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

Back when you were younger, did you ever hear the phrase, “Just wait until your father gets home!”? Or maybe, “Wait till your mother gets home”; maybe one was worse than the other. But what did that mean? We would have heard these words only if we had done something wrong, something deserving punishment. How did it make you feel? Worried, afraid, wondering, “What kind of punishment will I get?” Right?

In the Gospel text for today, the disciples may have experienced a similar fear. The text from John begins by telling the account of Easter Sunday evening. As the text begins, there were only 10 disciples gathered in a room, most likely the same room where only a few days before Jesus had eaten the Passover supper with them. The same place where He instituted the Sacrament of the Altar; the same place where He spoke to them all about what would have to happen to Him in order to fulfill all Scripture. He told that that He would be betrayed, He would have to leave them to a place where they could not follow. He told them that they would be scattered, and desert Him. When they had heard these words originally, their hearts had been filled with sorrow and confusion.

That Sunday evening, they were no doubt filled with more confusion, for everything Jesus said would happen did; They had scattered in fear for themselves, deserting Jesus. Jesus was betrayed, He was tried unjustly, crucified, and killed, and buried. But then, on Sunday, they had heard from the women that the tomb was empty, and there were two angels who asked them why they were looking for the living among the dead. Peter and John went to the tomb and behold, it was empty. Mary Magdalene reported to all the disciples how Jesus appeared to her and gave her the mysterious message for the disciples “…I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” He had said in the upper room, a few days earlier, “I came from the Father and came into the world, and I am leaving the world and going to the Father.” The two disciples who had been on the road to Emmaus had delivered their report of Christ’s appearance to them and how He revealed Himself in the breaking of the bread. This reminded them of Christ instituting the Sacrament of the Altar that same Thursday night. Then as it was just the 10 disciples, minus Thomas discussing these mysteries, their hearts likely still filled with fear that they too might be arrested and put to death. They were afraid of the Jews, but as to the news of Jesus, they probably didn’t know whether to be happy or upset. Afraid it might have been a trap. Also, If Jesus did arise from the grave would He possibly be angry at them for deserting Him in His hour of need? Is that why He had had not yet appeared to any of the 11, because he was angry at them? If He did appear, maybe He would yell at them, or smite them. Peter might have been thinking, “I did deny Him three times before the rooster crowed, just as He said I would, even though I told Him that I would even die with Him.” “Just wait till your Master gets here!…”

Jesus knew this would happen and He had told them Thursday “not to fear”. That “He had overcome the world”. That night the disciples probably weren’t recalling those words of reassurance that Jesus had spoken as they were seized with fear. It is human nature to focus on the grim and the bad news and to cling to fear rather than to trust God in any difficult time… but especially when you know that you are guilty, that you have failed. So, there they were, with hearts in turmoil, fear and angst, mourning their Lord’s death and wondering what was next?

Then Jesus appeared to them suddenly, and while their minds and hearts had no idea how to react, He knew their troubled and guilt-ridden hearts and minds. So, He spoke… “Peace be with you”. Fear may still have had power over them. They may have thought: “Was it Him, a ghost, a demon?” Therefore, He showed them the wounds of His crucifixion, the holes in His hands and His side. He did not yell at them. They had nothing to fear. Then they were glad, and once they were calmed down, He said to them once again, “Peace be with you.” In those words He said “All is forgiven, all is accomplished. You are now free from fear, because I have indeed overcome the world.”

Jesus had not come to judge them, but to absolve them. He knew that they had repented.

Now He would give them the strengthening of faith and office to give the same pronouncement of forgiveness for the Church. He breathed on them the Holy Spirit and the authority which Jesus had to forgive and retain sins was given to them as His apostles and ministers. Their spirit of fear, of darkness, of guilt, had been replaced by the Holy Spirit, who by the forgiveness of sins won by Jesus at the cross, gives a spirit of faith, joy, and gladness.

Jesus had prayed for the disciples on that Thursday night, and He had also prayed for future believers, those who would believe on the name of Jesus through the disciples’ testimony. Now He gave the authority to forgive and retain sins as a tool to establish repentance and forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ for all believers in the future. To give them the spirit of love and peace, not fear.

Even though you and I should expect that when Jesus comes to us in the Divine Service, He would judge us, spite and shame us for our sins, our fears, our abandoning Him and His Words, He comes to us in within this building, as we have come here seeking help and sanctuary from the troubles, sorrows, fears, and failings of this world. He does not speak condemnation, but to those repentant, Jesus says “Peace be unto you”. Through this spoken Word of confession and absolution, the Holy Spirit continues today to free repentant believers from their sin, guilt, fear and shame in Jesus Christ.

The last part of the text spoke of Thomas, who had not yet seen the risen Christ. He doubted unless He saw Jesus with his own eyes and touched His wounds with his own hands. Therefore, the next Sunday night, Jesus appeared to them again, this time with Thomas present. Jesus spoke immediately to Thomas, and showed him His hands and His side, and then Thomas said, “My Lord and my God”, and he believed. Jesus said, “Blessed are they who will believe, though they have not seen.”

Dear friends, Jesus was talking about you and me and the majority of believers throughout time. Though we have not had the same proofs worked to us as to the disciples, the Holy Spirit has worked faith and hope into our hearts and minds by the signs and proofs that He has given. In the hearing of His Word, in Holy Baptism, Absolution, and yes, the Lord’s Supper we have given proofs and signs of His crucifixion and resurrection and that His peace and forgiveness is for us too.

Jesus does indeed come among us and His church with His presence to calm our fears, to remove them, to tell us in the midst of our repentant shame, “you are forgiven”. To tell us in the midst of our troubles and trials, that He has overcome the world and that in Him by faith we will too. Though we could not and cannot keep the Law and we be guilt ridden and worthy of punishment, He comes to us and says, “Peace be with you. Here are my hands, and my side, that were pierced for you. I fulfilled the Law, for you could not. I took the punishment of suffering and death, so that you would not have to experience eternal death. Believe on Me and your sins will be forgiven you and you will be made anew through faith.” In Holy Baptism, God took us and washed us in the blood of Jesus Christ, and in Absolution we are granted again that washing so that our spirit of fear would be replaced with a spirit of peace, and a spirit of faith.

When we have other things happen in this life, when we become afraid for the future, the future of this world or our future, our health, our jobs, our children or grandchildren, or our parents. Fear not. Take heart, dear Christian friends. God has you in His hand. He is here for you to receive His goodness and rest in His reassuring presence, the presence of Your crucified and raised Savior. In His supper we behold our God and Lord, receiving with our mouths salvation which He has won for you to be victorious over sin, death, and the devil in His name.

Now, begone all fear, Ye sons and daughters of the King, He has overcome the world, sin, and even death for you. Our future is one of hope and joy, through faith in Jesus Christ; He gives us the hope of eternal life in the future, but even now, we have joy. Joy in the simple things of this life and more, because we have Peace in Him and reconciliation with the Father. He has given us His forgiveness. He has died on the cross and risen again for you and me. Be made strong for any hardships in life, by His power here given. Be lifted by Him and by your brothers and sisters. Hear His Word, receive His gifts, and be comforted, for He loves you and has eternity established for His people. Yes, just wait until your Lord and Master, Jesus Christ comes a final time… It will be wonderful! He comes to take us to home to Himself to live in joy forever. This is our sure future, through our crucified and risen Jesus Christ, AMEN.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

Christ is Risen…He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia! Our beautiful reading from the Gospel according to St. Mark announces that very fact. The fact that drives our hymns today and the celebrations that we have every time we gather on Sundays for Divine Service every week as every Sunday becomes an Easter celebration. Let us also hasten to the tomb of Jesus Christ and meditate on this reality of Christ’s resurrection as it happened outside Jerusalem so many years ago.

The sun had just risen on that first day of the week, the same day we call Sunday. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome had seen where the body of Jesus had been laid. They knew that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had taken and wrapped the body already anointing it with myrrh and aloes and laid him in a tomb. The death of Jesus was a shock to them, and the burial to them done, had been done in haste and grief, and so they had not been able to wish their Lord and teacher farewell. They were not able to grieve over Him as they wished for the sake of the sun setting on the Sabbath, and so they wanted to take one last look at His body, give one last token of love and respect as they said goodbye. Therefore the faithful women had brought spices to anoint Jesus the Christ and hastened to the tomb. But as they travelled they remembered that “wait! a great stone had been rolled in front of the entrance, how would we three women move such a heavy and large object? Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?”

A great obstacle between them and their beloved master remained, an obstacle that represented the great divide between life and death, between this world and the afterlife. An obstacle that might keep them from fulfilling their last task of grief and love.

But as they drew near, they looked up to where the tomb was and saw… the very large stone had already been rolled back. Could it be that someone had already arrived to do the same labor that they had planned? They entered the tomb and there was an unfamiliar young man dressed in white. This young man was an angel, a messenger from God, sent to deliver His message. Imagine their shock, alarm, and fright. Their nerves were no doubt already thin as rice paper with all the terrible shocking events of the last 3 days, but now what could the rolled away stone, the young man in white by the entrance mean?

The angel as angels often have to do, immediately offered comfort and reassurance. “Do not be alarmed!” without further words he delivered to them the message that had been given to him. “You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that He is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as He told you.”

They came to anoint the Christ with burial ointments, but the Christ which you may recall means anointed one, the Christ had already been anointed, anointed to defeat death by His own death, and to show that trampling under His foot of death by rising again from it, thereby showing that death is not the victor, that the cross of Jesus Christ and His death paid the blood price of ransom for sin which is the strength of death. That the wrath of God upon sin had been satisfied upon the flesh of Jesus Christ and now faithful people young and old do not have to be afraid.

Who will roll away the stone for us? For those of us who have had to say good bye to loved ones who have died according to the flesh, for those for whom death draws near, for those who live in fear of the reality of death of the flesh, we feel this separation between death and life that remains. The stone of death may still feel like a major obstacle as we feel the unnatural rending of life and spirit from body and blood. Recall that God did not create Adam and Eve for death but for life. Who will roll that great stone of death away?

Dear Friends, Christ has rolled away that great stone of death away not yet in completion but already in part. He has overcome death and the grave. The stone of the tomb was nothing to Him. The rolling back of the stone was not so that Jesus and His body could escape or be released from the tomb, it was rolled back to show that Jesus had already arisen, He had already left. His body was showing the power that it had had all along as Jesus was true God as well as true man, but no longer was it subject to suffering, to humility, to death. Jesus Christ was subject to those things to endure in His flesh the things which we endure in part and deserve in full. Now Jesus who was crucified has risen. He has destroyed the barrier between death and life. He has become the greater stone which crushed the lesser stone. He has become the death of death our foe in His resurrection from death.

He has already anointed us for eternal life as He has called us forth from our living tomb of sinful unbelieving lives when He called us by His name into His name in baptism. “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. 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. 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. 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. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.

In this way Jesus has already removed the barrier, He has removed the barrier between you and God by taking your sin upon Himself and washing you in His blood. He has reconciled you to the Father, He has given you His Holy Spirit to repent and believe. He has anointed you with the oil of gladness, hope, and joy in Jesus Christ’s name. Death will now pass you over, that is why in the Greek language this festival is still called the Pascha, the Passover. Through Christ’s death and resurrection death will pass us by. Does this mean that we will not die according to the body? No, but it means that Death no longer holds any permanent power. Our bodies have been redeemed. It is not just our spirit or our souls that have been redeemed. It is our bodies, these flesh and blood temples God saw value in their creation, in their redemption through faith and baptism, He sustains them throughout this life, prepares them for the life that is to come in His Word and In His Sacrament of the Altar where we already see Jesus with our own eyes as He comes with His true presence of body and blood in the bread and the wine.

As the faithful women were told that they would see Jesus with their own eyes, so will we in fullness at the last day. Death will be swallowed up once and for all, and tears will be wiped away. As Job said around 4000 years ago, we also have this sure promise today:
“For I know that my Redeemer lives,
    and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
 And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
    yet in my flesh I shall see God,
 whom I shall see for myself,
    and my eyes shall behold, and not another.”
At the last day in the twinkling of an eye at the cry of the angels and the trumpet blast, Jesus shall return and all eyes shall see Him as He is, the perfect true Son of God, the redeemer of the world and especially of those who believe. Then all the tombs shall be opened and He shall call forth His people and they shall rise with their bodies which will be then given life and transformed according to Jesus Christ’s Glorious body and we shall live with Him forever. Christ is Risen…He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia! Amen!

Pr. Aaron Kangas

Each moment. Each phrase of this day in the recording of Christ’s passion has significance. Significance deeper than we can even express in words. We should meditate upon each moment, and yet there are not enough moments in time in this life to wonder and ponder upon each item, each event, each person, each spoken and unspoken word: all which have meaning and are worthy of meditation as they point to the reality which all of time looked forward to and now looks back upon. The life and hope of each and every generation of mankind is carried in these moments. Even our own.

In the passion according to St. John, Jesus is spoken of as “king” many times. What should a king wear to show his royalty and his domain, but a crown? So, Jesus, our king, is crowned…with thorns. Why thorns? Was this just to mock Jesus or did God move the mockers to reveal greater truth? The first time we hear of thorns in the Bible is in Genesis after Adam and Eve fell into sin. God spoke a curse on the ground saying, “thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you.” In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” The very ground out from which man was created will itself turn against him because of the curse of sin. No longer would food come easily as it did in Paradise. Now it will come only with thorny and sweaty labor.

Behold the kind of kings we have then in Jesus. He is one who is willing to bear sin’s curse, literally wearing the thorns of sin on His head in order to break the curse and release us from it. Here is your king, He who is the king of the world, the king of an everlasting kingdom. A king, who doesn’t parade His wealth with gold and jewels in His crown, but who manifests His love by bearing the symbol of sin’s curse upon his head with blood stained thorns. There is no fault in Him, as Pilate said. But this Man who fulfills what the first man could not be, bears all of your faults in order to redeem His kingdom. By the work of His sweat and bloody brow, through the crown of your thorns, He bears the righteous wrath and heat of God against sin in His body bringing forth a bread of life, that as Jesus said in John 6:58 “he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever” as He here conquers death by His own death.

There also is an important fact, which we must understand. Every betrayal, false accusation against Jesus, every scourge, humiliation and depravation, every pain and pierce is received by Jesus Christ for sinners upon His bodily flesh. Clever church signs may say things that seem profound like “Math problem: “3 nails+1 cross= 4 given”. It is nice that they are trying to preach the cross, but without the body of Jesus Christ as the one bearing sin, the cross and the nails are nothing but symbols of torture. They sadly missed the most important part of the equation: the body of Jesus. Our sins were not placed upon the cross, but upon the body of Jesus charged to Him while He died upon the cross. The true profound reality is that God Himself takes on the flesh of His created humanity to take sin upon Himself; upon His perfect flesh and bone body, to fulfill the Law and take upon His body and soul the curse of sin, to conquer and reign over a sin and thorn infested world which by nature rejects God’s love. How profound is God’s love? How profound the sacrifice? Jesus crucified has been damned upon the cross for sin, so that His own body acts as “a dam” holding back the full rush and destructive flood of God’s wrath and the fires of hell from destroying us. This is profound. Our sin upon the body and person of Jesus Christ. Then He dies so that with Him our sin and the ultimate curse is judged and dies with Him. We have been baptized into this death drowned by His blood by His Holy Spirit breathed from the cross to be given new life. New life because death is absorbed in the one who died and is buried, but is now here upon the bare slab of the grave bed altar with His crucified and resurrected body for you to eat and drink and live forever.

All creation grieves as Jesus breathes His last from the cross… but only for a moment. Soon the dark chill of the night gives way to the joy and light of the 3rd day, which gives proof, that the work of God, the work of salvation and substitution in Jesus Christ has been accomplished. There will be an end to death and sin for all under the curse who believe and hold fast to Christ crucified and raised as their King, their redeemer Lamb and Lord, and by Him give eternal thanks to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

Hosanna is such a powerful word. Hosanna was part of the cry of the disciples and the crowds as Jesus rode into Jerusalem. “Hosanna” or literally “Hoshi ‘ah ‘na” was a cry used in many of the Psalms, most specifically 113-118. It means: Lord save us! “Hoshi ah na” sounds like very much like “ya-shu-a” which means “God saves”! It is the answer to the prayer! Ya-shu-a is actually the Hebrew name for Jesus. “God saves.” Here in Jesus, He does.

Our first hymn was “Hosanna, Loud Hosanna, the Little children sang”. The children in the temple cried this prayer as Jesus cleansed the temple of the sellers and money changers. Jesus was answering the prayer: God save us! He was cleansing the temple and pointing to the fact that its purpose had been abused but now its time was at an end. Now the true temple had come among them. The true presence of God among His people now abides in the person and bodily temple of Jesus, Yeshua, the Christ.

The sellers and traders whom Jesus upset had set up shop in the area of the temple that was supposed to be designated for Gentile catechumens. Yes, the Hebrews had catechumens: a bit different from what our catechumens are today, but these were converts to Judaism. Gentiles that had been converted by the Word of God and the promise of the Messiah but had not yet taken part of the full rituals to become quote “Jewish”. They had not been ritually baptized, purified, and circumcised. Yet, they were considered believers and were allowed to come to outer courts of the temple, but they were not yet allowed full celebration and participation with the whole company and fellowship, it is somewhat comparable to our closed communion practices for children and those Christians outside our confession. They are Christians but they are not yet ready for full participation. Yet we do not say, to those who are not Lutheran do not come here, or go wait out there, nor do we dismiss the children during the sermon or the rest of service, but we believe that the full fellowship of the Lord’s temple come to earth in the Sacrament of the Altar can be for them too, when they are fully prepared.

These sellers in the temple whom Jesus chased, by their presence, had effectively pushed out and prevented the Gentile believers from their rightful place of worship and the participation allowed them. These sellers had become a stumbling block to the Gentiles. Much as the disciples had been who had wanted to chase the children from Jesus as a stumbling block to them. Hosanna to the Son of David who comes to fight for the Jews and the Gentiles and the children!

When Jesus was entering Jerusalem, the people cried out “Hosanna to the Son of David, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest”. They saw in Jesus the Messiah of some kind, a deliverer of some sort, but what kind? They were not just saying a meaningless word.

It is possible that some had an idea that Jesus was sent from God, that soon He was going to accomplish something for God’s people. But it is highly unlikely that any of them understood that He was truly God’s son, and that as God’s son, He was also the appointed innocent Lamb to be led to the slaughter, to be sacrificed for the sins of the world so that the righteous wrath of God upon sin would be satisfied. Few of His followers could have suspected what would soon transpire. Some may have thought He was coming to renew the physical kingdom of David by fighting and leading a rebellion against Rome or Herod. Maybe an overthrow of the spiritual authorities in Jerusalem and a renewal of the old covenants.

These were the thoughts also of many of the Scribes, Pharisees, priests, and others who then transpired and plotted against Jesus to have Him betrayed, arrested, publicly punished, and killed. To them in their thinking, He was a threat. Jesus came not as a threat to their person, but He came to fulfill. He was the answer to those cries of “Hoshee ah nah”, “Lord Save us” the cries both current and ancient. He came to fulfill God’s ancient will and promise to save people and crush their enemies. He came to do battle, He came into Jerusalem with shouts proclaiming Him as Messiah, as a victorious king sent from God, and so He would be. This was God in human flesh lowering Himself in deep humility to do what you and I could not. To contend with temptation, to crush the power of the Devil over this creation, to redeem the world and sinners by bearing their sin. Jesus knew what was coming. He knew what lay before Him, yet He processed into Jerusalem to make that supposed “Holy City” truly Holy by His presence. To redeem the Old Testament sacrifices by the fulfillment of His own. So He was betrayed, arrested, punished and crucified. So that you, me, all people, even those who conspired against Him in life could be saved from their sin and delivered unto salvation by faith in Him.

We now sing the word “Hosanna” in our Divine Service. Just about every Sunday in fact. We repeat it often as we sing “Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He, Blessed is He, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest.”

We may not even notice it or think about it, but we should. As I said earlier, Hosanna is a powerful word. It is a powerful word because it is a word of prayer which comes from faith. As defined earlier, Hosanna has rich meaning. For this prayer “Hosanna” means “Lord save” or “Lord help now”. It is a plea for Divine deliverance.

It is a confession of sin, a confession of our weakness, our frailty, the fact that we need help. In our song and prayer, “Hosanna”, we admit that whatever we are going through, we have nothing if we don’t have salvation and God’s help. We admit that we cannot save ourselves. We are confessing Jesus is our Messiah. And we are saying, Lord, help, Lord save us now.

God does contend for, strengthen and protect His people even today. He does hear our simple prayer of Hosanna. Even before we were born or knew Him, while we were yet dead in our trespasses and sin, He sent Jesus to be our Savior. Now, when we who have been baptized, given faith, and redeemed by the Word of God and the blood of Jesus Christ, find ourselves in temptation, stress, fear, anguish, uncertainty spiritually, physically, emotionally, let us not forget where God points us: to the cross, to Yeshua/Jesus and His victory over death and the devil for us. He points to His Word, to the place where He promises to come to His people in His Sacraments. To Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper where God delivers His grace to you and me. This is where He shows in a very real way that He is with you, that you needn’t fear in life. This is where He comes to sustain, strengthen, and uplift you with His righteous right hand. So we gather together to confess our sin, Hear His Word, confess the creed, and sing the Hosannas.

When we sing those Hosannas in the Divine Service, we are admitting that God is coming to us, and we are in His Divine Presence as Jesus comes processing into our midst, by the power of His Word of promise present with His body and blood in the bread and the wine. He comes with His healing presence, with His forgiveness. He comes to contend for and defend and protect His people once again. He is not crucified once more but He brings once again the power, might, and benefits of His triumphant grace and mercy accomplished once and for all at the cross. He brings it to serve the weak, weary, repentant believers in His true presence. So that by His crucified and risen sacramental presence, the believer here on earth would be encouraged, transformed by the forgiveness of sins, strengthened and upheld by God’s righteousness given here.

Then we can know that in the battles of this sin weary world, we have already been given Christ’s victory. That He will give us the strength to carry on. That He hears our every prayer asked in Jesus’ name. He knows your every need and well provides you. He will carry you through this life through faith in Christ. You needn’t fear, Christ is here for you. He does help, He does save. He will keep you steadfast soul and body giving you forgiveness of sins and all that you need. Then He promises to come once and for all triumphantly with a shout! To deliver and gather all His faithful. To raise up all the dead and bring all the faithful to life everlasting through Jesus Christ who is the ultimate answer to our prayer, Hosanna, God save us. Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

“Truly, truly I say to you, if anyone keeps My Word, he will never see death.” With these words of our Lord, the Jews scoffed at Jesus, believing Him to be a crazy liar. “Now we know You have a demon!  Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet You say, ‘If anyone keeps My Word, he will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? All those great prophets died too? Who do think you are?!” While we certainly understand how wicked and wrong those folks were, are we really any different? You have to admit: What they say rings true in our ears, doesn’t it? We want the words of Jesus to be true, and yet death happens to everyone, not just unbelievers. 

Death happens, and it hurts. If only Christ’s words were true! If only we wouldn’t have to experience death. If only we wouldn’t have to taste the bitter taste of death and separation. We may not want to admit it, but we sometimes struggle with the same unbelief that held these wicked Jews captive when death rears its ugly head in our lives.

But did you catch the problem here? Jesus never said that we wouldn’t taste of death. He said we would never see death. There is a difference—an eternal difference. The Jews, doing exactly what Satan did in the Garden so long ago, twist and corrupt the Word of God. Everyone dies. That’s part of the curse after the fall into sin. “From dust you were made, and to dust you shall return.” That’s the consequence of sin, and it’s right out of God’s mouth. As soon as conception takes place, the clock starts ticking. No one lives here forever. Everyone’s body dies. The stats don’t lie One out of every one person dies. 

So…does this mean that Jesus is wrong? Well…how are you looking at this—through man’s sinful eyes, or through God’s eyes? Remember: When Lazarus died, Jesus referred to it as simply “sleeping.” The same goes for Jairus’ daughter. “Why all the commotion? She’s not dead. She’s sleeping.” And how did both stories end up? They had most certainly fallen asleep in death, and Your Lord spoke His life-giving Word and awakened them from their deathly slumber. They tasted death, but they didn’t see death. They tasted physical death, the temporary separation of the soul from the body (which all men taste), but they didn’t see/experience eternal death; the death that is total and eternal separation from the Lord of Life. There is a difference—an eternal difference.

Sadly, this is where those biological children of Abraham just didn’t get it. The fruit of faith had fallen so far from the tree! Just consider the events of today’s OT. God tells Abraham to sacrifice Isaac; the very son that had been promised to him for all those years. From this son that God was going to bring the promised Messiah into the world. But here is God commanding Abraham to put this same son to death! The craziest thing of all? Abraham heard and obeyed. He believed God. He trusted God. But what exactly did he believe? What did he trust?

As we have been studying in our Sunday Bible class, the writer to the Hebrews tells us in 11:17-19 that Abraham fully believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead. We even hear Abraham proclaim this faith when he tells his servants to “wait here, and we [the boy and I] will go and worship and then we will return.”

Abraham wasn’t lying in order to not raise suspicions. He believed that God would take care of it. He had a very specific, focused faith on God’s promise regarding Isaac. God said it…many time over the course of twenty-five years, and Abraham trusted God. If God told him to kill his son, Abraham fully believed that God would raise him from the dead. God’s promise could not and would not die with Isaac on that mountaintop.  Abraham believed it…and so did Isaac.

The faithful son of this faithful father trusted his father, and more importantly trusted the Word and promise of God that his father had handed down to him and taught him and raised him to believe. At some point Isaac realized that God did indeed provide the sacrifice, and he was the sacrifice. That is why Isaac didn’t object or put up a fight or try to flee in order to save his life. Isaac didn’t go to that altar kicking and screaming and fighting for his life. Isaac went willingly. He carried the wood up that mountain on his own back and helped his father construct the altar and then allowed his father to bind his hands and feet. He was confident in the faith of his father that even though he would momentarily taste of death, God would resurrect him.  

This is why this Old Testament lesson is appointed for this particular Sunday in Lent, just a few short days before Good Friday. Jesus—the promised Son in the flesh—willingly went to the cross to offer Himself as a sacrifice—the all-atoning sacrifice for the sins of all children of Adam. His Father commanded, and Jesus obeyed. “Not My will, but Thy will be done.” This obedient Son carried the wood of His own sacrifice on His own back to that mountaintop. He allowed Himself to be beaten, scourged, and bound to that sacrificial altar of the cross, the nails piercing His flesh and blood as they buried into the wood beneath. It is on this cross—this bloody altar—that the Son of God momentarily experienced/saw true hellish death, for the just and fiery wrath of God was poured out upon Him in full: forsaken by God because of the sin placed on Him. Yet He never lost faith. When that sacrifice was complete; when the wage was paid in full for all time, He victoriously cried out, “It is finished.” He then peacefully and confidently commended His Spirit to His Father, and then fell asleep in death. 

But Jesus from the cross also said “Today you will be with Me in paradise.” Those words of promise, spoken to that lowly, undeserving thief, were absolutely true. Though they both tasted death, neither saw death—eternal death—for they both reclined at the heavenly feast in paradise that very afternoon. And three days later, as you well-know, the Lord of Life arose from His Sabbath rest—His deathly slumber—and proved to the world that He is the Lord of Life. Death has no dominion over Him!  “All who believe in Me shall never die.”

My fellow baptized believers: This is our comfort, our peace, our reason to rejoice, even as we sorrow and grieve and taste of the sinful death that pervades our bodies and the fallen world in which we now reside.  “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ have been baptized into His death and resurrection? 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.” Death no longer has dominion over us! Though we may taste of death in this fallen and sinful world, we have His baptismal promise that we will never die! God poured out His wrath and death upon Christ so that we will not have to see with our own eyes true death in Hell. Instead as Job proclaims: with these same eyes now perfected and raised we shall see our Redeemer. For Christ’s sake we will see life, not death. We will never truly die but pass from death to life, forever alive in Christ and because of Christ. The resurrection that awaits us will be a resurrection unto eternal life, our bodies awakened from the slumber of physical death and made perfect, reunited with our souls, living body and soul complete, just as our Creator had always intended. 

Our Lord knows our weakness of faith right now; our tendency to doubt when things get tough or seem dark. This is why He continually holds out to us His proof and assurance. Look no further than right here at the altar/communion rail.  “I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Take and eat. Take and drink. This is My body and My blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of all your sin.” Only the Living One can give us this gift of Life. This isn’t a memorial meal. It’s a feast of Life; a foretaste of the feast to come! Sin is death—eternal death—but where there is forgiveness of sin, there is life—eternal life. Though we may suffer and even taste the bitter taste of death and dying in this world/age, yet we live and we will never die, because our death has already been swallowed up and put to death in the blood of Christ; the very lifeblood He nourishes us with here at His holy altar. 

Come what may, you belong to Christ. Come what may, the Lord of Life reigns victorious, and here is where He Himself nourishes you and your faith with the fruits of His victory, which is made your victory by virtue of your baptism into Him; by virtue of your faith in Him. 

This is the Truth that has come to set you free. Jesus Christ crucified to pay for your sin and swallow up your death. The event which Abraham Himself has seen and now lives in, rejoicing with all the other saints who are now at rest with Christ. This day of salvation you have seen and do experience in His Word and Sacraments.

Be free in Christ from all doubt and worry, despair and anger. Like your father Abraham, may you ever hold fast to the Word and Promise of your God and Lord. May you see your Lord providing and reigning and ruling in your midst; and may you rejoice, now and into all eternity. In Jesus Christ’s name. Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

Today we heard the miracle of the feeding of the 5000. Five loaves and two fish in the hands of Jesus feed 5000 men, not counting women and children, with twelve baskets full of leftovers at the end.

Back when Jesus began His earthly ministry, the devil in the wilderness had tempted Jesus to perform a similar miracle. Remember the temptation by Satan was for Jesus to turn stones into bread in order to feed His own empty stomach. But Jesus would not do it, for as He said “man lives not by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” You see, it was not the way of Jesus to use His power to serve Himself. He came to be the servant of all and to lay His own life down for others.

Jesus’ way is to multiply, to take one thing and add to it, to create from nothing, or almost nothing and from it make great abundance at blessing. At Cana He turned water into wine overflowing; A few weeks ago, we heard of the Canaanite woman who said that she would be grateful for crumbs of grace and then Jesus gave her the “whole loaf” of healing for her daughter and an affirmation of her great faith. This woman, broken off from the whole, was now gathered into the faithful.
Today He takes five little loaves and two fish and turned them into an abundant feast for five thousand plus with many leftovers, twelve baskets full of leftovers, which Jesus makes sure is gathered together.

According to the gospel of Mark, Jesus and His disciples had actually been trying to get to a place of rest away from the crowds. The disciples had just returned from their mission trip, and Jesus had said, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” He knew that they needed a rest, but these people also needed a rest, and so they followed Him. Jesus could have said, “not now, go away, give us a break”. But He had pity on them and taught them and fed them His Word.

Then He asked Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 

Jesus had been testing the disciples, but they do not seem to understand what Jesus was saying. Philip mentions 200 denarii, that’s the equivalent of two hundred days’ wages, which is pretty large sum, and now they find only five loaves of bread and two fish…sigh, “so little”. It doesn’t seem like the disciples were too confident despite what they had seen Jesus do in the past. But Jesus shows that God feeds and provides physical as well as spiritual needs to support peoples’ body and life.

Taking the meager offering of five little loaves and two fish, Jesus looked up to heaven to His Father, from whom all blessings flow, blessed the bread and fish and began breaking them up, handing the pieces to the Twelve who then fed the people.

Jesus was teaching His Twelve to minister. They would be the church’s first pastors, the foundation of apostolic ministry. He was teaching them how it would go in the future. He would be the source, they would do the feeding. He would work the kitchen, they would be the runners and the waiters, bringing His food to the people. If you are hearing a hint of the Lord’s Supper going on here, you are quite correct. Jesus is the chef as well as the food; His pastors are the waiters and runners. He takes our humble offering of bread and wine and multiplies it, not in quantity but in nutritional value. Making something seemingly insignificant into something more and greater: His own Body and Blood given and shed for your salvation.

There were twelve baskets full of leftovers, one for each of the Twelve. What was Jesus teaching there? Among other things, He was saying to His pastors, that they could trust that there would be leftovers for themselves. That as they preached and fed others, they too would hear and be fed. That His Word preached would find its way into their own ears and have the same killing and making alive effect that it does in their hearers. That His Body and Blood would also be given to them as food and drink to sustain them, even if it was at their own hand.

That’s what is unique about being a pastor. We preach to ourselves. We feed ourselves. And yet we must hear our preaching as God speaking to us through His office. And we often receive the Supper of Christ from our own hand. We even talk to ourselves at the altar and say, “The Body of Christ given for you,” “the Blood of Christ shed for you.” But it’s why I enjoy sitting in the pew now and then. Going to conferences and so on, I get to go away and be fed by another pastor. To be a hearer and receiver and be served.

Receiving is actually a good thing. I think sometimes we take this business of receiving far too lightly. We want to be busy doing. It’s all the rage these days to talk about participation in worship as though receiving was not the most important thing going on, that everyone has to be doing something. Even in receiving there is plenty to do as we are being fed and taught. In response to this feeding and teaching there are hymns to sing and creeds to confess and Amens to end prayers with. We have a liturgy that calls for full participation. Worship is not a spectator sport by any means. But the most important thing is not what comes out of you but what goes into you.

The most important thing that happens is that we sinners are being fed by our Good Shepherd Jesus with His Word and with His Supper for the forgiveness of those sins. Receiving the words and the body and blood of the bread of life. Without receiving there will be no giving.

There are pastors and churches around today who would view church as a marketing scheme and worship as a pep rally for the sales force, to get the sales force pumped up to hit the streets and sell the product. In such a place you’d be challenged to bring in the numbers. How many people did you bring to church this morning? How many people did you evangelize this week? How many lives have you transformed lately? You’d be challenged, and perhaps we like challenges. At least some of us do, until we’re burned out being challenged. You’d be organized and mobilized and put to work building the kingdom. Except it wouldn’t be the kingdom of God you would be building, because man doesn’t build God’s kingdom. Jesus builds, He uses simple means by the power of His incarnation, dying and rising to build the church. He uses Water, Word, bread and wine given for you for the forgiveness of sins, to give life to you and build you and believers individually and together into Himself as you rest and receive.

That doesn’t mean there isn’t all sorts of stuff to do, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be witnessing to your neighbors or inviting people to hear God’s Word of truth in this church, but it is Jesus who multiplies, Jesus who feeds, Jesus who takes what little we have to offer, and gives us back what we could not supply for ourselves. Here we rest, and He takes our sin and gives back His righteousness.

By the way, bread and fish were a messianic sign, the bread recalls manna from heaven given to the children of Israel during their wilderness wanderings. Fish represented Leviathan, the great sea monster, the image of the devil himself, and the feeding upon the fish meant victory over this great enemy. This feeding in the wilderness, as every feeding at the hands of Jesus, is a foretaste of a coming feast, the feast of salvation and life that awaits us at the resurrection.

Did the crowds understand this? Of course not. We heard that the people were going to seize Jesus to make Him a “bread king”. What better king than one who could multiply bread and keep one’s stomach full for free! But Jesus is not that sort of king, nor is His kingdom built on signs and wonders. No, Jesus had pity on the people, even as He had pity on you and you me. He had something greater to do. He had a death to die and a resurrection to rise to take away sins, defeat the great beast, the devil and destroy the power of death. He had a greater food to give, a greater meal to prepare. The one that you receive here in this place.

So, come away from the world and rest awhile. Here is where the Good Shepherd gathers you in the “basket of this congregation” with your fellow crumbs. Here He feeds us with His forgiveness, His Truth and Words of life which come from Himself, the bread from heaven, the bread of life, broken for you and me at the cross. He gives of Himself to knit us together to wholeness each time that we are gathered and reassembled in unity of confession and life to receive from Jesus. A precious commodity is Christ’s Word, His body and blood, His forgiveness and life. Worth far more than 200 denarii, yet He gives it to you freely by grace. Rejoice! The forgiveness of your sins, and the meal of His victory which He delivers to you gives you strength, rest and peace unto eternal life.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

Around this time, out in the countryside of southern Illinois as it started to get warmer, on sunny days, my smaller kids had fun taking their fly swatters outside. Why? Because all the houseflies were coming up out of the soil from wherever they have been hiding during the winter. They were swarming and sunning themselves on the sun heated sides of the house, on the rails and concrete. I don’t think they made a huge dent in the fly population, but they had fun.

In this morning’s Gospel lesson Jesus healed a man who had a demon that would not let him talk. Some people immediately accused Jesus by saying “He casts out demons by Beelzebul”. Who is Beelzebul? He was the “Lord of the flies”. Beelzebul was a god demon worshiped by the Philistine Caananites: one of the gods related to Baal. He was the Lord of pests: flying bugs, those things that feed on human and animal dung and rotting bodies. The Philistines believed that if they worshiped this ba’al he could cast out the “flies” from within the person suffering from illnesses. So, when the people said that Jesus was casting out demons by Beelzebul, they were accusing Jesus of using this specific Canaanite demonic power to cast out demonic possession.

Jesus refuted this immediately. He said the famous line that has been used in the course of history, especially during times of war, to stoke the fires of nationalism, even though it is not exclusively earthly kingdoms that Jesus is referencing, but also church bodies and denominations. He said: “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls.” 

The devil certainly was not going to operate so that he would be divided against himself, The Devil is all about causing division against and away from God. But Jesus was casting out demons and exposing their lies, releasing people from their bondage, by the preached power and true Word of the stronger one: God.

Let’s step back for a moment and look at what kind of demon it was that Jesus had cast out. What was the demon doing? This demon was keeping a man from speaking: “a demon that was mute”. As soon as Jesus cast out the demon, the man could speak. It is interesting to note how the devil works. Sometimes the devils and demons would cry out and declare who Jesus was and sometimes they were “dumb” and made the people that they possessed like wild beasts. But the Devil is always trying to attack speech in one way or another.

This time the demon had possessed the man’s capacity to talk, but when he left that man, it was almost as though the demon swept back around and entered the people gathered so that they spoke,spoke what? Wild accusations against Jesus. Why?

It is because the devil always seeks to silence, discredit, and humiliate those who speak God’s truth. He wants people to cling to the lies which the devil, the world, and the flesh whisper and “buzz” into your ears like pesky flies. “You do you. Instead of telling somebody something’s wrong, maybe you should try it. Don’t speak up when you see evil or something seems off, people will make fun of you. They will reject you. You don’t want that.” Or. “See nobody’s listening to you, see how they hate you. Why not break down and join in? Why go to church, why do devotions tonight, why talk to people about Jesus, they will hate you. You will be labeled. What if you lose your job? No, just do what’s easy; what’s safe.”

Satan knows that division against what is good and right is easy if he can get through to our fleshly desires to be liked, to get our way, to be jealous of the world. He also knows that what jars people awake from the hypnosis and possession of hearts and minds: is the voice of God’s Word. His Truth in rebuke of sin and in comfort for those in pain and repentance. God can and does use anyone to dispel and cut through the droning buzz of satanic, earthly voices: a pastor, a sister, brother, father, mother, daughter, son, neighbor, any Christian who cares enough to sound the alarm: “hey, that’s not good for you. That doesn’t build you up in Christ. Come back.”

We often think that people of today react so horribly and quickly because of the internet and social media. It may have emboldened people to a certain extent, but look at the people in the Gospel of Luke in their reaction to Jesus, look at the people’s reaction to Jeremiah in the Old testament lesson. They did not want to be told the warning to turn: that if they did not repent and return to the Lord, the disaster of captivity and slaughter would befall them. What did they do? They tried to hush Jeremiah by sentencing him to death, even though he spoke the truth…but he made them uncomfortable, you see. Did Jeremiah’s prophesying help? Perhaps. There must have been some who heard this voice and repented and retained faith and the confession of God’s truth and some were spared from the bloodshed and judgement of God, to take this Word even through the cruelties of Babylonian captivity. God’s Word does not return to Him empty. Sadly many did not heed the Word of God spoken by Jeremiah. They continued their evil, their idolatry, their worldly ways, that they received in fulfillment the very troubles which they were warned against. The devil, the flesh, the world, when it is in the wrong desire silence, from those who would rebuke them. They desire acceptance and approval, the truth they desire to bind, silence, and kill.

But Jesus is the answer. He sets free the mute and those held in demonic constraints to fear, worry, and temptation. As Jeremiah was a threat to the comfort and corruption in Israel, so Jesus was a more than a threat to the demonic presence of His Day and beyond. Jesus had come to bring judgement upon the earth in His ministry not by strength of armies, not by slaying many foes, but by judging the strong man: Satan himself and then taking Satan’s goods and setting them free.

Jesus bound the devil, overthrowing the Lord of the Flies by taking all the dung, the refuse, the deadness of our sins upon Himself. Jesus allowed Himself to be bound and taken to the cross to pay for our sins and the sins of the world, taking the shame, pain, anguish, and judgement of God’s wrath upon His human flesh, dying upon the cross. This was the judgement brought upon the earth at that time. Christ crucified crying out that “the judgement is complete; It is finished”. His voice is the voice which ultimately mutes and silences the Devil to free people from His captivity.

So, take heed. Repent of your sin, be returned to the Lord at the cross of Jesus Christ and remember His promise to you in baptism. You have been freed from the bondage to your sin and to your failures. You must not return to those sins, to be re-enslaved. Now in Him you have been given faith to believe and be saved. Jesus Christ died for you. Now be bold in His name.

Be warned: In this spiritual war, there is no middle ground, as Jesus said: “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” In other words, if you are in Christ, there is no condemnation, but if you are not with Him, you are still in your sins. These are strong words of warning. Let us heed them. The devil would have us be against the Lord, against His truth, and be scattered from Him by our excuses, our shame, and our pride. He wishes us to be silenced by our being comfortable with the world or by our fear.

No, rather, let us be gathered, and gather all who would heed God’s Law and Gospel in Jesus Christ. Let us open our mouths to say, sing, and shout the praises of God, even as we speak as God’s instrument of warning to a lost and dying world. Let us not be silent but speak of God’s Word: pointing others to Jesus Christ crucified and raised. Speak out, hunt down, and swat the Lord of flies in the name of Jesus. Chase him away and scatter him, his plots, and his demons, as you sing and pray, speak, and read God’s Word.

Let us be gathered here each Sunday, and as often as we can around the cross of Jesus to hear Him speak words of forgiveness which casts out the demonic spirit which would silence us. Let us open our mouths and be fed upon the living bread of Jesus Christ. Here our victorious Lord having conquered the devil comes to us to eat of his crucified and living flesh and blood. The Lord gives us gladness taking away all our pain and sadness reminding us that He has prepared for us an eternal feast in heaven with Him forever. He will give us boldness and strengthen us when we feel weak and unsure. He leads the way to victory. He will carry you when you are faint. You are His children: redeemed to walk in His love. You are His treasures and God will guard your hearts and minds against the Devil and all that would try to deceive you as you gather to receive from Him all that is good and right for you through faith in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

Let’s talk about crumbs. In our English language the word “crumb” is not generally used in a positive way. An exception might be a “crumb cake”, but crumb, crumbs, or crummy, usually bring up some negative images. If you feel badly, you might say you feel crummy or if something bad happened, we would say that that was “a crummy thing to happen”. The word “crumb-bum” is an insult for a person who is considered a “no-account, useless, worthless person” worthy only of contempt. Crumbs are leftovers, those annoying bits of food and bread that always find their way into cracks and crevices in and under tables, chairs and in between kitchen appliances. Crumbs are garbage, refuse, those bits that maybe the household pets will eat or worse, bugs of some sort will get at unless you sweep it, mop it, and get rid of it somehow.

The Greek word which the Canaanite woman used in the text today is “psichion”. A word translated as crumb, but it is literally something that is “plucked off”. Something plucked off from the whole, to be discarded, and forgotten, like those unwanted crumbs under the table, wanted only by the dogs and pests.

Last week, the Gospel lesson had been the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness by the Devil. Today, the theme carries over as it applies to you, me, fellow believers, and all who have faced adversity, pain, loneliness, or trouble of any kind. In this life because of sin, there are no shortages of difficulties and disappointments. So sometimes we may feel “plucked off” and crumby. We may feel like we have become crumb-bums in that we have become worthy of contempt or that we are merely being treated with contempt by. Contempt from other people, contempt of ourselves, perhaps even contempt from God. It may even seem to us like God is ignoring us and our prayers.

It may feel like in the Old testament lesson when Jacob was wrestling against God in the person of the unnamed stranger. It may seem like God Himself is challenging, tempting, and wrestling against us; that is what it almost seems like Jesus was doing with the Canaanite woman: that He was challenging her, tempting her, ignoring her, and treating her with contempt.

First, it seemed like He was ignorant of her cries for help for her demon possessed daughter, and then He said to the disciples that He was only sent for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Implying that He wouldn’t help this non-Jew. Then she finally threw herself down before Him and said “Lord, help me”. But He still did not answer her in a positive way. Jesus said to her: “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 

This Canaanite woman was not put off by this negative response, she was not turned off by what seemed like an insult, but instead she went with it. She admitted: “Yes Lord, indeed, you are right. Yet, even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” She was saying that even a small crumb of mercy, of salvation, would be enough to satisfy, because the power and strength is in the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ, Himself. That which others may reject would be enough for her. Regardless of how big or how small the serving is, it is enough to save. And so, Jesus said to her, “Oh woman, your faith is great. Be it done for you as you desire.”

This woman knew that she was a sinner. And in addition to that, she was not a Jewess, but a Gentile and could appeal to her “bloodline” and the promise and privilege of “so-called chosen people”. She knew that she deserved nothing. She was by comparison, a dog, she was a crumb-bum beggar, yet she had faith: faith that was powerful and strong enough to admit her sinful unworthiness. This is actually the true attitude of faith: humble yet hopeful.

Jesus is the Bread of life. And as members of the Church, members of the body of Jesus Christ, believers are to be part of that unleavened and pure loaf. Serving one another in humility showing honor to one another as Christ has served us. We are to be united in humble purity and holiness in thought, word, and deed, in doctrine and confession of faith. That is part of what the Sacrament of the Altar is to represent: many people, many grains, from many languages, times, and places joined into one perfect loaf through Jesus Christ, His sacrifice, and His presence.

Who of us have lived up to that in all ways? None of us. As you know, sin is unbelief. It separates us from God. When we fall into temptation, and it is usually as a result of our pride, we allow that sin to pluck us off from the loaf of the Bread of Life. When we refuse to repent, and plan to go back to sinning; when we absent ourselves from God’s Word and Sacrament by our lack of attendance in the pews, we are in danger of being those crumbs that stubbornly fall, fall far away, broken away from the whole…Tumbling into cracks and crevices, there to dry out, to decompose, and be consumed. No longer bread but refuse and the food of demonic vermin destined for the scrap heap of eternal hell fire.

You and I are not worthy to be saved. Because of our sin and rebellion, we deserve to be left to destruction and swept away, but that is not how God in His mercy operates. This is the very reason why the Son of God descended from on High. So that in Himself, in His pure human flesh there would be and could be reconciliation with God. People who had been plucked off from God by their sin and unbelief, can be restored and rejoined by faith in the Reconciler.

But in order to reconcile and gather sinners to Himself, Jesus first had to humble Himself below all other crumbs, becoming sin even though He Himself was without fault or stain. He was rejected, scorned, and cast down and accounted with sinners, betrayed, and forsaken, spat upon, whipped, and crucified all to pay the price of your sin and mine. The Lamb of God poured forth His life blood to take the punishment that we deserved.

Are you contrite over your sin? Do you realize what a crummy Christian you have been, a dog really that deserves no mercy? But do you desire to change and be changed? Then take heart. Confess your sins, admit your fault and your need for forgiveness from the Lord. Cry out in in humble faith and hope to the Lord. “Have mercy on me, O Lord. Help me!”

The Lord hears and does not forsake. Jesus by the Holy Spirit continues to call and gather you and all those who have been broken off from Himself by sin and every trouble. As you confess your sins and your need for His help, He gives you forgiveness in His Word and purifies you once more in the benefits of His cross. He casts out the demons that would possess you, for He has not forgotten you, nor has He given up on you. Continue to pray to Him as you wrestle against the results of sin in this world with all its temptation, your flesh, and Satan’s lies. Through any troubling events in this life, the Lord grants you strength as your faith is being tested and purified.

As with the Canaanite woman, the way Jesus reacted, was less for her, and more for the disciples as an example of faith that “doesn’t give up”. Faith that is grateful, patient, and long suffering. This faith can only come from the Lord. In the confession of that faith of those who have gone through much, God works through that suffering as a witness and encouragement for others to point them to Jesus Christ and the strength that we mere mortals can receive by His grace and power through the Holy Spirit. We are reminded and pointed to His ultimate suffering for us. He knows what suffering is, and His sacrifice gives us hope to attain the joy of the resurrection by faith. It is only in Him and by Him and His power, that hope can be retained in the face of any danger or kept true during times of calm and success when the temptation to forget the Lord is at its strongest.

So, in all things, at all times seek to hear His voice. Come to where He is for you. Be gathered to the whole around the cross of Jesus Christ. Eat the Bread of Life, drink His Holy Blood outpoured for you. No longer be scattered or alone but be joined to Him and to each other in faith and hope. Be made strong and steadfast in Jesus Christ so that you will not easily be plucked off again. Pray to Him. Yes, Jesus is a friend to whom you can bring all your burdens and your cares. He is also your refuge, your Savior to whom you can and should pray, praise, and give thanks. He is with you and will give you wisdom in His Word. He will give you rest, forgiveness, and strength of faith in His sacramental presence, and deliverance and joy from all that you are wrestling against now or will in the future. He has not nor will He forget you. You are His child. The sheep of His pasture. And at the last day He will gather you, me, and all believers to Himself to live in joy and safety eating at His table in His honor and glory forevermore.

In Jesus Christ’s name, Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas

Fellow redeemed, the ongoing truths that we find in the Catechism are drawn from the passion of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  It’s why our theme throughout these midweek Lent Services is, “The Passion of Christ and the Catechism.”  As we consider the catechism this night, specifically, the Ten Commandments, let us confess together the words of the Ten Commandments.  This can be found on page 264 in your hymnals:
1.     You shall have no other gods.
2.     You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
3.     Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
4.     Honor your father and your mother.
5.     You shall not murder.
6.     You shall not commit adultery.
7.     You shall not steal.
8.     You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
9.     You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.
10.  You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant, or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

“Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
These words of Jesus to His disciples set the tone as we begin the first of our midweek Lenten series. Many events, words, and actions during the Passion of Christ during Holy Week fit the themes and truths of the 6 chief parts in Luther’s Small Catechism. So often, our “Spirits” too are willing: to study, to be faithful Christians, to think and do what we know to be right and pleasing to God which also would have blessings for us and our neighbors. Yet, we fail. We start our day, our week, or the year with grand resolutions, but we get distracted, disinterested, or otherwise detoured. Perhaps, we don’t even think about it. Maybe we don’t care to even try. What is the matter with us, what can wake and rouse us from a sleep of spiritual death?

As we recited the 10 commandments tonight, we are made aware how much we have failed, and how we as the disciples have fallen again and again into temptation, despite the words and voice of our Lord to “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.” Instead of being watchful and using God’s Word as a defense, when the tempter comes whispering using the glories of the world or the desires of our flesh, we quickly follow the voice of the tempter forsaking the what is right. We rebel against and abandon God and His will for us.

Why should God keep forgiving us? Why should God love us and rescue us, if and when we are moved to realize the mess we have made in our lives. If and when we “wake up” to realize how the promises of the glories of this world and the desires of the flesh leave us empty even as it demands our attention and devotion more and more until we are enslaved to it. We deserve damnation and eternal death. We deserve to have God destroy us along with the world in the heat of His righteous wrath.

The Word of God, the begotton Son of the Father had descended from on high to do what we could not. He came to redeem the world, including you and me by keeping all the demands of the commandments according to its letter and its spirit.

Was it easy? We may poo-poo or refuse to truly think about what God went through for us. Do you ever? You should. It is not as though, Jesus, the Son of God, was just wearing a costume of human flesh, that He was just pretending to be human. He did not create a barrier between His Divinity and the humanity of His flesh as though it were only a mask and dead unfeeling flesh. He could have, but He did not. He did not cut off His nerves in order to protect Himself from the sensation of pain. He did not keep at arms length the temptations of the devil, the world, and the flesh. Jesus was truly and fully man even as He was truly Divine. Jesus knew what awaited Him as the Christ. He was going to be attacked harder with the temptation to break the commandments, to fall into sin by the devil, acting upon His very real flesh. According to His humanity, the temptation to “save Himself” rather than save others had to be strong. There are no shortages of events within the dramatic battles and strife which Jesus faced during the 48 hours before His crucifixion which show the battle of Christ against the temptation to abandon His task. And at any point, He could have, but that would have ruined all hope. It would have led to our sure condemnation, and the triumph of the Devil over God.

Yet that is precisely the struggle going on in the Garden of Gethsemane in the heart, mind, and soul of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. In addition to the words of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, Mark tells us that Jesus said: “”My soul is very sorrowful, even to death” And Luke tells us that He was “in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” This was the greatness of the strife in the Jesus.

Surely as He prayed, He thought of the pain and anguish that awaited Him upon the cross, He thought about how the world’s sin and chastisement for it would be placed upon Himself. The suffering that awaited Him was greater than any He had experienced and greater than any suffering of any man had ever yet known. Perhaps, the tempting question as asked earlier arose in His mind. Why? Why does it have to be this way? Not only might this cup be removed from me according to my Father’s will, but maybe I shouldn’t go through with it? Why should I? Why shouldn’t I, and the Father with the Spirit abandon these ingrates? Those who say that they believe in us, yet fail constantly, they don’t appreciate our love. Are they worth all that I am to offer? Look yonder at my disciples. They follow me, but they are clueless. They only care about the glory that they might get through me. They don’t see or care about my suffering. I tell them to watch and pray and they immediately fall asleep. Why not abandon all of them as they have abandoned us?

Yet, in the face of this overwhelming temptation and its overwhelming pain and agony, Jesus does not fall into sin, nor abandon His purpose. Luke tells us, that the Father also does not abandon His Son while His flesh was tormented, but “there appeared to Him an angel from heaven, strengthening Him.”

Dear friends, Jesus continued on, obedient to His Father, and faithful in His promise to redeem the world from its sin. So keeping the Law perfectly, He offered Himself up to the slaughter of the cross and died taking our sin and breaking of the Law upon Himself as our substitute. Risen from the dead, He testifies that what He endured upon the cross was an acceptable sacrifice for you and me.

Now as those who have been awakened from the curse of sin and death through Holy Baptism and God’s Word, you are given power from on high by the Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit upholds and uplifts your spirit, so that your flesh which is fallen because of the curse of Adam and Eve is now strengthened by the flesh of Jesus Christ who has conquered sin, death, and the devil in your place. God’s love which has in the flesh and ministry of Jesus Christ kept the 10 commandments and its demands in your place comes to you. His love is made manifest in the forgiveness of sins from the cross of Christ delivered to you.

Temptation to sin in this world is sure to come as Jesus says elsewhere, but God continues to send His angels of comfort to you. Not in weird spiritual signs that you must look for in Crystals, odd prophecies or mysterious things… He sends this comfort to you in baptism, in the hearing of Christ’s absolution, and in body and blood of Jesus Christ in the bread and wine of the Sacrament of the Altar. These are the means through which God delivers His love to you and by that love His comfort. This comfort is also given and shown through the faithful ministrations of me, your pastor, through the sanctified life and love of your faithful Christian brothers and sisters here in the congregation and community. This is also you calling and joy as you live and receive God’s love in His Divine Service growing in the wisdom of His Word, that you also share that love to your family, your fellow congregation member, neighbor, and pastor. That you are given a spirit of empathy and care as God has cared and continues to care for you. In this way, by His Spirit, living and working in you for you, you are able to follow the Law completed in Christ, for your blessing and the blessing of your neighbor. All this to the glory of God who has fulfilled the Law for you through the work of salvation and forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ.

Now you may continue to “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation” by God’s grace and Spirit through Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas