Peace Lutheran Church
Posts Tagged "Easter"
Sixth Sunday of Easter
May 02, 2024
Text: Acts 10:34-48
Sermon
Alleluia! Christ has Risen!
He has Risen indeed! Alleluia!
Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. I am sure that you have heard of grace before. Do you know what it means? A good way of explaining grace is that grace is God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense. That God is rich in his love for you, no matter who you are. Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the dead for you. Today we hear about God’s grace in a unique way in Acts 10, where Peter proclaims, “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him” (vv 34–35). How does God continue to show His grace to us today? Ponder that question as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.
4. God shows no favoritism, for no one is “common.”
God shows no partiality. It means that God does not have favorites. Much like a parent when asked which child they love. All of them equally. Same with the love of God. His love reaches to anyone, anywhere—all nationalities, all races, all ages, all types of people, rich or poor, lifelong Christian or new believers. God’s love reaches to you who have known and worshiped God as long as you can remember. No one is out of the reach of God’s love. Yes, God our Savior “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4). Aren’t you glad that’s true for you? That you are included among those God desires to save? Aren’t you glad that it’s true for everyone else? (And I mean everyone!)
Do you see all people as God sees them? Do you love them all as God loves them? Does our congregation? Is our congregation a place of grace in a cold and lonely world, a place where we are eager to connect all people to God’s love for them in Jesus Christ? All people?
What is our experience with people? Because of our sinful natures it is often negative. It is that the people around us can be so difficult to love! You’ve been hurt by the words and actions of people. Close relatives have disappointed you, have failed you. At work, you may have been passed up for a promotion by someone who didn’t deserve it when you did. See those people as God sees them? Love them? A little self-evaluation and honesty should cause you and me to understand that we are difficult to love too. Folks are supposed to love me? As unloving as I can be?
If you struggle with seeing people as God sees them and loving them as God loves them, join the club! Peter and the other earliest Christ-followers were Jewish believers, and God brought his Son, Jesus, the Messiah, first of all to the Jews in the region of Israel, in places like Judea and Galilee. It made sense to Peter, John, James, and the other Jewish believers that they, “children of Abraham” and members of the household of Israel, were part of God’s family through Spirit-given faith.
But for those earliest followers of Jesus, God’s grace toward those outside the chosen people of God, outside Judaism, was difficult to accept. Would God be so lavish with his grace that he would pour out his Spirit on the Gentiles too? So impartial with his love that he would welcome them into his family?
The disciple Peter was one of those doubters. It took a God-given vision for Peter to understand that God’s love reaches outside the circle of his people, the chosen children of Israel. Do you remember the God-inspired vision? It happens earlier in Acts 10, in verses 1–33, just before our text today. Peter is hungry, and he has a vision about food being let down from heaven on a sheet. The foods he sees are various animals and reptiles and birds—foods that were unclean according to Jewish law. In the vision, God tells Peter to kill and eat them. After Peter protests that this food is unclean, God says, “What God has made clean, do not call common” (v 15).
The message for Peter? Well, at that very moment, Peter receives a request from a man named Cornelius—a Roman soldier, a centurion, a Gentile, not a Jew—to come to his house. Turns out, Cornelius has had a vision too. So Peter goes to his home. When he arrives and sees a whole crowd of Gentiles eager to hear God’s Word from him, he gets it! “God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean” (v 28). Peter went on to proclaim the Good News of Jesus’ death and resurrection to Cornelius and the other Gentiles that day. He said, “To [Christ Jesus] all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (v 43, emphasis added). The Spirit fell on these people, and they were baptized. God showed no partiality. His love engulfed them, and they were saved.
3. Yet all are common, for God sees all people as sinners in need of salvation.
It is clear that God loves all people and that he desires all to be saved through faith in Christ. In this sense, no one is unclean or common in his sight. But there is also a sense in which all people are common and unclean. I’m referring to the sin that clings to us all. Everyone has it. We’re all unclean sinners. God sees this sin clearly in the worst of us and in the best of us, in people of all types and ages, all nationalities, all races, in all places. Sin deserves God’s punishment. It deserves death, even eternal death.
And sin sure creates problems among us. “Playing favorites” is the sin God’s Word is uncovering today. And this sin of showing partiality can have immense consequences. In our partiality, we might listen only to conservative talk radio and not to other points of view or vice versa. We might value the opinions of longtime church members but disregard the opinions of new members. We might talk with our friends at church while we ignore the others who really need a friend. We play favorites.
Our playing favorites, our showing partiality, can result in feelings of superiority or inferiority, depending on the side we’re on. It can lead to an attitude of “this is my church, not yours,” with the result that others feel, “If this is your church, I don’t want anything to do with it!” or worse, “If that’s what your Jesus is about, I don’t want anything to do with him!”
2. So God delivers impartial divine intervention.
We need help. It takes an act of God to break our cycle of playing favorites. God sent Jesus into this world as the divine partiality-buster. Yet, Jesus hardly looked divine. He was a common man, blending in with the young men of the villages of Galilee and the crowds in Jerusalem.
But there was something strikingly different about him too. Jesus showed no partiality. He did not play favorites. He crossed the boundaries of society, bringing hope and forgiveness to shepherds and fishermen, to the woman at Jacob’s well who’d had five husbands, to a chief tax collector in Jericho. He healed. He restored. He fed. He taught as one who had authority, for he was God in human flesh.
As the God-man, Jesus perfectly loved and obeyed his heavenly Father. Even though he was the sinless Son of God, he was the victim of gross injustice and partiality. He was accused by his fellow Jews of falsely claiming to be God and by the Romans of claiming to be a king. Death by crucifixion was his sentence. It was surely the greatest injustice of all time, that God died, that sinful men nailed Jesus to the cross, but it was the heavenly Father’s plan that this punishment should happen to his beloved Son. For Jesus was the Father’s promised Lamb of God, who would take away the sins of the world, the righteous for the unrighteous, the impartial for the partial. Yes, God the Father laid on his Son the guilt of us all! My sins were on Jesus. Your sins were on him. The sins of all people of all generations, all nationalities, all races, all ages, all types of people in all places. God shows no partiality.
Jesus suffered on the cross. He died. But on the third day, he rose from the dead. This was the great sign that the Father accepted the sacrifice of his Son. The sign that sin is forgiven and that life wins. Nothing could stop the apostles from proclaiming the Good News of the resurrected and victorious Savior, and nothing should stop us either: “Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (v 43). Everyone! God shows no partiality. This includes you, my brother in Christ, my sister in Christ, for God loves you.
1. This divine love transforms us so that we can love others impartially as God does.
We are the people who belong to the Church of the risen Lord Jesus Christ! He is alive, and his Spirit is active among us. The Spirit is moving to make us a community of believers who know and rejoice that we are dearly loved by God. But there’s more Good News. The love that saved us is the love that also transforms us! Living in that love of God, we can be different people, people who don’t play favorites, people who willingly and joyfully love and serve all types of people.
What might this transforming love of Jesus look like for you in your relationship with your family, with those at work and at school? That spouse, that brother or sister, that co-worker or fellow student is dearly loved by God. Jesus died for them too. He saves them. How will you show your love and acceptance to them?
What can the transforming love of God for you and for all of us mean for our life together in our congregation? We live in an impersonal world, a harsh world. People yearn for community, a place to belong, a place where they are loved and accepted. This kind of church will listen. It will serve. This kind of church will attract others. This kind of church will connect others to the love of Christ, which knows no boundaries and forgives all sins. For God shows no partiality, and neither will we in our congregation.
God Corrects Our Vision So That We Can See People as God Sees and Love People as God Loves.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
He is Risen indeed! Alleluia!
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Fourth Sunday of Easter
April 22, 2024
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!
My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the First Reading from the book of Acts chapter four verses one through twelve.
Boys and Girls, I pray that you are doing well. Have you ever seen really small animals? In the ocean there are small microscopic vegetable life of the sea who provides food for many of the ocean's smallest creatures. These little vegetable plants drift thousands of miles, wherever the current takes them. They have no power or will of their own to direct their destiny. They are called "plankton," a word that means wandering or drifting. How are we often like Plankton in our lives? How does God stop our drifting? Ponder those questions as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.
Plankton is an accurate term to describe the aimless life of many people of our century, people who have lost a sense of direction, who are powerless to direct their own destiny, and wander through life without a purpose.
These are the people who are subject to the shifting wind of every fad. They struggle to find a purpose in their lives either in some sort of pleasure or in one of the new religious movements or mind control efforts. In our text today, Peter is saying that there is one way of escape; one way of finding meaning and purpose in life; one way to a new kind of life with God and that way is through the name of Jesus.
One of the exciting things about knowing that way through the name is that we can share it with others. Have you ever tried to share the name? Polls have indicated that about half of all Lutherans never do it, 40 percent do it once in a while, and 10 regularly. Yet, look at the power of the name that we share!
A. The Name Healed the Lame Man
The background of the text is that Peter and John had gone to the temple to pray as was their custom. As recorded in Acts 3, which was the First Reading last Sunday, they were confronted by a cripple at the gate of the temple, and Peter said, "I don't have any silver or gold, but what I've got I'll give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth walk" (Acts 3:7). Immediately the man got up, leaped and jumped, and praised God. A great crowd gathered around to listen, so Peter began to preach as he usually did when a crowd gathered. He told the crowd that it was by this name of the servant Jesus that the man was healed and able to walk. It was not long until the temple guards, the riot control squad, arrived and dragged Peter and John off to prison for the night. The next day they were brought before the court, and there the question was asked, "By what power or by what name do you do this?" (Acts 4:7). In response Peter spoke those words of our text that it was by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and he explained what Jesus did as he adds, "whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. By Him this man is standing before you well."
B. God Chose the Name
The way is the name. The name is "Jesus," the name that God the Father chose to give His Son. It is not a name that the Old Testament prophets attributed to the coming Messiah. The name is in the Old Testament but in different forms, in words like Joshua and Hosea. It was God who chose the name for His Son. When it was time for the Messiah to come, God sent His messenger, the Angel Gabriel, to say to Mary, "His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." That is what the name really means, "one who saves." In His sermon to the crowd in the temple, Peter connected that name "Jesus" to the "holy and righteous one," and to the "author of life whom God raised from the dead" (Acts 3:14, 15), making it clear that this "one who saves" is none other than the Son of God Himself.
C. The Name Saves
In some cultures, it has been common to give the name of Jesus to sons as a way to honor them. That is why some professional ballplayers have names that are variations of the name Jesus, as Jesu, or Jose. Some years ago, a group of mothers sent a protest and request to the archbishop of Mexico. They wanted him to ban the use of the name Jesus and refuse any christening by that name. The reason they gave was that it was sacrilegious to have so many crimes committed by Jesus—and then written on the police record.
Jesus is the Son of God, the one who is holy and righteous. To live a holy life for us was part of His work on earth. Then He took our sins upon Himself, suffered and died and rose again, making atonement for all sins for all people. That was how He "saved His people from their sins" and became the "author of life."
D. The Name Is the Only Way
Peter says that it is through this name that we have life with God—and there is no other way. "Saved" in the New Testament means that we are rescued. By nature, you and I and all people are in a state of sinfulness, which the Bible calls death. It is a spiritual death, a life without God. This is the basic cause of the restless search for meaning in life. People are separated from the God who created them and who wants them to be in fellowship with Him. Unless they find the way to God, they will keep on searching and finally die in their sins.
The way to have that life is through the name of Jesus. It is the only way. Jesus said, "I am come that you may have life, life in all of its fullness." That is His very purpose for dying and rising from the dead, to give us the fullness of eternal life.
E. There Is None Other
Only one name, only one way. But the way is for everyone in all of the world.
Yet, many in the world try a wide variety of different ways. There was once a survey of Lutherans which says that 70 percent of young people would agree to this statement: "God is satisfied if I live the best life I can." This is a subtle form of universalism that is, if our neighbor is a good person and lives a good life, he is going to make it. He is going to be all right somehow. Or as I think about my Jewish friends, I would like to believe that they can be saved through the Old Testament, and then I do not have to share Jesus Christ with them. There are many other forms of this kind of subtle universalism which takes away the need for me to share Jesus Christ with them. But we must share Jesus with theme. They need it just as much as we do.
F. The Name Must Be Shared
It is our privilege and our commission to share that name with other people. Peter gives us the example in our text. He is before the Sanhedrin, that august body, the Jewish high court consisting of 71 members. The high priest is the ex-officio president. There are the wealthy Sadducees, the religious Pharisees, the learned Scribes, the respected elders, and our text even mentions that the priestly family was present. The high priest was supposed to have been a hereditary office and one for life. But under the Roman rule the office was filed with intrigue, bribery, and corruption. Between 37 B.C. and A.D. 67 there were 28 high priests. All but six of them came from four families. Many of those former high priests were here at this court.
So Peter and John were standing before the wealthiest, most intellectual, most powerful men in the country. There Peter, an uneducated, humble fisherman, makes his witness. A number of weeks earlier Jesus went before this same court, and they sent Him to the Romans recommending crucifixion. Peter was then in the courtyard denying that he even knew Jesus. And now Peter stands before this same group of men and says, "You crucified Jesus of Nazareth, but God raised Him from the dead. Now this name is the only name under heaven, the only name in all the world, by which you can be saved." The difference in Peter, of course, is that he was filled with the Holy Spirit. This was after Pentecost, and the Spirit empowered him for his bold witness.
That same Spirit is still active today though you. You received the forgiveness of your sins and new life in your baptism. The Holy Spirit came into your life and has been nurturing your faith so that you can trust in the name of Jesus and live a life with meaning and purpose. Just as Peter witnessed to the Sanhedrin, the Holy Spirit can help you be a witness to others, to your friend, your neighbors, and even your own relatives who do not know the way to peace with God through the name of Jesus.
Think of it like sharing the cure of cancer. Someone is dying of cancer. He has taken every known treatment for it, and some of the treatments almost killed him, but he is still dying, and it won't be long now. What if I knew the cure for his cancer? Should I let him die or share the cure so he can live? Do you have friends, neighbors, relatives, who are dying because of the cancer of sin in them? They are separated from God and destined to an eternal death. There is one way to be saved. That is through the name of Jesus. Sharing that name really puts meaning and purpose into life.
Some people can witness better than others. The Bible talks about some having the "gift of evangelism," which means that they can communicate the Good News of the way and help lead a person to trust in the name of Jesus. Of course, it is the Holy Spirit that creates faith, but we are the instruments He uses, His mouthpiece. Some people think about 10 percent of all Christians have this special gift of evangelism. What about the other 90 percent? We also are witnesses, Jesus said, even though we can't do as well as the person with the special gift. Each one of us needs to share as we are able. We share in the daily contacts that we have with people, we show by our words, deeds, and example the wonderous news that Jesus is the only way to salvation, that there is no other name by which we must be saved.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
He is Risen indeed! Alleluia!
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Third Sunday of Easter
April 11, 2024
Text: Acts 3:11-21
Theme: Joyful Repentance
Outline
1. Repentance is serious
2. Repentance is joyful
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
He Is Risen indeed Alleluia!
My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the First Reading from Acts chapter three verses eleven through twenty-one.
Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. Have you ever played the Hokey Pokey? You put your left foot in, you put your left foot out and shake it all about. Eventually your whole body is shaking and turning around. It is a fun game. It is also what the word repentance means. It means to turn around, to stop doing bad horrible things and turn to God, being sorry over our sins. It is something that is serious, but like the hokey pokey, can also be fun and joyful. How can that be? How does God call us to Repentance still today? Ponder those questions as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.
1. Repentance is serious
“13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. 14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. ” Peter’s opening words create a stark contrast. The Jews killed the Author of life and asked for a murderer to go free in His place. Jesus they crucified, Barabas they released. A murderer takes life although it be only the earthly life; this Author of life has divine life in himself and has thereby become the fountain of spiritual and everlasting life for us. The contrast rises to a tremendous climax: the one destroys the lower life, the other bestows the highest life Killing the one who is the source and end goal of all life. Jesus who is the very words of life made flesh for humanity, to give to them life everlasting. Him they killed! With these words Peter calls the Jews to repentance over their sins. While they are marveling, dumb founded at this miracle that is before their eyes of a lame man now fully walking, constantly clinging to Peter and John in thanksgiving for what they did for him. Peter says no. They should not be marveling at this fact. Rather, they should be marveling that God has not slain them for their great sin against Him. They killed the author of life whom God raised from the dead. Because of faith in the Author of life, because Jesus was raised from the dead, this man was healed.
Repentance, and calling people to repentance, is serious business. Peter says, “19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, ” We should take our sins seriously and its consequences. We should mourn over doing them. We should despise our dark thoughts that lead to even darker actions. We may not have physically killed Jesus like the Jews did, but that does not mean we have not done things in need of repentance. We, like the Jews, need to repent of our sins and turn back to God. We need to repent of our sins of rebelling against God when He does not act on our time table. Our sins of thinking that we know better than those that God has placed in authority over us. Our sins of words said in anger or frustration. Our sins of deeds done in the dark of night when we think no one is looking. Our sins of annoyance when something does a minor thing we do not like that causes us to get annoyed or angry. Our sins of impatience when someone cuts us off or we get stuck at every red light. Kill the author of life? No, but our sins are just as horrible. Just as deserving of present and everlasting punishment. James writes, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”
Unlike many in the world who think that because Jesus died, then we are free to do whatever we want, that everything is forgiven. We dare not take our sins lightly. We dare not take our sins as anything less that what they are. Things to be abhorred. Spurned at the first inclination of them. Yet, how grievous our flesh! How quickly we cheapen the grace of God shown to us in Jesus Christ our Lord!
2. Repentance is joyful
As serious as we should take repentance, it is also a time to be joyful. Many times, we focus so much on the seriousness and somberness of repentance that we lose the joy. How can we have joy? Because of Who we are turning to. Just look at what Peter says will happen with repentance. “20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus ” We turn in contraction, in sorrow over our sins. Who do we turn to? We turn to the very Author of life, the very One crucified for us. The One who has joined us in our sorrows and weakness in order to redeem us. As Luther writes, ““We Christians must know that if God is not also in the balance and gives the weight, we sink to the bottom with our scale. By this I mean: If it were not to be said, God has died for us but only a man, we should be lost. But if ‘God’s death’ and ‘God died’ lie in the scale of the balance, then he sinks down, and we rise up as a light, empty scale. But, indeed, he can also rise again or leap out of the scale; yet he could not sit in the scale unless he became a man like us so that it could be said: ‘God died,’ ‘God’s passion,’ ‘God’s blood,’ ‘God’s death.’ For in his nature God cannot die; but now that God and man are united in one person, it is correctly called God’s death when the man dies who is one thing or one person with God.” Jesus took on our humanity, became one of us in every way yet was without sin, died, and rose from the dead that every single one of our sins are forgiven. They are covered by His blood. We rejoice that we are not left down in the balance of our sins but that He is on the other side. That He has made us light by taking away our sins. Because of Jesus God showers us, not with wrath and anger as our sins deserve, but with times of refreshing. When we turn to Him in repentance, He gives us joy that our sins are forgiven. He gives us of His Holy Spirit that we can, and do, turn to Him in repentance, be strengthened by Him in newness of life. We rejoice in the forgiveness that He has given to us in Christ.
We rejoice that God gives us the ultimate joy. Eternal joy found when Jesus comes again in power and glory. Raises the dead, bodies perfected forever, and we get to live with Him forever and ever in the new heavens and new earth eternally.
Is repentance something to be taken seriously? Yes, sin is serious business, but it leads to rejoicing in joy that we have repentance. We turn to our crucified, risen, and ascended Christ Jesus and receive forgiveness, and times of refreshment. All because Jesus the Author of life, has died and risen for you.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
He Is Risen indeed Alleluia!
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Easter Sunrise
March 31, 2024
Easter Sunrise Service
Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Hallelujah!
And this morning, as the sun rises upon us, we are joining with the saints, here and around the world, as well as the saints who lived and died here before us. We are reminded of all the great acts of old that the Lord did for the salvation of His people and the glory of His name. For we gather around the same Word proclaimed and the same Sacraments administered, which bring to us the same full and free salvation found in this same crucified and risen Lord Jesus. It all began with one of the apostles bringing to them the good news of Christ’s resurrection.
Consider the hymn that we sang earlier, “Come, You Faithful, Raise the Strain” (LW 141). Here is an example of the deep Christian faith that has been present here and has been nourished here through that preached Word. That hymn was not written by a European Christian, but rather by John of Damascus, a Syrian Christian from the Eastern Church who lived in the early eighth century. That same hymn is a part of our repertoire of hymnody because of its catholic content and authorship. “For today among his own Christ appeared, bestowing His deep peace, which evermore Passes human knowing. Neither could the gates of death Nor the tomb’s dark portal Nor the watchers nor the seal Hold him as a mortal” (LW 141:4).
We are bound up in a catholic faith that is bigger than just us as American Christians. Here, in this one, holy, catholic, and apostolic faith, the East meets the West, and the walls of culture dissipate through the historic liturgy and hymnody. This salvation, which we celebrate this morning, encompasses not only us, but also the entire world. It not only has relevance and application to this generation, but it also has been relevant and applied to all generations before we were ever conceived.
We heard in the Old Testament Reading about the people of Israel being delivered from Pharaoh’s army through water. This event was recounted as part of the salvific event of the Old Testament. Consider John of Damascus’s view of this event when he writes, “Come, you faithful, raise the strain Of triumphant gladness! God has brought his Israel Into joy from sadness, Loosed from Pharaoh’s bitter yoke Jacob’s sons and daughters, Led them with unmoistened foot Through the Red Sea waters. This the spring of souls today: Christ has burst his prison And from three days’ sleep in death As a sun has risen; All the winter of our sins, Long and dark, is flying From his light, to whom is giv’n Laud and praise undying” (LW 141:1–2).Walking across the sea bed on dry ground! Seeing our Lord burst forth from the tomb, conquering death by dying! Who could have ever imagined that the Lord would act in such an awesome and gracious way.
And yet we allow ourselves to be convinced of the deadly, mistaken notion that we understand and believe more fully now, in our highly enlightened era, than did those who came before us. We are but a mere blip on the line of time. The audacity of our arrogance to convince ourselves of our own important contribution to the relevance and application of the Christian faith is sinful. It smacks of idolatry.
Who are we to think that we are more enlightened than those before us? Our triune God has thoroughly revealed himself and his salvation of our souls in the Old Testament redemption story of the Passover. He now brings that Passover event to its ultimate completion in his sacrifice and in his gift as our Paschal Lamb for us to eat. In his resurrection does Christ, the slaughtered Paschal Lamb, guarantee our victorious passage through the Red Sea of death to life eternal.
Dear, sweet Mary had physically seen Jesus on a day-to-day basis. She had witnessed his many miracles of healing, feeding, and raising the dead. Yet even in her more enlightened status as one very close to our Lord, her sinful human nature blinded her from seeing her Lord. It was only when her gracious Shepherd called her by name that she recognized him in his glorified body. It was the voice of her Lord that called her forth from the tomb of despair and doubt.
Remember this hymn you learned as a child? “I am Jesus’ little lamb, Ever glad at heart I am; For my Shepherd gently guides me, Knows my need and well provides me, Loves me ev’ry day the same, Even calls me by my name” (LW 517:1, emphasis added). Mary was made alive again when the Great Shepherd of the sheep called her by name. You have been made alive again this morning, for your resurrected Lord has called you forth from the deadly and mistaken notion of your enlightenment to the life-giving and certain proclamation of your adoption by grace.
Having been called forth by name, we gather as one body and partake of the paschal feast of victory in the Holy Supper. Just as the many individual kernels of wheat lost all of their pride in themselves when they were crushed into one flour to make the one loaf, so are we in this one bread. And just as the many grapes lost all of their self-importance when they were crushed into one vat of juice being fermented into the one wine, so are we in this one cup.
“Here the true Paschal Lamb we see, Whom God so freely gave us; He died on the accursed tree—So strong his love—to save us. See, his blood now marks our door; Faith points to it; death passes o’er, And Satan cannot harm us. Alleluia! Then let us feast this Easter Day On Christ, the bread of heaven; The Word of grace has purged away The old and evil leaven. Christ alone our souls will feed; He is our meat and drink indeed; Faith lives upon no other! Alleluia!” (LW 123:3, 5).
We have seen how small and insignificant we are without Him, who is our strength and our shield. We know that we only can wait upon Him who controls all things and brings all things to pass, according to his good and gracious will. We are not our own. We are but the Lord’s servants. And we are faithfully fed and nourished by the pierced hand of Him on whom we feed. And we are faithfully led and guided by the voice of Him who has called us by name. Thanks be to God!
Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Hallelujah!
Resurrection of Our Lord
March 29, 2024
Text: Isaiah 25:6-9
Theme: A Defeat of death itself
1. A feast greater than we can imagine we are invited to
2. Why? JC conquered death
3. Feast still join in today.
Alleluia Christ is Risen!
He is Risen indeed Alleluia!
My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the Old Testament lesson of Isaiah twenty-five verses six through nine.
Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well this joyous Easter. What is the best food that you can think of? Candy, chocolate, cake, veggies? Well maybe not them…many times, when we gather together to celebrate an event, food is involved. When you get married, there is a fancy cake and other food at the reception. When there is a funeral, there is usually a light luncheon. Today the Lord says that He is preparing a feast that everyone in the world is invited to. Why is the Lord doing this? How do we join in that feast today? Ponder those questions as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.
1. A feast greater than we can imagine we are invited to
What is the best feast that you could ever imagine? The most expensive banquet in history was in 1821 at the coronation of King George IV. He was famous for his extravagant lifestyle and racking up eyewatering debts, his coronation costing the equivalent of more than £20,000,000 in today's money. In Westminster Hall, now the oldest remaining part of the original Houses of Parliament, the king and 300 of the most important guests dined under the gaze of thousands of spectators sitting on specially constructed platforms. Dining elsewhere in the palace were 1,300 other guests. French-style cuisine was served from temporary kitchens constructed to cope with the quantity of food, and the king's table alone had more than 70 dishes over three courses. In total, the guests ate 7.3 tons of beef, veal and lamb, more than 1,600 chickens and 8,400 eggs. You want to talk about a grand feast. I do not think that any of us would leave the table hungry if we had attended that one
Yet as grand as that feast was, Isaiah declares that i the Lord will “prepare a feast,” “destroy the shroud,” “swallow up death,” “wipe away the tears,” and “remove the disgrace. The Lord is making a feast greater than anything King George IV could have dreamed up. The Lord prepares a great feast. It is a feast not just for anyone but for all nations, everyone in the entirety of the world.
A great feast for anyone who suffers from the horrors of death. For anyone who has ever mourned over loved ones no longer with them. For anyone who is missing the touch, kiss, caress of a spouse now no longer here. All of us have faced the specter of death. We have seen loved ones slowly dying as they get older and older. We have mourned those taken too soon, taken from of in the youth and vitality of life. Even we ourselves are not immune. We face the reality of death ourselves every day. When we wake up with more grey hairs, more aches, and pains then yesterday, we are reminded that we too will eventually die and be buried.
2. Why? JC conquered death
Yet, there is hope and joy even in the face of death itself. How can we be joyful? Because of the work of the Lord. The Lord prepares this feast purely because of His great love and mercy towards everyone across all of time and space. He prepares a feast to give us hope, to give us comfort as we mourn, to wipe away every tear from our eyes. How does He do all this? Look at why He is throwing this great feast. Because Jesus has swallowed up death forever. Jesus risen from the dead. Because He has destroyed the power of death forever. He has won the victory over sin, death, and the power of the devil! See, where He was laid. The Tomb is empty! He is no longer there! By dying, Jesus has destroyed the power of death. He has taken away our sins from us, paid the price for all of them, and buried them with Him in the tomb. By rising again, He gives to us new life with Him forever, leaving our sins dead and buried. Jesus has taken away the veil of death from us forever. Because of His great love towards us, we get to join in this feast with Jesus forever. He wipes away our tears, even as we mourn, by reminding us that there will come a day when death itself will be ended and crushed beneath His nail scarred feet because He is alive forever more.
3. Feast still join in today.
This is a future reality that we celebrate today. Jesus gives us a foretaste of the feast to come. That we today, even while we wait, even while we mourn, get to join in the feast for the comfort and salvation of our souls! We join with angels, archangels, and all the company of heaven in the great marriage feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom forever. A feast for all nations, purified by the blood of Jesus Christ, because of His sacrifice upon the cross, and alive forevermore. We join in a foretaste of this feast every time we gather at this altar. We feast on Jesus’ body and blood, in, with, and under, the bread and the wine, given and shed for us. We join with all of the redeemed, all of the host of heaven, as we look forward to the day when we will get see our Crucified, Risen, and Ascended Lord face to face, and join Him, and everyone, physically forever and ever.
Be of good cheer my beloved flock, the Lord has taken away your veil. He has swallowed up death forever because of His great love for you.
Alleluia Christ is Risen!
He is Risen indeed Alleluia!
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.