Sermon for the Seventh Sunday of Easter (May 12, 2013)

“Jesus Prays That We Be One” (John 17:20-26)

            “Pray for me.”  That’s a common request among Christians.  Or you might ask to have a prayer offered on behalf of a friend who is ill or who is having a difficult time.

            The invitation to prayer is one of the greatest gifts God has given to his Church.  To bring your requests, your concerns, your needs, your fears, your confessions to Almighty God, your heavenly Father … and to know that he promises to hear you and answer according to his will … is an astounding privilege.  And yet, too often, you and I take this privilege for granted.  We neglect to take time to pray.  It’s far down on our list of priorities.

            For Jesus, prayer was always a priority.  He often took time away from the press of the crowds to speak to his Father (Mt. 14:23; Mk. 6:46; Lk. 5:16; 6:12; 9:28).  He taught his disciples how to pray when he taught them what we call “The Lord’s Prayer.”  And in John 17, the evangelist records for us what is known as “The High Priestly Prayer” of Jesus.  This is in the upper room at the Last Supper.  It is the night before his arrest, trial, and crucifixion.  He knows what is ahead.  He knows what agony awaits him.  And what does he do?  He shows concern for his followers.  He prays for them.  Jesus is still with his disciples.  But already he anticipates his resurrection and ascension into heaven (which we remembered on Thursday).  He prays, “I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.  Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one” (Jn. 17:11).  And if there’s anyone whose prayer is going to be heard and answered, you can be sure it’s the Son of the Father!

            What’s more, in this High Priestly Prayer Jesus also prays for you!  His prayer anticipates the gifts of God to his Church, specifically to all those who would believe in Christ through the apostle’s testimony.  The second half of the prayer begins in this way: “I do not ask for these only” … meaning his chosen apostles who were with him in the upper room … “but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me.”  Did you ever stop to think how amazing this is?  On the night Jesus was betrayed, the night he instituted the sacrament of his body and blood, the night before Jesus went to the cross to shed his blood for your sins … he prayed for you!  You were on his mind.  That’s how much he loves you.

            What did Jesus pray for?  He prayed for our oneness with God and our oneness with each other, and that the goal of this oneness would be manifested in the world:  that the world may believe that Jesus was sent from the Father (v. 21), and that the world may know that God loves them in Christ (v. 23).

            Jesus enjoys oneness with the Father in his essence as God.  The members of the Holy Trinity all share in a common divine nature.  Brought into God’s kingdom by baptism and by faith in the Word of God, we are made to be one with the Triune God.  The Holy Spirit is given to us and binds us together in the intimate fellowship that the members of the Trinity share with each other.

            And in this divine life, Jesus shares his glory with us.  “The glory that you have given me I have given to them,” Jesus prayed.

            Jesus shared his glory with the world in his incarnation.  He is God made flesh for the salvation of the world.  At the very beginning of his Gospel, St. John writes, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn. 1:14).  In the womb of the Virgin, God’s glory was manifested.  In the manger bed, God’s glory was manifested.  In his miraculous signs, God’s glory was manifested.  At the cross, God’s glory was manifested, although hidden under our Lord’s humiliation.  But it was glory nonetheless, because that is where God’s love was supremely manifested.  By nature, we are not one with God.  We are separated from him, from his life and from his love.  We are under his wrath.  But Jesus came to unite us with the Father.  He brings us back into fellowship with God.  Our sins are forgiven because the flesh of God made Man was pierced for us.

           Jesus also shares with us the glory of his resurrection and ascension.  In his prayer, Jesus prayed, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”  Once again, Jesus is already looking ahead to what is to come.  He is so sure and certain of his destiny that he prays as if his resurrection and ascension have already occurred.  And because you and I are one with Jesus in Holy Baptism, we will one day see and share in his glory.  In his Ascension, Jesus removed his visible presence from us and is now seated at the right hand of God, “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion” (Eph. 1:21).  Jesus removed his visible presence from us, but this does not mean he is far removed from us. Enthroned and exalted as our everlasting King, Jesus fills all things, especially his Church, “which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:23).  Jesus also promised that he will return visibly on the Last Day.  In John 14, Jesus said, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (Jn. 14:3).  “Surely I am coming soon,” he says in the Revelation to St. John. And the faithful reply of the Church is, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).

            Jesus prays for our oneness with God.  He also prays for our oneness with each other.  Twice he makes this request: “That they may be one even as we are one … that they may become perfectly one.”

            We live in a disconnected world.  Everywhere we see signs of disunity and separation.  We see it in our communities.  We see it in our families.  We even see it in the church.  Congregations are divided internally.  Denominations are divided externally.  We must repent of the ways in which we have brought this upon ourselves and contributed to this division.

            In spite of this, we do have a real, spiritual oneness with each other.  Jesus prayed for it.  It’s a gift.  And this oneness even reaches across denominational lines.  All Christians are united to one another by faith in Christ.  This does not mean, however, that we should ignore our differences.  This is all the more reason why should seek to achieve unity on the basis of a common confession of God’s Word.  A good example to follow is the way the early church handled their problems.  Look at today’s reading from Acts 1.  There it says the followers of Jesus were “with one accord devoting themselves to prayer” (Acts 1:14).  They had the same mind and spirit.  They prayerfully made decisions, working through their challenges.  Here it was who should replace Judas in the apostolic “roster.”  Later the church would deal with other problems … personal, pragmatic, and doctrinal.  And this has continued down to our present day.  But rather than teaching us to “go along to get along,” St. Paul taught the Corinthian congregation that they should all “agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and judgment” (1 Cor. 1:10).

            How do we do this today?  We seek unity on the basis of a common confession of what God’s Word teaches.  But we should do this lovingly, charitably, not mocking those who hold to a different confession, but loving them as fellow believers in Christ.  And we should also be ready to repent if we find that we have mistakenly been holding to something that God’s Word does not teach.

            In his prayer, Jesus gives the goal of this oneness for which he prays: That the world may believe that Jesus was sent from the Father (v. 21), and that the world may know that God loves them in Christ (v. 23).  Jesus unites his church spiritually so that we can all play a part in proclaiming to the world that Jesus is the Savior of the world, and that in Christ people are dearly loved by God.  The world that is opposed to Christ will always mock and discredit the Church because of the divisions that they see.  But we can rejoice whenever the Gospel is proclaimed … by whomever it is proclaimed.  God’s Word is so powerful that it will go forth and achieve the purpose for which he sends it (Is. 55:11).

            Take comfort in the fact that your Lord Jesus prayed for you.  Take comfort that your Lord Jesus, risen and ascended for you, fills all things and rules and reigns for the good of his Church … for you, his baptized child.  In a world full of disharmony and disunity, take comfort that Jesus makes you to be one with him and with the Father and with the Spirit.  Give thanks that the love with which the Father loved Jesus is in you.  Give thanks that Jesus himself, your risen and ascended Savior, still dwells in you today to forgive you, to strengthen you, and to give you his peace until the day when he visibly returns.  Then finally, all our sinful divisions will be done away with, and we will be one with him for all eternity.

            Amen.

Sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Easter (May 5, 2013)

“With the Risen Jesus, There Are No Dead-Ends” (Acts 16:9-15)

            You and I often run into all kinds of obstacles and roadblocks in our lives.  You set a goal, and it seems like no matter what you do to try to achieve it, something or someone always gets in the way.  We make plans.  Our plans are thwarted.  Disappointment reigns.  Despair looms.  Every one of the paths we wish to take seems like a dead-end.

            But with the Risen Jesus, there are no such things as dead ends.  In his book To the Ends of the Earth, Al Barry wrote: “Although at times Satan would have us believe otherwise, with God at our helm, we can remain confident that with the risen Lord, there is no such thing as a dead-end.  What a blessed assurance this is as we proceed day by day through eternal life with Him.”[i]

            There are no dead-ends with the Risen Jesus ruling and reigning for you.  God may have other plans for you … other directions in which he leads you.  Or he may keep you where you are and by his grace enable you to continue serving wherever he has placed you.  Either way, the Lord carries out his gracious will, his saving purposes … sometimes in surprising ways.  He even finds ways to open hearts that are seemingly closed off to his forgiving, life-giving Gospel message.

            God changed Paul’s plans.  In today’s reading from Acts chapter 16, Paul was on his second missionary journey through Asia Minor, where the nation of Turkey is today.  The verses before our text tell us that Paul and his companions had traveled through the middle of the huge peninsula.  But then, they hit what appeared to be a dead end.  Verse 6 says they were “forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia,” the province to the west.

            Next, they went further northwest and planned to head east.  But again, another roadblock of sorts.  Verse 7 says, “the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.”  Instead, they went down to Troas, a port city which was the gateway to Greece and points westward.

            We’re not told what the Holy Spirit did to stop Paul and his fellow travelers.  Whatever it was, it appeared to be a dead end.  An obstacle.  A roadblock.  But whatever it was that caused them to end up in Troas, it served God’s greater purposes.  This is where our text picks up.

            In a vision, Paul sees a man from Macedonia saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”  Macedonia was on the other side of the sea to the west, in the northern part of what is Greece today.  Paul heeds the vision, hires a boat, and sets off for Macedonia, ending up in the city of Philippi.  This is actually more significant than it might appear at first glance.  This was the first missionary journey into the continent of Europe.  This is why God gave Paul what appeared to be a couple of “dead-ends” back in Asia Minor.  He wanted the Gospel preached here, too.  And soon we hear about the first documented Christian convert in Europe … a Gentile woman named Lydia.  We’ll talk about her in a few moments.

            God sometimes changes our plans.  He may put roadblocks in our way … what appears to be a dead-end.  But in spite of what appears to be a dead-end, God promises that his will will be done.  Psalm 115:3 says, “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.”  In Isaiah 46:10, the Lord says, “My counsel shall stand, and I shall accomplish all my purpose.”  In fact, as God’s chosen, baptized, redeemed one, his gracious, saving will is always accomplished in your life.  “For this is the will of my Father,” Jesus said, “that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:40).  What happens to you is never outside of this good and gracious will of your Heavenly Father.  Here you recall that oft-quoted verse: “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28).  And Jesus invites us to pray “Thy will be done,” which the Small Catechism says is done even without our prayer.  In the Large Catechism, Luther writes: “As [God's] name must be hallowed and His kingdom must come whether we pray or not, so also his will must be done and succeed.  This is true even thought the devil and all his followers raise a great riot, are angry and rage against, and try to exterminate the Gospel completely.  But for our own sakes we must pray that, even against their fury, His will be done without hindrance among us also.  We pray so that they may not be able to accomplish anything and that we may be firm against all violence and persecution and submit to God’s will” (Large Catechism III.68).

            The devil rages against the Gospel and the Lord’s Church in our country today.  Christianity seems to be dying a slow death in our nation.  The Church is facing what appears to be roadblocks, obstacles, dead-ends.

            Earlier in the week, there was a news report which stated that Soldiers who promote their faith can be prosecuted under military law, according to a statement from the Pentagon. [ii]  Evidently they’ve backed off of this a bit.  But there seems to still be some confusion what you can or can’t say as a Christian in the military.[iii]

            Then you have the Health and Human Services mandate which demands that all insurance companies include abortion-inducing drugs in their coverage.  Christian institutions and business owners are finding themselves at odds with this and are faced with paralyzing fines if they don’t comply.

            Churches are noticing the increasing disassociation of teens and young adults from congregation life.  The faith of our young people – and I suppose us older folks, too – is challenged by evolutionist and secularist worldviews.  Many walk away from the Lord in their college years and do not return.

            Nevertheless, the Gospel still marches forward.  The Gospel marches forward, smashing through what seems to be massive brick walls.  It happens in big ways, like on the day of Pentecost, when three thousand received the Word of the Lord and were baptized into Christ (Acts 2:41).  More often, it happens in small ways, one person at a time.

            It happened to Lydia.  She was evidently a woman of some means.  She was a seller of expensive purple dyed fabric.  She also owned a large residence, enough to house Paul and his travelling party.  There’s no mention of a husband.  Perhaps she was a widow.  Not likely, though.  In the ancient world, most successful women were also attached to a husband … not normally a romantic arrangement but instead for status and for descendants.

            By the standards of the day, Lydia “had it all.”  Yet there was something missing in her life.  She was searching for something more.  The text says that she was a “worshiper of God.”  Lydia evidently was someone who revered the God of the Jews and would gather with other women to hear the Word of the Lord and to pray on the Sabbath Day.  This must have been a small gathering.  You needed at least ten men to form a synagogue in a city.  Any less than that, and you found a place to gather outside, such as by a river.  That’s why Paul knew to look by the riverside.  Paul brought the message of the Risen Jesus to Lydia, and the text simply yet beautifully states, “The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.”  She was baptized along with her whole household.

            The message of the Risen Jesus still powerfully works today … simply and beautifully, one person at a time.  I recently heard the story of an unlikely convert whose heart the Lord opened.  In fact, the title of her book is The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert.

            Rosaria Butterfield is a married homemaker and mother of four.  15 years ago, her life was completely different.  She was an English professor at Syracuse University in New York.  She wanted nothing to do with Christianity and thought it was damaging to society.  Butterfield was a radical feminist and was also involved in a type of relationship forbidden in Scripture.  I’ll let you draw the conclusions there.

            In 1997, she wrote an article in a local newspaper refuting the Christian view of traditional marriage and families.  Many responses, both hateful and supportive, arrived in her inbox.  One, however, caught her off guard.  It was from Ken Smith, a Presbyterian pastor in Syracuse.  Butterfield initially threw it away, but later fished it out of the garbage.  Smith’s words tugged on her heart and conscience.

            “I had seen my share of Bible verses on placards at [marches I attended],” she explained. “That Christians who mocked me … were happy that I and everyone I loved was going to Hell was clear as blue sky.  That is not what Ken did.  He did not mock.  He engaged.  So when his letter invited me to get together for dinner, I accepted.”

            Butterfield then became friends with Smith and his wife, and began to take a genuine interest in the Scriptures.

            “I tried to toss the Bible and all of its teachings in the trash — I really tried,” she said.  After reading it through for the fourth time, something gripped her. “[T]he Bible got to be bigger inside me than I. It overflowed into my world.”

            Later, Butterfield felt compelled to attend services at Smith’s church.

            “I fought with everything I had,” she admitted, explaining her mindset as she sat in the pews. “I did not want this.  I did not ask for this.  I counted the costs.  And I did not like the math on the other side of the equal sign.”

            But one day, she gave up fighting against God.  “I was a broken mess,” Butterfield said. “Conversion was a train wreck.”  She goes on to describe how her life and her lifestyle was completely turned upside down by the Holy Spirit bringing her to faith in the Christ who died on the cross for her sin.  It was traumatic for her.  It radically changed her life and her lifestyle.  But Jesus did say something about denying yourself, taking up your cross, and following him.  He didn’t promise it was going to be easy.  It’s a narrow path.  But it is the path of life and salvation.[iv]

            God still opens hearts today.  Dead-end hearts.  Stony, hardened hearts.  The same Holy Spirit who put up roadblocks for Paul is also the one who breaks through the sinful barriers in our hearts and gives us faith in Christ.

            The stone-cold body of Jesus was laid in the tomb.  A stone was placed in front of the entrance.  It sure seemed like a dead-end for him and his followers.  But Jesus made a way for each and every one of us when that stone was rolled away.  He made a way for us out of our life of bondage to sin, death, and the devil.  Rising from the dead, he proved his victory over those enemies that constantly seek to put roadblocks in walk of faith, tempting us to unbelief and despair.  “In the world you will have tribulation,” Jesus said, “But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

            Through his death and resurrection, Jesus has made a way for you through all your dead-ends.  He has broken down the barrier between you and God by forgiving your sins.  He guides you through your life and accomplishes his saving will for you.  He will bring you through your own death.  He will call you from the grave on the Last Day.  And he will shine his glorious light upon you in eternity.

            With the Risen Jesus, there are no such things as dead-ends.

            Amen.

---

[i] A.L. Barry, To the Ends of the Earth, (CPH 1997), p. 143.

[ii] http://nation.foxnews.com/war-religion/2013/05/02/pentagon-soldiers-who-spread-faith-may-be-prosecuted#ixzz2S9s13I9M

[iii] http://www.patheos.com/blogs/getreligion/2013/05/i-share-you-evangelize-they-proselytize/

[iv] Based on the news article found here: http://christiannews.net/2013/02/20/former-lesbian-turned-christian-tells-the-world-about-the-secret-thoughts-of-an-unlikely-convert/

Sermon for the 5th Sunday of Easter (April 28, 2013)

“What God Has Made Clean” (Acts 11:1-18)

            It was May 13, 1947 according to some accounts … also portrayed in the recent movie titled “42.”  The Brooklyn Dodgers were playing in Cincinnati that day.  They had a rookie first baseman by the name of Jackie Robinson.  Today, his presence on a ball field wouldn’t draw much attention.  Back then it did, because Robinson was black … the first African-American to play major league baseball.

            Some of his teammates even distanced themselves from him.  Earlier in the season some of the white southerners had even gone so far as to sign a petition saying they would not take the field with a black man.  One player from Kentucky, however, refused to sign, and that was the end of the matter.  No one boycotted, but they still kept their distance.

            That player from Kentucky was the Dodger shortstop Pee Wee Reese.  And on that May day in Cincinnati, Reese did something that surprised everyone.  The Cincinnati team was mercilessly hurling racial comments at Robinson from the dugout.  Now, Robinson had endured all kinds of nasty words thrown his way in previous games, but it was exceptionally mean and hateful that day.  As the story goes, the Kentucky-born white shortstop crossed the diamond, stood beside his black teammate, and put his hand on his shoulder.  That one action put a stop to the attack by the hecklers.

            Years later, Robinson recalled the incident and said, “Pee Wee kind of sensed the sort of hopeless, dead feeling in me and came over and stood beside me for a while.  He didn't say a word but he looked over at the chaps who were yelling at me through him and just stared. He was standing by me, I could tell you that. I will never forget it.”[1]

            Now, flash back even farther to first-century Jerusalem, to a gathering of Christians discussing the actions of the Apostle Peter.  Remember that at this time the church in Jerusalem was entirely made up of Jewish converts.  Some among them were part of what today’s reading from Acts calls “the circumcision party.”  This group demanded that non-Jews had to become Jews first before they could become Christians.  And the first step in the process was undergoing the Old Testament covenant of circumcision.  If you did not, then you were still considered an unclean, impure Gentile, in some ways less than human.  And no self-respecting Jew would ever sit down and eat at table with an uncircumcised Gentile.  Eating at table expressed close, intimate fellowship in those days ... not to mention the fact that the meat which you eat might have been offered to an idol.  So Jews and Gentiles should eat separately.  If there had been drinking fountains in those days, there would have been separate Jew and Gentile ones.  If there had been buses in Jerusalem in those days, the Jews would want the Gentiles to sit in the back.  And so, the criticism was leveled at Peter, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”  Shocking!

            But Peter proceeded to explain that he had received a vision in which he saw a sheet come down from heaven with all kinds of animals upon it, evidently ones that the Old Testament called unclean and therefore ones that you shouldn’t eat.  A voice told Peter to help himself.  Dig in.  Slip another shrimp on the barbie.  But Peter replied, “By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.”  But the voice replied, “What God has made clean, do not call common.”  Three times this happened, driving the point home.

            This vision prepared Peter for the visit that God wanted him to make.  He was summoned to the house of Cornelius, a centurion in the Roman army ... one of those common, unclean, impure Gentiles to be avoided.  Peter got the point of the vision.  He went to Cornelius’ house and preached “a message by which you will be saved” as the angel had already told Cornelius.  And as Peter preached that message, the Holy Spirit came upon Cornelius and the members of his household in the same way as it happened on the day of Pentecost.  Peter said that the Spirit “fell on them just as on us at the beginning.”  The previous chapter says that Peter and the other believers who were with him heard them speaking in other languages and praising God.  Chapter 10:45 says that they “were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles.”  I love how the word “even” is inserted in there.  It’s as if to say, “Wow!  Who would have thought that Gentiles could receive the Holy Spirit, too?  I never would have expected that!” 

            This was God coming across the diamond to the Gentiles at first base, putting his hand on their shoulder, and quieting all who were opposed to them.  Of course, Pee Wee Reese’s actions with Jackie Robinson didn’t solve all of the race relations in our country.  But it was Reese’s own way of comforting his teammate and saying, “It’s okay.  You are one of us” and saying to the crowd, “He’s our teammate, no matter what his skin color is.  So shut your mouths.”
            In a similar way, God’s actions with the household of Cornelius didn’t completely solve the issue of “How do Jewish and Gentile converts to Christianity get along?”  The church continued to struggle with that issue as is evident in other parts of the New Testament.  Nor does this event describe the way that every conversion is supposed to happen.  This event with Peter and the household of Cornelius was God’s public stamp of approval on the Gentiles as ones who were not to be excluded from God’s grace and salvation.  And the church in Jerusalem glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”   
            Now let’s flash forward to our present day and age.  We don’t have separate drinking fountains anymore.  Rosa Parks made it possible for people to sit anywhere they darn well please on buses.  No one (at least I hope not) demands anymore that you must be circumcised before you can become a Christian.  But in some ways, things haven’t changed a whole lot within the church.  It’s still very easy for us today to look at certain people and view them as common, as unclean, impure, or defiled.  It’s easy for us to exclude others from our fellowship for various reasons.  Maybe it is their skin color.  Maybe it’s their language.  Maybe it’s the way they dress.  Maybe it’s the side of the tracks they live on.  Maybe you know something about them that others don’t know, some secret struggle or addiction they have.  It’s easy to look at those people and think to yourself that they are common, unclean, not worthy of our attention ... that there is no way that a person like that could possibly fit into our little fellowship here at 92^nd and State.
            For some of you, it can be very easy to see yourself as “common.”  You don’t think you are anything special.  Besides, you also know what you have done to displease God, and that makes you unclean and impure.  You know your inner thoughts and attitudes that prove your heart is defiled.  At times, it can be very easy to look inside ourselves and think that we are not worthy of God’s attention.   
            But excluding others for whom Christ died is a sin.  And viewing yourself as “common” shows that you think God is not big enough to love you or forgive what you’ve done ... that Christ’s work at the cross was not enough.
            But Christ’s work at the cross WAS enough.   Christ’s work on the cross was for the whole world.  Jesus said, “For God so loved the WORLD” ... not “For God so loved only the lovable” ... not “For God so loved only those who are respectable and who act properly.”  No one is excluded from his love on the basis of pigment or past history.  “The message by which you will be saved” is preached to us, too.  It’s the message about Jesus Christ, Lord of all, crucified on the cross, bearing the sins of the whole world, raised to life again on the third day ... and as Peter preached to the household of Cornelius, “To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” (10:43)
            Our sins do indeed make us common and unclean.  But we are made holy and clean by the shed blood of Christ.  1 John 1:7 says, “the blood of Jesus...cleanses us from all sin” (see also Rev 1:5; 7:14).  We are made clean by the Holy Spirit in the washing of Baptism.  Acts 22:16 says, “Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins.”  Ephesians 5:26 says that Christ has “cleansed [the church] by the washing of water with the word.”  And Titus 3:5-6 says that God saved us, “not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”  You and I are born again in the waters of Holy Baptism as God’s Spirit works through water and the Word of God to give us “repentance that leads to life.”
            No one is excluded from the work of the Holy Spirit on the basis of race, gender, or social status.  St. Paul wrote, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).  The blood of Christ cleanses all and makes no distinctions.  In Revelation 5:9, the gathering around the Lamb of God in heaven sing to him, “by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”  That’s the same cleansing blood which we drink from the chalice.  As we drink of that cup, let us also pray that we will not stand in God’s way so that nothing will keep our gathering around this altar from looking like that gathering around the Lamb’s throne.
           Amen.

---

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/specials/baseball/bbo-reese-robinson.html

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Easter (April 21, 2013)

“The Lord our Shepherd Gives us Provision, Protection, and a Place in His Flock” (Psalm 23)

            The shadow of death.  In the Hebrew, it’s one word.  In English, we can make a new compound word out of it.  “Deathshade.”  Sounds like the name of a Marvel comics villain.  Or a heavy metal band.  Deathshade.

            This deathshade is the pall that hangs over all humanity.  We’ve seen lately how the valley of the deathshade runs through places like Boston, Massachussetts; West, Texas; and Newtown, Connecticut.  It runs through faraway places that are off our personal radar, but are no less affected by sorrow and grief.  The valley of the deathshade runs through every nation, every state, every county, every city, every village, every home.

            When you compare the scale of the event in Boston to the one twelve years ago on 9-11, there really is no comparison.  But tell that to every single family who was affected.  No matter how many casualties are counted, the deathshade falls dark and devastatingly upon even one single person and all the individuals who were a part of that person’s life.

            Death comes to us through evildoers.  It comes by tragic accidents.  It comes by disease.  It comes when our bodies age and finally wear out.  But the root cause of all of this is sin.  Mankind’s disobedience to God brought this deathshade upon itself.  God gave man life.  Man abused that gift.  Now life is twisted and contorted with fear, distress, trouble, anxiety, and evil behavior.  And lest you think evil behavior is reserved for terrorists, think about the evil in our own hearts.  The Lord our Shepherd provides all that we need, yet you and I greedily covet.  The Lord our Shepherd brings us to the green pastures and still waters of his Word, yet we seek satisfaction in other pastures that are not God-pleasing.  Like sheep that stray, we walk off the paths of righteousness and onto the way of wickedness.  We speak hurtful words.  We refuse to forgive.  This is all part of the deathshade that hangs over all of us and ruins the life that God intends for us.

            God should come in and crush each and every one of us for the way we have misused and abused his gifts to us.  But instead, he sent his Son into the flesh to be crushed in our place.  “He was crushed for our iniquities,” the prophet Isaiah foretold (Is. 53:5).  The deathshade that lies upon the whole world fell upon Jesus at the cross.  He endured all that we deserve.  The valley of the shadow of death traveled up the hill of Golgotha and dragged Jesus all the way down into its darkest depths in the tomb.  But as you already know, three days later the tomb was empty.  The light of the resurrection eclipsed the deathshade.  That’s what we celebrated several Sundays ago.  That’s what we celebrate every Sunday.  It’s what we should be celebrating and remembering every single day.  We do not worship a dead Savior.  He lives.  Through his death, he has earned the forgiveness of sins for you.  Through his resurrection, he has conquered death and the grave for you.  And he is present now with his life and with his love in Word and Sacrament.

            King David was once a shepherd boy.  He knew how a shepherd was to be ever watchful, ever vigilant, ever caring for his sheep.  When he became shepherd over God’s people Israel, David knew he needed a greater Shepherd.  And so he was able to pen those familiar words, “The Lord is my shepherd.”  In John chapter 10, Jesus teaches us that he is the Shepherd of whom David wrote: “I am the good shepherd.  I know my own and my own know me, and I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:14-15).

            The Lord our Shepherd gives us provision, protection, and a place in his flock.

            The Lord our Shepherd provides for our needs.  The psalmist says “I shall not want.”  Other translations say something like this: “I lack nothing” (NIV) … “I have everything I need” (GNB).  And what is it that we really need?  I think about this every time I go into my garage.  There is an awful lot of stuff there.  And it just sits there.  Taking up space.  Collecting dust.  Providing places for spiders and other creepy-crawlies to hide and reproduce.  Do I need all that stuff?  Of course not.  Most of it I could probably take to the dump and I would still be fine.  I wouldn’t miss it a bit.  The only time I probably even think about it is when I’m in the garage, and I think to myself, “I might need that some day.”  Really?  Those roller blades?  I will probably never put those things on ever again.  If I did, I’d probably break my neck.  That old drill that I inherited from my dad?  I don’t think I’ve taken it out of the bottom of the Craftsman tool cabinet (also inherited from dad) since we moved in, and since my wife bought me one of those new-fangled rechargeable drills.  And what about all those tools inside that tool cabinet?  I probably have at least five hundred allen wrenches in there … again, an inheritance from dad.  Do I really need that many allen wrenches?  Did my dad really need that many allen wrenches?  I am no handyman, but I would venture to guess that even the most experienced handyman does not need five hundred allen wrenches.

            What do we really need?  Simple, nourishing food.  Quiet refreshment.  Restoration.  The Lord our Shepherd gives us exactly what we need for our bodies, like a shepherd who leads his flock to green pastures and still waters.  More importantly, he provides for our spiritual needs in his Word.  In his commentary on Psalm 23, this is what Luther saw.  The green pastures and still waters are all about the blessings of God’s Word for us.  His Word nourishes our souls.  It gives us times of quiet refreshment as we take time to listen, to read, and to have our souls restored through the message of the forgiveness of sins.  That’s the path of righteousness on which we are led by our Good Shepherd.  And it’s not because of anything we have done.  It’s all because of everything that he has done for us.  Jesus walked the path of perfect righteousness for us.  All that he does for us is “for his name’s sake.”  His name is honored.  He gets all the glory for the life and salvation he gives to us.

            The Lord our Shepherd gives us protection.  The rod and staff of his Word comfort us.  The deathshade hangs over us like a vulture circling around a weak, injured animal, waiting to swoop in … or like a wolf ready to pounce on a helpless lamb when the shepherd is distracted.  Nevertheless, our Good Shepherd protects us from evil and the fear of death.  But what do we see all around us?  Nothing but death, evil, and trouble … all kinds of vultures and wolves who would devour us and lead us astray.  Whether tremendous tragedies or petty problems, they cause us to doubt God’s care and concern for us.  Luther tells us, therefore, to listen to the Shepherd’s voice, not “what your eyes see and your old Adam feels.”  Listen to the Good Shepherd’s sure promise: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:27-28).  Our Good Shepherd is never distracted, never caught off guard.  Holding fast to that promise, Luther says, “You will go straight forward to speak freely:

Let the devil, the world, or my own conscience oppose me violently as they may. I will not for that reason grieve myself to death.  It must be so and it shall be so, that whoever is the Lord’s sheep will surely be assailed by the wolves.  Be it with me as it may, let them boil or roast me, it shall be my comfort that my Shepherd has given his life for me.  Moreover, He has a sweet, kind voice, with which He comforts me and says that I shall never perish, neither shall any man snatch me out of His hand; I shall have eternal life (John 10:28).  And He will keep this promise, not matter what happens to me.  If because of my weakness some sin or other fault by chance is still found in me, He will not reject me on that account.  For He is a friendly Shepherd, who watches over the weak sheep, binds up their wounds, and heals them.  And so that I may be all the more sure and not doubt, He has given me, as a token, His holy Sacraments.[i]

            The Lord our Shepherd gives us provision.  He gives us protection.  And he gives us a place in his flock.  It’s been said that America was once “a nation of joiners.”  However, a study conducted by a Harvard professor showed that over the last 40 years, participation in voluntary associations is down by up to 50 percent.  The professor blames television for this, and that may be the case.[ii]  But my point here is not to point the blame at TV or the internet … although I think you can make the case that the growth of social media like Facebook has shown that people still feel the need to belong to something bigger than themselves and to connect in a meaningful way with people.

            As those baptized into Christ, you and I already are connected to something bigger than ourselves.  We are members of the Body of Christ.  We are members of the Holy Christian Church.  We are connected not only to one another here, but to Christians around the world.  We are even connected mystically to that white robed, innumerable multitude already standing before the throne and before the Lamb of God.

            Until we join that throng, a place has been prepared for us at his table where we get to eat and drink the body and blood of the Lamb in the presence of our enemies.  We have been anointed with the abundant oil of grace and mercy in Christ Jesus.  And there is a never-ending supply of life and salvation that flows from our Lord’s overflowing chalice.

            Provision.  Protection.  A place in his flock.  These are all gifts of the Lord your faithful Shepherd who became the Lamb of God for you.  The light of Christ’s resurrection shines brightly through the deathshade that hangs over us.  Listen to his voice in his Word and follow him.  He has promised that his goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life.  And you can be sure that at your life’s end, you will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

            Amen.

---

[i] LW12:158-159

[ii] http://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/18/opinion/abroad-at-home-an-atomized-america.html

Sermon for the Third Sunday in Easter (April 14, 2013)

“Jesus: Our Future and Our Focus” (Revelation 5:8-14)

A frog went to visit a fortuneteller.  The fortuneteller gazed into her crystal ball and said to the frog, “You are going to meet a beautiful young woman. From the moment she sets eyes on you she will have an insatiable desire to know all about you.  She will be compelled to get close to you.  You will fascinate her.”

The frog asks, “Where am I?  At a singles club?”

“No,” says the fortuneteller, “Biology class.”

Do you want to know what is in store for you in the future?  The writer of Ecclesiastes declared, “In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him” (Ecc. 7:14).  And God tells us in Leviticus 19, "Do not turn to mediums or necromancers [i.e. people who attempt to speak with the dead]; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them” (Lev. 19:31).  Nevertheless, even Christians sometimes depend on ungodly things like horoscopes and astrology to figure out what is going to happen to them.

Today’s reading from the Revelation to St. John teaches us that Jesus is our future and our focus.  He has the future under control.  And he is the focus of our worship.

You and I often fret and fume about the future.  We wonder and worry about our health, about conflict in our family, about threats from foreign leaders, about moral decay within our country.  But all this fretting and fuming is simply sinful failure on our part.  We fail to completely place our trust in God and to place our worries in his hands.  In Matthew 6, Jesus tells us “Do not be anxious.”  Paul, in Philippians 4, says, “Do not be anxious about anything.”  And Peter, in 1 Peter 5, tells us to cast “all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”  But we DO worry.  We ARE anxious.  We DO NOT cast our anxiety on God.  And this shows that we really don’t believe that God cares for us.

An interesting map is on display in the British Museum in London.  It's an old mariner's chart, drawn in 1525, outlining the North American coastline and adjacent waters.  The cartographer made some intriguing notations on areas of the map that represented regions not yet explored.  He wrote: “Here be giants” … “Here be fiery scorpions” … and “Here be dragons.”  Eventually, the map came into the possession of Sir John Franklin, a British explorer in the early 1800s.  Scratching out the fearful inscriptions, he wrote these words across the map: “Here is God.”

God has promised to be with you, wherever you go, even though there “be giants” or “scorpions” or “dragons” all around you.  Jesus has the future under control.  In today’s text, Jesus is worthy to break the seals on the scroll in John’s vision.  The scroll is sealed because it refers to the future.  Only Jesus has the ability to break those seals and reveal what is to come.  He was victorious over the powers of sin, death, and hell on Easter morning.  He lives to keep on caring for you.  He holds your future in his hands.  Therefore, you can place all that your worry about in his hands and let him take your anxieties away, because he really does care for you.

Now, even though Jesus opens the seals on the scroll, this doesn’t mean that we will have all the answers we want about the future.  Still, in the succeeding chapters of Revelation, we learn about a series of visions that comfort us regarding what is to come.  Each of these visions gives us an overarching picture of time from the cross to the end of the world.  The comfort here is that the preaching of the Gospel will continue.  Jesus is in control in spite of war and bloodshed, famine, death, suffering and martyrdom.  Nothing will be able to take your salvation away from you.  Heaven and your own resurrection await you.  The Church will be victorious in the end for Jesus’ sake.  That was a comforting message for those who heard John’s revelation read to them in the first century.  It is a comforting message for you in the twenty-first century.

Jesus is in control of the future, and he is also the central focus of our worship.  You and I often make other things the focus of our worship.  Some of us make our material goods the focus of our worship.  Oh, sure, you don’t kneel down in front of them and light candles and sing songs to them.  But in our hearts, the things we see are often more important to us than God whom we cannot see.  Sometimes our emotions and our feelings become the focus of our worship.  We evaluate our experience in worship based on how it leaves us feeling.  Forget about whether what was said or sung in the service was true or not … how did it make me feel?  Did the music get my feet to tapping?

John’s vision of heaven teaches what the proper focus of our worship should be.  Our proper focus is “the Lamb of God.”  Everything revolves around him.  He is the one who was slain for our sins so that we might be forgiven.  Encircled around him are “the four living creatures” and “the twenty-four elders” who fall down before the Lamb.  Nobody is quite sure what these four living creatures represent.  They are probably some kind of angel.  Since they are four in number they may in some way represent God’s control over the “four” corners of the earth, or all creation.  The twenty-four elders probably represent the Church of the Old and New Testaments, with 12 elders from the Old Testament and 12 from the New Testament, even as there were 12 tribes in the OT and 12 disciples in the NT.  They each hold harps, instruments to offer praise to the Lamb with music and song.  In their hands are bowls of incense, which John tells us are “the prayers of the saints.”  In the tabernacle, incense was burned.  As the aroma and smoke went up, both the eyes and the noses of the people would be reminded that their prayers were going up to God.  Likewise, this picture here reminds us that the prayers of God’s people in heaven and on earth continually ascend as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.  Recall Psalm 141 which we sing in Evening Prayer: “Let my prayer rise before you as incense.”

Next, John hears the voice of a multitude of angels around the throne, joined by every creature in all God’s creation singing a song of praise to God and to the Lamb.  We can learn about worship from their songs.  We learn that Jesus the Lamb is the object of our worship.  In fact, we DO sing their songs in one form or another.  “Worthy is Christ the Lamb who was slain, whose blood set us free to be people of God,” we sing in our Divine Service.  “Blessing and honor and glory and might be to God and the Lamb forever. Amen.”  Through his forgiving sacrifice at the cross, your Lord Jesus truly has set you free from your bondage to sin and death.  He has redeemed you.  He has purchased you and won you, not with silver or gold, but with his own precious blood.  And later this morning we will join the heavenly host of the book of Revelation.  We will circle ourselves around this altar, which will become for us the throne of God where the Lamb is truly present with his body and blood.  And once again, we will participate in God’s blessings and promises as we eat and drink with faith in those words, “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”

May 19, 1780 was a remarkable day.  An unexplained, deep darkness such as no one had ever seen fell suddenly upon New England.  Researchers today think it was caused by a combination of forest fires, thick fog, and cloud cover.  At the time, people were terrified.  They thought that Judgment Day had arrived.  The Connecticut House of Representatives happened to be in session at the time.  Many of the House members approached the Speaker of the House, Abraham Davenport, and asked that the House be adjourned so that the members might be with their families as Judgment Day approached.  Davenport called the House to order and refused to adjourn.  His words have been recorded for us, but more poetically paraphrased in this way by John Greenleaf Whittier:

This well may be
The Day of Judgment which the world awaits;
But be it so or not, I only know
My present duty, and my Lord's command
To occupy till He come. So at the post
Where He hath set me in His providence,
I choose, for one, to meet Him face to face, —
No faithless servant frightened from my task,
But ready when the Lord of the harvest calls;
And therefore, with all reverence, I would say,
Let God do His work, we will see to ours.
Bring in the candles. [i]

As we wait for our Lord’s return, we remember not to fret and fume about the future.  Jesus has the future in his hands.  He is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll.  He is the focus of our worship.  We encircle ourselves around his Word and his Sacraments, receiving strength for the days ahead.  Rather than fearing what is to come, your “present duty” is “to occupy” until he comes.  “They shall reign on the earth,” sang the heavenly host.  “You are a kingdom and priests to our God.”  So bring in the candles, and live as lights in the world.  Burn the incense, and let your prayers ascend on behalf of a lost and dying world.

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

And just like the four living creatures, the only thing left for us to do is to say, “Amen!”

So let me hear you say it.

Amen.

---

[i] http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Davenport

Leaving Tracks

From Messiah Lutheran Church's April 2013 newsletter

If you’re trying to track an animal, there are many signs to look for. Spot a groove in the landscape that’s already been made. Notice the tracks that are imprinted in the dust. Measure the size and shape of one particular track. Pay attention to how far apart the prints are. Be on the lookout, too, for other signs … broken twigs, droppings, fur, places where an animal may have bedded down. Eventually, you will be able to identify the animal and know where they have been and what they have been up to.

What tracks have you left behind? If someone were to track you and see where you have been and what you have been up to, where would they look? What would these “imprints” tell about you?  Entries in a checkbook. Receipts with the names of items you have purchased. Notes on a wall calendar. Items in your garbage can. The content of emails and texts. The “history” section of your internet browser.  Is there anything there you would be ashamed of if it was public knowledge? Would you want someone “tracking” you down and finding out what you have prioritized in your life?

There was an elderly gentleman at my former congregation who left his tracks. I noticed them every time I visited him and his wife at their home. We would sit down for coffee at their kitchen table. In the middle of the table was a stack of books, on top of which was his Bible. It happened to be the Concordia Self-Study Bible that was so popular before The Lutheran Study Bible was recently published.  But the edition of the Bible wasn’t what I noticed. It was the edges of the pages.They were visibly discolored. You could tell that this was a well-used Bible. It was obvious that this man had spent hours thumbing through the pages of his Bible … and I assume reading the words on those pages. Where all those pages lay together there was a brown smudge. And where you would expect the Psalms to be, right about in the middle, it was black. Maybe it was dark brown, but it looked black from where I sat. You could tell that the Psalms were especially beloved to him. That’s where he apparently turned the most.

Those are the kinds of tracks that I would like to leave. When I look at the edges of the pages of my Bible, they are not as brown as the pages on that old friend’s Bible. I see some discoloration there. But I have a long way to go before they are nearly black. Of course, I own numerous Bibles which get rotated into circulation in my devotional life and study habits, so maybe that’s one excuse why the edges of the pages are whiter than I would like them to be. That’s the excuse I’m going to use for now.

I hope those are the kinds of tracks you want to leave, too ... and all this because of the "tracks" that Christ has left for you and for your salvation: nail marks in his hands and his feet, a pierced side, an empty tomb, the very Words of God in Holy Scripture, water which cleanses, and bread and wine that which deliver the body and blood of Jesus to you. And when you have “travelled” far in God’s Word, it will influence the tracks you leave elsewhere … the choices you make, the time you spend, the money you spend, the love you give to your family, the service you give to others in the name of the Crucified and Risen Savior.

In Christ’s service and yours,

Pastor Onken

Sermon for the Resurrection of Our Lord (March 31, 2013)

“The Empty Tomb Gives Fullness of Life” (Luke 24:1-12)

A cemetery can be a peaceful place.  People generally speak in hushed tones.  There is plenty of neatly manicured grass.  There is that familiar springtime smell after a lawnmower has done its work.  But everyone knows that this is not the place for a picnic or a softball game.  This is hallowed ground.  All those graves are full of the remains of someone who once was alive and who was loved.  We place flowers on those graves in memory of our loved ones.  But flowers soon wither and decay, just like the bodies buried beneath the ground where the flowers were laid.  The sweet smell from their petals soon becomes the musty smell of decomposing material fit for the compost bin.  As peaceful as a cemetery can be, it is still a place of death … even above ground.

A cemetery is full.  Full of bodies.  Full of memories.  Full of loss.  That’s why a cemetery is also a place of emptiness.  There is a hollow feeling in your heart because you so desperately miss the person you had to say goodbye to … or never had the chance to say goodbye to.  A huge void was created in your life when that person died.

When you visit your loved one’s grave, you would never expect it to be open and empty.  You would never expect to see a huge, gaping void … a pile of dirt beside the hole … the cover of the burial vault removed … the lid of the casket open … and no body.

That’s what happened to the women who came to the tomb of Jesus in the early hours of the morning on the third day after his death.  On Friday before sundown, they had followed Joseph of Arimathea to a new tomb cut into the rock in a garden near the place where Jesus was crucified.  The women saw how Joseph and another secret follower by the name of Nicodemus had laid Jesus’ body on the stone slab, wrapped it in a linen shroud, poured on a pile of spices, and shut the tomb with the large stone rolled into its place in front of the entrance.  Now that the Sabbath was over, the women wanted to return to complete the burial process which was hastily done on Friday.  But when they arrived, the stone was rolled away.  The body of Jesus was gone.  The tomb was empty.

Jesus had told his followers that he would rise again.  But this was just too much for them to believe.  People say that the people living two-thousand years ago were much more superstitious than we who live in the 21^st Century.  But we’re more alike than you might think.  They knew as well as you and I know that people just do not come back to life by themselves after they are dead.  This goes against all the laws of nature.  Some may argue that people today are brought back with CPR or defibrillation.  But not after they’ve been brutally tortured, nailed to a cross, bled for six hours, pierced with a spear, left in a tomb, and wrapped in a cloth beneath 75 pounds of burial spices.  The women had a hard time believing it until the two dazzlingly-dressed young men declared to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?  He is not here, but has risen.  Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”  The apostles had a hard time believing it when the women told them what had happened, their words seeming to them like “an idle tale.”  Peter ran to the tomb to see for himself and “went home marveling at what had happened.”  And even after they had seen the Risen Jesus for themselves, Luke later tells us that “they still disbelieved for joy” (Lk. 24:41).  They just could not believe their eyes.  Would you?  It took a while for it all to sink in.  It took a while for their pessimism and despair to turn to confident joy.  It wasn’t until the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon them and the resurrection of Jesus became the central point of their preaching.

The fact is that Jesus is alive.  He is risen.  The tomb is empty.  The only thing left were graveclothes and the pile of spices left by his friends.  Let these be emblematic of all that was piled upon Jesus in his crucifixion.  The graveclothes of your sin, the rebellion of sinful humanity against the holy God, and its deadly consequences of separating us from God’s grace and mercy were piled upon Jesus at the cross.  And left in the tomb.

In Holy Baptism, what happened at the tomb happened to you.  St. Paul says in Romans 6, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.  For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Rom 6:4-5).  Jesus bore our sin at the cross and buried them with him in the Garden Tomb.  Jesus rose to life again, victorious over death … the direct consequence of sin that began all the way back in the Garden of Eden.  He shares his victory with you in the waters of Baptism.  Through water and the Word, he gives you faith to believe that he “was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Rom. 4:25).  Through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus, you are declared “not guilty.”  Your sins are forgiven.  And you, too, will rise again on the Last Day when Jesus returns and calls you forth from the grave, never to die again.

The tomb is empty, and the message of the empty tomb brings fullness of life.  A life lived apart from Christ is a life of emptiness.  People try to fill their lives with meaning through pop-psychology, smorgasbord spirituality, and evolutionary explanations.  But all these are true “idle tales.”  Others try to fill their lives by amassing wealth and material goods or entertaining diversions … not all of which are necessarily sinful.  But ultimately, all these things will wither and decay.  In the end, a life lived apart from Christ is a life of emptiness.

In a world full of death, the empty tomb means a life filled with life.  Jesus said he came so that you “may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).  He became flesh and dwelt among us, “and from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:16).

In a world full of conflict, the empty tomb means a life filled with peace.  Through the death and resurrection of Christ, you are at peace with God.  You are forgiven and reconciled with him.  And you are empowered to live at peace with one another, to forgive and reconcile with those who have hurt or offended you, even those you would call your “enemies.”  “Love your enemies,” Jesus said, “and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5:44).

In a world full of sadness, the empty tomb means a life filled with joy.  Psalm 16:11 says, “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”  Christ dwells in your hearts by faith (Eph. 3:17).  Moreover, the Risen Jesus is especially present today for you in Word and Sacrament.  You are invited to sit at his right hand as you kneel at this altar this morning and eat and drink his very Body and Blood.

In a world full of pessimism and despair, the empty tomb means a life filled with hope.  As a baptized believer in the Crucified and Risen Savior, your citizenship is in heaven.  Civilizations all around you may crumble and decay, but you are promised life in a kingdom that will never end.  In Ephesians 1, St. Paul reminds us about “the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.  And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:19-23).

The tomb is empty.  Your life is full.

The tomb is empty.  On the Last Day, yours will be, too.

Amen.