Christ is Risen, He is Risen indeed Alleluia!

This is such good news that to our Christian ears, but to the disciples it seemed perhaps too good to be true. They had heard from the women and Mary Magdalene that earlier that same day, they gone to the tomb of Jesus, but He wasn’t there, it was empty, they had seen at least one angel and then Jesus himself appeared to them. It was especially difficult for Thomas to believe even after the other 10 disciples bore witness to the fact that they too saw Jesus. He had come to them in that room that had been locked, He had spoken Peace to them, showed His wounds to them, and commissioned them with the Office of the Keys to forgive and retain sins.

Sadly, Thomas was not with them when this took place, so He doubted that good word of Christ’s appearance. Perhaps, He doubted, not because He didn’t want the news of Jesus being resurrected to be true, but because He was afraid of being disappointed. Thomas appears to have been a pessimist: the kind who expected the worst to happen. Even back in John 11 when Jesus announced that He was going to go to Bethany to raise Lazarus, going right into the territory and hands of His keenest enemies, Thomas somewhat bravely but matter of factly, shrugged his shoulders and said to the other disciples, “Let us also go, so that we might die with Him.”

There is a type of worldly wisdom in this way of looking at things. Expect the worst, and you won’t be disappointed when it happens and feel better prepared emotionally. And if it doesn’t happen, you will be pleasantly surprised. This pessimistic thinking is behind that kind of comfort that points out that something could have been much worse. Your leg is broken, and the Thomases stand beside your bed and observe, “you should be thankful you only broke your leg and not your neck driving the way you do.” The attitude “be grateful it could be worse” is small comfort.

The other extreme attitude isn’t a more healthy or sensible alternative. I am referring to someone who expects that everything will be sugar, roses, and sunshine every day of their life. They will be in for a rude awakening and some shocks in their life.

Most people have gone through some kind of hardship, unfairness, or cruelty. At some level, no matter how bitter our experiences have been, we cannot accept that that is the way it ought to be. So, we react to those experiences. We feel that we have been wronged, that we haven’t had a fair opportunity. We resent and rebel against our misfortunes. We feel that our lives ought to mean something and be filled with happiness. When it doesn’t go that way, we know that something has gone wrong. We cannot surrender this hope, and one of the ways in which we try to protect it is by expecting the worst. Then it is possible that things may turn out better than we expected. Hoping for what is good but expecting the worst are two sides of the same basic attitude. This tells us a lot about ourselves. When people say it most likely going to rain their whole vacation, they aren’t saying that they want it to rain the whole time. They really want the sun to shine, but they seek to protect themselves from disappointment by expecting the worst.

When Thomas set off with Jesus and the disciples he didn’t want to get killed, but he expected the worst so that if the worst happened, he could say, “I told you so” but if it didn’t happen, he could be pleasantly surprised.

When the other disciples told Thomas that they had seen the risen Jesus, it wasn’t that he didn’t want this to be true. Thomas wanted to protect himself against the disappointment that it might not be true. Thus he said, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” That is what he said, but deep down, he was hoping he was wrong. How do we know this? Because when the disciples were gathered again in the same place as the previous week where Jesus had appeared to them, Thomas was sure to be there. If hope had truly died in him, if he were absolutely sure of disappointment, he would not have been there. He could not give up hoping, not yet. Even though the measure of proof for Thomas had been on the level of what his eyes could see and his hands could touch, he hoped he was wrong. Therefore Jesus came and met Thomas on that level. He appeared again among them and said to them all: “Peace be with you!” Jesus called Thomas by name and invited him to not only see with his eyes the wounds, but to touch them, to handle them and in so doing touch the mystery of the resurrected Christ.

Then the astonishing thing happened. There burst from Thomas an acknowledgment far deeper than what eyes could tell him. “My Lord and my God!” Thomas was finally there, he got it, he believed, even as Jesus said to him, “Do not disbelieve, but believe.” This miracle of faith and confession was of and by the Spirit of God as Jesus pulled Thomas through his pessimism, his doubt, his grief, his sin and his unbelief all to fasten him to the central point and certainty of hope: Jesus Christ crucified and raised. God, in Jesus, had connected Thomas to Himself, and this connection is what is called faith. Faith does not need to delude itself in false hope, faith is not captive to what meets the eye, faith does not need to protect itself against disappointment and despair by the pessimism of expecting the worst.

Faith is a new realism, a new way of living and thinking that is far more wonderful than the worldly wisdom of pessimism which cannot fully trust but expects the worst. Faith also replaces unrealistic thoughts of perpetual roses, sunshine, and sugar. The problem with both pessimism and this attitude of unbridled optimism is that they are expectations that center in “me”. Their ultimate concern is me. But faith has its center outside of yourself or myself. Faith has as its center something much more true and solid than our frail flesh and emotion which is so easily swayed and betrayed by our sin. No, faith clings to God through Jesus Christ to a hope that is sure. Jesus Christ died on the cross so that you don’t have to depend on yourself or any unsure thing for salvation. Things may not always go well in this life because of sin in this world. According to our sins, we deserve the worst of God’s wrath, but Jesus has taken the worst upon Himself, making Himself accounted as the worst of the worst sinners as He took the weight and punishment for all sin upon Himself at the cross. He died for your sins, He was buried, but He was raised again showing that His accomplished His goal and His payment for sin was accepted. So that you, are gathered here and now forgiven all your sins for the sake of Christ, so that you may have faith and life and salvation.

By the Word of the Gospel Christ is here with you and His people. He comes to you to touch and to see the fruit of His wounds made for you even as you recline here at His Table with Him receiving His very body and blood to confirm you in that faith. Repent of your unbelief and believe. Jesus is here truly to save you, in body, soul, and spirit, for the resurrection and the life everlasting with Him. He gives the glad tidings of Peace by the forgiveness of sins. He would have you believe these glad tidings of salvation. Therefore, He both grants faith to you and His strength to believe in His Gospel so that you need never fear disappointment. So that you would be comforted in your weakness, doubt, and fear; and, that you would not despair and die in your sin, but live in peace and rest in Christ, your Savior.

Sin, death, the devil, and hell do not get to have you; nor are they permitted to have the last word concerning you. The Lord Jesus, by His Cross and Resurrection, has shut that lion’s mouth which preys upon doubt and pessimism, who would otherwise devour you with lies and bitter condemnation. Instead He opens the mouth of me your pastor to speak forgiveness for you to hear and receive peace. He has opened your mouth even as you receive Christ upon your lips so that you might also speak of the grace and mercy that you have received here, to others outside the Church. He can and will use you to speak His Word to give hope to those who also have experienced bitter disappointments because of sin. So that they too may hope in Jesus, the sinless one who saves from sin and the insecurity of this world.

Be at peace, and live now in His peace. You are baptized into Christ. In Him, by faith, you are saved. For He has died your death, so that you are now raised up in His Resurrection.

Sickness, suffering, and death are all finally powerless against you, because Christ is with you, who has risen from the dead and lives and reigns forever for you and His Church. There is no poison in the Cup that He pours out for you. He shall neither hurt nor harm you. He is your Champion, who has crushed your enemies under His feet. How sweet is this Word in your ear and in your heart, upon your lips and tongue, and in your body! Christ is Risen He is risen indeed for you and for your salvation in Jesus’ name. Alleluia. Amen.

Pastor Aaron Kangas

Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed Alleluia!
The faithful women of Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, also called Joanna, desired to pay proper respect for their beloved teacher. Grieved as they were by the sudden betrayal, trial, and crucifixion and burial, they thought to buy the spices and resins to anoint the body of Jesus. They were right to give the body of Jesus such respect and dignity, but in their grief and their intentions, they did not think until on their way about the tomb itself. Then they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb? And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large.”

Now before we talk about the fact that they found it rolled back, let’s think of the stone and the way in the Jews buried their dead and sealed the tombs as compared to our way of burial today.

When we think of grave stones, we think generally of grave markers which stand above ground. These are often very heavy by themselves. But many of the tombs of our loved ones have burial vaults lowered into the ground before the casket with a lid to cover the casket after committal. These are usually very heavy concrete or steel structures that must be lowered and installed with machinery.

The burial custom of the Jews was similar in a way, but remember they had no machinery to assist! The graves were often dug or carved in a depression, and they were sealed with a stone. Usually one stone, with some smaller stones around it. The main stone was rolled down an incline to cover the mouth of the tomb. For a small grave, about twenty men were required to roll such a stone downhill to cover the door of the tomb. The Bible tells us that the stone covering the door of the tomb of Jesus was a “large” stone. So it was much larger than an average stone. The women would have needed more than 20 men and many animals to work with levers to pull and roll away the stone. This was a major task, that they must have suddenly realized was beyond their ability.

As it turned out. They did not have to worry. Behold the stone was rolled away! They could go in and anoint the body… but there was no body! Instead an angel, in an alb much like mine but much whiter and more pure. He pointed like a tour guide to the place where a body should be, where the body of Christ had been lain, and he said: “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”

Yes, the women went from worry to alarm to fright even in the middle of good news. But why did the angel say: tell the disciples AND Peter, that Jesus would go before them? Why was Peter singled out. Perhaps you know? Even if it has been a long long time since you have attended a midweek service, or a Maundy Thursday, or Good Friday service, perhaps in the recesses of your mind you recall that Simon Peter had denied Jesus. The irony is that Peter means..what? rock. The rock.

You and I we have great stones rolled before our hearts. Yes we do. We have fears. We have sins that we fear to let the fumes of its deathly stank release, we know that behind the stone boulders we have all sorts of rotting and decomposing wretchedness. That is why people would rather ignore their sin and the stench of fear, for that stench of fear, the stench of sin, is the putrid smell of death. Death even within the hearts of those bodies that breathe. That is the curse of sin: death. That is the result of denying God and Jesus Christ: eternal judgment.

Who will roll the stone away from the grave door of our hearts? We little hard hearted rocks have denied the stone which the builders rejected. We cannot roll the stone cold, rock hard, slabs of unbelief back from our hearts ourselves. The weight is too great, the stench too overwhelming, and we cannot bear to face the shame and humiliation. As St. Paul Said: “Who will rescue me from this body of death?”

That is why Jesus has come into the world. That is why the Father has sent Him. That is why Jesus faced the agony of death upon the cross with the weight of all the sacks and tons upon tons of every stone and pebble of sin. He took all the weight of sin, the pebbles and rocks amounting to weight greater than a miller’s stone hanging from around your neck choking you to eternal death, and placed it around His own. And He who was perfect and innocent died in your place so that you might be freed. Does this sacrifice move you to tears of sadness and joy? Do you appreciate it?

If you do not. If you do not feel something. Repent. Pray to the Lord to remove that blockage keeping you from breathing free from death and numbness of unbelief.

The answer to your cry from the Lord: who will roll away the stone?: He is Risen! Jesus Christ is risen from the dead! He died upon the cross for your sin, and now death is shown to be defeated. The rolling back of the stone in the garden was not to release the body of Jesus, but to show that the tomb, the grave could not hold Jesus. Jesus, the innocent, Lamb of God, took your sin upon the cross, buried it with His body, and destroyed it by His power along with death. Proving that your sin, your hard heartedness and mine. The tombstones, burial chambers, rocks, seals, surrounding bodies breathing or at rest are nothing to Jesus. God’s power. The power of Jesus, God’s Son, the power to condemn the world replaced with the power to forgive by His blood and body, scoff at all other barriers upon those who do not deny Him. By the Holy Spirit, He comes and removes the stones blocking you, taking away your unbelief, your stench of sin and death, and replacing it the breath of life, by the forgiveness of your sins. Jesus died for your sins, taking them into the tomb, now in His resurrection, He leaves them there. You are baptized into His death, burial, and resurrection. You are absolved. You are now an heir of life eternal in Christ Jesus.

So we sing and say today: Alleluia! Praise the Lord. The Lord has come. Jesus is raised. He has shown that His crucifixion paid for sin. Now Jesus is the first born of all those who have and will triumph over the great stone barrier of death. We no longer need to fear death. We no longer need to try to hide from it, ignore it or our sin. By confessing our sin and our need for life, Christ comes to us by His Spirit and as in our Baptism rolls back the stones of our heart, erodes it away and washes the chambers within so that we are clean and no longer filled with filth and decomposition.

So we return every week to sweep anew. To be cleaned anew. To be filled anew. To be built up anew. Not upon the pebbles of this world which shift and shudder and mean eternal doom. No to be built upon the greatest of all stones who has crushed the stone of Satan, sin, and death, Jesus Christ. He is the greatest stone upon which we are built. It sounds like mixed metaphors, but it is not. Jesus rolls away other stones, but He is THEE stone upon which nothing built upon it can move.

So pray to the Lord. Allow Him to move those pebbles and the weight of your sin by His Spirit working in His Word and Sacrament which is the power of the cross and empty tomb. Be freed to breathe the freedom from sin and an heir of eternal life as a son or daughter of God by faith. Be filled by the victorious crucified and raised body and blood of Jesus Christ, and be built upon Jesus Christ. Be not afraid! Rejoice! He is risen from the dead. He is victorious for you, and you will see Him again in His glory forevermore, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

What sort of king are we getting? What will this mean for our lives? How will this king change us? Will we be better off? Or will there be no noticeable difference in our lives due to this king’s arrival? These may have been the questions asked by the people as Jesus came in procession on that Sunday before the Passover, before His death. At that time large numbers of people were coming into Jerusalem to celebrate that Passover feast. A city of 50,000 inhabitants suddenly swelled to larger than 250,000. It was such a large event in Jerusalem that Pontius Pilate had to leave his cozy quarters on the Mediterranean seashore and move his post into Jerusalem to maintain order.

Just before this procession of Jesus on the young donkey, He had stunned the people with a miracle. His friend Lazarus had died, having been in the tomb for four days. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Dead Four days! and this man walks out of the tomb at Jesus’ command. All were abuzz! The news was spreading. Could it be? Is He the promised king? And what sort king are we getting? Popular Jewish Messianic thought believed that an earthly king would come and set the people free from the oppressive leadership of Rome with the use of military force.

The crowds then gather. They all take hold of palm branches. They shout “Hosanna,” meaning, “Lord save, I beg!” The palm branches were praises, signifying victory. The people were ready to rally and win a military victory and have Israel be restored by God on earth. Knowing the misunderstanding of the crowd and to fulfill prophecy, Jesus sent the disciples to get Him a colt, the foal of a donkey to ride into Jerusalem. This sent a message. This king was no military and earthly ruler. Riding in on the young donkey sent the message of peace. This posture seems like a sort of protest by Jesus. Yet, it is not a protest so much as it is a rebuke of false earth based notions. It was a fulfilling of Scripture as to the nature of this Messianic King. This King would come bearing peace, and He would not shed others blood to obtain it; He would shed His own.

The Pharisees watch Jesus ride in and they say to one another: “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the whole world has gone after Him.” Their rejection grows more bitter, more venomous, and more desperate. Yet, the very next verse not in our reading for today tells us that some Greeks (Gentiles) who heard of Jesus come with a request: “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” What irony. Jesus raises the dead (Lazarus), then the marveling crowd wants an earthly king. This king comes bringing peace and His own people reject this peace, while some no good Gentiles seek His face.

What sort of king should we expect for us today? Does this king bring anything to the table in the midst of your life that is full of the “hustle and bustle” of tasks and requirements? Can this king impact a pagan world that is obsessed with their own self-indulgences and is overrun with pressing schedules that demand constant movement? Does this king ride in to Jerusalem in order to shape, direct, and give meaning to you, or is it just an isolated event in history with no real purpose? Many see nothing in this king. As with the Pharisees, it has been a problem throughout history. What did those Greeks who came searching for Jesus think they were going to do or see if they saw Jesus?

This is the same question we must ask today. How does Jesus change your life? Where do we see Jesus? We are surprised at Jesus’ response to the Greeks who sought Him. Jesus did not go to see them. What a disappointment it must have been. Jesus’ answer to the Greeks’ request relayed by Andrew and Philip is the parable of the grain of wheat that falls and dies. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.”

Jesus’ words are simple. If the Greeks wish to see the face of Jesus in any meaningful way that will benefit them, then they must see Jesus as the grain of wheat that dies to give life to others. The only meaningful way to receive this king is to behold the King of the Jews who is raised up on the cross for all to see. This is the King of peace. The king who defies expectations. As His own blood is spilt onto the dusty and parched ground called Golgotha, the world is washed and the price of sin is paid.

It is the isolated obedience and death of Jesus that will bring forth the New Testament of forgiveness given in the Lord’s Supper and the Gospels. Here is where the Greeks’ request will be answered. If those Greeks who came to the Passover feast in Jerusalem want to the see the face of God they will have to find it in the fruitfulness of His death on the cross. “Sir, we wish to see Jesus” will be answered in their viewing the crucified Jesus as He hangs there. The request will be answered in the Eucharist that He would institute on Maundy Thursday. The face of Jesus will be seen on the day of the resurrection. The request would be fulfilled in their baptisms where they would be joined organically to His death, burial, and resurrection.

Those Greeks sound like us. There are many things swirling around us, especially thoughts and opinions on truth, life after death, heaven and hell. Straining in the midst of cell phones, technology, mixed messages, and harrowing schedules, we try to focus our eyes on the face of Jesus. What sort of King are we getting? Is this King different from the rest? Do the palm branches, the shouts of “hosanna”, and the young donkey give us a clue into something that cuts through everything else in our lives?

Yes. Something very significant is at work. Carefully set in your midst is your redemption. Your weaknesses, your life of sin, your continual cycle of struggle and sadness and all of your battles in this world are dealt with by the face of Jesus that you behold in the Holy Scriptures. Likewise, you behold Him here when you come and drink from the cup. There in the cup of Eucharist is Jesus, His blood given and shed for you. Carefully placed among us is not just a one time snapshot of Jesus’ face that we hope memory will remember. We have something better.

Jesus comes to His church continually. He didn’t ascend into heaven leaving behind an orphaned church. He continues to descend to us in the Bible and at the Lord’s table with His real sin and death conquering presence so that we may find His favor for us and for our lives—that we may see His face and receive His forgiveness and be changed. No matter what the next week of your life will require of you, you have your King who comes to you lowly and glorious, with a word of peace and forgiveness because He has dealt death and Satan a final and punishing blow. The palm branches of victory on Palm Sunday prefigure the victory won through Jesus bitter suffering and death so that you might be forgiven. Your life is defined by this victory. Your king won the battle for you and believers throughout the world and time. So we look forward to what is written in the Book of Revelation chapter 7: “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” This is the victory throng which Palm Sunday points to. The great triumphal procession at the last Day when Christ gathers all His Church in resurrection splendor to live in peace forever.

May we be kept and gathered in this body of believers by Christ’s continual visitation. Let us follow Christ into Jerusalem this Holy week, giving thanks that He does save us now, and promises to give us resurrection victory not only on Easter Sunday, but forevermore. Because of His work, we shall live eternally with our Savior King, Jesus Christ, who is always coming to us. Behold Him, Christ crucified for the forgiveness of your sins. Be comforted to know the loving forgiving face of Him who conquers sin, death and the power of the devil so that you may be His own. Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel! Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

I don’t know if you have noticed it yet, but in the one year liturgical readings, the pattern for lessons throughout the Lenten season share similar subject and thematic content. All the scenarios involve and/or include a reference to: The Devil or demon possession, bread/crumbs/food, and/or the Word of God versus another kind of Word. Truth vs. Lies. Are the physical and spiritual elements in opposition to one another or is it a demonic lie to try to set them up as opposed to one another? The things of the flesh and the things of the Spirit are not separate entities; they are, in fact, united.

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I spoke of demon possession? Not all demon possession manifests itself in wild, strange, and uncontrolled actions. But demon possession is the natural state of humanity without being delivered from its bondage to sin and Satan by the Word of God and by His Spirit.

That is what is at the heart of the matter in the discussion in this morning’s Gospel. That is why so many reject and act hostile towards the Word of God, toward morality, towards truth of any kind. But the truth matters. Only the Truth can save. Only the truth of God in Jesus Christ can satisfy and give peace and clarity for us body and soul.

In the Gospel lesson for the 2nd last Sunday in Lent, Jesus says it very clearly. There is truth and there are lies. There is no in between. Lies are the tool of the Father of lies: the Devil. What is the product and end result of lies? Death and murder. Jesus said, the devil was a manslaying murderer from the beginning. Why? Because the Devil himself did not abide in the Truth. Now, he only lies and twists the Truth so that all may become like him.

The result of NOT abiding in Truth is death. It is destruction. It is the way of selfish sin which is slavery. There is only one way to be set free. There is only one way to have life. Jesus said earlier in this same chapter of John chapter 8: “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free… everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin… if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Then in today’s Gospel text: “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” It is the Word of Jesus Christ alone where there is Truth, life, and hope.

Yet what do we see and hear today? An obscuring and hiding of this Word of Truth, life, and hope in Jesus Christ. The devil causing confusion through the words and whispers of the media and modern psychology and sociology which celebrates carnal desires and identity confusion. He uses politics to unsettle hearts and minds for worry and trouble. One media outlet says this, another says that.

We find ourselves asking again: What is truth? What are we to believe? These can’t all be true reports: they contradict each other. So, which are the lies? You cannot declare yourself to be something that disagrees with your biology, can you?

What is very tricky is that even if a report, a teaching, an opinion is 99 percent correct but contains 1 percent falsehood, the whole is tainted and is no longer objective Truth. The Devil often takes truth and adds lies to it claiming that it is still the truth. This is his nature since his fall. He cannot abide the truth. He also sees how easily he can twist the Truth to appeal to and enslave humans, to take their eyes and ears away from the source of Truth. When the devil convinces humans to define their own concept of truth for themselves according their needs or their whims, he has succeeded. This kind of “truth” is a combination of opinion and perceived fact: a mix of fact and fiction: truth and lie and is therefore a lie.

Lies lead to destruction because it leads us back to ourselves, to the world, to sin, and back to the captivity and possession of Satan. Our human nature is sinful and easily enslaved again to those lies of fear, hypocrisy, and pride while standing outside the Truth: nay, fleeing from the Truth of God.

If you do not abide in the Word and Truth of God, whose child are you, are we?

So, are we children of the heavenly Father, who confidently abide in His Word come what may? Who search out the Truth and measure all reports, thoughts, opinions, by the Word of God? Do we take all world events, political happenings, medical reports, or anything else that may happen, do we take it in stride, by commending them unto the Lord? Do we gladly hear the Word of God as often as possible, do we yearn to be fed that bread of life by His hand as often as we should?

No, none of us have been such good and faithful sons and daughters of God. Let us repent of how we have succumbed to the lies of Satan who uses our flesh to tear us from God our Father back again to the Father of lies. To fall by seeking our truth, to a controlling fear that God is not actually in control, that we must help ourselves and live only for ourselves or if we do a good work it ought to be to our glory along with or separate from the glory of God our redeemer.

So, you have two sides. Jesus said, either: You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires…” or “Whoever is of God hears the words of God.” 

The heritage of those who abide in lies, who do not abide in Truth, who can take God’s Word or leave it, who don’t care what is truth except their own selfish truth, which is but another lie, stand to inherit mortal death, eternal judgement, fear in this life, and sorrow and regret in the next.

Repent. Recognize the confusion of pride and unbelief caused by sin. In your weakness and need, with a contrite heart plead for forgiveness, and your Father in heaven answers in Jesus Christ for you. In Jesus Christ you receive His Word of forgiveness, His Word of Truth, His Word of life everlasting.

The heritage for those who abide in the Truth is life. Jesus promises that “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

God is merciful, and has given His Son, Jesus Christ, to beat back the lies of Satan. In times of uncertainty of partial truths, of talking heads, and contradiction, behold the Truth which is always steadfast: Jesus Christ, crucified for your sins. Jesus Christ as True God and True Man, fulfilled the demands of the Law, becoming the obedient Son of Man that we could not be. He did not do this as an example of the piety and perfection that humans can accomplish. No. He did this so that He could be the sacrifice. To stand and abide in the place of punishment for all men and women. That is why He allowed Himself to be sacrificed, so that by His blood all the trespasses of the Old Covenant and Law could be covered over. Jesus poured for me and you His life blood and for our pardon died. Now in that blood and crucifixion of Jesus Christ, we see the grace of God and the truth of God’s Love. By the death of His body and His rising again to life, believers in Him will never truly see death.

God knows that our flesh is still weak and heavy laden. He knows the burden of the devil’s constant lies and the culture of death, that is constantly attacking you, me, and every believer trying to drown out God’s Word, attempting to distract, mislead, confuse, and frighten at every turn.

That is why Jesus has appointed a place for gathering and strength where He brings His in-the flesh reality: a place outside our hearts and minds with all its warring voices: a place to hear His Voice, to abide in His Word, and receive in the visible and sacramental substance His true body and blood in the bread and the wine.

Here our bodies and our souls are refreshed together in the temporal and eternal, the physical and spiritual in Jesus Christ.

Be gathered to Him and to each other, to confess our sins and receive the power of His crucified and raised body and blood. The churchly body of Jesus Christ is visible in the gathering of His saints as we are built up, abiding and drinking from the fountain of Truth in Christ Jesus.

We meet here in the flesh, to receive the benefits of our Saviour in His flesh, so that this frail flesh may no longer be afraid or confused, but freed to live in peace. Freed to give thanks for forgiveness of sin, newness of life, boldness to confess the faith that is given in Jesus Christ, who is the resurrection and the life. And joined through Christ with countless other believers the world over, from times past, and yet to come. Put your burdens upon the Lord and be delivered, vindicated, and freed in His truth and teaching from any attempts of the deceitful devil, the world or the flesh.

Rejoice, and glorify the Lord. You are baptized into Jesus, called to abide and believe in the Truth of God’s love in His Word as His sons and daughters, called and appointed for life eternal for our souls and these bodies as He keeps and defends us from the harm of the evil one. Rejoice and be glad in the light and the truth of Jesus Christ your Savior, Amen.

Pastor Aaron Kangas

3 weeks ago for the first Sunday in Lent, the Devil proposed that in His hunger, Jesus should make bread for Himself; the next week, the Caananite woman whose daughter was oppressed by demons said that even a crumb from the bread of the master’s table is all she asked for in order to be satisfied. Today in both the Old and the New Testament reading we hear about bread yet again. Jesus feeds the crowds with bread and fish in the wilderness, and in the Old Testament God feeds the exodus pilgrims in the wilderness with bread from heaven.

“What is this?” This is the question the Israelites asked when they first encountered the bread that God had so graciously given them from heaven; bread that literally covered the ground in amounts large enough to satisfy every single person with the dew of the morning. Yet they asked, “What is this?” “Ma ana?” From which we get the word: Manna.

Set within the immediate context of this lesson, it’s very easy to hear a “snotty voice” accompanying these words. “What is this?” You call this bread?! Are you serious?! Is this a joke!” The text tells us very plainly that the Israelites had been grumbling and complaining about how bad they had it as freed children of God, and how much “better” they had it as slaves when they were living under Pharaoh. 

Keep in mind, this is only about forty-five days after leaving the bondage in Egypt. They had just witnessed ten plagues; they were being led by pillars of cloud by day and fire by night; they probably still had dirt from the bottom of the Red Sea in the treads of their sandals after that miraculous crossing just a few weeks earlier. As fresh as it all was, none of that was registering. “That’s all great, but where’s the food?”

But what if the Israelites were actually asking their question out of genuine ignorance? What if they were genuinely hungry? I’m trying to put the best construction on all this. What if as they beheld the flaky stuff on the ground, they really, truly didn’t know what they were looking at? After all, it’s not like manna had ever appeared before. This was an entirely new and strange gift from God.

Now, these are the same people who will go on to grumble that they “have no bread, and they hate the bread they have.” They quickly come to hate the manna God so graciously gave them. How can you not look on these people with pitiful, angry disgust? But this is precisely why I want you to give honest thought to the fact that maybe, just maybe, at this moment they were asking ‘what is this?’ out of genuine ignorance and lack of understanding. 

Look in the mirror. Are you really any different in your entitled ingratitude and ignorance and forgetfulness of His gifts? Are we always contemplating the goodness of God? Sadly, I know that I’m not any different. I do not appreciate fully what it is that gives in all the plenteous ways He provides. I can confess this. Am I so snotty, bratty, entitled, and unbelieving so as to take such an arrogant stance against God and grumble and complain that I deserve so much better? Well, I wish I could say ‘no,’ but that’s not the truth. I have had my share of crosses that I was convinced I didn’t deserve, and just like the Israelites, I did grumble and complain to God about it…just like all of you have done too. It’s an ugly, sinful truth that nobody wants to admit to. 

How many times have you struggled and despaired and not recognized God’s gracious abundance in your midst? How many times have you missed or overlooked or just plain ignored the fingers of God at work in your midst, in your life, simply because you were looking for or expecting something very different; something more grand, more powerful, more showy? How many times does God show Himself in very real and tangible ways, and you just don’t get it? You don’t see it. You don’t recognize it. 

Sadly, if we’re honest, it happens. It happens to all of us, and there’s nothing snotty or bratty about it. Maybe we miss it because we’ve been blinded by grief or worry. It happens. Maybe it is because we are distracted by something else in our selfishness. In the end we don’t see what’s right in front of us. We don’t recognize Immanuel: God with us in all His bountiful goodness. 

What’s truly sad and regrettable is the fact that we do this with things that we’re already well-acquainted with. It’s one thing for the Israelites to ask ‘what is this?’ with the manna. As I said, it was an entirely new and strange gift from God. But what about us? God provides us with food and drink, house and home, family, friends, all that we need to satisfy us, but it’s not enough. We don’t see it as a gift. We want more. We all too often do not appreciate what we have been given. Then suddenly, things happen. Then, we struggle and despair; life gets tough; things get a bit sideways; things don’t shake out the way we want or expect, and we turn to God looking for some sort of miraculous sign or proof of His love or His presence as though it was never there. “God, where are you? Help! Why me? Why now? Don’t you care? Give me a sign and let me know that it’ll be alright.” You know, it’s easy to forget all the good that He has given us when things aren’t good or calm if we never had thought to appreciate it before. But even in the trouble, turmoil, pain, that may befall us in this sin plagued world, in those times when the devil is near to whisper doubts in our hearts, the Lord is still providing for our bodies and our souls.

God gives us proof of His love in the midst of our troubles by pointing us to the cross where the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, died on that cross reminding us of the weight of our sin and that by that sin we have never deserved anything but death and destruction… but we look at this gift, and we say, that’s great, but how does that help me now?
May God have mercy on us!

And the Lord does have mercy upon you and me even in our ingratitude even as He did to those wilderness pilgrims both in the Old Testament and New Testament lessons. Many of those people who followed Jesus did not understand who Jesus was but God had pity on them and fed them nonetheless.

But dear friends, we are not so ignorant. We are not called to remain in ignorance and unbelief. We are called, gathered, and enlightened to repent and receive from God His grace and forgiveness, to grow in wonder at His mercy and grow in appreciation, and not just for those things that keep our bodies living and breathing in its mortal frame. No, Jesus came, and Jesus died so that these bodies, our souls, may live forever. He gives us bread, meat, and life giving gifts to you and me far greater than the feeding of the Israelites at the time of Moses or in the feeding of the 5000.

Here and now God is raining down the dew of His gifts. The true manna from heaven is here in Jesus Christ. In the Word proclaimed in the liturgy, the hymns, the preaching, in the baptismal font as you entered the sanctuary reminding you when you entered into Christ’s Church. He is speaking to you the message of life. He is here, right where He tells you to look and listen; right where He has promised to be until the very end of the age. 

‘What is this?’ In the words of Moses, “This is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.” In the words of Jesus (words which He will speak just a few verses later in chapter 6), “I am the Bread of Life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.” It doesn’t get any clearer than that. Here is Christ. Here is the Bread of Life in the bread and the wine, with His body and blood, the rich meat, bread and drink which help us in our body and blood. It is He who opens our eyes of faith so that we can be truly satisfied body and soul, mind and heart.

God opens your eyes and ears of faith to not only recognize, but to hunger and thirst for this righteousness; the righteousness of Christ that avails to everlasting life. Jesus Christ has been crucified and raised for the forgiveness of your sins, for your eternal life and salvation. This Christ-centered peace—this Bread of Life—will completely fill and satisfy your soul so that no matter what life may bring, richer/poorer, sickness/health, feast or famine, you will always be satisfied in the over-flowing abundance of God’s mercy, grace, peace, and love in Jesus Christ’s name. Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas