I begin this morning with a fable by Aesop.
There once was a giant oak tree that stood near a brook in which grew some slender reeds. When the wind blew, the great oak stood proudly upright with its hundred arms uplifted to the sky. But the reeds bowed low in the wind and sang a sad and mournful song. In pride, the great oak boasted of his strength to the reeds, how he stood upright and firm before the wind. The reeds on the other hand weren’t too concerned. “The winds do not harm us,” they said. We bow before them and so we do not break. You, in all your pride and strength have so far resisted their blows. But the end is coming.” And it did. As the reeds spoke a great hurricane rushed out of the north. While reeds bowed low against the wind, the oak stood proudly at first. But as the wind redoubled in fury, the great tree fell, torn up by the roots.
This fable accurately describes the spirit of the times in which we live. According to the world, in order to be successful, better yet, in order to survive, you must be flexible. You must bend to the ever-changing winds of the culture. To resist, to stand firm against the raging tempest, that is this culture, is to be destroyed like the oak. Consider why corporations, politicians, actors, sports figures – who take a stand but reverse course, backtrack, bend once they receive blow back? They don’t want to be destroyed. They want to maintain their power and fame. So, it is that, the wisdom of the world is that “you must be flexible like the reeds.”
But is that how Christians are to be? Bending to the ever changing winds of the culture? By all means, no! We are called to be oaks as written in Psalm 1.
“Blessed is the man
    who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, his delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree
    planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
    and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
The wicked are not so,
    but are like chaff that the wind drives away.”

If there was ever a man who was like a mighty tree, who wasn’t swayed by its winds of popular opinion, it was John the Baptist. He didn’t wear the latest style of clothes, but wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist. He didn’t eat the finest meals, but his food was locusts and wild honey.

While his clothes and food were certainly counter-cultural, his message was more so. It wasn’t politically correct. “John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'” (Matt. 3:2). Whether Pharisee or Sadducee, peasant or king, no one was safe from his call to repentance. He wasn’t swayed by earthly power and might. He wasn’t, “A reed shaken by the wind” (Matt. 11:7), as Jesus indicates. He was like an oak tree in his preaching. He stood firm in this message because at the center of this message was Jesus and the forgiveness and life that He alone offered.

While some were cut down by John’s message to be planted as trees, that is repented of their sins, others did not. In sinful pride, they swayed away from his preaching in their unbelief. Pharisees and Sadducees, priests and Levites, and King Herod all despised John’s preaching, and as a result, they all sought to get rid of him and “cut him down”. King Herod would silence John eventually by locking him in prison, specifically because John stood firm in speaking the truth of God’s Word, that it was sinful for Herod to have an affair with Herodias, his brother’s wife. And it’s here where we find John in Gospel for this day, confined to prison, awaiting his death.

Fellow redeemed, it’s never easy for Christians to stand firm in the true faith. The Word of God that we confess is counter-cultural, it stands against the desires of the flesh, making enemies with the world and the devil’s minions. Where the world says you don’t have to marry or you can marry and divorce whoever you like, whenever you like, the Word of God says that marriage is between one man and one woman for life. Where the world says you can determine your gender, the Word of God says that He created us male or female. And so, standing firm on this Word of God, the winds of world rage against us. They try to break us.

And yet, while we stand firm against the winds of the world, it sometimes feels as if it redoubles in fury when these issues hit closer to home, and the fear of this wind causes us to break. The unbelieving child coming home for Christmas. Running into a member who hasn’t attended church in months. Being at work and school and being somebody else in thought and action in order to fit in. Fearful of offending them, that maybe they won’t come home or they leave the church, fearful that we will be ostracized for not being like the world, we bend. We don’t stand firm in the faith by calling out their sin, or by standing firm and resisting the temptation to go the way of the world.

Fellow redeemed, repent. Repent for the times that you’ve bent like the grass – bending to the winds that blow around you. While the grass survived the wind according to Aesop, they don’t according to the Word of God. The Old Testament for this day speaks of grass withering and flowers fading.

“All flesh is grass” writes the Prophet Isaiah. And though we want often bend to the wind of the devil and the world and the sinful flesh, there’s a wind that is far more fearsome, and that’s the breath of God’s judgment. “The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it…” And though we deserve to be cut down and thrown in the fire to be burned forever, He would have us repent of our sins and turn in faith to that which endures. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever” the prophet Isaiah writes. It is this Word which can make us trees planted by the water of Holy baptism and strengthened in the fountain of life in Jesus Christ.

This helps us understand why Jesus responds the way He does to John’s question from prison, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” In saying, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them…”, Jesus isn’t directing John to experiences or feelings. Jesus is directing John to the solid and certain and enduring pages of Holy Scripture. The physical signs that Jesus did were the fulfillment of God’s promise concerning the Messiah. It’s as if Jesus was saying, “Look what I’m doing. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised. All of this is in accord with the solid Word of God. And because it is, you can trust that I’m your Messiah, your Redeemer, your Savior. In the face of death, I’m your life and salvation. You have nothing to fear!”

Jesus’ words would’ve brought sweet comfort to John as he sat in prison awaiting his death. They would have strengthened John to stand firm in the true faith, and to boldly confess until the end, “I shall not die but I shall live, even when Herod takes off my head.” And the pages of Holy Scripture do the same for you.

While the raging winds of this world and the devil and the sinful flesh fiercely blow against you, seeking to uproot your faith and to throw you down in order to destroy you in death, God seeks to strengthen you through His Word in order that you may stand firm in the one true faith. It’s a Word that reveals that Jesus is true God in human flesh. And having been tempted in every way that you are, He didn’t bend to the lying wind of Satan and of sinful man. He stood firm in order to fulfill the Law of God for you. He was and is the Tree of Life for John, Isaiah, me, and all believers, who bore the fruit of God’s mercy even as He received the full blast of God’s judgment upon the cross.

And while He appeared knocked over and defeated in death and laid in a tomb, three days later He rose. He lives to this day planting the acorn of His Word transforming us by His Spirit to be bold so that you may not be a reed shaken by the wind. He lives and preaches to you, so that you may stand firm and tall, like a great oak tree, having been grafted into Him and planted by Him who is the great tree of life which will never more die.

He waters you in the Holy Absolution receiving forgiveness and life. His salvation and strength are in His Body and Blood which fortifies you as the medicine of immortality. It strengthens you to stand firm in the face of opposition, to endure all manner of suffering without fear, and to be faithful even unto death.

Fellow redeemed, only the Scriptures can work this confidence, this sturdy hope, and this comfort in the face of opposition to the faith. Nothing else will do this. Only the Scriptures creates faith in you to, “Rejoice in the Lord always,” even in the midst of suffering. And do you know why this is true? Because only the Scriptures give you Jesus.

Through the Word of God, you have God’s certain promise that you belong to Jesus, that you stand righteous and justified before God, that you need not fear anything in life or in death, because Jesus was born for you, He died and rose for you, He ascended to the right hand of the Father and now intercedes for you. While the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, to us who are being saved, it is the power of God (1 Cor. 1:18). So, may the God of all grace grant us His strength to stand firm in this word of truth until the day then He calls us to Himself from the fierce winds of this life for Jesus’ sake. Amen!

Pr. Aaron Kangas