Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

As the sun set in Eden’s garden on the day that changed the world, Adam and Eve were afraid. God came to earth perhaps amidst the angels’ heavenly singing and the joyful response of nature to her Creator. (Job 38:7) But our first parents still had much to fear, for they had just rebelled against their Lord. They had eaten from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, counter to the Creator’s explicit warning that on the day they eat that fruit, they would die. God had meant to create so that He would bless; now, due to sin, which has no place whatsoever in His presence, He resigned Himself to curse as He had threatened. Two curses were uttered: the first one was against the evil serpent who deceived Adam and Eve, declaring to Satan that the woman’s Seed would crush his head; and the second curse was upon the ground, reminding Adam, indeed, telling all of humankind that we were responsible for plunging the world into the night of sin.

And so, night did fall on God’s green garden paradise of earth. It was a spiritual night that showed little promise of coming to an end. The sunrise and warmth of the heavenly Father’s shining face was veiled in the blackness of evil. Mankind has since that fateful day devised new and even more hideous ways to propagate the curse of sin, making society darker and more devoid of Divine Light than ever before. You could almost see the tear in the eye of the Biblical author of Judges when he wrote those last words of the book, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25) God’s people were alone, in the dark, the promise forgotten, the curse remaining. Ever since the sun set in Eden, it had been nightfall, with people even to this very day walking about in their spiritual lives with arms out, crashing, stumbling without regard to the light of God’s Word, destroying one another, as well as themselves.

You may be painfully aware of this curse of darkness yourself. You may have been alienated from the rest of your family. You could have lost your job or your means of supporting yourself has otherwise been cut off or cut too short. You could have ended the school term with a load of guilt over not doing the assignments and all the studying that you should have. Parents turned against children, workers turned against bosses, inner-cities turned against suburbs, and sadly, there’s even church turned against church at times. No amount of “Christmas spirit” can shine enough light into this darkness. No parties, decorated trees, stuffed stockings, holiday cheer, donations to the bell-ringers’ buckets, or even night-time visits with three ghosts can reverse the curse. Our sinful world owns up to no king, everyone does that which is right in his own eyes. Your sinful nature and mine are quite at home in the darkness, yet we’re never content with the sins we have, as we’re always craving after more. And so darkness continues for you, inspiring fear in a heart that was instead created to love. It’s something you can feel deep within, and the curse seems to get stronger, and the only thing you think you can do is ignore it, go about your life, look out for number one, and deal with all this spiritual stuff later.

That’s what the shepherds were hoping to do. The sun had already long set, and they were settling in for guarding their flocks during the several night watches in which their familiar fields were always getting plunged into disorienting darkness. But it would not be business as usual for these animal-watchmen on this night. Even though it was the middle of the night, they would witness the dawning of another day, a day that would change the whole world’s history yet again. The shocking appearance of the angel shining with the Glory of the Lord not only gave light to their immediate surroundings, brighter than it would be at noon, but that heavenly appearance also shone God’s holy Light into the darkness of this world’s sinful nightfall.

Just like their ancestors Adam and Eve, the shepherds were afraid on that day that changed the world. The appearance of the angel struck a massive fear into their hearts that the King James Version describes for us as “sore afraid”–you could say they were afflicted with a fear so great that it hurt. But to counter such great fear, the angel messenger greets them with the all-important and often-recurring opening words, Do not be afraid! When the words of God’s messenger say, do not be afraid, then He causes that very thing to happen. Only the powerful Word of God Himself could turn their hearts to hear the Good News. And the Good news is this: Today, on this day above all days, a Savior is born, a Light to shine in your darkness, a Light that will not be overcome by the darkness you and I inflict on this world. Angels sing on earth once again, for God has come to walk among His people in the midst of His creation, this time not merely strolling one evening through the Garden of Eden, but rather walking about in real human flesh. In fact, Jesus has now lived in human flesh as our Lord and Savior for over 2017 years. The incarnation, that is, the coming-in-flesh of Jesus is the good news of great joy that is announced and celebrated by the singing angels. With all of the bad news that assaults us in abundance, He is the Light that our dark world needs.

And so it is also for you, the Good News of great joy is precisely the news of your forgiveness, the news of new life in the midst of death. In a magnificent turn of events, the first curse that was threatened against Satan, the prophecy that Jesus would come to crush his serpent-head, will be fulfilled in the cross. The Baby Boy born at Christmas would on the next great day in history, that being Good Friday, be put to death, with darkness enshrouding the earth, only to arise with the sun on the first Easter morning. What is amazing about all this is that once the first curse is carried out to completion, the second curse that was cast on the ground, as far as, far as that curse is found in this world, it will be replaced with God’s flowing blessings instead. Joy to the World, indeed! If you mourn, if you are sore afraid, if you are stricken with any of sin’s painful fallout, you often find it is most difficult to deal with it at the holidays. Yet, even in the midst of deepest darkness, when even the days themselves lack light the most, the true Light of Christ shines the greatest in the Good News of great joy to dispel what afflicts you in your life with pain and fear.

The sign for the shepherds was that they would find a wrapped-up baby in a manger. Notice that the angels did not need to command the shepherds explicitly: “Stop what you’re doing; go to Bethlehem, do not pass ‘Go.'” All they needed to do was reveal to them the sign. For it is the sign alone that gives them the permission, the invitation, and even the inner compulsion, to go find the Christ Child. How could they possibly stay out there in the fields after all this has been told to them? Here is the very simple sign by which you will behold the world’s Savior—wouldn’t you go to the utmost limits to search for that sign? Wouldn’t you make arrangements, even at great cost, to visit with Jesus if you had the opportunity? The shepherds came with haste, the Scripture says, teaching us well by their example.

Simple ordinary signs of Jesus the Christ Child will point you to Him. Tomorrow when we celebrate the Divine Service, the Holy Body and Blood sitting front-and-center on the altar will take the place of the baby lying in the manger. The flesh that was for a while limited by time and space is placed into the manger of your own hands and fed into your own mouths. May the appearance of this ordinary sign be your encouragement, invitation and inner compulsion to receive the grace of His forgiveness and life. Do not forgo this great joy that is for all people. If you are not yet a communicant united with our confession of the true faith as laid out for us in Scripture, I urge you to learn the faith and confess it as your own, so that you would not remain deprived of this wondrous Christmas gift of all gifts.

Refuse the darkness that creeps in to kill this joy and be welcomed by our Savior and His Bride, the Church into His marvelous light! Rejoice in His coming again for you to see fully the day that is about to dawn upon this dark world. Be confident, knowing that the curse that darkens your life and our world has been lifted by our Savior, Christ the Lord. There is no curse now, only blessing. Let your King turn away the sadness, fear and lack of contentment that prey on you. Bask in the warmth of your Heavenly Father’s love, for His face is shining upon you, the face that was revealed to the world first at night in the smile of a baby boy with a virgin mother.

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

Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

Something just didn’t look right, and David knew it. The enemies were conquered, the kingdom was secure, and he lived in a beautiful palace in Jerusalem. So far, so good: except for the tabernacle. The house of worship for the one true God of all heaven and earth was still merely a tent. It was the same one that had been in use for 400 years, for it was constructed soon after the Israelites followed Moses out of Egypt. King David was now living in a mansion built out of cedar, but the Lord God was still camping out there in a temporary structure. It didn’t look right: to passers-by it must have looked like David was far more important than Almighty God, and David wanted to fix that image right away. He called Nathan the prophet and announced his plans to build a glorious temple, and one can imagine his excitement. Oh, to be there when the building was finished, when the Lord would appear in a glorious cloud, then overshadow the temple and enter inside! It sounded perfect, and Nathan gave his blessing to proceed.

But the Lord said no. He made it very clear– He didn’t want a temple, at least not yet. He didn’t need a temple, either. David’s son, King Solomon, would say it rightly, that even the highest heavens could not contain Him. But as for that building—the house of God— it was designed for the people’s benefit, not His. And God said for now, the building plans would have to wait; but, in addition, the Lord had better news for David. He reminded King David that He had taken him, who was only a lowly shepherd boy, and made him ruler over all of Israel. That is to say, David was king only by God’s mercy and faithfulness. But more important was this: the Lord was going to build a house for David, and that house would last forever. We’re not talking about the cedar palace: no, that would likely decay like everything else. Solomon’s temple would be destroyed in 586 B.C., then Herod’s replacement structure would be destroyed by the Roman army in 70 A.D. Instead, God announced that David’s household, meaning his family line, wouldn’t end. Ever. While David himself lived in a world of violence, death and re-drawing of boundary lines, the house of David would rule and reign secure for eternity. One of his descendants would sit on the throne forever. And this king would be the promised Savior, the Messiah.

As history would see it, King David would not live to see his son Solomon build the temple; he did not see the Lord overshadow the Holy of Holies in a cloud before entering. For up until then, though it was certainly strange to the eyes, the Lord was content to live in a tent while a human king lived inside cedar walls. David would then be dead for nearly a thousand years before the Savior was born. But while he did not see these things with his own eyes, he still had God’s Word on it. He had God’s promise. It would surely happen. And so he declared a confident Amen that accepted this promise for himself, “Now, O LORD God, the word which You have spoken concerning Your servant and concerning his house, establish it forever and do as You have said” (2 Sam 7:25).

God had said. It would happen. And so it did. God kept His promise; and nearly a millennium later, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary. Mary, who was pledged to be married to the descendant of King David, was certainly marrying no king. She lived not in the plush Jerusalem palace, but in a humble place tucked away in the out-of-the-way hilltop town of Nazareth. “You have found favor with God,” said Gabriel, “and you’re going to give birth to a Son. He will be the Son of God, and He’ll sit on David’s throne forever.” It wouldn’t be a throne of this world, which would watch this planet spin to its eventual destruction. His would be an eternal throne, not made with human hands, for God’s Son would rule forever.

Mary asked the practical question, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” Gabriel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” Once God had overshadowed the temple before entering in; now He would overshadow Mary and she would carry the Christ child in the temple of her womb. And as David had once added his amen and prayed, “Lord, do as You have said,” Mary faithfully added her amen, saying: “Let it be to me according to your word.”

It was like the palace and the tent all over again. Herod’s kids could play around in the best day care in ancient Jerusalem, that is, warm and secure in royal mansions, while Mary and Joseph would continue their life of poverty in Nazareth, then Bethlehem, then on the run down to Egypt, then back to Nazareth. Herod would sleep in a luxurious bed, but the Royal Son of David would first be laid in a manger. And so it would go: Herod and Pontius Pilate and Caesar would have their proud war horses, but Jesus would ride a colt, the foal of a donkey. They would possess their golden thrones and crowns, but the Savior would have His wooden cross for His throne and a crown of thorns pressed upon His head.

To the passer-by, Jesus would seem like nothing compared to those earthly rulers; but Herod, Pilate and Caesar all died and remain dead. Jesus died. Jesus is risen. And, as the Lord gave His Word to David and later on to Mary, so Jesus reigns forever as King. He is your King—because He died and rose for you.

And so it goes, in the past two thousand years since the birth of Christ, countless kings have ruled and then they died. Empires have risen and fallen, civilizations emerged and disappeared. That is how kingdoms go in a dying world. But Jesus remains King of kings and Lord of lords—for now and for eternity.

But why? Does Jesus hold this title just because Christians say so, and they hold out hope and insist it to be true? Do you have to make-believe all this just because you can’t see it? No. Jesus is King because He says so. His Word has the power to create a believing heart of faith within you. He who gave His Word to David and Mary still gives His Word today. Throughout the kingdoms of the world, in spite of nations rising and falling ruled by just men and evil despots, the Lord still speaks His royal decrees, which means certain pronouncements. You hear Him ruling at the baptismal font, where He says, “I am the King who has conquered even death, which is why I live forever. I share that victory with you now: I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” You hear Him speak His final judgment through the mouth of His called and ordained messenger: “I have conquered sin and devil, and I set you free from that kingdom of darkness: I forgive you all of your sins, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” You hear Him speak His invitation at the altar: “This is the King’s table, and I give you My body and blood for the forgiveness of sins.” That is where the King rules today: by His means of grace. Not just in church, but wherever His Word is preached and His Sacraments administered according to His Word: in the hospital, the battlefront, the nursing home, the school, and the deathbed.

So be duly warned. You’ll always be tempted to look for Jesus in the glitz and glamour, the flash and sizzle of this world—in feelings and excitement and big numbers, fat bank accounts and more. Those things already have their reward and then they’re over. Or other times you’ll be tempted to despair because the world around you continues suffering all those cataclysmic signs of the end times and the Lord still does not return. But when you are so tempted, remember that He has made you part of His household of faith, not some household of sight. Remember the tent, not the palace. Remember Mary in Nazareth, not Herod in Jerusalem. Remember the manger and cross and crown of thorns, for these things tell you that your King comes humbly to save you through suffering, that you might be in His glorious kingdom forever. He is not far from you; He gathers you here to rule with mercy, to speak to you His Word and feed you His Supper.

So like David and Mary, you add your amen that receives the promise into your own heart: “Let it be to me, Lord, according to your Word.” Your King rules and reigns forever, and you are His forever, too: because upon hearing His Word you are forgiven of all of your sins, and highly favored of the Lord. It may not look right, but in reality, nothing can be more right.

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

Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

What has bowed your head down, recently? It seems that especially during Advent, people have their heads bowed down more than at other times of the year. They could be just watching their step, because with less than a moment’s notice, you could find yourself flat on the ground, and Christmas is no fun when you’re spending it in the hospital. Maybe you have your head down right now as you are examining your list of countless things to do and to prepare before that holiday comes in a week’s time, ready or not. Perhaps that particular bell-ringer at the store entrance has a knack for locking in too-direct of a gaze and you just don’t want to make eye contact when you’ve got a busy schedule and no spare change… best to look down!

Do you perhaps have your head down in a different way, because you feel beaten, defeated with tension in your family, hurt because someone sinned against you and won’t admit it? Or maybe you want to clear the air and admit your fault with someone whom you hurt with your words and they refuse to forgive? Our heads ought to be down, at least in a spiritual sense, because we must daily repent of our sins against God and against all our various neighbors in our lives.

You know our world has its head down—you can tell the signs of that are all around us. The difference, however, is that our world’s head is down not in repentance but in self-worship. Those whom we see in this world who reject our only Lord and Savior, are instead worshiping the only deity that they hold most dear—themselves. Their heads are down only because they would rather stare in absolute wonder at their own belly-button! It’s all about my life, my needs, my body, my political party, my set of values, my wants. You are tempted to have your head down in that way, also, as am I.

You know what happens, though, when someone walks around too long with their head down all the time. It could lead to a funny bump on the head when she walks into a pole, or a quite frightful and deadly thing when he gets run over in the street. You are unaware of what is vitally important when you are not alert, and there is no way for you to tell what is right there in front of you. The more you stay bent down, the harder it is for you to get yourself straightened up again. I’m always getting told not to slouch over; I guess I’m not very easy to train in the fine art of good posture.

There was someone else who had his head down. Once again, we are talking about the designated preacher for the season of Advent, John the Baptist. This time, the Gospel records a moment once he had been thrown into prison, somewhere near the Dead Sea, we think, and he sent some loyal disciples of his to ask Jesus a question. It is quite a shocking question, considering that it came to Jesus from John the Baptist. After all, he was the one who pointed our Lord out and said, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! Whether he was discouraged, and had his head down in that nasty dungeon, or his disciples were concerned, and John wanted to send them, heads down in disappointment, straight to the source to get the final word from Christ Himself, both were answered in the same way. Jesus gave the perfect response to raise any head that might be bowed down with pain, repentance, sin, and sorrow.

Lift up your heads! So says the Psalm, and a few Advent hymns sing it, as well. Yes, there is a time to bow down in repentance and to sacrifice your personal desires and the world’s self-worship that entices you. However, there is also a time to lift up your heads, to straighten up and see your salvation coming ever nearer. We already heard that when you witness the many frightful signs of the end of the world, those are actually the indicators that your Savior is about to rescue you. What Jesus says to John’s disciples will raise up their—and John’s own—heads. Are you the promised Messiah, the Christ? Or should we be looking for another? Should we keep our heads down and ignore our vain hopes that God is going to fulfill His Word right here in front of us? It is getting tougher, from our human perspective, to believe that Jesus will help us in our day. The world is just getting worse and life as a committed Christian believer and family and within the blessing of a Christian marriage seems impossible. Our heads are down because we feel alone.

Lift up your heads! Look with eyes of faith that trust in the mighty works of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who healed the sick, cleansed the lepers, raised the dead, gave sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf—He it is who has come into your midst right here this very day. You have heard His Word of forgiveness before, and you have it as your very own gift once again today. You couldn’t lift up your own head, for all of the sin, pain and death that had kept it down. But He raises up your head, since He bowed down His own head in death on the cross for your forgiveness and eternal life. He gave up His Spirit in utter agony and shame so that you would breathe in the blessings of your lasting inheritance in His kingdom. He lifted up His head again to new physical life on the third day so that resurrection for your physical body would be certain. Your weak knees will be strengthened, as Isaiah sings, you of anxious heart– “Be strong” in the strength of the Lord and not in your own strength. You are now known as the ransomed ones, belonging to the Lord forever. He has come through for you to restore what sin and its curse had taken away. Your head is raised up with confident faith, since the Blood of Christ your Savior was shed on the cross to pay for your release, and to ease all of your hurt.

Rejoice, so we hear on this Third Sunday in Advent, and we light the pink candle on our Advent wreath. And you know that this is more than simply to put out an effort to “remember the reason for the Season,” as important as that is. A happy stream of mere thoughts on how I can bring peace on earth, would not do that much good for John the Baptist, locked up in prison. They don’t seem to last that long for you or me, either. You need the flesh and blood forgiveness that Jesus gives you today. That’s the only joy that lasts. You are here for the mighty works of God that happen in front of your face, and give you a reason truly to rejoice. No one else, including yourself, can replace the joy that Christ our Lord came to bring, and we look forward with repentant joy to that Great Day when our heads will be lifted up in everlasting glory, never to be bowed down in sorrow again.

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

Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

He has been called “the great forerunner of the morn.” He called himself “a voice crying in the wilderness.” Most of us know him as John the Baptist. When he runs up against the world’s version of the Christmas season, he might as well be called, “John the Killjoy.” For this is the season of merriment, office parties, and holiday cheer of the liquid variety. We want to put aside any gloom and doom, and it irks us to run into anyone who would ruin our good time. But every year, as predictable as credit-card bills and tax statements, here comes John the Baptist, who may as well be the “Grinch who stole Christmas.” A wild sort of man, a little rough around the edges. Ate locusts and wild honey. Wore camel’s hair and a leather belt. John would be out of place at one of our Christmas parties, where everyone is decked out in their festive holiday attire. Hey, John, you missed Halloween by a few weeks. He might even be out of place in church—the ushers might ask him to leave. And if his appearance and diet were not bizarre enough, John’s message seems to be the ultimate killjoy. “Repent!” he cries out. “Change your whole way of thinking, and prepare the way of the Lord.”

How out of sync he is with the popular view of Christmas! Yet, ironically, if Christmas is to have its full tidings of comfort and joy, John’s Advent message must be heard first. John the Baptist is the forerunner of the Lord, and he knows that in order to receive aright the blessings Christ would give us, we must first change our whole approach. “Repent! Prepare the way of the Lord.” Rid yourselves of any sinful barriers to Christ’s coming in your life. John won’t let you off the hook. “Repent!” he keeps on preaching to his dying day, because as long as we’re doing “business as usual,” even when we’re preparing for Christmas, we can ignore the sin that lies within. But in repentance we meet the sinful self, the self we’ve tried to ignore, the self that keeps its distance from God. John would have us confront that sinful self at the banks of the Jordan, before we hike up the hill to meet the Messiah in Bethlehem. We prepare for the joy of the manger by way of repentance at the river.

The church has long recognized this need for repentance in preparing for the coming of Christ. And so Advent is similar to Lent, preparing us for Christmas in much the same way that Lent prepares us for Easter. Advent hymns seem to have either a lilting, dance-like rhythm, or a reflective, yearning quality about them. There even used to be pre-Christmas fasting in preparation for our Lord’s coming. Can you imagine that today–fasting in December in the weeks leading up to Christmas? Many churches have skipped the penitential emphasis in their Advent preparation. They want to jump right to Christmas, without letting Advent be Advent. I’ll be the first to say it’s hard to do—Advent is a much more hectic time than Lent. These decorations and preparations don’t just put themselves in order. The church has a hard time fighting a culture that demands joy–even a shallow, superficial joy–at this time of year.

But John the Baptist will not let us forget. “Repent,” John demands of us. And so today let me suggest a repentance that takes shape in three ways: “An Advent Inventory, Invitation, and Intent.”

First, repentance means that we take an Advent inventory. Each year, at about this time, we raid our storage areas to retrieve boxes of Christmas decorations. We find those long-treasured ornaments, keepsakes, and strings of lights that were hastily stuffed away perhaps sometime after the new year, some of them needing a little fluff-up, repair or even replacement. We dig into these boxes, and often we’re still surprised by what we find, even if we’ve gone through this routine a dozen times or more. The inventory of our Christmas decorations becomes new to us every season.

That’s the way it is with an Advent repentance inventory, as well. You see, the problem is, we become so accustomed to living with our sins that we simply pack them away, with little thought or reflection. We tend not to look at them, or we deny them when others point them out to us. But now, during Advent, as we await our Lord’s coming, John insists that we unpack our spiritual boxes and examine our sins: the pride by which I lift myself up above others, the insensitivity to the hurts around me, the jealousy and anger that keep me apart from others and build up a wall of resentment toward God. Decorating our lives with anger, jealousy, pride, and resentment–like we decorate our trees with Christmas ornaments–that may seem rather silly, but that’s what we do. An Advent inventory, then, helps us to take stock of ourselves, to take an honest look at our lives, and to clean house on the inside.

One way to do an Advent inventory is to use the Ten Commandments as a checklist. As Luther teaches in the Catechism: “Consider your place in life according to the Ten Commandments: Are you a father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, or worker? Have you been disobedient, unfaithful, or lazy? Have you been hot-tempered, rude, or quarrelsome? Have you hurt someone by your words or deeds? Have you stolen, been negligent, wasted anything, or done any harm?” This kind of honest self-examination will help you to see your sins in the light of God’s law. Poor miserable sinners actually do poor miserable sins, and taking stock of specifics in this way helps us face the grim reality that we have really offended our God.

So repentance means taking that Advent inventory. It means getting out those boxes of our heart and unpacking what’s inside them. But John the Baptist would have us do something else. Remember that John came preaching a baptism of repentance that was “for the forgiveness of sins.” The forgiveness of sins–that is what repentance prepares us to receive. And so we not only take an Advent inventory, we also receive an Advent invitation. It is an invitation to forgiveness. It is an invitation offered to us by the God who will heal and restore us, who will rescue and redeem us.

The Old Testament reading today captures it well. Isaiah speaks of our God as a restoring, merciful Lord: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.” Here is comfort for troubled sinners! Here is forgiveness given as a free gift! What a wonderful Advent invitation!

The God we meet in Advent is a gracious God, who yearns to redeem his people. He is a God who lifts up his people and comforts them. What we wait for in Advent, then, is the forgiving grace of God in Jesus Christ. For what began in Bethlehem’s manger was completed on Calvary’s cross and then announced by angels at Nicodemus’ empty tomb. The herald of good news has proclaimed this gospel into your ears: “Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation.” Salvation won and bestowed by your coming king, Jesus Christ. You and I were submerged into his cleansing grace in our baptism, where we were clothed with the righteousness of Christ. To be washed anew and afresh in that forgiveness, in that baptismal grace–this is the Advent invitation we receive during this holy season.

An Advent inventory, an Advent invitation–third, an Advent intent. Our final response to John’s cry for repentance is a holy intent to live the new life that is ours in Christ.

Sometime over the course of the holiday season you can bet we’ll hear the wish that the “spirit of Christmas” would be sustained all year. It’s a noble wish. Yet we seem to know better. We know that the warm cheer of December will yield to the cold, gray reality of January, in more ways than with the weather.

It doesn’t have to be that way for Christ’s repentant people. The Messiah who comes to us at Christmas will not go away, he will not abandon us. Jesus promises to be with us always, and his forgiving and restoring presence will stay constant in our lives. What remains for us, then, is to remember who we are. We are God’s holy people. So, we turn away from sin. We are God’s forgiven people. So, we forgive. We are God’s loved ones. So, we love. We are those blessed by God. So, by God’s grace, let us be that same blessing to others. Make this your intent, your Advent intent this year. God is faithful, and His Holy Spirit will help you do it.

A bumper sticker in a gift shop read, “Repent!” Underneath, in small letters, it said, “If you have already repented, please disregard this notice.” Well, the fact is, we poor sinners are always in need of repenting. That is the ongoing life of God’s baptized people. Dying and rising, daily. Always taking inventory of our sins. Always receiving God’s invitation to forgiveness. Always being renewed by the Holy Spirit in our intent to live as God’s children. “An Advent Inventory, Invitation, and Intent.”

Today we can say, “Killjoy was here”–John the Killjoy, that is, better known as John the Baptist. John the Party-pooper, the old sourpuss, comes this way every Advent, it seems, crying out in the wilderness, preaching repentance, calling us to confess our sins at the banks of the Jordan. But rather than being a killjoy, I heard a pastor once speak of John as a “fill-joy”–calling us to empty out the junk in our souls so they can then be filled with the joy of Jesus. John is preparing us to receive the joy to come–the joy that comes in the person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The hymn puts it well:

  On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry
  Announces that the Lord is nigh;
  Awake and hearken, for he brings
  Glad tidings of the King of kings!

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

Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

Have you ever wished for the good guys to flex a little muscle? Has it ever frustrated you beyond your senses that the bad guys, no matter what you’re talking about—sports, relationships, politics, whatever—that those enemies are always a little more crafty than you counted on, and they always seem to get the upper hand? Why do enemies seem to have all the moves, there’s nothing holding them back when they do their dirty work, and they even use the rules that the good guys have to follow to make it entirely lop-sided in their own favor. It’s easy to consider it these days, since we continue to see a barrage of violence from people who take advantage even of churches trying to be open to everyone. It would be simply wonderful if these and any other bad guys you can think of out there could just get smacked with defeat and humiliation—as long as their demise was complete, they wouldn’t know what hit them, and you could leap into the air for joy and cheer at the top of your lungs.

There are even Psalms in the Bible that yearn for God’s mighty stroke of justice, and they really want it to hurt. When opponents just go away without that decisive blow, it simply doesn’t satisfy. Let the politically correct folks say things like, they should be “made accountable,” whatever that means. Deep down, we want more than that! We want retribution! Condemnation! You could even say, let’s open up a can of Judgment Day itself, and let all those bad guys have it!

Listen again now to the yearning cry that was written down by the prophet Isaiah. Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down! That the mountains might quake at your presence… to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence! Yeah! That’s what I want! I want God to unleash His full power! Show those enemies of yours who’s really boss in this universe. Tear the very skies apart like a curtain, send out a whirlwind of judgment that makes the immovable mountains shake like jello. Break in the door like a SWAT officer with helmet and rifle and shout to the devil and all who do his bidding: drop your weapons! get on the ground! Boy, oh boy, Lord, wouldn’t that be great?

You see, when Jesus first came, He was all weakness, humility, and suffering. He didn’t take charge and execute utter revenge on those enemies of His. He instead let them insult Him, accuse Him of blasphemy and killed Him for making Himself as though He was equal to God. But He really was! Sure, Jesus did some miracles, and they were pretty amazing sights to see, but He was just too complacent for our taste; too willing to let the world walk all over Him. He even said, turn the other cheek when someone strikes you and if they sue you and take the very shirt off your back, let them have your coat too. That just makes us scratch our heads in utter bewilderment. How is that going to defeat any enemies? How is that going to give Him the utter victory? So we echo the cry that we hear from Isaiah, Come down, Lord Jesus! Stir up your power, the ancient prayer says. We await your coming to set things right! Flex your muscles! Get a little angry! Show ’em an Advent that they’ll never forget!

There’s just one thing that we’re forgetting, though, when we start thinking like that. Isaiah catches it, too, midway through chapter 64. When we plead for Almighty God to let loose His wrath and judgment against all evildoers, then it also becomes really dangerous for us. You can’t play with the fire of the Law and not get burned. And it’s not like you risk getting caught in the crossfire, and swept away by accident as collateral damage. It’s His direct blow of utter condemnation that would decimate you, since the Ten Commandments condemn you just as much as they do Satan, Hitler, all terrorists, and even that driver who cut you off on the highway! When you pray for Divine power to tear heaven open, it will be a little too hot to handle for you because of your sins that have offended against His perfect righteousness.

Isaiah even takes the Law one step further. It’s not just for our sins that we deserve to suffer eternal death and complete separation from God. No, it’s our righteous deeds, too—they are a polluted garment, or a filthy rag. Our attempts to impress our Lord with how good we are—think of the vilest thing that would make even a trash man turn up his nose in disgust! As a result of our inner self-pride, we fade like a leaf before the Lord’s justice, and we have every right to simply blow away with the fall wind and be no more. There is no hope for us, if God would ever answer our plea with His magnificent power.

That’s why Advent begins with Palm Sunday. It’s because we need a Savior, not a SWAT team leader. We need Jesus Christ crucified, humiliated, condemned in our place, and then risen from the dead to grant us peace. He came not to swing his arms in destruction and take names. Jesus came to spread out His arms on the cross and write your name in the book of Life in heaven. The blast of judgment would have been unbearable for you, and you would have been lost forever, but that blast was fired instead at Christ, your Savior, and He suffered the wrath that you deserved. Isaiah asked, We have been in our sins a long time, and shall we be saved? Jesus answered, Yes, because that is the reason why I have come!

Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the week of His death and resurrection as a fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy: Behold, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey. Thus He began His holy mission to rescue the world not with a show of strength, but with utter weakness and the suffering of the cross. The crowds cheered at the presence of their Savior, but it would be the shouts of Crucify Him a few days later that would drown out the praises of the faithful. Because Jesus did not escape death, many thought that He was defeated. But faith rules out over sight, because faith saw the full force and power of God’s judgment condemning His Son in place of the people of the whole world. That was the true victory, the utter defeat of Satan, and it looked the whole time like evil had won the day.

Palm Sunday fulfilled a prophecy, but in riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, Jesus did a little prophesying of His own. The procession that was done in lowliness on a colt, a mere beast of burden, was a picture of a grand procession that is yet in the future—even for us! When Christ shall come again, the payment for sins will have already been paid. He won’t need to do that again. Jesus will come to claim you as His own, to raise the dead and welcome those who believed in Him. Everything that was complete ever since the time He said, It is finished! on the cross, will be open and evident to everyone at the Last Day. That’s the coming to which we as His Church are looking forward. Palm Sunday begins our Advent season, not because the Lord needs any help finishing His business, because it is all done! Our Christmas preparations need to include spiritual preparations of our heart to receive Him while He still comes to us in lowliness.

Yes, Jesus Christ, the Almighty God who has assumed again all power and authority over heaven and earth, comes to you today to clean house. But the Law, the smash-and-tear-down condemnation that you so desire, is for now only unleashed upon your sinful heart. Here in this place, though you cannot see it, sinners are crucified and saints are raised up to new life, pure and clean in His forgiveness. When you give up on handing up to God your love, your time served in His kingdom, your efforts to make yourself look good, then you have truly been destroyed so that the Holy Spirit will then make you a new creation. The bad guys are still going to have their shot at you, and they will hurt you, even as they use people whom you thought you could trust. But do not let that discourage you. God’s Word never lies. His promises never fail. He is no longer angry at your sin, and the iniquity, the stain that your sin has left, will be remembered no more. Christ will come again and give you thousands-fold whatever you lost in this life for the sake of His holy name.

Prepare your heart for Christmas this Advent, not merely eager for God’s judgment to show the bad guys who’s really the boss, but joyful that His judgment was spent completely on Jesus Christ for you, and for everyone who has sinned against you. Trust in your heavenly Father as the potter, and you are the clay, and be pleased to let Him form you to be His own dear child, and an instrument of His heavenly peace to everyone you meet in your daily life. Welcome your lowly Savior among you today. Hunger and thirst for the forgiveness, peace and righteousness that He gives you as His precious gift. And look forward with great encouragement to the Day when He will come again in glory to take you home forever with Him and all the blessed saints.

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

Ezekiel 34:11-24 (The King as Our Shepherd)

In Nomine Iesu
“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. …” By the time of the prophet Ezekiel, those words of King David had already been on the lips of the people of God for at least four hundred years. They would have most likely sung those familiar verses many times in the liturgy of both the temple and the synagogue. The metaphor of shepherd and sheep was certainly not new or foreign to the people of Israel. Even in their faraway land of Babylonian exile many could still recall their former lives of following the flocks and raising the animals that they relied upon for food and religious sacrifice. Today, on the other hand, and especially with our fast-paced, technological lives, you can run into someone who has no idea how a shepherd might lead his sheep to pasture, protect them from danger, or search them out when they run astray. But with a little help, and some of the most familiar words that are found in Scripture—namely, the Twenty-third Psalm—the image can quite easily become greatly comforting—and prophetic of the future at the same time.

However, before Ezekiel can posit the comforting shepherd image for their good, he needs to correct first what had been going wrong among the people of God, the people whom He called the sheep of His pasture. What was going wrong? The Lord had him start with the shepherds, the leaders whom He had placed among them to teach them God’s Word and lead them in the path of His Commandments. They had been given a pastoral task, that is, reveal to them the will of the one, true Shepherd, and keep them diligent in faith as they awaited His prophesied coming in the fullness of time. But instead of preparing the people for Jesus’ arrival, they were taking advantage of these so-called “sheep” for their own benefit. Instead of teaching and preaching God’s Word, they exploited their positions of authority. Rather than humbly leading the people to trust in the promises of the coming Christ, they turned them aside to the favorite gods and idols of their day.

This is not to exempt the sheep from their own guilt, however. The people themselves should have known better, since they have heard God’s Word for themselves. Parents were commanded then, as they are even now, to teach the Commandments, impress them like a seal on their children, to ensure that they would not turn from them to the right nor to the left. But what did these sheep do? They trampled through the pure drinking water with their feet, making it muddy and impossible to drink without getting sick.

What does that mean? It means mixing in falsehoods with the pure truth that gives life straight from God. They made the promise of free forgiveness that is sweet to the believer’s taste, and turned it into a bitter swill of required works that Christians are told to do for themselves, and that leaves a horrible residue of doubt on the conscience. Instead of showing love toward one another and caring for each other’s needs, these sheep preferred to bite and devour at their fellow members of the flock, pushing them away with a selfish shoulder thrust, misusing the horns of their God-given authority and talents that were originally intended to serve and protect instead. Both pastors and people, shepherds and sheep disobeyed the Lord, and they faced a severe judgment, to be rendered from the mouth of the Chief Shepherd Himself at His appearing.

This is the judgment that God’s Law hangs over your head, too. You have resisted the gentle lead of Jesus as you live your day-to-day life. Even if it was only an impure thought in your mind or a little word from your mouth, it still poisons the well for those around you. If you refuse to forgive and assume the worst will always come from your neighbor, then you have become no better yourself. You didn’t have to murder somebody or worship another god—you still stand before the throne guilty in sin. Your heavenly Father means for you to hear about the coming Judgment Day, the magnificent appearance of Christ our King and our Judge, not merely to “scare you into submission,” but to reveal to you how serious He really is about your sin. You must repent, and turn back to the meek voice of Jesus, while He is still available to you as your merciful Savior who sacrificed Himself for you. It’s not that He’s going to change, but the free standing Gospel offer of salvation and the accompanying renewal of forgiveness will one day come to an end. You and I are seldom aware of the great damage that sin causes in our lives, our church, and our families. And when we try our human, imperfect solutions and excuses, our pitiful coping and compensating mechanisms, we make our own lives even worse than they were before.

Look up with great encouragement, however, at Christ your King! Behold the Shepherd who sacrificed Himself on the cross for the sake of you, His sheep. “Behold, I, I myself, will search for my sheep and seek them out.” Before you could even realize for yourself that you were lost, your Lord came to rescue you. “I will bring back the strayed, bind up the injured, strengthen the weak.”

This is quite the dramatic twist, even for Ezekiel, and he was inspired to reveal something more, something beyond all the doom and judgment. “I, (emphasize I) myself, will feed My sheep.” Really? God is going to come and do those shepherd jobs that His appointed representatives refused to do? Yes—He will bring to perfect fulfillment Psalm 23’s little “prophecy:” when God Himself comes into human flesh among us to be our Good Shepherd. This arrival of the Messiah, whom the Lord names here, “My servant David,” will inaugurate a new covenant of peace and a new, secure existence for the human sheep who by faith know the Voice of Jesus and follow Him.

When the time comes for judgment, the Lord reveals to us how that will look. He will take His flock and make distinctions between fat and lean sheep, between those of His people who truly believe, and those who inhibit the faith of the rest. They trample the grass and muddy the drinking water with their feet, but the true shepherds, that is, worthy servants of the Lord, the preachers who have “beautiful feet,” will preach the Gospel of peace.

Yes, judgment will happen, and the fat sheep who are bloated on their own self-righteousness, those who assert their own rules for morality and reject what Jesus says will bring peace on earth, goodwill to men, those imposters will be destroyed. You, however, have no fear for the appearance of Christ the King on Judgment Day—not because you have managed to escape your just judgment, but rather because the Lord, your Shepherd has restored your soul, and led you on the paths of His righteousness.

“For His name’s sake” in the Psalm means that you have received a perfect standing before the throne of God simply and solely because Jesus died and rose to achieve that gift for you. The promised servant David, whom Ezekiel preached to the exiles in Babylon 500 years ahead of time, was actually Jesus, the Son of David, born in David’s hometown Bethlehem, whom we will welcome again in grand procession next week, and one day we will shout Hosanna to our King when He trades in that lowly Palm Sunday donkey for His glorious, fiery chariot. He will usher in the kingdom that He purchased with His blood and rose to triumph in ascension when all became complete.

The entire church year has been laid out for us in a big circle. Today, at the end of the church year, we now see to where Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and Pentecost have been leading us all along. The Lord who was always true God and in the fullness of time became true and perfect Man will return again to give that same perfection to you. The excitement and expectation that Advent brings to Christmas is part and parcel of the Christian’s eager anticipation of the glory that has been promised at the end of the world. When wise men from all nations worship the Christ Child with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, they foreshadow a gathering of believers from all nations before the throne of Christ the King. He who once was transfigured on the mountaintop in the sight of His disciples will once again appear bright as the sunlight to bring us to His eternal dwelling place. His suffering, death and resurrection that are revisited every church year are the precise evidence that acquits us of all wrongdoing before the presence of our mighty Judge. And Pentecost also comes to fulfillment at Christ’s return because the Holy Spirit’s work to spread the faith and make the Church grow will finally reach its completion on the Last Day.

Till that time, listen for your Savior’s voice, the Good Shepherd. He will feed you with His Word, forgive your sins and strengthen you in body and soul to life everlasting. Your King does not rule by forcing you to do things that show honor to Him. He prefers to serve others instead, using your loving service as His means to bring blessing to everyone around you. And when your neighbors hear the Word of your Shepherd, they too shall enjoy together with you the Kingdom of glory that will never end.

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

The Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant sdg
Pastor, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Yucaipa, California

Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians, in all likelihood was not among Paul’s first epistles. Guided as he was by the Holy Spirit, Paul also demonstrates in the verses of Philippians some life-hardened wisdom when he wrote this letter. Clearly, by this time, he was no new recruit nor some starry-eyed idealist. Instead, Paul wrote this letter while in captivity – most likely under house arrest in Rome. Paul wrote this letter as someone who had traversed the known world not just once, but three times. He had experienced his fair share of suffering, both by watching it in others, and by feeling it himself. Paul, as a hardy veteran of the cross, was able to see and understand things he could never have fully appreciated in the days of his youth. There was no naïve idealism in his words when he wrote: “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

And this is no self-confident boast, rather it’s the experienced voice of a man who knew what it was to be down but not out. It’s a scarred, calloused old man who speaks to us on this occasion of Thanksgiving, but yet he still speaks with a voice of firm conviction when he says: “My God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” You could imagine that he’s like the younger sibling who has no doubt that his big brother will be able to handle just about anything anyone tries to dish out. Notice also that he doesn’t say: “Your God will supply every need of yours,” as if he was some rabbi speaking from an antiseptic, ivory tower – as if he had never winced with fear, or spread his feet to shoulder a heavy load. Nor does he say: “Our God will supply every need of yours,” as if he was pretending to be in the same boat with the rest of his audience.

I say that not because Paul wasn’t a sinner like the rest of us – for he most certainly was – but because his fears might not be the same as yours and mine. In spite of the fact that he had to confront a great number of challenges we haven’t had to face, at the same time he probably didn’t have to confront many of the challenges specific to our age. Paul makes no pious claim here to somehow know personally how you and I feel. He had his own cross to bear – even as you and I have our own crosses to bear. So Thanksgiving is a good time for you and me to take an inventory of our lives. And the unbelieving world might join with us, at least in part. After all, most of the heathens around us are quite happy to survey their possessions and their joys, and on this holiday to feel thankful for the good things they’ve been fortunate to receive. Even the most ardent deniers of God still feel some sense of appreciation for the many blessings of this life – even if they don’t think any of those blessings actually came from God!

But there ought to be more to Thanksgiving than simply recognizing that our Triune God has supplied us with an abundance of the things needed to sustain us, body and soul, through earthly life unto eternal life. There’s a great deal more that separates us from the world than our saying what the heathen won’t say, namely, that “every good gift is from above, and comes down to us from the Father of lights.” Our Thanksgiving and the expression of it should concern itself with more than just what we’ve been given. What I mean is: As you inventory your life this Thanksgiving, don’t merely take note of the things you have, but also catalogue those things that may have been taken away. I’ll say it this way: draw up an account of what you no longer have.

Review that for which you’ve suffered loss, and take careful note of those things under which you now suffer. Look carefully at all this, and then remind yourself that “every good gift is from above, and comes down to us from the Father of lights.” Be bold enough to pray: “I thank you, dear heavenly Father, for those things which You’ve taken away, and will yet take away.” This is where we leave the unbelievers behind on Thanksgiving Day. Here we do more than just simply name our Provider and Benefactor. Here we speak a divine truth which has been handed down to us through the saints of every time and age when we say with confidence: “My God will supply our every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

We can say that because in Christ – along with St. Paul and all the true heroes of the faith – we know how to be brought low, and how to abound. In any and every circumstance, we have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. Not a one of us knows what the future might hold – for us or for our dearest loved ones. But really, who cares? The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away – and for each of these actions we are to bless and praise His holy name – even as Job reminds us. He who has provided us with forgiveness and life in Christ Jesus will most certainly not fail us in those other things we need, as well.

So when you pray: “Give us this day our daily bread,” remember, these words are more than just a plea – and more than just a reminder of what you may already have received. In actuality, they’re a confession of the steadfast faith which God has already given you. Because when you pray to God that He give us all our daily bread, what you’re also doing is reassuring your fellow Christians – including your dearest loved ones – that God will do this in every circumstance, yes, even in the midst of trial, pain, and hardship. No matter how world-weary or battle-scarred you might become, when you pray this petition you’re speaking these words with a child’s indefatigable admiration and confidence that God will do what He has promised for those who are His own. You’re saying: “My God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

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

Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

Remember when the workers in the vineyard were paid their wages at the end of the day? No matter how long they worked, or how much of the heat of the day they endured, they all received the same coin. That parable meant that no matter how great our differences of abilities and service in God’s kingdom, we’re all granted the same salvation by grace through faith in Christ.

Today’s parable of the talents has a notable difference from that, doesn’t it? Here Jesus teaches from the opposite angle. Here, the master of the household doesn’t give equal shares to his servants. One gets five talents—a huge amount—of money. One gets two and the last gets one. He gives according to their ability. They’re all equally his servants. They’re all equally in the household. But while the master is away, they have different abilities and responsibilities; so the master has different expectations for each one. Our Master, Jesus Christ has ascended into heaven and He’s coming back in glory at the end. As Christians, you are all equally His servants, and equally in the household of God. You are equally forgiven, because the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses you from all your sin. In the meantime, as you await His return, He has different callings and plans for each of you. And because He gives you certain callings and responsibilities, He entrusts you with talents, what you need to get the job done. It’s all part of the plan to keep the world in order and the body of Christ going until the Last Day.

Different people will have different callings for the good of all, by God’s design. This applies to all sorts of things. Some will have more money and others will have less. Some will have more talent and others will have less. God doesn’t make us identical, but He gives us various gifts. Together, we make up the body of Christ.

We sinners take this truth, however, and it discourages us. We sum it up this way: life isn’t fair. Yes, if you must push me to admit it, life isn’t fair, and people are different because God made them that way. This is hardly profound, but it’s part of the parable. Jesus adds this, too: to whom much is given, much will be expected. If God has given you much, then you are a steward of much and you’re called to exercise that stewardship faithfully. If you are blessed with abundant wealth, then it is given to you to use that wealth wisely. If it is abundant talent, then it is given to you to make use of that talent according to God’s will. It’s given to be used within your callings in service to others, and in service to God.

This should be good news. This should all be a great comfort from this parable. For one thing, you’re already in the house—you’re not trying to earn your way in. You’re part of the family of faith, not because of what you’ve done with what you’ve got, but because Jesus has already redeemed you. That’s Good News. God has given you what you need to accomplish what you need to do. This doesn’t always mean that things will go easily according to

your plan. Life might be very difficult, as the Lord teaches you to trust in Him, and not in the abilities He’s given you. There will be failures along the way, there will also be times when you learn what you’re not suited for, how God’s gifts to you don’t match up with what you were hoping to do. Frustrating as it can be, it’s part of discovering what God has shaped you to do, and not to do.

What matters is, you belong to the Lord. Until Christ’s return on the Last Day, He has plans for you. And because He has different plans for different people, He gives different talents and gifts to different people. All of this is designed for the good of all, as each uses what he has—and who he is—in service to those around him. Here’s the problem, though. As sinners, we don’t see God’s careful planning and entrusting as wise or good. Instead, we often resent it and we resent God. We, or the people we are trying to impress, are seldom happy with who God has made us to be.

Rather than give thanks for what you are by God’s design, you’ll be tempted to focus on what you aren’t. Dissatisfaction and discontent are two big temptations for the devil. And not only will you be dissatisfied with who you are, but in jealousy you may also resent who God has made others to be.

And when people find something about themselves that they do like, what is the temptation? Self-centered pride. Rather than give thanks to God for the gift and use it in service to others, the big temptation will be to use it in service to yourself, to gather recognition, power, wealth and a sense of superiority.

Or you may not want to use the talents that you have, reasoning that to do so would take too much time or be embarrassing or below your status. Or, another of the devil’s tricky temptations: you’ll be tempted to covet especially what the world glorifies, which may not be at all the greatest gifts for service in the household of faith. Physical beauty and strength are well-known idols. Riches are another attractive god, yet even some who have amassed a great amount of things are not content with them. You and I will also be tempted to covet those showy things every day. All of this is true, and it’s not good. But none of this pride or resentment or jealousy or discontent or coveting is the worst part.

For when you resent who you are, or resent what God has entrusted to you to take care of, you actually accuse God. It’s more serious than a self-esteem problem. You are saying God is messing up in what He has given. By thoughts, words and actions, you say that He isn’t wise, that He doesn’t know what He’s doing, that He’s untrustworthy. That is where discontent leads—to the accusation that God is not to be trusted, that He’s not compassionate like He tells us He is. What next? When a sinner thinks that God is not compassionate, then he concludes that God is a hard master. A sinner isn’t going to want to serve a God who reaps where He didn’t sow. Resenting all that God has done for him, he’ll harden his heart and deny that God has given him anything. That’s what happens to the servant with the one talent in the parable. He’s the only one who thinks the master is a hard man, and so he does nothing with what the master has given him. By failing to use what the master has entrusted to him, he’s effectively saying, “I don’t want to be your servant anymore.”

That is where the devil’s temptations ultimately lead. That’s his goal, to get you to resent God’s gifts for you and others until you say, “This is a hard God. I don’t want to belong to Him.” It would not be God who has become hard, but your heart instead. You would be opting for the outer darkness, for weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So, what’s the solution? It’s not just telling yourself to try to be more thankful and helpful. It’s repentance. Repentance begins with confessing the resentment that your heart feels toward God for what He hasn’t given to you and for what He has given to others. It includes confessing envy, jealousy, coveting, thanklessness and discontent, along with all other sins that would lead you to doubt God’s mercy, to portray Him as a hard master just because He opposes your sinful will.

But then there’s more. When you realize that staying out of His household is not a good idea, then your repentance is met with the Lord’s absolution—you are assured as you are today that you are forgiven for all of these sins all because of what Jesus has done. And here is what Jesus has done for you. For you and for your salvation, He came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man. According to His human nature, He became a specific person with a specific appearance—and, says Isaiah, a plain and unremarkable appearance. According to His human nature, He took on weaknesses and frailties of man. He could be weary, hungry, sad … bruised and wounded. But rather than resent those limitations or envy others, He remained without sin, using His humanity fully in service to those around Him—and fully in service to all the world.

That service led Him to the cross. There, He was the object of anger, wrath and resentment. They sought His death by the cruelest of means. He submitted to that—not because He was powerless against them, but because He was there to suffer God’s judgment for sin. For theirs and yours.

Risen from the dead, your Savior comes to you. By His Word and Supper, He continues to forgive you all of your sins, keeping you clothed in His righteousness and strengthened in the one true faith. Because of His cross and His grace, you can be sure of this: it is God who made you to be who you are. It is God who has entrusted you with gifts and abilities for service, and it is God who still preserves you and your stewardship. He uses your strengths and your weaknesses for your good, as well as the good of others. Because of the cross, you can be certain that God works this for your good, and not for evil. Because of the cross, you’re set free from resentment and envy and discontent and the rest of those temptations that would harden your heart toward Him.

And when you’re tempted again, you repent again; and His grace is sufficient for you.

Dear friends, rejoice. The Lord has made you who you are for service where He has placed you. Until He comes again, that means there will be inequality in the eyes of man. But what the world calls inequality, unfairness, the Lord calls suitability—indeed, He has suited and equipped you for the things He would have you do in service to your neighbor and in service to Him. And while those gifts may be various and unequal in our eyes for service in this world, His grace is the same for all. In other words, no matter what the Lord has entrusted to you for this life—great or small, you can be sure of this: you are a saint in the household, sealed with baptism’s forgiveness.

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

Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

[Concerning the Baptism of Turner Austin Stirdivant…] What a miracle that was that just happened here among us! Think of it, a member of the human race has been rescued from the curse of sin and welcomed into the arms of our heavenly Father for eternity. Turner has now joined the Church, the Bride of Christ who is waiting patiently and expectantly for our Bridegroom’s grand return at the end of the world. We have a lot to celebrate and ponder with wonder today, and whenever a child, a child of God regardless of age, is granted this magnificent gift of Holy Baptism. We have every reason to bow our hearts in prayer that we never squander such a blessing that has also come into our lives.

And that may make you think, especially on a day like today, Why would someone despise this great gift and think or act as if it was worthless? Why would there be those careless, foolish believers as they are depicted in the story that Jesus told? To be sure, at the time He told it, He was mere days and hours away from His crucifixion and death. He wants you, His disciples, to know this important fact about the kingdom of heaven, which you enter when you are baptized with water in God’s holy and Triune name. But the story can be confusing to follow. It’s not easy to spot the point Jesus makes. The ten virgins are all ready for the wedding in the early evening. They all have lamps, they all are dressed in the proper wedding clothes, they are all pure, chaste virgins, eligible to enter the wedding hall and feast with the bridal party. It should also be noted that all ten girls fell asleep in light of the fact that the one whom they expected was delayed. Jesus didn’t mention a traffic jam as a possible cause! And again, when he is about to make his entrance to the public welcome, they all wake up together! So far the difference that we are supposed to catch, it hasn’t been made clear.

What finally makes the difference clear, as we read in the parable, is whether the virgins have oil. That’s the only signal Jesus uses to separate the wise from the foolish. All the other markers are exactly the same. But what a difference that little detail creates! As the story unfolds, the wise only have enough for themselves. If they were to give up what they already had to share, none of the virgins would be adequately prepared. The Bridegroom would have left all ten of them behind. This story’s outcome looks unfair to us, so unreasonable, so picky about a slight detail, and that’s partly because we are far removed from this ancient culture. But you will have to set that prejudgment aside for a moment, so you can understand how this warning applies to you and the Church of every time and place.

Jesus was often teaching about two separate ways in His kingdom, a way of life and a way leading to death. Wise and foolish, house on the rock versus house on the sand. Can’t serve God and Money at the same time. Those blessed by the Father safe inside the door as opposed to those outside in the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. In other places, the difference is profound, like a huge gap between those who do the will of God the Father and believe in Jesus for their salvation, and those who trust in themselves or the temporary riches that the world prefers. Here, as we apply the ten virgins parable to ourselves and our lives today, it’s not so obvious; it’s even very subtle-looking, and that can be quite unsettling.

Think of it this way: if the five foolish girls are pure virgins, they are prepared for the Groom’s arrival (if he were on time, that is), if they had their lamps and when they fell asleep along with the wise ones they also awoke; if all of that is true, then why is it that the lack of oil and that alone disqualifies them from entering the banquet, which Jesus is clear to identify as the blessings of belonging to His everlasting kingdom? It sounds a lot like: how can it be fair that a member of a church, who looks so faithful and dedicated, was baptized, taught the faith and appeared to flourish in good works, that when all is said and done, that when the resurrection of the dead takes place, this apparently good Christian person still hears those chilling words of Judgment: I never knew you! That’s unsettling. It shakes us with feelings of despair and uncertainty. When a believer can have it all, and perfectly look the part, yet leave out one little detail that means death and not life, what use is there to stay connected to Christ and His Church? Would the greater effort be worth it in the end?

The answer is all about how you handle the oil. It has to be something that is so important, that it makes the all-important difference between death and life. It cannot correspond to a trivial detail about your Christian life, even though in the story it seems to be such a small difference. Some will try to tell you that having oil means you need to do good works, so that you prove to God and to the Church that you are a committed disciple and you have attained a moral character that makes you deserving of your heavenly Father’s rewards. But if you follow that interpretation, you will soon find that you are not at all prepared with enough oil in your lamp.

You as well as I have sinned against our Lord. We have not made ourselves ready for His glorious return. He seems to be delayed from our standpoint of the world, even though His final arrival is truly according to His perfect, eternal plan. But the more we struggle with our own sin, with violence in our world, violence even breaking into the formerly safe refuge of our church buildings, struggle with the seemingly insurmountable difficulties of our life, the more we figure that God has rejected us. We don’t have the same vigor for God’s work that we used to have. We neglect one another in the ordinary works of love that we used to do gladly and without reminder or nagging. If we were to see the lack of oil as these and similar faults that we see in ourselves, then we figure we should just brace ourselves for the door of Heaven to get slammed right in our faces.

Jesus gives you a gracious word, so that you do not need to feel rejected. He has promised to welcome you in to His banquet feast. He made that promise to you at your Baptism, just like He promised that and more to Turner this morning. You are clothed with Christ, made virgin-pure as a believer faithful to Him alone and not turned aside to yourself, the world or any other false gods that try to tempt us. Not only have you been provided with a lamp, you also have been given oil- you personally, have been given the godly wisdom that hears the Word of forgiveness of your sins, believes it with all your heart, and forgives others as you have been forgiven. You have Jesus, but remember that you have all of Him, not just the parts you like and as if you can discard the parts you don’t. Your baptism was not only a memorable day, a miracle that happened a single time in your life, but it’s also an ongoing identity that you carry with you. It has made a difference in your life so that you constantly remind yourself not to squander it.

You’re probably well aware that Baptists and a few other Christian confessions officially teach the doctrine of what they call a believer’s baptism, and characterize it as a promise or commitment that a Christian must consciously make for himself as a decision to follow Jesus Christ as His disciple. I can readily assure you, they don’t intend to hold to a belief that is contrary to the Bible, and I could even propose that they, as we, are trying to be good Christian people, no doubt about it. But if they were to witness what had just happened to Turner this morning, these otherwise well-meaning Christians would be shaking their heads. What can that little baby do for God right now? He needs constant help, and the parents have to guess what specifically he needs help with- and boy does one parent need a lot more practice than he would like to admit! But that helplessness is precisely why Jesus commands the Church to baptize babies, as well as anyone of any age who hasn’t yet received that gift- it’s all about what God gives rather than what the believer promises.

I’ll tell you that they do have one concern that we should listen to as Lutherans, staunch baby-baptizers as we are. That is the concern that once a baby has been baptized, how often is it that that new believer has little or no further connection with the church, or doesn’t grow in the faith? Maybe it’s a young person who goes all the way through Confirmation instruction, but when he or she is exposed to false spiritual teaching that contradicts God’s Word, then they fall away. Do the parents imagine that the baptism by itself is a ritual that guarantees salvation, even if you have not been taught the faith or you continue in the life of the sinner that we all remain to be, baptized or not? Listen to that concern, and respond to your Baptist friend that Jesus wants us to remember our Baptism, to continue in the Christian life we have been given, totally as a gift and not as our work toward God. There is no such thing as spiritual fire insurance. Baptism needs to be cherished, and not despised as an ordinary, useless thing. Keep thinking of it as a miracle, because it is! God says in the Bible it will save you, so trust in His Word to do what He says.

Yes, forgiveness is free, and you will continue to need it because you and I are still sinners. That constant repentance and trust in Christ’s forgiveness, that total reliance on Him, that constant rejection of self and the temporary world that you have been called to do, that’s your oil that God the Holy Spirit has kept in abundant supply for you. That’s your wisdom that begins with a reverent fear of the Lord. Your Father, to whom you pray, loves you and will not shut you out, even when you face your darkest days.

Embrace the miracle that welcomed you in to the wedding feast of the Kingdom of Heaven, especially on occasions when you see it happen for another child of God. That way, with God’s ever-present help, you will not despise this gift you have been given and when you wake up from death’s sleep on the Last Day, you will rejoice to greet Jesus Christ the Church’s Bridegroom with all the other wise virgins, indeed, the whole company of heaven that is singing along with you in the Divine Service today.

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

Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

Allow me to introduce to you a friend of mine. No, you cannot see him. But in the next few minutes, you’ll get to know him a little. My friend happens to be a church administrator, but don’t hold that against him. He’s just as much a hypocrite as you and I are, but there’s something to say about the unique “occupational hazards” that this leader in the church faces. When you have a great many people looking up to you as a spiritual head, then it can only be a matter of time before your hat feels a little too small and you’re overcome with self-pride. It’s an easy mistake.

My friend has most likely studied the Word of God very thoroughly before, but at this point the stresses of day-to-day administration have tempted him to stray from that crystal-clear fountain of Gospel truth in favor of the mirages of convenience and legalism. Keeping order among people who are so bitterly opposed to each other seems to be his only work, and what suffers is his God-given task of leading men to Jesus Christ. Thus, unfortunately, my friend relies heavily on the force of his own personality and his unique claims to spiritual authority in order to get done what he believes needs to get done. Personally, I think he has placed on himself an impossible standard and expectation, and yet at the same time, he ignores the only Divine means to fulfill that goal, and so relies completely on himself instead. Based on the sinful human nature that we all have, I would venture to say that my friend’s scenario would be similar to how you and I would act if we were placed in the same situation.

Jesus spoke of my nameless, ancient friend, let’s call him the Pharisee, in the Holy Gospel while He was speaking to His disciples and the crowds who followed Him. And when Jesus tells you to do something, it’s usually safe to assume we have the tendency to do the very opposite. He told them to pay attention to the words that people like my friend spoke because those words were written by Moses, meaning that the scribes and Pharisees read the Bible out loud in the synagogue. This group of church administrators, including my friend, had a holy job to perform, even though they often fell to the temptations of administration and themselves ignored the very words they were preaching. They sat on Moses’ seat, which meant they were officially the mouthpiece of God, teaching from a seated position, like they often did in those days; it doesn’t matter whether they were rightfully placed in that office or they took it by sinful means. My friend sits in the seat, whether he truly belongs there or not, but he still has that seat’s responsibility to perform.

Now, I have asked parents, I suppose teachers too, (since I’m going to be needing this advice now!) when was the last time you said to your children, “Do as I say, not as I do?” Usually, you say it when you’re trying to restore a little order to the ensuing chaos, and as you choke back their accusation of being a hypocrite, you hang on to the last shred of authority you can muster to get some form of obedience. But Jesus says it clearly: the Word of God is the ultimate and the only authority, even when a hypocrite speaks it. However, all of us, young or old, tend to watch the actions rather than heed the words.

And the crowds who heard Jesus were the same way. They saw guys like my friend the Pharisee and boy, were they impressed. The Pharisees read the words of Moses in the Bible that say, “Tie these words around your forehead,” and they took it literally. They made phylacteries, which were little “lock boxes” with Scripture verses inside, and with long straps to fasten them to your head and down your arm. Not too tight, though. The tassels on their synagogue shawls were so long that they flung it over their shoulder while the common people oohed and aahed. Think of it as really showy “prayer wear.” The contradiction between what they did and what they said was plain as day, and Jesus pointed it out.

Like my friend, you also face these same temptations, although Satan likes to tailor them to your specific vocation. You crave less talk and more action. People who may not know any better incessantly chant that the church’s emphasis should be on deeds rather than creeds when those two should actually work together. Either you have done something in public for show or you’ve given undivided attention to another who did. You may have accused someone in front of others, pointing out a sin you’ve often committed yourself with no one watching. Perhaps you prayed in public a prayer that should have been private, in order to make a scene or gain a little credibility. Your ears perk up more when there’s something in God’s Word about something for you to do, or when there’s a commitment for you to make. That’s the Law, by the way. It’s the reason why works-righteousness is so popular in churches: it’s what people like you and I want to hear! It’s a great club to use to remind others that they aren’t as “holy” as you are. But when the Gospel is said, when you hear of forgiveness, of what God does all for you, it’s not important. It’s all talk, and you’ve heard it all before, and you’ll put up with a little bit of it so long as you can get on as soon as possible with the doing. And then you’re back to the Law.

There’s only one way out of this web of temptation in which you are caught. You must repent. That doesn’t mean say one little prayer or repeat a confession of sins and then you’re done. It means stop your practice of relying on yourself and give up on your way. Repent of your tendency to fall into the trap like my friend did. Stop making a show to others and start hearing the Word of God rather than the opinions of men. Even when an imperfect man preaches it, it is still the perfect doctrine that gives you true life. What makes it imperfect is when something false is added or when anything essential is taken away from it. And watch out for the devil’s back door, which is someone who is really nice and a good moral example but then they use those credentials to teach something false. God does not give them that privilege, and no one, not even a majority vote, can cast our Lord’s command aside.

Instead, flee for refuge to your only hope, and the source of your hope is the Gospel words that you hear. Crave forgiveness, because it’s all you’ve got. Jesus has done it all. His actions, not yours are the only ones that count, because they perfectly matched His Words. His blood has already been shed to back up the promises. It is His greatest desire to rescue you. He wants not necessarily to improve your life and relationships here on earth, but rather to usher you into eternal life and strengthen the relationship that He began with you at your baptism. And the promise of this costly forgiveness, the forgiveness that was achieved for you at the holy Cross of Calvary, this promise is for you, even if you are like my friend. All it takes is to believe it, and even that, God the Holy Spirit does for you.

My friend the Pharisee did not escape the harsh lashing of Jesus’ judgment, but you can. Your Lord enables you today to give up on your hypocritical ways, and allow Him, who is the greatest of all, to be your humble servant. That’s what submitting to Him as Lord is all about. As you humble yourself in honest confession of all your sins, He will exalt you with His forgiveness and renewal. Instead of superficial things like phylacteries or church politics, you’ll tie on the Word of God to your heart, and partake of the Lord’s gifts—and that is really the true reason why the Lord brought you here.

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