Mary did you know. . .

It is a good song, well done by the Pentatonix (among others) but it is goofy theology.  It ignores the Word of God in pursuit of some hapless virgin girl who has no clue what is really going on.  That is not the Blessed Virgin Mother of our Lord.  Not at all.

Can you see the Mary of Luke 1-2 in these words?  I can't.

Mary did you know that your baby boy would one day walk on water?
Mary did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered, will soon deliver you

Mary did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
When you kiss your little baby, you kiss the face of God

Mary did you know? Mary did you know? Mary did you know?

Mary did you know? Mary did you know? Mary did you know?

The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the dead will live again
The lame will leap, the dumb will speak, the praises of the lamb

Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary did you know that your baby boy would one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy is heaven's perfect lamb?
That sleeping child you're holding is the great I am

Mary did you know? Mary did you know? Mary did you know?

Mary did you know? Mary did you know? Mary did you know? Oh

Mary did you know?

The Blessed Virgin Mary is perhaps the only one who knew, who had an idea of what was to come, of who that child was, formed in her womb and born in Bethlehem.  She heard the Word of God spoken through the mouth of the Angel and felt the stir within her flesh.  She gave her consent to the will and purpose of God at great cost to her own ordinary dreams.  She heard the greeting of Elizabeth, about the jump of John in the womb, and sang her own song of praise for the goodness of the Lord.  She heard Simeon speak prophecy of Jesus still an infant and heard the promise of the sword that would pierce her own heart.  She watched Him grow in stature and in wisdom and was there to see Him converse with the wise men in the Temple.  She was among His followers all the way and even on the cross she would not leave Him.  She was gathered with the 120 in the upper room awaiting the promise He has given.  Mary, did you know?  You bet she did.  She is prototype of faith and of the faithful. 

It is fanciful speculation to suggest that Scripture is wrong and Mary did not know.  It is foolishness to wonder what she knew, posit what she might have thought over what she heard and saw. . .  Mary knew that her own Son would be the answer to the promise that would redeem Israel and not only Israel from their sins and Him who would become her own Lord and Redeemer.  Nice song.  Wrong words.  Mary knew.  She knew what we need to find out -- the same way she did.  By the Word. . .   Mary is a perfect example of the Scriptures - Faith cometh by hearing the Word of God. . . .  We need not speculate when we have truth to tell.

On this day when we recall and offer thanks and praise for Blessed Mary, Virgin Mother of our Lord, we ought to spend out time learning from her, emulating her faith and trust, and following her life of devotion to her Son. . . Then we just might learn what Mary long ago knew.

My soul doth magnify the Lord,
and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.
For he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden.
For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
And his mercy is on them that fear him throughout all generations.
He hath shewed strength with his arm.
He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat
and hath exalted the humble and meek.
He hath filled the hungry with good things.
And the rich he hath sent empty away.
He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel
as he promised to our forefathers Abraham, and his seed forever.
Amen.

With God all things are possible. . .

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Advent, December 24, 2023.

    In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a village named Nazareth, to a Virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, whose name was Mary.  There might not seem something miraculous in those words but Blessed Mary would disagree.  She wondered aloud in the Magnificat how the Lord on high could notice her, of low estate, much less visit her with the Word of the Lord through the Archangel.  But with God all things are possible.

    The angel greeted her saying, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you.”  But Mary was troubled at this and wondered what it meant.  There was a time when everyone believed in God but they believed that God was angry with them.  An unannounced visit from an angel would not be an occasion for comfort but fear.  If God noticed you, He noticed your sin and a visit would certainly mark that sin with disfavor, punishment, and condemnation.  But not this time.  The Lord did not come to blessed Mary with a call to repent but with the voice of blessing.  “Hail, full of grace” and with a gracious promise: “The Lord is with you.”  But with God all things are possible.

    “You will conceive and bear a son and you shall call His name Jesus.”  Mary did not know what to say.  She knew this could not be true.  She was a virgin.  She knew where babies came from.  She was not an ignorant youth or a prude.  She honored marriage and was herself betrothed to Joseph.  She brought to her husband her most important gift.  The gift of herself.  So how could she be pregnant and how to know she was carrying a son and how was it that the son was already named by God.  But with God all things are possible.

    He will be great, called the Son of the Most High, and will inherit the throne of His father David and over the house of Jacob forever and His kingdom shall be without end.  Kings come from royal families and not insignificant lines on a family tree that distantly flows from David.  Or do they?  Kings come and go but their kingdoms remain.  Or do they?  Blessed Mary was perplexed by what this all could mean because it promised a future she had never even dared to dream.  Looking around her, the age of kings like David and Solomon were a memory and now Israel had but a puppet on the throne, one placed their not by divine right but by the will and consent of the Romans.  But with God all things are possible.

    The Holy Spirit shall come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you and the child you bear shall be called holy.  This is not how children are conceived.  This is not a child born of fleshly will and desire.  God was working and working in her to bring to fulfillment the plan of the ages to save His people from their sins.  She was a sinner.  The sacrifices had been made in the Temple, the offerings given, and the blood of the atonement poured out for the sins of Mary as for any other sinner.  How can a sinner give birth to the Holy One?  With God all things are possible.

    Your cousin Elizabeth in her old age has conceived and is with a son – you know for how many years she was judged to be barren.  Elizabeth and Zechariah had planned on, hoped for, and then lived with the loss of their dream of a family.  And when flesh could not provide a son, God did.  This was a sign for Mary – just as Abraham had wrestled with his dream of a son until God brought the surprise of grace to bear upon his broken heart.  Just was what God did for Abraham was not for Abraham alone, so what God did for Elizabeth and Zechariah was not for them alone.  Neither would the Son of Mary be for Mary alone but for the sake of the whole world.  With God all things are possible.

    And when you expected blessed Mary to throw up her arms and say it was all too much and to leave her to her ordinary life, from her lips is spoken the voice of faith.  “I am the Lord’s servant; do as you have said.”  Her consent probably surprised her.  Every instinct in her was telling her to run away but she remained.  Every impulse of her mind and heart was to laugh at how ludicrous it was for her to be the mother of God’s Son and Him come to finish the reign of David once for all.  But she did not.  She bowed her head in submission and whispered a yes to the promise that nothing is impossible with God.

    Here you are.  On the cusp of Christmas – literally.  The holiday has long ago become a burden of plans and parties, families and fault lines, gifts and ingratitude – but Christmas will come whether you want it or not.  It is come not to fit into your plans but so that you might fit into God’s.  The Savior born of Mary has come for you and to you and because of that you, too, are favored by God and the Lord is with you.  You thought that God was too good for you but He came in flesh and blood just for you, that you may know His favor, receive His forgiveness, be born anew to everlasting life, and walk the days of your life in the fear and favor of the most High God, the one called Jesus.  With God all things are possible.
    Here you are.  You have lost loved ones whose place will never be filled and have other ones who have enlarged your family.  You have had a year’s worth of days of conflict and are now trying to paper over differences for a Hallmark holiday.  This is not what you hoped for and much less than you imagined.  But Christ is here and He has reigned from the throne of the cross over sin and from the throne of the empty tomb over death.  He reigns for you, that you may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom without end.  He reigns to raise you from sin’s death and sweep you up in His arms that You may belong to Him forever.  You did not know God cared or that He even noticed you among all the big issues of the day but God came for you to be Your Savior.  With God all things are possible.

    How can this be?  We have all the excuses along with all the disappointments to lay at the feet of Jesus and the miracle of miracles is that He takes them from us, forgives us, and now nothing separates us from His grace and mercy.  The saints of old stand out not like heros who triumphed against enemies but those who were raised to glory by the God who raised you from death to life in baptism.  We are all the barren in whom the Spirit has worked faith.  We are all the impossibilities in whom God has worked His salvation miracle.  At last we see.  It is true.  Nothing is impossible with God.  Not even my own forgiveness, life, and salvation.

    Only one thing left.  The amen of faith.  I am God’s servant.  Do with me as You will.  This is not the voice of defeat and resignation but the voice of victory and promise.  We who come with a past have been given a future.  We who come with sin have been washed clean in baptismal water.  We who come with doubts and fears have had faith planted in us by the Spirit.  We who hunger and thirst for all the wrong things have been granted a place at the table where God filled us with good things we do not deserve and for which we dared not ask.  That is the miracle of Christmas.  And in but a few hours we will celebrate anew what it means for us that nothing is impossible with God.  Mary will be there.  Elizabeth too.  All of us with Jesus who fulfills us and fills us with goodness, mercy, and love forever.

Joseph, a godly man. . .

Sermon for Advent 4A, preached on Sunday, December 18, 2016.

Every other fourth Sunday in Advent is Mary’s Day – the day when we hear the whole story of the Angel Gabriel who comes to Mary the Virgin and tells her the news that God has chosen her to bear His own Son in order to save the world.  The story always ends in Mary’s Song – the Magnificat.  But not this year.  This year we do not hear of the visit of the angel to Mary. We do hear the story of the angel’s visit to Joseph.

Joseph is no dufus but neither is he some idealized man.  He is a real man with honest doubts and honest fears.  He is a man who takes things seriously and who expects others to live up to their part of the deal.

So today we meet Joseph in the midst of some wedding bell blues and we hear with him the word that Scripture speaks more than any other.  Do not be afraid. 

But how could Joseph not be afraid or angry or disappointed or frustrated or bitter?  How could Jesus NOT have wedding bell blues?  After all he has just found out that his virgin bride is pregnant.  She is pregnant and he knows that this child is not HIS child.  How much disappointment can mar what is supposed to be one of life’s happiest days?

However, Joseph is an honorable man.  No matter how tempted he is by his bitterness or anger or disappointment or frustration or fears, Joseph will not rant on Face book or Tweet an expletive deleted or Instagram Mary’s plight to a world that just loves to judge and condemn.  Joseph is intent upon exiting this relationship gracefully, doing harm neither to Mary nor to himself and trying to escape this terrible situation with his dignity in tact.

You have to hand it to him.  That is not how we would act today.  We have grown used to the send button, to the post button, and to airing our dirty laundry before the world.  We are experts at getting back at people, at remembering grudges, and at getting back at the people who dare to cross us.  But there were people like that in Joseph’s day as well.
Joseph was not one of them.  Now do you get a hint why God chose Joseph? We know why God chose Mary.  She believed the Word the angel spoke, she consented to the will of God no matter how that impacted on her own life plans, and she pondered and trusted all these things right through the Manger to the cross and the stable to the empty tomb.  Now we find that just as Mary was a woman of faith, Joseph was a man of faith.

Everyone of you meets life in hills and valleys, in triumphs and failures, in good and in bad.  Everyone of you has had to hear things you did not want to hear, to face things you thought you would never face, and to go on paths you never expected to tread.  Joseph has nothing on you.  The circumstances may be different but the disappointment, the bitterness, the pain, the anger, and the temptation is all the same.  Faith is the only answer.

The only way for Joseph to meet his disappointment was to trust in the voice of the Lord.  For the same angel who came calling on Mary, visited Joseph in his doubts, fears, anger, and discontent.  “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child in her is by the Holy Spirit, and she will bear a son whom you shall call Jesus, for He will saved His people from their sins.” 

You see the Lord never asks us to understand Him nor does He ask for us to approve of what He is doing.  He calls us merely to trust Him, to believe in His Word, and to have confidence that the outcome will be for our benefit.  He did not ask for Joseph’s permission nor for His approval and He does not ask for yours.  Like Job of old we cry to the Lord for answers but the answer of the Lord is always the same.  Do not fear.  Only believe.

Fear has an answer and Christ is that answer.  The same God who delivered up His own Son, will He not also give us all things in Him?  Meet the Lord in the manger of His Word and that is where fears end.  Meet the Lord in the water that gives life and fears find an end.  Meet the Lord where bread is His body and wine His blood, and fears some to an end.  Fear does not end because the circumstances of our lives change, fear ends because it has been answered in Christ our Lord, the Immanuel of God, with us in everything.

Joseph’s circumstances remained – his bride was pregnant with the Son of God who would save the world.  What changed was the heart of Joseph, the man of faith, who found in that faith the end to his fears.  He believed because the Spirit was in that Word of the Lord and because the Son born of Mary would become His own Savior as well as the Savior of the world. 

Your circumstances will not change.  The diagnosis of the doctor will not magically be taken back, the broken heart in you will not magically heal, the hurt you have been nursing for so long will not magically disappear, and the struggles of this mortal life will not magically come to an end.  But Christ the Immanuel of God is with you.  Do not be afraid.  You are not alone.  The Spirit is in you by baptism whether you feel it or not.  The Savior who is born of Mary is born for you, for your sin, and for your death.

Feelings do not validate faith.  Faith transcends the feeling.  What did Joseph do?  Did he give into to his fear and disappointment?  Did he lash out in anger or bitterness? Did he reject the voice of God because it did not make sense or conflicted with Joseph’s plan for his life?  No, Joseph took the hardest path of all – the path of faith.  He believed the Lord and obeyed the Word of God.  He did as the angel had said.  He kept the Word of God with faith.  He gave without taking so that Christ could take all our sins and give what none of us deserve – forgiveness, life, and salvation.

Christmas is coming and some of you think you have it all under control.  And some of you fear the lid to the chaos will come off and spoil everything.  Some of you fear you will never be ready.  Some of you fear you just don’t care anymore.  Some of you dread the day because of painful memories of painful wounds the holiday exposes.  Some of you have forgotten what the day is all about and are trying to cover up your emptiness with gifts and plans.  To all of you the message is the same.  Do not fear.  Christ is with you.  Believe the word of God, trust in what God has promised, and obey the voice of God with faith.  Joseph turned out to be every bit as much a person of faith as Mary.  How about you?  Fear not.  God is with you.  He has saved you from your sins.  He has redeemed you from the curse death.  And this is the only thing that really matters.  Amen

Do as the Lord commands

We often think the world has gone mad.  Maybe it has.  We hear the craziest of lies paraded as truth and the truth dismissed as so much foolishness.  We are a proud people who insist that we deserve to be treated better than we are and who are quick to hit send or delete and punish the offenders on the unsocial social media.  We refuse to sacrifice for anyone and anything and we will not wait for anyone or anything. If we are proud, our leaders are downright arrogant.  But not Joseph.  St. Joseph is the epitome of the humble man of God.  He was a wise man, conscientious, and did nothing quickly or without careful thought.  So it was when Mary was betrothed or promised to Joseph, yet before they were married, he discovered that she as with child.  

Tradition suggests that Joseph was no teenager but a mature man, that those named as Jesus’ brothers were His step-brothers, children from Joseph’s first marriage that had ended in death.  This family thought Joseph was crazy – even certifiable.  Here was Mary, the Virgin whose only commendation was her purity, and now she was found to be with child.  They were not fools.  They knew where children came from.  Joseph was not a fool.  But he was pious and compassionate.  He had no animus against Mary.  He would quietly put away the betrothal and let her go.  Undoubtedly his family would have wanted to make a scene.  But not Joseph.  He was an honorable man.  He wanted to believe Mary.

 

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Advent (A) preached on Sunday, December 18, 2022.

Nobody would have blamed Joseph for tearing up the betrothal.  In fact, even God admired the character of this strong but gentle man.  Yet it was not quite what Joseph or his family had presumed.  The child in Mary’s womb was not the child of another man but the Son of God by the Holy Spirit.  If Joseph was patient and honorable in wanting to put Mary away without a fuss, he was not quite ready to believe a story like that.  So just as the angel had come once to the blessed Virgin to place the Son of God in her womb, now the angel came to Joseph to assure him that what Mary said was true and to calm his fears with the voice of God.

In one sense, God was the spoiler.  He took the blessed Virgin from Joseph but even God did not take her virginity.  Mary remained a virgin before, during, and after the Annunciation.  Even after the delivery.  Let there be no confusion here.  The God who had taken Mary from Joseph, returned Mary to Him.  And with Mary, entrusted His only begotten Son into the care of this faithful, wise, patient, and honorable man.  Joseph was legally free to walk away from Mary but he was not free in faith to walk away.  In fact, his faith compelled him to believe the angel who visited him in a dream and his faith compelled him to become the faithful guardian of God’s only begotten Son.  It was his faith that enabled him not to forgive Mary but to believe her and to honor her as the Mother of God’s Son more than even the wife he had been betrothed to take.

Perhaps Joseph would never escape the whispers of Nazareth gossips or the cynical laughter of the old men who thought him a fool.  Joseph would never be understood in his patience or in his faith.  But that did not matter.  Joseph submitted to God’s will just as Mary had.  He consented to God’s will just as Mary had.  He trusted in the goodness of the Lord just as Mary had.  He believed against hope, just as Mary had, that this was about more than Mary, more than Joseph, but the fulfillment of the prophet’s promise and for the redemption of the whole world.  The world might have laughed at Joseph but God did not.

When Joseph went to Bethlehem and found no place for Mary and Jesus, it came as no surprise.  Petty people and dirty minds had long ago looked askance at Joseph and kept their distance from him.  But Joseph trusted God more than he feared man and he believed the Lord even when the cross he was asked to bear was great.  If his family and friends knew anything about Joseph, they should have know this.  He believed the Lord and this faith counted him righteous in the sight of God.

An old saying puts it this way.  In marriage, it is the job of the man to die for his wife and children and it is the job of his wife and children to let him.  You can laugh if you want but it is a profound truth.  Self-serving acts and self-interest have come to dominate marriage and what is the result?  More conflict, disappointment, and divorce than ever before.  And the world is cheering on men who would put away their wives and wives who would mock their husbands and children who refuse to honor either mother or father.  But where a man will heed the example of Joseph, die for his wife and children, there we see the glimpse of the Church and Christ the bridegroom who did just that for us.  A man could do far worse than to emulate Joseph, live by faith, act with honor, and serve by sacrifice the God of our salvation and the family placed in his care.

Joseph was not acting out of noble principle, it was love.  No, not the foolish, impetuous, lusty, infatuation that we usually call love.  Joseph was showing to Mary the love that God had shown him.  If you want to talk romance, a man who will sacrifice himself at God’s call and for his family is far more romantic than one who will curl up beside you because he wants something from you.  Joseph was not some uncaring man who did not talk about his feelings – the common portrayal of masculinity that is subject to ridicule by our feminized society.  Joseph was a man of God who lived by faith and acted in obedience to God’s command.  We could use strong husbands and fathers like him.

In the end, Joseph got Mary.  The words of the angel freed Joseph to do what he had wanted to do – to take Mary as his wife not out of lust but reverence and in the fear of God.  So God set him free to do what Joseph really wanted to do.  And Joseph was glad to do it.  So do not feel sorry for Joseph but admire him.  Do not forget him but remember the shape of his love, his patience, and his sacrifice.  Men, do like Joseph and die for the sake your wives and children.  And women, let him do it.  And follow his example by submitting to him not in coercion or fear but in love that returns the favor.  This is what God has done for you.  In faith, do it back to Him but loving those in your care as He has loved you.  It is not only what you live for that defines you but what you will die for.

If we have learned anything from Joseph, we will have learned this.  God help us.  Amen.  

Why do you seek the living among the dead?

Sermon for Easter Sunday, preached three times on March31, 2013... in one form or another...

    The words we heard in the Gospel are both distant from us and as familiar to us as life itself.  Scripture tells us that they went to the tomb – they being Mary Magdalene, the other Mary, Joanna, and some others.  They were on their way to the grave after a death filled with sorrow in the midst of a busy holiday.  We get it.  It's nothing new.  It happens to us, too.  Death comes at inopportune times when we cannot give grief its due.  Now they were at the grave to finish the job of burial and to cry out their grief.  We do it too.  When love is left with a broken heart and pieces to put back together, we try to look for ways to repair our sorrows and heal our wounds.
    Sometimes death finds us in denial.  Part of the reason we go to the funeral and the cemetery is to make death more real.  When we don't want to believe, the turned up sod and temporary marker forces us.  Life is gone.  Death is done.  The grave has won.  Before grief can heal, death must be real.   We might hope it was all a mistake but when you get to the cemetery, you realize it is real. We know it.  We have been there.  We have the scars.  We still carry the pain of the loss.
    So they came.  Mary Magdalene whom Jesus had cleaned up and give her back her life when all she had were dead ends... and the other Mary and Joanna and the others.  What were their stories?  We don't know.  But they all came to the grave wishing they did not have to be there, hoping it was not real, but expecting to find death.  Even their memories could not console them now.  No laughter or hope was left.  Death had taken everything from them.
    But when they went in, there was no body of Jesus.  Now even the body of Jesus was gone.  Only strangers left where the body should have been.  Now their grief was met by fear and confusion more scarey than death.  Where did they take Jesus’ body?
    Then comes the voice: "Why are you here?  Why do you look for the living among the dead?  Jesus lives.  Don't you remember?  He told you."  How could they remember?  All they could think about were the betrayal by a friend, the terrible but innocent sufferings, and the death, oh the death.  Who heard “... and the third day rise?"  That memory was like a ghost in their thoughts.  Not scarey but not real either.  They left with a story to tell.  They ran to the disciples but the disciples thought it idle speculation.  But not Peter.  Peter wanted to believe it. He needed to believe it.  So desperately that he ran to look for himself and see how death could become life.
    Today we are Mary of Magdala... and the other women... and the disciples . We come here because we have a past filled with disappointments, sorrows, pain, and dead ends.  We seek a future.  Jesus has promised us this future. We come as mortals facing our own death and as the sons, daughters, mothers, and fathers who have given up our parents and children to death.  We come seeking more than comfort.  We want life stronger than death.
    Today we come.  We wear the stink of death... we bear the sting of death... we are marked with sin... our eyes heavy with sorrow and swollen from the tears of grief. We come because we know sin is real.  We look into the mirror of our hearts and do not like what stares back at us.   Our disappointments have given way to despair, to cynicism, to skepticism, to bitterness... We know the death of the body is real.  But we also know the death that has killed our hope, killed our peace, and killed our joy.  You cannot wish this death away.  We know how hard our hearts have become and now we want to know if hope is real, if the promise of the empty tomb is strong enough to hang our hopes, our dreams, and our lives upon.   We want to know where tears of sorrow can be met with honest and real joy.
    Today we come.  A pat on the back will not due.  The promise of a next time will not suffice.  Staring into death, His voice speaks to us: "Why do you look for living among the dead?"  That is our problem.  They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.  The truth is our lives are filled with the insanity of the ruts that send us down the same road of sorrow, of disappointment, and of bitterness.  Now our Lord challenges us to let go of the dead wounds and memories, of the disappointments and despair, of the sins and guilt.
    What may seem an idle tale or words that promise something too good to be true are real.  Christ is risen.  You too shall rise.  Easter beckons to us.  Hope slaps our disappointment in the face.  Don't be afraid.  Don't live as the dead among the living.  Don’t keep yourself distant from the present hope that God has given you.  He has proven His love on the cross and in the empty tomb He has proven His power.  You are not on your own nor are you your own.  You have been bought with a price.  You belong not to death but to life in Christ.  Sin, death, and the devil have all had their shot at you.  But Christ has won you.  Live not for yourself but for Him.
    Now Christ stands between you and death.  Death cannot claim you without going through Him.  He has already died and risen and death has no more power over Him... so it has no more power over you.  Your life is now hidden with Christ... your life in Christ...  How profound is this freedom! 
    The world really does not expect Christians to be perfect.  It knows better.  The world does not expect Christians to be holy or righteous.  But the world does expect from Christians and it has a right to expect from us that we are people of joy.  Easter is about the joy of sins forgiven, lives reborn, death overcome, and the blessed reunion in heaven.  What impact would it have on us and on our witness if we took this joy as seriously as we do disappointments, dead ends, broken promises, and death?  In Christ’s resurrection is confirmation of our redemption, the down payment of our own joyful resurrection, and the means to live this holy joy amid a world still broken.
    You may have come today like Mary bearing the burden of death... but Christ sends you home with His life in You.  This is not about trivialities like feelings or happiness.  It is about the dead being made alive, sins forgiven, and heaven prepared for you.  You may have come today like the Marys who came to Jesus' tomb.  Don't go home the same way.  Do not let your hearts be captive to death or surrender your joy to disappointment and pain.  The joy that endures is the fruit of Christ and His resurrection for you and in you.  Why do you seek the living among the dead?  Why indeed!  Don't surrender your life to despair.  Stop living in fear.  Christ is Risen!  He is risen, indeed!  The life you live is not yours; it is Christ living in you.  Forgiven, set free from death, live this Easter joy!  Amen!

You have found favor. . .

Sermon for Advent 4B, preached on Sunday, December 20, 2020.

I well remember opening the letter that said the admissions committee had viewed favorably my application to enter seminary.  It was interesting wording.  It was not simple that they had accepted my application but they had viewed my application with favor.  It is formal language.  Like the old days in which an invitation was often accompanied with an RSVP that said The favor of a reply is requested.  It is a little different than the usual can you do me a favor. This favor is not a one time kindness but a life changing act.

Today we heard how the angel Gabriel was sent to the Virgin Mary with these words.  Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.  Though we might not think favor such a big thing, it is bigger than anyone can imagine.  When the Lord looked with favor on the blessed Virgin history was changed.  Out of all the people living, it was Mary who figured into God’s plan to save His people from the consequences of their chosen path of sin and rebellion. It was Mary who would carry in her womb the mighty Son of God.  It was Mary who would cry out with the pain of childbirth to deliver up God Himself in human flesh.  It as Mary who would give Him the name Jesus, because He would save His people.  Her life was forever changed and ours as well because of God’s favor.

According to her response, the song we call the Magnificat, the significance of this all was not lost on her.  It is a song of gratitude as much as praise.  She lauds the mercy of God who viewed her with favor, who lifted her of low birth to the place of honor, and whose mercy would make all generations call her the Blessed One.  God did not find in Mary a perfect woman without need of any of His divine grace or mercy but He did find a woman of faith, who trusted in the Lord, who listened to the voice of His Word and believed it, and who would humbly consent to that Word as the divine plan for her life to supercede everything she once desired.

We heard today God speak to Blessed Mary through the voice of the angel,  Do not be afraid.  You have found favor with God.  But these words were also spoken to us.  We too quickly look past the favor of God to other concerns that appear to be larger in our eyes.  Keeping ourselves alive in the face of a viral pandemic, keeping our finances afloat in the face of lock downs and closed doors, or finding toilet paper and other essentials in the panic buying of people giving into the power of fear.  These things come and go, good and bad, but God’s favor remains on us.
Wearing a mask, forsaking most contact with anyone outside the smallest of circles, and maintaining a physical distance that in every other time of history would have been called anti-social.  Not being able to be with the aged in their last days or the frail in nursing homes or the hospitalized in their recovery.  We have no shortage of things for which we have willingly sacrificed because we fear the consequences.  It is no wonder why we might discount the value of the Lord’s favor. All these things will pass, but God’s favor remains on you and me.

When the Lord addressed the Blessed Virgin Mary so long ago, He was speaking words that would echo through time and eternity in the face of the Christ.  Do not be afraid.  The world can persecute you and threaten you with words and diseases that could would your heart and kill your body.  But do not be afraid.  The world cannot steal away your hope in Christ or take away the promise He has given of a new heaven, a new earth, and a new life without any threats or fears the old life knows.  Do not be afraid of losing you life because your life is hidden with God in Christ and no one can steal from you that which God gives.  Do not be afraid because your life is not defined by the sorrows and struggles of this moment any more than it is capable of knowing only the joys and contentment of this moment.  Whether you live or die, You belong to the Lord.  This is God’s favor.

My friends, God’s favor rests not only on the Blessed Virgin Mary but upon YOU.  You have God’s favor upon you.  From the call of God to come to the font where He would bestow upon you the fruits of this living water to the hand of God that lifts you from this veil of tears, the favor of God rests on YOU.  From the tears that fill your eyes to the smiles your cannot contain, do not be afraid for the favor of God rests on YOU.  

What does this favor look like?  The God who should count every one of your sins against you has chosen to forgive you.  The God who should reserve His mercy for those who are worthy, has chosen to give YOU what you neither deserve nor have  earned.  The God who by rights should have written you and all people off and consigned us to punishment and death has chosen to bear the punishment for you and give you instead the gift of life.

Now, right now, in this moment in time, God’s favor rests upon you.  He has decided to look upon you and your sins with mercy and to bestow upon you the gracious gift of a blessed future you cannot even imagine.  
So do not give into the power of fear.  Do not succumb to gloom and doom and despair.  Do not lament the bad without also rejoicing in the good God has done for you.  God has chosen to look upon you favorably.  He has given you the favor of an answer to your cry for help.  He has shown His favor by giving up His one and only Son to suffer for your sins and die in you place the death to sin – once for all – so that you might live with Him forevermore.

We would be happy enough if half our dreams came true but God’s favor makes this pale in comparison.  The impossible dream has come true.  As good as the best of life’s things are, they are nothing compared to the gift God has given you by looking upon you favorable, desiring to save you even if it cost Him His only begotten Son, and giving up your sins to the death of a sinless Savior.  Yet that remains the struggle, doesn’t it.  We are more interested in earthly treasures that fade away than we are Christ’s heavenly victory.  We complain more urgently about all that is wrong than we rejoice in the surprise of God’s mercy.

Satan’s goal is not to make you bad so that God will hate you.  Satan’s goal is to help you discount what God has done to save you so that you will hate God – or at least go your own way and do your own thing without thinking of God.  But to follow the example of Mary is to remember God’s foremost words to you.  Do not be afraid for you have found favor with the Lord.

We live in complaining times amid a people who are not sure who they can trust or if they want to trust anyone.  We argue about everything and are more divided now than any point in our history.  We have made ourselves miserable by thinking we know more than everyone else and we cannot trust anyone else.  We dismiss every blessing as too little or too late and we view everyone – friend or foe – with suspicion.  It has got to stop.  It is distracting us from the one thing needful and from the most important words of all.  Do not be afraid for you have found favor with God.  These words have to be lens with which we see ourselves and our lives or nothing else will matter and nothing will ever satisfy the longing of our hearts.  That is why Mary is an example to us of faith, of humility, of joy, and of contentment.  So, come let us follow her in delighting in the Lord, in trusting in His Word, and in rejoicing over the favor He has shown to us in Christ His Son.  Amen.

God is in charge. . .

Sermon for the First Sunday after Christmas and the Commemoration of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist, preached on Sunday, December 27, 2020.

We face so many things that cry out for an explanation -- including things in the faith.  When we hear of such things as a six day creation or circumcision or the dietary laws prohibiting pork or shell fish or the calling of women unclean after childbirth or the command to present the first born son to the Lord in the Temple, we wonder about God.  It sounds so ancient and so superstitious and so ignorant.  Why would God command such things?  What does it all mean?  Some Christians reject it and insist that such things they cannot believe and they reduce the Gospel to love, acceptance, and affirmation.  What do you do with such things?  How are we supposed to make sense of it all?

Today we not only observe the First Sunday after Christmas with its account of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Presentation of our Lord in the Temple but also the Feast Day of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist.  This John is the one who is always included with Peter, James, and John, who authored the Gospel, three letters, and Revelation -- yeah Revelation.  He is one of the original twelve, one of the Sons of Zebedee or Sons of Thunder, and so he is an apostle but he is also the author of the Gospel that bears his name, so he is an evangelist.  It may seem that the days have nothing in common but perhaps they have everything in common.

The message of the Gospel of St. John is concluded with this statement:  “This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true.  Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”  It is as if St. John is saying to us what earlier our Lord said to St. Peter – the Lord knows what He is doing.  You don’t have to understand it or even agree with it.  You just have to believe it.  What does it matter that you do not get everything the Lord said and did?  In other words, we do not have to know every detail of Jesus works or understand all of Jesus words, all we need to know is that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died on the cross to save us and that He rose from the dead so that forgiveness of sins might be proclaimed in His name.  That is enough.

Peter was worried what would happen to John.  We worry that creation and science seem at odds, that circumcision is a silly sign of obedience, that things should be called good or bad, clean or unclean, or that we don’t get it all.  We live in fear that vaccines will not save us from pandemics or IRAs will not keep their value or we will not live long enough to accomplish our bucket list or the ways of God seem strangely at odds with the ways of the world.  Peter did not need to understand what Jesus was doing but only to believe Him.  We do not need to reconcile what we observe around us with what God says.  We do not need to understand God’s ways.  All we are called to do is to believe in Him whom the Father has sent to be our Savior and Redeemer.  This is what it means to be captive to the world of God.

Simeon understood this.  He was righteous and devout in a world filled with as much sin and evil as our own.  He stuck out like a sore thumb.  But it did not consume him.  He waited for the consolation of Israel, for the Savior whom the Father had promised.  This was not a conscious act of his own will but the guidance of the Spirit who lived in him by faith.  So he got up and went to the Lord’s Temple day after day after day whether he wanted to or not.  And then one day, the Holy Spirit caused his vision to be cast upon the Blessed Virgin Mary and the child Jesus in her arms and all his waiting ended.  He was ready to depart for he had seen the promised salvation of God, the light to lighten the Gentiles and Israel’s glory.  And that was enough.

Anna was an old woman.  In her advanced years she had known hardship and loss of husband and family and was alone.  Yet she did not depart from the Temple but worshiped and prayed night and day.  She did not understand why her life had been so hard and the world had been so cruel to her.  She was not bitter but turned to the Lord and waited upon Him.  Until the day when the child Jesus came into the Temple in the arms of the Blessed Virgin and she gave thanks that her waiting had ended and Israel’s redeemer was right in front of her.

Joseph and Mary watched and heard all of this and did not know what to say.  Instead they added it to the confusing and often scary history of what God had said and done to bring them to this moment.  They did not get the reasons for all of this but they trusted in the Lord, they pondered these things in their hearts, and they were obedient to the Word of God (which means they believed that Word).  It was enough.  They did not have to understand God’s ways, they were called simply to believe in them.

Friends, we have come through a year of hell which has only magnified our uncertainty. We have seen all things we thought we knew discounted by the experiences of something none could have predicted.  We have heard science speak contradictions to us while we were hoping for unanimity.  We have been polarized by race, economics, and politics.  Our hope has been bruised and broken by all that has happened and by our fear of what might be to come.  The answer is not in trying understand it or figure out what it means or to find where God is hidden in all of this.  The answer is to believe as St. John bids and St. Joseph and Blessed Mary and Simeon and Anna show, trust in the Lord.

God knows what He is doing when we do not.  We don’t know if things will be better or worse, if days of persecution and threat are coming, if violence and protest will define our days, if politics will further divide us, or if toilet paper will ever be abundant again. But we do not need to know this.  What we need to know is what God has done in Christ to save us and how this salvation unfolded by God’s plan when over time and space. What we need to know is that the sorrows we face will be nothing in comparison to the joys that await us, that the loss we endure will be nothing in comparison to reward that awaits us, that the heartaches we endure will be forgotten in the face of the glories that God has prepared for us.  All of these bad things will come and in the midst of it all we will no more understand why or how or even where God is in the mess of things but we know this.  God will use it for good.  He will keep us in the palm of His hand.  He will shepherd us through these days to the eternal day when we are with Him forever.

I cannot explain how God created everything in six days or why He chose circumcision or why pork was prohibited or women were declared unclean after childbirth.  You cannot explain it either.  If I could, I would be God and if you could, you would be God.  But we are not God and God is not us.  We are people of faith who trust in what we cannot see, what we do not understand, and what we cannot explain.  It is called faith.  That is how we meet God in the manger of Christmas, in the Temple on our Lord’s Presentation and Mary’s Purification, in the water that bears His promise, and in the bread and wine that gives us His flesh and blood.  We are people of faith.

The times will test that faith and the world will taunt us for believing but the answer does not lie in trying to piece together a faulty explanation of God’s ways or rejecting God for the things He has not revealed.  The only answer was and is faith.  Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Trust not in princes or rulers or earthly powers but in Christ alone.  There are many other things Jesus said and did but these things are written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you might have life in His name.  Amen.

A Walk Through John 11 and the Raising of Lazarus

Sermon for Lent 5A, preached on Sunday, April 10, 2011   (note this is an atypical sermon in which we follow the text verse by verse to comment on the abundant details offered here in John 11:1-45)

Today we recall the long account of Jesus raising Lazarus.  Instead of focusing on a couple of verse, I want to walk through the whole account with you so keep the reading handy as see what all is there in this powerful text that prepares us for and prefigures Jesus own resurrection from the dead.
•    vs 1 - a certain man – the closest of friends to Jesus, almost family – name Lazarus means God has helped
•    vs 2 - Mary of the ointment – to identity Mary as believer and follower, one of the intimate circle of Jesus’ friends
•    vs 3-4 - whom you love – emphasizing the closeness - this is no stranger       “this illness will not lead to death” – but it did  – yet he did not stay dead “so that the Son of God may be glorified” - glory hidden in suffering/death or where we least expect to find God’s glory... why it is called “hidden”
•     vs 6 - Jesus stayed where He was - not for lack of love for Lazarus but that His power might be manifest in him; delay doesn’t mean he doesn’t care; think of that next time you pray and cannot see God’s answer
•    vs 7 - “Lets go...” – but surely it is too late now.... or is it?  Why go now when Lazarus is dead or is there something more to this all?
•    vs 8 - If you could not spare him death, do not endanger yourself Jesus; it is not worth it... except love makes it worth it
•    vs 9-10 - night and day – euphemisms of faith and unbelief
•    vs 11-14 - sleep or death – no real death – if he has died, why bother?
•    We are told that when Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, he remained where he was for two days. With friends like Jesus, who needs enemies, we think.  But consider how one early church father preached on this:
•    You see how he gives full scope to death. He grants free reign to the grave; he allows corruption to set in. He prohibits neither putrefaction nor stench from taking their normal course; he allows the realm of darkness to seize his friend, drag him down to the underworld, and take possession of him. He acts like this so that human hope may perish entirely and human despair reach its lowest depths...
•    vs 15-16 - Thomas - we just as well go because we are all gonna die anyway
•    vs 17 - four days - Jewish rabbis taught the soul remained for 3 days
•    vs 19-21 - burial within 24 hours – no delay even for the Son of God;             The “Jews” shows that this was a well placed, highly respected family   “If you were here, he would not have died” - God’s job to prevent tragedy – it is still how we see things today, isn’t it....
•    vs 23 - Jesus did not deny He could have prevented it – He could have – but holds out the promise of the resurrection – consolation prize or more?
•    vs 24 - Martha thinks like we do: “I know, I know, the last day – but what about NOW?”  Yet that is exactly what Jesus is talking about is NOW – I AM the resurrection - I make the dead rise and I keep the living alive – not a little hope at the end but hope for NOW
•    vs 27 - I believe – note the creedal form – but it is future; Jesus is not to come but present with them in their sorrow
•    vs 28 - not for Martha only – she speaks the Gospel to her grieving sister but in private - not to cause a ruckus in front of the rest of the people
•    vs 29 - Mary got right up and left – so in need of consolation and comfort
•    vs 31 - but everyone followed anyhow, thinking time for more wailing – grief is no private sorrow; death affects all and weeping & wailing shows it
•    vs 32 - Mary offers the very same complaint as Martha– Lord, you could have prevented this...
•    vs 33 - Jesus is moved, is deeply troubled - joins in the weeping & wailing but why? For the death of His friend Lazarus? For their unbelief?  For the glory to be revealed when He raised him?  For the death that awaited Him? – all of these.  He cries for our death as our death cries for Him...
•    vs 34 - where is Lazarus?  Didn’t Jesus know or was this for effect?   And the onlookers are confused: see His tears but He is a miracle worker, could Jesus not have kept this man from dying – or you or me?  Is this not our expectation still – if you loved me, Lord, you would keep bad things from happening to me...  Do we cry because He does not answer or because we do not like the answer He gives... glory comes in suffering?
•    vs 38 - A cave – where will Jesus be buried? And a stone He will roll away
•    vs 39 - he stinks.  Death stinks.  We all wear the stink of death and no amount of deodorant or cologne can mask its stench.  Only God can wash us of death’s smell.  How can the glory of God be found in the stink of death?  Look at Good Friday... and then look at your own death...
•    vs 40 - “Did I not tell you you’d see the glory of God?”  But who expected it would be seen in death, amid tears, facing loss?  Still our problem... we look in all the wrong places for the glory of God...
•    vs 42 - “on account of...” – everything Jesus does is for you and for me
•    vs 44 - the dead man comes out wearing death... He will die again... His is not Jesus’ resurrection but a sign of that more powerful resurrection to come.  We do not hope to get our life back.  We cannot settle for the old life given back to us. We hope for a resurrection in which death cannot touch us and life is our eternal possession.  We hope for radical new life.
•    vs 44 - unbind him – only Jesus unbinds us from the chains of sin & death
•    vs 45-46 - some believed because of this sign; others were hardened in their unbelief – signs do not bring people to Jesus but they point us to Jesus; miracles don’t help you believe but show you in whom you believe
•    vs 46-53 - the act of raising death seals the fate for Jesus’ death  – the plans were laid... it is only a matter of time now... the march toward the cross has already begun... and where is the first stop along the way, you guessed it, a visit to Mary, Martha, and the newly resurrected Lazarus...

Of all the accounts recorded in Scripture, this one has the most details.  It is as if God is saying to us... there is important stuff here.  Pay attention.  Still we stand wondering with Martha and Mary why God doesn’t make all the bad things go away... still we miss that Jesus is here with us in our sorrows and struggles... still we are surprised that life is hidden in death, grace in suffering, and hope at the brink of despair...  But now you know... now we know... so that when Good Friday comes... we will remember.... this death will reveal the glory of God to us and for us.... if we look with eyes of faith!
Amen

So that you might believe. . .

Sermon preached for the First Sunday after Christmas, the Festival of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist, by the Rev. Daniel Ulrich on Sunday, December 27, 2015.


   It’s very appropriate that today, two days after Christ’s birth, we commemorate St. John, the Apostle and Evangelist, because Jesus is the very center of all that John wrote and proclaimed.  John was an eyewitness of the Incarnate God, and he gave testimony to this.  He wrote about what he heard and saw so that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, our Savior, and that by believing we would have everlasting life. 
I.    The apostle John was one of the inner circle of the Twelve, along with his brother James and Peter.  He refers to himself in the gospel that bears his name as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”  Of course Christ loved all of His disciples, but it does seem that John was especially close with our Lord as He walked on earth.  John witnesses many things that some of the other disciples didn’t.  He was present on the mount of Transfiguration and saw Jesus in His divine glory.  He sat next to Christ at the Last Supper.  He was with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane as He prayed before He was betrayed.  John was the only one of the Twelve present as Jesus hung on the cross, and Christ even commended His mother Mary into the care of John before He died. 
Besides being a witness to these significant events of Christ’s life, John witnessed everything else Jesus said and did.  He heard all of Jesus’ teachings.  He saw all of Christ’s miracles, His healings, the feeding of 5,000, the raising of Lazarus from the dead, and of course, Christ’s resurrection.  This is where our Gospel reading takes place, during the third time the resurrected Christ revealed Himself to His disciples. 
Seven of the disciples, including John, went fishing one evening, but they had no success.  That next morning, Jesus was standing on the shore, but they were unaware that it was Him.  Jesus instructed them to cast the net on the right side of the boat, and they did.  Miraculously, they caught so many fish that they were unable to haul it into the boat.  Right then, John knew that it was the Lord.  John was once again an eyewitness to one of Jesus’ great miracles. 
The job of an eyewitness is to give a testimony.  In a courtroom, witnesses are called before the judge and jury to tell what they have seen and heard.  It is their responsibility to give an accurate and truthful account of what they witnessed so that others may know the evidence and judge rightly a person’s innocence or guilt.  As an eyewitness of Christ Jesus, it was John’s responsibility to testify to others what Jesus said and did, and this is what John tells us He is doing in all of his writings.  At the end of the Gospel of John, he attaches his name writing, “This is the disciple [that is, the disciple whom Jesus loved, John] who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true” (Jn 21:24).  John, and those who helped him put what he saw and heard down on paper, assure us that he was an eyewitness and that what he has testified to is truthful. 
In 1 John, the apostle again explains that he was an observer of Christ, the second person of the Trinity who was from the beginning.  John heard the Almighty God speak, he saw the eternal God with his own eyes, he touched the Incarnate God with his own hands.  And it is about this God, Jesus, that he writes about.  In the book of Revelation, John testifies to the revelation of Jesus Christ, the revelation that was made known to him by and angel.  Everything that John wrote was a testimony of what He saw and heard.  Everything he wrote was about Jesus. 
II.    There are many reasons for people to write today.  Authors of novels write in order to tell stories and to entertain their readers.  Journalists write in order to pass along information and the news.  History writers write in order to record and preserve the past.  Some people write with hope of becoming famous and making a name for themselves.  Others write with the hope of not being forgotten after they die.  And still others write just for the pure enjoyment of it.  There are many reasons to write, but John only had one.  He wore to proclaim Jesus so that we might believe in Him and be saved. 
    Everything that John wrote about Christ was for us.  He wanted us to know, believe, and trust in Jesus our Savior.  In his first epistle, John wrote, “That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ” (1 Jn 1:3).  And he continues, “I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.  But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.  He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 Jn 2:1-2). 
    John wrote to tell us who Jesus is and what He has done for you.  From the very first word of his gospel to the very last word of Revelation, John points you to Christ Jesus your Savior.  He points you to the cross where Jesus was the propitiation for your sins, where He shed His blood and gave up His life to pay the penalty for your sins.  He took the punishment you and I rightly deserve from God and He appeased God’s wrath, all for you.  And then, three days later, with His resurrection from the tomb, He defeated death, your death, and He won for you eternal life.  This is what John wrote and proclaimed, so that you might hear what Christ has done for you, so that you can believe and trust in your Savior and have life in Him. 
    The Gospel of John tells the history of Christ Jesus as He walked on this earth.  However, John would fail today as a modern history writer, because John didn’t include everything that Jesus did.  Today, biographers and history writers include everything: a person birth, their childhood, where they went to school, everything they did as an adult, and their death.  John doesn’t do this.  His gospel is void of Jesus nativity.  There’s no mention of His childhood, and there is much that Jesus said and did that John doesn’t include, and he admits this.  In John 20:30 he writes, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book.”  And then again, the last words of his gospel are this, “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did.  Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world could not contain the books that would be written” (Jn 21:25).
    John doesn’t tell us everything that Jesus said and did, just like the whole of Scripture doesn’t tell us and explain everything.  There is much about God, the world, and how He interacts with us and the world that we don’t know, and we don’t need to know.  God doesn’t give us an answer to all our questions, but He does give us what is necessary for faith and everlasting life. 
    Through the writers of Scripture, like the apostle and evangelist John, God tells us what we need to know, and what we need to know is Christ Jesus and what He has done for us.  We need to know that He died for our sins so that we may be forgiven.  We need to know that He rose from the dead, giving us life even when we die.  This is why John wrote what he wrote.  The teachings and deeds of Jesus that he records were written “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name” (Jn 20:31). 
    As an apostle, John was sent out to give testimony of what he heard and saw.  As an evangelist, John proclaimed, by mouth and pen, the good news of forgiveness, life, and salvation.  Today we commemorate John, not because of his good works, but because of the message he proclaimed.  We remember him because he wrote about Christ our Savior, and through his writing we have faith and everlasting life in Jesus.  In His name...Amen.

Where do you belong?

Sermon for the Second Sunday after Christmas, preached on Sunday, January 2, 2022.

Lets be honest.  Every parent has lost track of a child at some point on that child’s journey to adulthood.  And the easiest child to lose is the one who is obedient.  An obedient child begs to be neglected.  A disobedient child begs to be noticed and desires all the attention a parent can give.  So give Joseph and Mary a break.  Jesus was the perfectly obedient Son that everyone of us wish we had and so He did not test their patience or defy them or break the rules or talk back.  He faded into the background like every good kid does and He was the perfect Son.

Mary, however, was chastened by the guilt and shame of having gotten part of the way home before anyone noticed that Jesus was not with them.  She was hurt and wounded not simply by Jesus staying behind when the family left but, as any good parent, why she been preoccupied with other things and did not miss Him.  In that light she asks Jesus rather tersely, “Son, why have you treated us so?”  It was not so much a rebuke as an honest question.  “What happened to my perfect Son?”  And Jesus is not insolent in His response.  “Why were you looking for me?  Did you not know where I would be?”

Jesus loves His mother.  Mary loves Him.  But Jesus has not come to be simply an obedient Son but the obedient man for men.  He has come to do the business of the Temple, to offer sacrifice – the sacrifice of His flesh and blood on the altar of the cross where her sin and the sin of the whole world would be taken away.  Mary – the same Mary who pondered all these things in her heart and mind – should have known this.  But what mother would want to know this?  What mother would welcome her son’s sacrificial death on a cross for the sake of undeserving sinners?  Mary knew this from Simeon’s prophecy.  His words aroused an even greater protective concern for Jesus.  But Jesus insists.  He must not be distracted from the Father’s saving will and purpose.  More words for Mary to ponder.

And what about YOU?  Have you pondered all these things or have you tried to sidestep a Gospel which compels nothing less that the death of God’s Son so that you and I might be His sons and daughters.  Have YOU been about your Father’s business, making this Temple your home and caring for the temple of your body with the means of grace?   The Gospel seems rather tame and easy unless you admit that sin and death are the terrors of conscience and life.  But to those who ponder what sin has done, the Gospel is the greatest power and sweetest gift of all.
Our God is not tame but He is merciful.  The great temptation is to presume upon His mercy as if sin were no big deal and death was not a real enemy.  Our Lord was 12 years old and about His Father’s business of saving sinners like you and me.  Can we be about anything less as the recipients of His grace and those for whom He lived obediently and died willingly?

The work of salvation is complete.  But the working of saving sinners continues.  God calls us from our comfortable corners of life where we hide our sins and make peace with death.  The Lord continues to deliver to us the fruits of His sacrifice in the Word that bestows faith, in the water that gives new life, and in the bread and wine that feed us heaven’s food of Christ’s flesh and blood.  The Spirit calls this to our remembrance so that as we listen, remember, eat and drink we might witness this salvation and proclaim His death to the world until He comes again.

To the surprise of Mary and Joseph, Jesus is where He is to be, where He must be, doing what He alone can do.  He is about His Father’s things and the things of the Father are saving and redeeming you and me.  Does that surprise us as well?  Are YOU where you need to be where you must be, to receive the things of God won for you and to manifest the life of God in you?  Every Sunday Christ is here.  In this Word preached.  On this altar in bread and wine.  And this is where He bids us come, that He who has done all things for us upon the cross, might here bestow upon us the fruits of His death and resurrection — forgiveness for our sins, a clear conscience, comfort in trial, hope in despair, peace to pass all understanding and life that death cannot steal.

By the way, there is a little detail that Luke tells us that ought to have piqued your curiosity.  When did they find Jesus?  On the third day.  On the third day.  We live in that wonderful third day when death has been undone, when the grave has surrendered its victory, when fear has had its back broken, and when the Temple of the old covenant in Jerusalem has been replaced with the Temple of Christ’s body.  And even greater, your bodies have become the Temple, where the Spirit lives, where the things of God live, where sin no more accuses and death no more reigns.  And it all comes together when the temples of our bodies meet in this place the Temple of Christ’s body in this holy sacrament.  There the Savior delivers to us the things of the Father that we may be about them as He was and is.

It might also be good for us to remember who was lost.  Though Mary and Joseph were the ones looking, Jesus was not lost.  He was where He was supposed to be.  We are the lost who must be claimed from sin and its death.  We are the lost to whom the Lord calls with the voice of invitation and promise.  We are the lost who must be rescued and washed clean in the waters of baptism.  We are the lost who must regularly be reclaimed from sin’s power, guilt, and shame by the voice of absolution.  We are the lost who must be refreshed from hunger, thirst, and want by the Body of our Lord and His Blood in the bread and cup of this Sacrament.  We are the lost who must be reminded God is here.

Like Mary, we are always getting it mixed up.  We fear the Lord is hiding from us or lost to us when this things of life go wrong.  We are the lost ones and God is always where He has promised to be – doing what He has promised to do.  Jesus got it exactly right.  In His Father’s House.  Around the Word and Table of the Lord.  God is here.  And we rejoice to meet Him.  

How strange it is that people who think they have been mistreated or ignored or forgotten by their pastor or congregation, stay away as if to punish them.  But they are the ones who lose by being absent.  How odd it is that we act like church is not essential to being a Christian when Jesus shows us how important it is to be in the Lord’s House.  The reality is that if we can get past hurt feelings and anger and bitterness, the obedient Son will lead us home to our heavenly Father, to the gift and blessing of forgiveness and eternal life, and to the treasure of His grace and mercy to ponder and rejoice over it forever.  Amen.

The Peace that Quiets All Our Fears. . .

Sermon for Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve, preached on December 24, 2020, by the Rev. Daniel M. Ulrich. 

 This is the day that many of us have been looking forward to. We’ve been looking forward to it for a long time. I’ve been looking forward to it ever since Easter. All of us hoping that this Christmas would be the joyful end to 2020 and we could all get back to “normal.” But, that’s not the case. Instead of feeling joy and peace and merriness, it’s more of the same. We’re filled with angst, uncertainty, and fear. 

2020 has been a year marked with fears. Fears of riots and violent protests. Fears of a virus. Fears of shutdowns and quarantines. Fear of running out of essential supplies, like toilet paper. Fears of economic collapse. It’s all there. Every night we turned on the TV hoping for some good news, and all we got was more to be afraid of. Fear is the emotion of the year. We’ve all felt it. We’ve feared the unknown, much like everyone who was present for Jesus’ birth that first Christmas. 

I. When we picture the nativity of our Lord, we think of it as a peaceful scene. Mary and Joseph looking over baby Jesus lying in the manger. Barnyard animals quietly surrounding them. Shepherds and the sheep kneeling before the newborn King. Everything seems right and perfect. But this peaceful image that we’ve come to treasure and love ignores the reality of fear that was felt that night. 

There’s always a certain amount of fear that parents have when a child is born. I know I felt it when my two girls were. There’s fear because there’s always a level of uncertainty, not knowing exactly what will happen. If we feel fear today with all the modern technologies we have in hospitals, how much more do you think it was felt in that stable in Bethlehem? 

 

Joseph and Mary were in a frightful situation. The law required them to go to Bethlehem for a census. So, while Mary was 9 months pregnant, they made that 90 mile trek from Nazareth. Today, 90 miles doesn’t seem like that far. Hop in the car, set the cruise at 75, and be there in a little over an hour. But there was no I-24 for Mary and Joseph. They had to walk it. Imagine that, walking 90 miles while you're 9 months pregnant, having to carry with you all your stuff to camp on the side on the road as you made the journey. This isn’t something that many of us would be happy to do. And then imagine the level of fear they had once they got to Bethlehem and realized there was no place for them to sleep. And then imagine how that fear must have grown when Mary’s water broke and contractions started. Talk about a frightful situation, not knowing what would happen. I can only imagine the level of fear Mary and Joseph had as they had to quickly turn a stable into a labor and delivery room. 

But they weren’t the only ones who feared that night. Those shepherds that we picture peacefully kneeling at the manger, they also were afraid. These men were used to sleeping outside as they watched after their sheep. They were used to the night air and the sounds of the open country. It wasn’t a terrifying thing for them to be out there, not fully knowing what was in the dark. But that night, they did become terrified, not because of what they didn’t see, but because of what they did see. 

As they watched their flock, an angel appeared to them. This of course wasn’t a normal thing. We all like to think it would be wonderful to see an angel of God, but everytime one shows up in the Bible, there’s always fear. Joseph feared when the angel appeared to him, telling him to marry Mary. Mary was troubled when the angel showed up in her house, telling her she would be the mother of God. Whenever there’s an angel, there’s fear. There’s fear because there’s uncertainty. Why is the angel there? Were the angels there to help the shepherds, or harm them? Were they a sign of something good, or bad? You can never tell just by the appearance of angels, because they can bring good tidings or judgement. Seeing the glory of the Lord reflected in the angels, the shepherds feared the unknown. And that’s what we ultimately fear. We fear the unknown. We fear the unknown of death. 

That’s why 2020 has been so fearful for us. We’re living with an uncertainty in life. We don’t know what will happen from day to day. There doesn’t seem to be any security anymore. We’re fearful of catching a virus that’s difficult to track. We’re covering our faces and staying away from people because we don’t know if they’re safe. We stay away from gatherings because we’ve been told they’re inherently dangerous. How many church buildings stand empty tonight because of fear? We’re afraid of death, and rightly so because of our sin. 

Death isn’t a good thing. It’s not simply part of the circle of life. It’s contrary to life. It’s not supposed to be, but because of our sin, that’s what we have. We have death, we have to deal with death, we fear death, because of our sin. When our first parents disobeyed, they brought death into our world, and we’ve been living with the consequences of it ever since. Death is literally all around us. This is something that a few of us have had to face recently as loved ones have died in recent weeks. But death isn’t something that we have to fear because we know our Savior who was born to overcome death. We know our Savior who was born to give you life. 

II. The angels weren’t there to harm to the shepherds, they were there to quiet all their fears. They brought the message of good news about the birth of the Savior that God had promised all the way back in the Garden. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!” (Lk 2:14) The Savior is born. He is here. The One who’d crush Satan’s head, the One who’d overcome death and sin with His own death and resurrection, the One who’d give His life to you is here! This is the good news that we need to hear right now. This is the good news that we look forward to hearing.

 

The reason why we’ve all looked forward to this evening isn’t because we simply hoped it would mark the end of a year that all of us wish we could forget. No, the reason why we’ve looked forward to this evening is because this is the evening that we celebrate our Lord coming to us to save us. We looked forward to this evening because of that message the angels sang to the shepherds, that message that continues to be sung to us. We look forward to this night because the birth of our Lord answers and quiets all of our fears. Even in the midst of all the uncertainties of death, even in the midst of a world that’s been thrown upside down and turned inside out, even in the midst of not knowing what will happen tomorrow, by faith you know your Savior and by faith you know the final outcome. Death isn’t your final destination, everlasting life is. Jesus’ cross and resurrection guarantees it and your baptism seals it. Everlasting life is a certainty that is yours, no matter what fearful uncertainties surround us. 

So tonight, let the peace of God quiet all your fears. Tonight, hear that message of the angels. Tonight, know you have life because the Savior is born, He has died on the cross, and risen again for you. In Jesus’ name...Amen.

What's in a name?

Sermon preached for Advent 4A on Sunday, December 22, 2019, by the Rev. Daniel M. Ulrich.

[The angel told Joseph] “‘[Mary] will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’  All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us” (vv 21-23).

Have you ever wondered why your parents gave you the name they did?  Were you named after a family member or friend?  Does your name have a special meaning?  Or did your parents pick it because it was unique and they liked the way it sounded?  Naming a child is an important thing because that name will be with them for the rest of their life.  They’ll be defined by that name; that’s how people will know them.  And this is the same for our Lord.  We know our Lord by His name, the name that tells us what He does and who He is. 

Most parents spend a lot of time deciding on their child’s name.  From the moment they find out they’re having a child, they start thinking.  They go through list after list picking out names, crossing some off and then adding some back on, until finally they make their decision.  But Mary and Joseph didn’t have that conversation.  The angel told Joseph exactly what name to give Mary’s Son.

But at first, Joseph didn’t want to give Mary’s Son a name, because he planned on divorcing her because she was found with child.  Matthew tells us he planned on doing this quietly because he was a just man and didn’t want put Mary to shame.  But being a just man means that Joseph would’ve been in the right to shame Mary, because all evidence showed her to be an adulterer.  But Joseph was going to set aside his “justness” to show Mary mercy. 

As Joseph was planning all of this, the angel of the Lord appeared to him and assured him that Mary hadn’t been unfaithful.  She hadn’t broken her betrothal vows.  The Child inside here was conceived by the Spirit.  He was God’s Son, and Joseph was to give Him the name “Jesus.”  Jesus’ name was divinely picked to announce what He would do: He would save His people from their sins.  But, Mary’s Son wasn’t the only one called “Jesus” at that time. 

The name “Jesus” is the Greek version of the Hebrew name “Joshua,” which means “the LORD is salvation.”  This was a very popular name at that time, and it still is today.  In the Old Testament, Joshua was Moses’ successor who finally led God’s people into the Promised Land.  Because of this, many boys were named “Joshua,” many were called “Jesus,” but only Mary’s Son would fulfill that name.  In Jesus, the LORD God was providing salvation for His people.  Jesus’ name and work go together.  The very name “Jesus” proclaims why He was born, so God could save His people from their sin. 

It’s amazing to think about the fact that God saves us from our sin, because sin is our problem.  We’re the cause of it.  It’s all our fault.  And in our world, if something is your fault, you have to fix it.  You have to pay for it.  You have to suffer the consequence of it.  Everything that happens as a result of sin, we justly deserve.  We deserve shame for our sin.  We deserve broken relationships.  We deserve a hard life.  We deserve conflict and strife.  We deserve war.  We deserve the chaos of the world.  We deserve death.  But God doesn’t leave us alone to receive these just consequences of our sin.  He comes to us being Immanuel to save us. 

God saves you, He provides for your salvation by being “God with us.”  At Christ’s birth, God physically visited and walked among us.  Jesus is the God Man.  He’s 100% human.  He has the same flesh and blood and bone that you have.  He experienced all the normal stages of life that you’ve experienced.  He hungered and thirst like you do.  He felt physical pain and sorrow and grief like you do.  He even felt the temptation of sin like you do, but He never gave in to this temptation, because He was also 100% God. 

Jesus is fully man and at the same time fully God.  He was born the same way you were born, but He wasn’t conceived in the same way.  Just as the angel told Joseph, Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit.  He’s the very Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds.  And because of this, He was born without the original sin that infects us, passed down through the generations from our first parents.  Because He’s fully God, He was able to resist sin’s temptations.  No sinful deed was done by Him.  No sinful word came from His mouth.  No sinful thought crossed His mind.  100% God, 100% Man, 100% sinless come to save us from our sin.

Jesus had to be “God with us” to save you.  He had to be Man so He could know your temptation, but He had to be God to resist that temptation.  He had to be Man so He could die on the cross, but He had to be God so that He could defeat death and rise again.  This is what makes Christ’s sacrifice on the cross a saving sacrifice.  This is why your sins are forgiven and you’re saved, because of who Jesus is. 

On the cross a great exchange took place.  Jesus, Immanuel, the God Man, exchanged His perfect, sinless life for your sinful one.  On the cross, Jesus took the death you rightly deserve and because of that, God the Father forgives you all your sins.  The Lord would be just to “divorce” you, to send you away in shame, to send you away into everlasting death, but instead, with great mercy, He sent His Son to be Immanuel...and He continues to be Immanuel. 

Jesus continues to be “God with us” as He delivers forgiveness, life, and salvation to you through His Word and Sacrament.  Every time the Good News of Jesus is preached, salvation is proclaimed in His name.  Every time the pastor speaks Absolution, Jesus is there taking the guilt of your sin away.  Every time a person is brought into God’s family through Baptism, Jesus is there, putting His name on them.  Every time you come to this altar, Jesus is there, physically there, feeding you His body and blood for the forgiveness of sins.  Through these Means of Grace Jesus continues to be what His name proclaims: He continues to be God with us to save you from your sins. 

There are many reasons why parents give their children the names they do.  Jesus’ name uniquely proclaims what He does and who He is.  God gave His Son the name “Jesus” because He would save His people from their sins.  Jesus is called Immanuel, because He is “God with us.” When we hear our Lord’s name spoken, we’re reminded of what He’s done for us, and what He continues to do for us.  Jesus’ name is the Name, the only name by which we’re saved.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.