Sermons 2025

Text: Psalm 23

Sermon Outline
Introduction: The image of the Lord as our Shepherd and us as his sheep strikes close to our heart.
3. Our myths about sheep . . . and the truth.
2. We are dirty, wandering, stubborn sheep.
1. Jesus, the Shepherd, became a lamb to save us.
THE SHEPHERD BECAME A LAMB TO SAVE US DIRTY, WANDERING SHEEP.

Conclusion: Jesus still shepherds us.

Sermon

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
He is Risen Indeed! Alleuia!

My dear beloved friends, the text for our meditation today is the twenty-third Psalm.

Introduction: No image of the Lord, and his relationship with us, strikes closer to the core of our being than the image we see in today’s lessons: the image of the Lord as our Shepherd and us as his sheep. We read it in the Psalm for today: “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want” (v 1). We hear it in the Second Lesson: “The Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd” (Rev 7:17). And in our Gospel Jesus tells us, “My sheep listen to my voice” (Jn 10:27). We even teach our children to sing “I Am Jesus’ Little Lamb.”

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Why do you suppose this image has such power for us? Perhaps it’s because in a world as troubled and sin-filled as ours, we link sheep and shepherds together with peace, quiet, and contentment. Our psalm says, “He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters” (v 2). When you have had a long day. When it’s been stressful and chaotic, you cannot get to sleep, what do you do? You count sheep. 1,2,3,100…z.zzz.zzzz (snore!)

Or maybe we like this image so much because of how we think of sheep. Many people enjoy the feeling of sheepskin. The wool is soft and clean and fresh. They say it has the amazing quality of being warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Surely the animal that gave it must be like that: soft and gentle, clean and fresh, without fierce teeth or sharp claws. Jesus, the Lord, is our Shepherd, and we are his sheep.

If only more of us knew how sheep really are, we might feel a bit more sheepish about ourselves! Laura Ingalls Wilder brings that fact home in the book Farmer Boy. The chapter called “Sheep Shearing” describes the process of taking the wool from the sheep. The first thing done is to give each sheep a thorough washing.

You see, all that thick, soft wool picks up a lot of dirt as the sheep lives from day to day. What comes to us as clean and soft starts out as filthy and muddy. When the sheep have been scrubbed, they must be sheared immediately, because if they aren’t, they’ll get dirty all over again.

Those who’ve tended sheep know that they have other unpleasant characteristics. Sheep are prone to wander from the flock. The sight of some greener grass catches their attention, and they wander until they find themselves far away. Sheep can also be stubborn, headstrong, willful creatures.

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We are God’s sheep, God’s flock. As Pastor reminds us by opening every sermon, My dear beloved…flock! The same as sheep in the field, we Christians have an amazing ability to pick up dirt from our surroundings. How often we find our thoughts and words reflecting those of our non-Christian neighbors! We may not be able to help passing through the valley of the shadow of death, but when we begin to walk like those who are spiritually dead, that’s peril of our own making—and we should be very much afraid!

How often we look at ourselves in the light of God’s Law, only to be dismayed by the sight of the filth and mess in our life! Instead of luxuriating in the oil the Lord pours over our head—and whatever good things he pours into our cup—we covet the luxuries of this world, never content, always wanting greener pastures, bigger lawns, houses better appointed than the Lord’s (and on a more desirable street!), valuing the boss’s praise and our friends’ envy well above goodness and mercy. Instead of trusting God to vindicate us in the presence of our enemies, we fear them, smear them, speak all kinds of evil against them, and gloat when we see them stumble. Isn’t it true? Every time we gather for worship in the Divine Service, as soon as the name of God is placed on us, we find we must confess our sins.

God’s sheep have a tendency to wander too. Perhaps something hurtful is said to us, maybe by the people of God. Or we experience some horrible, shocking event—a sudden death we can’t possibly explain in our understanding of a loving God, a rejection by a loved one that doesn’t make sense when we’ve been committed and faithful. Or maybe we catch sight of greener grass just over the next ridge—those worldly goods that draw us away, a catchier sounding philosophy or religion. We wander from God’s house—become angry with him, lose faith in him, lose confidence that his simple Word and Sacrament are the richest table anyone could ever spread before us. The next thing we know, months or even years have gone by, and we find ourselves alone, without him, maybe without the dear ones he’s given us.

Isaiah said it well: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way” (Is 53:6). And stubborn? Us? Sadly, yes. When things don’t go our way, we sometimes respond by digging in our heels and forcing others to drag us along. Instead of praying, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” we pray, “My will be done in heaven and on earth—or else!”

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Truly, we are sheep: dirty, lost, and stubborn. And so serious is our problem that God has taken a radical step to solve it. The Lord, the Shepherd of Israel, took on flesh and became the Lamb. Did you hear the words of John? “The Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd” (Rev 7:17). Jesus is the Lamb of God. He took away the filth and grime of our sin by washing us in his own pure blood. And when we were lost, without hope and without God in the world, he wandered far from his heavenly home in search of us. His search took him to a lowly virgin in Nazareth, to a humble cave in Bethlehem, and, finally, on a dark and lonely Friday afternoon, to an accursed tree. He conquered our willfulness by yielding his own will to that of the Father—even unto death. Freely, willingly, lovingly he offered himself up for us through the Spirit to the Father.

The Shepherd became a lamb. And with his resurrection on the third day, the Lamb has become our Shepherd. He feeds us in the pasture of his Word. He leads us beside the still, deep waters of Baptism: springs of living water, because through this water he gives us life. He satisfies our hunger by giving us the heavenly bread and the cup of life, his own body and blood. Our cup runneth over with eternal blessing because we drink of the cup he pours out for us. 

He knows each of us as well as any good shepherd knows his own sheep. And the amazing thing is that he still loves us, still feeds us, still leads and guides us through all the perilous ways of this life.
THE SHEPHERD BECAME A LAMB TO SAVE US DIRTY, WANDERING SHEEP.

Little by little, as we feed on his love and stay with his flock, he breaks the old willfulness and stubbornness. He makes us his servants, who fear and love and trust in him above all things. He makes us his servants, who learn to give not only our wool but also, if necessary, our own skin for the needs of others.

Conclusion: When we come together each Lord’s Day, we come together as his flock. He is here, now, as our Shepherd. He speaks, and we listen. He leads, and we follow. And we have his word that he will keep on leading until that day when we sing his praise in glory and he wipes away every tear from our eyes.

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
He is Risen Indeed! Alleuia!

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard, and keep, your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

Text: Acts 9:1-22

(1) Resistless conviction that “Jesus whom he persecuted,” now speaking to him, was “Christ the Lord.” (See on Ga 1:15, 16). (2) As a consequence of this, that not only all his religious views, but his whole religious character, had been an entire mistake; that he was up to that moment fundamentally and wholly wrong. (3) That though his whole future was now a blank, he had absolute confidence in Him who had so tenderly arrested him in his blind career, and was ready both to take in all His teaching and to carry out all His directions. (For more, see on Ac 9:9). 

Blind rage to Physical Blindness to Physical/Spiritual Light

Outline

1.    Saul blinded by rage
i.    We blinded by our sins
2.    Saul literally blinded by our Lord
i.    TBTG that He does not literally blind us!
3.    Why? Turn into His instrument
i.    Made us His people in Baptism, strengthens through HC, that we can be His people.

Sermon

Christ is Risen!
He is Risen indeed! Alleluia!

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the First Lesson from the Acts of the Apostles, chapter nine verses one through twenty-two.

Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today.  Do you like the sun? The sun can be really bright sometimes. Many times, it can be so bright that it hurts our eyes as well as our bodies. Some people have even died because they were out in the sun too much. In our lesson for today, we hear of Saul, you would know him better as Saint Paul, He was blinded by our Lord. Why was Saul blinded? How does Jesus use Saul as well as us 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.    Saul blinded by rage

In 1976 Bruce Springsteen recorded a famous song on his album, Greetings from Asbury Park. That song, Blinded by the Light. In our text, Saul is blinded by more than just the light. He is blinded by pure intense and zealous rage. He has taken his intense zeal for the law of God as taught by the Pharisees and turned it against those people who call themselves Christians. He is constantly threatening punishment, even death, for them. Saul’s fury was no passing outburst but enduring. Like other indulged passions, it grew with exercise and had come to be as his very life-breath, and now planned, not only imprisonment, but death, for the heretics. Saul goes to the High Priest and asks him for letters, “that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. ” Bound for trial to the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem all the way from Damascus, around 150 miles away, far outside of the Sanhedrin’s jurisdiction and authority to possibly face the same trial and death as our Lord.

I pray that none of us have been as blood thirsty as Saul was. Yet, Saul’s zeal goes to show just how far our sinful nature will go in the pursuit of something that it deems as good. How many of us have put time, effort, and energy into a wide variety of activities, only to find all of that effort simply tossed aside when something else comes by? We are enticed into thinking we need better cars, better electronics, better. We put all of our effort, all of our resources into getting bigger and better things. How has that worked out? We think that we are doing good by doing this, but it is vain and gets us nowhere. A chasing after the wind. 

Sometimes, like Saul, we fool ourselves sometimes into thinking that we are doing what God really wants us to do. Saul thought that he was doing God’s work by persecuting those who believed differently than himself. Many Christians fall into this very same trap of pride and sin when they think of themselves as better than those around them. When someone comes into church wearing tattered jeans, a bright pink mohawk, and covered in tattoos, how would we treat them? I pray that we would treat them kindly and welcome them with open arms. Yet, many people would have the same reaction as Paul, ‘Really Lord, they are so different! Why are they here? Why are they wearing that? Do they not have anything better to wear?’ It even happens on a daily basis. We are blinded by zeal then we think that we know better than our teachers and do not do our homework. When we mistreat friends and loved ones because they did something that we did not agree with. We puff up our pride and think ‘Certainly, I would have done things a whole lot differently. I would not have made the same serious mistake as them.’ Yet God was about to take Saul’s misplaced zeal and put it towards the use of His kingdom.

2.    Saul literally blinded by our Lord

It took an act of God to convert Saul. On that road to Damascus, the Lord Jesus appears to Saul. He reveals that in persecuting the Christians, Saul is persecuting the Lord Himself! “I, I am Jesus, whom thou, yea, thou art persecuting!” That charge, that accusation of persecuting is thus driven into the soul of Saul to the hilt. Here was the revelation, not only of Jesus, who with one stroke swept away all the lies Saul had believed about him as a mere man, etc., but also the revelation of what Saul was engaged in: persecuting this glorified Jesus in his disciples: “I—thou!”  Saul is literally blinded by the light of our Lord. He is led into Damascus and there eats or drinks nothing for three days. His physical blindness personifies how blind Saul’s heart really is inside. For all of His supposes good works, for all of his zeal, His fearful sin lay heavily upon him, and the Lord permitted it to crush him for three days.  Shut off from the world, blind, abstaining from food, with no one to help his soul’s distress, his proud self-righteousness was conquered, and there remained only a sinner in the dust who ever after felt himself chief of all sinners. 

Thanks be to God that He does not likewise cause us physical blindness because of our sins. Though we would well deserve it, God in mercy does not do it. Though like Saul, our sins should weigh just as heavy upon us. We should be crushed, our souls in pure distress, when we consider our sins against God. All those times when we have misplaced our own zeal. Gone after the things and pleasures of this world, rather than focusing on the things that God would have us do.  It should crush us into the dust.

3.    Why? Turn into His instrument

Why does the Lord so crush Saul as well as us? That we may put our zeal to the best use as His chosen instruments. As the Lord tells Ananias when he complains about going to Saul. But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”  Ananias goes and Saul is healed. Something like scales fall from his eyes. He is baptized and then refreshes himself with food and drink. Saul does not delay in doing the work that God has given him to do. He stays a few days with the disciples in Damascus then immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.  Saul’s unique purpose is that he was chosen by God to carry His name before Gentiles and kings. Saul was the one who would spread the Gospel to those who had never heard it before. In order to do this, he was blessed with a unique zeal. The same zeal and passion that had once been used to persecute Christianity God now uses it for His glory, to preach and proclaim the Gospel to people far and near.

We likewise are God’s instruments. God has chosen us solely by His grace, the same as He did Saul. God has called us through the waters of Holy Baptism. He has cleansed us with water and the Word. God places His name upon us and calls us His dear and beloved children. He takes great sinners, cleanses us, and give us the great task of proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God to the world. 
To this end, God has made all of us unique. He has given us a wide variety of gifts. Whether it be that you are good at speaking, good at playing a musical instrument, good with accounting and numbers, good at curing the human body of illnesses and sicknesses. Every single one of us is unique and special in our vocations, the roles that we currently are in in life. If you are a student, then you have the work and purpose of studying and getting good grades, of witnessing your faithfulness by obeying your teachers and others in authority. If you are a parent, you have the work of raising your children in a Christian way, and helping them to grow in the Christian faith. If you have a spouse, you have the work of caring for one another, of loving and treating each other in a kind Christian way, of modeling for others what a marriage founded upon Christ looks like. As Christians, all of us have the duty and purpose of spreading the Gospel to others, in whatever shape that takes in our daily lives.
Conclusion: Thanks be to God that He uses one as zealous as Saul, not for persecuting His church, but for strengthening it and growing His kingdom. Help us, likewise, dear Heavenly Father, that we may be so zealous for Your kingdom and to use our gifts and skills, for Your glory and the praise of Your name. Until that day when we will likewise see Your Son shining in all His Glory.
 

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
He is Risen Indeed! Alleuia!

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard, and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
 

Text: Revelation 1:4-18

Outline:
Resurrected to be
1.    Be His Prophets
2.    Be His Priests
3.    Be His Kings

As a prophetic community the church mediates the word of God made known in Jesus to the world. As a priestly community the church mediates to the world God’s reconciliation of the world in Jesus, the Sacrificed Priest, and instead of sacrificing to the emperor on the Roman altar, the church sacrifices itself on the true altar of God (cf. 6:9–11). As a royal community the church represents and signifies the rule of God as already present in the world.

Sermon

Christ is Risen!
He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the Revelation of Saint John’s chapter one verses four through eighteen.

Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. Have you ever been given a job to do? Maybe mom or dad told you to clean your room, take out the trash, help with the dishes. I know you have a job to do as a student, to obey your teachers, learn everything that you can and be good to your classmates. We have a job to do as Christians. It is a job given to us by Jesus Christ. He gives us the job of going out into all the world, proclaiming what He has done by His death and resurrection from the dead. How can we do this great job? How does Jesus help us? Ponder those questions as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.

1.    Be His Prophets

Christ has Risen! He has risen indeed! Alleluia! This is a very interesting text to have for the Second Sunday in Easter but it is one that gives to us great comfort today. In our text, the Risen Christ stands before Saint John in all of His glory. John turns and  sees the incarnate deity of Jesus. His hair is white as wool, His eyes and feet like blazing bronze. His face is shining stronger than the sun shining in full brightness. John sees Jesus ruling and reigning over all things, holding everything in His hands, especially His beloved Church.

The Lord gives John a simple message for the church. The Lord remains His beloved of who He is. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”   Having been crucified, died, and buried, Jesus is no longer dead. Having been raised from the dead, as the firstborn of the dead, Christ now rules and reigns forever and ever. As the God-man, Jesus is fully using His divine power and authority for our good, the good of His church, and the good of all the nations. 

Thus, why John writes this letter, beginning with the seven churches, that all believers might know the One to whom they belong. That they might have comfort knowing that our Lord is indeed in control of all things, as they do the work that He has given them to do. Christ is our Prophet, our Priest, and our King forever as the anointed messiah seated at the right hand of the Father. As believers, we share in this ministry and work upon this earth.  Through Christ’s threefold office, we share in His works as His prophets, His priests, and His Kings upon this earth.

    Firstly, how are we, His prophets? We share in Christ’s work as His prophets because of what we proclaim to others through our thoughts, words, and deeds. We claim to be Christians. Christ-ian! The ian means little therefor Christian means little Christ. When others interact with, and observe our actions, our actions impact how others view Christ and His Kingdom. Through our thoughts, words, and deeds, we constantly proclaim the wonderous works of what Jesus has done for us, and for the world.  

We show that we are different than others because we reject our sinful nature, the temptation of the devil, and our sinful flesh. We do not indulge or follow our passions because we have been freed from them. We have been freed from their control by the death and resurrection of Jesus. He has claimed us as His own, therefore, we follow Christ. He has redeemed us from the everlasting death and damnation, that we deserve because of our sins, by the shedding of His holy and precious blood up the cross.  Much like the Prophets in the Old Testament, we are not perfect. We make mistakes, we make grievous errors, and sin against His Word. Yet, God in His great mercy and love, still deigns to use our actions and words to proclaim His glory. As we prayed in our Collect this morning, we do indeed prayer that He would help us that by our lives and deeds we may proclaim Christ as God and Lord.

2.    Be His Priests

As we proclaim Christ as God and Lord, we are fulfilling our second task. The task of being His priests. We are greater than the priests of old, not we have any excuse to inflate our pride, but because the sacrifice that we present is greater. Unlike the priest of old who offered sacrifice after sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins, we remind the world of Jesus’ great sacrifice upon the cross. There, He paid the price for the sins of the entire world. Jesus fully appeased the wrath of God as proven by His resurrection from the dead. This means that no matter who you are, no matter what you have done. It is forgiven because of Jesus. Throughout our lives, we are mediating throughout the world God’s reconciliation of the world in Jesus, the Sacrificed Priest. Jesus, as God in the flesh, is the great High Priest and Himself became the Victim in our stead. 

In instead of sacrificing to the emperor on the Roman altar, the church sacrifices itself on the true altar of God.  We sacrifice of our very lives to what God has given us to do. It is not easy to follow God’s commands given in His Word. To sacrifice our time, our talents, our treasures to what He has called us to do. It would be much easier to sleep more this morning than go to church. Many people show this same kind of attitude, thinking nothing of the long hours or the great cost of investing in their kids happiness for sports, or drama, or other extracurriculars. Yet, ask them for a mere hour on Sunday, or even more during the week, and many say no they cannot give that much, to the One who has given them everything they have, even their very lives! We emulate Jesus’ great sacrifice as we sacrifice of ourselves, not to earn anything from God, (we are not saying we are better because we are poorer!) but rather to praise Him for giving to us everything. Help us O Lord, to properly steward what you have given to us, including our very lives.

3.    Be His Kings

Thanks be to God that He does indeed give us the help we need to steward everything that He has given to us. In, and through, Christ God has made us rich beyond comparison to anything in this present world. He has made us kings already ruling and reigning with Christ. As Saint Paul tells Timothy in his second letter, “The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him.” And “If we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us.”

We have died and been buried with Christ in the waters of Holy Baptism. Our sins have been forgiven, and we have been washed in the precious blood of the Lamb.  As He now lives and reigns for all eternity so too will we. Even if our bodies turn into dust, they will be raised to life again. When Christ comes again, every eye will see Him as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and pay Him the honor that is rightly due to Him as the Father has given Jesus the name that is above every name. 

Conclusion: As we go about our lives, facing the great enemies of the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh, let us rejoice in the great comfort that Jesus has given to us. He is indeed the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. He is with us always as we do the tasks that He has given us to do, until the Day when all flesh shall be raised and we shall see Him enthroned in glory forever.
Christ has Risen! He has risen indeed! Alleluia!

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard, and keep, your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
 

SERMON OUTLINE
Introduction to the series theme
David shared in the joy at the right hand of the Lord
We live in a time when real joy and peace are in short supply
The world’s “cures”
David knew heartache
Where does David look?
The Lord is at his right hand
This psalm is really all about Jesus
He did not see corruption
Christ did not decay in the tomb
Remember Jesus’ words
All of these events were the hand of the Lord
Christ ascended to the right hand of the Father so that He could be with us forever
The risen Christ brings us eternal joy at His presence in Word and Sacrament

SERMON

Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!]

My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the 16th Psalm as well as the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke the twenty-fourth chapter verses one through twelve.

Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. How close is your shadow? It’s pretty close to you. You always see it with you if you are outside playing, reading a book, or going to bed. Did you know that there’s Someone who is even closer to you than your shadow? It’s Jesus! Today, we celebrate the best day of all. We celebrate that Jesus is no longer dead. Jesus rose from the grave. He is alive! He lives forever! Where is Jesus? He is with you. He will never leave your side. He is closer to you than even your shadow. How does Jesus’ resurrection and being near you help you and give you comfort? Ponder that question as we celebrate that

Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!]

You may go back to your seats and those who love you.

Our hands are central to the ways that we interact with the world. In the Scriptures, the Lord uses “the hand of the Lord” as a constant reminder to us of just what He can do. Throughout Lent, we have seen how the Lord has used His Hands, symbolic, as well as literal, throughout Holy Scripture for the good of people.  We saw the many ways that Christ’s hands were at work. He saved Peter from the deep, defeated the devil, healed diseases, raised the dead, and held all things in His hand. Today, Christ’s ever-present hand delivers on all His promises, offers us protection, and guides us into life eternal.

King David, nearly a thousand years before Christ, writes in Psalm 16 about the Lord’s hands,

He says:

You make known to me the path of life; 
in Your presence there is fullness of joy; 
at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (v. 11, emphasis added)

David has the quiet confidence found at the right hand of his Lord. In the Lord’s presence, there is life and everlasting joy. How was it that David could write those words of joy and peace a thousand years before Jesus’ resurrection? What do they have to say to us, now nearly two thousand years after His resurrection? Where does this peace at the right hand of the Lord come from? Where does the peace and joy come from when David says that at his Lord’s right hand?

We live in a time when peace appears to be in short supply. We’ve seen the hands of this sinful world at work. Hands focused on restlessness, anxiety, spite, and even downright hatred are blasted across our screens on a daily basis. People recognize that there is something wrong. Of course, many are quick to offer remedies with cures like “self-care” and “do what makes you happy” and any number of band aid fixes. “There is nothing wrong with you. You need to put yourself first to solve your problems and anxiousness in this life.” But how is that working? Is the answer to the problems of this world just to turn in on ourselves more and more? Are we to seek comfort and refuge in the work of our hands? That would be to make ourselves the gods of our lives. For a god is anything or anyone in which we seek refuge.

David writes, “The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply” (v. 4). 

David knew what hardship and heartache was. His predecessor, King Saul, tried to put him to death. His own son, Absalom, wanted him dead. David knew the gravity of the work of his hands in his own sin, the internal toil of his own dreadful actions after taking another man’s wife, Bathsheba, and how that sin caused the death of their firstborn son. David’s very bones wasted away within as he tried to hold his sin in. David did not shy away from confessing his sin before the Lord. David knew it all, and he knew the judgment that he deserved. And yet, in the midst of that, he speaks of peace and joy.

David’s answer for us is not “Look inside yourself to find your inner strength.” It is not “Try harder.” It is not “Grin and bear it. It must get better eventually.” David knows that the work of your own hands will not do. David tells you instead to look to the One who has been right there all along, even if you tried to ignore Him. “I have set the LORD always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken” (v. 8). David speaks as if the Lord is right there by his side at his right hand. Closer than even David’s own shadow. If the Lord is with you, then you can place your confidence in Him and Him alone. If you know that the Lord is holding on to you, then you know that nothing in this world is greater than Him. You are not alone. Even if you have neglected His presence, He has not neglected you. His promises remain true for you today, no matter how long it has been!

“Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let Your holy one see corruption” (vv. 9–10).
The Lord is with David, holding him in His hand—the Lord who led Israel with a pillar of fire by night and cloud by day. The Lord who has given him the promise that even if he should die, he will be raised. He would not be abandoned to Sheol. That is the pit where all those who die go. That is where we deserve to be abandoned in an eternal death because of our sins. But David knows that he will not be left there. Even his flesh dwells secure, because God has the final say about this bodily life as well. God will bring him back to life on the Last Day. David’s hope—his faith, his belief—was all bound up in the Lord. Bound up in what the hand of the Lord can do.

This psalm of David has been pointing forward to Jesus all along. David’s hope was all in Jesus and what He has done for David and for us. Written one thousand years before Christ, this psalm is all about Jesus’ resurrection. When the Son of God took on our human flesh, He took on human hands. In Christ, the hand of the Lord has become literal. Because of Jesus, we can say, unequivocally, that God has hands. Real hands. Real hands that can accomplish what He sets out to do. Jesus used His hand by the power of His Word, creating, casting out demons, healing the sick, raising the dead, washing, feeding, and being nailed to the cross—all for you. 

Christ came to a world fallen and in disarray. A world under the curse of sin. He was delivered into the hands of sinful men, indeed, the works of our own sins. Christ’s hands were nailed to the cross. He took all this world’s sin and fallenness; even though He “knew no sin,” He became sin (2 Corinthians 5:21), and He took it all to the cross, where He bled and died for it all.
But that is not the end. The women carried spices to the tomb in their hands, expecting the need to add fragrance to a corrupted and decaying body. Instead, they found the stone rolled away to reveal an empty tomb! As David’s psalm said, “For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let Your holy one see corruption” (Psalm 16:10). David’s tomb was still present at the time of the apostles to testify that he had died and had not yet been raised. But Jesus was not abandoned to Sheol, the place of the dead, nor did His body decay and see corruption.

Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!]

Jesus was raised on the third day. He was raised to new life to never die again (Romans 6:9). This is what the angels remind the women at the tomb: “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how He told you, while He was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise” (Luke 24:5–7).

These angels were reminding the women of the promises of Jesus, reminding them to remember His words, reminding them that the hand of the Lord had been at work all along, and reminding that He is alive just as He said. This is all the hand of the Lord.

Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!]

And He lives to this day. He ascended to the right hand of the Father, where He reigns over the whole world. He lives today to give to you the forgiveness that He has won to you. You have been united with His death and resurrection in the waters of Holy Baptism. He is always with you. He will never leave your side. He is always with you. He hands you His very body and blood in the blessed Eucharist for your forgiveness and strengthening of your faith. Because Jesus is with you, you know that what applies to His resurrection also applies to you! When Jesus returns, He will raise you and all believers to be with Him forever. 
Jesus has promised you that you will never be abandoned, He will be with you until the very end of the age. Death does not have the final say. Throughout your life, Jesus is holding you in His hands. In His hands, Jesus still bears the glorious marks that prove His great and steadfast love for you.
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.