Grace, Mercy, and Peace to you in Jesus Christ.

Today we are observing the “Transfiguration of Our Lord”. This is a very important event in the earthly life and ministry of our Lord and Savior for the disciples and for all believers. It is also an excellent text to use as the basis for my first sermon among you as your pastor and Christ’s undershepherd. Why? Hopefully, I can explain why as I go along in this sermon.

The usage of this Transfiguration text by the Church at this point and time of the Church Year shows a transition from the light and shining joy of the Epiphany season to the more somber, sober, and darker observation of Lent as we meditate upon the suffering of Jesus upon the cross.

Epiphany begins with the star pointing the Wise Men to where the Christ child was so that they could be led to Him in order to worship Him in reverence and awe while bringing this Christ: gifts fitting for Him who is the king and God over all. This radiant light of the star pointed to the greater light and glory of God which had come down to earth, true God and true man joined in one flesh, Jesus Christ. He who descended to bring an end to the darkness and ignorance of sin and unbelief which is the natural state of mankind. Jesus came to redeem and reconcile sinners to the Father through His own loving keeping of the Law’s demands and then sacrificing Himself.

Epiphany, the season of light pointing to God’s glory, finds its peak of radiance in the Transfiguration of Jesus. For all other appearances, Jesus was just a man like any other. Sure He preached and taught with authority, unlike the scribes. Yes, He was able to perform miracles of all kinds, He showed that He knew the hearts and minds of people, yet He, Himself, except for the voice and dove at His Baptism, had not revealed the glory that was due Him as the Son of God. Jesus in His earthly life and ministry had covered and set aside this glory but because until the cross, His task was to humble Himself under the Law, under the obedience to His Heavenly Father in service to Him and His creation. His preaching and teaching was pointing the people to the understanding of the will of God, the Father, along with the Son, and Holy Spirit, of course. But here in His humility, Jesus did not point to Himself and say, here look at me. He didn’t have to. All of Scripture pointed to Him. All the prophecies, all the psalms, the Laws, everything pointed to and were affirmed by the teaching, preaching, and miracles of Jesus, that this was the Christ, whom God would send.

There were times when the Father chose to reveal the glory of His Son as His Son pointed to the Father, but now in this transfiguration, there was no doubt. If the disciples thought Jesus was special before, Peter, James, and John bore witness to a greater revelation. Jesus was not just a great prophet. Jesus was not just a powerful force of personality, He was more, much more. They saw with their eyes the brightness of Christ’s glory as His clothes and skin seemed to be as white and radiant as the light coming from the sun.

This blinding light and the attendance of Moses and Elijah in conversation with Jesus did not clarify in their hearts and minds as to who Jesus was, nor clue them in on the fact that they were in the presence of God. Peter instead basks in pleasantness of the moment, and makes a comment and suggestion which can be examined further in the future. It is always natural to want to remain in place of glory and joy, yet the terror of the Lord’s justice and wrath had not yet been appeased. Until then, all joy, all glory, all peace is but temporary. The seriousness of the situation and what yet had to be done, and who it was that would accomplish it, was revealed by the Father. He didn’t say look at my son, He didn’t say, be like my Son by your own efforts and you can receive this glory. Instead, He said: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him!” Don’t just look at Him and be amazed by this temporary glory. Listen to Him. Take heed. Take heart. Receive His wisdom and assurance. This Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God as Peter had confessed only a few short verses before, but Jesus also must do what Peter did not want for Jesus and that was “He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” Matthew 16:21

Peter at the time of Christ’s arrest denied Jesus and fled. Jesus restored Him and the rest of the apostles after His death and resurrection. This restoring to life, to righteousness and peace, to service, this reconciling to God by the forgiveness of sins, is what Jesus came to do as He died and rose again. This He continues to do for you and me as He brought us to the waters of Holy Baptism, as He calls us back to those same waters to confess our sins at the beginning of the Divine Service. Then I as your pastor and undershepherd and under His authority point not to me, but to your Savior, and speak His forgiveness for you. God’s Holy Spirit even now as your fallen flesh clings to you, transforms you inside out by the declaration of His righteousness in Jesus Christ, and creates and strengthens faith within your heart and mind. He comes to you and feeds you the precious crucified and raised glorious body and blood of Jesus Christ in the bread and wine.

We do not have to fall on our face in fear and terror as the disciples did in the presence of God, but in awe, wonder, and joy we bow and bend the knee, that God in His love and forgiveness comes to encourage us here in this life, in the darkness of this world, to bring life to our bodies and minds which would be lifeless and without direction or hope without Him. He loves you and desires your salvation. This grace is His glory. The glory of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit is forgiveness for you. The glimpses of God’s glory and grace that we see and hear now, in His Word, in the liturgy, in the sacraments which we experience now are experienced only for short moments, but when Christ returns at the last day, and we are called out, all believers will in soul and body transfigured in Christ’s likeness will experience His glory and joy without end.

This is the Good news that I have been called among you to declare and to encourage and teach you. The news that we all need. I, like you, am a sinner and fellow redeemed. I, though not an apostle, like Peter, may not always know the things to say nor to say them in the best way possible. I may even fail you as your pastor in my task from time to time, even as you may fail as God’s sheep. Yet though we, sheep and shepherd are imperfect, I shall point you and you shall in turn point me, to Him who is greater than us all.

As many of you heard last week at my installation and many of you answered to the questions presented, we are called to work together while we wait for our master’s full appearing. In the meantime, as I am called here, do not look to me as your savior. Do not look to me to be perfect at all times. Yes, look and listen as I as your pastor teach and exhort you and lead you, but do it as I point you to Jesus, as I speak for Him. For His sake, listen, be transfigured and transformed by the messages and ministrations rightly done in His name. Be comforted in peace and joy for service as God’s sons and daughters who have been forgiven, redeemed, and justified, for the sake of Jesus Christ, crucified and raised for you, Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

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

In the Holy Gospel appointed for today, we’re blessed to hear the portion of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount that we call the Beatitudes.

Christ proclaims true blessings to us in the Beatitudes, but do we receive those blessings only if we’re able to be perfectly meek, merciful, and pure in heart? If we take the wrong approach to answering that question – understanding the Beatitudes as a collection of conditional statements … sort of a spiritual to-do list – then we’re more likely to find ourselves terrified over our spiritual condition when we read the Beatitudes … instead seeing them as the blessing that they actually are. I mean, really … if us seeing God is dependent on how pure in heart we can be by our own doing, then I guess we’re all in big trouble. So, just what is it that the Savior of the World is saying to us? How can we possibly take comfort in Jesus’ words?

Our fallen nature really wants to mess this one up. It wants to turn the Good News of Christ into some kind of law. It wants to believe that if we do all the right things, we’ll have a right standing with God and will have earned all the resulting blessings. We see this tendency of our fallen nature in all of the self-help books, motivational speakers, and life-coaches who tell you that if you follow their steps, you’ll gain control of your life, accomplish your dreams, and have all the money and happiness you could ever ask for.

As much as this kind of thinking appeals to our old, sinful nature, it’s simply not true. In fact, it’s actually rather sad to talk to Christians who’ve been influenced by this line of thinking because it’s led them to rely on their obviously insufficient works of holiness rather than on Christ’s perfect holiness on their behalf. How disheartening would it be to think that you’d hungered and thirsted for righteousness ever so much, but at the end of the day you knew you really hadn’t made yourself any more righteous?

Taking this approach to turns the Gospel blessings of Christ into a misguided sort of law that makes you responsible for your forgiveness, life, and salvation instead of Christ … and the burden of that false Gospel will only lead to despair, unbelief, or both.

Instead, let us understand the Beatitudes to be what they actually are: declarations of truth about who we are in Christ … pronouncements from the incarnate Son of God of present and future blessings for us as heirs of the kingdom of heaven.

In the first Beatitude, Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven“, and in the eighth Beatitude, He says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Now, the kingdom of heaven is more than just a place. It’s also the work of God performed in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s why, after His Baptism and temptation, “Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of heaven is at hand'” (Mk 1:14-15). The kingdom of heaven includes everything that Jesus has done and continues to do to bring us eternal life and salvation with Him. In fact, we’d be right to say that the kingdom of heaven is Christ Himself.

In that first Beatitude, Jesus refers to the “Poor in spirit”. That’s us. We have no spiritual goodness in and of ourselves. There’s nothing we can do to merit salvation and eternal life. We’re conceived and born in original sin and continue to commit actual sins throughout our lives.

And those who are the worst off are those who imagine that they’re not really so bad and think that they can live their own lives of righteousness. Such people don’t realize the seriousness of their spiritual condition. Like Jesus said to the Pharisees: “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God” (Lk 16:15).

So, when Jesus said “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” He was teaching us that His divine presence – as the incarnate Son of God – is a true and lasting blessing for us.

Of course, the disciples who first heard Jesus proclaim this blessing hadn’t seen or heard it’s great fulfillment by Jesus … in His crucifixion and resurrection … but we look back and see the cross and the empty tomb. We know that Christ is our true and eternal blessing because he paid for the sins of the world by the shedding of His blood. And we know that His sacrifice was acceptable to God the Father as payment for our sins because He rose again from the dead.

In the eighth Beatitude, Jesus refers to those who are “persecuted for righteousness’ sake.” That’s also us. But that righteousness isn’t something we just conjure up on our own. Rather, it’s Christ’s own righteousness – the righteousness the He accomplished for us by His sinless life and His innocent suffering and death. And He gives it to us freely in His Gospel Word and Sacraments.

The unbelieving world rejects Christ, and it rejects those who Have Christ’s righteousness through God-given faith. They despise Christ because “there is no other name under heaven … by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12) and because there’s no way that they can ever be good enough of themselves to find favor in God’s eyes.

So, the world persecutes Christians. But when this happens, we’re reminded that Christ has promised us His blessings. Christ is, even now, ruling and reigning in His Church – in us – and has promised to be with us when faced with the burden of the world’s persecution. And it will be that way throughout our lives because such persecution is simply part of this fallen world.

Christ’s rule and reign in the present age is a hidden reality. He doesn’t rule from any sort of visible worldly power as the first-century Jews were expecting, rather, He rules from the seeming weakness of the cross. Right now, only those who believe in Christ know His true power and authority. But on the Last day, all will know when Christ returns again in glory to judge both the living and the dead, even as all believers in Christ will look upon their Savior with their own eyes as He ushers them into His eternal kingdom.

These two Beatitudes – the first and the eighth – reveal that the true blessings that are promised to us are entirely dependent upon Christ. We are spiritually poor and there’s nothing we must – or even can – do to merit the blessings that our Savior has promised us.

As Christians, we see the sin in the world and in ourselves and we mourn over it. But Christ gives us the blessing of His comfort and on the Last Day will dry our tears and put an end to our pain and sorrow.

As Christians, we see our meekness. Not because we’ve sought it out and found it at the end of some sort of spiritual journey, but because in Christ, meek is all that we can be. We know our transgressions and our sin is ever before us, but because of Christ’s saving work on the cross, we who are meek in the knowledge of our sin will inherit the new earth that is free from sin.

As Christians, we know that Jesus is our righteousness. We know that we’re helpless apart from Christ and only His righteousness is our salvation.

Only Christians have a pure heart because we’ve received the forgiveness of all our sins through Christ alone. When the Holy Spirit works faith in us through the means of God’s grace – through the Gospel Word and Sacraments – we’re given that pure heart, and blessed with the promise that we will indeed see God. It’s just what God said through the Prophet Ezekiel: “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you” (Ez 36:25-26).

And those who thus have Christ also become peacemakers since, by the shedding of Christ’s blood we now have peace with God as St. Paul writes: “For in [Christ] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Col 1:19-20) … the peace that we – as the people of God – now joyfully share with others.

Lastly, Jesus gives us a final blessing: “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Yes … you heard that right. When the individual and collective anti-Christian powers rail against you and beat you down for confessing Christ, you have the sure and certain promise from the incarnate Son of God that you will be blessed … and how could you not be. Christ died for your sins. He confirmed His victory over sin, death, and the devil by rising again and appearing to many. You are baptized in His name. Your sins are forgiven. And you’re strengthened for the fight by Christ’s body and blood.
So, “rejoice and be glad”, in Jesus’ promised blessing to you … because in Christ “your reward is great in heaven.”

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

Pr. Jon Holst

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

Whether it’s day or night – winter or summer – we live with darkness in our daily lives: darkness brought on by illness and pain … by tragedy and loss … by anger, bitterness, and resentment. And no matter how many literal or figurative lights we try to turn on ourselves to dispel that darkness, we can never make our lives bright enough to get rid of it because it’s too deep-seeded in us. That’s our human condition and none of us is immune to it. Sin came into this world. It brought spiritual darkness and death into our lives. And it afflicts us all throughout our lives.

But there’s hope. The Epiphany season is all about the Light that’s come into the world to defeat the darkness of sin and its effects on our lives … the Light that no darkness can overcome (Jn 1:5). In the Readings from God’s Word that we just heard, Christ is revealed to us as our true and only Light.

At the time that Isaiah was inspired to write, Naphtali, Zebulun, and all of the Northern Kingdom had been overtaken by the Assyrians. It was truly a dark time. The pagan Assyrians were renowned for their cruelty.

Many people of the Northern Kingdom were hauled off to Assyria and the Assyrians themselves were an occupying force in Israel. Things seemed hopeless. Yet through the Prophet Isaiah, God shone the light of His promised hope:
“There will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time [God] brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time He has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a Great Light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has Light shined.” (Is 9:1-2).

The darkness of suffering and false worship would ultimately be overcome when the Light of Christ shone upon them.

Like the occupied Northern Kingdom of old, much of our darkness is apparent to us. We experience first-hand the gloom and affliction that is poured out by the unbelieving rulers of this world on those who confess Christ.

And we know all too well the words and deeds of those people who “forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil” (Prov 2:12-14). We’re surrounded by such evil people every day. They not only do evil to us, but they also try and draw us into their own perverseness … that we too might “forsake the paths of uprightness.”

Then there’s the darkness that we don’t even recognize. In Psalm 82, Asaph prays: “‘Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.’ They have neither knowledge nor understanding they walk about in darkness” (Ps 82:4-5). I can’t tell you how many times I’ve broken a toe while walking through a dark house at night. And it’s even easier for our sinful flesh to stumble in the darkness of our ignorance … not having knowledge or understanding, as the psalm puts it. If we live in ignorance of God’s Word and will, then we’re walking about in just such ignorant darkness. That’s what was going on with the Christians in Corinth that we heard about. Their wrong understanding of God’s Word and will became a division in Christ’s Church. Some said they followed Paul, others Apollos, and others Cephas … even though Paul, and Apollos, and Cephas had all pointed them to Christ alone. The darkness of our sinful flesh is always getting something wrong … doing something against God’s will. And when it does, our sinful pride tends to keep us in the dark … preventing us from even seeing it.

St. Paul shined the light of God’s Holy Law on the sins of the Corinthian Christians, but how do we react when that same light is shined on our own sins. Do we try to block out that light through self-deceptions … so that we don’t see the ugliness of our sins? If so, then we’re just fooling ourselves. None of us enjoys seeing our sins and fessing up to them. But whether we like it or not, all of us will eventually stand in the brightness of God’s truth … and all of our sins will be clearly revealed.

That’s why Jesus, the true Light that has come into the world, repeats what John had already been preaching to prepare the way: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 4:17). Jesus calls us out of the darkness of our sin. And not only does the light of Christ reveal our sin, but it also reveals to us the One who frees us from the darkness and anguish of our sin … and it also takes away the contempt that we’ve earned for ourselves on account of our sins. Christ comes to shine the light of His mercy and forgiveness on our sin-darkened lives.

In today’s Gospel Reading, we see Christ’s saving light shining brighter and brighter. Jesus continues calling people to repentance and faith. He leaves Nazareth and moves to Capernaum which was a busier town where He could preach repentance and faith to more people and from which the light of the Gospel in Christ’s Word and work would spread to the surrounding countries. Jesus begins, continues, and fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy that: “The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned”.

He tells us to continually repent of our many sins because “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 4:17), that is, the salvation that comes through faith in Christ has come. He calls the first disciples – Peter, Andrew, James, and John – to preach the Gospel … establishing the Apostolic Ministry through which Christ continues to come to us in the preaching and teaching of the Word and the right administration of the Sacraments. Then Jesus:
“went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people … and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them.” (Mt 4:23-24)

Christ our Savior is made manifest to us. He who is the true Light – the Light of our salvation – has dispelled the darkness and revealed God’s love and mercy to us. We couldn’t seek it out. We couldn’t find if for ourselves.

We were in darkness … dead in our trespasses and sins. And in spite of that, God came to save us in the person of His Son. We brought sin upon ourselves, yet Christ took on human flesh, lived in our gloom and anguish with us, and even permitted the shadow of death to overtake Him on the tree of the cross … by which He accomplished our salvation and won for us eternal life.

Christ, our true and only Light, has defeated the darkness. He’s broken the oppressive rod of sin, death, and the devil. And He’s always here for us with His saving gifts where He’s promised to be: in His healing Word of Absolution … and in His Supper where we eat His body and drink His blood for the forgiveness of our sins.

And, having been brought into the Light by His grace and mercy, “let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light” (Rom 13:12) as we’re guided into the light of His truth by His Word and Spirit – continually repenting of our sins and receiving His forgiveness.

“I am the Light of the world,” says Jesus, “Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the Light of Life” (Jn 8:12). That’s a promise to you from the very Son of God. And even now, the Light of Life shines on you by means of His Gospel gifts … to keep you in His saving light until that day when you behold the fulness of His radiant glory in the life of the world to come.

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

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

Our Scripture Readings today speak of the blessed truth that Christ’s saving mission is for all people … both Jew and Gentile. In the Gospel Reading, we hear it in John the Baptist’s witness to the fact that Jesus is truly the promised Messiah … “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29). By saying this, John makes it clear that Christ’s saving mission isn’t just for God’s Old Testament people, but for the world … for all people.

By divine inspiration, the Prophet Isaiah also describes this universal aspect of Christ’s saving mission.

He makes clear that the Messiah’s saving work goes beyond Jacob’s descendants to all the peoples of the earth, saying, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth“ (Is 49:6).

Likewise, in today’s Epistle Reading, St. Paul refers to Christ’s holy Church as “all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord” (1 Cor 1:2).

Christ our Lord came to accomplish His saving mission for all people as the once-for-all sacrifice for our sins. So, on this Second Sunday after Epiphany, let us consider, hold fast to, and rejoice in the blessed reality of John’s proclamation that Jesus is – beyond all doubt – “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

John is making a connection for his hearers by proclaiming that Christ is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” … a connection to the Old Testament and the Temple sacrifices. Because they lived before the birth of our Savior, God’s Old Testament people would have understood the Temple to be the place where God met with them … the place where God’s Mercy Seat was set atop the Ark of the Covenant. Moses describes it for us:
“And he made a mercy seat of pure gold … And he made two cherubim of gold. He made them of hammered work on the two ends of the mercy seat, one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end … The cherubim spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat were the faces of the cherubim.” (Ex 37:6-9).

In that place, God promised to meet with His people. So, the people came. They made their pilgrimage to that holy ground … to the place where God was present with His grace and mercy. Why did they go? They went because their souls were troubled … restless … uneasy. As with us, God’s holy Law drove them to seek the help they needed … the help that only comes from outside ourselves. And that help was only offered at the Temple from the Mercy Seat of God.

But also like us, the sins that made their souls troubled, restless, and uneasy prevented them from being able to pass behind the veil … to enter into the Holy of Holies. It’s our sins that hold the veil in place and prevent us from being able to enter into God’s presence … from approaching His Mercy Seat. As God said to Moses, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Ex 33:20). We are sinful, and, as the Prophet Habakkuk describes it, God is “of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong” (Hab 1:13).

Sin separates us from God and its wages is death. But often we don’t even recognize our sins. They’ve been with us for so long that we’ve become comfortable with them … even becoming dismissive of them with the many excuses we come up with in our hearts that are corrupted by original sin. But every sin … the outward ones, the secret ones, the ones against our neighbors … all sins are sins against God no matter how much we try to trivialize them, dismiss them, or excuse them.

God’s Old Testament people went to the Temple, but their sins kept them from entering behind the veil to the place of God’s mercy. But God also placed His priest in the Temple … to go behind the veil … to pour out the blood of the sacrificial lamb in our place. Just as Abraham said to Isaac, “God Himself will provide the lamb” (Gen 22:8). Abraham believed this … he had faith in this … “and it was counted to him as righteousness” (Rom 4:3).

The blood of the sacrificial lamb was a promise from God of the greater sacrifice … the perfect sacrifice … the once-for-all sacrifice that was yet to come. That’s why we read in Hebrews that “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Heb 10:4). So why did God institute the sacrifices of old? He did so as a constant reminder of the promise that He would “provide for Himself the Lamb.” And the Old Testament saints received God’s mercy … received forgiveness and salvation … in the same way we receive those gifts: by grace, through faith … faith in the promised once-for-all sacrifice.

Enter John the Baptizer: the last of the Old Testament Prophets and the Forerunner of Christ. He lifts his finger and points us to Him who is that once-for-all sacrifice and the fulfillment of our salvation: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” Behold Christ: the One in whom our weary hearts find peace … the One in whom our troubled consciences find rest … the One who comes to bear your sin and the sin of the whole world.

In Hebrews we read that “when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption” (Heb 9:11-12). Behold Jesus who is both Priest and Sacrifice. On the altar of the cross, He offered up Himself … pouring out His atoning blood for the sins of the world.

We know that, as Scripture says, “the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). But, out of God’s abundant grace and mercy, it is the death of Jesus – the only-begotten Son of God – that satisfies this payment. And His death satisfies the payment for your salvation in full. Jesus is the promised Lamb that God has provided … the final Sacrifice. And since Jesus accomplished this once-for-all sacrifice, the Old Testament sacrificial system has come to an end … the veil of the Temple has been torn in two.

And having offered Himself up as the once-for-all Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, Christ now intercedes for us as our Great High Priest and comes to us in His very Body and Blood from the Mercy Seat of His altar. In this place, God has promised to meet with His people. Why do we come? We come because our souls are troubled … restless … and uneasy on account of our many sins. In Christ’s Word our weary hearts find peace. In Christ’s Sacraments our sin-troubled consciences find rest. “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Behold Jesus.

I leave you this day with a passage from the 19th century Norwegian Lutheran Bishop Nils Laache whose devotional book has been a comfort to me for many years:
“[Christ] takes away the sin of the world, which is laid on Him at Baptism and since that time weighs heavy upon Him so that He feels the weight more and more. The wrath and judgment of the Righteous One for our unrighteousness, all our weakness, all our sickness of body and soul unto the pain of death and condemnation, lies upon Him. He bears it and carries it away, takes away the punishment and takes away the power of ungodliness, so that sin should neither condemn us nor rule over us. He bears the sin of the world, of Jews and Gentiles, from the first soul on earth to the last. What a burden! But what grace for us! This is for us! Praise to the Lamb: now God does not see my sin on me anymore, for my sin too is taken away, the many and the great sins which otherwise should press me down into hell!

“Now we know where our sins are laid; the Law lays them on our conscience and sticks them in our chest, but God takes them from us and lays them on the shoulder of the Lamb. ‘I know your sins are too hard for you to bear,’ God says, ‘so look, I lay them on My Lamb and take them away from you.’ This you should believe; for when you do, you are free from sin … (Luther)”. (Laache, Book of Family Prayer, 188-189).

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

Pr. Jon Holst

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

Both ‘Messiah’ and ‘Christ’ mean ‘anointed One’. In our Old Testament Reading, God proclaims through the Prophet Isaiah the reality that the Messiah would be anointed with the Holy Spirit: “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him” (Is 42:1). Then God goes on to declare how Christ’s messianic mission would be to free us from the darkness of our sin: “I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness” (Is 42:6-7).

In our Gospel Reading – as we hear the historical account of Christ’s Baptism in the Jordan River – we also hear the fulfillment of Isaiah’s anointing prophecy. The Holy Spirit descends on Jesus … just as the Holy Spirit is given to us in Baptism as St. Luke writes in Acts: “let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). And God the Father testifies to Christ’s divinity as well saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matt 3:17).

Our Epistle Reading from Romans also focuses on Baptism –giving us a detailed explanation of what Baptism is and what Baptism does for the Christian. St. Paul writes, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Rom 6:4-5) So, in Holy Baptism, Christ bestows on us the gifts of His death and resurrection.

Our reflection on this reading will focus on three glorious, divine truths that are revealed to us in God’s Word:
the great gift and benefits of Christ’s sacrificial death,
the great gift and benefits of Christ’s resurrection, and
what Holy Scripture says about how these gifts and benefits are given to us by God.

Regarding Christ’s sacrificial death, we note that it was for all people – not just for the elect people of God. As St. John writes: “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 Jn 42:2). Jesus laid down His own life of His own free will: knowing that as true God He could take it up again (Jn 10:17-19). So, Christ’s motivation for laying down His life was His own divine selflessness … His willingness to be the obedient Son and Suffering Servant even unto death. Certainly, none of us deserve such selfless sacrifice on the part of Him who created us in the beginning … we who continue to demonstrate our rebellion against God by our pride and greed, our wrath and envy, our lust, gluttony, and sloth. It’s clear that none of us is deserving of such divine compassion.

Yet, in spite of our complete unworthiness, Christ died for our benefit. When He stepped into the waters of the Jordan River, He took the guilt of our sins upon Himself. And He bore that curse in our place all the way to the cross … where He put them to death in His body along with the imminent, eternal punishment that our rebellion and sins deserve.

Regarding Christ’s resurrection, we note that by His resurrection He has defeated our enemies of sin, death, and the devil. Sin no longer has mastery over humanity because Christ, the Second Adam, lived and died without sin in our place. And by His resurrection He’s defeated death. “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:54-55). The power of our archenemy Satan is gutted by Christ’s resurrection because death was his greatest weapon against us and now it’s been taken away from him.

Christ, the Stronger Man, has bound our ancient foe and plundered Hades (Matt 12:29) … leading all of us who were captive to sin captive to Him by His grace and mercy.

And Christ’s resurrection also gives us the promise of eternal life with Him. By His resurrection He has proven that He’s able to fulfill all His promises to us … including the promise that His disciples will behold His face in the brightness of His divine light –ruling and reigning with Him forever (Rev 22:4-5).

So, by His death and resurrection, Christ has defeated our enemies of sin, death, and the devil; and has won for us the benefits of sins forgiven, resurrection, and eternal life with Him. But how does Christ give us these gifts? He gives them to us in His life-giving Word as He himself said: “whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life” (Jn 5:24). He also sometimes attaches His life-giving Word to physical means … Sacraments … what we might call the visible Word. For example, He healed a deaf man by attaching His Word to His spit and touch (Mk 7:33). And He healed a blind man by attaching His Word to mud made from His spit and the waters of the Pool of Siloam (Jn 9:6-7). But these were one-off occurrences; He didn’t tell us to continue using spit or mud for forgiveness and healing. Baptism, however, has the enduring command and enduring promise of Jesus: “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” (Mt 28:19).

What our Epistle reading teaches us, is that those gifts of Christ’s death and resurrection that we just heard about are given to us through Baptism. In Baptism, we die to sin. This is powerful stuff that, sadly, many faithful Christians refuse to believe because the Enlightenment rationalism that has dominated secular institutions and education for so long has severely eroded belief in the supernatural. It has formed our thinking to try and explain away supernatural realities and turn things that God has revealed to us in Holy Scripture into figures of speech and symbols. But, if we take God at His Word –if we don’t want to call Him a liar –then we have to believe what Scripture says about Baptism: a text that is not a parable … not a poetic image … not figurative language in any sense.
“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Rom 6:3-4)

In this passage, St. Paul explains the connection between our Baptism and the death and resurrection of Christ. In Baptism we’re incorporated into the crucified and risen body of Christ in a mystical union… mystical because it defies our reason and senses but is nonetheless the spiritual reality that Scripture says it is. Our old sinful natures that we inherited from Adam are drowned. Our sins are washed away and sin’s power over us has been broken as St. Paul continues, explaining that in Baptism:
“We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin” (Rom 6:6-7).

And in Baptism, not only do we die to sin, but we’re given “newness of life” (Rom 6:4). St. Paul writes regarding our death in Baptism: “Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him” (Rom 6:8-9). The certainty of the new life that Christ gives to us in Baptism comes from His glorious resurrection. Since Christ is risen from the dead, death is powerless over Him and in Baptism He bestows that same freedom from bondage to death on us. Baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection you now “must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom 6:11).

Again, by virtue of your Baptism, God says through Paul that you must “must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus”. So, in concluding this discourse on Baptism, St. Paul explains how Christians should consider our lives as those who are baptized. Through Baptism we are dead to sin just as Christ died to sin. But we are also made alive to God just as Christ lives eternally to His Father. As those who are dead to sin, we’re not to live in the old, sinful way of life. We’re, not to live according to the desires of our old sinful nature that keeps trying to pull us back into bondage to sin and death.

Rather, we’re to live according to the new man that’s been created in us by Baptism in lives of holiness … a life of holiness that’s empowered by the Holy Spirit who now dwells in us by virtue of our Baptism.

This is powerful stuff. In Baptism we die with Christ, we die to sin and are set free from it, we’re raised to new life, we’re called to walk according to that new life, we’re no longer slaves to our spiritual enemies, and we’re given the promise that we’ll share in Christ’s resurrection and live with Him. No figures of speech here –it’s just what God says He does for us through Baptism.

Holy Baptism is all about gifts … gifts from Christ our Redeemer to us … gifts that include His death and resurrection. Indeed, we could say that Baptism is a matter of death and life – creating spiritual life in those who were dead in their trespasses and sins by the power of Christ’s own death and resurrection.

So, does that mean that since you’re Baptized you can go out and live however you want with all of your pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth? That question takes us back to St. Paul’s initial point. “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Rom 6:1-2).

We are still capable of rejecting the gifts that Christ has won for us and given to us in Baptism: turning away from Him in sinful rebellion.

That’s why “the old Adam in us is to be drowned by daily sorrow and repentance, and die with all sins and evil desires, and that the new man should daily emerge again and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever” (SC IV).

[Which, dear saints of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, is why I would encourage all of you to make Pr. Kangas your trusted confessor –asking him regularly to hear your confession and to absolve you according to Christ’s command … even asking him to have regularly scheduled times for private Confession and Absolution here at Good Shepherd. It’s one of the responsibilities that Jesus has given to pastors and it’s one of the gifts and Means of Grace that Jesus has given to you].

Beloved in Christ, in a blessed reversal … in a great exchange … Jesus stepped into the waters of the Jordan to take our sins on Himself. And He carried that sin all the way to the cross where He put it death for us in His own body. And by His resurrection, Jesus has gutted all the power that sin, death, and the devil held over us –bestowing this gift on you in Holy Baptism … in Word and Water. “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal 3:27) so that you may share in life everlasting. That is your inheritance as a Baptized child of God. It has made you His beloved son in whom He is well pleased.

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

Pr. Jon Holst

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pr. Jon Holst

In the name of Jesus.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pr. Jon Holst

In the name of Jesus.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Amen.

Pr. Jon Holst

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pr. Jon Holst

In the name of Jesus.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Amen.

Pr. Jon Holst