When you hear the parable of the sower as Jesus told it in this morning’s text the first thing questions you might wonder are: what in the world is this sower guy thinking? Has he ever farmed before? What is he thinking throwing seed all over the place, on pathways, on rocky ground, in an area of thorns, and yes finally on fertile ground? Why waste good seed? Why the effort to sow where surely nothing of any profit will come forth and grow?

Well, this parable is obviously not a lesson in farming or gardening in the conventional sense. The purpose of this parable is to teach something else. This parable of Jesus teaches 2 major points for us to ponder about the reign of Jesus’ kingdom, in His earthly ministry and the Church.

The first point is that the ministry of the Church will not always look successful according to earthly measurements. Even Jesus’ own ministry does not seem very successful despite Jesus casting the seed of His Word through His teaching, preaching, and healing wherever He went. Now you may ask, “What are you talking about, pastor, the text says that there were great crowds coming and gathering around Jesus?” Yes it does. However, from the beginning of chapter 11 in Matthew onward, as Jesus revealed Himself as God’s Son and the Messiah, resistance began to arise not only from the Pharisees and Scribes, but the people as well.

Up to this time Jesus had been speaking in plain speech, but still the majority of the people did not get it. Chapter 12 shows that Jesus’ own earthly family did not quite understand and were actually trying to get Him to be quiet. Therefore, Jesus began speaking to the people in parables. The disciples came to Jesus in verses 10-17and asked Him specifically why He was suddenly speaking to the people in the hidden speech of parable, Jesus answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.” In the ministry of Jesus and the Church, despite the presence of pure teaching and preaching, there will still be some who reject it, others who respond but then fade away in the face of persecution or hardship, and others who believe for a time but then let the cares and temptations of the world ensnare them and they are lost. For as Jesus explained it, the seed which the sower sowed is the Word of the kingdom, the very Word of God which is life, yet most of the seed that is sown never produces fruit.

This brings us to point 2. Point two is this, despite the lack of understanding, despite the rejection, despite the shallow roots and hearts of short lived believers, despite the easily distracted and unfaithfulness of people, God is still careless, reckless, and generous with His love and mercy. God is the sower who recklessly casts His Love through the message of His Word which is that seed.

Without His ongoing love and mercy shown to all people through the ministry of His Word and Sacrament who could be saved? Nobody. The soil, any soil, would just lay dormant with the exception of weeds. That is the condition of the human heart apart from the life giving truth of God’s Word. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Because of original sin and fallen human nature, all people are spiritually dead in their trespasses and sin and are weedy and hard packed soil with nothing good in themselves. A garden full of weeds does nothing to get itself weeded but seems to almost revel in its weediness, so to it is with humanity, seeing what masses of sin it can accumulate for itself while it has the time. Yes the weeds have their own flowers which bloom and produce seed, a flower and seed which the self-righteous sinner would call a good work and by it claim merit, but that flower and that seed produced is not of the same kind as the Lord’s. That human seed is but a false hope fashioned in sin according to mankind’s own design and shall lead nowhere but to fading glory and the destructive fires of hell.

Salvation must come from outside the thorny walls of this hard packed soil of fleshy, rocky infertility. And so it is that the Lord God, heavenly Father comes with His Word sowing it with reckless abandon and love. Never in our own earthly gardens have we seen such a seed, a seed that comes with the power to weed even as it plants, a seed that makes fertile the soil that which was infertile. What is this seed? Where did it come from? The seeds which were sown by the sower must have come from the abundance and fruitfulness of another plant. This good parent plant from which all good plants must come was the seed that descended from on high. This seed is God’s own Son, Jesus Christ, planted in the womb of the Virgin Mary, who lived in perfection keeping all statutes of His Father’s Law, so that He would be a perfect substitute for the sins of the world in His own death upon the cross and whose body was planted in the earth when He was buried. This does not sound like a successful ministry, yet as Jesus said “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” Was His death a waste of a perfectly good seed? No! By His death, death is undone, by His obedience, disobedience is forgiven as the transgressions of the world were accounted to Him as He was crucified.

Jesus is the true seed, the righteous plant, the vine, who was crucified and then planted into the earth so that after three days He would rise again and the seed of His body would show forth the sign of the salvation and forgiveness which He has accomplished. He is by His resurrection the firstfruits of all the dead. By His death and resurrection the curse of sin, the accusation of the Law, and the power of the evil One are undone. This is the message of the Word which uproots the thorns of your heart. The Law of God tears and rips open our hearts like a plow and lays bare our sin so that repentance and hope in the mercy and Good News of Jesus Christ crucified and risen for your sins is able to be planted in you by water and the Word of Holy Baptism. There you also were crucified, buried, and brought to life through and in Christ and His precious blood. It is the Holy Spirit who grants faith, who gives ear to hear this Word of salvation, who overcomes sinful pride and hard hearts making them subject to the grace of His forgiveness. It is no gimmick, it is the truth of God’s reckless love and mercy that gives faith and life. The church does not need to market with gimmicks, this message, but continues using the tools which He has given: the true preaching of His Word in its purity, and the faithful administration of His Holy instruments of Grace, Baptism, Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper. It is the body and blood of Jesus Christ who is planted in your mouths in the receiving of this consecrated bread and wine. It is He who plants you in the faith and hope of His forgiveness.

But it is important that you come and receive the gifts through which this Word works. Another reality that the parable of the sower reveals is that there is much that is warring against the planting of this seed and the growth of its fruit. There is no, “Once saved always saved”. The devil is ever trying to pluck God’s Word from your ear by keeping you home instead of going to church, the thorns and cares of this world, the aggravating words and actions of those around us, the temptation of our flesh, the false teachings of the world around us, are all constantly trying to choke out your faith, and keep you and all God’s little ones from growing into Christ, but rather are seeking to destroy that faith, and replace it with eternal damnation.

But do not be afraid, by continuing to return to the cross, here to the place of forgiveness, here where He quenches you His little plants with the rainfall of living water in Word and Sacrament, your Lord and Savior will continue to keep you in that faith and protect you from your enemies. He will continue to give you His Holy Spirit to weed out your sins and remove their strangle hold in the confession of your sins and the receiving His forgiveness. He gives you ears to hear His Word and by His body and blood. He enables you to grow up into His fullness and bear His good fruit: Fruit of repentance, of love for your neighbor, of joy for this life and the life to come. Satan may try to pluck the hope of Jesus from your midst, but He cannot compete with the reckless casting of God’s grace in Jesus Christ. As you also live for Him and speak this message of Jesus Christ, do not become discouraged by lack of response. Keep sowing the seeds. His Word will not return to Him empty. As St. Peter says in his first epistle, “you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God”. Continue to rejoice in His Word and His reckless and abundant love as it sustains you in your vocation. Then return here to your Lord as He gives rest from your labor. Which He will continue to do until He calls you to His eternal rest, gathering you and all believers to Himself at His harvest time to live with Him forever in Jesus’ name and for His sake, Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

The IRS defines a “dependent” as “a qualifying child or relative who relies on you for financial support” and is usually living with you. Therefore, a person might say that “independence” is becoming self-sufficient, a part of growing up and becoming an adult, without the need of outside support.

Yet as we think of independence and the concept of “independence” on this 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States. On July 4, 1776 when the representatives of the 13 colonies made that “Declaration of Independence”, we might want to consider what does independence mean?

For those who wished to form a new nation, independence meant not having to pay taxes to a king and parliament who did not listen to the wishes or needs of their citizens (or soon to be former citizens) who seemed to not give their colonies and dependents any recourse for self rule or representation. To the patriots, independence meant freedom for self determination. Therefore they declared what they did, took up arms and formed a new nation. But what the Patriots of this new nation were to find out was the same lesson that so many other people find out when they move out from under the roofs of their parents. Independence isn’t easy. There ae difficulties and growing pains of inexperience, of making mistakes because of the lack of oversight, of moving forward without established guidelines and rules established to help guide and restrain. Of Good intentions without proper knowledge and experience to follow through properly. Such is the way of gaining maturity. So laws had to be made. Taxes from abroad, which brought about the revolution, now had to be levied domestically in order to support the new government, much to the upset of some ideals. Other battles would yet have to be waged to form a more perfect union, and so it continues.

You see, the concept of “independence” can be a good thing if a person has a perspective that has already been formed within them from a morality and ethos formed by the law of God, if they understand that independence doesn’t mean freedom from responsibility and respect for their fellow man. The reality is that nobody is nor can they be truly “independent” of anybody or anything. We all are dependent upon God and our fellow man. We cannot provide all things for ourselves. That would be what true independence would mean. But God upholds all creation even as He created it as I said before. He continues to guide and direct all things, allowing rain to fall, the sun to shine, and life here on earth to flourish. Despite sin. God has established society and government through talents and skills of people. Not all can farm and grow their own food, not all can craft and build, not all can protect from the evil within and without the hearts of mankind, Not all can fathers, mothers, Therefore, society needs the various vocations and trades through which God establishes a semblance of order and provision. But this perspective that does not come into the hearts of men and women magically. This perspective must come from God who has created all things and continues to keep a semblance of order even after mankind’s fall into sin. He has established His law upon the hearts of men and women to restrain the flesh of people, even those who do not believe. He continues to use governments to restrain the evil within in our flesh. St. Paul speaks about the main core of the problem in the epistle lesson for today. We are by nature in our flesh: sinful.

You see, our flesh wants to rebel against the law of God which is written in our hearts, and the Law which He has revealed in Scripture. Such is the state of mankind since the fall into sin.

Sadly, because of sin and our fallen nature, for many, the idea of independence is not a maturity. Their concept of “independence” comes from an attitude of rebellion and selfish desire. A desire to throw off the shackles of responsibility, a desire to do whatever one wants to do while being answerable to no one… or certainly not to a higher power than themselves. To them “Independence” is “not wanting to be told what to do”.

That was the problem for Adam and Eve. They didn’t accept that they were dependent upon God and were therefore supposed to follow His rules for their good and protection. They rebelled against the way of truth and life, and now all humanity and creation have been tainted by sin, and a corrupted mind. Paul nails it on the head. Death has now entered the picture as a result of sin. Humans are not naturally good. Since the fall, we are selfish and sinful whose desires and actions are very often not healthy but selfish and destructive to ourselves and all too often for society as well.

As St. Paul points out: very often we may have high ideals about what good we wish to do, but our flesh gets in the way and messes it up, so that: “I do not do what we want, but I do the very thing I hate. I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

The reality is that we all need rescue. We are all sinners, we all have failed and spiritually do not have freedom but are in bondage to sin, and subject now to death and the punishment that sin deserves.

The good news is that God knows our needs. He has sends a hero to rescue, redeem, and rule in a way that no earthly government could.
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is He.

Jesus Christ, comes as a king, not to enslave, not to rule for His own gain, but to release you from the bondage to sin, from the self-destruction of rebellion, to relieve you from the daily stresses and anxieties of trying to bear all things yourself in mad pursuit of an independence which cannot be obtained. The fact that we can be dependent upon God is a good thing.

Even though we wish like rebellious children to get out from the roof and rules of our parents who protect and provide for us, God continues to come to us, and remind us why He restrains and protects, why He applies the Law and at times, because He loves us. Therefore, He also provides the Gospel. The Good news that because Jesus Christ has come into the flesh, He has fulfilled the demands of the Law. Jesus has defeated death by dying on the cross. Therefore, we who have been imprisoned by sin, may truly be set free in Him by the forgiveness of sins. As we come to knowledge that we are dependent upon God for salvation by the forgiveness of sins which we could not attain, in that same faith, we become independent and set free from sin, death, and the power the devil. Our flesh is renewed in life by the power of Christ’s resurrection, even as it is set apart for resurrection at the last day.

Jesus, the Christ, your king speaks tenderly to you: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Dear friends, it is ok to be dependent upon God in Jesus Christ. It is important that we give Him thanks for the earthly governments that He provides to rule our society and celebrate the freedom that we have to worship Him here and to serve Him in this nation, but let us remember that we are citizens of a better nation, a heavenly kingdom which is a place of true rescue and freedom. In Christ, we are truly set free from sin, from fear, from death, and the rages of our sinful flesh.

Come and receive from Him mercy and comfort in His Word. It is good to be His children, to dwell within His household, to not seek independence from Him. Independence from Him is to return to relying on our own power which is powerless a future which is not pursuing happiness and life, but rather death and despair. In the household of the Church and His kingdom, our king provides life, mercy, forgiveness, peace, true maturity, and strength. Eat and drink at His table and be made strong in Him as your King comes to you righteous with His salvation for you in Jesus Christ’s name. Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

The Words of Jesus in today’s Gospel reading may seem jarring as He says, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth, I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” These words seem out of place for Jesus whom we also call the “Prince of Peace”.

The words of our Gospel text are a continuation of the previous verses of Matthew 10 which we heard last week. Jesus was talking originally to His disciples as He was sending them out for a time of service of preaching and teaching as practical experience for the time after He had ascended. He was letting them know that as they preached and taught this message, there would be definite reactions. There would be some who receive it, but there would also be many not only rejecting this message but who would react to the message of God’s truth by actively seeking to persecute them and those who would follow their teaching. In the verses for today, Jesus continues to describe the turmoil and grief that will most likely follow His disciples.

He mentions division in families. Is the message of Jesus anti-family as He says, that “He has come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and that a person’s enemies will be those of his own household”? No, Jesus doesn’t hate families, nor does He say that His disciples or believers must give up family ties in order to follow Him. Jesus is describing the results that may occur from the sword which He came to bring and wield.

You see, this sword which He brings is a powerful sword. It is not a sword and weapon used to cut people down and kill them mortally in the flesh, but His Sword is used to cut people down spiritually by the power of the Holy Spirit. This sword which Jesus has come to bring is the truth of God’s Word: His Law and His Gospel. St. Paul referred to God’s Word in such a way as he encouraged the Christians in Ephesians to be armored with “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”. Why would the Word of God be described as a sword? Scripture says in Hebrews 4: “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12

The Word of God is not a stagnant monument to ancient opinions of a few people. The Word of God is living and active, dynamic and powerful to its purpose, a purpose which the world, our own flesh, and Satan do not like one bit. The Word of God pierces, slices, and cuts. It does not kill the mortal body but it does kill the flesh and the temptations and weaknesses of the flesh spiritually and morally.

This is the purpose of the Law which St. Paul described so well in our Epistle lesson for today. It’s wonderful to see how these readings fit together. The purpose of the Law is to cut away at the hypocrisy of sin, to cleave away at people’s false exteriors and expose that sin so that it might be put to death. The Law kills. It shows a sinner that they deserve to die according to the Law, and it shows the hypocrite that they too are a sinner and cannot save themselves according to the Law, but are only fooling themselves. The Law kills, but its proper purpose is to bring the hope of healing by the forgiveness of sin. The Law exposes the sin, so that the necessity of salvation is seen outside oneself, to repent, seeking God’s mercy. The Gospel is the message of forgiveness and mercy outside oneself, the message that Jesus is the only One who can bring true peace, not the temporary peace and prosperity of this world, but peace with the Father now and throughout eternity. Peace that could only be earned through Jesus Christ’s active keeping of the Law in all its righteous demands, going to the cross to be crucified and pierced for mankind’s iniquities. In and through His flesh, He undertook the sword of righteousness to make war against Satan, the world, and sinful flesh to bring about the victory of peace and the promise of eternal life through forgiveness of sin given through faith in Him. Jesus does promise peace but As Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. (John 14:27) And again: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Dear Friends, this is why Jesus said in today’s text, “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” The world and sinful flesh balk and rebel against that sword which is the Word of God. Our sinful flesh and the flesh of the world does not want to be subjected to the uncomfortable truth of God’s Word. We all, like our parents before us, going all the way back to Adam and Eve want to make ourselves: god. As little gods, humans make rules which make us feel better about ourselves, and then we make exceptions to those rules to excuse us when we don’t live up to our own self-made definitions of piety. This is why proclaiming God’s Word in its truth and purity is not popular and can seem divisive, it is because when the Law does its job of killing pride; pride doesn’t want to die. The flesh wants to keep on in its sin. It doesn’t matter to our flesh that God sees through the hypocrisy of lip service when we have every intention of returning to our sin: to our adulteries, our slanders, our blasphemies. To live in such a way is to live bearing fruit only for death: eternal death. The flesh doesn’t want to be rebuked, the flesh does not want to hear that it cannot contribute to salvation, therefore its response is often venom, hatred, and persecution. It doesn’t want to be subject to God’s Word and its active piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

This objection can only be overcome by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the power of that Word of God as it works through Scripture, through preaching, teaching, rebuking, reproving, so that when all hope and faith in self and sins of the flesh are put to death in repentance, then the sweet salve and balm of God’s Word is applied in Jesus Christ. This is what happened in your baptism, the old sinful flesh was put death and crucified with Christ and so that by His Holy Spirit Christ is now placed upon you and living in you.

This name of the Holy Triune and the mark of the cross marks you as belonging to Him, as a child of promise and forgiveness in Jesus’ name. As such, however, you will be marked by your heavenly father’s enemies as one to attack. Who are these enemies? St. Paul says “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

Yes they will attack the truth of God’s Word, they will invite you to doubt whether God really said this or that. They will perhaps use family, friends, and coworkers to weaken the steadfastness of your confession, who will say you are being too hardnosed about your doctrine and confession. That you are a hater for rebuking sin, and calling truth truth. Satan will try to whisper doubt and confusion in understanding that the Gospel means nothing unless the Law is applied, yet you must also be able and willing to follow the Law proclamation with the life giving message of Jesus Christ crucified and risen for the forgiveness of sins.

As Jesus said, I now say to you: Have no fear, do not be afraid: Look to the cross and remember Jesus Christ has overcome the world. So too by His strength and power He will bring you safely through all your troubles, hardships, pains, aches, and persecutions. As a believer you called to continue to battle against your flesh, the world, and the devil who would tempt you away from God. When you sin, you are called by God to examine yourself by His Word of the Law and repent as we do in confession and absolution. Then peace between you and God is restored in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

You are forgiven, you are His precious child. Continue to abide in Him and His Word and you will not be moved. Take and eat, take and drink, here is the true body and blood of Jesus Christ given for you for peace, forgiveness, and strength as you hold fast to His teaching until the end. He will give you the strength by His Word to confess His name. You are able to “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” The Holy Spirit puts this armor on you as you come here to be served by Him in Word and Sacrament, as you pray, and as you come to Bible Study and be subjects and students of His Word, which is His sword. It is His living and active sword of the spirit acting to pierce the evil by the Law and give life and salvation by the Good News that Jesus Christ is crucified, resurrected and ascended. He has overcome the world for you, and by His forgiveness you have overcome the world already, and at the last day you will in fullness receive His glory, eternal peace, and resurrected victory in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

When [Jesus] saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36) Jesus had compassion. The Greek is esplagxnisthay. This refers to a deep visceral pain deep within himself, a primal response from deep within the essence of His being. This, we are told, happened at a few different points of His Ministry. He suffers on behalf of his pathos for the suffering of people. This compassion of Jesus is one of the deepest, richest, and most comforting of His qualities for any believer in this life. He knows what you are going through and He suffers with and for you.

The reason for this compassion within Jesus in today’s Gospel is the spiritual state of the people. They were like unprotected sheep: Sheep without a shepherd. As such, they are described as wearied, harassed, the Greek implies that they were “cast away”. How? Why? What does this mean? It means that those who were supposed to be spiritual caregivers, leaders, and guides were not doing their job. Like all too often in the Old Testament, those whom God had established to be spiritual caregivers were shirking their duties. The Levites and the Priests were not teaching the people rightly, they had not been preparing them to live in humble faith and repentance.

The words harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd tell us that the people were the constant target of an evil bully. They were like a flock of sheep surrounded by a pack of wolves. The wolves constantly probing, nipping, consuming. Who were these? The false teachers. The Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees, religious movements whose members emphasized the study of the Law and Old Testament not for the sake of understanding God and His mercy and to grow in faith but for the sake of vain philosophy and pride in doing more works than others. As Jesus said in Matthew 22: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness.” Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. (Mt. 23: 15, 23)

These false teachers, hypocrites, and blind guides, were the wolves seeking to take God’s Word, twist it and use it to deceive and destroy, while casting out as refuse and worthless those who lived simply by faith in the Messianic promises as repentant believers. Therefore Jesus groans for them and said to His disciples: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Mt. 9:37-38)

With that, we are introduced to the 12 disciples and their names. These are they whom Jesus chose to be an answer to those wolves, and to supplant those who had been appointed to be shepherds but had only been unfaithful hirelings protecting God’s flock. Interesting fact here. Notice the language used. Only 2 Weeks ago on Trinity Sunday, we heard Jesus send out the disciples with the command: ” Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” But here Jesus sends them out saying: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Interesting. 2 things here. One is that this was temporary sending out of the disciples. This was like their internship or as we use in our churches, a type of vicarage. A time of trial for the disciples in a prophetic role which they would continue later. But this time also had a slightly different message content. It was a sending out to continue the message of preparation by repentance as John the Baptizer had proclaimed. It was to show that the kingdom of heaven was about to be proclaimed and redeemed in the very person and work of Jesus the Christ, the promised Messiah, the true and faithful Shepherd of God’s flock. The second sending was a message that redemption had been accomplished.

The second point regarding this is to answer the question “why were they sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel this time and not all nations?” Well, the reason is because these were already sheep. They were believers though weak and set upon by the wolves. This message was one of encouragement. Hang in there. Keep the faith. Do not give in to the temptations to despair or turn to a false religion of works, philosophy, or anything that Satan would try using to steal them away. Your Shepherd King is fighting for you and will deliver you from the Devil and his wolfish sons of hell!

Do you think Satan likes his lies to be debated? Do you think wolves who are feasting wish to have their lunch interrupted? O course not! That is why Jesus a few passage later in Mt. 10 tells the disciples: “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”

He warns them that the enemy will not be easily defeated by words and deeds, but that the Lord would protect and deliver them.

Dear Friends in Christ, the battle continues even today. There are today many false shepherds who are hirelings, false prophets, and wolves in the employ of Satan seeking to harass, destroy, and consume people in spiritual darkness, unbelief, and misbelief.
They know how to appeal to your heart and mind as you struggle in your own flesh with the wolf of human pride within. I struggle too. That voice which says “take the easy way, do your own thing” or “God doesn’t love you” or “I am pretty great”.

Jesus the Great and Good Shepherd knows what is going on in your hearts and minds even if nobody else knows or understands. Jesus in His compassion and love came for you. He came to take your sin, your troubles, the weight of your spiritual enemies off of you. Be comforted! Repent and believe that Jesus has died upon the cross for you to take your sins, to defeat the enemy. To keep you from being consumed by the wolves, to be taken to the depths of hell. Jesus became exhausted by His work and the attacks of the devil as He died so that you may be given strength by the forgiveness of sins which He has won for you by His sacrifice. He has won for you the kingdom of heaven, so that you may eternally rest in Him with the Father, Holy Spirit, the angels, and all the saints. But you are able to rest in Him now. You are able to be comforted now.

This is why He continues to send out His Word, why He sends out pastors today to be His shepherds striving to be faithful in proclaiming His Word, protecting His flocks, teaching them to fight back against the Devil, the World and the flesh, in the name of Jesus Christ who is your Savior Redeemer. He is the one who fulfilled God’s justice, by God’s mercy and faithfulness in Him.

You were lost, but God found you with His Word and brought you into His flock by Baptism into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There you received the benefits of Christ’s death and resurrection and made you His child and part of the harvest of believers. Remember God’s promise to you here.

Be strengthened as His sheep huddled closely under the cross of your Shepherd, draw near to Him by hearing His Word in Scripture, hymnody, and the liturgy, wherein you hear His voice soothing and singing to you as He leads and guides you through this life as you grow in His wisdom, love, and faith.

Know that the victory of Jesus Christ over sin, death, and the devil is already yours. You have confessed your sins and have been absolved, now by the hand of His undershepherd, be fed the Holy things which bring Christ’s forgiveness for you. Be comforted as you eat and drink Christ’s body and blood in the bread and the wine. This is our victory feast in Christ Jesus. Here is where your exhaustion from the taunts and torments of the week may be shed from you and placed upon Christ once more.

Then go from here fearless even in the face of the daily battles that await. Your Father in heaven has sent you the Holy Spirit which you received in this Word and these gifts. He who has redeemed you will keep you in this faith. He who has spoken His Word to you has given you means to silence the Devil by confessing that faith which has been given unto you in Christ.
You are not helpless. You are not a sheep without a Shepherd. Your Shepherd Jesus Christ loves you and continues to not only “feel for you”, but He loves you and actively fights for you, intercedes for you, redeems you. Continue to confess and believe Jesus Christ crucified and raised and He who is faithful, will bring you safely to our eternal joy and rest: the full realization of the kingdom of heaven, in Jesus Christ, Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

Today’s Gospel lesson teaches us a spiritual truth while using rather conventional wisdom. “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.”

How do you know that you are sick instead of well and should go to see the physician? Usually the symptoms. You have a fever? You must be sick. You have a cough, weakness, pain, etc., you must be sick. There you go. Of course, the sick should go to the doctor, to find out how to become well once more or at least alleviate the symptoms. The “well”, that is the “healthy” should probably save their money as they have no trouble that needs treatment.

Ah, but you see the trouble is this: some illnesses have few visible symptoms until it is far advanced. This is not to terrify you, but it is the truth. Recently, for example, 41 year old NASCAR driver Kyle Busch died of sepsis, which is the catastrophic collapse and shutting down of the body in response to some other issue or illness within the body. He had some symptoms, but he and his doctors did not take them seriously until it was too late. Many other things are like that. Heart Disease, Various cancers, etc. When it comes to our physical health, there may not be signs and symptoms, but then again there may be signs and symptoms, but a person may not recognize them, or they may choose to ignore them: “I’m just getting old”, “I don’t want to bother anyone”, “I’m tough, I can handle it”, “I hate doctors”. You see, they do not want to admit that there is a problem until it is too late.

Such is also the case when it comes to the Spiritual state of mankind. The difference between the Spiritual and the physical health of people is that I would argue that the symptoms of spiritual illness are far more obvious and definitive than many of our physical ailments. I am sure all of you know what this disease is: It is sin. What is the symptom? Death… and all its accompaniments: sickness, evil, frustration, sadness, thorns, poverty, greed, pride, etc. Sin is the falling short of God’s perfect healthy Law which Adam and Eve were first created to live. Before sin, there was nothing but good health of both the body and the soul. When Adam and Eve sinned, death entered into the picture. You see, there is a direct connection between the spirit and the body and its well being. They are not separate. Once the spirit and mind became tainted with sin by rebellion against the health of God’s pure Law, the bodies of humanity began to wear and bear the symptoms of sin and death even as God had warned them. Sin is the sickness: a disease that effects the mind, and then also the body ending in a terminal prognosis: death, death of the body here in time, but also eternal death and punishment in Hell. Holy Scripture reveals the diagnosis, the prognosis, and the solution. Creation itself, beautiful as it is, tells us that something is wrong through death and violent events.

There are some people who do not know how to read the signs within themselves, society, or creation correctly nor understand what exactly is wrong or what to do about it because they have not heard the truth of Holy Scripture. But there are others who simply do not care to deal with it, even if they have been told the why in Christian witness. They choose to ignore the symptoms of spiritual illness and collapse. There are many, who when told what is the matter and what is the cure still insist that they are well and/or have no need of help. They will use similar excuses as those who can detect something is amiss with their physical bodies but mysteriously refuse treatment. Perhaps some even enjoy and take pride in the symptoms of this disease of sin. Or they say something like: “I’m not that bad a sinner”. “I don’t need God. I can handle it myself.” “How dare you call me a sinner”?

That was the case in the Gospel lesson for today. Many tax collectors and sinners were coming to Jesus to eat with Him and speak with Him and His disciples. At least this was the perspective of the Pharisees. The dregs of society are going to Jesus and He doesn’t send them away? How could He be a teacher sent from God? Surely, He would not want to hang with such scum if He were a “Holy Man”. For it was to the attitude of the Pharisees that Jesus said: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.”

Did Jesus mean that only some are spiritually sick with sin and need help from God? That those who are spiritually well don’t need Him? As though there is a way to become well without His help? NO. that is not what He meant. As Romans 3:23 says: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. But you see, the Pharisees saw themselves as well, as spiritually holy, healthy, hale, and hearty. They are doing just fine. “I can keep the Law, thank you very much, and to show just how holy I am, I and my brother Pharisees will add to God’s Law to show just how healthy and good we are.”

But it was all for show. As Jesus laments in Matthew 23: “The scribes and the Pharisees do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues.” (Mt. 23:5,6)
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So, you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Mt. 23:27,28)
To humans, appearances are deceiving, but God knows the heart. God desires mercy and not sacrifice. In other words, outward sacrifice with a heart that is proud and unrepentant is not well though it may appear so to others. Just saying that you are holy and just, that you are a good person and spiritually healthy and does not help does not make it so. In fact, the road to “spiritual wellness” and health is going to the physician Jesus Christ in repentance, by admitting that you are not well, that you are a sinner, that you need the help that only God can give by His mercy. This is the sacrifice that pleases God as it is written in Psalm 51:17 “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, you will not despise, O Lord.”

So, we also flee to the Great Physician, Jesus Christ. The Law has exposed our death sentence and the seriousness of our sin, but Jesus tells us the cure: believe in Him. Have faith in His mercy and love. He will take your sin and mine, drawing it from you, and infusing it upon Himself. That is why Jesus came to earth. To be the right and true sacrifice. The One who takes the punishment, the burden, the sickness, and wretched estate of sin from us and places it upon His pure and Holy self. He died upon the cross with those sins, and each time that we look to Him, confess and are absolved, He removes those sins from us once more and covers us with the robes of His righteousness by the forgiveness of sins.

We then gather at table fellowship with Jesus. Now the world may look and see sinners of various kinds and labels us as such, but now for the sake of Christ, we are forgiven, we are healed and healing. We are declared spiritually well, and by the Holy Spirit working in us faith, gratitude, joy, and hope, we are then also made well.

Good Works, those things which the Pharisees took so much pride in, are important. But good works are not done in pride of ourselves, nor to show how good and healthy we now think we are compared to others. Lives of believers should strive to show good works to God’s glory, to the praise of Him, to the good of our neighbors. As Jesus said in Matthew 5: “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

So then “I desire mercy and not sacrifice” applies to us in relation to our neighbor. We who have received mercy from God, we who have received the medicine of immortality in the Sacrament of the Altar in the precious blood and body of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, how could we not also show the symptom of Spiritual health by being merciful to others? We seek to care for and love others as God has loved us. We seek to heal people in their physical or mental troubles by pointing to them to their greater Spiritual needs and their fulfillment in Christ and faith in Him from which all true health begins.

Though we are made spiritually well by the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ, we will always have need for our Physician. We return week after week to the place of His Divine Service. This is more than a check up with an earthly doctor. This is where we come tired, battered, and bruised by the ongoing attacks of sin in our bodies and souls, attacked by the devil, the world, and our flesh. Here the Lord once more applies the salve and healing ointment of baptismal remembrance, He comforts us with the forgiveness of sins and His love in Jesus Christ, He prescribes His Word and Supper, and because Jesus Christ has been crucified and raised triumphant, we have our prognosis: eternal life and joy forever for Jesus Christ’s sake and in His name, Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

In the second book of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy, he introduces a fantasy character named Treebeard. Treebeard looks like a tree with the exception that he can walk, talk, and feel emotions. He is a member of a race that loves and cares for trees. As Treebeard explains who he is to some of the other characters in the book, one of the things that he says is, “If something is worth saying, it is worth taking a long time to say.” I think Treebeard would like the Athanasian Creed. It does take a long time to read. But there is another reason why Treebeard would like this Creed. He also said something about names. He said: “Real Names tell you the story of the things they belong to.”

Now, if you are one of those who thinks this old and honorable creed is just a little on the long side, you should be very thankful for the theologians who came up with the words “Trinity and Triune”. If it weren’t for these words, you would have to haul out the Athanasian Creed every time you wanted to talk about the community of three persons who are one God. The words “Trinity and Triune” save a lot of time in theological discussions whenever we want to talk about the true God who is a community of three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

There are those who try to tell us that because the word “Trinity” is not in the Bible, that God is not a three person community in one God. They would argue that because the word “Triune” does not exist in the Bible, the idea of the Triune God is wrong. That is a little bit like saying that before Isaac Newton described the operation of gravity and gave us words and mathematics so that we could talk about it, gravity didn’t apply and things went flying off into space.

Things do not come into existence because we have words for them. In fact, the opposite is true. We humans come up with words for things because they already exist and we use those words to identify what is real. So it is that theologians came up with the words “Trinity” and “Triune” so that we can talk about the importance of God, as we examine the story, as it were, or even better “explain” the definition of the reality of each person within the unity of the godhead. So we can shorten the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to the word “Trinity” for discussion, but by using these terms we must also mean that the Triune God is three persons who are coequal, coeternal, uncreated and so on as we say in the creeds. But by shortening the name and describing God as Triune, we able refer to God without having to recite each of the Historic creeds every time we want to discuss the things of God.

The reality of the Trinity is true just the same. In fact, it is only because of the reality of the Trinity and their workings that we can even understand Scripture and God at all.

It is the Father who created all things perfectly, though mankind caused sin and imperfection, the Son then obeyed His Father and fulfilled the Law in the flesh and made a perfect sacrifice on the cross to pay for the sins of the world in order to restore mankind to perfection by faith and hope of life eternal, and it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that the minds of humanity can begin to understand the realities of God through faith. It is only by the gift of faith from God that we can understand the meanings of Holy Scripture as God speaking to us and revealing His love and will for us, which is: repentance and salvation in His name. Through God’s revealed Word and the sacraments, the Holy Spirit overcomes the hardness of our hearts and ignorance of our sin, so that we may believe who and what God is, even if we don’t fully understand by reason or know the Athanasian Creed by heart. We can understand the reality of God’s love and give Him glory for it and then appreciate the mystery of God, study it, ponder it, and take the time to say it, confess Him, even it takes a long time to say it, because it is worth saying: for He who is timeless, created time, shaped, formed, and entered time in order to love and bring salvation for such small, mortal, and oftentimes rebellious creatures such as you and I. All so that we can in Jesus Christ be brought into eternity, brought into God’s perfection and rest by the forgiveness of our sins.

If we did not have this unique and special revelation from God so that we may believe rightly, we would be left with only a “so-called” natural knowledge of God which does not save. I am referring to how we are born sinful without a right knowledge of God, but rather born with an enmity, a separation from Him, a fear and almost mistrustful hatred of a being far above us.

Throughout the ages, people of every tribe and tongue have tried to use nature to understand the meaning of life and who God is. Based on that ignorant natural knowledge of God, people will look to the forces of nature and may see Him as an all-powerful God, but also One who is angry, and has mood swings, a God who needs to be appeased. Some people have thought, maybe there are many different gods controlling many different aspects of creation. They end up envisioning and creating a god after their own image and experience. If they are a war-like people, they make for themselves a war-like god. If people are thinkers, they may think that he is a thinking god. Whatever it is, people make God into their own image, as they combine nature with their own self-awareness and experience. If you base God on one’s own imagination and natural revelation and experience, you will get a religion that is always a variation on “salvation through works” with some accompanying image of an impersonal God.

This is why the Trinitarian message of Christianity is unique to all of the world’s religions. We are not the same. This message was revealed by God, Himself. Christianity is the only religion who confesses a loving, just God who comes to His creation in their sin, who provides salvation not because we deserve it but because He desires it: because His nature is one of love. He is a God who grants grace and salvation outside of our goodness, or proving our worthiness to be saved. This is different than all other religions, that difference is proof of its truth. Man’s interpretation of God sees God only through the lens of pride, and what mankind wishes he himself was, that is why in the end a religion devised by man, gives glory to one’s self or to the knowledge and greatness of man.
In Christianity, it is the opposite, because God sees us just as we are: sinners, rebels who are now helpless, lost and destined to eternal death, and so, the Father sends His Son to the rescue, so that He would accomplish the works of the law and the punishment of the Law for us through His death on the cross. Through His resurrection, we have the promise of eternal life as our sins are forgiven through faith in Him and His merits. The Holy Spirit gives us the ability to believe, He gives us the gift of faith. It is that faith in God and the forgiveness of sins worked by Christ, that gives life, and through it we are changed, comforted and we are given direction and purpose in this life. We are pointed away from ourselves to give glory to God rather than ourselves.

That is why Jesus gives the command in today’s Gospel text. It is important that the name of the Lord God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be proclaimed, explained, confessed, and carried forth into the world. This message, this confession, and the description of who God is, is the only way that people can come to faith and be saved from their sins and their ignorant idolatry of various kinds. This witness can start simply as summarized in Christ’s commission or the preaching of St. Peter in our Acts reading, but it is only a starting point. Coming to faith, becoming stronger in that faith, explaining that faith, over coming unbelief and misbelief is the work of the Holy Spirit who works through words. And those words are worth pondering, studying, and saying and repeating even it takes many words or seems to take a long time to do it. It is based on God’s Word and therefore it has power and meaning, even it seems to be taking a long time to be said or for somebody to be turned and converted. The Lord will do it in His time and in the meantime, as we study, as we confess, as we receive His communication in His Word, returning to God’s promise to us in Baptism, receiving Christ’s body and blood in the bread and the wine, confessing the creeds, the liturgy, the hymns of the Church, praying and serving in our vocations, we become changed, stronger in faith and understanding and confidence in knowing God’s Love and sharing it with others.

And know that God comes to you and me as He gathers us at the cross through the waters of Baptism and renews us in the celebration of Christ’s Body and Blood. It is though these that He prepares us for eternity, where we shall forever give glory to our Triune God. Let us ever give thanks unto Him, who continues to take care of our physical and spiritual needs on this side of heaven. He comforts, forgives, and gives us knowledge, wisdom, and strength unto life everlasting in the name and to the glory of our Triune and loving God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

Have you ever taken a drink of water from a glass that has been sitting out for hours and hours, maybe even a day or two? How did it taste? Most likely stale and weird, because stagnant water tastes nasty. The reason for that is because still water loses the natural gases and oxygen that is in the water when it is first poured and after time you are left with a flatness, perhaps making the taste of chemicals and minerals in the water stand out more. It is this presence of gas that makes any kind of water taste good and taste alive, you might say. In order for there to be this aliveness or oxygenation in the water, there needs to be pressure or movement and mixing with air. In our water systems at home, this is often replicated as the water gets flushed and poured out in our different plumbing systems. This process of moving the water and causing oxygen and air to get into the water replicates the natural motion and movement of water that occurs when water bubbles up from an artesian well or water that is being tossed about over rocks in a stream, brook, or river. This is part of why we as humans enjoy fountains so much, why the movement of water gives us joy. If we went for a drink in a pond or bog where the water doesn’t move, it would not be pleasant and would only quench our thirst in the most desperate of times, and it may even be dangerous as bacteria and other microorganisms love still water. So the key for tasty, living water is the freshness that comes from moving, oxygenated, naturally purified water.

In the Gospel text for today, Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'” If we wonder “what does this mean?” we don’t have long to wait, because John the evangelist immediately tells us what it means. He writes, “Now this He said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

In other words, Jesus was prophesying about the gift of the Holy Spirit that would be given at Pentecost. As we heard in the book of Acts, there were the visible manifestations or proofs to His presence. First was the rush of wind with its sound, then came the divided tongues of fire upon each person, then the speaking in tongues which when translated properly refers to dialects or actual languages. The disciples actually spoke in different languages so that when they left the house all those from different lands with different languages could hear the message of Jesus Christ in their own native tongue.

Notice how this is described in Acts as a direct quote from the prophet Joel: “And in the last days, it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit and there will be all kinds of signs.” There are two things in that quote to emphasize: one is that it says in the “last days” He shall accomplish this. That means, my friends, contrary to those who expect the last days to be coming, they are wrong. The last days are already here! The Last Days refers to all the time that is left after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus into heaven. The Last Days refers to the New Testament era. The last days have been going on for almost 2,000 years!

What is the working of the Holy Spirit though? Is it merely in the working of signs and miracles? Does the Holy Spirit come so that people may have a great emotional uplifting and feel good about themselves as so many of the Pentecostal Christians today believe. No, the Holy Spirit comes with a purpose, the purpose of the Holy Spirit’s coming on Pentecost was greater than the visible signs apparent that day. What the church of the apostles and of the early Christians experienced as the reality of the Holy Spirit was not first of all the spectacular gifts of the Spirit which occurred at that time, the gifts of healing, prophecy, speaking in tongues, and whatever else has in the church’s history been regarded as extraordinarily miraculous manifestations of the Spirit. Far more important were the great and lasting workings of faith, hope, and love in the calling, converting and gathering of believers. This is what the Holy Spirit came to bring: faith, hope and love.

How does the Holy Spirit come to humans? The other part of the passage in Joel and Acts that gives us the key to understanding is: “I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh”. There is the river of living water. There it is in the working of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps you recall that I have mentioned in the past that the Spirit is pictured as the breath of God, the Holy breath and air from God. Air is required for speaking. Air is what makes water “living water”.

We are told that on that Pentecost day, there was a sound of rushing wind. Now it is true that the Apostles themselves were first filled with the living breath of the Spirit when Jesus breathed upon them, but now again they were filled by the rushing of the breath of God on Pentecost, so that through their vocalized breath in public proclamation, the message of Law and Gospel would bring faith, hope and love to all others. This is to the glory of God’s grace and love, not to the credit of the Apostles in the signs that were present.

In Acts, after verse 21 where our reading ends, Peter doesn’t say “Yeah, we have the gift of the Holy Spirit and you don’t because we are better;” no, he points to the glory of God’s Grace in Jesus Christ. Peter by the power of the Holy Spirit does exactly for the crowd what Jesus did for the disciples. He opened the Scriptures to the people to see Jesus as the fulfillment of all prophecy, that He was the Messiah, that He died and rose again. That is the totality of the message and purpose of the Holy Spirit.

The whole mission and purpose of the Holy Spirit was to convict people of sin to repentance by the law, so that the Good News of salvation and forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus Christ could be preached and proclaimed. The power of the Holy Spirit is that of changing hearts of stone to hearts of love, hearts and minds that have been crushed by sin and built back up again in the love that God has shown them in Jesus Christ.

The people asked Peter and the rest of the Apostles, “Brothers, what must we do? Peter said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

Just imagine this witness by Peter and the other disciples, the very same who only 50 days earlier were huddled together in the upper room afraid and ignorant, with no understanding at all. This is the power of the Holy Spirit. He works through the Word of God, through Holy Baptism to make a change, to replace unbelief with belief, to replace ignorance with wisdom. To make those who didn’t know what to say, to declare the great works of God’s Grace in Jesus Christ. It is a life lived out in faith in Jesus Christ that is meant when Jesus said “out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. This river of living water has as its source not our hearts, not any signs worked by the Holy Spirit, but the one to whom the Holy Spirit bears witness, Jesus Christ Himself. When Jesus paid the price for sin on the cross with His own innocent suffering and death, He was pierced through with a spear, and from His side came pouring forth the living waters of His sacrifice, His own blood and water from His body. This river flows from the cross, from the One who died but also rose again, so that the water and blood shed in His death would now give life. That is the importance of Holy Baptism, why Peter said “be baptized”. If regular air infused with regular water makes it taste more alive and delicious, how much more does the living breath of God in His active spoken preached Word make water more than plain water in Holy Baptism? How much more does it quench the thirst for righteousness as it delivers the righteousness of Christ? How much more does this water infused with the Word of God purify and cleanse these human bodies made mostly of water and transforms them to be vessels to pour forth His Word in breathing and speaking forth His Word to our neighbors, coworkers, classmates, and family after having received it here in faithful preaching and teaching by the Office of the Holy Ministry.

The Holy Spirit continues to manifest the works of God to work faith in the hearts of men and women today which is a miracle of salvation by the changing of hearts and minds.

We have been given the gifts or fruits of the Spirit which are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Though we may fail in living out this and allow our own sinful selves to stop the flowing of the living water by our own sin, we are called to repent and return to the cross, to be reminded of our Baptism. Be absolved and forgiven again in Jesus name. Then we receive the living water of the Word made flesh in the Lord’s Supper where Jesus Christ comes to us with the Holy Spirit and the Love of the Father by His body and blood to drink and eat and be satisfied in the blessings of His cross and resurrection. Through Him we are filled, renewed, and refreshed by this pouring forth of the Grace of God. We rejoice in receiving this living water and may we ever thirst for it. As now we go out from here with hearts flowing with His living water may our neighbors be blessed and God be glorified through Jesus Christ our Redeemer, Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

This past week much has happened in the political realm. Donald Trump travelled to China to meet with President Xi Jinping and returns home to rising inflation due to the ongoing conflict with Iran. States both blue and red continue to form and reform congressional districts in order to control the federal legislative branch this fall and into the future.

As interesting as politics are, and indeed we are called to be active and aware of things in the public sphere, and of course, we are called to pray for all those in authority, we Christians, have a different perspective on world politics and events from the rest of the world around us. Especially on this day when we observe the Feast Day of Christ’s Ascension.

The Epistle lesson speaks of the end result of the Ascension this way: “He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places”.

When you hear that the Father seated Jesus at His right hand or when we confess in the Nicene Creed that Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father what do you think of? Do you picture Jesus sitting up in heaven, static, unable to leave, twiddling his thumbs, and waiting patiently for His Father to give Him the signal that the time has come for Him to return again in glory? What is He up to as He sits at the right hand of the Father?

First thing we need to clear up is this “right hand” business. The sacred writer is not giving you hints about heavenly throne room organization, so that when you get to heaven you’ll know on which side of the Father to look to see the Lord Jesus. The right hand of God is bigger than that!

Recall the words of the Psalmist: “The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted.” Ps. 118:16
The right hand of the Lord in scripture is not a place, but an almighty power: a source of authority and rule!. And so to say that Jesus is seated at the right hand of God is merely to say that He has all power, that He rules and governs all things! Listen again to how Paul said it in Ephesians: “He raised Christ from the dead and seated him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the age to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” Eph 1:20-23

So, when we confess in the Creed that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father, we confess that the human nature which Jesus assumed from the womb of the Blessed Virgin in which He offered to God the sufficient ransom to release all people from the debt of sin and the power of death; this same human nature has now been exalted and raised above every other height, glory, and power imaginable. He has been given the exercise of all Divine power in heaven and on earth. The One who bears in His hands the scars of the crucifixion nails now rules over all! He is in charge of everything!

So, when You or I complain about the way things go in our lives, when we gripe about the troubles and events of the world, politics, or of the Church, we are actually complaining about the way the Crucified and Risen One sees fit to govern, aren’t we? We are actually grumbling against our Lord. Puts a different perspective on life, doesn’t it? Us pitting our puny wisdom and ideas against the omnipotence and wisdom of Christ and what He allows and through which He works His will.

In the early days of the Church, the active rule and authority of Jesus Christ in this world was not forgotten. Even as the persecutions raged and people died for the faith, they never forgot the One in charge. There’s a writing called the Martyrdom of St. Polycarp that was written in the earliest days of the Church, in the early 2nd century. It’s a fascinating document retelling some of the persecutions performed against the early church, but where it really soars is when it talks about the circumstances surrounding the time, place, and under whose authority St. Polycarp’s death occurred. It reads thusly: “It was the second day of the first fortnight of Xanthicus, seven days before the calends of March, when our blessed Polycarp died his martyr’s death two hours after midday on the Greater Sabbath (referring to a Sunday). The official responsible for his arrest was Herod; the High Priest was Philip of Tralles; and the proconsul was Statius Quadratus – BUT THE RULING MONARCH WAS JESUS CHRIST, WHO REIGNS FOREVER AND EVER. TO HIM BE ASCRIBED ALL GLORY, HONOR, MAJESTY, AND AN ETERNAL THRONE FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION.” (Martyrdom of Polycarp, par. 21)
What confidence and peace those early Christians had as they remembered and confessed who it is who sits upon the throne of this universe and gives ultimate deliverance even at the time of death. The one who allows even evils such as persecution to accomplish His will: for the spread of the Gospel! This truth can also give the same confidence and peace to us today.

There is even more to being seated at the right hand of God. Our Lord Jesus not only rules all events for the well-being of His holy Church; He also constantly intercedes for each one of His people before the Father for their benefit and salvation. The writer to Hebrews put it this way: “Therefore He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them!” (Hebrews 7:25) For you, He prays. When you and I sin, when we stumble and grumble He says to His Father, “Father, forgive them. Look not upon the sin, but upon these scars from the cross that testify that I have answered for all their sin.” In this way He is our Mediator, our ongoing priest, the one who stands in the breach between us and God. His being Mediator did not cease when the work of the cross was done. He continues to be our Mediator by His unceasing intercession through His crucified body and blood for us and by hearing our prayers in His name.

And yet there’s even more. Since the “right hand of God” is not to be thought of as a place, but as a power, the Ascension of our Lord does not remove Him from us, but actually brings Him closer to us. Oh, yes, His visible physical human presence as during His earthly ministry is removed. But His presence is not removed from us. In fact, His presence with His Church is even greater now than in His temporary earthly ministry. His promise stands forever: “Lo, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Now He fills all things and gives the gift and promise of His special sacramental presence of His body and blood in the bread and the wine for the forgiveness of sins. St. Leo the Great preached to his parish in Rome hundreds of years ago: “The visible presence of Christ has passed into His sacraments.”

When you come to the altar today, you not only receive the Body and Blood that were offered in your place on Calvary’s tree for the forgiveness of your sin! You receive the Body and Blood of Him who sits at the right hand of the Father, ruling over all things. Thus, Paul could rejoice that “He has raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Eph 2) The Sacrament lifts you that high! Lifting you from your sins, the threat of your death, to the place of Christ’s resurrection, to His authority reconciled to our Father and creator.

How great then are the treasures contained in the words: “He seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.” He is ruling our every circumstance, drawing us to Himself throughout this life by His Word and Sacraments unto eternal life. With this truth, peace through faith displaces our complaining, Jesus is interceding constantly for us, therefore joy drives out our anxieties. Because of His Ascension He is able to continually descend to us, to His body, the Church. He is constantly with us in His sacraments, and so we are never alone, but together with the Church are gathered with Him who sits at the right hand of God. Jesus, your Mediator. Jesus, your King. Jesus, your Risen, Ascended, and Glorified Lord now fills all things for you. And in the same way that He ascended this same Jesus will come again to bring us and all believers to Himself once and for all time. This is the hope to which you have been called. This is your glorious inheritance through Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be all glory and honor now and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

Are you ready? Are you ready to speak and give a defense about the hope that is in you as a Christian? A good defense lawyer will make himself prepared. He will do research, conduct interviews, review the data, check with the prosecution to see what information they have, they will be familiar with their clients’ version of the story, but they will also be familiar with everyone else’s version as well. They study, and study, and practice and study some more. Why? All so that when they get to the trial, they can present and defend their case with no surprises, or at least with as few surprises as possible. They are ready and able to anticipate every objection, every cross-examination question and answer. Simply put, they are ready to give their defense and win their case.

Now should the time come that someone cross-examines you about your beliefs, are you that ready to give a defense of the hope that is in you in Jesus Christ? Not only that, but do you hold those beliefs so dearly, that you would be willing to die for that hope? When Peter wrote the epistle text from today’s reading, he was writing to Christians who were being pressured and persecuted for the Christian faith. There was a good possibility that they might be brought in for questioning by the government officials because they belonged to this odd religion called Christianity; this religion which didn’t really fit in with the rest of the culture. This “Jesus religion” made people feel uncomfortable. They didn’t understand it. They didn’t like it. The Romans felt it was anti-Caesar and could destroy the fabric of Roman society, and the Jews believed Christianity was a blasphemous anti-God, anti-Mosaic Law troublesome sect. Therefore the Christians were under scrutiny. The people would have their eye on them, watching their conduct, waiting for the Christians to mess up. If they did slip up, it would have given people a reason to dismiss Christianity or to justify persecuting the Christians. So Peter tells Christians living in this sort of a situation to watch their conduct and to be ready to speak up for the Christian faith. He writes: “Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.”

Even though we Christians in America are not yet facing violent persecution or imprisonment for our faith, things are not that different from Peter’s day to our own. In fact, culturally speaking, in many ways, our country is regressing back to a pagan, anti-Christian 1st century world view. Increasingly, practicing Christians are looked upon by people in our culture as being a little weird, strange, or evil. The world does not understand true Christianity as we Lutherans teach it. They don’t get it. They don’t like it. We make them feel uncomfortable. We remind them that there is a God in the heavens who is looking down on all of us and seeing how we’re doing. People want to get out from under that. Their conscience nags at them. They’d rather not think about things like God and guilt, a right or wrong that goes against fleshly impulses. They don’t want to think about sin and death and what happens after that. And we Christians by our existence and by our witness remind them of all those uncomfortable realities. Don’t be surprised when the people of this world look for opportunities to make fun of us Christians, or focus on our personal flaws and foibles, in order to dismiss our faith. “Oh, those Christians, they’re just a bunch of phonies and hypocrites. Who needs their stupid religion? Who needs their church?” That’s the attitude of the world around us. It is especially hard to defend against this when we act and talk like we are one with the world. Jesus said in today’s Gospel text, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments…” How can the world even mark us as Christians and ask us about the hope that is in us if we live just like them, living as ones who have hope only for this world, serving ourselves and pursuing the things of this world and our flesh? If we do not even act like those who have been redeemed or who are “zealous for what is good”, why should anyone believe us? St. John wrote in His first epistle: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

Lord have mercy! We are truly unworthy to be called His people according to our sins. We do not deserve His mercy, love, and forgiveness. We deserve to be blotted out and condemned with all the unbelieving evil-doers. Let us repent and confess our sins, pleading for forgiveness and the power to truly love and serve Him, to restore in us a hope of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God, there is hope anew in Jesus Christ who has died for those sins. As St. John also says in His first epistle: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” St. Peter wrote: “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit.”

We were the unrighteous, but now through faith we are accounted as those declared and being made righteous for the sake of the righteous One, Jesus Christ. As St. Peter wrote, the Holy Spirit now declares: Baptism now saves you, as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You have been washed, you have been sanctified (that is, made holy), and you have been justified (that is, declared righteous) in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. You have been forgiven in Jesus Christ. You have been washed, examined, and absolved. You have had that hope of salvation and forgiveness renewed within you by His Holy Spirit. So I ask you are you prepared? Are you ready to give a defense for the hope that is in you? Yes you are. You are being made ready, and being prepared every time that you remember the benefits of your baptism. Every time that you are led to confess your sins and hear the words of Absolution, you are being trained, changed, and renewed. Every time that you come to Bible Study, sing the liturgy, sing the hymns, hear the Word preached, the Holy Spirit is coming to you, filling you up, dwelling with you and in you. You are not orphans, you are God’s children. Jesus, your brother and Savior comes to you by His Spirit in these gifts which He has given to the Church to strengthen you through faith, to be protected as you live in Him in this world. By His Spirit, you have a clean heart recreated in you, you have restored in you the joy of His salvation. This joy propels you to be zealous for good works: to love and serve God by serving your neighbor, even those cannot or will not reciprocate your service and love.

How can we love and serve the unlovable? Those who might or even do hate us? In the same way that God has mercy and loved us, who have been unlovable. In our previous sin and rebellion. Then when you have lived the life of a loving Christian, people will ask why you love them, why are you kind, why do you seem to have hope even in the midst of suffering, why does earthly success not go to your head, why are you so grounded? You may answer: I am a sinner, but I have been forgiven, my Savior has loved me, so how can I not love you? He has given me eternity, so how can I misuse this time on earth? If I have suffered, it is nothing compared to the suffering of my Savior, Jesus Christ on my behalf. If I have had success in the eyes of the world, it is to God’s glory, for where I have failed, God has made me a success. I am grounded because I have been planted by the tree of life in the cross of Jesus Christ, and by His blood and through His Word, I am fed and led to drink His living water.

Yes, dear friends, Jesus comes to you here in His Word and there in His body and blood, so that you may be blessed with forgiveness, and blessed to forgive and live in love by His Holy Spirit. You have learned to give a defense and explanation of your hope because Jesus Christ is your defense and sure hope. He has died for you, risen, and prepares a place for you now and hereafter in eternity because He loves you.

Are you ready to give a defense for the hope that is in you? Through Christ Jesus, yes, yes, you are. Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

Most of you know that if you have a “smart phone”, whether it be an Apple phone or Android, you can train it to activate by voice commands. Rather than typing, swiping, or some other action, you can activate the phone by voice to look up information, call someone, open up an application, all without hands. However, as many of you know, to use this function, you have to train the cell phone to recognize your voice by repeating a line over and over again. The idea is that by calling out the magic words with your unique voice, the phone assistant will awaken and then you can proceed to command it. Yet it doesn’t always recognize your voice. It only recognizes your voice if you use the same tone, the same volume, the same pitch with the same rhythm as when it was trained, otherwise it may just ignore you.

In today’s Gospel text Jesus, names Himself as the Shepherd of the sheep. His sheep know Him by His voice. When He calls to them by name they follow Him. A stranger they will not follow, but “they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of a stranger.” The sheep hear and know His voice. They recognize Him by His voice. To hear and recognize the voice of the Shepherd implies that there is familiarity with the shepherd beyond what a cell phone can recognize. In the ancient Middle East, the shepherd would be with the sheep for many, many hours at a time, speaking to them, calling to them, singing to them, perhaps even playing an instrument to them to lead them, guide them, and calm them down. The sheep learn to know the different tones of the Shepherd’s voice. They know when the Shepherd’s voice takes on the tone of warning. They know the sound of rebuking, leading, guiding and loving. They know the Shepherd’s voice inside and out. This kind of recognition can only come from constant exposure to His voice. It is much like a baby which recognizes its mother’s voice after being born because it had heard her voice all the time while still in her womb.

This passage from John along with the entire 10th chapter describes the ongoing life of the Church which is represented as the flock of sheep who have Jesus as its Shepherd and Overseer. Jesus continues to call, gather, and enlighten His sheep from every generation through the voice of His Word in Scripture and His Sacraments as they are faithfully administered by His under shepherds. If these “pastors” are not faithful, if they are false teachers and preachers, then they are as thieves and robbers. The sheep should be prepared and able to recognize these charlatans and rogues because as sheep of the Shepherd, they would have been students of His voice having studied the scriptures, deeply and often at home and Divine Service. The sheep would understand the dynamic that when the sheep hear the voice of the shepherd they don’t just shrug their shoulders and pay Him no mind, but they hear His voice and follow Him. There is walking; journeying; following; obeying. They also are to be faithful to the Scriptures not just in thought but in action, as St. James writes: “Lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves”(James 1:21-22).

James sounds like he is speaking today by what he says next. “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of a man he was” Sadly, this is happening among many who claim to be members of the church today. Many have forgotten who they are and whose they are: they have forgotten the voice of the Shepherd.

The Christian culture in America is marked by one of plurality. It has been influenced by American consumerism and the thought that anyone is free to do what is right in their own eyes. It is perplexing…and very difficult to combat. They follow the voice they have come to know. There are churches that do not emphasize the voice of the Good Shepherd in historic truth of God’s Word and His sacraments. Instead, they emphasize the whims and wants of the modern individual. In such a case, the subjective desires or interpretations of the individual become the driving force on how one worships and what one believes. The voice that is heard and followed is no longer that of the Shepherd but voice of the “sheep who liked to stray”. The problem with throwing out the voice of the Shepherd to appease the itching ears is that people end up not having a shepherd in this world. They walk alone, searching and fighting to survive the spiritual onslaughts of the devil with very little protection. An individual who might claim to believe in Jesus, who may claim to pray to Jesus, but if he does not attend a faithful congregation, thereby avoiding a deeper contemplation of the Scriptures with brother and sister sheep to hear and be fed by their Shepherd’s voice in truth and purity, how can they stand against the evil wolf and dread satanic lion? Perhaps they attend a church that checks the boxes of programming, sports teams, favorite music, but if the Word of God is not there or diminished, then the voice of the Good Shepherd is not there or muted. Everything is trite and superficial. The true teachings of the scriptures sound foreign to those sheep and so the voice of the thief sounds completely reasonable. This is one reason why so many people today are leaving Christianity. They were misguided to begin with. They did not know, or they forgot, or they covered their ears from the voice of the Good Shepherd by placing a greater emphasis on voices other that the Good Shepherd.

All too often, we also forget the voice of the Shepherd or we ignore Him when we choose to skip Bible Class or Divine Service, when we conveniently ignore parts of Scripture that make us uncomfortable or tells us that what we are doing is wrong or tells us to do something we don’t want to do. Then we are not being sheep of the Good Shepherd, we are disowning Him by our sin and unbelief wanting to follow the voice of our flesh or the world. This is exactly what the Great thief, the devil wants. He wants the sheep to jump the fence, to avoid the Shepherd who is also the door, and then wander into the hands of those who mean us harm, who will bring us again under judgment and destruction.

Let us repent of our sin and our stubbornness.

Thankfully, the Shepherd has mercy on His sheep and Jesus is truly the Good Shepherd. He does not give up on sinful stubborn sheep, but He continues to call to you, to me, to unbelievers, to repent, to come back and enter again the sheepfold, the Church, through the only door that saves and protects from the evil one, and his band of thieves. This door is Jesus Christ. He is the Good Shepherd. Why? Because as He said in the verses following this morning’s reading in John 10: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep… I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.” (John 10:11, 18)

Jesus has laid down His life so that the sheep may have life. This He did at the cross. He has suffered for you bearing your sins in His body on the tree, that the righteous wrath of God for your sin would be taken by Jesus Christ. By His wounds you have been healed. He has risen from the dead and taken His life back up again, so that we may have that resurrection life as our inheritance by faith in Him.

The voice of the Shepherd is the voice of life. His voice called your name to that inheritance and life with a loving yet thunderous tone in Holy Baptism. He continues to call you through His Word, to hear again His voice in all its tones. Tones of admonishment, to which we confess our sins and then receive forgiveness in the absolution spoken in tones of love and reconciliation by His undershepherds. This voice is His voice. The Word of God in the liturgy is that which familiarizes us again to His voice which leads us through the valley of the shadow of death to the still water, as we are invited by our Good Shepherd to drink and eat heavily and healthfully on the preaching of His Word and the eating and drinking of His precious body and blood given and shed for you in this bread and wine. Your Good Shepherd here continues to come to you and call you and lead you to the cross, and to the empty tomb: to the place where He now leads His sheep to have life and have it in eternal abundance. As we follow Him by faith, He leads us forth through this life to the life in heaven which He has prepared. Through suffering and persecution, through joys and triumphs, He leads us forth. We hear His voice and He hears us pray. He comes to us and picks us up and carries us when we are weak. Through Him we have salvation, hope, and eternal life.

May we be drawn to Him and His Word ever and always, so that by faith we may recognize His Voice, His Love, His direction and guidance throughout this life until the day, when His voice will once more call us by name to come forth from the tomb or from this life to eternal life in resurrected victory through Jesus Christ, Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas