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The Ascension of Our Lord
Thursday, May 13, 2021

“When Our Lord Ascends, He Also Sends” (Luke 24:44-53)

Today we’re celebrating the Ascension of Our Lord. Forty days after his resurrection, our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, and so it is on this day–forty days after Easter, always on a Thursday–when we have this festival. And what I want to focus on today for our Ascension theme is this: “When Our Lord Ascends, He Also Sends.”

When our Lord ascends, he also sends. What do I mean by that? I mean that when our Lord Jesus Christ ascends into heaven, at the same time he also sends out his apostles. He sends them out as witnesses, to deliver a particular message. In Luke 24, he tells them, “You are witnesses of these things.” And in Acts 1, likewise: “You will be my witnesses.” Sending out the apostles as his witnesses–that’s what Jesus is doing here when he ascends into heaven.

Jesus sends out his apostles as witnesses. But as witnesses of what? What is to be the content of their message? In Luke 24, we heard Jesus tell the apostles, “You are witnesses of these things.” But what are the “these things” he’s referring to? Well, he had just told them what “these things” are. He said: “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” This is what Jesus means by “You are witnesses of these things.”

Jesus himself tells us what the church’s witness, our public testimony, will be. In fact, this is Jesus’ summary of what the whole Bible is about. The heart and core of the Bible’s message–and thus the center of the church’s witness–zeroes in on these things: 1) “that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,” and 2) “that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” That’s it. That’s the Bible in a nutshell, according to Jesus. This then is the content of the church’s witness: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and repentance and forgiveness proclaimed in his name.

Have you ever thought about why the Apostles’ Creed includes the items it includes? I mean, when you look at it, it seems a little out of balance. There’s a lot more in the Second Article, about Christ, than there is in the First or Third Article, about the Father or the Spirit. And even in the Second Article, look at what’s mentioned and what is skipped over. It starts out: “And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.” OK, so far, so good. We’ve established who Jesus is, that he is both true God and true man. So we have gotten as far as Christ’s birth.

But then, where does the Creed go next? Look, it zooms forward, fast forward, all the way to the end of the story, if you will: “suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried,” etc. In other words, it skips over a lot of material that could have been mentioned–all the miracles, all the teachings of Jesus, and so forth. The Creed zooms right past all that and hurries on to the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ.

But then, when you look at the four gospels, that’s just where the emphasis lies there, too. In each gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, out of all the years of Jesus’ life and ministry, a disproportionate amount of space is devoted to just eight days, really–Holy Week, Palm Sunday through Holy Saturday, plus Easter Day.

But isn’t this what Jesus is saying here in our text? He himself says that this is where the emphasis should lie: “that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.” Why put the emphasis there? Because this is why Christ came. This is how he won our salvation. You and I needed a Savior, someone to rescue us from our sin and the death that results from our sin. We could not free ourselves. Only God could do that. And so God sent his only Son, Jesus Christ, to be that Savior. God in the flesh, come down from heaven. Jesus kept the Law in our place, kept it as a man. He fulfilled what we have failed to do. Jesus kept the Commandments that we have broken. Yet even though he was innocent, sinless, righteous in God’s sight, Jesus willingly went to the cross. There he died a sinner’s death as the one representative man for all sinners. He bore the judgment, the punishment that the Law requires. The righteous for the unrighteous, Christ crucified shed his holy blood for the sins of the world. That’s what Jesus is talking about here when he says “that the Christ should suffer.” This fact is essential to the church’s witness. There is no salvation without a suffering, dying Christ.

That the Christ should suffer “and on the third day rise from the dead.” This too is essential to the church’s witness–the Resurrection of Our Lord. Christ rose from the dead on the third day. On Good Friday he died; then came Holy Saturday; and then on Easter Day, the third day, he rose from the dead on that glorious Sunday. Christ demonstrated the victory over death that his death on the cross accomplished. Death could not hold him, true, for he is the almighty Son of God. But Christ’s resurrection also demonstrates what is in store for us: that death has no hold on those who belong to Christ. We share in his resurrection. We have eternal life, victory over death and the grave, because of what our Lord Jesus has done for us.

Do you see now why Jesus zeroes in on his suffering, death, and resurrection as the central content of the church’s witness? Because this is where our righteousness lies. This is where our eternal life is located. This is the focus, the pivot point, of God’s love in action, in all of human history. This is the most important thing that God wants all people everywhere to know and to believe.

So the work of Christ is then delivered in the proclamation of Christ. It is delivered and applied to each person through repentance and faith. This is the other essential part of the church’s witness, where Jesus goes on to say: “that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name.” You see, it’s one thing to say, “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, suffered and died and rose again.” OK, fine, ho-hum. I mean, it’s amazing, it’s good for Jesus, but really, ho-hum. What does that have to do with me? This is why Jesus adds, “that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name.” The proclamation brings it home. This is the preaching that calls sinners to repent of their sins, to turn from relying on themselves, and to turn instead to Christ, in faith, for the forgiveness of their sins. And this is God’s word to each one of us here today.

Yes, what about you? Do you have sins to repent of? How have you sinned against God? How have you tuned him out? Where have you failed your spouse, your children, your parents, your neighbor? How have you made yourself your own god? Have you made your own decisions about what is right and wrong, rather than obeying what God says about these things? That is sin. Put a name on it. Confess it. Grieve over your sinful condition, that you can’t just shake this stuff off. That is what it means to repent.

But then receive the forgiveness of sins. Jesus Christ died for those sins of yours, for your general sinful condition and for all the specific ways that your sinfulness manifests itself. The good news of forgiveness is being proclaimed to you again this day. Jesus suffered and died and rose from the dead for you. Forgiveness of sins is being proclaimed right now in his name to you. And the Sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood is here to deliver and assure you of that forgiveness.

When our Lord ascends, he also sends. When Christ ascended into heaven, he made sure to send out witnesses with a very specific message. And so the church’s witness has made it all the way to here on this Ascension Day. Christ has sent out his forgiving, life-giving gospel to people who need it. Christ our crucified, risen, and ascended Lord is still sending out this joyful witness to people just like you and me.

Sixth Sunday of Easter
May 9, 2021

“Love Commanded, Love Connected” (John 15:9-17)

“This is my commandment, that you love one another.” So says the Lord Jesus today in the reading from John 15. “But, but, Jesus, how come you’re giving us a commandment? Like we’re supposed to obey this? But I thought you were not about commanding people, just forgiving them. This sounds like Law to me, and I thought you were only Gospel!”

Yeah, how can you command us to do this, Jesus, to “love one another”? That’s too hard. I mean, there are some people I like to love. I love my children; I love my spouse. Well, most of the time, at least. When they’re being nice to me and sweet. It’s a little harder, though, when they’re being ornery or getting on my nerves.

But there are lots of people I don’t like to love, at any given time. People who rub me the wrong way. People I disagree with. People who bore me or are just not up to my standards. Yeah, you know, like that person over there in the other pew. I can’t stand people like that. And you want me to love them? Seriously?

How can you command us to do this, Jesus, to love one another? And it isn’t just about other people; it’s about me, too. I mean, honestly, when I look inside myself, I don’t always see a whole lot of love. Instead, I see someone who is curved in on himself, self-centered. I like people, I love people, if they do something for me. This is sort of a self-interested kind of love, if you can call such a thing “love.” That’s the problem, I guess. I don’t have enough love in me to do what you’re commanding me, Jesus.

Well, no, I don’t, and I suspect you don’t either. Are there people you have trouble loving? Are there people you love most of the time but don’t love some of the time? Is the problem their lovability or your own “love ability,” that is, your ability to love? Maybe both.

That’s the problem with us, isn’t it? We don’t love enough. And that will always be the problem when I look inside myself for the source of love. If I look to myself for the resources to do what Jesus commands, I won’t be able to do it. With that approach, of looking to self for the answer, we will certainly not be able to love one another.

So how can Jesus command us to do this? What was he thinking? You know what? We can find out what he was thinking by looking at the rest of this passage. Because Jesus tells us what he means with “This is my commandment, that you love one another.”

You see, there’s an important piece we’ve left out so far. Listen to what Jesus adds when he gives us this command. He says, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. “As I have loved you”! That’s the key! This is the missing piece of the puzzle! This is the all-important resource we need in order to do what Jesus commands. “As I have loved you.” There it is. Jesus’ love for us. Without that, we will never be able to do what Jesus commands, to love one another. First, Jesus has to love us.

And he has! Jesus has loved us. How do we know that? Well, listen to what Jesus says: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.” And then look at what Jesus does: He does exactly that: He lays down his life for us! Surely this is the greatest love of all: Not some self-love or self-generated love that I find within myself. No, the greatest love of all is the love that Christ Jesus demonstrated when he laid down his life for us.

Think of that love! Was it because we were so loveable that Christ did this? No, not hardly. “Christ died for the ungodly,” Paul says in Romans. Christ died for the unlovely and the not very loveable. It’s hard to fathom this love, so pure and self-sacrificing it is. The very Son of God came in the flesh, as a man, and loved a world of rebellious sinners. He loved those who would nail him to a cross. He loved a band of fickle disciples who would desert him in his hour of need. He loves a poor miserable sinner like me, a poor excuse of a disciple, who has failed his Lord and his friends and family so many times. That Christ does this for the likes of us–this is love, my friends, this is love. If you look up “love” in the dictionary, there ought to be a picture of Jesus next to it. Jesus with his arms stretched out on the cross, laying down his life for his friends. Greater love hath no man than this.

How do we get this kind of love, with which to love others? We get it from him. Last week we heard the verses from John 15 leading into today’s text. Our message was about the branches abiding in the vine and bearing fruit. And that’s how it goes for us being able to love one another: by abiding in the vine. Jesus even repeats it today. “Abide in my love,” he says. Just as life flows from Christ the vine into us the branches, so does love. Jesus is the source of both, life and love. For us to be able to do what Jesus commands, to be able to love one another, we need to abide in Christ the vine. Abide in his love.

So this is how Jesus can command us to love one other: because we are connected to him, and so we receive love from him. Love commanded, love connected. What Jesus commands he also supplies. Therefore, it is not impossible for us to love one another. We have the life and the love of Jesus flowing through us. We know what love is because we ourselves have received love from Christ.

Love commanded, love connected. Jesus says, “Love one another as I have loved you.” And this connection goes back even further still. Jesus says, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.” The love connection flows from the Father to the Son to us, and then out from us to one another. The Father has loved Jesus. Remember what the Father said of Christ at both his baptism and transfiguration? “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The Father loved the Son for taking on the mission of saving the world. He loved him for going to the cross and laying down his life for sinners. Love from the Father to the Son; love from the Son to us; and then love from me or you to one another. This is the love connection. This is how it goes. This is how it flows.

So this is not something you have to muster up on your own, this love that Jesus commands. No, this is love you first receive in order to have something to give. The command to love does not occur in a vacuum. Rather, it comes to us who have received, and continue to receive, life and love from the divine source, the living vine, Christ Jesus our Lord. The connection happens as we abide in the vine, as we abide in his love.

Now do you see how Jesus can command this of us? It’s because he gives us what we need to do what he commands. We have all the love we need when we receive it from Christ. We know what love is. And we know that we have an inexhaustible supply with which to love our brothers and sisters.

That’s who Jesus is talking about when he says, “Love one another.” He’s talking about loving our fellow Christians. Yeah, he’s even talking about loving these people here around us in church. Yes, including that person over there in the other pew that you don’t like very much. Loving your fellow Christians, loving your fellow church members–this is Jesus’ special concern here in this command. Not that we don’t also love other people. We do. But in this passage, Jesus is calling special attention to loving one another within the body of Christ, both in this congregation and in the church at large.

Here are your brothers and sisters, my friends. They’re sitting here in the pews right along with you. These are the people that Christ is commanding you to love. Now, will you do what Jesus says? This means forgiving the people you have a grudge against. It means getting to know the people you usually try to avoid. It means being alert to their needs and helping them in practical ways. It means giving of yourself to care for others. This is what love looks like. And yes, you can do it. Because you are connected to Christ. You are abiding in his love.

Love commanded, love connected. Jesus commands us to love one another. Connected to him, we have what it takes to do what he says. Love commanded, love connected. Christ Jesus has connected himself to us, and he has connected us to one another. It happens in this community of love called the church.

And now, as soon as this service ends, then the sermon will really begin.

Fifth Sunday of Easter
May 2, 2021

“Branches, Abiding in the Vine, Bearing Fruit” (John 15:1-8)

In the Holy Gospel for today, in John 15:5, our Lord Jesus says to us: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” And so our theme this morning: “Branches, Abiding in the Vine, Bearing Fruit.”

And those will be the three parts of our message today. First, branches: How do we become branches? Second, abiding in the vine: How does that happen? And third, bearing fruit: What does that look like? So let’s go.

First, branches: How do we become branches? Now right away, this sounds ridiculous. How do you “become” a branch? Either you are or you aren’t. And that’s the point. You cannot make yourself into a branch. We start this life as dead sinners. We are not living branches. We had lost our connection to God, the source of life. We sinners have cut ourselves off from God, and we can’t glue ourselves back on. We had no living connection.

Now I’m no expert on horticulture, but as I understand it, if you try to graft a branch onto a vine or tree, there has to be some sort of a match. There needs to be a genetic similarity, a certain amount of relatedness. And, of course, you need to have a living branch to graft. A dead branch just won’t work. So this is the problem for us. How can we sinners–dead sinners, to boot–get ourselves connected to the living, righteous God? We can’t do it. The graft would not take. The Lord would reject us outright, and rightfully so.

No, to become a branch, a living branch, God himself must do the connecting. And here’s how he does it. First of all, Christ has to cleanse us to make us compatible. Our sins have to be removed, cleansed away, so that we are not rejected. And this is what Christ accomplished just a few hours after he spoke the words of our text. It was on the night he was betrayed that Jesus spoke these words to his disciples. Then they went out to the garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus was betrayed, arrested, and brought to trial. The next day, Good Friday–that was when Jesus paid for all your sins, and the sins of the whole world. He was nailed to a cross and died there in our place. He did this for you! Jesus, the holy Son of God, took the punishment due for sinners. He shed his holy blood to cleanse us from our sins. His perfect righteousness is credited to us. And this is what makes us compatible, clean, acceptable to God, and not rejected. It is because of Christ. The gospel of Christ declares it, and we believe it. “Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you,” Jesus tells his disciples. Christ’s gospel word is powerful, and it does what it says. His word cleanses us and makes us alive.

In Holy Baptism, God connects us to Christ. We are joined to Jesus in his death and resurrection. Now we baptized believers are living branches, connected to the vine, Jesus Christ, by God’s gracious doing. It’s this Christ connection, the vital vine connection, by which we become living branches.

Now that we have become branches, the thing now is simply to remain connected to the vine. This is our second point: Abiding in the vine. Branches draw their life from the vine, so it is vital, absolutely vital, that we abide in the vine. “Abide in me,” Jesus says, “and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

There is no life or fruitfulness in us unless we remain connected to Christ. Apart from him, we can do nothing. If we do not abide in him, if we let ourselves get disconnected from the vine, then our source of life is lost, and we die and are doomed to hell. That’s what Jesus says: “If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.”

How do people get disconnected from Christ? Well, you’ve got the devil, the world, and your own sinful flesh tugging at you, pulling on you, trying to break your connection to Christ. Loosen that connection, and pretty soon you’re in danger of coming detached. How does the disconnect happen? It happens when people distance themselves from church, when they stop coming to church regularly. Then they’re in real danger, serious danger, of their faith being weakened. Seven days without God’s Word makes one weak, w-e-a-k. The more you miss church, the less you miss church. And that’s a dangerous thing.

The disconnect happens when you let the devil whisper in your ear, saying you don’t need God, you can be your own God. But that’s how Adam and Eve got into trouble, wasn’t it? The connection gets loosened when we let the world around us draw us away from God, away from Christ and his church. Other things become more important to us. And so the branch loses its connection to the vine, it stops bearing fruit, and it dies. All that’s left for the dead branches is to be tossed into the fire and burn. That’s a dreadful prospect.

But God does not want that for you, my friends! This is why Jesus is speaking these words to you today. Christ wants you to abide in him. Abide in the vine: This is God’s good and gracious will for you.

OK, so how does that happen? How do we abide in the vine? Simple: By staying connected. Be where the life source is, and that is wherever the Word of God is preached in its truth and purity and the Sacraments are administered according to Christ’s institution. This is how you draw your life from the vine. Christ feeds and nourishes you, supplies you with the vitality you need to sustain your faith and make you productive. He does this through–he does this only through–his gospel means, the means of grace. Sermons, Bible classes, preaching and teaching, the Sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood, meditating on God’s Word in your daily life–through these means, Christ the vine supplies us with the grace we need to keep going and growing and to be fruitful in our life.

Which leads to our third point: Bearing fruit. First was becoming branches. Second was abiding in the vine. Now third is bearing fruit. “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit,” our Lord tells us. “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” Think about how a branch on a fruit tree bears fruit. Does it do so by trying extra hard and resolving to really do a better job of producing fruit from now on? No. All the branch needs to do is to stay connected to the vine, and it will naturally produce fruit.

Now to be sure, from time to time the vinedresser will come around and prune the branch, so that the deadness is trimmed away. Thus the branch becomes even more fruitful. From the branch’s perspective, the pruning may seem rather painful at the time, but it’s for the branch’s good. And so Jesus says, “Every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” This describes how God works repentance in our life. It may be painful at the time, but it keeps the deadness from setting in and taking over.

The thing about a branch bearing fruit is that it doesn’t have to do anything strange or unusual in order to bear fruit. It just comes naturally when the branch draws its life from the vine. It bears fruit. There’s that vital vine connection again. It’s the key to our being fruitful. Abide in the vine, and you will bear fruit.

What kind of fruit are we talking about? What does it look like? The big thing that Jesus has been emphasizing to his disciples is that they love one another. This is the kind of fruit Jesus’ disciples will produce, that they love one another. This means you and me and our congregation, that we love one another. How we speak to one another. How we care for one another. How we look out for the brother or sister who is hurting, physically or emotionally. How we reach out to the one who is missing from our fellowship, to the one who is weighed down with sin or guilt or depression or distress. This is love. Love moves from thought into action. Where is the brother or sister who is in need? What are his or her needs? How can I help? How can we help? This is what it means to love one another.

Again, the Christ connection is key. As we are connected to the vine, Jesus Christ, his love flows into us, and then flows out through us to others. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. . . . In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. . . . Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

Beloved, this is the fruit of love that we branches, connected to Christ the vine, will bear. We are those living branches, and our fruitfulness comes from abiding in the vine. It’s the vital vine connection, begun in your baptism, nurtured in God’s Word and the Sacraments, blossoming in love, and producing much fruit. Branches that abide in the vine will bear fruit. “I am the vine,” Jesus says to us today, “you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.”

Fourth Sunday of Easter
April 25, 2021

“The Good Shepherd Lays Down His Life for the Sheep” (John 10:11-18)

Are you feeling a little sheepish today? Well, if you are, that’s good! Because it’s good to be a sheep when Jesus is your shepherd. Today the message is that Jesus is our good shepherd, and “The Good Shepherd Lays Down His Life for the Sheep.”

Today is the Sunday in the church year known as “Good Shepherd Sunday.” Every year on this Sunday in the Easter season, the Psalm is always the 23rd Psalm, the Holy Gospel is always a portion of John chapter 10, and the other readings and the hymns always have something to do with this “Good Shepherd” theme.

Today’s Gospel from John 10 has Jesus twice saying the words, “I am the good shepherd,” and several times saying that he “lays down his life” for the sheep. Our text begins with both of those thoughts in verse 11. There Jesus says: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” What is it about sheep, and what is it about a shepherd, that Jesus should choose this language?

First, let’s talk about sheep. And let’s say it straight out: Sheep are very vulnerable. They cannot defend themselves. They cannot protect themselves against predators. Sheep are not very fast. They cannot outrun the wolf that’s chasing them. Sheep are not very strong. They do not have sharp teeth or claws. They cannot outfight a wolf. Sheep are pretty much defenseless and vulnerable. On their own, they do not stand a chance against the wolves.

Friends, that’s how we are on our own. We are weak and defenseless against our spiritual predators. The devil, the old evil foe, is out to get us. He has been a murderer from the beginning. The world around us, with its vain values and misguided messages, would lead us down the wrong path. False teachers, who twist and distort the word of God, would deceive us. Our own sinful nature would be of no help; it would only reinforce the wrong. These are the predators, these are the wolves, who would rip us sheep to shreds, if we’re out there on our own.

We need help. We need a shepherd. We need a shepherd who will defend us and protect us against the predators. We need a shepherd who cares about us sheep, who won’t run away when things get risky or dangerous. We need a shepherd who cares about us so much that he is willing to lay his life on the line in order to rescue us from the wolves.

And Jesus declares that he is that shepherd! “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Now think about that for moment. It’s kind of ridiculous, really. What shepherd in his right mind would actually be willing to die in order to save some sheep? I mean, sheep are just property. So you lose a few sheep. Big deal. Is that worth dying for? Well, in Jesus’ mind, it is! Jesus goes above and beyond the call of duty, way beyond.

Friends, Jesus laid down his life for the sheep. He laid it down by being lifted up on the cross. This was how Jesus defeated all our foes. At first it may have seemed that Jesus was losing the battle. But in reality, he destroyed death and gained the victory for life.

How so? Jesus willingly laid down his life for our sake. Nobody took it from him. He laid it down of his own accord. This was God’s plan all along, to rescue sinful mankind. What condemned us to death was our sins. So the answer, the rescue plan, had to be to remove our sins, to pay the price for them, which we were unable to do. But Jesus, God’s Son in the flesh, has done that rescue job for us. He paid the price we could not pay. His holy blood gained our forgiveness. The debt has been paid, in full. For you. And for the whole world.

Now the devil, the wolf, the accuser–now he has nothing with which to accuse you. Black sheep though you may be–you may have wandered from the flock and got caught in a thicket–now your wool is as white as snow. Your good shepherd has pulled you up and put you on his shoulders and brought you back home. Welcome back to the flock!

“By his dying he has destroyed death, and by his rising again he has restored to us everlasting life.” You see, Jesus has authority to lay down his life, and he has authority to take it up again. This is the resurrection we’re talking about here! Jesus didn’t just die; he rose again! Death could not hold him! The victory remains with life!

And Jesus shares his victory with us! Have you been baptized? Then you belong to Jesus’ flock! This is good! You get to live as long as your shepherd does–which is forever! This is God’s great good plan: To rescue you from your foes, to forgive your sins, and to give you life with Christ forever. This is pretty sweet!

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Now up to this point, I have been saying that “we” are the sheep that Jesus laid down his life for. Well, yes and no. No, in that none of us here are the children of Israel. Because those were the sheep that Jesus came for in the first place. As Jesus says elsewhere, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” So those are the sheep that Jesus is talking about here when he says, “I lay down my life for the sheep.”

But notice what he says right after that: “And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also.” Hey, that’s us! We are those “other sheep.” Our ancestors were off in Germany or Sweden or England or Ireland, and they were really lost sheep! They were worshiping sacred oak trees or stars in the sky. Gentiles, pagans, groping around in the dark, not knowing who the true God is. But God in his mercy sent the saving gospel out to them. And this is how we “other sheep” have been brought into the fold. “I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

Now you and I are part of that one flock, the worldwide church of God–the one flock following the one shepherd. Dear fellow sheep, let us listen to our shepherd’s voice! Let us follow where he leads! How do you hear your shepherd’s voice? One way: through God’s Word. Our good shepherd speaks to us through his word. This is why it is so important for every one of us to be within earshot of where the shepherd speaks. And this place, right here, is where that happens: in the church. Every week. This is where Jesus speaks to us.

The good shepherd speaks to us through preaching and teaching, as his undershepherd, the pastor, leads you into the green pastures of God’s Word. God’s Word will tell you the way to go in your life. “These are the paths of righteousness. Walk ye in them.” In the Blessed Sacrament, Jesus speaks to us. He says, “This is my body, this is my blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Our Lord prepares a table before us, a feast that our enemies cannot spoil. Here in the house of the Lord–this is where we hear our shepherd’s voice. Are you listening?

Are you feeling a little sheepish today? I sure hope so! Because being part of the good shepherd’s flock is the best, the safest, and the most secure place to be! And full of adventure and good grazing too! And even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil, for our shepherd will be right there with us, to guard and to guide us and lead us through to the other side. And in this life, as we follow our good shepherd, his goodness and mercy will follow us, all the days of our life, and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Third Sunday of Easter
April 18, 2021

“Witnesses: From Jerusalem to Worms to America” (Luke 24:36-49)

The disciples were in Jerusalem. They think that Jesus, their master, is dead and buried. Then suddenly Jesus is standing there in the room, and they don’t know what to think: “Is that really him? Are we imagining this? Is that his ghost? What’s going on here?” Then Jesus speaks: “Why are you confused? Didn’t I tell you I would rise on the third day? Well, here I am. So you think I’m a ghost, do you? Look, see my hands and my feet. See the nail marks there. Yes, it really is me. You can touch me and see that I’m no ghost. I’ve got flesh and bone, just like you do.”

Yes, Jesus really is risen from the dead. Physically, bodily, risen. No ghost. No hallucination. The disciples are a little slow on the uptake, but if this is true–man, what a marvelous thing this is!

Jesus has more to say to them. He says that everything he had told them during his ministry–even predicting his passion and his resurrection–that this fulfills everything written about him in the Scriptures. They hadn’t gotten it up to this point, but now they will. Jesus opens their minds to understand the Scriptures. And here’s what he tells them to sum it all up: “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

Brothers and sisters, do you want to know what the Bible is all about? Do you want to know what life is all about? It’s right here. It’s all about Jesus, who he is and what he has done for us and what this means for our lives. Jesus is the fulfillment of Holy Scripture. God’s plan for the ages, for this cosmos and all of humanity–it all comes to fruition in Christ. Jesus, the Son of God in the flesh, accomplishes God’s plan to redeem and restore sinful mankind. What was lost in the garden is regained in the cross and the empty tomb.

All the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament find their focus and fulfillment in Christ: The seed of the woman, who would stomp on the serpent’s head. The seed of Abraham, in whom all the families of the earth would be blessed. The son of David, the Messiah, who would usher in an everlasting kingdom of blessing–all these promises of God find their “Yes and Amen!” in Jesus.

Jesus’ death on the cross was not a defeat. It was not a disappointment or detour from the plan. No, it was the plan! The Suffering Servant foretold by Isaiah, the righteous one who would suffer for the sins of the people and be their healing–it’s Jesus. Now it’s all starting to come together. It was there in the Bible all along, but now their minds are being opened to understand it all. Without God opening our minds to understand the Scriptures, the Bible remains a closed book. But when God does open our minds, and gives us the key in knowing Christ as our Savior, then the Bible becomes God’s book of life for us.

His own suffering, death, and resurrection–that’s part of what Jesus says is written in the Scriptures. And then he adds something else: “and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations.” You see, this is how Christ’s work for us is applied to us: through preaching in his name. And what is preached is repentance and forgiveness. What this means for our lives is that we repent of our sins and receive the forgiveness Christ has for us. Repentance means that we acknowledge that we are indeed sinners, desperately in need of God’s forgiveness. Otherwise, we would be lost forever. We have broken God’s commandments, and there is nothing we can do to make up for that. Forgiveness means that God has had mercy on us, that our sins are not held against us, because of what God’s Son Jesus did on the cross, shedding his holy blood for us.

And who will do this preaching of Christ crucified and risen, of repentance and forgiveness in his name? Jesus tells his disciples: “You are witnesses of these things.” “You, my disciples, you will do this preaching. You will be my witnesses. You will testify to what you have seen and heard and know to be the truth. I am sending you out for this very purpose. I will establish my church on the basis of this proclamation, and it will go out to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

And that is exactly what happened. Beginning from Jerusalem, the apostles bore witness to Christ and preached what Jesus here told them to preach. Peter on the Day of Pentecost: “This Jesus, whom you crucified, God raised from the dead, and of this we all are witnesses. Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins.”

“You are witnesses of these things.” And that can involve some danger, some risk. The people to whom you are bearing witness may not like what you are saying. Again, Peter, in Jerusalem, testifying before the Sanhedrin: “This Jesus, whom you rejected–there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” A bold confession of faith, at a real point of risk and danger!

And it didn’t stop at Jerusalem in the first century. The church’s witness and bold confession of the faith continued. Next stop: Worms, a city in Germany in the 16th century. Emperor Charles V, the head of the Holy Roman Empire, has called together a diet there, “diet” meaning an official imperial meeting, with the princes and rulers of the various territories present. To this Diet of Worms, the emperor has summoned a professor from the University of Wittenberg. His name is Martin Luther. The reason the emperor has ordered him to appear is because this Luther has been causing quite a ruckus over the past few years, challenging and denouncing the papacy and the Roman church in his writings. The emperor wants him to publicly take back what he has said and written. Luther, though, is hoping to have an opportunity to explain his reasons for writing these things. So the pressure is on. The tension could not be any higher.

And there was real risk here. A century earlier, a reformer named John Hus had been burned at the stake for challenging the Roman church. What would happen to Luther? Sure, the emperor had promised him safe conduct, but what if he changes his mind?

So Luther, this little monk and professor, is standing before Emperor Charles V, the most powerful man in the world. Luther is asked two questions: 1) Are these your writings? There’s a pile of his books and treatises lying on a table. And question 2) Will you or will you not retract what you have written? Luther was hoping for a discussion of the issues. Instead, he is limited to simply giving answers to the two questions.

First answer: “Yes, these are my writings.” But then the second question, Will you or will you not recant? Luther’s answer came on this date, April 18, 1521, 500 years ago today: “You ask for a simple answer. Here it is: “Unless you can convince me by Scripture, and not by popes or councils, who have often contradicted each other, unless I am so convinced that I am wrong, I am bound to my beliefs by the texts of the Bible. My conscience is captive to the Word of God. To go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Therefore, I cannot and I will not recant. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.”

Friends, this is a bold confession! Placed under enormous pressure, faced with real danger, Luther made the good confession. Why? What gave him this courage? He said it: “My conscience is captive to the Word of God.” It was the Word of God, the gospel word–this was the only thing that gave peace to Luther’s troubled conscience. This gospel word told him of a Savior who forgives sins and gives eternal life to those who trust in him. So how could he recant that? He couldn’t. God’s Word is more powerful than all the emperors and popes and councils who have come down the pike. You may burn me at the stake, but you cannot take my salvation from me. Here I stand. I can do no other.

“You are witnesses of these things.” The apostles were those witnesses in Jerusalem. Luther was such a witness at Worms. And now what will we do here in America? Friends, the risk is real here in our country, in these days. Cancel culture would like to cancel out the church’s witness. The world does not like to hear that this or that favorite sin of theirs really is sin. But we are called to preach repentance. And so when the church speaks the truth, our society will try to make us apologize and take it all back. Instead of “Here I stand,” they want us to say, “Here I cave.” So which will it be?

It’s not that we think we are superior or without sin ourselves. No, that’s not it. But Jesus has told us to preach repentance, so that people will then be ready to hear the gospel of forgiveness. If people don’t think they are sinners, they’re not going to feel much need for a Savior. But a Savior–this Savior, Jesus Christ–is exactly what we have. This is the Savior you have. He gives real peace to your conscience, the peace and forgiveness and eternal life he won for you by his death and resurrection. “You are witnesses of these things,” Jesus tells his church. Yes, we are his “Witnesses: From Jerusalem to Worms to America.” Here we stand. We can do no other. God help us. Amen.