Have you ever lost your wallet or purse? The value of the cash or the credit cards are not diminished just because they are lost or misplaced. Although they are out of sight, they no longer cease to be what they are. However, as you search the house, the apartment or the car, you may begin to wonder what if it is not misplaced? What if it has been stolen? If stolen, then there is the worry about the money lost, but what if it has fallen into the wrong hands? Could our identity be stolen and compromised? The effects and results of identity theft could be felt for years and create numerous problems for us. But this isn’t a commercial for lifelock or some other security company.

No, there is another force that wishes to steal, entice, lead away, and compromise your more important identity in Jesus Christ: the devil, himself. He will use the weakness of our flesh, our curiosity, our laziness, our fear to lead us astray from the one who has redeemed us as His precious possession, even Jesus Christ. And that is so often what we do, we take for granted the shepherd, or the one who keeps our house and heart in order, and we wander or try to escape God’s grasp. Perhaps we are tempted to stop coming to church for a time. Look at how so many have. The souls, minds, and hearts of those led astray are like a wallet or purse left alone on a park bench, ripe for the plucking by the Satanic foe who waits to consume, to destroy, to waste, and bring to condemnation. For those who were brought up in the church, but have ceased coming, not only are they in jeopardy or already consumed, but then also their children are raised without hearing God’s word, without receiving the grace and the gift of God through Jesus Christ in Holy Baptism through which faith is created. Without faith in Jesus Christ, without the understanding that one is lost and condemned in their sin, with no repentance and hope in the gracious redemption of Jesus Christ who was crucified for that very sin, they are left in their sin. It would be as crazy as if an animal that wandered were to reject and bite the hand of its caring master. A wallet or purse that rejects its owner. That is how odd it is for people to reject the grace of God, to take His care for granted, and yet they do. You and I do too. When we sin without thinking about it, without repenting, going after the things and the ways of this world, well is there hope for us?

Well if you had lost your wallet or purse and you had just about given up hope, but then someone recovers it for you, wouldn’t you rejoice? That means wouldn’t you have your joy restored; to be joyful again. Of course, you would. You would be relieved because you would no longer have to be afraid for yourself and what is yours.

With the parables Jesus spoke in today’s Gospel, He was explaining what God does. He seeks and saves. But unlike us humans who search for our lost coin because it means we are unable to use the coin or wallet or purse or are worried what will happen to us if it rolls into the wrong hands, God is concerned with the coin and the sheep for its own good, for its own value. For the sake of mercy, He worries that it will be misused, abused, and consumed.

Therefore, He searches, and pursues in order to restore that coin to the rest, to restore that sheep with the others. Notice that the coin and the sheep, though lost do not cease to be a sheep or a coin. The sheep is a sheep at risk of destruction, of being consumed by a wild beast. The coin, a coin at risk of its value being wasted, unused, and unspent.

So, in this way, these parables along with the prodigal son, are not about going out and evangelizing those who have never heard God’s Word, that is covered elsewhere. No, the parables here are speaking about those who have been redeemed, who were baptized, who were of the flock and the collection of coins, but for whatever reason fell away, wandered away, fled away, or just flat out rebelled against God, and left the church.

We should think of all of the inactive members of this congregation or in congregations that we know. They are at risk of being lost, their value unto the Lord being wasted, consumed by the world, their identity stolen by the pleasures and weakness of their flesh, to fall into the hands of the devil. We should pray for them, and witness to them of God’s love. Remind them that they need the protection, the feeding, the sheltering love of God who promises to value, and keep for the day of salvation His flock, His coins, His children: to bring them to Himself for eternity.

Dear Christian brothers and sisters, we too are at risk, when we depend upon our works for salvation, we are at risk, if we think we need only come to church whether it be every Sunday or only at Christmas, we are at risk. Why? Because salvation does not come from our own merits. We have fallen short of the Law. By sinning we have rejected our redeemer, and we should also be left alone in our vulnerability, in the sin and rebellion that we have chosen.

Though we were and have been lost, our value to God has not diminished. That is why God has sent His Son Jesus Christ to seek and to redeem that which was lost. By His death and resurrection, Jesus reveals the great and never ending love of God by taking our sin to the cross and dying in our place so that the sheep would not have to be lost, so that the light of God’s Word could be lit, so that our sin could be swept away. So that by God’s Word and His baptismal waters we could be washed in His sacrifice and renewed, cleaned, and restored to God here in the assembly of believers forgiven of our sins. Because God values us more than sheep or coins, but as sons and daughters for the sake Jesus Christ and by His merits we are saved.

Brothers and sisters, this promise is for you. As you have been found by the Lord, as you are restored through Jesus Christ to the household of faith to believe and hold firm to the promise of Jesus Christ crucified and raised. You are forgiven, and as you are fed and abide in His Word and grace, you are no longer vulnerable. Your strength is in His strength which is mightier than the devil, the world, or even your own flesh. Do not fight the Lord as He bears you in His arms, in the grace He gives, rather receive. Do not run or wander away. Then the joy which the Lord first worked in you by His Spirit by His Washing and His Word may fill you. Rejoice in God’s love. Rejoice with your family of believers, fellow sons and daughters of God. Call your friends and neighbors and rejoice when you repent, rejoice when they repent, and rejoice as we are built upon the strong foundation and rock of Jesus Christ.

Today we remember and observe the 493th anniversary of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession, when Christian lay men laid out before the Roman catholic authorities, the truth of God’s Word and the confession of Jesus Christ as it is proclaimed therein. They were given the courage to do so, though there was a threat that all earthly power and treasure could be removed and war begun, yet they confessed boldly, bravely, and completely the Law and Gospel of Jesus Christ. They did this because they knew how precious was and is the grace of God and His love and rejoiced for the opportunity to bear witness in confession. Let us do the same. Rejoicing to confess, rejoicing to receive forgiveness and life from our loving Savior Shepherd. And know that as you rejoice and delight in the good and the truth of God in Jesus Christ this day, all of heaven, the angels, archangels, and all the church triumphant, rejoices with us in the victory banquet of Jesus Christ our loving Savior.

Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

If there’s one thing I’ve learned since being here in Yucaipa, it’s that we love food and that time together. Picnics, treats after church on Sunday or before Lenten services. Most of us also enjoy those special occasion parties – graduations and weddings, holiday dinners of Thanksgiving and Christmas and Easter. Gathered around food, we laugh and enjoy time with family and friends.

The Gospel for this Second Sunday after Trinity takes place at a meal, specifically a Sabbath meal at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees. Yet, gathered around food, these men weren’t laughing and having a great time. They were serious. Growing in conflict with Jesus, they were watching Him carefully. They were hoping that He would break one of their Sabbath rules, in order to condemn Him as a fraud.

Jesus knew their sinful hearts. Prior to this morning’s Gospel, Jesus exposed their sinful hypocrisy and pride by healing a man with dropsy on the Sabbath in front of them all. Highlighting the importance of humility and generosity, He spoke of the wisdom of taking the lowest seat at a banquet, and when you host a meal, inviting those who can’t repay you.

It’s at this point, Jesus tells the Parable of the Great Banquet. Jesus speaks of a man who, “…once gave a great banquet and invited many”. The invitations had gone out in advance. Now with the table set and the fanciest food and drink ready, the man sends his servant to say to those who had been invited, “Come, for everything is now ready”.

With such a great banquet prepared, you think the people would rush to the banquet hall. And yet, that’s not the case. “…they all alike began to make excuses”. “The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come'”.

Having thrown dinners before, you know the time, effort, and care that goes into having a nice family dinner. Imagine the frustration and anger you would have after, preparing the meal – cleaning the house – setting the table, no one showed up. “Sorry, mom – dad – grandma – grandpa, “friend” I can’t make it today. I made other plans since we talked.”

Consider the hurt and frustration the man has when his pre-announced banquet is rejected. Yet, the banquet that Jesus speaks of today isn’t just any banquet. Remember this is a parable. The banquet that Jesus speaks of today is the banquet of salvation!

The master of the house who gave a great banquet and invited many is none other than God the Father. The incredible banquet that the Father provides is none other than the Gospel – the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation that Jesus won through His death on the cross. And with this banquet of salvation, you don’t have to bring a dish to pass or a bottle of wine. Jesus has done it all. It is all provided for. Remember what He says from the cross, “It is finished.” These words are echoed in the parable, “… everything is now ready”. It’s as if the Father were saying, “Jesus has done it all. He kept the law in your place. He bore your sins. He drank the cup of My wrath against your sin. He died the death you deserve. He won for you forgiveness and life. Nothing is left undone. Come, for the banquet of salvation is ready!”

The invitation of the servants is none other than the call, the proclamation of the gospel to faith in Christ. Through the preaching of the Word of God, the Holy Spirit calls, compels us to partake of this banquet of salvation. “Come, for the banquet of salvation is ready!” While this invitation to eat and drink of the Gospel in faith, Jesus reveals that there are those who reject it. God doesn’t force Himself on anyone. If you believe you have no need for the true God, if you do not hunger and thirst for the Grace He offers, then why come? But be prepared for the tradeoff.

The Pharisees Jesus spoke to that Sabbath day had a works-righteous faith. They believed they could save themselves through their own works. They had no hunger and thirst for the banquet of salvation that the Lord Jesus place before them. They were like those who made the excuses in the parable.

It’s easy to describe the Pharisees and then throw them under the bus. Yet, we shouldn’t be so quick to scoff at them. The old Adam that dwells within each one of us is a Pharisee. While God has called us to good works, to love Him and to serve our neighbor, the temptation is for each of us to cling to those works, to try to justify ourselves before God by them, just as the Pharisees did. The sinful flesh would lead us to believe, “I’m a good person. Sure, I’ve made a few mistakes, but overall, I’m not that bad. I’m certainly not like that sinner over there.” Looking at our works, we begin to build the case for our own righteousness before God, while at the same time minimizing and justifying our sin.

Unaware of the severity of our sin, unaware to our desperate need for God’s banquet of salvation, the sinful flesh easily rejects – sets aside – becomes bored with this Word of God, both in the church and in our homes. Other items begin to take priority over the Lord’s Word. “I have a field and I have to go out in it to work. Please have me excused, God.” “I’m yoked to my job and I have to make money. Please have me excused, God. I’ve married a wife, and we and the kids have sports, vacation, family gatherings to attend. Therefore, I can’t come right now, God. The excuses are endless.

When Jesus tells a parable about folks rejecting His banquet in order to check out a piece of land, and so on, He’s telling us that nothing is as important as this banquet. Jesus knows better than we do what’s best for us. We should listen to Him.

Christians fall from the faith and this quite often starts by making excuses to avoid God and His Word. We’re tempted to believe that saving faith can’t disappear, but it can. Therefore, God would have you live a life of daily repentance. He would have you and I repent today for the time you’ve built the case for your own righteousness or your own sinful priorities and thus despised His Word, despised His banquet of salvation. He would have you see the severity of your sins, that all your works are like filthy rags before Him. He would have you see yourself as the spiritually poor, crippled, blind, and lame because of sin, without any good works to offer Him. We are not worthy to taste of His banquet of salvation. For the punishment for sin isn’t eternal life but eternal death.

“So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.'” While the master’s anger against sin is real, and while He will punish those who reject this invitation, He immediately bestows this banquet invitation to others who do not reject it. Those who understand their wretched condition, those whom the Pharisees would have considered unclean. The Beggars and others impoverished and starving.

Fellow redeemed, our Lord loves a banquet. He will fill His house. With everything ready, the food will be eaten and the drinks will be drunk. “And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled’. We who understand by God’s Word our sinful condition and compelled to confess our sin, are likewise compelled to come and receive God’s grace in answer to our repentance. This compelling is the call of the Gospel revealing the peace won by the blood of the cross of Jesus Christ, to grow in understanding to sit down at the Lord’s table, and to eat and drink that which you don’t deserve. Rejoice in the certainty of His invitation and your place at His table by faith. Here, in the divine service, the invitation goes out, “Come, for the banquet of salvation is ready,” and it’s ready for you! Jesus invites those who, on account of sin, are spiritually poor, maimed, lame, and blind. He doesn’t invite those who think that they have it all together or who have it all in the things of this world. He invites spiritually poor humbled sinners who recognize that they can’t get rid of their sins. He invites sinners to where forgiveness is freely given. He invites them to eat of His body and to drink of His blood that gives true life in Jesus Christ who has accomplished our salvation. He charges nothing. It’s for you. It’s what you need most. Enjoy God’s generous hospitality.

Jesus’ parable is a contradiction to what the man said, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God”. Jesus reveals that the banquet of salvation is ready now. You don’t have to wait until heaven. Through the blood of Christ, it is finished. All your debts are paid, all your sins are removed. All shame is forgotten in the death that Christ died once for all. He rose on your behalf to open the gates of heaven where the banquet continues in perfect eternity. There’s nothing left to do but to receive in faith. “Come for the banquet of salvation is ready!” in Jesus Christ’s name.

Amen!

Pr. Aaron Kangas

The Gospel for this First Sunday after Trinity places before us this truth. When you die, there are only two possibilities – heaven or hell – eternal life or eternal death – eternal comfort or eternal anguish and torment. Heaven is God’s gift to unworthy sinners for Christ’s sake. Hell is actually what all sinners deserve on account of sin.

The topic of eternal damnation is uncomfortable for some. As a result, they deny the existence of hell. Jehovah’s Witnesses and Seventh Day Adventists teach that there’s no such place as hell where people suffer eternal punishment for their sins. Many Christians also deny hell. Or, they may say that hell exists but it’s only for really bad people, such as Joseph Stalin or Adolf Hitler.

Yet, Jesus reveals to us today that heaven and hell are real place where real people go. He teaches us that those who go to heaven stay there, and those who go to hell stay there. It is not a place of “purgation” or purgatory. We are told that “…a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from [heaven] to [hell] may not be able, and none may cross from [hell] to [heaven]” (Luke 16:26). So, why eternal life and comfort for some, and eternal death and anguish for others? To answer this question, we consider today’s Gospel – the parable of the Rich man and the beggar Lazarus.

The rich man is described as one, “…who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day”. (Luke 16:19). The poor beggar Lazarus is described as one “clothed” with sores and suffering “he was covered with sores”.

Upon hearing this description, it’s easy for us to despise the rich man and exalt the poor beggar, Lazarus. We despise the rich man because of his great wealth. We exalt Lazarus because he occupied the lowest position in the community. We picture him as a humble and lowly man. Because of this, there’s the temptation to think that this economic and social difference is why Lazarus ends up in heaven and the rich man in hell.

However, the text doesn’t say the rich man was a terrible person. If we had lived in same community as he did, maybe we wouldn’t have such a low opinion of him. The fact he was “clothed in purple and fine linen” indicates he was a prominent person in the community. Perhaps, he was leader or merchant whose businesses fueled the local economy. Perhaps he allowed Lazarus, a poor beggar, to sit at his gate specifically so that he may give him money and food.

Lazarus, on the other hand, might not have been so humble and lowly. The text says only that he’s poor, not that he’s good. He could’ve had as many sins and flaws as anyone else. He could have had possessions and wealth at one point in his life but could have gambled them away. And then, left without resources to care for himself, ended up lame and covered in sores. Who knows?

What we know is that, “The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side” (Luke 16:22-23). We must not think Lazarus went to heaven simply because he’s poor. There are poor people who end up in hell. And we must not think the rich man goes to hell simply because he was rich. There are rich people who end up in heaven – think of Abraham, Job, and King David. Additionally, we must not think the rich man was a sinner and Lazarus wasn’t. They were both sinners before God who alone is holy and righteous. So again, what’s the reason for eternal life for one and eternal death for the other?

It has to do with “faith”; faith in one’s god. Luther, under the First Commandment in the Large Catechism, writes, “A god means that from which we are to expect all good and in which we are to take refuge and comfort in all distress” (LC I 2-3).

We must deduce that based on Jesus’ description of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man ended up in hell because his faith was not in the true God, that is the Triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as revealed through Sacred Scripture. His gods were likely that which described him: his wealth, his clothing, food, and the like, perhaps all the things that he had achieved for himself, including his good name and reputation. These are the things to which he cleaved and found comfort.

In comparison, despite all his misfortune and sores, Lazarus’ God was the Lord – the God of Abraham – in whom Lazarus hoped despite having no good health and material goods, yet God was his help. In fact, that’s what the name Lazarus means, “God is my help.” Despite a lack of earthly success, his confession was, “…though I am a sinner…though I deserve nothing from God but both temporal and eternal punishment, I trust Him, whether for good or ill, because He is merciful to me a sinner through Jesus Christ my Lord.”

Of course, for ourselves, we would desire in the life to come: heaven; eternal life; eternal comfort. Yet, if we were to be honest, we also desire comfort now, in this life. We certainly do not wish to live here like Lazarus, who having no earthly goods, had nothing to hope in but an eternal future.

As discussed last week we sometimes doubt God and whether or not He will allow us to suffer like Lazarus, we don’t want to just hope for the future but want to experience comfort and joy now… Superficially, an argument could be made, yet there is a difference between enjoying life as it is lived, having optimism in the gift from God in this world on the one hand and worshiping those things, needing them so badly, that they define you, drive you in your work, and would eliminate your faith in God if they were taken away. That is sinful selfish human nature and response, when the created gifts become gods, because they comfort self.

So, consider this day, in who or what do you fear, love, and trust? What is the top priority in your life? Where do you spend most of your time and energy? What is it that you can’t live without? What is it that you fear most and why? Again, whatever you set your heart on, whatever you put your trust in, that is your god.

Let us this day, repent for the false gods and idols that we have made. Repent for the times you’ve feared, loved, and trusted in them instead of the true God, the Triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Repent and pray that God would have mercy upon us sinful beggars, and that He keep us in the one true faith by crushing the idols of our lives, lest we lose the one thing needful for eternal life, that is faith in Christ and His life-giving Word.

The rich man in our parable never repents of his sin, not even in hell. As he’s in anguish and torment, he still doesn’t see his sin nor does he have any remorse. While there’s no hope for him, this isn’t necessarily the case with his five brothers.

You can imagine these men were just as wealthy. They trusted in the false gods of the world – wealth and a good name and reputation. Yet, they have Moses and the Prophets, that is they had the Word of God. Not only do they have God’s words of Law that accuses them of their sin. They have God’s words of the Gospel that reveals for them forgiveness of sins and eternal life through the promised Seed of Abraham.

This should be a comfort for you. While our lives closely resemble that of the rich man, we’re not without Moses and the Prophets. The certainty of eternal salvation is set before us through the words of Holy Scripture and you are here to hear God’s Word, to repent and be fed.

Remember what Jesus did for you and me beggarly sinners. Jesus, the Son of God joined human flesh to become a beggar like Lazarus. He emptied Himself entirely on the tree of the cross. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich!” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Christ set aside His divine rights, His divine wealth to accomplish redemption. It was His greatest delight to serve you, to take your sin upon Himself. He was willing to endure your punishment for sin, your hell – the torments of the flames. His death upon the cross makes the atoning sacrifice for all of your sins. And by the power of the forgiveness that He earned in His death, as the One true Lazarus, Christ rises from the dead.

It is He, your crucified and risen Lord, who says to you today, “‘Come to me…,’ as you struggle with idolatry, the things in this world you grow anxious over, the things you can’t live without. ‘Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest'” (Matt. 11:28). The rest He gives is the rest of sins forgiven. And where there’s forgiveness of sins, there’s also eternal life and salvation.

In the waters of Holy Baptism, He has clothed you, not with purple robes and fine linen, but with the robe of His righteousness by His shed blood. In the Sacrament of the Altar, He doesn’t feed you scraps from His table but bids you to come to His table so that He may give you His lifegiving very body and blood. Here you may feast sumptuously in the victory won for you for the forgiveness of your sins.

You don’t earn heaven by being poor. You aren’t kept out of heaven by being rich. The only way to heaven is through faith in Christ crucified and raised. The true God who is generous for us that we may live richly and generously for Him by His grace in faith and love for Him and each other. Heaven is God’s gift, and He gives it sinful beggars for Christ’s sake. Thanks be to God! Amen!

Pr. Aaron Kangas

Today being Holy Trinity Sunday, it does us good to meditate on what it means to trust in God above all things. For starters, we may ask: “who is God?”  Well…we confess every single Sunday when we use the words of our creeds that He is triune; that is, He is three-in-one; not three separate Gods, but One God and three persons. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; almighty, all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present, all-righteous, and all-merciful and all-loving. Did you catch all those “alls” in that description?  Almighty, all-powerful, all-knowing…. The Latin prefix would be “omni,” as in omnipotent/all powerful, omnipresent/everywhere present, omniscient/all knowing. Our appointed lessons for today speak to all these “omni” realities. For instance, we look to Isaiah, and we see a very clear image of the omnipotent, all-holy God in His heavenly throne room. The train of His robe fills the heavenly, smoke-filled temple. The very foundations of the thresholds of heaven shake when God speaks. The whole scene bespeaks power, might, and grandeur. 

But we liturgical Lutheran Christians get all this, don’t we? God’s omnipotence isn’t an issue with us, is it? We know He’s all-powerful. We know He’s omnipresent. We know He’s with us always where He promises to be, and we also know that He’s omniscient; that is, He knows everything all the time. He knows what we’re going through. He knows our hearts. He knows us better than we do. We understand it.  We believe it.

But…what about God’s wisdom?  I’ll admit: in our earth bound clouded judgement, God doesn’t always seem so wise. We can say: “He works all things for the good of those who love Him”…, but we say: “I know that I would do certain things differently.” Why doesn’t God use all that power to heal us or our suffering loved one? Why doesn’t God work a miracle and make the crosses we’re bearing at the moment go away? Why does He allow them? Can’t you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar? Wouldn’t the sweet honey of prosperity and abundance and wellness work a lot better at making Christians than permitting us to languish under miserable crosses? Why doesn’t God make all the wicked ones and the false Christians who stand in opposition to Him be shamed and humbled to repent and come to the Truth? Surely, He could do it if He really wanted to. Why, God?  Why don’t You do something?! 

St. Paul gives us an answer. Writing to the Roman Christians, who were being persecuted and slaughtered simply because they were Christians, St. Paul points these suffering ones to the incomprehensible wisdom of their almighty and all-powerful God. “Oh, the depth and the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable are His ways!” Folks: This isn’t a lament. This is high praise! 

Wait! What?! These Christians were being hunted down and slaughtered. Rome was beginning to increase their persecutions…and it was only going to get worse! They would soon be the “main event” to feed the animals at the coliseum. In less than 10 years, they would be the fuel for the city lamps. This isn’t like the “persecution” we Christians face here in America. There’s a lot more at stake than simply losing your cupcake business, your job or getting a 30 day ban on Facebook. Times were getting so tough for these Christians that they are literally forced underground, holding worship in catacombs—underground cemeteries. Consequently, they would be questioning God’s wisdom. They’re asking “why?” “Why is this happening to us?  Why isn’t God doing something about this?” Sound familiar? 

But here’s the thing: St. Paul doesn’t attempt to answer for God. Paul doesn’t delve into theodicy; that is, the practice of trying to give answer for God and explain why He is doing or acting in a certain way. St. Paul doesn’t do what we so often try to do. Rather, his answer to the age-old “why” question is to simply point to God’s unsearchable and inscrutable wisdom. “God is far smarter than any of us, and He knows what He’s doing! And His greatest will and act is to save us, from the damnation which our sins deserve by His Grace through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, Amen.”

It’s far easier to believe when things are going well in life, versus when life has hit the skids and all you see when you look around is uncertainty, darkness, death, despair, fear and sorrow. When you’re feeling the crushing weight of the crosses you bear, hearing that God’s wisdom is at work and He’s in control and He knows what He’s doing doesn’t exactly come across as very comforting sometimes. Sometimes it comes across as a harsh, Law-filled punch in the nose.  It’s meant as Gospel, but it’s heard as very condemning Law. “God knows EXACTLY what He’s doing to you.”

But…this is where the words of Christ Himself in our Gospel lesson show us what God’s almighty wisdom and power is really all about. “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son to die for it, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.” People, here, [the crucifix] is the wisdom of God, hung on a cross for all to see. Here is the unsearchable, inscrutable wisdom of God. Here is what it’s all about. Here is where every problem, every worry, every concern, every woe is ultimately directed to and answered. Here is the fullest expression of God’s powerful love, not just for you, but for all people…even the ones you don’t like. And this is wisdom that ONLY God can have. The wisdom of His grace and mercy meeting the demands of His Holy justice. God defies our logic by drawing out a plan of salvation that looks like death and defeat, forsakenness and horrific suffering for an innocent man! Yet there in the Son of God and Son of Man in His death is your victory and love and peace. He is the reason why God has not yet, destroyed the earth in totality, but has patience with all those who don’t know Him, who hate Him, and yes is patient even with us in our doubts and failures. God desires the death of no man. God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are united in their will and wisdom, their almighty power and knowledge desires that all turn and repent and confess their sins and hold fast to Him and His all-loving, all-merciful peace; the peace that is found ONLY in the all-atoning sacrifice of God Himself in the flesh—Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3 tells us: “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”

This world is fallen, but God is holding it together for you. He uses the bad results of your sin and the sin around you to drive you ever closer to an appreciation of His redemption for you now and for the future. I cannot explain much more as to why this now? Or why me? Look to the cross. Behold His Truth for you. Here is almighty God, Jesus Christ—the wisdom, the love, the mercy, the righteousness of almighty God—in the flesh. In fact, here is the entire Holy Trinity at work…for you and your salvation. The almighty Father sent His Son to die for you; to make atonement for you, and by His grace, through the working of the Holy Spirit, you believe it. This same almighty Father still sends His Son to you to bring you His assurance of forgiveness, grace, mercy, and peace, no matter how foolishly bad things may seem on this side of eternity.

The only-begotten Son still holds out His pierced hands to you, beckoning you to turn around and come to and cleave to Him here in His cross, in Baptism, in Absolution, and in His Holy Supper. “Come to Me, all who are heavy-laden.  Come, take, and eat.” “Those who have seen Me have seen the Father.” Yes, we still suffer.  Yes, we still bear crosses.  “My grace is sufficient. I know what I’m doing. I’m working all things for your good and for the good of all those who love Me. My grace is all-sufficient. You’re okay.  I’ve got you.” The Holy Spirit of God, proceeding forth from the Father and the Son, works in us and enables to hear and see and receive these blessed realities of salvation. The Holy Spirit of God works that life-giving, life-saving miracle in you through the hearing of God’s voice—God’s Word—opening your ears, your hearts, and your minds to recognize and give thanks for the blessed joy and peace and wisdom that is Christ crucified; the joy and peace that is Immanuel in your midst in your soul. 

Whatever you are going through or feeling, I point you to almighty God, whose voice cried out in victory, “It is finished,” and who still bears these scars as an eternal blessed reminder to His heavenly Father that all the work; all the requirements; all the wrath; all the suffering has all been paid all in full by Him for us. That’s a lot of “alls” too, isn’t it?  All the full, righteous, and fiery wrath of God against sin was poured out on Christ…not us. I direct your ears of faith to His voice, which still cries out and proclaims your innocence, your justification, and your peace. Those words of absolution and benediction that you hear aren’t the mere words of men who simply like tradition. Those are the timeless and eternal words of God for you.  By the working of His Holy Spirit, you believe and hold fast to these Words of Life, Wisdom, and Peace. 

And then, you can understand it by faith; when you trust this God-given eternal wisdom, it shakes your foundations…for joy. Everything else in life tends to get put in proper perspective when you consider it in light of Jesus Christ. It’s all so simple, so powerful, so wise and beautiful because you see the prevalence of His grace and love through it all for now and for your eternal future. Everything else becomes a lot more palatable, manageable, bearable…even joyous. Everything else seems pretty foolish in the light of the cross of Jesus; the very wisdom of God in the flesh, as it all should. 

This is the Christian faith, and the whole three persons of the one Divine Trinity have called you, and placed their name upon you, given you faith, declared you forgiven in Jesus Christ crucified, and will raise these bodies at the last to live with Him in His glory for eternity. God grant it for Jesus’ sake.

Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

How does a person learn to read? For that matter how does a person learn to speak? When does a child or an adult begin to understand the meaning behind the words of the language that they are reading or speaking?

Reading or even speaking any language are skills that must be taught. Children or adults learning a new language do not just happen upon the skills of speaking or reading and comprehension simply by chance. Parents don’t often think about it, but by merely speaking to their infants and interacting with them, they begin to teach their children to put together the pleasant burblings and blabbering noises of infant-hood and begin to form speech. The way in which the speech is used by the parents teaches the child to begin to understand the meaning behind the words being spoken. The process of acquiring language skills may be faster for some people than for others, but regardless of the inborn talents of an individual, the process of language acquirement remains the same: It always requires some amount of time with repetitive exposure to the language to be learned, and perhaps most importantly, it requires a teacher, a person already skilled in that language teaching the student the true meaning and nuance of the language being learned.

Language understanding requires a teacher, a translator, if you will, to bring understanding to the otherwise ignorant and dumb (unable to speak) individual.

This is very much what the Holy Spirit does. Over the last many Sundays we have heard Scriptures and sermons which have spoken about Jesus and who He was and is and how He would be sending the Holy Spirit to the disciples. Even to our ears, none of these Scriptures would have any meaning without the Holy Spirit opening our hearts and minds by His power working through God’s Word and sacraments. It is only by His bringing people like us to faith that we can be given true understanding.

This is the work of the Holy Spirit. We confess in the Nicene Creed: I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son are worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. In the Small catechism we confess: “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the one true faith. In the same way, He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.”

Today on Pentecost Sunday we celebrate that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit upon His disciples on that first Pentecost. We celebrate because in His mercy He sent the Holy Spirit to bear witness to Himself and to the salvation which He accomplished. The disciples, blinded by ignorance and unbelief like all humans begin, were still learning the language of God’s Word and the Good News of Jesus Christ. They heard the words of Jesus for three years. They knew that they had power, but much like a human child for the first 3 years of their life don’t fully understand the language to speak it or understand the true meaning of what is spoken, so too did the disciples often struggle with what Jesus was telling them. It was only by the power of the Holy Spirit sent by the Ascended Christ that the disciples’ education was accelerated at Pentecost, that they were finally brought to the point of true understanding by faith in Jesus Christ. It was, therefore, by the power of the Holy Spirit that Peter and the disciples were able to bear witness to the truth and good news of Jesus Christ so boldly and clearly. Their own minds and tongues which had been held captive by reason, unbelief, and ignorance were now made instruments of praise and proclamation to bear witness to Jesus Christ.

On that Pentecost morning there was a rushing sound as a great wind, and tongues of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them and they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The temporary tongue of flame represented the purifying power of the Holy Spirit. It was as though the disciples’ tongues were now purified to speak the Holy things of God. The tongue of flame also showed that the Holy Spirit would work through the words of their tongues to give understanding to their hearers and by that fire, refine their hearts to gold in repentance and faith by the Good News of Jesus Christ.

The languages or tongues which the disciples were given to speak were not strange babblings and gibberish as a sign of one who was possessed of demons or new wine. These tongues or glossai (in the Greek) refer to dialects and languages. Suddenly these humble fisherman, tax collectors, and other uneducated were able to speak foreign languages without the instruction of time or repetition. It was by the power and instruction of the Holy Spirit.

This speaking was not a sign for the disciples. The languages which each disciple spoke was God’s instrument and sign to all those present who had come from different lands in Jerusalem for the festival of Pentecost: the message that the news of Jesus Christ was for all people of all languages. The confusion of languages at the tower of Babel is ultimately undone in the central message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the interpretation of the Holy Spirit.

This speaking in different languages is, according to the prophet Joel, a sign that we are in the last days. Contrary to many Christians who believe in different times or dispensations and the counting of millennia, Peter is here saying and we confess with him, that the last Days refers not to a specific amount of time but to the post resurrection of Jesus-New Testament time. Since Pentecost we have been in “the Last Days”.

The sign of these tongues served their purpose: to show forth the power of God working through His Word and sacraments. That the Holy Spirit pointed to Jesus. He was there to convict and to comfort, to bear witness to the truth of Gods Law and Gospel, to declare the salvation of Jesus Christ and the mercies of God.

It is the Holy Spirit who continues to work through the Word of God and sacrament in these latter days. He continues to convict us and all sinners of sin by the Law, but He then also leads and points to the cross of Jesus Christ. He converts us from slaves to sin to being freed in Christ and heirs of eternal life by the forgiveness of sin won for us by Christ at the cross. In Holy Baptism we were changed by the washing of Water and the Word as the old was cast away and Christ put upon us. It is the Holy Spirit who continues to turn men’s and women’s hearts from the ignorant dead deaf people that they were and teaches them the language of God’s Word by giving them faith or restoring them in the faith in the message of promise of forgiveness in the cross of Christ. In this way He gives ears to hear and tongues to speak even in our human languages the great mysterious wonders of the good news of Jesus Christ. So, in our hymns and confessions and creeds we bear witness to the truth that the Spirit has born witness to us.

In the Sacrament of the Altar we are gathered in one place, and the Spirit teaches us to accept by faith that here is Jesus offering us forgiveness of sins and life in his body and blood in the bread and wine. He is opening our hearts and our minds, our ears and our mouths, to believe and confess. Once again, the Holy Spirit, not by tongues of fire or different tongues gives us the joy and ability to speak: to witness to one another and to the world the great mercies which we have now received in Jesus Christ by the forgiveness of our sins.

It is the Holy Spirit who continues to deliver God’s Word to us and delivers our prayers to Him so that He may return with God’s comfort. It is the Holy Spirit who continues to restore us in Christ even when we sin and repent and confess. He is always pointing us back to our Savior and ahead to the time when He shall give us the breath of new life at the end of time when He shall raise us up from the dead and give unto us and all believers in Christ eternal life. All people of all times, nations, languages, and races made one, once and for all in Jesus Christ! Thanks be to God for the work of the Holy Spirit who teaches us the language of God’s grace and forgiveness that we may understand, speak, and believe in Jesus Christ our Savior.
Amen.
Pr. Aaron Kangas

This last Thursday was Ascension Day, the feast day when the church celebrates Jesus ascending into heaven 40 days after His resurrection victory on Easter Sunday. The image of the disciples watching Jesus ascend into the cloud reminds me that when I was just a young boy, I used to daydream of being able to fly. I don’t mean like Superman, I mean more like being able to float up in the air like a balloon, and then maybe fly like a bird. The idea of being able to rise up and see people, my home, my school, and church from the sky, unfettered and free without the obstruction of view like in an airplane sounded like wonderful fun. Maybe you have had this same sort of dream or maybe the idea of floating up into the sky makes you feel a little queasy, nevertheless, the reality is that, as believers in Jesus Christ, we have the promise that as Jesus has ascended on high, we too shall ascend into heaven. When He returns on the last day, He will descend in the same way that He ascended and we shall be lifted up (ascending) and shall meet Him in the sky. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17)

In the Gospel of St. Luke, and the book of Acts, the first chapter, we have the Evangelist St. Luke writing details about the Ascension Day. We are told that Jesus was looking at His disciples and blessing them, after having spoken with them, and He was lifted up. The disciples watched Him being lifted up bodily, and He went up, up, until a cloud came and surrounded Him, and He disappeared from their visible sight. This was no magic act; He didn’t disappear only to reappear out of some closet door. When He went into that cloud He in an instant was transferred into His heavenly glory. Unlike my boyhood dream of floating into the air for my own fun and amusement, when Jesus ascended into heaven, He did it not for Himself, or for fun, but for the sake of the Church and as a sign to the disciples of the hope and promise of His second coming. Jesus had spoken to the disciples about having to leave them, that by His returning to His Father all things would be accomplished in order to establish His heavenly reign, that it was necessary for Him to go and prepare a place for them, that by His leaving them, He could actually be with them all the more by His Spirit. This is exactly what Jesus has ascended to do; He has gone to prepare a place for His Church; He has gone to establish His Kingdom, to send forth His Holy Spirit, and be with us in a greater way until His final return.

In the Gospels, Jesus spoke about the kingdom of heaven saying “The Kingdom of Heaven is like…” and then He would go on to describe it. In a few of His parables, He stated that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a master, or a prince, who would go to a far-away land for a purpose. In these parables, the prince and master would always come back. Jesus is the fulfillment of the one who had to leave for a time and then come back at the proper time. The time in-between His leaving and His coming back is the time that we are living in now, and all those parables talked about how important that in-between time is, and how it is not time to be wasted, it is a time in which His subjects are to be productive, and bearing fruit, or investing the treasure of God’s Word through preaching and teaching, so that the Church may grow and expand by His grace in the message of salvation in Jesus Christ’s name. The time after Trinity Sunday is all about learning and growing to use that time well.

We speak about Jesus Christ fulfilling three offices; prophet, priest, and king. During His earthly ministry Jesus fulfilled the office of prophet in His preaching and teaching. Through His death on the cross He made the sacrifice to pay for all sins, so that through His death and resurrection, He fulfilled His high-priestly role, being both priest and sacrifice. Now in His Ascension, He has gone to claim His Kingship which continues the work of all three offices. Psalm 100, and Daniel ch. 7, declare that the Messiah would establish His kingdom forever, as He would arise and sit at the right hand of God the Father. In the book of Hebrews we are told that He is a priest forever after the order of King Melchizadek. In Ephesians we hear, “He raised him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places”, we confess in the creed that “He sits on the right hand of the Father.” This sitting at the right hand of God is not an actual physical location, but a term referring to the fact that now Jesus is ruling over heaven and earth in His state of exultation and is blessing the Church through His Word and Sacraments. In His earthly life, Jesus as true God and true Man, lived within a state of humiliation until His death on the cross. Before His death, He could not move from point A to point B in the blink of an eye; the reason for this is that He had to, in His human flesh, be humiliated, and for the most part be bound by natural law, to suffer for our sins, and then die on the cross. By His rising again from the dead, He entered into His state of glory, His state of exultation as we call it, where His divine nature now is able to communicate divine powers to His human. By His ascending into heaven, His physical, human body has now received all the power and benefit of His divine nature, so that Jesus can be physically present everywhere He promises to be, so that Jesus can be present in the Lord’s Supper in Yucaipa, CA, at the same time His body is truly present in, with, and under the bread and wine at a divine service in Japan, or Africa as He has promised. Jesus is no longer bound by time and space, so that He can be ruling in heaven, and yet present and comforting each and every one of us here on earth, right now.

Because of His state of exultation, He continues his offices of prophet, priest and king. As King, He rules over all creation and promises to return to judge both the living and the dead; as Priest, He is continually praying to His Father, and taking the prayers that believers pray in His name and interceding on their behalf; and His sacrifice on the cross continues to be effective for the forgiveness of sins. In His office of Prophet, the Word of Jesus Christ has lost no power in His Ascension, but has gained power, because, as Jesus promised, 10 days after His Ascension on Pentecost, He sent forth His Holy Spirit so that, through His Church, He continues the preaching and teaching office in His earthly ministry.

After witnessing the Ascension of Jesus while He blessed them and upon hearing the angelic message that He would return in the same way, the disciples came down that hill with great joy worshipping the Lord. You too may be filled with that same joy as we worship the Lord. Unlike the world which looks out for itself and scoffs at the mercies of God, looking for fulfillment in empty pursuits which are all vanity, we have a permanent hope in Jesus Christ. The eternal benefits of His life, death, resurrection and ascension are yours through faith. He has sent forth His Holy Spirit to you to establish you in His Church through the waters of baptism. You are freed from the bonds of your sin and forgiven for Jesus’ sake in your hearing of Christ crucified for your sins. He comes to you this day as He continues to proclaim: repentance, joy, hope, and a purpose into your heart and life and to all believers, even as He preached almost 2,000 years ago. You have been redeemed in His name, and you are given the Spirit of Wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of your Savior Jesus Christ.

In the doctrine of Jesus’ Ascension into heaven, we as believers in Christ have these assurances:
1: Jesus Christ has fulfilled all things, through His death, resurrection, and ascension, therefore we no longer fear the condemnation of the law, but have a victory in Christ.
2: We know that through Jesus’ Ascension, He is actually with us even more now than when He was with His disciples during His earthly ministry, because of that state of exultation; He is not bound by space or time, but He comes to us in a more real sense; He comes to us spiritually in His Word, and spiritually and physically in His special presence in the Lord’s Supper. We are able to pray to Him so that no matter where we are, whether we speak it out loud or quietly in our minds, Jesus hears our prayers, and intercedes to the Father for us.

The third assurance is that, because Jesus has ascended, He promises to come again, to deliver us, and bring us to the home in heaven He has prepared for all believers in Him. He continues to reign over us and bless us with earthly joys while also being our consolation and strength during our earthly sorrows ever pointing us to the cross, empty tomb and Ascension reminding us of the greatest joy that is yet to come. So He continues to come to us and strengthen us by His Spirit in Word and Sacrament and through it prepares us to redeem the time and serve Him in joy, in our vocations, as we tell others about His love, and all that He has accomplished for us.

Today though we may not exchange gifts like on Christmas, nor do we gather together for a special family dinner, as on Easter, Ascension Day is a great and wonderful day of joy for us believers in Jesus Christ. We know that the Ascension of Jesus Christ is that which points to our own heavenly ascension for His mercy’s sake. Death shall not hold us, the grave is but a resting place, for when He comes again, we too shall arise from death to life in His Glory. On Christ’s Ascension we are now built, through faith in Jesus Christ. As we celebrate the Lord’s Supper in just a few moments, remember that we are already celebrating the eternal life which has been given you and through faith in Jesus Christ who has accomplished all things for you and all believers. May God keep us ever in that great joy and hope in Jesus’ name.
AMEN.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

Today is Rogate Sunday. It comes from the Latin verb rogare, which means “to ask” or “to pray.” Whereas the other Sundays in Easter get their Latin names from the introit, this Sunday gets its name from the theme of prayer that runs throughout today’s readings.

Look at the Old Testament reading. The Israelites had complained against the LORD and Moses that there was no food and water; they whined that they loathed the food He provided for them. This complaint was actually a type of prayer. A prayer of complaint and rebellion, of mockery and ungrateful hate, like a child having a terrible tantrum and purposefully dumping and destroying the food given to them. As a result, the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people and many died.

Recognizing their sin and who they had sinned against, they asked Moses to pray to the LORD on their behalf, that He would take away the serpents from them. Moses did and the LORD God answered his prayer and had him make a bronze serpent raised upon a pole to direct the eyes of the people to this symbol of their sin and the punishment that they deserved. This symbol also pointed them to their ultimate hope for salvation in the crucifixion of the Christ yet to come.

St. Paul in today’s Epistle writes to Timothy, “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way”. Notice what St. Paul doesn’t say. He doesn’t say pray only for your friends. He doesn’t say pray only for the rulers you agree with and like. He says to pray for all people. Pray for your enemies. Pray for those rulers who make life difficult for you. Pray for all people.

In our Gospel lesson on the night when He was to be betrayed, Jesus told His disciples, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full”. Receive! Ask! Pray! Receive!

As Christians, we talk a lot about prayer, but what is it? Prayer, broadly stated is: communication between mankind and God. It is a speaking and replying to God in response to what God says first to us. There is a holy response to God by faith. It can be thanksgiving, praise, and asking for things physical and spiritual including repentance. It can be expressed in the form of music and song as we talked about last week or it can be spoken by our mouths or by our actions. Sometimes prayer is speaking to God about thoughts and feelings of one’s own heart and mind: asking for physical and spiritual needs and wants. But prayer as we heard from the epistle should include intercessions, that is prayers on behalf of others.

When it comes to praying: there is that good speaking to God, a righteous and God pleasing type of prayer which we often speak about. This is prayer which is the response of faith. But there is a bad kind of prayer which is not done in faith. This is the communication which unbelievers speak unto God even if they are not aware that they are doing it. The world essentially prays unto God by their words and actions of unbelief that “they don’t want or need Him”. By thumbing their nose at God and following the gods of their own making, they are communicating their mockery of their creator. This bad kind of prayer is the prayer that the children of Israel in their rebellion and complaining prayed unto God. When Christians fall into temptation and sin, they are praying this same kind of evil prayer unto the Lord.

What is the content of that prayer action or voice? The content of that unbelieving and sinful communication back unto the Lord in response to all He does? This evil prayer is a cursing of God. It is not a blessing of His name but cursing His name. In this prayer of unbelief, the world, the flesh, and you and I when we sin are saying to God: “Forget you! I don’t need you. I reject you and hate you and I hate your gifts that you have given, they aren’t enough for me…”

We are like bratty rebellious spoiled children cursing their parents for giving them life. But in doing this, we bring upon ourselves the curse which we deserve. Because of our sin, we have asked for the fiery serpents to come bite us, and the fiery sting of sin is death. And since all humanity has sinned all must die.

But we also deserve eternal damnation and death. Because of our great sin and unworthiness we need someone to pray to God on our behalf, even as we repent and cry out in prayer Lord have mercy!
God Himself anticipated that need, and established His Son, Jesus, the Christ, begotten before all worlds for this task of interceding for us. More perfect than Moses or Paul or any naturally begotten human, He came into human flesh in response and anticipation of our prayerful cry of repentance. He responded to His Father in the prayer of perfect obedience in fulfillment of the demands of the Law but also in the receiving of our punishment. God Himself lifted up Jesus upon the pole of the cross in the wilderness of our sinful world. He died in our stead and took our punishment so that anyone who has been bitten by sin and recognizes with sorrow, fear, and contrition that they should die, may look to the cross by faith and hope and be saved.

Saved because Jesus crucified and raised intercedes and prays for us even as He has already paid the price of our sin. The Father hears and He gives forgiveness, life, and peace for the sake of His Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

God now has spoken to us by His Son, Jesus Christ. He speaks by His Word to warn and call people back from their sin and the suffering brought about by their own sin but also when the world just hates Christians. He spoke to us in Holy Baptism when He took us “sin bitten heathen” and poured upon us the balm of Christ’s pure blood and righteousness removing the sign and mark of the curse and replacing it with the sign of the cross and His promise of life everlasting. His Holy Spirit opens our hearts and minds, so that we have the ability to believe in Jesus Christ and be saved. We are now declared His children and are given the privilege to speak to our heavenly Father in that right and proper and God pleasing way, by faith. In gratitude and thanksgiving, in need and suffering with the hope that we have in Him that we can pray in faith in His promises and knowing that He will hear this righteous prayer for the sake of Christ.

So proper prayer is the voice of faith. It’s the voice of faith that rests upon the promises of God’s Word. This prayer is the natural extension of the work of the Holy Spirit, who through the Word of God creates faith, a faith that asks God to make His will our own. And so we ask. We pray.

We pray, not because God must first be told of our needs and wishes. We pray as a response to His voice. He desires for us to pray to hear our voice in song and prayer and tells us: “Ask, and you will receive” and “…Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me”.

And so, God commands us to pray, because it is good for us. It confirms us in the faith which He has given. It empties our hearts and minds and directs us to Him to see His grace and mercy in action. “…this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us” (1 John 5:14). He hears us not because of our goodness, our godliness, or our merit and worthiness, but for the sake of Jesus Christ.

That doesn’t mean that we cannot nor should not try to be godly, good, and charitable in thought, word, and deed. In fact, that should be our prayer in gratitude for His grace: “Lord conform me to your image. Make me more like you in grace and love.” And by His Spirit working through His Word, His sacraments, He gives us that power to pray in righteousness to the glory of God in the loud speaking of our actions as Christians living out in our communities in this world by faith.

Fellow redeemed, right prayer is the voice of faith that rests upon the promises of God’s Word. It is the response of faith to His loving voice. Without receiving His voice by hearing His Word and receiving His presence in the sacraments, we cannot know pray rightly by voice or by action because it is only by His voice that our faith is built. Keep coming to where He is for you. Receive! Ask! Pray! And receive again! Remember we don’t pray in order to appease or manipulate God. We pray because, as His baptized children, He’s “Our Father,” the Father of Heaven and Earth. We are invited to call upon God, invoking His name, to His glory and praise as a witness for ourselves and this world, knowing that He will give us much more than we could ever ask for; that He will provide for us in a better way than we could ever know. So, “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” in Jesus Christ. Amen!

Pr. Aaron Kangas

Two weeks ago, the Gospel text had Jesus talking about His voice and how His sheep would know Him and follow Him. This Sunday’s theme as you can see on the top of our worship insert is “Cantate”. It comes from the Latin translation of our Introit which tells us “sing” in fact it says “sing y’all”. Sing a new song! What do we have to sing about? Why do we sing? We sing in response to the voice of our Good Shepherd. We sing in response to the Holy Spirit which He sends speaking through the voice of His Word which convicts and leads us into all truth: away from error, away from temptation, away from the voice of the devil, the flesh, the world, and death.

Many of you do not think that you can sing. I have observed that some of you do not always open your mouths to sing the words of the hymns. Perhaps you are shy or you have been told that you have a weak voice, a poor voice, or a terrible voice. Maybe you don’t have a “great voice”. Maybe you can’t sing the notes right on, or very loudly, maybe your voice is growly or airy or wheezy. Do you think God cares? Do you think He will hold the quality of your voice against you when you respond to His voice with faith and gratitude? No way! He loves your voice even as much as you love His! No In fact He loves your voice even more.

There is a deep psychological, physical, and spiritual dimension to singing. Singing is actually very good for you. The very act of singing releases chemicals called endorphins which help you to relax and cope with stress, fear, anguish, “the blues” if you will. Singing helps your body become better at breathing and the more you do it, the better your body responds to it. The physical act of singing can also help the body to become less rigid even as it works the breath and muscles of the body together for the action of making music.

The problem arises if a person is afraid of singing, afraid of being ridiculed, afraid that they won’t hit the right notes, that they don’t know that song, or won’t be able to follow the rhythm or melody. This attitude has been recognized by the medical community as a “road block” to singing and can actually make a person feel more lonely when others around them are singing when they believe that they cannot.

Do you know who also doesn’t want you singing? You guessed it. The devil. He knows that singing is a gift from the Lord, that it is something that God has given to His creation to add variety for the ears, and for the health of those who sing. The devil knows that the singing of music along with words of truth based in Scripture will keep people from feeling as miserable as the Devil wants them to feel. So, he as the father of lies and father of misery, will lie to people, he will distort the truth. This is what he does with everything. The devil will lie about your voice and about singing and the gift of music and song. He will disparage it as unimportant, as something to take for granted, or as something for someone else. He will try to limit you, make you feel silly, embarrassed, self conscious, and reluctant to sing in the same way, that he will encourage negativity, sadness, anger, depression, self-hatred, or conversely, self-centered pride, and the pursuit of things that not healthy for the mind, body, or spirit.

Any gift of God that He has given, Satan will try to cause people to abuse it and misuse it toward sin, degradation, and spiritual slavery. Whether it is the gifts of food, drink, family, friendship, house, home, health, sexual relations which are to be for a man and woman in marriage, music, or any other 1st article created gift, Satan will by virtue of the world and our flesh, adulterate it with his malice and the fallenness of our flesh and try to ruin it.

What is even worse is that he does this also with the Word of God. He will take people who read the Word of God and whisper in their ears to interpret it in ways that God did not say. They will emphasize the Law of God in an effort to earn salvation instead of understanding that we can only be saved by grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. He will whisper in our ears to err on the side of the Gospel and not address sin with the Law when pride in sin needs to be rebuked. He will make God’s Word seem to contradict itself by confusing people by emphasizing their reason, instead of starting from the place of faith. He will try to convince those who have been humbled by the Law that they cannot ever do enough, and he will try to convince those in need of repentance that they don’t need to repent.

It seems very bleak when we look at how effective Satan seems to be in the world and even in our own hearts and minds. When we realize that we have allowed him to lead us astray into sin, away from joy, away from God’s Word, away from faith, away from Christ into our own self; into our own sin, misery, and self justification.

But what does our Gospel text say from the mouth of Jesus? The Helper will come to His church. Jesus sends the Spirit to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgement. The Spirit of God sent from Jesus and the Father speaks through the Word of God the truth of how to understand the work of Jesus, the plan for our salvation. He speaks to convict the world of sin where it is needed, but then to point the repentant to the righteousness won by Jesus, the Son of God, who as perfect man fulfilled the Law in our stead, died upon the cross, and risen again, so that by faith, people who would receive His grace and live under His righteousness; to live in joy in the midst of a fallen world. To see in the midst of a world that seems to be under the devil’s influence, that that ruler of this world, Satan is judged. He is defeated in Christ’s death.

As you have been baptized into Christ. As you have repented and been forgiven, you a new creation in Him, set free from the threat of eternal death, set free from the lies of the devil who is constantly trying to magnify and enlarge your shortcomings when you are humbled, and enlarge your pride when you need to repent. But the Holy Spirit bursts through those lies, by His Word, by the faith that He created in you and continues to nurture in you. He uses, the pastor, your fellow Christians in this fellowship, He uses the hymns as you sing them, hear them, and learn them, to heal you and strengthen you. As St. Paul advised the church in Ephesus chapter 5: “be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”.

Singing and making melody to the Lord. That is what we do here. And it is a song that you can sing daily.
Our old song without Christ is one of sadness, a blues melody, a deep wailing and dirge of grief. But now as our Introit sang out: “Sing to the Lord, Alleluia, for He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations. Alleluia! His right hand and His Holy arm has worked salvation!”

He has worked your salvation through Jesus Christ who has been crucified for you and your sins, who has been raised to show the victory of the cross and to show your new life and resurrection by faith in Him and His power.

He gives you the gift of song and singing. He joins us with our various voices, abilities, and callings into the body of Christ as we sing together making a beautiful noise and melody.

Straining together in joy, hastening on the day of Jesus triumphant return. But even now we see a foretaste of the joy and unity that shall be fulfilled as we listen to His Word, and respond to it together, as we confess Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to each other in our creeds and songs, and then as we approach the Altar…. Guess what? We can through the ears of faith hear the singing of the rest of the body of Christ on the other side of the veil. The song of the Church triumphant. They sing with us. The angels sing with us. Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Sabaoth, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Indeed, the earth shows forth the glory of the Lord. How can we not sing? But there at the altar is the glory that truly fills the world with true joy. The glory of Christ’s body and blood crucified in victory in the bread and the wine, for us to eat and to drink. Lord have mercy! Thanks be to God!

As we eat and drink, the Lord makes the minds of His people of one will; to love what He has commanded and desire what He promised so that in the changes and chances of this world, our hearts may be fixed upon Christ where true joys are found! The Lord is our strength and our song. Cantate, my brothers and sisters! Sing to the Lord a new song! Alleluia! Amen!

Pr. Aaron Kangas

“A little while”.

That term is used 7 times in today’s Gospel. It’s pretty hard to miss it. Obviously, we are meant to pay attention.
“A little while”. What is a little while? It seems like a pretty subjective term. Your “little while” may be different than my definition of a “little while”. It is an indefinite term. Is it 10 minutes, 2 hours, weeks, many years? How does it compare to a “long while”? And what amount of our own perception affects our understanding and expectation when we hear someone say: “a little while”?

Have you ever noticed how our perception of time changes based on what we are doing or what we are expecting or what we are experiencing? If you are enjoying something, having fun, time seems to fly by. For example, if you like sports, a game can take 2-3 hours, but you don’t care. It feels like no time at all. How often have we given an answer like “in a little while” to our family, our chores or obligations, while watching television, playing video games, or something else like that and suddenly that “little while” has become a “long while”?

But then, if you are working on something that you don’t like, or with something repetitive, or are in a meeting that has no relevance to your work, time can feel like it drags. A “little while” feels like a “long while” An hour can seem like 3 hours, or longer. If we are experiencing pain or stress, if we are sick, each moment can seem like an eternity.

What also can seem like a long, long time, is if we are looking forward to something. Waiting is so difficult. We learned that even as a child. When a child asks their parent when they are going to eat, play, or do something fun, if the parent answers: “in a little while”… Even if the delay is only 10 minutes or half an hour, to that child it might as well be 3 hours or a lifetime. How often did you as a child ask or have you been asked as a parent after “a little while” now? Now? How much longer? Then finally “Come on!”

How often are you and I still like a little child when it comes to our perspective and relationship with God? When we want something from God, we want it now! We get impatient, even angry at God! Yet, how often, are we reluctant to give an answer to God when he tells us to repent, to stop doing what is wrong, to stop doing what is harmful to our bodies or to our spiritual well being. “Come back to church” God says, “Not now, in a little while” we answer. “Stop living in this or that sin”. “Not now, in a little while.”

What about when we are hurting or in pain? When we are bearing a physical burden or a worry? Have you ever prayed, “Lord, deliver me from this.” But it doesn’t seem like the Lord is answering? The answer is: “in a little while”, He will deliver. To our flesh, that seems like a “no” answer, an off handed, non-committed answer. A “Does God really care?” answer. The flesh knows that that’s what it would do. We don’t want to be bothered with the problems of others, maybe God feels the same way about us when we are being tormented by guilt, anxiety, worry, sadness, or suffering of any kind. That is certainly what the Devil and the world would try to tell you. God has forgotten you. God doesn’t care. Or maybe even God isn’t real.

But the problem is our perspective. Our perspective which is tainted by our sin, by the world, by our misunderstanding of God, His Will, His Word, and so caught up in our own selfish, self-centered feelings, self-justifications, and self-pleasures, that you and I often close our hearts and minds to what is a good and joyful use of our time here on earth. This entire life that we are given here on earth is “but a little while” in the grand scope and scheme of eternity.

Eternity is the “long while” a time where there is no time. There is no end to it. We cannot even fathom it. That is even why Jesus uses the example of a woman in labor. Even if labor was many hours, what is that compared to a lifetime for that child or the lifetime for the mother. Once that little while of labor is over, once the child is born there is joy and the labor and pain fades into memory.
Our times here on earth are filled with times of pleasure, pain, sorrow, crosses and joys aplenty, but they are all such short moments, that we pass through without even fully being aware. When we are sick, we feel it greatly, and then when we are well, we are over it and can scarcely remember being ill. That is how we are, and so we guage time accordingly. How often have you and I sinfully perceived church to be like a boring meeting? Like something we have to suffer through unless it could be thrilling and pointed directly to whatever our definition of “fun” is. “Oh my Goodness, when will this service end? We went for over an hour!? This is such a “long while” Ugh!

Quite often the problem is us. If we are bored in church, it’s because God has blessed us, things are going well in our lives, but we don’t credit Him for it, and we are not thinking about how even when things seem to be going well, we still need what is here for us. We still need to confess our sin, receive His grace, and be re-centered upon Jesus Christ. Perhaps, there have been times we have just made up our minds that church is a chore, but is that God’s fault? No, this is the result of our sinful selfish flesh. Lord have mercy and turn us from our folly!

So often, the people who are really glad to be here at the Divine Service, who no longer see it as a chore or a boring waste of time, have that perspective because of suffering. Because they have suffered in the flesh and the spirit. They have seen the pain and suffering caused by sin in this world, and sin within themselves, and they understand that they deserve it, as do we all! No, sinners deserve even worse, not just death, but also eternal death. But in the midst of this suffering, the injustices, and sorrows, there will be an end to those troubles, and already there is an end to them in Christ! So now they already have joy as their Savior comes to them in this fast fleeting hour too give them relief and hope! For them an hour is not long enough. May God grant us all the same perspective!

Dear brothers and sisters: “Jesus said:
‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’  Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.  When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”
Jesus was speaking of His crucifixion and resurrection to His disciples. He is speaking the same to you all, and believers of every age and location. “A little while” and we will be there. “Hang in there!” “Courage”. The world and our flesh may war against faith using our flesh. It may seem that we can bear no more, that God is not hearing our cry. Many may seem to be giving up the faith, and the world and government may persecute the Church, but have no fear in Jesus Christ! A little while and He will come again to you in His body and blood and the bread and wine. This He does so that all His people may rejoice in the forgiveness of sins. In the healing of our spirits, and the comfort of our minds and hearts. So that any trouble, sorrow, or hardship may be turned to joy, and the “long whiles” of our spiritual suffering may become as “little whiles”. While we wait for the little while of this life to be transferred to the “great and long while” of eternal life which Christ has sacrificed and labored for you and me on the cross.

Scripture is filled with this encouragement:
2 Cor. 4:16-18  So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
1 Peter 1:6-7 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 5:10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
Hebrews 10:37-38 “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith.”

Already, the Lord comes to you here. Be refreshed. Be encouraged as you live by faith in Jesus Christ, who for your sake labored and died on the cross. He was dead but for only “a little while”, so that when He comes to the world at the last: you, and I, and all believers, may live “a great long, while” with Him in His glory which shall have no end. And our joy shall never be taken away for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

A few years ago in the Portals of Prayer, there was a devotion on today’s Gospel text which began this way: “Good shepherds know their sheep – and sheep know their shepherd, whose voice assures provision and security. A young pastor of the suburban church wanted to host a living nativity. A donkey and four sheep were found. Inexperienced members built a stable and a crude fence inside with which to keep the sheep. But the fence was not high enough. Suddenly, one sheep jumped the fence and then another and another and finally the last one. The pastor ran after the first sheep. Three others chased wayward sheep through snowy drifts alongside a busy highway, shouting, “Stop! Stop!” The sheep were eventually retrieved and returned to the fold, where a higher fence was already under construction. “They wouldn’t listen!” the pastor exclaimed. “They just kept running!” An old saint, who knew something about both sheep and people, smiled and said, “They didn’t know you, Pastor. They didn’t know your voice. We do, though, and we love you.” A cute little story.

In today’s Gospel from St. John, Jesus was talking to the Pharisees, the Jews, and His disciples about Himself and His voice: about His purpose and ministry and why some followed Him and others did not. He described Himself as the Good Shepherd who knows His sheep and His sheep know Him: they would know Him by His voice and respond accordingly. They would be gathered to Him.

The “Good Shepherd” is one of our favorite images of Jesus describing His relationship to His people in the Church. Why is Jesus as the good shepherd a favorite image? What makes it so comforting? Why do His sheep know Him and know His voice? What makes Jesus the Good shepherd? Well in this chapter of John, which is a favorite for many, Jesus explains. As He explains the hearer begins to understand the purpose of Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry, but it also explains why He has done what He has done in His life, death, and resurrection.

Jesus is the good shepherd because that is who He is. He is faithful, merciful, and loving. He is the opposite of a hireling, a mere hired hand who has no stock in the well being of the sheep. The hireling doesn’t care what happens to the sheep. He just wants to be paid. The hireling cares nothing for the sheep. He will abuse them, feed them poorly or abandon them if it’s convenient for himself. This comparison highlights what makes Jesus the good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd cares everything for the sheep. He cares and loves them so much that He fights for them against their enemies who would come and devour, scatter, and torture the sheep. The Good Shepherd sees the wolf coming and stands His ground and fights hand to hand. He will not abandon them.

Yet the way that Jesus, the Good shepherd accomplished this, the weapons that He used, and the enemies that He slew, were different than conventional fights in the sheep fields.

David before he was King David, we are told In 1 Samuel, protected His father’s flocks by slaying lions, and bears when they attacked the sheep. He killed the beast with a knife or sword as he would also pluck the sheep still alive from the lions’ mouth. In his selfless heroism and bravery, David was a type of Christ.

God the Father had appointed His Son to go and protect the sheep in the greatest battle for their souls, so Christ saw the enemies of His Father’s sheep and came to rescue the sheep while destroying the enemies. Not with a sword or slingshot did Jesus slay and defeat the enemy, but Jesus the Son of God came to earth using His own flesh and blood body of a true man as His weapon and shield. His weapon was also the truth of God’s Love for the world, the truth of God’s mercy and redeeming forgiveness.

The first attacking wolf which Christ came to defeat was Satan, that accuser who whispered doubts into those first human sheep, Adam and Eve causing them in their confusion and doubt to disobey the safety of the voice of their Lord and scatter. Satan, who ever since attacks again and again every generation in various ways, with a staggering amount of success. Satan then wielded the power of the second enemy who Jesus came to destroy which was sin. Satan with his false and slick voice held men and women captive by accusing them of their sin; using the Law to destroy people and remove hope. Or he would cleverly warp minds into thinking they could defend themselves and save themselves by somehow doing enough works for salvation which do not give success.

But the Lord would continue to call and speak by His voice in His faithful prophets and people throughout the Old Testament. As we heard in Ezekiel today, the Lord reminded the people that He would gather all His sheep who were scattered. He would seek them, gather them, feed them, and bind up their wounds, while punishing the wicked and the enemies who had oppressed them. He would Himself shepherd His people.

In the fullness of time, He sent Jesus to be that Good Shepherd born of a virgin but still true God. By Christ’s preaching and teaching in His earthly ministry, He was planting the Word by His voice. Then He allowed the forces of darkness to take Him as they thought they could silence His voice by putting Him to death on the cross. Satan must have thought that somehow this would break Jesus in His humanity or that in His death it would be the end of the Christ threat. That wasn’t the case. As Jesus was crucified it was as the Good Shepherd standing between the sheep and the blood thirsty enemy. As Jesus the Good Shepherd laid down His life, He was actually destroying the choke hold of sin upon the sheep that they may not have even known was there. He became sin for His sheep, He took the punishment for sin so the sheep would not have to receive an eternal punishment for their sin. So that they would not have to be swallowed by Satan and by death that final enemy. He snatched the sheep from the snapping drooling mouth of Satan. Breaking his jaw by crushing his lies regarding God’s mercy and where salvation truly comes. It is there in Christ alone.
Death could not defeat Jesus. He was raised again triumphant over death as a sign that the three enemies (Satan, sin, and death) who would consume the sheep are weaker than the power of the Good Shepherd and have been judged.

Yet many battles continue as Satan, the world, and our flesh tainted by sin continue to wage war against people, against us. So many voices crying out to distract from the one voice whom we can trust, the voice that can and will save us. Repent and hear the voice of the Good Shepherd, who calls you using His Word as it is preached, calling wandering sin-filled sheep to Himself. He Himself has searched for you. He even today picks you up and wraps you in His grace and restores you to His flock. Be gathered, fed, and healed. He binds your wounds and heals your sins. Though you were dead and weak, by faith in Christ, you are given life and hope again. The Good Shepherd calls out, “Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden by your sin and earthly cares, and I will give you rest.” The Good Shepherd did not just do His job and then leave His sheep to fend for themselves and He will not leave you now. His is a voice worth knowing. Follow His voice and your will find comfort, protection, hope, and peace at His cross, and the places where the benefits of the cross are given.

This is why the image of the Good Shepherd is so powerful and comforting. It is what Jesus the Good Shepherd continues to do. He calls out with His voice giving His Grace to people by the power of the Holy Spirit working through His Word and His sacraments. He leads us forth from Holy Baptism where we first hear His voice as faith is created in us throughout our earthly lives to the place of eternal rest in heaven which He has prepared for all believers from different times and nations. He prepares a feast table for us in the presence of those enemies of the Gospel, and fills our cup of grace to overflowing with the wine and blood of Christ with His body, bread, and triumphant presence.

In the midst of joy, sorrow, whatever we experience, the Good Shepherd speaks to us giving us hope because He has laid down His life for His sheep. In Him you and I have forgiveness of sins, and victory over the devil and hope beyond death. Jesus Christ makes all the hopes and promises of the beloved 23rd Psalm come true throughout our lives. He shall always provide for us so that we have no want. As He prepares a table for us here, He anoints us with joy and mercy and heals us of our sin as we drink the overflowing cup of blessing in Jesus blood for the forgiveness of sins. As we dwell in the house of the Lord the Church, we learn to know and love His voice. In that voice of the Good Shepherd, truly God’s mercy and goodness shall follow us for the sake of that Good Shepherd Jesus Christ. Amen

Pr. Aaron Kangas