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

“In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.” (Is 63:9).

In our Old Testament Reading for the First Sunday after Christmas, we learn from the Prophet Isaiah that the Savior … the Messiah … walks with His people through every calamity of life. “In all their affliction he was afflicted … in his love and in his pity he redeemed them.” Not only would the Messiah suffer with all of the afflictions that we face in life … fully empathizing with us in every way … but He would also save us – redeeming us out of His abundant love and mercy.

In our Epistle Reading, St. Paul makes it clear just who this redeeming Messiah is that the prophets like Isaiah foretold: “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal 4:4–5). So, the Savior of whom Isaiah spoke is the One whose humble birth we continue to celebrate on this eighth day of Christmas … the One who was born of the virgin Mary … the One who was born under the law as seen by the fact that He received circumcision on this eighth day after His birth … the One whose name is Jesus … the Lord who is Salvation for us.

In our Gospel Reading, then, St. Matthew continues with the next significant events in the life of the Holy Family. He makes it clear to us that the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt is specifically connected to Hosea’s prophecy in which God says, “Out of Egypt I called my son” (Hos 11:1).

Egypt is important in God’s Word: both literally and metaphorically. About 1900 years before the birth of Jesus, the family of the Patriarch Jacob fled to Egypt seeking deliverance from a great famine. God had provided the way for His people to be saved from this famine through Jacob’s son Joseph. Jesus, on the other hand, was taken to Egypt by His family to save Him from the murderous tyrant Herod. Both of these flights into Egypt offered the needed deliverance from the immediate enemies of this world, however, Egypt would eventually become a land of slavery for God’s people.

So, God provided His salvation yet again – leading His people out of bondage in Egypt and into the Promised Land. After God sent His only-begotten Son Jesus into Egypt, He called Him out as well. In fact, we can rightly say that Jesus delivers His people out of Egypt once again: fulfilling the eternal deliverance … the eternal salvation … that God promised for His people. Jesus left the safety of Egypt to return to the place where He would suffer, die, and rise again to deliver the whole world from bondage to sin – our metaphorical Egypt.

The Holy Scriptures appointed for this day reveal this saving truth to us. The Lord Jesus Christ willingly came into a world enslaved by sin in order to save it. What was the world’s response to this love and mercy? It wanted to kill Him! And the first threat against His life came from the tyrant Herod who was only concerned about His own power and authority. But since the time of our Lord’s redeeming sacrifice was not yet at hand, God gave Jesus’ adoptive father Joseph another dream in which God’s angel delivered the message that Joseph was to take Jesus into Egypt … a land that represented slavery to the Israelites … until the time was right for Jesus to save the whole world from slavery to sin.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we were also once in Egypt. We were conceived and born into a fallen world – slaves to sin. But God has called us out of this Egypt – this land of bondage to sin and death – to “serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness” (SC II 2). As we hear God the Father calling His Son Jesus out of Egypt in the Holy Gospel, we also hear Him calling us out of Egypt.

Let us consider our Egypt. When our first parents – Adam and Eve – were placed in the Garden of Eden, they were free. In fact, they had complete freedom. But Satan deceived them. He made them think that they were actually slaves. So, when they used their freedom to heed the deceptions of the serpent, they fell into sin and at that time became slaves … slaves to sin. They were free and became slaves just as the Israelites went into Egypt free and were ultimately enslaved.

Now, ever since the Fall, all people are born in bondage to sin (yes, that includes you too). Our Egypt is this fallen world and our sinful flesh. And we daily show just how enslaved to the ways of the world and our own sins we really are. At this festive time of year, for example, we might have fallen into greed, covetousness, and gluttony. We also have a tendency to get angry and impatient with people amidst the crowds or amongst people we’ve had to socialize with. Then, of course, there’s those secret sins that are a constant struggle for us – whatever they may be. If we tell ourselves that we don’t do these things, then the truth is not in us. Yes, we are all sinners, but for impenitent sinners, God’s warning to us is that the final Egypt is eternal bondage in hell. May God keep us all from such impenitence by His grace!

Indeed, as we see repeatedly in the history of God’s people, slavery isn’t what God wants. So, He calls us out of slavery: delivering us from our afflictions by His own almighty hand. In the days of Moses, God called His people out of bondage in Egypt and effected their deliverance by drowning the enemy in the waters of the Red Sea.
“the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.’ So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.” (Ex 14:26-30)

God’s Old Testament people were slaves in Egypt, but God set them free and brought them into the Promised Land.

Jesus didn’t remain in Egypt either. Rather, God the Father called Him out of that sojourn.
“when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.” (Mt 2:19-21)

But there’s a difference here. It’s part of that “great reversal” theme that we find in Holy Scripture. Just as the sinless One stepped into the waters of the Jordan to take on the burden of our sin (as we’ll here next week) … and just as the sinless One paid the penalty for our sin by dying the death that we deserved to die … so also do we have a reversal in Jesus’ call out of Egypt. While Israel came out of Egypt as a free people, Jesus returned to the promised land to fulfill His work as the Suffering Servant … suffering and dying for our salvation.

So, Joseph faithfully followed God’s instructions to him yet is clearly afraid of the continuing threats to Jesus’ life: “when [Joseph] heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee” (Mt 2:22). So, yet again, God protected His Son; this time by sending Joseph to Galilee. And in so doing fulfilled another prophecy as St. Matthew writes: “And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene” (Mt 2:23).

As an aside, I’ll mention that Nazareth is actually never mentioned in the Old Testament. What this is referring to is prophecies like Psalm 22 that indicated the Messiah would be “scorned by mankind and despised by the people” (Ps 22:6). Since Nazareth was not looked upon favorably by the people, anyone from Nazareth would be despised.

But the point is that Jesus returned. Those particular prophecies were fulfilled. And even though there continued to be an immediate enemy in Archelaus – Herod’s successor – Jesus continued on to bear the final consequences of slavery under the Law that He bore for us. Jesus willingly placed Himself under the same Law that convicts us of our sins in order to pay the ultimate price for all sin.

The pharaoh at the time of the Exodus was the enemy of God’s Old Testament people. In spite of God’s judgments against him, he thought for sure that he could easily defeat God’s people and return them to bondage. Likewise, Satan and sin – our deadly enemies – thought they had defeated Jesus when He suffered and died on the cross.

But then, like the Red Sea waters that came crashing down on Pharaoh and all his host, Jesus rose again from the dead: triumphing over sin, death, and the devil.

Beloved in Christ, God the Father has called you out of Egypt. By the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus, you’ve been set free. Even though you deserved to be condemned to the Egypt of hell on account of your sins, Christ has put your sins to death (Rom 6:3-4) in the waters of Holy Baptism. They’ve washed over your heads like the Red Sea drowning Pharaoh and his army. Out of His love and mercy, Christ has brought you through the waters and into His eternal kingdom.

At the Fall we lost the glory of God and would have been eternally despised, but Christ has freed us from this by becoming a Nazarene – despised even unto death to atone for our sins – so that by Baptism and faith we are no longer despised. Rather, in Christ, “you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God” (Gal 4:7) – an heir who stands to inherit the crown of glory in the Promised Land of God’s heavenly kingdom.

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

Pr. Jon Holst

In the name of Jesus.

Beloved in Christ, it is Christmas day, and we have much cause for rejoicing. While it’s certainly God’s will that we be filled with His joy each and every day of our lives, we rejoice all the more as we gather together with the faithful Christians throughout the world to celebrate the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ: given to us and to all mankind.

The prophet Isaiah foretold this blessed event, saying, “to us a child is born, to us a son is given” (Is 9:6). And that child born of the Virgin Mary, who was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manager is God the Word, the one of whom St. John says:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn 1:1).

The Divine Word … the Second Person of the Holy Trinity … is eternal. The Word is God. The Word did not become God. The Word was not created by God. The Word has always been. And this is simply one of the great truths that’s also a great mystery to our finite minds.

As the preacher of Hebrews describes the Incarnate Word:
“He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Heb 1:3).

In this Holy Child of Bethlehem, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14).

The eternal Word of God … the brightness of the everlasting Light by whom all things were made … has come into the world through the womb of the Virgin Mary and in Him we see the “glory as of the only Son from the Father” … who is, as we confess, “begotten before all worlds, God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.” The Holy Child born of Mary is also the only-Begotten Son of God.

What could be greater cause of rejoicing this day: The Son of God has become a Son of Man. He doesn’t become man such that He ceases to be God, rather the fullness of the eternal Word united Himself with the fullness of our humanity in the womb of Mary. As St. Paul wrote to the Philippians:
“[Christ,] being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men” (Phil 2:6-7).

Jesus took on Himself the whole of our humanity: emptying Himself of His divine prerogative and condescending to live a fully human life in which He experienced the same hunger, thirst, temptation, weariness, suffering, and dying that you and I also experience. That’s why it’s the custom among many Christians to bow or genuflect at those words in the Creed that describe our Lord’s Incarnation when it’s said that Christ: “came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man” … the only-begotten Son of God taking on full humanity in order to serve all of humanity … serve us by saving us.
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

Everything the eternal Word does is for us and for our salvation. The Son of God became a Son of Man so that all who believe in Him might become sons of God.

Adam and Eve rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden and their rebellion is our rebellion. From our first parents down to the present, all people of every generation have been conceived and born in sin: inheriting a sinful human nature that likewise continues to commit actual sins. The fall into sin brought corruption to our souls and brought death into the world.

We die because of sin. And without a gracious and merciful God to intervene on our behalf, we would all be lost to sin and death, and only have the kingdom of the devil as our inheritance.

That’s the who reason for the Incarnation … for Jesus’ conception and birth. Out of love for His fallen creation, and out of divine compassion for sinful people like us, God the Father sent His Son into the world to redeem the world as Scripture says,
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (Jn 3:16-17).

The eternal Son of God became our brother: like us every way, except without sin. And as our enfleshed brother He did what Adam and all we children of Adam are unable to do: becoming the perfect, unblemished sacrifice who suffered and died in our place to be the propitiation for all our sin.

We read in Hebrews that “We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone” (Heb 2:9). God the Son was made a little lower than the angels – He was made man – so that He might suffer and “taste death for everyone.” And St. John writes, “[Jesus] Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 Jn 2:2).

Your attempts at sacrifice, or my attempts at sacrifice – or the sacrifice of anyone blemished by sin – could never atone for the sins of the world. It had to be the sinless,unblemished Lamb of God – fully God and fully man – who poured out His sacred blood to cleanse us of our sin.

That same atoning sacrifice that Jesus accomplished on the cross, He now gives to all who believe in His Gospel. The forgiveness of sins that the Incarnate Christ won for you on the cross is handed to you in the Gospel and received only by God-given faith as we heard in the Holy Gospel for this day: “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God“ (Jn 1:11-13).

It’s true that there are many who reject the Good News of salvation in Christ and discard it in unbelief … and such is the prerogative of our corrupt human will. But such people aren’t justified before God and stand accused by the Law of God and its just and deserved judgments. But all who, through God-given faith, receive Jesus in the Gospel and believe that in Christ God is gracious to them, truly have what God has promised: the forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation.

Faith is so important, but so often misunderstood. We tend to think that faith is something we can conjure up within ourselves so that we become the one acting in order to gain forgiveness and salvation. But that’s not how Scripture describes it. Rather, as St. Paul writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Eph 2:8).

So even faith itself is a gift of God and not something we can just decide to have of our own volition. And it’s faith – given to you by the Holy Spirit working through the divine Word – that takes hold of the gifts that Christ won for us in His incarnate flesh.

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (Jn 1:12). Faith in the Incarnate Christ and the salvation He’s accomplished for us is what makes us children of God. On this Christmas Day, our boundless joy comes from knowing and believing that the Son of God became man so that all who believe in Him might become children of God, heirs of His kingdom and all the promises and blessings that go along with that standing.

Jesus is a Son by His very essence and nature. But because we’re children of God by faith and co-heirs with Christ, we’re also blessed to share in the divine blessings which Jesus has by nature: His righteousness, His innocence, and His blessedness.

So let us rejoice this Christmas Day in the Incarnation of the Son of God who has taken on our flesh to cleanse us from the corruption of sin by dying the death we deserved so that even though we die, yet shall we live. What better reason to celebrate and join with the angelic host in singing the praises of God for His great and mighty work of salvation.

So, come, let us go unto Bethlehem to “see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us” (Lk 2:15).

Jesus, the very Son of God, is born a little child so that all who hear this Gospel reality might become children of God by grace, through faith, on account of Christ’s saving work … children that have our Lord’s sure and certain promise of an eternal inheritance in His heavenly kingdom.

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

Pr. Jon Holst

In the name of Jesus.

“Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Lk 2:10-11)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, that beloved account of the birth of our Savior, in the second chapter of St. Luke’s Gospel, begins with the words, “And it came to pass.” These are important words because they remind us that at this festive season of the year, we’re really celebrating an actual, historical event … in the real town called Bethlehem … at the time when Caesar Augustus and Quirinius were the governing Roman authorities.

While there’s certainly nothing inherently wrong with a bit of fun and merry-making … all the lights and decorations and gift-giving and thoughts of peace and warmth and holiday cheer … while there’s nothing wrong with a bit of that, we must be mindful of the fact that such fanciful aspects can become for us nothing more than an escape from the often-difficult realities of life.

St. Luke, who was called by God to be the inspired writer of the third Gospel, was an educated man.

And His style of writing emphasizes the historical reality of what he’s writing about: people, places, and events that – no matter how miraculous or mysterious – were, in fact, historical realities.

The true joy of Christmas is not to be found in the fun-but-fanciful aspects of our holiday celebrations, but in the reality of knowing that Christ – the second person of the Holy Trinity – was born in real flesh and blood. It’s found in meditating on the fact that a godly Virgin gave birth to the Creator of the world in the cold of the night amidst real animals in a real manger … along with all the real sights, smells, sounds, and textures that we would expect in such a pastoral setting. It’s about Jesus – the Lord of all – taking on the form of a servant to save us from our sin.

No, the true joy of Christmas is not to be found in the fun-but-fanciful, but in the reality of Jesus’ unwavering love for us and the forgiveness He won for us by humbling Himself to be born of a virgin in real flesh and blood, lying in a real wooden manger and ultimately bearing all our very real sins on a real wooden cross. In Adam’s sin, all mankind fell. We’re all conceived and born in sin and continue to sin throughout our lives.

So, to save us from eternal doom, the eternally begotten Son of God, took our human nature upon Himself, was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger, in order to raise us with Himself. At His Incarnation, the Son of God joined Himself to our human nature so that we might be made new in Him. By His conception and birth Jesus sanctified and purified humanity. Almighty God has exalted us by becoming a true man, and our human brother.

The humble birth of Jesus foreshadowed the life of humility He would lead for us and the ignoble death that He would suffer in place of us.

The wood of Jesus’ manger would be replaced by the wood of the cross where His bleeding love was poured out as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.

Jesus, the very Son of God, was born in human flesh for the singular purpose of dying in human flesh the very death that our sinful flesh deserves; and for shedding His blood in order to purchase and win us from all sin, from death, and from the power of the devil.

Jesus’ humanity is just like ours in every way, except without sin (since He’s also true God), so that He might be the perfect, once-for-all sacrifice for the sin of the world. He humbled Himself to take our place in suffering and death: paying the price our sins required: a debt we could never pay by our own works or merits. That’s why eternal life is only to be found in Christ: true God and true man. Only in Christ who was once laid in a manger and who is now risen from the dead and living and reigning at the right hand of the Father for all eternity.

In Him only is our hope and our salvation for as fully God and fully man, only He could accomplish it.

The voice of the Angels has rung out for two millennia and rings out again even this night: “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

Do not fear, beloved children of God, for in Christ there is no longer any fear of death or hell, for your many sins are forgiven. Christ the Lord is born for you and has come to save you from the snares of the devil and to bring you into God’s eternal kingdom. Christ, the true Light, has shattered the darkness of sin and death forever. This is truly ‘good tidings of great joy,’ because Jesus has done all this for you.

No wonder the holy angels themselves rejoiced at the birth of Jesus. After announcing these eternally good tidings to the shepherds, a whole multitude of the heavenly host sang out with praise to God, saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!” (Lk 2:14) … as we too just sang – having ended our Advent fast.

The very fact that Jesus was born is proof of God’s good will toward us. It’s a sign that He wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. This world – the world we live in day-in and day-out – is filled with unrest, discord, and strife on account of our very real sin.

But by His birth, Christ has come to bring us very real peace – not the fleeting peace that we sometimes experience, say, around festive times like Christmas – but eternal peace with God that isn’t troubled by the turmoil around us.

Apart from Christ we are at enmity with God, but in Christ the blessed communion between God and man that was lost by Adam’s sin is reconciled and restored. “He who believes and is baptized will be saved,” says Scripture. Thus, we are restored to communion with God and are united to Christ the Prince of Peace.

God became man. The Almighty became a little child. Therefore, we journey to the manger this night with humility, repentance, and faith. We journey to the manger as those who have nothing: that Christ might impart to us the rich treasures of forgiveness and eternal life that He brings.

His birth was announced to lowly shepherds – He who, though born a lowly child – is our Good Shepherd: leading us to still waters, restoring our souls, leading us in paths of righteousness, and guiding us through the valley of the shadow of death into the house of the Lord to feast at the eternally abundant table He has set for us out of His divine goodness and mercy.

Let us this Christmas Eve follow the example of Mary, the virgin handmaid of the Lord, by treasuring all these things and pondering them in our hearts with real contrition, repentance, and faith. And let us likewise follow the example of the lowly shepherds in praising and glorifying God for sending His only-begotten Son, who was born in real flesh and died for our real salvation.

“Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

Amen.

Pr. Jon Holst

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

In our Old Testament Reading from the Prophet Isaiah, King Ahaz and Judah are in need of a sign from God that He will be with them in their time of great crisis. To understand the context, I’ll read the verses from Isaiah that lead up to our reading:
“In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.” (Is 7:1-2)

The “days of Ahaz … king of Judah” were from 735-715 BC. Ahaz was not a godly king. 2 Kings describes him this way:
“[Ahaz] did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as his father David had done, but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.” (2 Ki 16:2-4)

At the time of Isaiah’s prophcy, Rezin the king of Syria (also called Aram) and Pekah the king of Israel (the Northern Kingdom that’s also called Ephraim) teamed up to wage war on King Ahaz and Judah (the Southern Kingdom).

And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. And say to him, ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah. Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” (Is 7:3-6)
So, Isaiah and his son Shear-jashub (whose name, incidentally, means “a remnant shall return”), went out and spoke this promise from the Lord to Ahaz:
“thus says the Lord God: “‘It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass. For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. And within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.'” (Is 7:7-9)

Here, God promised the immediate deliverance of His people from the enemy coalition of Syria and Israel. He also promised that apostate Israel would come to an end sixty-five years later – something that came to pass during the reign of King Esar-Haddon of Assyria (not Syria … but Assyria).

To prove His promises, God said to Ahaz through the Prophet Isaiah: “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven” (Is 7:11). Ahaz is skeptical of all this and responds in a way that attempts to appear pious saying, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test” (Is 7:12), to which Isaiah responds, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign” (Is 7:13-14).

And oh, what a sign He gave …
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Is 7:15).

This sign that God promised and delivered is a sign that would reach far beyond the immediate context of Judah’s temporal enemies … down through the centuries … and into eternity. It’s the sign that continues to be our assurance that God is present to care for us and to save us. The Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the sign and proof of God’s love for His Old Testament people and for us.

Ahaz needed a sign. We also need a sign. Just as Judah was threatened by the “smoldering stumps of firebrands” that were Israel and Syria, so are we surrounded by so many enemies.
We have our own temporal enemies that cause us to worry and fret. We see violence and crime that seems to go increasingly unchecked. We’re anxious about an uncertain economy and its effects on our personal finances and ability to put food on the table. We struggle with health problems and the effects of aging.

And there’s the increasing attacks against Christians from our godless societies that are waging an all-out war against Christian truth and godly morality – even conscripting public educators to wage that war against Christian children and physicians to lay siege to Christian families … all under the leadership of the many government officials who pay homage to the ruler of this world instead of to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The temporal causes of our worry are many. We need a sign that God is with us … that God loves us … and that He’ll provide and care for us in our time of need.

We’re also assaulted by our spiritual enemies of sin and the devil. We know that we sin daily against God’s Holy Word. And even when we’ve confessed our sins, received Absolution, and should be confident that our sins are forgiven, it nonetheless seems like the devil is always there to throw those sins back in our face – constantly reminding us of all the ways we’ve rebelled against God … all the ways that we haven’t love Him … all the ways that we’ve failed to love and serve our neighbors.

Such satanic assault on our souls can cause us to worry that our sins have completely separated us from God’s love … that they’ve cut us off from His grace and mercy. And that’s the devil’s ploy. He wants us to wallow in our sin – to doubt our salvation – to doubt God’s promised deliverance – as did Ahaz.

We need a sign of God’s promise that, in spite of our sin, He loves us and is faithful to forgive repentant hearts that have been brought low by the knowledge of their brokenness and rebellion against God.

Think of the many promises God has made to us. He’s promised to be with us always (Mt. 28:20), to work all things for good (Rom 8:28), to provide for our needs (Phil 4:19), and to not give us more than we can bear (1 Cor 10:13). While we shouldn’t doubt God’s promises, our sinful flesh is weak and the deceptions of the evil one are legion.
But God has given us a sign of His love and favor … a sign to assure us that He is faithful to fulfill His promises.

God gave that sign to Ahaz even though he was wicked and faithless. In fact, God gave Ahaz free reign to choose whatever sign he wanted – a choice that Ahaz declined in a show of false piety. Ahaz had already come up with his own plan to try and save himself. He made an alliance with the horribly violent and wicked Assyrians … which did come to his aid – destroying both Israel and Syria … only to turn on Judah as well, ultimately.

But in spite of the foolishness and unbelief of Ahaz, God gave the sign … the sign of all signs that would be the comfort and assurance of God’s love throughout all the ages since: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel [“God with us.]” (Is 7:15) … the sign that was fulfilled by the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ in the womb of the Virgin Mary … Jesus is our Immanuel … God in human flesh come down from heaven to dwell among us.

The miraculous conception and birth of Christ is the sign of God’s love and favor for us par excellence … the sign that He would save us from our enemies of sin and death. And that’s because Jesus took on human flesh so that He could be nailed to the cross as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Consider that. Since God didn’t withhold even His only-begotten Son from us, then we can be confident that there’s nothing good He’ll withhold from us. Jesus was born, suffered, and raised in His flesh so that as He lives, we also might live eternally.

Jesus is the Sign of God’s love, faithfulness, and forgiveness. And because Jesus is the fulfillment of all of God’s saving promises, our hearts can be at peace … knowing that our sins are forgiven in Christ. And until that day when we enter our heavenly rest, Jesus continues to be Immanuel, God With Us – with us by His Word and Spirit … with us in His Holy Sacraments … to care for us and provide for us in this difficult world of sin.

Next weekend, we will celebrate the long-anticipated Christmas Feast. And while we certainly enjoy the time off, the rest, the presents, and the family and friends, our greatest joy and the very purpose for our celebration is the Sign that God has given us: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Is 7:15) … Jesus … God With Us … for us and for our salvation.

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

Pr. Jon Holst

In the name of Jesus.

In Advent we reflect on the coming of Christ. We prepare to celebrate His first coming – His Holy Incarnation – when He took on human flesh and was laid in a manger. And we also look ahead with hopeful expectation for His second coming. So, in Advent, we not only prepare to celebrate Christ’s birth, but also His return on the Last Day. As God taught us through John the Baptist in the Holy Gospel last week, we prepare by Baptism and repentance. Today we consider our Epistle Reading where St. James reminds us of Christ’s impending return and teaches us how we’re to wait for that day to come. His divinely inspired instruction can be summarized with one word: patience. Of course, waiting patiently can be a challenge to our faith.

The Prophet Isaiah offers us some hopeful encouragement for this as we heard: “Strengthen the weak hands, And make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful-hearted, “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come … He will come and save you” (Is 35:3-4).

In his Epistle, St. James was writing to Christians who were struggling to be patient. They were suffering greatly at the hands of unrighteous people with lots of money. James speaks of them this way:
“You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts … You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.” (Jas 5:3-6)

We often become impatient for Christ’s return in times of such suffering and persecution. We long to know when the suffering of this world will come to an end – when we’ll enter into the glory of Christ’s heavenly kingdom. So, St. James exhorts us saying, “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord” (Jas 5:7).

It’s easy for our sin-weakened flesh to grow impatient. It’s easy for us to get distracted and wrapped-up in the busyness of our lives and all the things we do to try and hide the realities of sin and suffering and death from our eyes. We must be careful not to let the distractions of this world turn us away from Christ … causing us to neglect His Word, His Sacraments, the Christian assembly, and prayer.

Jesus warned us about this in the Parable of the Sower: “The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures” (Lk 8:14).

We’re easily consumed by the things of this world – by our desire for immediate gratification – losing sight of things eternal. St. James recognized the growing signs of impatience among those he was writing to: Christians grumbling against each other, blaming each other, not offering encouragement to those who are struggling, and not wanting to be around each other.

Such impatience can even lead us to abandon the faith altogether. It starts with thinking that we can always repent later … that we’ve got plenty of time to confess our sins and receive Christ’s forgiveness. But it grows into a spiritual amnesia where one forgets that they need to be prepared for Christ’s return. And many end up simply embracing the sinful pursuits of this world. Those who do so face God’s judgment and eternity in hell.

But that’s not what God, nor St. James wants for us. So, James exhorts us to be patient. He uses the analogy of a farmer: “See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand” (Jas 5:7-8). Farmers must be patient as they await the harvest, so Christians also are to be patient. Farmers plant their seeds and wait. Christians know that God has planted His seed and will gather in the harvest when the time is right. As the Prophet Isaiah wrote:

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Is 55:10–11).

And the rains do come. As we wait patiently for Christ, we are given life-giving water and nourishment that is even more certain than that which the farmer waits for. We have God’s grace … given to us in His Means of Grace. We’re strengthened by His Word and Sacraments so that we’re able to be patient – remaining steadfast in the faith until the coming of the Day. Christ is our one and only Savior from sin and eternal condemnation … the only One who can give us eternal life. He gave Himself over to death as the atoning sacrifice for our sins so that we could have forgiveness of our sins and be restored to communion with God. Only Christ – true God and true Man by virtue of His Holy Incarnation – could do this for us. He took on human flesh: born to die for our salvation. So, we cling to His cross and to Him who alone is the way, the truth, and the life.

And, like the farmer’s seed, Jesus was planted in the earth and rose again to life as the firstfruits of those who die in Christian faith and who await the final harvest – the resurrection of the dead. St. James’ exhortation reminds us of that final harvest and keeps us focused on it.

“Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand … the Judge is standing at the door” (Jas 5:8-9). We don’t know when that harvest will be, but as we’ve been reminded several times in recent weeks, we should regard it as near … as coming soon.

When Christ does come at the final harvest – to judge both the living and the dead – He will gather His faithful people into His eternal Kingdom. And with that Great Day in view, the Lord strengthens us by His Word so that we might be obedient to His exhortations: living together as brothers and sisters in Christ who wait patiently for that day … as those who don’t live in selfishness, immorality, or lust for earthly riches … not grumbling against each other.

Christ lives in us by faith. And His Spirit works in us through His Word to guide our thoughts and actions. He works love and compassion in us so that we see our neighbor in a good light … that we might “defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way” (SC, 8th Comm.). Through Christ’s Word and Spirit, we are enabled to use the many blessings God has given us to be a blessing to others … as we wait patiently for the eternal riches that are ours in Christ.

And by being a blessing to others, we’re also given the opportunity to sow the seeds of those eternal riches. St. James put it this way: “As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord” (Jas 5:10). The prophets endured much suffering, and yet they proclaimed the mercies of God to a sinful and rebellious people. Such is our task as we wait patiently for Christ’s Second Advent.

We don’t know the day or the hour, but we do know that we wait patiently for all of God’s elect to be called by the Gospel.

So, we carry out our God-given vocations and “speak in the name of the Lord” – as did the prophets of old – so that others might be prepared for the coming harvest without any fear or trepidation. As Isaiah wrote: Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you” (Is 35:4). And save you He has – redeeming you from sin and death by His own death and resurrection. “And … [as the prophet continues] … the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Is 35:10). People loved by God, such is our hope, such is our joy, such is our patience … in Christ our Savior.

Amen.

Pr. Jon Holst

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

Last week, as we began this new Church Year and set off on our journey to Jerusalem, St. Paul impressed upon us the need to be clothed with Christ. On this Second Sunday of Advent, we take a side road through the Jordan River where we learn that our lives are lives that require us to die and rise with Him every day. Because we’re in Christ, the way is difficult. It’s filled with attacks from the devil, the world, and our flesh. And there are many crosses to bear on that journey.

But we know our baptismal identity, so we also know where we’re going. Now – and always – it is time to walk in the way of the Lord.

We walk with Christ on the path that was made straight. We walk with Him by confessing our sins. We walk with Him by looking for Him to come again soon. And we walk with Him as those who are clothed with Him – having been baptized into His death and resurrection.

In the Holy Gospel appointed for today, St. Matthew records that “In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'” (Matt 3:1). John the Forerunner made the path straight for the Messiah by preaching and baptizing. Such was his calling.

And Jesus the Messiah was coming … on His way to the cross. I know we all have that growing anticipation and burgeoning joy that comes with preparing to celebrate Christmas – when we rejoice in our Lord’s birth in Bethlehem. But even on these first two Sundays of the Church Year, it is clear to us that the end of our journey isn’t Bethlehem. It isn’t a cattle stall with Mary and Joseph and the shepherds huddled about the manger with warm smiles and joy-filled hearts. There is a cross of redemption to be suffered. And that means that those who walk with Jesus mustn’t be unprepared or unaware.

So, John the Baptist – the Forerunner of Christ – began the ministry that God had appointed for him, and from that ministry God readies us for the road ahead … that we might know what to expect and how to be prepared.

“Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey” (Matt 3:4). John’s food and clothing teach us that – in walking with Jesus – we will have suffering and sacrifice along the way. Our relative wealth and freedom tend to lull us into a sense of comfort and ease.

And those who preach the false ‘prosperity gospel’ would have you believe that if you’re a Christian, you’ll simply be blessed with all the luxuries of this world, and every day will be sunshine and roses. But John prepares us for reality – our true journey with Christ – a journey that more closely resembles Israel’s wandering in the wilderness.

A little further on in Matthew’s Gospel – when Jesus went to John to be baptized by him – Jesus said, “thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matt 3:15). The path that John was sent to prepare is the path of righteousness – a path in which “Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed” (Is 40:4-5). In other words, nothing will stand in Christ’s way … not the false paths of pagan religions … not the earthly powers’ opposition to Christ (like the deceptively named ‘Respect for Marriage Act’ that paves the way for further persecution of Christians in our day) … and certainly not our own sins – our own unrighteousness. No, anything that stands in the way of Christ’s righteousness will be decimated. “He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins” (Is 11:4-5), as we heard from the Prophet Isaiah.

So, it’s time … time for us to walk in the way of the Lord … by confessing our sins as did the multitude who followed the Forerunner of Christ: “Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins” (Matt 3:5-6). They were baptized.

They repented. They confessed their sins. That is how we walk in the way of the Lord.

Now, there’s a question in this Gospel Reading that always comes up, so we’ll take an aside and answer it. What are all these baptisms? John’s baptism, Christian Baptism, and the Baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire? First, John’s baptism was not just symbolic. It was efficacious. It worked, as the text says: “I baptize you into repentance” (Mt 3:11). For some, repentance came before baptism – those who came to John repenting of their sins. Others came to hear John’s preaching out of curiosity “and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins” (Matt 3:6). The preached Word worked faith in them, and they repented at the same time they were baptized. But the most straightforward reading of the text – “I baptize you into repentance” – makes it clear that John’s baptism produced repentance in those who received it. Through the Word of God that preceded and that was connected to John’s baptism, the Holy Spirit was working … and kept working … working repentance in those who heard and received it.

But as the last of the Old Testament prophets, John’s baptism – while efficacious – was still preparing the way for the Messiah and for the lasting Baptism that Jesus would institute into His death and resurrection. But there are strong similarities. There are some who are brought to repentance by hearing God’s Word before they are baptized. There are some who have repentance and faith worked in them by the Word of God connected to the waters of Baptism (which, by the way, is why the Christian Church has always baptized infants – knowing that in Baptism God creates faith the way He always does …
by the Holy Spirit working through the Divine Word. And in all of us, Baptism is designed to work in us an ongoing repentance throughout our lives. We receive Baptism only once, but God intends it to continually renew repentance and faith in us.

Lastly, John says “He who is coming after me … will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matt 3:11). Here John points us to the Last Day when Christ will separate the wheat from the chaff … the believers from the unbelievers. He prepares us for Christ’s Second Advent when He will cast unbelievers into unquenchable fire and pour out His Spirit on His faithful people … perfecting us in repentance and faith and gathering us into His heavenly kingdom.

But returning to John and walking in the way of the Lord … Matthew tells us that “Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him” (Matt 3:5).

Many of them were confessing … repenting … and receiving John’s baptism to cleanse them of their sins and to prepare them for the coming Messianic Kingdom … for Christ’s First Advent.

But others came to see John who were unrepentant. The Pharisees and the Sadducees thought that they were already righteous before God because they were descendants of Abraham and because they were circumcised. John seems to have refused them baptism because they didn’t think they had any sins that needed to be cleansed.

John, like the prophets of old, tore through their hypocrisy and gave it to them straight: “Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matt 3:9-10). Hypocrites – those who refuse to acknowledge their sinfulness and need for forgiveness and cleansing – will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

Beloved in Christ, John the Forerunner prepared the way saying: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt 3:2). He made it clear that it’s time for us to join the faithful in confessing our sins: our pride … our ungratefulness … the faltering of our worship and prayers … our short tempers … our disobedience … our trust in earthly princes in whom there is no salvation (Ps 146) … whatever it is that makes us hypocrites like the Pharisees and Sadducees – thinking that our own righteousness is sufficient and that we have no need for forgiveness. For such as do not repent and walk in the way of the Lord by grace through faith, John’s warning to us is Christ’s “winnowing fork” and “unquenchable fire”.

So, it is most certainly time to walk in the way of the Lord. But we do so as those who are clothed in Baptism: the very ‘baptism’ that Jesus underwent for us. We are baptized into His suffering and death, so we walk the way of the Lord bearing the crosses of this life. And we are baptized into His resurrection so we walk with confidence that we’re among the wheat that will be gathered into the barn of our Lord’s eternal Kingdom.

So, we continue our pilgrimage to Jerusalem. We travel there along with those who came to John in repentance and faith. And we come before Christ who feeds us at His table … where He strengthens and forgives us along the way. You are clothed with Christ in Holy Baptism, and you receive Him again where He gives Himself to you …
in His Word and in His Supper. These true Christmas Gifts are given to you even now. Let us walk in the way of the Lord, confessing our sins and receiving Christ’s forgiveness and salvation where He has promised to be … for us, and for our salvation.

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

Pr. Jon Holst

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

When I was a boy, we didn’t have Google Maps to get us from point A to point B. When we were getting ready to travel during the summer, dad would go down to the Auto Club and get maps – actual paper maps – and then he’d sit down with a highlighter and highlight the route he wanted to take and the stops along the way so that we didn’t get lost or end up some place we’d rather not be. Of course, we now have technology that can do all that for us, but the point is that when you set off on a journey, you usually know where you’re going and how you’re going to get there so that you don’t get yourself into trouble.

On this First Sunday in Advent – the start of the Church Year – we begin our yearly journey with Christ. We know where we’re going, and we know how we’re going to get there. We’re traveling to Jerusalem, and we’re traveling there in Christ. We know this because we’ve been clothed with Christ. He’s gone before us on the journey to Jerusalem and He shows us the way. In our Baptism, we followed Him to His cross, rested with Him in the tomb and rose with Him to everlasting life as St. Paul said: “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” (Rom 6:4) … a blessed event that many of you rightly bring to remembrance by touching the waters of the baptismal font and invoking the Holy Trinity in whose name you’re baptized.

As we now enter another year of God’s grace, we know that Bethlehem – the Christmas feast we so eagerly anticipate – is only one stop on our journey to Jerusalem … one stop on our way to a cross and an empty tomb. Every year, as we await our Lord’s Second Advent, we set off on that journey because we’re in Christ. And since today is the beginning of a new church year, that journey begins anew for us. We heard St. Paul tell us to: “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 13:14). As we begin Advent and a new church year, it’s time for us to again clothe ourselves with Christ as we proclaim to the world that Jesus was born to die.

In Advent, we clothe ourselves with Christ because Advent tells us that Christ is near. Our Epistle puts it this way: “you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep” (Rom 13:11). Last Sunday, as we concluded our year in the historic one-year lectionary, the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins reminded us that Christ could come at any time. While we shouldn’t try to predict when that will be, we should always be prepared for it and regard it as being soon. Remember that it’s never further away from us than the time of our own death. So, we must always be ready for the Last Day when Christ will “come again in glory to judge both the living and the dead.”

We also clothe ourselves with Christ because “Our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed” (Rom 13:11). This is the great comfort of Advent. Christ is not just near … He’s near to save us! He drew near to us in the humility of His Incarnation to accomplish our salvation and to prepare us for His second Advent when He will gather His faithful people into the eternal joy of His heaven. And that salvation is nearer for us every day.

The first Christians lived in eager anticipation of Christ’s return … so much so at times that St. Paul had to put them at ease and reassure them that all was well. For example, he was inspired to write these words to the Christians in Thessalonica: “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come” (2 Thess 2:1-2). The Thessalonians were confused and afraid. They needed some correction and comfort, but no one could say that they weren’t eagerly anticipating Christ’s return!

We, on the other hand, are perhaps not eager enough. We’re more likely to live as if Christ were not coming back soon. We put off reconciling with those we’ve had fights and arguments with. We put off repenting and confessing those sins we have that are known only to us. We put off inviting others to church to hear the saving Gospel. We become careless in our Christian conduct: not guarding our thoughts, words, and deeds by the help of the Holy Spirit. We let our hearing of Christ’s life-giving Word and our receiving of Christ’s life-giving Sacraments become less of a priority and more and more infrequent … those very things that keep us attentive and prepared for Christ’s return … ready to enter into His eternal kingdom. It’s not that we should be frantic and fearful: trying to calculate the day and the hour and stressing out about it. But we should share the same eager anticipation of Christ’s return that the early Christians had and be prepared for it – clothed with Christ.

We should clothe ourselves with Christ because we’re preparing for an eternal feast … an eternal celebration. You wouldn’t wear ratty jeans and a stained t-shirt to a wedding reception. Likewise, it should be our earnest desire to celebrate Christ’s Second Advent wearing our best … clothed in Him who’s near to save us … clothed in Christ Himself.

Clothed with Christ, we’re able to look forward to His return as our eternal salvation rather than our eternal judgment. And being clothed with Christ is the only fitting attire for such a one-time celebration.

But what does it mean to be clothed with Christ? St. Paul explains this by reminding us of what we wouldn’t want Christ to see us wearing when He returns: “So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Rom 13:12-14). So, we’re reminded to clothe ourselves with Christ – this and every Advent – because Christ is truly near.

But Advent also reminds us that, even as we await His return, Christ is also here. He is God in the flesh who shares in all of the divine attributes … like omniscience and omnipresence. He see’s all that we do and knows all that we think. He knows what we’re wearing. So, in our Epistle, we’re given the urgent warning: “The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light” (Rom 13:12). So much of who we are by nature is shrouded in darkness … things that we’d never want anyone to see … certainly not Christ. All those ways in which we make “provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” Our coming Savior sees clearly all those things that we’ve clothed ourselves in … trying to hide them under cover of darkness. But we know the sin-stained garment that’s been our shame since our conception. The Christians in Thessalonica knew it as well. And St. Paul knew that they, like us, didn’t want God to see them that way.

We who’ve been called by the Gospel to a true and living faith want to clothe ourselves with Christ because we want Him to see us as He is, and not how we are by nature. We want to conduct ourselves decently as in the day … to honor Christ in thought, word and deed – drinking deeply of His Spirit from the Holy Scriptures and at His table. We want to honor Him with our bodies and walk in peace with all people – taking Him with us wherever we go to lead us into all righteousness.

Christ Himself is all of this for us. He is the Holy One of God … the name that is above every name … and the Word that is always merciful, loving, and saving. He is the Holy One who laid down His own life … shedding His blood for our eternal good and never for any selfish gain. He is the Prince of Peace who reconciled us to God and to each other by His atoning sacrifice on the cross. That is what it looks like to be clothed with Christ.

This and every Advent, we’re reminded that it’s time to clothe ourselves with Christ. But this exhortation from St. Paul isn’t just an imperative … nor is it just in the future. As St. Paul wrote to the Christians in Galatia: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal 3:27). As a baptized child of God, you “have put on Christ.” Everything that Christ accomplished by His First Advent – His perfect life … His sacrificial death … His glorious resurrection – has been given to you in your Baptism. Baptized into Christ, you are clothed with Christ’s righteousness. You are dressed in the most glorious of garments for the eternal feast. By your Baptism, Christ is both in you and is seen in you. So, St. Paul’s Advent admonition for us to wake up means simply that we’re to live as the people we are by Christ’s imputed righteousness … traveling the path we’ve been given to follow.

In Christ, we know where we’re going, and we know how we’re going to get there. Our yearly pilgrimage to Jerusalem has begun and Jesus our Savior is here with us because we are clothed with Him and we feast at His table. “Jesus Christ is the light of the world, the light no darkness can overcome,” so let us cast off the works of darkness as those who’ve been clothed with His saving light.

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

Pr. Jon Holst

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

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people” (1 Tim 2:1). St. Paul strongly urges Timothy and the 1st century Christians to pray and by doing so, he also encourages 21st century Christians to pray.

You should pray for your personal needs. You should intercede for others who need God’s help. And … you should give thanks!

In fact, part of the reason we’re here now is to pray, praise, and give thanks. In addition to being the Rock of our salvation, Christ is also the foundation of our lives of prayer. This means that our thanksgiving goes far beyond our Thanksgiving Day remembrances. Some families have the custom of going around the table on Thanksgiving so that everyone can have a turn naming something that they’re thankful for. But because Christ is our life and the source of all our blessings, we Christians can give thanks in a very distinctive and specific way. In fact, we could say that we’re compelled to give thanks … because of Christ’s mercy toward us.

Without Christ, our reason and ability to give thanks is significantly impaired. We might have family gatherings and good food. And we might express some general thanksgiving for certain aspects of our lives. But Jesus changes all of this for us. He was willing to give Himself into death in our place, so that we would have cause to give thanks. By nature, we’re separated from God and without hope. By nature, we have nowhere to go and nothing really to be thankful for because we’re lost and destined for an eternity apart from God in the torments of hell … and nothing could be worse than that!

But Christ came into our sin-darkened world as the true light. St. John describes our Lord’s coming in this way: “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world” (Jn 1:9). We receive forgiveness on account of Christ’s redeeming work of dying on the cross.

And Christ’s resurrection is the guarantee of our eternal life. In Holy Baptism, you became a child of God: marked with the sign of the cross. You’ve been joined to God’s kingdom by water and the Word. And now you now live in Christ and have a profound love in your hearts for Him. He is the foundation of your life … the foundation of your thanksgiving.

Because we’ve been set free from the powers of sin, Satan, and death, we Christians have a new and better way of life. We joyfully give thanks to God for all that He’s done for us. All the things we have in life are gifts of God. Our very life is God’s gift to us. And in Christ, we’re now free to pray for the needs of others which is what St. Paul urges us to do. He tells us to pray for all people.

For example, he tells us to pray “for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Tim 2:2).

Now think about this for minute. When Paul wrote this by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Nero was the emperor of Rome. He was an exceedingly evil man and a terrible ruler. He had a habit of murdering people and was especially active in his persecution of Christians because the Christians wouldn’t participate in emperor worship. Yet St. Paul still admonishes us, as God’s people, to pray for kings and those in high positions, that they may lead well … so that our lives might be blessed and the work of the Church might continue without hindrance.

This is good in God’s eyes. He wants the truth of His saving Gospel to be proclaimed to all nations and confessed by all people. So, throughout the year … in the Prayers of the Church … we’ve prayed for our nation and for others. We’ve prayed for God’s wisdom to guide all those who are in high position … that our leaders and our people might join together in giving thanks to God for the freedoms that we enjoy: especially the freedom we have to gather for worship and for giving thanks to God, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We pray for our nation and her leaders that we might freely confess Christ as Savior. We pray that we might be set apart by God as the Communion of His Saints rather than having fellowship with the darkness of this world. We pray for those in authority “that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life” (1 Tim 2:2) so that the Church can freely carry out the Lord’s work and nourish her people by Word and Sacrament with great thanksgiving.

The idea of ‘thanksgiving’ is profound for us Christians. When we think of the word ‘thanksgiving’, we should think of gratefully acknowledging the past mercies of God … leading us to make our requests to God in faith and humility. We have so very much to thank God for. He gives us the living voice of our Savior in Holy Scripture. He’s brought us into His kingdom through the water and the Word of Holy Baptism. He’s nourished and given us renewed strength for the responsibilities and challenges of life in the Sacrament of the Altar, where we receive the very body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And God continues to care for our earthly needs as well. He provides us “with all that [we] need to support this body and life”. Our Lord makes sure that we have just what we need for our bodies and souls.

What more can we do than receive His gifts with grateful hearts and offer to Him our prayers of thanksgiving where we remember what God has done for us individually, beginning with Baptism and continuing with everything else since we became His children.

Such prayer is always connected to the Word of God, by which we are enriched and strengthened. As we gather for the Divine Service, we join together with our congregation and with Christians throughout the world in prayer. We ask God to continue to bestow His grace on us, as we pray for our church, for the world, and for our nation. We lift up the needs of God’s people before His throne of grace. That’s what the pastor means when he invites the congregations to pray saying: “Let us pray for the whole people of God and for all people according to their needs.”

And hearing the truth of God’s Word, we’re made confident in our prayers. We have God’s promise that He will hear and answer our prayers. Whether the place we gather as the people of God is humble or grand, when we gather to receive Christ’s gifts it is God’s house, from which the prayers of God’s people go forth … a holy place, set apart for worship and prayer, so that we’re able to pray, praise, and give thanks together. And we’re strengthened in our faith as we pray for – and receive – Christ’s gifts: holy things for His holy people.

We gather this evening in this house of God for a special purpose. Yes, it’s a national holiday. But as Christians, we carry our thanksgiving so much further. We confess Christ as Lord and Savior … and as the Giver of all good gifts: both spiritual and temporal.

So on this national day of Thanksgiving, let us give thanks in our worship, in our prayers, and in renewed lives of service to our neighbors … renewed lives that we have only on account of Christ who redeemed us by His blood and enlightened us with His gifts.

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

Pr. Jon Holst

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

This Last Sunday in the Church Year focuses on Christ’s second Advent: His return for the second and final time. In accord with that focus, our Gospel reading is one of our Lord’s parables reminding us to be prepared for that event.

Five of the virgins were aware of the fact that they didn’t know the hour when the Bridegroom would come. They were prepared for whenever that might be. They were wise.

The other five virgins thought that they knew when the Bridegroom would come. They were unprepared and were locked out of the marriage feast that they’d been invited to. They were foolish and had only themselves to blame.

The virgins in our text who were wise acted as if there was nothing more important in their lives than being prepared for the marriage feast that they’d been invited to. Nothing else mattered except to be ready and prepared for the Bridegroom’s arrival. They gave their undivided attention to the Bridegroom and His marriage feast as they made sure they had an abundant supply of oil … so much oil that it would have appeared foolish to those who thought they didn’t need any additional preparation.

The foolish virgins, on the other hand, appear much wiser – much more secure: at least to human reason. They act as if they have all the time in the world. For them, the marriage feast was just another item on a list of things to do. They already had lamps with enough oil for a short wedding procession and didn’t see the need for going to the trouble of getting more. They thought they could get by with what they had.

To the world, we Christians appear to be foolish. We spend an entire morning every week, if not more often: hearing God’s Word when we could be relaxing or doing something else on our list. We come together to confess our sins in the presence of one other and to hear the voice of another proclaiming the forgiveness of our sins in Christ’s name.

Even more foolish to the world is the idea that in eating bread and drinking wine, we are eating and drinking the very body and blood of Christ which He offered up on the cross as the once-for-all sacrifice for our sins: something else we do every Sunday or even more often.

By the world’s standards Christians appear very foolish. We’re more intently focused on the Last Day than we are on the passing trends of the world. We’re more interested in studying Holy Scripture … praying together as the people of God … and catechizing our children in faith, purity of life, and Godly service toward others than in coveting the idols of this world: those frivolous things that numb us to the reality of our sinfulness without actually curing the disease of sin that infects us.

Christians trust what we hear instead of what we see. We live by faith in Christ and not by sight. We appear just as out of touch as those virgins who were carrying their lamps in one hand and extra oil in the other: eagerly waiting for the Bridegroom to appear and the marriage feast to begin. But in the end, when the Bridegroom makes his sudden appearance, those who looked foolish are shown to be wise … and those who appeared wise are shown to be foolish.

The foolish virgins thought they knew when the Bridegroom would come. They thought they had more than enough oil to last through evening. They thought they had plenty of time to get more oil if they needed to. But what they didn’t plan on was that the Bridegroom would be delayed and that the oil in their lamps would run out when they needed it most. They never thought that the Bridegroom would come at midnight, of all times … that he would appear so suddenly, and that the doors to the marriage feast would close so fast that there would be no time to buy more oil.

Because of their foolish thinking – relying on their human reason – they found themselves locked out of the marriage feast to which they’d been invited, and all they had left to hear was the judgment of the Bridegroom: “I do not know you.”

In our day there have been many who’ve foolishly attempted to calculate the day and the hour of Jesus’ coming. Such predictions are unhelpful. They create uncertainty and anxiety for some and harden the disbelief of others. As Christians, we should simply be waiting in patient preparedness for Christ’s return.

Jesus said, “You do not know the day or the hour.” We’re not told the specifics of the times or seasons that are fixed by God’s authority. God, in His wisdom and mercy, has hidden these things from us. They’re simply not for us to know.
St. Peter wrote by divine inspiration that in the last days people would ridicule the wise who patiently wait for Christ’s return.

They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” (2 Peter 3:4)

Owing to the weakness of our sinful flesh, the Bridegroom’s delay can lull the foolish into a false sense of security … thinking that there will be plenty of time for repentance, hearing God’s Word, receiving Holy Communion and praying. Even Christ’s disciples struggled with this: falling asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane instead of watching and praying.

God’s way of keeping time isn’t the same as ours with respect to the last things. Christ isn’t slow … He’s patient. He takes His time because of His great mercy. God desires that everyone would be turned from themselves and their sinful pursuits to Christ: the Savior who died and rose for all. He’s willing to wait, but we don’t know how long. What we do know is that “now is the favorable time … [and] now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor 6:2) … for there might not be a tomorrow.

The truly wise know that the Bridegroom will appear when we least expect Him: “like a thief in the night”, as Scripture says. At midnight, while everyone sleeps, the call will ring out. And the wise will awake to meet the Bridegroom with lamps filled with the oil of gladness.

The foolish presume they have enough oil to last until the Bridegroom appears. They mistakenly thought that they had no need for extra oil … that what was in their lamps would be enough. Sadly, in the end, their oil burned out. They weren’t prepared and missed out on the marriage feast. But the wise had plenty of oil to keep their lamps burning brightly even while they slept.

Brothers and sister in Christ, God is rich in mercy. He lavishes on us the forgiveness and life that He won for us by His crucifixion and resurrection in Baptism, in Absolution, in the Lord’s Supper, and in His Word as it is preached and read. Christ has won for us more forgiveness and life than we could ever imagine. There’s more of His forgiveness and life in His Means of Grace than we even think that we need: more than enough to keep our lamps burning until the Last Day, whenever that may be. And it would be foolish … perhaps even to our eternal detriment … for us to think that we’ve had enough and don’t need any more.

All the virgins were invited. All went to sleep and were awakened. The wise virgins got up to greet the Bridegroom with joy and joined the procession into the marriage feast with oil aplenty and lamps burning bright. The foolish rose to greet the Bridegroom in a panic. They scrounged for oil they didn’t have, and found out too late that there wasn’t any oil to share.

Like the ten virgins, we too will arise on the day of Christ’s appearing. The wise will rise and enter the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom which has no end. That is God’s gift. The foolish will rise and find out that they’ve been shut out forever. That’s their own doing.

The wise knew who they were waiting for … they were prepared … they were confident of the Bridegroom’s coming. In the same way, we know who we’re waiting for: Christ the Bridegroom.

He’s the One who baptized us … He’s the One who forgives us … He’s the One who feeds us with His very body and blood and gives us His Spirit. In other words, He gives us more oil than we can possibly burn in a lifetime. Trusting Him and having our lamps filled by the oil of His Means of Grace regularly and frequently … we will be prepared for His return on the Last Day.

To live in faith, as did the wise virgins, is to live in the confidence of the Last Day, whether it’s today, tomorrow, or many years from now. We can live and sleep and die in the confidence of Him who once came for us in the manger and on the cross … who comes to us now by Word and Supper … and who will come in glory on the Last Day to raise us from the dead and give us eternal life.

“You do not know the day or the hour” of His coming. We don’t need to know. We only need to know that it is Christ the Bridegroom who is coming and in His gifts of Word and Sacrament He fills our lamps with all the oil we could ever need so that when He does come, we will be prepared to join the festal procession into the heavenly banquet.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Hoy Spirit.
Pr. Jon Holst

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

Today’s Gospel Reading all about forgiveness. And face it … we are bad at forgiveness. We’re bad at giving it … and we’re bad at asking for it.

Think about a time when you made an unjust accusation … when you failed to explain everything in the kindest possible way … when you tarnished someone’s reputation … when you got impatient or lost your temper. Your first inclination was likely not to ask for forgiveness. More likely than not, your inclination was to blame someone else for your own sinful anger and slander … perhaps even blaming God.

Our fallen human nature is prone to all sorts of anger, impatience, and unlovingness. And we’d much rather blame someone or something instead of repenting and asking for forgiveness. Deep down, we really don’t want to confess our sins. Nor do we naturally seek forgiveness: from God or our neighbor.