Are you ready? Are you ready to speak and give a defense about the hope that is in you as a Christian? A good defense lawyer will make himself prepared. He will do research, conduct interviews, review the data, check with the prosecution to see what information they have, they will be familiar with their clients’ version of the story, but they will also be familiar with everyone else’s version as well. They study, and study, and practice and study some more. Why? All so that when they get to the trial, they can present and defend their case with no surprises, or at least with as few surprises as possible. They are ready and able to anticipate every objection, every cross-examination question and answer. Simply put, they are ready to give their defense and win their case.

Now should the time come that someone cross-examines you about your beliefs, are you that ready to give a defense of the hope that is in you in Jesus Christ? Not only that, but do you hold those beliefs so dearly, that you would be willing to die for that hope? When Peter wrote the epistle text from today’s reading, he was writing to Christians who were being pressured and persecuted for the Christian faith. There was a good possibility that they might be brought in for questioning by the government officials because they belonged to this odd religion called Christianity; this religion which didn’t really fit in with the rest of the culture. This “Jesus religion” made people feel uncomfortable. They didn’t understand it. They didn’t like it. The Romans felt it was anti-Caesar and could destroy the fabric of Roman society, and the Jews believed Christianity was a blasphemous anti-God, anti-Mosaic Law troublesome sect. Therefore the Christians were under scrutiny. The people would have their eye on them, watching their conduct, waiting for the Christians to mess up. If they did slip up, it would have given people a reason to dismiss Christianity or to justify persecuting the Christians. So Peter tells Christians living in this sort of a situation to watch their conduct and to be ready to speak up for the Christian faith. He writes: “Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.”

Even though we Christians in America are not yet facing violent persecution or imprisonment for our faith, things are not that different from Peter’s day to our own. In fact, culturally speaking, in many ways, our country is regressing back to a pagan, anti-Christian 1st century world view. Increasingly, practicing Christians are looked upon by people in our culture as being a little weird, strange, or evil. The world does not understand true Christianity as we Lutherans teach it. They don’t get it. They don’t like it. We make them feel uncomfortable. We remind them that there is a God in the heavens who is looking down on all of us and seeing how we’re doing. People want to get out from under that. Their conscience nags at them. They’d rather not think about things like God and guilt, a right or wrong that goes against fleshly impulses. They don’t want to think about sin and death and what happens after that. And we Christians by our existence and by our witness remind them of all those uncomfortable realities. Don’t be surprised when the people of this world look for opportunities to make fun of us Christians, or focus on our personal flaws and foibles, in order to dismiss our faith. “Oh, those Christians, they’re just a bunch of phonies and hypocrites. Who needs their stupid religion? Who needs their church?” That’s the attitude of the world around us. It is especially hard to defend against this when we act and talk like we are one with the world. Jesus said in today’s Gospel text, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments…” How can the world even mark us as Christians and ask us about the hope that is in us if we live just like them, living as ones who have hope only for this world, serving ourselves and pursuing the things of this world and our flesh? If we do not even act like those who have been redeemed or who are “zealous for what is good”, why should anyone believe us? St. John wrote in His first epistle: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

Lord have mercy! We are truly unworthy to be called His people according to our sins. We do not deserve His mercy, love, and forgiveness. We deserve to be blotted out and condemned with all the unbelieving evil-doers. Let us repent and confess our sins, pleading for forgiveness and the power to truly love and serve Him, to restore in us a hope of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God, there is hope anew in Jesus Christ who has died for those sins. As St. John also says in His first epistle: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” St. Peter wrote: “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit.”

We were the unrighteous, but now through faith we are accounted as those declared and being made righteous for the sake of the righteous One, Jesus Christ. As St. Peter wrote, the Holy Spirit now declares: Baptism now saves you, as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You have been washed, you have been sanctified (that is, made holy), and you have been justified (that is, declared righteous) in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. You have been forgiven in Jesus Christ. You have been washed, examined, and absolved. You have had that hope of salvation and forgiveness renewed within you by His Holy Spirit. So I ask you are you prepared? Are you ready to give a defense for the hope that is in you? Yes you are. You are being made ready, and being prepared every time that you remember the benefits of your baptism. Every time that you are led to confess your sins and hear the words of Absolution, you are being trained, changed, and renewed. Every time that you come to Bible Study, sing the liturgy, sing the hymns, hear the Word preached, the Holy Spirit is coming to you, filling you up, dwelling with you and in you. You are not orphans, you are God’s children. Jesus, your brother and Savior comes to you by His Spirit in these gifts which He has given to the Church to strengthen you through faith, to be protected as you live in Him in this world. By His Spirit, you have a clean heart recreated in you, you have restored in you the joy of His salvation. This joy propels you to be zealous for good works: to love and serve God by serving your neighbor, even those cannot or will not reciprocate your service and love.

How can we love and serve the unlovable? Those who might or even do hate us? In the same way that God has mercy and loved us, who have been unlovable. In our previous sin and rebellion. Then when you have lived the life of a loving Christian, people will ask why you love them, why are you kind, why do you seem to have hope even in the midst of suffering, why does earthly success not go to your head, why are you so grounded? You may answer: I am a sinner, but I have been forgiven, my Savior has loved me, so how can I not love you? He has given me eternity, so how can I misuse this time on earth? If I have suffered, it is nothing compared to the suffering of my Savior, Jesus Christ on my behalf. If I have had success in the eyes of the world, it is to God’s glory, for where I have failed, God has made me a success. I am grounded because I have been planted by the tree of life in the cross of Jesus Christ, and by His blood and through His Word, I am fed and led to drink His living water.

Yes, dear friends, Jesus comes to you here in His Word and there in His body and blood, so that you may be blessed with forgiveness, and blessed to forgive and live in love by His Holy Spirit. You have learned to give a defense and explanation of your hope because Jesus Christ is your defense and sure hope. He has died for you, risen, and prepares a place for you now and hereafter in eternity because He loves you.

Are you ready to give a defense for the hope that is in you? Through Christ Jesus, yes, yes, you are. Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

Most of you know that if you have a “smart phone”, whether it be an Apple phone or Android, you can train it to activate by voice commands. Rather than typing, swiping, or some other action, you can activate the phone by voice to look up information, call someone, open up an application, all without hands. However, as many of you know, to use this function, you have to train the cell phone to recognize your voice by repeating a line over and over again. The idea is that by calling out the magic words with your unique voice, the phone assistant will awaken and then you can proceed to command it. Yet it doesn’t always recognize your voice. It only recognizes your voice if you use the same tone, the same volume, the same pitch with the same rhythm as when it was trained, otherwise it may just ignore you.

In today’s Gospel text Jesus, names Himself as the Shepherd of the sheep. His sheep know Him by His voice. When He calls to them by name they follow Him. A stranger they will not follow, but “they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of a stranger.” The sheep hear and know His voice. They recognize Him by His voice. To hear and recognize the voice of the Shepherd implies that there is familiarity with the shepherd beyond what a cell phone can recognize. In the ancient Middle East, the shepherd would be with the sheep for many, many hours at a time, speaking to them, calling to them, singing to them, perhaps even playing an instrument to them to lead them, guide them, and calm them down. The sheep learn to know the different tones of the Shepherd’s voice. They know when the Shepherd’s voice takes on the tone of warning. They know the sound of rebuking, leading, guiding and loving. They know the Shepherd’s voice inside and out. This kind of recognition can only come from constant exposure to His voice. It is much like a baby which recognizes its mother’s voice after being born because it had heard her voice all the time while still in her womb.

This passage from John along with the entire 10th chapter describes the ongoing life of the Church which is represented as the flock of sheep who have Jesus as its Shepherd and Overseer. Jesus continues to call, gather, and enlighten His sheep from every generation through the voice of His Word in Scripture and His Sacraments as they are faithfully administered by His under shepherds. If these “pastors” are not faithful, if they are false teachers and preachers, then they are as thieves and robbers. The sheep should be prepared and able to recognize these charlatans and rogues because as sheep of the Shepherd, they would have been students of His voice having studied the scriptures, deeply and often at home and Divine Service. The sheep would understand the dynamic that when the sheep hear the voice of the shepherd they don’t just shrug their shoulders and pay Him no mind, but they hear His voice and follow Him. There is walking; journeying; following; obeying. They also are to be faithful to the Scriptures not just in thought but in action, as St. James writes: “Lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves”(James 1:21-22).

James sounds like he is speaking today by what he says next. “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of a man he was” Sadly, this is happening among many who claim to be members of the church today. Many have forgotten who they are and whose they are: they have forgotten the voice of the Shepherd.

The Christian culture in America is marked by one of plurality. It has been influenced by American consumerism and the thought that anyone is free to do what is right in their own eyes. It is perplexing…and very difficult to combat. They follow the voice they have come to know. There are churches that do not emphasize the voice of the Good Shepherd in historic truth of God’s Word and His sacraments. Instead, they emphasize the whims and wants of the modern individual. In such a case, the subjective desires or interpretations of the individual become the driving force on how one worships and what one believes. The voice that is heard and followed is no longer that of the Shepherd but voice of the “sheep who liked to stray”. The problem with throwing out the voice of the Shepherd to appease the itching ears is that people end up not having a shepherd in this world. They walk alone, searching and fighting to survive the spiritual onslaughts of the devil with very little protection. An individual who might claim to believe in Jesus, who may claim to pray to Jesus, but if he does not attend a faithful congregation, thereby avoiding a deeper contemplation of the Scriptures with brother and sister sheep to hear and be fed by their Shepherd’s voice in truth and purity, how can they stand against the evil wolf and dread satanic lion? Perhaps they attend a church that checks the boxes of programming, sports teams, favorite music, but if the Word of God is not there or diminished, then the voice of the Good Shepherd is not there or muted. Everything is trite and superficial. The true teachings of the scriptures sound foreign to those sheep and so the voice of the thief sounds completely reasonable. This is one reason why so many people today are leaving Christianity. They were misguided to begin with. They did not know, or they forgot, or they covered their ears from the voice of the Good Shepherd by placing a greater emphasis on voices other that the Good Shepherd.

All too often, we also forget the voice of the Shepherd or we ignore Him when we choose to skip Bible Class or Divine Service, when we conveniently ignore parts of Scripture that make us uncomfortable or tells us that what we are doing is wrong or tells us to do something we don’t want to do. Then we are not being sheep of the Good Shepherd, we are disowning Him by our sin and unbelief wanting to follow the voice of our flesh or the world. This is exactly what the Great thief, the devil wants. He wants the sheep to jump the fence, to avoid the Shepherd who is also the door, and then wander into the hands of those who mean us harm, who will bring us again under judgment and destruction.

Let us repent of our sin and our stubbornness.

Thankfully, the Shepherd has mercy on His sheep and Jesus is truly the Good Shepherd. He does not give up on sinful stubborn sheep, but He continues to call to you, to me, to unbelievers, to repent, to come back and enter again the sheepfold, the Church, through the only door that saves and protects from the evil one, and his band of thieves. This door is Jesus Christ. He is the Good Shepherd. Why? Because as He said in the verses following this morning’s reading in John 10: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep… I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.” (John 10:11, 18)

Jesus has laid down His life so that the sheep may have life. This He did at the cross. He has suffered for you bearing your sins in His body on the tree, that the righteous wrath of God for your sin would be taken by Jesus Christ. By His wounds you have been healed. He has risen from the dead and taken His life back up again, so that we may have that resurrection life as our inheritance by faith in Him.

The voice of the Shepherd is the voice of life. His voice called your name to that inheritance and life with a loving yet thunderous tone in Holy Baptism. He continues to call you through His Word, to hear again His voice in all its tones. Tones of admonishment, to which we confess our sins and then receive forgiveness in the absolution spoken in tones of love and reconciliation by His undershepherds. This voice is His voice. The Word of God in the liturgy is that which familiarizes us again to His voice which leads us through the valley of the shadow of death to the still water, as we are invited by our Good Shepherd to drink and eat heavily and healthfully on the preaching of His Word and the eating and drinking of His precious body and blood given and shed for you in this bread and wine. Your Good Shepherd here continues to come to you and call you and lead you to the cross, and to the empty tomb: to the place where He now leads His sheep to have life and have it in eternal abundance. As we follow Him by faith, He leads us forth through this life to the life in heaven which He has prepared. Through suffering and persecution, through joys and triumphs, He leads us forth. We hear His voice and He hears us pray. He comes to us and picks us up and carries us when we are weak. Through Him we have salvation, hope, and eternal life.

May we be drawn to Him and His Word ever and always, so that by faith we may recognize His Voice, His Love, His direction and guidance throughout this life until the day, when His voice will once more call us by name to come forth from the tomb or from this life to eternal life in resurrected victory through Jesus Christ, Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

Have you ever been so focused on something, so distracted, perhaps in worry about a problem, that you missed what other people were saying to you, even if they were telling you the solution? Have you ever been looking for something that you thought you had lost, but you were so panicked that you didn’t even see it, even though it was in the open? Then, someone else points it out to you and finds it for you? What a joy, what a relief, but then you may also think, how did I not see it when it was just there and why couldn’t I listen and hear the solution in the midst of my worry?

This morning’s Gospel lesson also speaks of some travelers who were so focused on their worries and problems that they too could not see or hear the solution to their trouble even though He was right there with them before their very eyes and ears.

The Gospel account for this morning took place on the 1st day of the week after the death of Jesus: IOW: Resurrection Day. Two of Jesus’ disciples were on their way to Emmaus. Now these disciples were not among the 12 closest disciples but were likely part of the 72 who had been temporarily sent out to the lost sheep of Israel by Jesus in Luke 10. During that time, they witnessed the power of God’s Christ as God worked through them His power to preach, perform miracles, and cast out demons. But now… to them, that experience was a forgotten and old history as they left Jerusalem downcast and defeated thinking their teacher was dead. As they were speaking to each other about the recent events, suddenly another traveler joined them. We are told by St. Luke who this was, but we are told that the disciples’ eyes were kept from recognizing Him. The reason they could not see Jesus is because they were too overwhelmed by their own feelings, their own doubts, their own despair to see straight, but they also were kept from seeing Him until the perfect and most meaningful time.

In verse 17, when Jesus asked them about their conversation, our translation says that they stood still looking sad… The Greek uses a word that is more meaningful than “sad”. The word is skuthropos which means to be gloomy, sullen, beat back, overtaken, wretched, destroyed, having lost all. This is how they felt, as gloomy wretched beaten ones who had lost it all. Amazed that this stranger hadn’t heard of the events in Jerusalem, they recounted it briefly. Referring to Jesus, they described Him as a “prophet mighty in word and deed”. “We had hoped that He was the One to redeem Israel.” they say in past tense.

Notice they do not say He is the Son of God, nor that He was the Savior, but that they had hoped at one time that He would have been. They reveal that there were women who had seen a vision, who had said that this Jesus was alive, but when other disciples went to the tomb, they saw the tomb but did not see Him. So they did not believe. Like Thomas from last week’s Gospel, They thought it would be wonderful if Jesus were alive, but it sounded too good to be true. Jesus let them talk, Jesus was using this moment to show them what they didn’t know so that they might learn what they must know.

Then Jesus says “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer and enter His glory?” Jesus did not say this to insult them, but rather he said it with pity, to get their attention as He then expounded to them the scriptures, proving that all of Scripture, Old and New Testaments are to be interpreted through Christ who has fulfilled them all.

There was something about these words that held the disciples attention, yet they still did not perceive. So, as they reached Emmaus, they were going to stop, but Jesus appeared to be ready to continue on. The disciples said what turns out to be a beautiful prayer, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is far spent.” He stayed and as they were about to eat, when He was at “table with them” He took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. Immediately their eyes were opened; opened by Jesus who chose this moment to open their eyes and reveal Himself in this breaking of the bread. Therefore there is something special, some significance in this act of blessing and breaking bread. Jesus did for these disciples the same thing He had done with them on the night when He was betrayed as in Luke 19, taking the bread, blessing it, breaking it and telling them, “This is my body given for you.” Jesus revealed His body and person in this Sacrament of His Holy Eucharist.

As they recognized Him, Jesus vanished from their sight, to meet them again later. In the same way that He can appear and vanish in these resurrection accounts, Christ is not limited to time and space. As the Son of God according to His glory His body can be present when and where He wills and promises even in His Holy Supper. In the text, the revelation of the resurrected Christ brought them to faith and in their joy and excitement they ran 7 miles back to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples the good news. How is this message described? “Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them (specifically)in the breaking of the bread.”

Dear friends in Christ, this is not a story, this is not a fairy tale, but has really happened, and may our own eyes be opened to His appearance in His Word and in the bread and wine. The whole thrust of this passage and all the accounts of Jesus appearing after He rose is to open our hearts and minds to the fact that Jesus was and is the Christ, the Messiah, the perfect paschal/passover lamb of God who through His death on the cross has paid the price of sin. He has in fact redeemed all believing Israel made up of all peoples, Jews and Gentiles who perceive that Jesus is their Savior from their sins.

He is the solution to the problems of death, of sin, sickness, sorrow, anxiety, hatred, greed, and falsehood. Yet so often the world cannot and will not see or hear the voice of Jesus. They will search anywhere else closing themselves off from the Gospel of Jesus Christ because the cross of Jesus Christ and the love of God doesn’t make sense to sinful nature. We want to see proof, we would like to get some kind of credit for our actions, or we want something that will excuse us in our sin. People reject the word of God and the voice of our Savior because they get caught up in themselves, their perceived needs, wants, and desires and the distractions of this world. In so doing they become slaves to sin and death even though the solution is preached and taught in God’s Word, in His Church: offered freely by grace for the sake of Jesus who has died for all sin, and reveals Himself in His Word and sacrament. All too often we take the Gospel of Christ for granted in the midst of our earthly woes and worries and become enslaved again to our sin and selfishness. Repent, and have hope. Jesus reveals His love and forgiveness for you as He comes to you and speaks through the Absolution, you are forgiven in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Even as He first came and redeemed you in Christ’s blood through baptism, He takes away your sin again. He then comes to you to confirm His love and forgiveness won for you at the cross in His Word preached and in His Word made flesh offered here in the blessing and breaking of bread. Here in the bread and wine which is His body and blood, He continues to open your ears and eyes to witness His salvation as it is prepared and given to you. As we sing in the nunc dimitis, “My eyes have now seen the salvation…” Yes He reveals His salvation solution to you in the breaking of bread. He reveals the mystery and wonder of His resurrection through His resurrected body given for you, which prepares your body for its perfect resurrection at the last. He prepares you for His final and triumphant return. He is risen and the problems that harass you during this coming week and the weeks to come are already defeated in Christ’s victory. He will give you the strength for each day and each obstacle, remember Jesus Christ is the solution for all those problems and He will lead and guide you through them. He has already lead us from death to life in baptism. He has already defeated sin, death, and the power of the devil through His death and resurrection. How much more will also help you through any other trouble? For this, let us pray, praise, and give thanks.

That is why He continues to gather us and His Church around His Word and Sacraments, because this is where He is and where He reveals Himself. Only in Him and His revealing can we grow in faith and knowledge of the Jesus who is the Way, the truth, and the Life. Only by His power can our fears, doubts, sins, and self-focused-ness be overcome. He continues to manifest and reveal Himself, each and every time He gathers us together. He has given us the solution of salvation through faith in Him. Through His Word and in His Holy Supper Jesus Christ strengthens us as He prepares us until He calls us home. There He shall stay with us and we with Him where there is no evening or darkness, only joy and life in His light forevermore. Amen

Pr. Aaron Kangas

The second Sunday of Easter is annual “Pick on Thomas Day.” There are people in this world who have never even picked up a Bible, but they have heard about “Doubting Thomas.” This label is somewhat inaccurate and, in many ways, unfair: unfair that he is singled out as if nobody else doubted.

In the resurrection account from St. Luke, chapter 24, the women had told the disciples about the angels and Jesus’ appearance, “but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” (Luke 24:11) They … meaning the 11 disciples … did not believe their witness. The disciples were not just doubtful; … they did not believe. They were unbelievers.

Thomas was not among the disciples during that first appearance of Jesus in our text today from John’s Gospel. After Jesus’ first appearance to the disciples, when confronted with the others’ witness he did say, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” See how inaccurate the phrase doubting Thomas is, Thomas was not a doubter, but an unbelieving sceptic as well. They had all been unbelievers. So … how come Thomas is the one who got singled out with the label “Doubting Thomas”? We don’t speak of Pagan Peter, Unbelieving James, Matthew the Infidel? The fact is: not a single one of the disciples believed the report of Christ’s resurrection until they saw Jesus in the flesh. The entire crew failed miserably: they fled, when Jesus was arrested, they didn’t believe the eye witnesses of Christ’s resurrection, and that first night after the tomb was found empty, where were the 10? Afraid for their lives, in a locked room, not remembering anything Jesus said.

In the midst of their fear and unbelief, into the locked room, Jesus comes and stands among them. He who was crucified and dead is no longer so. He is alive. The witness of the women and the Emmaus disciples (about whom we will hear next week) were proven true!

He had every right to scold them vigorously. “Why did you not believe?” Jesus had every right to condemn them but He did not. Jesus came and stood among them in the midst of their failings, their grief, fear and unbelief and brought them peace and forgiveness, comfort, and mercy, and the first words from His mouth to their ears was His loving message “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Jesus not only gave them His peace, but He even invited them to check out the wounds of the crucifixion in His hands and side which was pierced to make peace. Peace with Jesus and Peace with the Father.

Now as if that were not amazing enough, Jesus showed the profound working of God’s grace in the fact that He chooses to use humble and fallible instruments to deliver this word of forgiveness in the office of the Ministry. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” Jesus Himself is “an apostle” because an apostle is a “sent one.” He was the appointed Apostle from God the Father. He was sent from the Father specifically to save the spiritually dead, hopeless, and helpless people as a mission of mercy. To establish peace and reconciliation between God and mankind by His earning forgiveness in His perfect sacrificial death and resurrection and then giving this forgiveness to those who have sinned and failed but repent and believe.

So He who was sent by the Father appoints this group of weak men as apostles … as “sent ones.” These men who just a split second before were unbelievers, or at least misbelievers. They are appointed and sent from God the Son with His authority: as Jesus gave them the special authority to admonish and call sinners to repentance and announce forgiveness and peace to those who do repent. He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

Jesus had just endured the cross, and the wrath of His Father for all sin so that forgiveness of that sin could be given. Now, He has taken that dearly won forgiveness of sins and placed it in the hands of this group of sinners and appointed them to the ministry of reconciliation, to the Office of the Keys and distribution and announcement of that forgiveness.

Jesus has given His forgiveness to the Church, and the Small Catechism covers the way in which this authority to forgive sins is lived out in the Church when it discusses the Office of the Keys.

What is the Office of the Keys? The answer: The Office of the Keys is that special authority which Christ has given to His church on earth to forgive the sins of repentant sinners, but to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant as long as they do not repent.

The catechism then cites this passage from today’s Gospel lesson: The Lord Jesus breathed on His disciples and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven’ (John 20:22-23).

What do you believe according to these words? I believe that when the called ministers of Christ deal with us by His divine command, in particular when they exclude openly unrepentant sinners from the Christian congregation and absolve those who repent of their sins and want to do better, this is just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself.

We exercised this authority and have received the Words of Christ earlier in the service when you confessed your sin, your failings, your weakness, and the fact that you don’t deserve forgiveness, but for the sake of Jesus Christ God’s people plead mercy. And so you heard me say, “Upon this your confession, I, by virtue of my office, as a called and ordained servant of the Word, announce the grace of God unto all of you, and in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

These words of forgiveness and peace are so precious and so valuable that even if the rest of the service is a total bust … the sermon dull … the hymns hard to sing …no matter what goes wrong in the rest of the service, it is worth it to come and confess and hear those words of forgiveness and peace in Jesus Christ and receive what those words promise. For in those words of forgiveness, Jesus comes and stands among us, and we receive the very forgiveness that Jesus gave to those underachieving disciples on the very day that He rose from the dead.

There is great comfort for us in today’s Gospel reading. All of us mess up. We all fail regularly in love for our neighbor, in faithfulness to God in thought word and deed. We have doubted and disbelieved. Just as Jesus came to those disciples with His peace and forgiveness, He also comes to you today. Be no more disbelieving but believe. Your crucified and risen Jesus comes to you this day, comes and stands among you to announce His victory over your sin, over your past failings, conquering your doubt and your fear including the last and greatest enemy of death. As Jesus said to John in the book of Revelation He says to you and me. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, fear not, I am the first and the last, the living one, I died and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

The keys of death and Hades is the forgiveness that Jesus earned on the cross for you. Today’s Gospel teaches that heaven is opened to you when the office of the keys is proclaimed, when you hear the words of absolution from me, your pastor. Whenever you hear the preaching of the Gospel of Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you remember the promise of God to you in waters of Holy Baptism. Whenever you receive the body and blood of Christ in the bread and wine in the Sacrament of the Altar there Jesus is among us. Whenever and wherever God is using these humble instruments: pastors, preaching, water, spirit, absoluting, bread and body, wine and blood, people confessing, there Jesus brings His love and forgiveness delivering the peace which He has won for us. There He shows the instruments of our salvation. There we behold the wounds in His hands and his side, from which poured His blood and water, the instruments of Your salvation, your forgiveness. Water and blood. The Water fills the fount, the blood fills the cup. Both poured out for you, covering you, and filling you with His grace and mercy. The speaking of the Absolution and preaching of His Word is Christ’s breathing out His Spirit. Do not disbelieve, but believe that Jesus comes and stands among us in all these ways to bring peace and forgiveness to you to open the kingdom of heaven to you. This is the way that His peace, comes to you. Peace between you and God, peace with your brothers and sisters, Peace in your mind and heart, peace which the world cannot give. Peace which comes from the joy of His crucified and resurrected presence to you that you may no longer fear, but believe. You haven’t seen Jesus in the same way as the disciples, you haven’t touched His wounds with your fingers in the same way, but you have and do in a sacramental and mysterious way. Jesus still comes and stands among us when He His Word is preached and His sacraments celebrated in truth and purity. You have seen Him, you will see Him, so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, and by believing you may have life eternal in His name. Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

Christ is Risen! He is Risen, indeed, Alleluia!

On that first Easter, through the dark streets and paths in and around Jerusalem, even before the light of dawn, the faithful Holy women proceeded. How weary and sad their footsteps must have been as they made their way to the tomb. As so many before them and since have done for loved ones who have died, they were going to see the grave of their loved one, their beloved teacher and master who not only died, but was killed so quickly and violently. We know from other Gospels that they had brought spices and oils with the hope that they could anoint the body and so with grief and mourning say their final farewells.

They were on their way to the grave that morning, the same road we all must travel. Death comes to all mortal flesh. It is a direct result and punishment because of sin. The wages of sin is death. Ever since Adam and Eve paid heed to the false teaching and preaching of Satan to eat the fruit that would give them the knowledge of good and evil in direct disobedience to God, there has been the curse of death. Every generation born must also die, so it has been, and so it will be until the end of time. The unnatural cleaving of the soul from the body in death is not what God had intended when He created Adam and Eve, for He created them for life.

Yet because of that original sin, all must die. Death itself points to an even greater punishment, that being an eternal death. Yes, Death brings fear. The threat of death should turn every heart of every man and every woman to fear the Lord and beg for mercy, yet many do not. They fight against it; they fight against man, against God. Fear is ultimately the source of all wickedness and cruelty. The hope that in destroying or controlling others, they may gain some mastery, some reassurance of their own power and security within themselves in the present, but it cannot last. For others, they may seek to escape the thought of death by living as though each day were their last; living carelessly in drunken or doped dissipation wasting their lives and time in numbness. Others may seek to find hope for life now and in the hereafter by works of their own righteousness, through works of the Law. This too is will come to nothing, for St. Paul and St. James note: “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.”

There was only One who was completely righteous, only One without sin. It was Jesus of Nazareth, He who lightened the darkness, who forgave sins, and healed diseases. He lived as One who was not a slave to fear or sin, yet He was betrayed into the hands of evil men. He was crucified, scorned, and mocked, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.'” The reality is that He had come to save others by not saving Himself. He allowed Himself to be sacrificed upon the cross to pay for the price of every sin. Jesus was sent by His Father to restore creation, to remove the curse of sin, to remove the power and sting of death. He came to remove fear and its allies, hatred, selfishness, and sorrow.

Therefore, Jesus became a curse on Good Friday. He went and did battle against sin, death, and the devil even as He took the full wrath of His Father upon Himself. This was the only way, and He was the only One who could ever reconcile God and Man again. Therefore, He died upon the cross in bitter agony an innocent Passover Lamb, the crucified King so that your sins and the sins of the world might be forgiven. His Words from the cross, “It is Finished” mark that the work of redemption and atonement was completed in Jesus’ perfect life and perfect death on that Good Friday.

What then of the resurrection? What is its point? The crucifixion of Jesus and His resurrection cannot be separated and neither should be diminished. Through the crucifixion, the work of atonement took place. The wonder and beauty of the resurrection is that it confirms that Jesus’ death was an acceptable sacrifice for sin. It confirms that the Father approved the sin and blood offering for sin and because the power of sin is undone, so too is the power of death undone. In the Father’s justice, He would not let the innocent One remain in death but raised Him up.

The women who came to the tomb did not yet understand what Jesus had done on the cross, the disciples were still hiding in fear, the body of Jesus was still in the tomb or so they thought. In the same way that the Trinity used an earthquake as a drumroll to announce the atonement at Jesus’ crucifixion, so now He uses another earthquake. He sends another great earthquake to underscore the great miracle of salvation that is taking place in the resurrection. An angel descends and removes the stone that had been sealed over the grave announcing life’s triumph over death, yet the guards, in fear, become like dead men. But listen to the words of the angel to the women, but because of Christ it is spoken to all Christian folk: “Do not be afraid!” Do not fear control you. Do not be afraid of death any longer. Do not be afraid of God’s judgment upon sin, for it is fulfilled in Christ. Behold, the angel did not roll the stone back so that Jesus could get out, He was already out. Jesus had already risen. “He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.” Death could not hold Him. Death and its threat is now as empty as the Tomb of Jesus Christ. Then as they departed quickly, Jesus Himself, appeared to them and said, “All Hail” not greetings as our poor translation has it. He literally said “Be Glad, Rejoice!” Then He also repeated the theme, “Do not be afraid.”

On this day of Resurrection and remembrance, know that this message is also yours by faith in Jesus Christ. We too come to seek His presence to worship Him, to hear His Words of Absolution and to grasp by faith to His feet which brings this good news of salvation. Here is where He comes to us and greets us again this happy morning. He greets us with triumph over death, because this resurrection of Jesus is Christ is also yours. In the Epistle reading for Colossians, St. Paul says to you and all believers that you have died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. “When did this happen you ask?” Well in your Baptism, of course. That is when your creator recreated you to prepare you for the final recreation at the last day. You passed through the water and the blood of Jesus poured from His side at the cross when you were brought to His font of baptism. Believe the power of Baptism as said in God’s Word. It is His pledge to you sealed with His own blood. “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death. If we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like His.” (Romans 6:3,5)

This day we may rejoice, His resurrection has already become your resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus is not just an historic event. It is for you. Received by faith in Jesus Christ, you have the promise of the resurrection of both body and soul that is yet to come this is your sure pledge from God by His blood. Let us praise the Lord, for Jesus has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. Death is now no more than a slumber. We no longer need fear death or condemnation for we have been reconciled through Christ. Now He comes to us in His feast of triumphant celebration here in His crucified and raised body and blood in the bread and the wine. Here He gives us the strength to go and tell others of this joyous truth of Jesus Christ crucified and raised for the for the forgiveness of sins.

We are able to march forward into the future safely in God’s care in Jesus Christ. Already now and at the last day, our song of triumph is “I know that my redeemer lives. What comfort this sweet sentence gives. He lives to silence all my fears, He lives to wipe away all my tears, He lives to calm my troubled heart, He lives all blessings to impart. He lives and grants me daily breath. He lives, and I shall conquer death. He lives my mansion to prepare; He lives to bring me safely there.” In Jesus Christ’s name, Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

They crown thy head with thorns, they smite, they scourge Thee with cruel mockings to the cross they urge Thee…O mighty King, no time can dim Thy glory! How shall I spread abroad Thy wondrous story.

The king is dead. He who was called “king of the Jews” by the Gentiles, by Pilate, both in the sign above His head, but in mockery by the soldiers both as they beat him, but also as it says in Luke 23:36–37. “The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine  and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself’!”

He was hailed as the “King of Israel” by Jewish followers when He triumphantly rode upon a donkey only a few days before, only to hear this same phrase used against Him according to Matthew’s passion (Mt. 27:41-42) which states: “So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, ‘He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him’.”

In the Passion according to St. John which we just heard, in these two chapters, the word “king is used 12 times. Used in questioning, accusation, the word “King” is even used when the crowd denies Jesus and declares: “We have no king but Caesar”. But Jesus is a king. He is crowned with thorns as a form of mockery, but this ring of thorns about His brow describes the nature and purpose of His kingdom. The thorns came up from the ground only after Adam and Eve sinned. The thorns were part of the curse. Now Jesus, the Son of God and Son of Man, wears the thorns as the one who bears the curse of sin, in order to conquer it.

There is another usage of the term “king” in John 18 which usually is not given much thought, but it has depth. The slave whose ear was cut off. His name was “Malchus” Malchus is the Greek version of the Hebrew word Malek, which means “king”. Oh the Irony. The high priest’s slave has the name “King”. Not only that but that slave king is struck and His ear is cut off. “He who has ears to hear, let Him hear” as Jesus would say. Though this slave king was struck, though His ear was cut off, like the Messiah king would be struck and cut off from the land of the living. He was restored. He was healed by the King of Israel, the King whose kingdom is not a kingdom of this world and its glory, but the King who comes as a slave, to free those in bondage and slavery to sin by becoming as sin for them, betrayed, forsaken, and crucified in great humility and rejection, the wrath of God upon sin taken upon Himself, so that you, me, and all believers would not be rejected, forsaken, or cut off by death, by the curse of sin, surrounded by thorns, separated forever from the loving living God. No but that we and all believers would be gathered with believing members of the True Israel forever in His kingdom now and forever in Paradise. Ruled by His Word, His Spirit, His life by the forgiveness of sins. This is the reign of this king, this is how He conquers: by service, by love, by His death. As the hymn we have been studying says: “For us by wickedness betrayed, For us in crown of thorns arrayed He bore the shameful cross and death, For us He gave His dying breath.”

He did it all “For us”. He is dead. God is dead on Good Friday, but as The Messiah king healed the ear which was “cut off”. Let us remember the Words of Jesus is John 10:17-18  For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.”

All is completed. The war, the battle, the redemption. The price of sin is paid. Now death will be overcome to show that the price was paid in full. This is the joy of the resurrection, the promise of ours, that we are indeed freed from the slavery of sin in Jesus Christ. The devil no longer has control over us. Our High Priest who is true has paid our ransom. For us He rose from death again. For us He went on high to reign, For us He sent His Spirit here To guide, to strengthen, and to cheer. The King lives. Let us watch and wait in Jesus Christ’s name. Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

Imagine the events of our Gospel text. Today is a day of great celebration. Godly Pilgrims from all over the world have made their way to Jerusalem to celebrate. The population of the city grows larger every day. The number of people in Jerusalem is so great that many must leave every evening to camp out on the hills that surround the city. Soon the people will celebrate the Passover, the great victory of God when He rescued His people from the slavery of Egypt in the days of Moses.

Among all the Passover Pilgrims who enter Jerusalem this day, one has a different reason for fulfilling the ancient law that requires all the men of Israel to present themselves before the Lord, for He is the fulfillment of the “Passover”. This pilgrim came into Jerusalem riding upon a donkey, a colt that has never been ridden before. His disciples and many of the Passover Pilgrims honor Him with praise as He enters Jerusalem.

Yet, our Gospels for this day tell us that there was a lot of confusion concerning this particular man who rode into Jerusalem that day. Those who praised Him gave Him Messianic titles such as Son of David, King of Israel, and so forth. These titles were accurate, ah but if only the people would have truly understood their true meaning. Sadly, many thought that Jesus was coming to use His miracle working power to give them earthly wealth or health, or to drive out the Romans, or to restore the empire of Solomon or to make Jerusalem the most important city in the world. These Passover pilgrims were doing exactly the right thing in praising Jesus. Sadly, they were doing it for the wrong reasons.

The Pharisees were also confused. We miss out on the symbolism because the symbol of the Palm Branch is different for us than it was for Israel. We are used to seeing the six pointed Star of David as the national and religious symbol of Israel, but down through the years, the palm branch has also been a symbol of Israeli pride. The Pharisees seemed to be afraid the Roman soldiers would see the Palm Branches and think “Israeli resistance”. They were terrified that the Romans would interpret the noise as some sort of uprising and send troops to shut it down and take away the temple.

Then there were the Greeks who came to see Jesus. We focus so much on Israel that we sometimes forget that God has His people in other nations as well. These Greeks were godly men, but they had not entered into the formalities of full Jewish fellowship. Even though they were not formal members of the Jewish religion, they looked for the coming of the Messiah. They had heard the talk. Could this Jesus of Nazareth be the Messiah? They wanted to meet Jesus, but as Gentiles, they were not free to move about the temple grounds. They asked Philip to relay their request to Jesus to come out to them. Philip found Andrew and the two of them went to Jesus.

They would see Him but not as expected. For Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” No doubt there were some who heard these words who said, “Well, it’s about time. Now we’ll see something really spectacular.” No doubt there were a few among the disciples who were enticed by the palms and the hosannas of the crowds. Now Jesus will reveal His true royal nature. Now Jesus will drive out the Romans and establish His kingdom on earth.

And as quickly as these temptations arose, they were dashed. Jesus continued, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” What did the preacher say? Did He just say that His glory is to die and be buried like a seed?

For years, Jesus kept saying, “My hour has not yet come. My Hour has not yet come.” Now here in Jerusalem after this glorious parade up into the temple, Jesus finally states, “The hour has come,” and the hour refers to His death. How can death be glorious?

It is interesting that Jesus spoke of Himself as a seed. Thousands of years earlier, before He took on humanity in the womb of the Virgin, He with the Father and Holy Spirit came to seek out and visit Adam and Eve in the Garden. It was a sad journey. Adam and Eve had just eaten the forbidden fruit. As He laid out the consequences of sin, He promised that that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head, but at a price. The serpent would bite the heel of the woman’s seed. This past Wednesday was also the Annunciation, the observance of when Gabriel came to Virgin Mary and told her that she would bear that Messianic seed and give birth to the One who would fulfill salvation prophecy.

Now in Messianic fulfillment, Jesus was in Jerusalem to take the poison of the serpent’s bite while He crushed the serpent’s head. The poison would kill Him and He would rest like a seed in the earth. Then, just as a seed germinates, so also would the Son of Man leave the ground and bear much fruit.

Jesus regularly, consistently, and clearly proclaimed His suffering, death, and resurrection. He clearly proclaimed this as His glory. He clearly proclaimed this as our salvation. Nevertheless, His disciples, the crowds who sang His praise, the Greeks, and the Pharisees were consistently confused. They were unable to understand that the greatest expression of the glory of God lies in Christ on the Cross where He suffered all in order to forgive the sins of the world. The glory is that of God’s mercy, love, and sacrifice.

Jesus wants you to have a share in this glory, but in order to share in this glory, you must die. Jesus said, “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” Jesus used the word “life” in two ways, life here on this earth and eternal life with Him. Those who love the life of this world will lose their eternal life. Those who die to the life of this world already have eternal life. That is what Holy Baptism is about as the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write: [Romans 6:3–5] Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 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.

There was a lot of confusion on that First Palm Sunday. Few if any people understood the reason Jesus came to Jerusalem on that day. We have no excuse for such confusion. The Bible plainly states that Jesus came to Jerusalem on that day because He had an appointment with a cross on the next Friday.

This coming Thursday evening and Friday afternoon, we will meet here to focus on the gifts Jesus gave us with His passion. We will focus on the sacrament in which Jesus gives His body and blood to us for the forgiveness of sins. We will focus on His death on the cross in which Jesus earned forgiveness for all our sins. As we meditate on that death, let us also remember that Christ’s death means death for our sin, so that life may spring forth from that death.

Next Sunday we will focus in a special way on Christ rising from death to life, but let us also remember that that is also your resurrection to life and mine. Let us remember what the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write: [Galatians 2:20] “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

This is the life of the baptized believer travelling through this life and time: continually dying to sin and rising again to new life in Christ. Christ continues to come to you and bring you that new life by the forgiveness of sins in His Word, His Divine Service, and the Lord’s Supper where we see Him already, bringing us the antidote for the poison of sin: in Himself, crucified and raised for us to taste His glory, all so that we may be encouraged in faith and understanding as we live lives dying to sin and being made alive again and again in repentance and faith in Christ. This is the way it is for the believer until our Lord takes them to Himself in heaven. There we shall wait for the final day when our bodies which have been grafted into Christ will bear forth the fruit of Christ’s resurrection in full. We shall live forever on the new earth where there will be no need for death because there will be no sin. Until then as we pilgrimage through this life, though you grow weary, be encouraged by the Word of God in Jesus Christ. Stand firm and say in boldness what was written in Isaiah:
“the Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
He who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.”,
for God has and will give us the victory and the eternal kingdom of His glory in Jesus Christ our Savior, Amen.
Amen

Pr. Aaron Kangas

Our experience as human beings deals in a world of measurement. A house has so many square feet of living space … it has so many rooms. A refrigerator has so many cubic feet of storage. A person is a certain height … has a certain eye color … hair color … weight. We even measure time. The house was built in 1945. The refrigerator was manufactured in 2015. The person was born in 1987. We are used to the idea that we can measure both things and people.

Measurements mean limits. In fact, measurements tell us where the limits are. If we say a box is 24″ x 12″ x 12″ we cannot put something that is 36″ long into that box. 36″ is beyond the limits of that box. We know the limits of the box because we have measured them.

We live in a world where we can measure everything … everything has limits or so we think. That is one of the challenges we have when God reveals Himself as one who has no limits … One who cannot be measured. It is very difficult to understand that when we say God is eternal, we mean that from God’s perspective, all time is “now.” And that He existed before there was time. When we say that God is omnipresent, we mean that, from God’s perspective, all places are “within Him”. God has no limits and that is very hard for our limited, human minds to understand.
Then, as though that weren’t enough, that limitless God decided to save us by taking on humanity into Himself. Now we have the one person, Jesus Christ, who is both 100% God and 100% man. I am very thankful that God does not ask me to understand by my reason how this all works. Instead He asks me to believe that it is so, and He sends the Holy Spirit to give that belief to me.

Today’s Gospel is about people who had placed limits on Jesus. Martha placed limits on Jesus. She said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Mary fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Some of the visitors who came to comfort Mary and Martha also said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” Every one of these people put a limit on Jesus. They all believed that Jesus could have cured Lazarus when Lazarus was still alive, but, now that Lazarus was dead, they felt there was no hope. They all believed that death was the limit. They all believed that death was the line where the power of Jesus came to an end. In a world of measurements … in a world of limits, they believed that Jesus could not overcome death.

Death is a universal experience. Different cultures have different ways of coping with death, but all cultures must deal with death in some way. Human experience teaches us that dead is dead. Once you are dead, there is nothing that can be done to undo it.

There can be any number of reasons that death comes. The immediate cause of death can be anything from accidental trauma to the failures of old age. In spite of the many different causes of death that could be listed on a death certificates, there is only one ultimate cause of death. The Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write, (Romans 5:12) Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. 

Death spreads through sin. Do you want to know if someone is a sinner? Then wait around to see if they die. If they die, then they were a sinner. “But pastor,” you say, “Everyone dies!” Exactly! That is what the Holy Spirit teaches us through the words of the Apostle Paul.

Faithful pastors don’t have to proclaim a lot of law at a funeral. There is the dead body in the casket proclaiming, “I am dead. The wages of sin is death. In fact because I am a sinner, I deserve to be in hell.” With a sermon like that pouring out of the casket, the faithful pastor proclaims the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins, and the hope and promise of the resurrection of the body through Jesus Christ, the crucified and resurrected One.

There is no one who is master over death except the One who created life and has redeemed life. Jesus Christ, who to conquer sin which rules through death, took on mortal flesh to fulfill the measurements and requirements of the Law and then allowed Himself to be put to death in the flesh at the cross to atone for sin AND to give hope by the immeasurable gift of grace and love which God has for sinners. As St. Paul wrote: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) It is only the voice of the One who came to overcome sin, death and the devil who can break through the deafening stillness of death to speak life. This is the message of Jesus who stepped up to the tomb of the man who was definitely dead and cried: “Lazarus, come out.” He has the power to call out to the dead and bring the dead back to life. This is the proclamation of the man who is also God and who has no limits. He is as He said: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25) These are the only words that can overcome the proclamation of a dead body in a casket. These are words that give comfort in the face of death.

Sadly, not everyone trusts the proclamation of the one who raised Lazarus from the dead. We saw it in the text for today as the Pharisees and Chief priests conspired against Jesus. We see it in the rejection of this message of hope in Jesus Christ by those who refuse to heed His voice calling them from spiritual death to life. People often put limits on God according to what they want or feel or think. They may think that they would rather trust in their works or they feel that their sins are too wicked to be forgiven. The reality is that spiritually we are all as dry bones and dead already. If you have believed, but have gone on sinning, when you sin you are adding the stink and rot of death to what had been clean and alive. When you allow fear to control you, you are enslaving yourself again to sin and its rule which binds you up in its power and leads to spiritual and eternal death.

Into the valley of your dry bones, God calls with the voice of His Son prophesying and preaching the Good News that hope is not lost. Hope is regained in Jesus Christ. He has died for your sins. Come forth from the tomb of sin and spiritual death that your sin may be put to death and you may live in Christ’s resurrection. He has washed you in the blood of Jesus Christ in baptism and has now taken again your sin as you confessed them and are now absolved and forgiven in Jesus Christ’s name. Now as with the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel or at the tomb of Lazarus, God in Jesus Christ has called you by name, and by His Holy Spirit has called you to believe and to have life by that faith in He who has taken your sin in His death and now gives life by that forgiveness and His own resurrection. He has unbound you and loosed you from sin, so that you may live in hope and joy. By His blood and His body given for you in His Word and here in the Sacrament of the Altar, He has caused His flesh to come upon you giving you the flesh, bone, and sinew of one redeemed in Jesus Christ and given the breath of life. Now with each breath in this lifetime, you may pray, rejoice, and give thanks for the immeasurable love which He has shown you. In the midst of sorrow, suffering and trouble, you have a place of solace and comfort. Jesus has been there, He too has grieved and knows the bitterness of death, therefore we can pray for strength. He will hear you for you have heard His voice and continue to be strengthened by His voice here in His Word where He serves you food and drink for your spiritual good which sustains you even in your physical body. He is already preparing you for the resurrection of all flesh. “The Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:10-11)

Should you or I or any loved one who had faith in Jesus Christ die according to the body before Jesus Christ returns, know that He will keep the promise of His own resurrection, for He is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. Whether we are dead for four days, four years, or four thousand years, Jesus will return and raise us from the dead from the tombs, graves, ashes, and dust, and He will bring us into the true promise land of Holy Israel. There we and all believers shall dwell forever soul and body never to die again. We shall live in limitless joy without measure of time, in the abundance of the glories of our Lord and God who has given us the victory through Jesus Christ who is the resurrection and the life. Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

A theological word that seems have entered into the vocabulary of many armchair theologians in this country is the word and concept of “karma”. People talk about instant karma, bad karma, good karma, karma is a blank, et cetera. When most people talk about karma in this way, they are not even talking about the concept of karma as the Eastern religions of Hinduism and Buddhism teach it, as it pertains to reincarnation which, by the way, is also false. Very often they are using karma to describe the thought that there is a causal relationship between what you do or have done and what happens or will happen to you and what you receive as a result in the here and now. In other words, you get what you deserve based on your actions. If you have been bad then some kind of cosmic energy will end up punishing you, if you have done something good, then something good will come back around and help you at some point in time. This karma concept is a false teaching; a false teaching which is not Scriptural and therefore not Christian. The idea behind it, however, is nothing new. In fact, we see the effects of this cruel and false teaching in today’s Gospel text.

“Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” the disciples asked Jesus. There is no question as to why bad things happen to some people in the minds of the disciples or the Pharisees in our text. They had it all figured it out. Bad things happened to people because they deserved it. They believed that God specifically judges people or persons in this life as a result of their specific sin. There may be some truth to the statement that sometimes bad things happen in this life as a direct result of their bad decisions, but it is not consistent and cannot be applied in all cases.

What is true is that ultimately all evil in this world finds its origin in the result of the bad decision of Adam and Eve. By their disobedience, all creation has been subjected to futility and the curse of death brought about by sin. Because of God’s righteous judgment upon sin now there are weeds, earthquakes, floods, droughts, mosquito bites, dog bites, blood, sweat, and tears. There are illnesses, weaknesses, blindness, deafness, birth defects, old age and even death. Much of this cannot be blamed on anyone’s willful sin or decision but is part of this fallen world. However, the evil actions here in life that ought to be restrained and condemned are a direct result of the cruelties of the sinful wicked human heart: unrighteous anger, hate, gossip, hypocrisy, slavery, usury, violence of any kind, war and corruption. Many of the people guilty of such crimes go unpunished in this life, yet many in their wake received much more suffering than their sins would have seemed to deserve. Where is karma in that? I wonder.

The reality is that this life does not show itself to be fair. Whether people want to call it karma or not. The reality is that God will judge and He will avenge, in some cases, here in time, but for sure at the last day. Know that at the last, He will punish evil doers, He will lay waste mountains and hills, even though God allows evil to happen in this world, He restrains it in ways that we do not see. God withholds His righteous wrath more than you, me, and the entire world deserves. It could, in fact, be much worse even as we might think that it could be much better. The fallenness of creation and its futility is used by God as part of His alien work. I am not talking about spaceships and little green men, but the alien work of God is the working of His Law. The Law is at work in creation showing the wrath of God upon sin. This work of the Law has a purpose, it is for people to remember that they are not in charge but should appeal to God for justice and mercy.

You are not God. I am not God. The government is certainly not God. As much as our society wants to live as though they are gods themselves making their own rules and living as they see fit, the fact remains, they are not God, and every so often we are reminded of that when there is an earthquake, a flood, a mudslide, an illness, or a death. The purpose of these works of the Law in creation is to turn people to repentance, to seek out the truth of God’s Word and admit that they are not in control, that they are sinners. It is a wakeup call to realize one’s spiritual condition in light of God’s Law. This leads to repentance and mourning over sin, admitting that one has been spiritually blind as diagnosed by the Law. Only then can the healing of the Gospel take place. That was the lesson within the Gospel lesson for today. The blindness of the man was not a result of his specific sin, nor because he deserved it more than any other man, but “that the works of God might be displayed in him” as Jesus said. These “works of God” are the proper workings of God which Jesus came to reveal and to perform: namely to perform mercy, to show love, to give healing and forgiveness through His Word and in His actions. The healing of the blind man using mud and saliva with the washing of the water at the pool of Siloam pointed to the reality that the greater shame is not physical blindness but spiritual blindness. This blind man was made to see physically, but more importantly, he was made to see Jesus as the Son of Man and Son of God. The Jewish leaders and Pharisees were blinded by their unbelief and in their hypocrisy and cruelty could not see Jesus as anything but a sinner and false teacher because He healed someone on the Sabbath. They did not understand and could not fathom that mercy and not punishment is the proper work of God. To them this mercy was foolishness. Behold the irony that they, the learned teachers of the Law, were shown to be spiritually blind and ignorant and in need of instruction by the witness of the one who had been born physically blind, the one whom they believed was more a sinner than they. What the formerly blind man said to the Pharisees that made them so angry and respond, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” is this: He had said, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

The wonderful reality is that Jesus was from God and was and is God. He came to reveal that there is no such thing as Karma which does not explain evil or mercy. Jesus came to end the blindness of unbelief, to show the true and proper workings of God’s love and mercy despite what humanity deserves. We deserve far worse than blindness, because of sin and rebellion all mankind deserves to be laid waste and sent to hell forever. This alien work of God’s judgment and righteous anger is not His desire for humanity; therefore He sent Jesus to suffer His Father’s wrath as the Son of Man upon the cross of crucifixion. Jesus took what you deserved. He became sin so that you and I might be born again through the washing of water and the Word, that our sins might be crucified through His blood. Now through repentance and faith we have been remade children of the light no more subject to the darkness, no longer blind and scraping about for answers. We have been brought to salvation and to the hope that is in Jesus Christ. We will not receive the full suffering which our sins have deserved. Now through faith, as here in Absolution for Jesus Christ’s sake the Father has declared you guiltless and has declared Himself blind to your past sins and deaf to your former blasphemies. Those sins are now in the past, and in the present, He gives you the power of His Holy Spirit to put to death again your old sinful self as it has been drowned in baptism. You are a new creation in Jesus Christ. You may rejoice in doing good works and by serving Him in your vocation, by being His instrument of witness mercy and love to all around you. When you witness to the love which He has shown you as your speak Law and Gospel to the world, they may indeed persecute you and reject you, you may be tempted to hypocrisy, and you may fall again into sin, but if you lose sight of that which saves, return here. Return to the cross, repent, call out to the master and creator and He will come to your aid. He will restore your spiritual sight and your strength here in the message that again you are forgiven for Jesus Christ’s sake. Come here and receive the body given for you and the blood shed for you. Here He will restore you bodily and spiritually and prepare you for the eternal life which is granted you for Jesus Christ’s sake. You have been blessed with more than you deserve in this life for the sake of Jesus Christ, but the best is yet to come in His resurrection which is also your resurrection in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

In our Gospel text for today, the first words spoken are spoken by Jesus, and He says to a Samaritan woman who came to Jacob’s well, “Give me a drink”. This request is not the same as a child waking up in the night, who is thirsty and wants their parent to bring them something to drink. In fact, nowhere in this chapter are we told that actually Jesus drinks anything, but that is not the point of the text, nor the point of Jesus’ request. Jesus was using this request “Give Me a drink” to begin a dialogue with this woman in order to end up revealing to her and to the rest of the people in town and all the readers in the book or John, that Jesus is the Messiah, the savior of the world.

This account of Jesus and the woman at the well in many ways parallels the text from last week where Nicodemus came to Jesus in chapter 3. Whereas Nicodemus came alone and in secret at night, here the woman comes to the well in public in the daytime. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and member of the temple Sanhedrin or court, he was the most Jewish of Jews with the most perfect understanding of worship at least in Old Testament fulfillment. The woman at the well was a member of a population of mixed Jewish and non-Jewish blood, but more importantly, their worship practice was not proper or correct. The Samaritans denied the necessity of worshipping in Jerusalem and they mingled worship of Yahweh with worship of other gods and idols. Nicodemus approached Jesus, yet Jesus here approached the woman. Nicodemus left Jesus while still confused and told no one, but the woman left Jesus and told the people of the town firm in the belief that Jesus was the Christ. Both texts speak of the working of the Holy Spirit, and both texts reference water, a specific kind of water that does more than regular water because it is has the power of God’s Spirit and God’s Word working through it. So both are teachings on Baptism.

When Jesus first speaks to the woman, she was confused because He was even speaking to her, for indeed that was not the custom for strange men and women to speak to each other, nor especially a Jew to speak to a Samaritan. Immediately, Jesus says to her, “if you had the gift of God which is faith, you would know who was asking you for water, and you would ask Him in turn and He, meaning Jesus, would give unto her living water. She responded much like Nicodemus did last week when Jesus said unto him that he had to be born again or literally from above. He had asked “how can a man go back into his mother be birthed again when he is old?” Even as he knew that Jesus meant something else and this was his way of inquiring, so too the woman asked “how can you give living water, when you don’t have a pail to draw water from this deep well, unless you are saying that you are greater than our father, Jacob.” The answer is of course, yes He is greater than Jacob, in fact He was Jacob’s God and Lord, but she does not understand that yet.

Jesus, referring to the well of Jacob, says “anyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but anyone who drinks of the water that I will give never be thirsty, forever.” In fact, to paraphrase Jesus, this “water of life” once partaken of will well up inside the person and they themselves will become a spring bubbling up to eternal life. The woman says, give me this water/give me a drink so that I will not be thirsty and have to come here to this well. You see, she doesn’t quite understand that He is speaking in Baptismal, spiritual, salvation terms yet.

Jesus invites her to get her husband, she says she has none, and that is because she is living with a man outside of marriage and has been married five times before. Without discussing it further, the woman says I perceive that you are a prophet, and then asks Jesus a question about true worship and location. This was one of the major disputes between the Jews and the Samaritans, going all the way back to just after King Solomon when the northern and Southern kingdoms of Israel were divided as to where to worship. There is a connection between this question about true worship and her husbands and the man she was living with who was not her husband. This kind of living was a sin of a sexual nature, but it also symbolizes the unfaithfulness of all people in their false worship. The Samaritans in their pride in refusing to worship as God mandated which was in Jerusalem, and the people of Israel like Nicodemus who tried to merit salvation by their works. People because of their sinful nature are constantly looking for something to fill the void in their lives caused by their sin. So often, instead of acknowledging their sin, they feed those sinful desires and try to find gods and religions that excuse them in their sin or build up their pride through man made rules and regulations. Maybe some choose worship and music styles that will excite their emotions or in turn only worship those things that appeal to their reason. False religion and false worship of all kinds are unified by this main goal: Justifying and worshipping the self. On the one hand, you have that worship of the desires of the flesh as represented by the woman at the well, or the worship and glorifying of self through the deeds of the law as represented by Nicodemus and the Pharisees.

This is the key to understanding today’s text, proper worship which had been appointed in Jerusalem in the Old Testament is now to be done in spirit and in truth. This has nothing to do with being able to worship God in a general way wherever or however you want. Jesus is saying that to worship the Father properly you must worship by the Spirit and faith through Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life: Jesus Christ.

You and I are not worthy of coming into the Holy presence of the Lord in proper worship. We cannot justify ourselves, nor can we understand His great love, but repenting we are turned by the Holy Spirit to Jesus and what He has done for us. True worship is only done by the Holy Spirit through faith in the Truth of Jesus Christ and the right confession of the truth of who Jesus is. This faith can only be received; it can only be given from above as poured out by the living waters of Baptism and God’s Word. As we partake and receive God gives us His righteousness by the forgiveness of sins. This flows from the rock, Jesus Christ who is the fulfillment of the Rock from which water flowed in our Old testament lesson. Jesus took upon Himself the sins of the world to the rocky hill of Golgotha. He was struck by the power of Moses’ Law on your behalf taking the full force of God’s wrath not only in the striking of the nails through His hands and sides but in the rejection and humiliation from His Father which your sin and mine deserved. But from this rock of our salvation, from His side, flows the instruments of our salvation that paid the price. His precious blood, and the living water which washes away sin and purifies believers. Only by the power of God: the Holy Sprit working through His Word of Truth and the living Waters of Holy Baptism can a person begin to comprehend the love of God in Jesus Christ by faith.

Jesus Christ is the only source of the living waters that save and quench the spiritual thirst caused by our own sin and unbelief. All else is false and temporary. The Holy Spirit opens our hearts and minds to believe and gives us the wisdom to confess Him who is the Way, the truth and the Life. We are able to rely on Him. When we are unfaithful to our bridegroom, Jesus, we become thirsty again for life eternal, thirsty to be restored, in repentance of that sin, coming to Jesus, we say and pray, “Father in heaven, Daddy, give me a drink!” and He does give us a drink. A most perfect drink. He gives us the pure water of His Word. True worship is receiving His gifts as we gather and are served. We are refreshed through His Word in Absolution, in this liturgy, and in the very blood poured out for us the Lord’s supper. This is where we are gathered as baptized children around the cross of Jesus Christ in His Spirit in His Truth. This is where He promises to come and pour His mercies upon us richly. This is where He serves you to save you by the forgiveness of all your sin.

Through these gifts, the waters of life well up in us by God’s power so that we may become springs responding to His truth by confessing and witnessing this truth and Word of Life to those in darkness and unbelief or doubt and heresy. [Point to the cross]. To Jesus who is the source of that true saving, living water. Know that by His Word and sacraments, the Holy Spirit shall refresh you, strengthen you, and bring you through the wilderness of this life safely through faith in Jesus Christ crucified, who has poured out for you the living waters of His own blood, and has risen from the dead that you may have eternal life and come into His presence with thanksgiving. Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas