Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, St. Mark’s Day: April 25, 2021 jj
Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

Scandinavians can at times think of their holidays in some odd ways. There’s a Swedish Christmas carol that isn’t meant to make any sense, but it sure gives you something to sing while you’re dancing around that Christmas tree! Yep, pretty weird. Anyway, as I’m told, the translation of the song goes something like this: “Now it’s Christmas again, now it’s Christmas again! And Christmas it shall be ’till Easter. So, it’s Easter again, so it’s Easter again, and Easter it shall be ’till Christmas!”

Stanza two: “Now it’s Christmas again, now it’s Christmas again, and Christmas it shall be ’till Easter. No that isn’t right, no that isn’t right, for in the meantime there is Lent.” Must be those cold and dark Arctic-Circle winters.

As much as you want to stay on the “high” of a great holiday like Christmas or Easter, it never fails that the “low” comes around sooner than you’d like. There is no such thing as floating in ecstatic pleasure and merriment from one holiday to the next, despite what those “rich and famous” reality shows try to show you. The real reality is that there’s hard work, arguments, lack of interest, and even death and grief mixed in between our celebration times. In just the same way a cold, wintry Lent throws off your Christmas party-train heading for the warmth of Easter. Now being joyful like on Easter Day is great, however, the Church simply cannot sustain herself on a diet of constant revivals, emotional euphoria, and nonstop happy feelings. There are of course churches who try that; it’s one way to give people with itching ears what they want to hear. But eventually the ministers who employ this tactic either start losing touch with their people or they move on to other “markets” like the Music Man and stir up the fervor in some new victims.

And here we are, right in the middle of the glorious Easter Season, a blessed time in celebration of new life, and the Church calendar throws in a day commemorating the death, the martyrdom, of St. Mark, the Divinely-inspired writer of the Second Gospel. Easter white comes off for a week, blood red goes on. Today in the midst of our proud Alleluias and bold confession of faith that is founded on the fact of the empty tomb, we remember a man who at least at one time in his life, seems to be frightened, perhaps immature and confused.

From the looks of it, Mark, who had the Hebrew name John, was a close associate or maybe student under Peter. He may have been quite young during the time of Jesus’ visible ministry, and church history often claims that since Mark’s Passion account has the Bible’s only reference to a young man who was grabbed by the soldiers in the garden of Gethsemane and then pulled away and fled naked, that therefore this individual was Mark. For certain we read in Acts that Mark had volunteered to go with Paul on one of his missionary journeys, but all of the sudden, and for an unexplained reason, he deserted Paul and Barnabas in a region of southern Turkey called Pamphylia. Because of that, Paul decided against taking Mark along on his next trip; he did not want a deserter involved in the ministry of the Word. [Acts 15:37-40] Our reading from St. Paul in 2 Timothy, a letter that he probably dictated in a Roman dungeon, mere months or possibly weeks away from his execution, reveals that somewhere in between, Paul and Mark reconciled again. By the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit alone, Mark’s fearful and doubtful attitude evidently changed to make him an asset as Paul himself says to Timothy: “Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.”

As little as we know about this Evangelist, his life is nevertheless a case study for you. He may not at all times have given a good example of a bold witness to Jesus. He may have been plagued with fears of the future, doubts concerning his fitness for the work that God gave him to do, remorse over his shameful and cowardly break with no less than the Apostle Paul. You may get upset about a traffic ticket or a bad grade haunting you later on in the future, but just imagine if your indiscretions were recorded in the Bible! Talk about a permanent record! If anyone could have been a New Testament case for depression, a man near the top of the list would be John Mark.

What about you? Have you felt guilt over something you did that just seems too terrible or too great to forgive? Have you been attacked by the devil’s direct onslaught of shame and accusation, or his sneaky, indirect approach of temptation and doubt that cripple you later on? Perhaps you have angrily parted company with a friend or a relative. Might have been a blow-up over a Facebook post. You are separated from each other in actual distance or in your attitude, but it doesn’t matter. It would be next to impossible to set things right with them again. The love you once had for this individual would be harder to rekindle than to light a candle underwater.

God sent you a man named Mark to tell you exactly what you need. “The gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” It is what he wrote as the Holy Spirit enabled him: not just a collection of facts and history about a notable character, but the gospel, the Good News that gives into your ear and heart the Jesus that this Book proclaims. This gospel is the antidote for the poison of your sinful, doubting heart, it is the treasure of forgiveness that reconciles you to God and your loved one. This gospel is Jesus Christ Himself coming to you, entering into your mouth and cleansing your soul and body to be His precious and chosen possession. It’s Jesus saying to you that even though you will weep and lament in sorrow, your sorrow will soon turn to joy. He can guarantee that, and He does guarantee that-because your joy after sorrow depends on His going to the Father and His returning to you in order to take you home. Those are absolute certainties, and not empty promises. The Evangelist Saint Mark was moved by the Holy Spirit to assure you of that very thing.

This gospel is not just a friendly pick-me-up story that gives you merely a new perspective on your problems. The gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God is your lifeblood as a Christian, your very breath of life. This gospel is such a valuable thing for you because Jesus filled it with His breath, the breath that He let go as He died on the cross for your sake. The Gospel of Mark records the Easter story with special emphasis on the fear and trembling of those who discovered the empty tomb, only to announce that Christ Himself made them bold to stand up against the enemies of the Church. For it is that gospel that strengthened John Mark to put away his fears and suffer the ultimate price of death for the sake of His Savior. It is the same gospel that strengthens you too, in body and soul.

Sure you will have difficult times. You will have sorrow. Of course some of the worst things you can possibly think of will still happen to you and your family. Often you will not be able to bounce back right away after you’ve been crushed to the ground. There are times when it will look bleak, like it couldn’t get any worse, like you’ve been deserted completely in all this mess. I know, because I’ve felt that too. But even when it seems like you have nothing to hold on to, remember that you have the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. You have His promise: A little while, and I will see you again. That is the only reason why Paul can say with confidence just before his life is cut short in martyrdom: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day.” And “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.” Dearly beloved, this same confidence is also yours this day, and it will preserve in you your Easter joy all year round, at least as the Swedish song says, to get you to Christmas!

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings
(Jubilate)
Is. 40:25–31 They shall mount up with wings like eagles
or Lam. 3:22–33 Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed.
Psalm 147:1–11 The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him
1 Peter 2:11–20 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles
or 1 John 3:1–3 Behold what manner of love
John 16:16–22 I will see you again and your heart will rejoice
or
St. Mark, Evangelist
Is. 52:7–10 How beautiful upon the mountains
Psalm 146 Do not put your trust in princes
2 Tim. 4:5–18 I have fought the good fight
Mark 16:14–20 Go into all the world and preach the Gospel

Sermon for the Third Sunday of Easter, Good Shepherd Sunday: April 18, 2021 jj
Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

Sheep are prone to scatter, and our gracious Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is in the business of gathering them back together again. We did not have an ideal Easter season last year, to be sure. The Shepherd’s flock was scattered each to their respective homes, and if they were lucky, they could catch a mere glimpse on their screens and phones of the sheep pen that they were forced to abandon for the sake of their health. It was a trade off nobody ever wanted to face, and the fallout is still hurting us, if we are going to be perfectly honest.

It is easy to think that we’ve never had it this bad, and if you stay glued to 24 hour news, you might become fully convinced of that. But our Good Shepherd has had a lot more perspective on this sort of thing than any of us have, and He’s really good at His work of gathering His scattered Church, pandemic or not. It would have been hard to imagine the days of the prophet Ezekiel. At that time, God’s sheep were forced away from their promised land into exile. The Babylonian Empire removed the great majority of the population, and once they destroyed the Jerusalem Temple, many people thought that God had lost His ability to protect them or even listen to them. Some devout young people, though, like Daniel, made sure that they looked out toward Jerusalem whenever they prayed, because that was the place where they heard, in a manner of speaking, the voice of the Good Shepherd as He remained firm in His promises of rescue and return to the home He had prepared for them. The distance and the separation could not quiet that voice as He called out to His scattered sheep with sounds of assurance and forgiveness. I myself will seek out my flock from among the nations and gather them, and feed them with good pasture. They will lie down with peaceful contentment, for I will provide for their every need, says the Lord.

In about six hundred years’ time, Ezekiel’s prediction would come true. God Himself would enter the world He had made in order to be the Shepherd who would lay down His life for the sheep. He put on a human body not only so He would teach and guide us in the right way, but His human flesh soaked up all our wrongdoings, hurts, diseases and fears, then hanged them with Him on the staff of the cross. That would be how He fulfilled His promise to gather the scattered and make for Himself a flock that would become known as the Christian Church. He is the overseer of our souls because He wanted for us not to receive what we deserved, but He preferred to trade His glory and greatness for our disgrace and dejection.

We would not have been saved if we had a God who wasn’t a Good Shepherd. That is to say, if it was only to teach us more rules for living or to give us a hint on how we could save ourselves, we sheep would still have been scattered and lost. But as it happened, our Good Shepherd laid down His life for us. And what He laid down freely, of His own accord, He had the power to take up again. And take it up, He did in glorious victory on the third day following His death.

It is fitting for us each year to celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday during the season of Easter. When Jesus rose from the dead, He triumphantly fulfilled His promise to shepherd His people. He did it for the people who were scattered away from Israel in the days of Ezekiel, He did it for those who witnessed His teaching, His miracles, death and resurrection, and He did it for you, who were as yet not of His fold, but now you have been brought together into one flock, one shepherd. Last Sunday we heard about forgiveness that streams forth from the wounds of the crucified, yet also risen Jesus. This Sunday we hear what power that resurrection-fueled forgiveness has for the Church, what benefit it brings to us for what we’re going through today, for what our friends and loved ones are going through.

We were scattered. We were strayed like sheep, following whatever we convinced ourselves was better for us. But our Good Shepherd never lost sight of us. His voice never was quieted, even among the dizzying din of pandemic and rumor. Jesus keeps calling us to Himself, to recall what is most important for us as members of His flock. Saint Peter comforted his suffering parishioners that their suffering was not in vain. They were participating in something Jesus Himself went through for our sake. When we suffer as Christians, we walk in Christ’s steps. You don’t have to make believe you’re carrying the cross, feeling your Savior’s pain. What matters is that He feels your pain and He endured it with boundless love for you, with an undying desire for you to be part of Him forever.

Shout for joy in the Lord Jesus your Good Shepherd, for He has gathered you back together to Himself. The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord, and that steadfast love is your rescue from the sins and the hurts that weigh you down today. Whoever has hurt you, whomever you have hurt—all hurt and wrong has been paid in the suffering bloodshed of Christ the crucified, and canceled in His rising from the dead. He prepared a place for you with that cross and empty tomb. Someday He will come and take you to your true home in heaven, then after your resurrection you will enjoy the new and perfect creation. This is how you know that your Shepherd Jesus cares for you, and is not at all like a hired hand who flees from the wolf. Now you have that same love and care for your fellow sheep, members of the united flock of the Christian Church, as well as your neighbors who do not yet know the love of their Shepherd for themselves. You can love them with Jesus’ love, forgive them with His forgiveness, and call to them with His voice of reconciliation.

Our time of separation may have been hard on us in many new ways. Lord only knows if we have learned anything valuable from the ordeal. What we should always have impressed upon our hearts and minds is that our merciful Lord came to us Himself to shepherd us and lay down His life for us. And we should never forget that He lives for us and has assured us that we shall live also. He has remained firm in His promises to us, just has He has for His sheep of every time and place. Nothing can get in the way of our Shepherd’s voice of forgiveness and peace. Yea though we walk through the very valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil. We won’t always have it as easy as we’d like in this life, yet we can still be confident that surely goodness and mercy will follow us every day, for we now dwell in our Good Shepherd’s house, and we will dwell therein forever.

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Ezek. 34:11–16 I Myself will search for My sheep
Psalm 23 The LORD is my Shepherd
1 Peter 2:21–25 you were like sheep going astray
John 10:11–16 I am the good shepherd

Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter: April 11, 2021 jj
Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

Easter makes sense of just about everything else that we celebrate in the Church Year. We don’t celebrate disjointed holidays and string them together like a fruit-cereal necklace, as if you happen to take one away and eat it, you still have the other loops on the string. No, instead, the Church Year is carefully constructed by a very knowledgeable and pious church heritage that has gone on for centuries. It tells a story that is vitally important to our faith in Jesus, our Christian life in this world, and our hope of the life of the world to come. Having just finished the seasons of Christmas, Epiphany and Lent – where we heard about how God sent His Son to be born of a Virgin so that He could suffer and die for the sin of the world – and now as we have begun the season of Easter –we rejoice in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. All that He did for us comes into clear focus for our faith. It was the same for the disciples: John said that he and the other disciples didn’t understand the things Jesus said and did until after He was glorified, meaning His death and resurrection.

The Easter season does mark a significant shift in the story we hear every year. Jesus fulfilled His salvation mission on the cross and when He rose from the dead. As we move further into the season of Easter and on into Pentecost we’ll take a closer look not only how God saves us, but also how He lifts us up in our faith, how He strengthens us, and how He enables us to go on living in this sinful world after receiving a foretaste of the glories that await us in heaven. Our God, you see, isn’t only a God who worked in the past and has made promises for our future. He’s also active in your life now, and in the lives of all His people as they go about their day to day activities.

Consider the Gospel for today. It begins on the first Easter Sunday evening. Only three days earlier Jesus had been crucified, died, and was buried. The Disciples had only just recently heard the stories of His resurrection, which made them even more dazed and afraid. Having locked themselves away in a room for fear of what the Jews might do to them if they were caught together, the followers of Jesus made sure no one would be able to sneak in and catch them unawares. No doubt they were fearful of the Jews’ reaction to the news of Jesus’ resurrection, but they might also have been fearful about what Jesus might say to them for deserting Him during the hours before His death.

Then, all of a sudden, there He was – standing in their midst. Although He appeared miraculously, He didn’t seem to be a ghost. He had a real human body and that body didn’t look as if as if it had just spent three days in a tomb. He wasn’t angry or distressed. They must have wondered to themselves what He was going to say or do –how He was going to react. Yet, the first words out of His mouth were the forgiving, freeing words: “Peace be with you!” Then He showed them the wounds on His hands and in His side. This was no ghost or a spirit– He was real – just like the peace He offered. His words weren’t empty or meaningless, but they bestowed on them the peace which He had just purchased on Calvary’s cross. And the most amazing thing was that this peace was now being given freely to them – the very ones who had betrayed and abandoned Him only three days earlier!

Jesus came among them to strengthen them and to reinforce their faith. He appeared in their midst to assure them that in His flesh He had indeed risen from the dead. He was there to plant the seeds of ministry in their hearts. He wanted them to go out and carry His peace and forgiveness to everyone. He was sending them on a mission – to go out into the farthest corners of the world and declare this peace to all – to call all mankind to believe in this One who died on the cross for the salvation of sinners.

Next, our Savior breathed on them the Holy Spirit. There they were, downtrodden, dejected, not knowing what to do or how to do it – and then He spoke. He gave them power to move forward with boldness. Through the proclamation of His Word, people’s sins would be forgiven. All they had to do was proclaim this message. But Thomas wasn’t with the others that night. We don’t know why he wasn’t there, but we do know that because he wasn’t there he continued to doubt – and this even after the others told him the Good News of Christ’s resurrection. He made it clear that he refused to believe, that the fear and slowness of heart that afflicted the other disciples still had their clutches on his soul. His spiritual colleagues already had the personal contact with Jesus. They were ready for ministry in His holy Name, because at the very beginning, the Holy Spirit would spread the Church through these appointed eyewitnesses. Thomas knew that he would be disqualified as an apostle if he had missed his opportunity to see the Lord Jesus like the others did. How terrible would that feeling have been for him?

Thankfully, the other disciples managed to convince Thomas to be in the room with them the next Sunday to meet Jesus. They knew only the Lord could help him. They wanted Thomas to be united with them in proclaiming the glorious Easter message of forgiveness, life and salvation! You may think of it as a similar feeling that you get when you think of those you know and care about, those whom you hope and pray would someday join with you in the services of God’s house to meet with our risen Savior and receive His gifts. Maybe their faith is struggling right now. Perhaps they find it hard to believe. You know that only the Lord Jesus can help them.

For Thomas, He appeared in the room once again, despite the locked doors and the fearful hearts, and said as the Greek literally translated says: “May you cease to be unbelieving from this time forward. Instead, be constantly believing.” And Thomas, the doubter – when he saw and felt for himself the peace that God purchased for him in the wounds of His Savior – he was convinced. Devastated at the state of his faith, he cried out, “My Lord and my God!” God had stepped back into Thomas’ life and rekindled the flame of faith.

What an amazing God we have! Those who are down are lifted up. Those who are despondent are given that peace which passes understanding. Those who are crushed are made whole. Those who are blind are made to see. Those who are sinful are made righteous. When God comes into a person’s life, even though his heart is locked up in fear of the unknown, He changes that person from a sinner in danger of His wrath, into a beloved saint and an heir of everlasting life. He changes that person from the status of faithless enemy to the standing of a trusting child. What a tremendous God we have!

My dear Friends, at one time God also came into your life. Just as He came to the disciples, He also came to you. When you least expected it, there He was – in His Word, in His Bath of Baptism, and in His Supper – in His Church and in the mouth of His servant – showing you those wounds which earned you His peace. When you wanted least of all to believe, He enabled you to confess Him as God and Lord. When you scarcely wanted to serve Him, He placed you willingly into His service. And He’s still calling to you today – right now – calling you to hear His words of comfort and reconciliation– and to rejoice in the Gift of life He brings.

You do not have the same calling as the Apostle Thomas, yet you do have a holy calling, and the specific blessing from the mouth of Jesus: Blessed are you who have not seen and have believed. You confess and declare with joy the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. You pray for the opportunity to bring those loved ones on your mind and heart to have contact here with the wounded, yet risen Lord Jesus, since Easter makes sense of what those wounds really did for you and for them and for the whole world. You can invite them to come, see and hear what you’ve seen and heard – even as the other Apostles invited Thomas. You may not be trained or qualified to be an evangelist – to be sure, the prospect of speaking to others about your faith might be rather frightening– but all God has ever asked is that you tell someone else what you already know to be true. After all, “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this Book, but these things are written that” you “might believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name.”

It’s a fearful task you face when you open your mouth to speak the Truth of God to someone who needs to hear it. Will they reject you for saying what you know you need to say? Will they laugh with scorn at your gullibility for believing something so amazing as this Gospel of Grace which saves us, or will they turn their back – thinking you’re a fool? It doesn’t matter, for this is really God’s work, and when God gives us something to do, He also gives us the words and power to do it. So do it we will – sometimes fearfully, sometimes joyfully, sometimes even against our unwilling sinful nature – but always with the knowledge that the Holy Spirit is at work in us, causing us to do and say that which would otherwise be impossible. For although such things are impossible with us, with Jesus, our Lord and our God, nothing shall be impossible, and His Easter victory will make sense of anything you may not fully understand.

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Ezek. 37:1–14 the valley; and it was full of bones
Psalm 33 For He spoke, and it was done
1 John 5:4–10 this is the victory that overcomes the world – our faith
John 20:19–31 unless I see in His hands the print of the nails

Sermon for Easter Day: April 4, 2021 jj
Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Great love stories can often be sad stories. I’ll admit it. Back in the days of TV Guide and even more recently when you would scroll through the channels I tended to move right along if I had happened to catch a movie showing that had a sad, love story. Call them “chick flicks” if you want, and I’m not necessarily looking for sports or some other “guy” movie, it’s just that Hollywood seems to believe that utter pain and the finality of death is as deep as the emotion of love can ever go. You love someone with the ultimate love, then one or both lovers die, end scene, roll the credits, don’t forget to toss your empty soda cup and your wadded-up crying tissues into the trash on your way out. Shakespeare thought the same way in his tragedies—it’s no spoiler alert to tell you that, for most of them, Macbeth, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, in the end, everybody’s dead.

Anyone who witnessed Jesus’ death on Good Friday, such as Mary Magdalene, Jesus’ mother Mary (now John’s mother Mary), or that awestruck centurion looking up with new eyes at God’s Son, that person would have supposed they had at that moment just seen the utmost demonstration of the Lord’s love. How could you not come to a conclusion like that? After all that the Jews did, then the Romans, then you and I, what we all did to the Messiah, one would think we have reached rock bottom of the greatest love that ever existed. In comparison to the great ocean of God’s love exhibited on Calvary’s cross, our greatest human love could only be a faint spark; or, in terms of the movies, the intensity of feeling you get from The Notebook, or Titanic, would be a mere paper cut on your finger.

You wouldn’t be too far off, of course. Yes, you would find the ultimate depths of God’s love for the world depicted in all the events that led up to, and included, Good Friday. All of Scripture, New Testament and Old, sets us up for that holy death to be it for our bondage to sin. Jesus Christ the Crucified paid the greatest price and set you free. By His stripes, you have been healed. Greater love has no one than this, that one lays down his life for his friends. Jesus did that. He had the greatest love for you; He redeemed you from the death that you and your sins had deserved. No other love story on earth can come close to excelling it.

Yet we dare not overlook one important detail: this greatest love story in world history is not finished there. Good Friday, great as it is, and full of forgiveness of your sins it most certainly is, cannot however, and must not be the event that ends the scene and rolls the credits and ends the movie, so to speak. There must be an Easter. St. Paul knew that and said as much. We don’t have an Easter just to make us feel better after the sad tragedy of Good Friday. We have an Easter because that’s what happened. All the memorable, longest-running love stories of the world end on the note of “…and they lived happily ever after,” precisely because they have borrowed something from the way God’s love story truly ends. For it’s not a made-up story, it’s what really happened, and that’s what makes it such a good story. The Son of God who loved you so much to die, in this story, in this movie, if you will, He doesn’t stay dead! We cannot help but rejoice! Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

The contrast, the emotional differences, cannot be more striking. Where the depths of love as pictured in death practically empty you out emotionally and even physically, the heights of elation over new life, of reconciliation, of unity achieved with God, of victory over death and Satan, both of whom, along with sin itself has been vanquished, that ecstasy cannot be copied. No drug or chemical, or vaccine can produce it. No amount of money can purchase it. No government can establish it in their unending quest for utopia. Only Jesus achieved it. Only the Risen Jesus hands it out, which He does with the words: Peace be with you.

We’ll talk about that in particular next Sunday—you wouldn’t want to miss it! What needs to be expanded upon here today is how do we deal with the one thing that can get in the way of believing that greatest love story ever. The one obstacle to you, the one thing keeping you from making the Easter story come true in your world, or in the world of someone you may know is, to sum it up in one word: fear. You may think that fear isn’t something that affects you day to day, but be aware that fear can take many forms, and at times, you won’t always feel afraid, and yet fear is still on the attack. Fear can describe any thought of doubt in our mind towards God. It can be simple as being occupied with what-ifs: What if my job won’t support me or my family? What if the bully online won’t quit harassing me? What if I am ridiculed as a hater and lose my business if I have to stand up for what I believe in? What if my doctor gives me bad news the next time I visit? President Franklin Roosevelt famously said we have nothing to fear but fear itself, but that leaves us with another question— where do we turn when fear itself becomes the problem?

We could hear the triumphant angel’s simple announcement: fear not! This heavenly being is pictured in the Gospel as a young man sitting down on the right side, dressed in a white robe. His mouth holds nothing else but what God the Father commanded him to say: “You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified—get it, WAS crucified— He has risen, He is not here. Go to Galilee and you will see Him again.” The great love story has been completed. Fear is removed simply because the angel repeated his message.

The same message is meant for you today, as well. Those disciples were filled with fear at first, but perfect love casts out fear, even those different kinds of fear that afflict you today. Will the Christian faith become more and more illegal? Probably will. Will you continue to face illnesses, dangers and worries? Yes—but the fear that they try to produce in you will be swallowed up in the ocean of love that is Jesus’ death and resurrection. The forgiveness that was paid and signed in the Blood of Christ on Good Friday is this day showered generously on you with the fear-dispelling words of your called and ordained servants of the Word.

Believe it, and that perfect love of God for you will fill you up. Nothing more is needed to bring you life, peace, forgiveness of your sins. It’s all yours, instantly! It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, what your history has been, or even if your track record of faithfulness to Him and His Commandments has not been something to be proud of—fear not! Your Savior stood in for you, then you automatically stand in for Him everywhere you go, loving your neighbor in grateful praise, not expecting a single thing in return. Because of Jesus and all that He did and accomplished, your life is different. You were forgiven first, pronounced by God Himself free and clear, then you were changed and molded to what our Lord has created you to be. His love has set you free! The love story that cannot be outdone has entered your life and become your story of salvation.

And when the day comes when your heavenly Father has determined you are to be called home to Him, fear not! An angel will not sit down but will instead carry your soul away from this earth to be with Jesus. In blissful Paradise you will await that still more glorious day when your Easter will come to its full completion—that is, when like Jesus on that first Easter, your body will raise up from the tomb and you will be glorified beyond our current ability to comprehend. Like Job said long ago, though my body is destroyed, yet my own eyes will see My Redeemer, who lives! No one can take that wonderful future away from you. Not even fear itself has that power. That obstacle has been forever removed.

This is the love story that no movie or earthly storyteller can reproduce—nothing in this world will get anywhere close. This love story goes far beyond the depths of death. No grief or sadness can ever drown it out. What suffering you will have to go through till that time, can’t even compare to the joy that is already yours on this Blessed Easter festival, for the rest of your life, and into all eternity.

Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Sermon for Good Friday: April 2, 2021 jj
Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

For nearly 1500 years, the Passover observance waited to be fulfilled. When that festival was kept, the lamb’s blood was brushed with hyssop on the door-post of the house. The lambs were slaughtered just as darkness came across the sky, and the blood dripped down the wood of that door post. And as it did, that blood bore witness to several things: inside could be found those who had faith in the Lord’s unmistakable words, they were a household, or small group of households who shared a feast together, the feast of unleavened bread, which was a most unusual feast, even for them. The blood on the door post also bore testimony to what was outside, namely, the angel of death, darkness, and sin’s dreadful plague. Indeed this night is not like any other night.

But now that the Passover finally has come to its fulfillment in Christ, you could say that there is a new door-post. This door post is also marked with blood. This time the blood comes not from a year-old lamb but from the 33-year-old Lamb of God, the true Lamb who was sacrificed once for all in the middle of the day, and then sudden darkness came across the sky. It is this Lamb who was nailed to the lintel-beam, and it’s His blood dripping down that gnarled wood. This time the blood is brushed on not with hyssop, but with His very own battered and bloody body suffering for you and for me.

So have you never thought of the cross before as a door-post? I understand—it doesn’t seem like an obvious connection. After all, where’s the rest of the house? You can’t see it. The cross means very little to the outside world except to exact one of the cruelest forms of torture known to human history. But look at the cross as God sees it, for to Him it is indeed the door post of the Church, His household of faith. It doesn’t matter that you and I can’t see it, at least not yet, because while we live on this earth it will only be God Himself who can see faith by itself. We may see a few signs and fruits of faith, but as Jesus says, it’s only similar to seeing the wind. And if the cross is a door post, then inside the Cross of Jesus Christ, you have the household of believers who believe the Lord’s words and trust in His one and only forgiveness that was paid for and won by the Blood of the Lamb. Those who publicly believe and confess in agreement with everything the Bible teaches about this Lamb and His death, they are the ones who share a meal that He Himself serves as head of the household. He’s also the feast itself, for the meal is His very own Body and Blood given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.

The Blood of Christ on the “door post” of the cross also testifies to those outside. If someone were to despise the cross, insist on another way to receive God’s eternal kindness and salvation, and reject Jesus’ offer to wash away sins, then there is darkness, chaos, destruction—basically everything brought about by the curse of sin. We get a little reminder of this in the unique Good Friday service we observe tonight, the candles slowly going out little by little, saying that without the cross you have nothing else but rejection of the gifts Christ freely gives. Without faith it is impossible to please God, and without faith there remains only the desire to remain in sin. So the cross is the new Passover door-post for the spiritual house of the Church. It only seems right—for as Peter says, this spiritual house is built of living stones, which is exactly what you are as the Body of Christ, forgiven and washed in His own sacrificial blood. As we move closer on this Good Friday to the door-post of the cross, we notice something else along with the Blood.

As you know, we have reached the high-point of the whole Passion story. And to tell the truth, reliving this historical account certainly puts you through a lot. First you have Jesus’ betrayal, then total abandonment, spitting, insults, false charges thrown here and there, and don’t forget the beating, the bloody scourging, crown of thorns, His carrying the cross, getting nailed to the cross, and His suffocation on the cross—now you’ve finally come to His death. You would think the whole ordeal is over by that point. But no, as if that weren’t enough to endure, there’s one more thing that happens after Jesus begins His temporary sleep of death. The Roman soldiers, after breaking the legs of the other two, comes to Jesus and pierces His side with His spear. Out of this violent opening flows out blood and water, so John reports, and he’s so adamant to say that he really was there to see it, so that whenever you hear this holy story, you would believe that it truly happened.

Now, an expert in human anatomy could probably give you all the gory details of what may have been the internal source of this blood and water, but St. John knew that the Blood of the Sacrament and the Water of Holy Baptism, these gifts from Jesus’ pierced side are in agreement with the Holy Spirit (1 John 5) as the foundation of the Church and the source of her life. All the disciples (and yes, Thomas also, the second time around) see this gaping wound after Jesus rose from the dead and recognize that they are distributors of the Water and Blood that flows from that source like a never-ending spring.

Just as Eve long ago at creation received her life and being from the wounded side of a temporarily sleeping Adam, so the Bride of Christ, bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh, is built from that which flowed from the wounded side of Jesus. He slept the temporary sleep of death in a borrowed tomb but awoke and arose victorious on the third day. Adam may have had his side-wound closed up with flesh, but Jesus keeps His gash still visible as a sign of truly exalted majesty. Thanks to this flood of blood and water from the Lamb who was nailed to the door-post of the cross, the fruits of Eden’s Tree of Life are guarded no more, but rather handed out to you—these fruits are forgiveness of sins, physical and eternal life, and everlasting salvation, rescue from death and the devil, and the true spiritual medicine. The disciple who saw it has told you by his solemn testimony that it is true, so that you may believe and have life in Jesus’ name. Passover need not wait to be fulfilled anymore. The true Lamb’s blood and water are on the door post of the cross as a sure sign that the law’s condemnation has passed you over. No wonder they call this Friday, Good!

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Sermon for Maundy Thursday: April 1, 2021 jj
Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

Imagine for a moment that you are an Israelite family. You are living in the time of the Old Testament, but it’s long after the time of Moses and the Exodus. Now you are in the Promised Land, living right near Jerusalem. Regularly you go up the hill to the Temple for the sacrifices, and as all those animals give their lives for your sake, you are constantly reminded of the One Sacrifice of the Messiah who is prophesied to come and offer His life to pay for your sins. Every year you celebrate the Passover, and every year this unique meal follows the same ritual order. The youngest member of the family would ask, “Why on this night do we eat this meal?” And the answer was always the same: “When we were in Egypt, the Lord Almighty led us out with a strong hand and brought us to this land.”

Now these actual historical events did not happen to you, or even to the oldest living members of your family. All this stuff you say happened to you, actually occurred hundreds of years ago, but that doesn’t matter. Even if you were not a first-hand witness, this is still your story. It is just as though you were there, as though you had danced out of a plagued and destroyed Egypt, walking on the dry Red Sea floor on that great night with a wall of water standing up on either side of you. By eating this meal of the Passover, God was saving you the very same way He saved your ancestors. You escaped the angel of death because on your ancestors’ door post there was the blood of a lamb that was killed in your place.

So when you and your Old-Testament-era Israelite family eat a lamb that was roasted over fire at your Passover meal, it was as though you were actually there when God miraculously saved your ancestors back in 1446 B.C. In reality, the benefits from the Lord’s great saving event in Old Testament history were brought forward in time to you in your time and place. And so, without being there yourself, you and your family participated in God’s salvation, so that you truthfully could say, “When we were in Egypt, the Lord Almighty led us out with a strong hand and brought us to this land.” This is what makes the Passover meal a family’s participation in the Exodus story.

OK, now imagine you’re a Gentile in the 1st century A.D., living in the Greek city of Corinth. You and your family became Christians when the Apostle Paul came through the city and preached God’s Word and the Holy Spirit turned your heart to believe in the message of Jesus your Savior. Remember, you have not one drop of Jewish blood in you, nor have you ever set foot in the Roman province of Palestine, much less the city of Jerusalem. And Paul writes a letter to your church so that the pastor who is there can read it in your little house-church. As he speaks concerning the Lord’s Supper he tells you some amazing words about your participation in another event that happened in the Holy Land and that is like the Exodus, but actually even greater than that. You hear these words:

“The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?”

Now the deliverance of those Israelites from Egypt was merely a shadow of the great deliverance that God accomplished in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for all people of every time and every place. Now the shadow is past, the real thing has already happened. Christ, our Passover lamb, is sacrificed, and your true freedom is secured.

Now you’re back in 2021. And yet, you, too, were in bondage. You were born into the spiritual Egypt of sin and death—forced to labor under the crushing blows of the law. Just as it was impossible for the Israelites to make bricks for those cruel Egyptians without using any straw, it was also impossible for you to please God by anything you could do or offer. Yet your Lord sent you not another Moses, not someone to accuse you of your sin and oppress you with more bondage. Instead, He sent for you His own dear Son, Jesus Christ. He was a baby who escaped the sword of Herod, just as Moses was hidden from the Egyptian baby-killers in a basket, yet Jesus would not escape the roasting fire of God’s wrath. He would bear the complete burden of your sin all the way to the cross, and by Him, by the sacrificial Lamb of God, the full price of your freedom was paid.

The forgiving, freeing, life-giving benefits of this death are given to you, even though you live many centuries later than this most pivotal moment in the history of all creation. Whether or not you have actually been to the piece of ground where Jesus lived, walked, taught, died and rose to life again; were you there when they crucified my Lord? It doesn’t matter. These gifts are yours the very same way it was for those eleven faithful disciples who communed with the Lord just before He was betrayed and crucified. Though the forgiveness of all your sins already happened once and for all, at one time and place, never to happen again, yet you still participate in that death, you take part in that liberating walk out of your spiritual Egypt in a meal that is so much greater than the Passover.

For the cup of blessing which we bless is filled with that precious blood that flowed from the nail- and spear-pierced wounds of Jesus. The bread that you eat with your own mouth is the true body of Christ that bore all your sins. This isn’t merely the Passover anymore; you don’t commemorate just the Exodus. As you eat and drink this Body and Blood, you remember the holy death of Jesus, the true Passover lamb. But remember that you are involved in an activity that is much more than just mental, and it does more than give you an emotional experience. This is a participation. That means you become part of that death. It is just like the death of Christ had happened to you. And really, truly, it did. It is no longer you who live but Christ who lives within you. As that Body and Blood enters your flesh and mixes internally with your own blood, Jesus Himself becomes a part of you, and He nourishes you, not only in your soul, but in your body as well. He strengthens your faith and reminds you with the comforting news that your sins are forgiven, but He also gives you everlasting life, and true communion with the Holy Trinity, with the angels, archangels and the whole company of heaven, all in this simple, yet blessed Meal of Holy Communion.

Your Lord and Master Jesus chose ordinary bread and wine to be the holy means by which He feeds you with His Body and Blood because His entire ministry up to His ascension into heaven and ever since then has been a ministry hidden in humility. The grains of the field and grapes of the vine may be the fruits of our labors, yet God has blessed these things to be the food that endures to everlasting life. For centuries, Christian preachers have looked even to how these ordinary elements are made in order to instruct the church.

Think of this picture: even as bread is made up of many little scattered grains, and wine is made up of many individual grapes, the grains are crushed together and baked, and the grapes are mashed together and fermented, and all their former individual character is gone. The same is true about you as a gathering of God’s own baptized and redeemed people. You are no longer an individual in one sense, because you as an individual, who had the sinful desire to go your own way and be your own person, this individual has been crushed, you are buried with Christ. You are now one with your Lord, and you are all one with each other. As you gather as the body of Christ at this altar, you declare to each other and to God that you have publicly confessed the one doctrine, the one true hope of salvation that you have.

After you have been crushed like those grapes, you are combined with your fellow baptized believers, and the Lord invites you into His Holy presence as priests. Yours is the privilege to have God Himself touch your lips and tongue, not to sting you with the reminder of your sin, but to comfort you with the assurance that your sin is taken away. Your place at the heavenly banquet is reserved—you even have the first taste of that banquet right here! You as God’s Holy Church are truly one bread even as you eat the Bread of His Body and drink of the Cup of His blood. You are unified in that you have confessed the same doctrine. If someone should publicly confess a different doctrine from everyone else and still participate in Communion, then this unity is destroyed. This is called open communion; it deceives that person who is taking it and it will kill a church.

Holy Communion is a participation in the sufferings and death of Christ, and it proclaims this death in plain sight. This holy food gives you the forgiveness of sins in the most intimate way, and God Himself comes to live within your own body. Your kneeling at this altar may not transport you back to that night in the Upper Room or make you feel like you are at the cross of Calvary. But the meal you eat God uses to bring these events of your salvation to you. Jesus has said that this is so and He has promised it, whether it feels like it or not! And by eating this holy meal with fellow believers in Christ you say to each other something a little different from what the Hebrew fathers told their children; something like: “Why do we celebrate Holy Communion?” Answer: “When we were still in bondage in our sins, the Lord Almighty sent us His Son Jesus, and by His death on a cross He has brought us to eternal life.”

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Notes:

The Lord be with you!
The final week in Lent is Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday, or the Latin name Palmarum. Every day in Holy Week includes a reading of the Passion story from each of the four Gospel books, culminating in Good Friday with the reading of the Passion according to St. John. The Passion is the theme of the entire week and every service revolves around the sacrificial death of our Savior. This can be observed as we listen to the collects for each service.

Let us pray the collect for Palm Sunday:
Almighty and everlasting God, You sent Your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, to take upon Himself our flesh and to suffer death upon the cross. Mercifully grant that we may follow the example of His great humility and patience and be made partakers of His resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.

And for Maundy Thursday, the commandment given for the Lord’s Supper:
O Lord, in this wondrous Sacrament You have left us a remembrance of Your passion. Grant that we may so receive the sacred mystery of Your body and blood that the fruits of Your redemption may continually be manifest in us; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.

And for Good Friday, the day of the world’s redemption:
Almighty God, graciously behold this Your family for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed and delivered into the hands of sinful men to suffer death upon the cross; through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Zechariah 9:9-13 (Palm Sunday)
Rejoice, Daughter of Zion! Your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, riding a colt, the foal of a donkey. When Jerusalem is called the Daughter of Zion, that usually means she, the city as well as the people in her, is in trouble. The daughter of Zion is chastised, buried under the cloud of God’s righteous judgment against all her sins of faithlessness. Yet in abundant love the Lord decides to save the daughter of Zion by sending her the everlasting King. He comes in lowliness and humility in order to sacrifice His life to raise the daughter of Zion up from her lowliness. That’s why not only Jerusalem, but we the handful of sinners known as the Church, is also fittingly called the daughter of Zion, and we too can rejoice with all God’s faithful, forgiven people.

Hebrews 4:14–16; 5:7–9 (Good Friday)
Our confidence to draw near to the presence of God is all a gift from Jesus, who has gone before us as our high priest. We have found the grace that will help us in every time of need, and that grace flows from the Cross of Jesus Christ. We don’t have to place ourselves emotionally or otherwise back in time at the precise location of Calvary, but we draw near to the throne of grace wherever Jesus promises to be with us for our forgiveness of sins. In Baptism, in Holy Communion, in hearing the preaching of God’s Word—these are the opportunities for us to claim the benefits of Good Friday.

Luke 22:7-30 (Maundy Thursday)
The Passover was a festival of salvation, dating back to God’s miraculous release of Israel from slavery in Egypt in the year 1446 B.C. Every Passover would look back on that saving event with thanksgiving to God and at the same time the celebration would look forward to the Messiah as the true Passover Lamb of God. He would achieve our ultimate release from the slavery of sin and death forever. Jesus confers His kingdom upon all who deny themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow Him through humiliation, denial of the world and its pleasures, and trials of every kind. We eat the meal of our salvation, which is the Body and Blood given for us and for our forgiveness.

Here’s hymn 442, stanza 5:
    All glory, laud, and honor
    To You, Redeemer, King,
    To whom the lips of children
    Made sweet hosannas ring.
    As You received their praises,
    Accept the prayers we bring,
    O Source of ev’ry blessing,
    Our good and gracious King.

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

Pr. Stirdivant

Sermon for Palm Sunday: March 28, 2021 jj
Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

Rejoice, Daughter of Zion, your king comes to you! But not so fast–before you cheer and wave your palms, beware of what it means for you to be called the daughter of Zion. This name does not give you much to be proud of. In fact, the unbelieving and overachieving world, that’s drunk with its out-of-control self-worshiping fetish, they would take it as nothing else but a slap in the face or backhanded compliment, as if someone were to tell you, “It’s nice to know that you don’t need to be pretty or have a good job in order to be happy.” Thanks but no thanks, right? Daughter of Zion may be a term used in the Bible to mean the church, but it is certainly not a flattering one.

In the Old Testament, the names daughter of Zion and daughter of Jerusalem were used more to announce bad stuff happening to the church rather than good. The prophet Jeremiah witnessed the destruction of God’s city at the hands of an oppressive Middle Eastern regime—better known as the Babylonians. He lamented after this devastating event, saying, “Oh, how the Lord in His anger has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud!” (Lam. 2:1) The daughter of Zion was always in trouble. She was the sheep that always loved to stray, looking for better pasture in the fields of another master besides her God. Even to this day, she struggles against her own unbelief and gets bogged down in the sin that so easily entangles, so that she is often not completely free to run the race with perseverance, the way God intended.

The daughter of Zion is sometimes full of doubts. She wants to believe and to do what’s right, to stand right up and publicly make her statement of faith right along with all of you, but the trials, the temptations, the everyday life that swirls around her head push her down again. The daughter of Zion has often been brought down low, even forced down to her knees, in order for her to confess and admit she can do nothing to save herself. She realizes that she can’t make any more vows and promises to do better, because she’s going to go right ahead and break her word yet again.

The more she would read and study the Bible, trying to follow its principles for a better life, the more that same Bible would accuse the daughter of Zion and condemn her for the hypocrite that she is. She might have been sucked in by the televangelists, with their high-flying promises to achieve the glorious Christian life—all you have to do is really give your life to Jesus and pray more often. But where are those preachers and their great promises when the daughter of Zion faces sickness, the death of loved ones, and persecution because of the Christian faith? She is often led to think that there’s something wrong with her, that God is punishing her and her family for not being as committed to Him as she should. The daughter of Zion must come to terms with her own sin and doubt of God because deep down, in her sinful human heart that she inherited from Adam, there is nothing that could give her cause for any joy. If there is any hope for her, if there is any peace, it cannot come from within, but only from the outside.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, you are that stumbling, confused and broken daughter of Zion. Some of you may have tried to convince yourself that because of all your years in church and Sunday School, and perhaps even Lutheran Day School, that you are well on your way past all these things that those infants in the faith struggle with. You think you’re ready for the solid food, that you’re set in position to grasp the baton for the great spiritual relay race, yet really inside you are starving for the milk of God’s Word and the forgiveness that wipes the mud off after you’ve tumbled face-down yet again. You have every reason to be proud of the faithful people whom God used in the past to make this church institution possible, but now you throw your arms up in disgust at how frustrating things are. You are attacked by the full frontal assault of the devil, as well as his favorite, sneaky, back-door approach, using your own sinful flesh and evil desires against you. Those whom you know who stay away from church are attacked the same way, and yet you find yourself too busy to reach out and help them in some way. Remember, I your pastor am just as much the struggling daughter of Zion as you are.

As I said, the hope for the daughter of Zion comes from the outside, not from within. There is no divine potential in yourself for you to tap in to. But that hope, and help and peace from outside of you does exist and it is perfect, sent from God. Daughter of Zion, your help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth! He is your King, you are His privileged subjects because you are born into His kingdom through Baptism. What you could never do for yourself, your King Jesus has already done for you. He was born without sin and lived a perfect life, just so God the Father could look at you and no longer see the sin that would condemn you. When He was crucified just a few days after Palm Sunday, you were joined in Baptism together with Him in His death. The sinful flesh you still have is crucified with your King every day as you confess your sins to Him, to each other, to your pastor and receive absolution, that is, forgiveness from God Himself. Together in His death, but also you are together with Him in His resurrection, and the new man within you is Jesus Himself, making His home within your heart, feeding your body and soul with His precious body and blood.

Therefore, rejoice O Daughter of Zion! Behold, your King comes to you, righteous and having salvation. He comes to you today not with judgment and condemnation because of your sins and broken promises to Him, but rather full of forgiveness, life and salvation because of His sacrifice and victory, and because His promises to you will never fail. He comes to you humble and lowly, though now not riding through on a donkey, but humble all the same and hidden for your benefit in His lowly gifts of water, Word, bread and wine. Though you have often fallen, your righteous King will lift you up and heal you, taking away all your sin. He has the power to restore your broken relationships with the forgiveness and peace that is unknown to our fallen world. He alone can lift our church to remain faithful to His Word and stay strong as a beacon of true saving light, shining forth to our spiritually dark society.

And the suffering, broken, insulted, beaten down daughter of Zion will not remain that way for long. In fact, the saints of God who have died believing in Christ and are safe in the arms of the Lord, they are no longer discouraged, they no longer taste the curse of death. Since you are baptized in Christ, and they have died in Christ, you are one together with them, too! You are never closer to this invisible cloud of witnesses than you are at this communion rail. There is true hope for you, the daughter of Zion, for you are one Church together with the blessed citizens of the heavenly Zion, the redeemed children of God who still pray for you and surround you along with the angels and archangels, even though you cannot yet see them.

Rejoice in the presence of your King, O Daughter of Zion! Receive Him in your mouth and drink Him down your throat in joyful procession. Wave your palms and sing Hosanna for joy, though this week, take to heart the dark, subdued and solemn observance of His death for your sake that we will commemorate as we do each year. Only then on Easter, burst forth with singing and shouts of joyful Alleluia, for your King who comes to you now humble and lowly, will be the same King who will come again in great power to take you to your rightful home in His kingdom. Your Jesus who once was crucified, died and was buried, now lives. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. A blessed Holy Week to you all!

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Zech. 9:9–12 your King is coming to you … Lowly and riding on a donkey
Psalm 118:19–29 the stone which the builders rejected … this is the day … Save now … Blessed is he
or Psalm 31:9–16 I am in trouble; My eye wastes away with grief
Phil 2:5–11 He humbled Himself … at the name of Jesus every knee should bow … every tongue confess
Matt. 26:1—27:66 after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up..
or Matt. 27:11–54

Lent 5 Midweek 3/24/2021

Sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Lent: March 21, 2021 jj
Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

The testing of Abraham lasts a total of three days. It’s not only the moment God spoke to Him, but it includes all that time he journeys through the wilderness with Isaac, his only son with his beloved Sarah. This is the miracle child, born when both parents were in their nineties after decades of failing to conceive. Isaac’s name means “he laughs,” and he is their laughter in their old age. But even more than that, he’s the child of the promise: the Lord has declared that through Isaac, Abraham will be the father of a great nation.

All of that seems in jeopardy now, endangered by God’s own command. “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” What? Kill the son who gives you laughter as a sacrifice to Me, says God. There’s no explanation why, no good reason given. Just the command to obey.

So Abraham journeys with servants and Isaac, with wood and flint. Abraham could have heard the same devil’s voice that dates back to Adam and Eve. Did God really say that? Why would He prevent you from what you want? Is God just? Is He even stable? God promised that a great nation would come through Isaac, so wouldn’t you be helping out God in His plans if you ignored this one command and kept your son alive? Can’t this test be taken some other way? And in amongst the anxious questions and the second-guessing, the boy poses a question too: “Behold, the fire and the wood are ready, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” One can only imagine how heavy is the silence that followed that question before Abraham responds, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”

The basic test here is this: will Abraham make Isaac into an idol? Will he fear the loss more than he fears disobeying God? Will he love his son more than he loves God? Will he trust his instincts and emotions more than God’s Word and promises? After all, God’s promises seem impossible now: as Hebrews 11 notes, the only way at this point that God can keep His promise is if He raises Isaac from the dead. And how likely is a resurrection from the dead?

The three days of trial have come to this, and Abraham finds himself standing over Isaac, his knife poised to slaughter the son that gave him laughter. It is only then that the Lord intervenes. He says, “Abraham! Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” Along with the words to deliver, God provides a ram, its horns caught in a thicket. It becomes the sacrifice. Isaac lives. God has provided a lamb, and all His promises about a great nation and a Savior through Abraham and Isaac will be kept.

What do you learn from this? Is it, “As long as you have faith like Abraham—as long as you’re willing to give up everything in service to God (especially the things most precious to you!), only then can you expect God to reward you and do great things through you.” No, the faith that Abraham has is a gift from God. It’s not his own doing. Abraham doesn’t earn God’s favor by fervently believing in Him: Abraham only has faith because God favors him. The testing of Abraham is about what God has done so that your faith might be strengthened; for while it is easy for us to focus upon what Abraham endures and does, it is also easy to neglect what God is doing. He may appear cruel as He commands Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, but faith clings to this: God provides a lamb. Not just the ram that day on the mountain; God provides the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. In this important turn of events, the Lord declares to Abraham, “I will spare your only son of the promise. But I will not spare My own Beloved Son to keep My promise of salvation.” Not only for Abraham, but also for you: God provides your lamb of sacrifice as well.

How do you make out when testing and temptation come your way? Some temptations are worse than others, and far more painful. There is a temptation you share with Abraham, one that destroys the faith of many. It is the temptation to make idols out of those you most love. This is a strong and terrible temptation, and it’s a time when God doesn’t seem loving or fair. People start saying things like: I don’t want a God that allows me to suffer like that!

An idol or a false god, we are taught in the Catechism, is something that you fear, love or trust in more than God. It makes sense, then, that the things you hold most precious are the things you are most likely to love more than God. And if that is true of things, it is certainly true of people: apart from yourself, the people you most love are the most likely idols you have. After all, you can see them, touch them, interact with them: they seem far more real to you than God whom you only know by faith. So loved ones become idols. It happens when you’re willing to sin to please friends, fiancée, spouse, kids: this means that you fear offending them more than offending God.

It happens when parents say, “I’ve always said that this activity is sin, but now that my kids are doing it, I have to say that it doesn’t seem so wrong. I have to still love them, right?” Thus you make them your idol because you’ve decided that their doctrine and practice is true, and therefore God is not true anymore.

It happens when someone says, “I am so attracted to this person that I want to be with them intimately, even if God’s Word expressly forbids it.” That is to say, “I love this person and my relationship with them more than I love God and my relationship to Him.” That’s a seductive idol indeed. It happens in courtship: when girlfriends and boyfriends tempt Christians away from the faith, they become idols who say in effect, “Who do you love more? Me or God?”

And it also happens, very painfully, in a solid marriage and family when a loved one is stricken with disease, seriously injured or even taken in death. That puts you in Abraham’s shoes on the way to Mt. Moriah: “What sort of a God would let this happen? Why is this His will? Why should I follow Him if this sort of thing happens?” Those are awful times of testing, and the devil doesn’t play fair: and he will use them as tempting idols for you, to make you fear the loneliness more than you trust in God’s promises, to make you hate God in your grief for those whom you no longer see.

It can be too easy to explain your sins away, to offend God rather than deprive yourself, to accuse God of unnecessary cruelty to you when you are given to suffer affliction. You make yourself an idol every day. We all do. These temptations are especially fearful because they are so severe, so easy to fall prey to, and because they will almost certainly happen along the way. You want a strong faith that clings to Christ long before such temptations seek to tear you away. It’s why you discipline yourself to make the Word and the Supper a priority continually, not just occasionally. It’s why you take care to teach the Word to your children: why you speak the Law in love and shower them with the Gospel’s forgiveness. It’s why you share it with your spouse and friends; so that, when it is given to you to grieve loss, you might still rejoice in the promise of God’s resurrection. That’s what you do in Lent, and all your life: you confess your sins and you look to Christ.

The Lord made promises to Abraham, He has also made promises to you. As the Lord kept His promises to Abraham, so He keeps His promises to you. Long before his son Isaac came along, God called Abraham and made him His own: He promised Abraham a land and that he would be the father of a great nation. What did Abraham do to deserve this? Nothing: it was all God’s doing. Long before today, the Lord redeemed you from sin: well before you were born, like Isaac carrying the wood up the hill, Christ carried the cross to be the sacrificial Lamb for your sin. In your baptism, God said, “I choose you to be My child.” And what did you do to deserve that? Nothing: it was all God’s doing. That’s Good News: you don’t ever have to wonder if you did enough to earn your baptism. Jesus earned it for you by His life, death and resurrection.

The Lord has made you His at the cost of His own sacrificed blood, and He has promised His faithfulness to you. Between that price and that promise, you are assured that the Lord works all things for your good and the good of His people. He works all things for your good, even when it seems that He does not. You know this by faith, not by sight. This is a world of trouble—to pretend otherwise is to deny the Word of God. But within this world and its trouble, you have the Lord’s promise that you are redeemed. You have the promise of forgiveness, no matter what sins you have fallen prey to. You have His assurance of the resurrection of the dead.

There will be times when you must walk as Abraham did for those three awful days, trusting and obedient to God’s Word even when it seems to make no sense at all. But you know that the Lord is with you. You know that He will deliver you. You know this because you know that God did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up at the cross for your redemption. He is the Lamb whom God provides to save, who took your place for the punishment that was yours; and for His sake you are forgiven all of your sins.

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Gen. 22:1–14 where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
Psalm 43 Why are you cast down, O my soul?
Heb. 9:11–15 Not with the blood of goats and calves
John 8:42–59 before Abraham was, I AM.

Lent 4 midweek 3/17/2021