government, but this is a transparency that only God can achieve.

        We can’t imagine it because we live in a world darkened by sin.  Our own hearts are darkened by sin.  Jesus once said, “You are the light of the world; let your light shine!”  But what keeps that light from shining is the dark and greasy smudge of sin that covers us inside and out.  Our egos, our actions, our words—it all has a way of obscuring the light of Christ.  Even our best efforts in this life—our church attendance, the mercy we show to those in need, the offerings we give—even our best efforts have the greasy fingerprints of our Old Adam all over them.

        But hear this:  In God’s city the dark stain of sin is washed away forever.  Light shines perpetually there as through windows that never get dirty and never need washing—impervious to even the smallest smudge of sin.  How can this be?  Because the Lamb was slain.  The Lamb laid down His perfect life for His beautiful bride.  From heaven He came and sought her to be His holy bride.  With His own blood he bought her; and for her life He died.  For your life, He died.  Your punishment He endured.  The ugliness of your sin He took upon Himself.  But now, in the heavenly light of His resurrection, you look radiant—more beautiful than any bride ever looked.

        God’s city is also a gated community—twelve gates in all.  Our gated communities are designed to keep people out.  Think about how much time you spend each week locking doors and windows, doing what you can to keep the outsiders out.  But in God’s city, the gates are designed to let the outsiders in.  These twelve pearly gates—these gates are always open, never shut, never locked, open to the whole world and to all of redeemed humanity—all whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

        Our cities are built on the rubble of the past, on the destroyed civilizations that went before.  If you travel to the actual city of Jerusalem today, you’ll find this is literally true.  The new city rests atop the rubble of the old city.  But God’s city—the heavenly Jerusalem—it is built on twelve foundations—each foundation bearing the name of an apostle.  The foundation of the church is apostolic.  We believe in one, holy, Christian, and apostolic church.  We teach and preach here today what the apostles taught and preached in the First Century.  The Apostles’ doctrine is foundational and fundamental.  They lost their lives for the gospel; but their teachings endure forever. 

        In God’s city there’s no temple—no church—which sounds strange to us.  Milwaukee is known for its churches.  I love that view of the south side after you make it through the Marquette interchange heading south on I-94.  As you scan the horizon there are dozens and dozens of church steeples.  But in heaven you won’t find a single steeple.  How can this be?  Well, when you’re standing in the immediate presence of God and of the Lamb, you don’t need a temple.  Just like you don’t need sun, moon, or stars.  The glory of God gives it light and the Lamb is its lamp.

        Beloved in the Lord, you will rise on the last day; and with your resurrected body you will enter those pearly gates.  You will stand on those apostolic foundations.  You will walk on those streets of gold.  You will see the light of Christ in all His glory.  By His death and resurrection Jesus has overcome the world.  And, in Him, we will overcome.  The tribulation of today is temporary.  Death and the grave have an expiration date.  Until then, come, and I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb. 

        In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.