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January 5, 2025 - Luke 2:40-52
Grace mercy and peace be to you from God our father and lord and savior Jesus Christ. It is now 11 days after Christmas and the Christmas season is 12 days long. The Christmas season culminates tomorrow with the celebration of Epiphany. Epiphany means appearing. It means manifestation. It celebrates the appearance of Jesus to the wisemen. I love Epiphany because many call it the Christmas of the Gentiles… and well, that means us. May you this Epiphany have an Epiphany where you see and understand Jesus ever more clearly. That’s tomorrow. Today is the 11th day of Christmas. My prayer for you today is for each and every one of you to have 11 pipers piping, just kidding. My prayer is actually that each and every one of you had a safe and merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And most of all, my continued prayer for you is that during this Christmas season that you may grow in wisdom and in the knowledge of Christ’s birth, and that His presence among us might continue to transform our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. This past week I was on vacation. I visited family and friends. And it is often the case that the Sunday after Christmas is one of the few opportunities of the year that I get to go to church and not lead it. One thing that I have grown to appreciate over the years, is the fact that I can attend a Missouri Synod congregation, just about anywhere, yet their customs are the same as ours. For instance, Missouri Synod congregations all over the world are all using the same readings. Meaning, the text last week, for everyone not just us, was Simeon’s Song. And one thing we all learned from that text is that God has a plan, a plan for them, a plan for us, a plan for Jesus. Today’s text takes place about a decade later. The baby has grown. He is filled with wisdom and the favor of God was upon him. Luke 2 is an interesting and revealing text. Because here we get a small glimpse into first century Palestinian parenting. And guess what, not much has changed. It was their custom, their ethic, to go down to Jerusalem for the feast. And we also get to see how they embrace a “free range” parenting style in which they allowed Jesus to roam about with friends, and relatives, and acquaintances. Why? Because they trusted them to take care of him. Because they, like them, were shaped by the common customs and ethics of the day… the Ten Commandments, and the promises and covenants of God. The journey there and back would have gone as Mary and Joseph had expected, however Jesus was no ordinary twelve year old boy. What is revealed in Luke 2 is that Jesus has a greater prerogative, a greater purpose, than just to run around with his relatives and school-mate friends. Jesus came to Jerusalem to be in God’s house and to teach about himself. Normally, kids at this age would have just gone through their Bar Mitzvah. Like Catechism, they’ve had teaching but there is still many holes in their learning. Wouldn’t it be something for a twelve year old to teach us advanced chemistry, or astro-physics, or theoretical mathematics. Arguably, what Jesus did was even more impressive or at least pertinent. Because what Jesus did was teach people about matters of grave importance, matters pertaining to life and death and life after death. The irony is that the teachers were amazed by Jesus and not the other way around. The text indicates that they were amazed by His questions and His answers. When Jesus taught them, he took what they knew and he introduced greater wisdom. That is my prayer for all of you this Epiphany, that Jesus might meet us where we are this morning, with whatever knowledge, competence, understanding, or lack thereof… Jesus teach me, so that even I might understand and grow in my faith! I envision the scene of Mary and Joseph frantically looking for Jesus. Into the midst of their hysterical, what they find is something strikingly different. Jesus is surprisingly calm. Why is that important? Well, it is obvious that He was not looking for them. Jesus said, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in fathers’ House?” Verse 51 states that for Mary finding Jesus was an Epiphany moment. “And she held all these things in her heart.” Held what in her heart? Maybe it was the things that Simeon had said just prior to our text in Chapter 2. Simeon had told Mary, “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” In other words, the Epiphany of God will reveal a lot more than just God. It will also reveal our sinfulness and our need for him. This story in Luke Chapter 2 sets the stage for the first recorded words of Jesus. What are they? “Why were you looking for me?” Here is a similar question I will ask you. What are you looking for? Wonder? Amazement? Understanding? That is what Jesus brought everyone in this text. And that is not just a coincidence… it is a pattern. Jesus brought wonder and amazement and understanding to Simeon, to Anna, to Mary, to Joseph, to the Wise Men, and finally, now to us. Already, the multiple emphases of everyone being astonished by His presence should not surprise us. The Temple was the place where God’s presence dwelled. None the less, what I think should surprise us or at least should fill our hearts with awe inspiring amazement is the way in which Jesus expands and builds upon the classic understanding of the Temple by showing us what it really means for God to be truly present in our flesh. Understandably, when some consider the story according to human eyes, and natural vision, some will just see a manger with a baby, or in this case, a pretty smart twelve year old boy lost in the Temple. But Jesus on that day identified his primary relationship as the Son of God. And more than that, he subtly claimed his father’s house as his own. Jesus claims to have come to do His father’s business. And what is that business? Later on Jesus said, “In my Father’s house there are many rooms and I will prepare a place for you.” As we near the end of the Christmas Season, we are presented with a great opportunity to reflect on the incarnation and the amazing mystery of how Jesus can be both God and man and how he astonishingly desires to be our Savior. My Hope for you as we hear all these beautiful stories yet again is that you store them deep within your heart just like Mary did. Surely it took some humility for the doctors of the law to learn from Jesus. Surely it took humility for Mary and Joseph to learn from their twelve year old boy, but because of his words and the content of his message, in the words of St. Luke, “they pondered in their heart what Jesus was doing.” May you do the same. During Advent we sang the hymn “Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel”. One of the refrains was Oh Come Oh Come thy Wisdom from on high. The Gospel lesson answers that prayer surprisingly in the twelve year old boy. May we never underestimate our youth. God has sent us wisdom from on high in the person of Jesus. And whether he is 2 or 12, in the temple or on the cross, he is doing one thing, His Father’s business. Oh that God would grant us the faith to hear. Oh that God would grant us a Holy Epiphany. In the grace of God that surpasses all understanding, trust your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus Amen.
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December 25, 2024 - Luke 3:1-14
Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to all from God our Father and Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Welcome. And Merry Christmas. As we prepare our hearts for making this Christmas season most meaningful, I do intend to focus on this very important verse from our Gospel text: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” That being said, over the past several weeks, we have talked a ton about Christmas. We have been literally Anticipating Christ’s Coming for the past 4 weeks. Finally, we are here…. He is here! Merry Christmas. Yesterday on Christmas Eve I had said, the Christmas message was a joyous announcement of Good News for all people, but most of all the little people, the poor, the disenfranchised, the sick, the suffering, the spiritually impoverished… the sinners. Yes, Jesus came into this world for “plutoed” people. Let me explain the phrase. On September 13th 2006, it all fell apart. Everything came undone, unraveled, unwrapped. That was September 13th 2006. But it all started with great fanfare and flourish. The whole thing started on March 13th 1930. On that day it was introduced to the world. Many people were stunned. They were excited. It was an awesome day. September 13th 2006, it all came crashing down. The International Astronomical Union meeting in Progue took a vote to downgrade Pluto. Of all things they decided Pluto was no longer a planet. They now officially call Pluto asteroid 134340. Pluto was bumped, voted off the island. One day Pluto was in and the next Pluto was out. Pluto was devalued, demeaned. And this was such a stunning turn of events that the word of the year in 2006 was “Plutoed”. Pluto the proper noun, as the last planet of our Solar System, became Plutoed the verb. You know what that feels like don’t you? I wish I could say we are all here because there is nowhere we would rather be. But let’s be honest, some of us are here because even on Christmas we have nowhere else to be. I pray this sermon does function for you to realize this is where God wants you to be, and furthermore, this is where He wants to be with you. Merry Christmas. The world tells us we are the wrong everything: wrong shape, wrong color, wrong age, wrong ability. But the message of Christmas is that God came down to “plutoed” people. John goes on to write about these people throughout his Gospel. Think what the Samaritan women must have felt. Talk about feeling devalued and demoted. She has been married five times. And then there was a crippled man in John 5. He waited by the pool of Bethesda for a miracle for 38 years. Mary and Martha… their brother Lazarus died in Chapter 11. There was also the man born blind, discouraged disciples, sheep without a shepherd. The whole Gospel is full of “plutoes” people. And the incarnation (Christmas) says God is Immanuel, God is with us. And the message of Christmas is that hope has been embodied. God did what He promised to do and He did it more incredible and meaningful than anyone could imagine… more cosmic and eternal than we even knew that we needed. We asked for relief and God orchestrated eternal redemption. Merry Christmas. “In the beginning was the Word” (verse 1). Now in verse 14 “the Word (that is Jesus) became flesh and dwelt among us.” Sophisticated Greeks and Romans of John’s day would never connect human flesh with God. For them flesh was demeaning. It’s a problem. It was the problem. It gets wrinkled and old and dies. The sophisticated people of John’s day would not connect flesh with God. God deals with hearts and souls and spirit, not flesh and blood. No god they knew would do that. But we know a God that would: the only God, the Triune God, the real God, the eternal Word, Jesus. Merry Christmas. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Note closely what John says. He does not say the Word changed into flesh. He doesn’t say the word morphed into flesh. Huge idea. If the Word changed or morphed or transitioned into he would no longer be God. John says the word became… Remaining what He was (God) He became like we are (flesh). In the baby of Bethlehem, He hardly looked like God. His face was probably pruny and red, when awake he had a piecing cry. Can you believe it? God needed a diaper. He has fingers and toes, a kidney and a spleen. He had flesh. Imagine the journey. The God of the universe where angels worshiped him from eternity past singing holy holy holy, He left all of that for bewildered shepherds. Holiness in the midst of the mundane. Deity in the midst of the ordinary, it was a barn. They laid him in a feeding trough without fireworks, fanfare, or festivals. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us”. Eugene Peterson, the translator behind the Message Bible, rendered the word “dwelt” with these words, “God moved into the neighborhood”. That’s pretty good. The God of the ages decided to move into Israel’s neighborhood. And not like he had done in the past. In the Book of exodus, God dwelt with his people in the tabernacle. In 1 Kings God dwelt with his people in the Temple. Then during the exile God removed his presence and he did not return even after the temple was rebuilt. Why? Because he had a much bigger and better plan to move into your human neighborhood, to take on human flesh and blood. To be fair to those sophisticated Greeks, sometimes the human neighborhood is not so pretty. The human neighborhood has sidewalks not very straight and houses are not all that impressive. Sometimes in the human neighborhood we don’t always mow our lawn and we are not all that concerned with backyard beauty. Sometimes in the human neighborhood stuff gets run down. If you were the real estate agent for God, you would say, “God, you don’t want to live here. That’s a slum. You definitely don’t want your child going to school here.” God said, “No. I want live in this neighborhood.” When a new business open up, often times the mayor shows up to a ribbon cutting ceremony. Does he stay long? No, he needs to get back to do more important things. But when the Word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood, did He stay longer than the ceremony? Yes. Jesus stuck around…. to get plutoed… to sweat, to bleed, to die, for us. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The profound message of Christmas is that God came down to us. Not just the high and mighty. Not just those who have access to Trump Tower, not just the pretty, preferred, and polished. Not just the kings and queens. US- you, me him, her, us. A couple months ago, my car broke down. I turned the key 252 times and it still didn’t work. Then I got a six back of beer and poured it on the car. It still didn’t work. So, I wheeled the TV outside and I put the Cardinals game on. It still didn’t work. So, I went and found a Hagarty magazine and I should the car some Italian beauties. It still didn’t work. You probably think I must have the IQ of a chainsaw. But I am willing to bet you’ve done this too. When something was broken in you, you turned to booze, baseball, and babes. A lot of people do that. Someone told me recently my faith in Jesus was childish. Given what Jesus said about childlike faith, I honestly take that as a compliment. What’s the alternative? Booze, baseball, babes? None of that is going to fix you when your dead. There is only one person in the universe that is going to give you life. And that is Jesus. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory.” Look around. Can you see it? Can you see His Glory this Christmas Day? It is real, tangible, and earthly. It is right here and it is in your midst and it is for you. I bid you to recognize the “glory of the Lord” and to place your trust this day in that wonderful mystery that took place in real time. The great comfort of Christmas flows both from the reality of the baby lying in a manger and from the great mystery of God’s divine glory. Why God would desire to have his glory dwell among us is beyond me, but he does. The truth is that He loves us and desires for us to have a relationship with him. There is no better way to have a full and real relationship with God than for him to come near to his people: to sympathize with them, to cry with them, to cry like them, eat with them, to eat like them, laugh with them, to laugh like them, rejoice with them, to rejoice like them… I think you get the point. In order to have a proper relationship with us, Jesus chose to become like us. Ultimately we too will become just like him. The Bible promises us a full restoration in which we will receive glorified bodies, like His. But until then, on this Christmas, let us rejoice in the knowledge that Jesus has arrived and that He is here for us. Notice what the angels did not say. They did not say, “We have good news.” They said, “We bring you good news.” This news is for all people… this news is for you. I’ll close with this story: Frank Sinatra, even at 78 years old, he was still selling out concert venues. 20,000 people had shown up to this concert. And at 78 he would sing the things he had been singing since he was 19. Tom Greesen was a comedian that would open for Sinatra. And he would often fear that the day would come when Sinatra couldn’t do it anymore. And that is what happened. Sinatra went to begin a song and he forgot the lyrics to a song he had sang for over 50 years. The orchestra eerily stopped. The auditorium when dead silent. Frank was holding the microphone and you could hear him crying. And all he could say was, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He started to walk off stage. He put his arm down as if to drop the mic and leave when someone in the audience stood up in the balcony and shouted. “it’s alright Frank. We love you.” (slow clap). And then the next guy stood up and started to clap and the next, until the entire concert hall was standing and clapping. And then Frank walked back to the center of the stage. He put the mic to his mouth and he hit every note and didn’t miss a word. The crowd went wild. And after the song Greeson said, Sinatra stopped and pointed into the balcony and he said, “I love you too pal.” This is Christmas. The living God has shouted to fallen feeble sinners, “I love you. Trust me.” How should we respond? By being the church. and by singing (In just a moment we will sing the hymn “Hark! The Harald Angels Sing”). In the grace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Merry Christmas, Amen.
December 24, 2024 - Luke 2:1-14
Beloved Brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to all from God our Father and Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The text for our consideration on this wonderful Christmas Eve comes to us from the Gospel of Luke Chapter 2. The title of the sermon this evening is “Have yourself a merry Little Christmas.” Some of us have been listening to Christmas music since Halloween. It plays continuously at the mall, at Dierbergs, Chick-fil-a… the radio, everywhere. Just so we are clear, this year I have stolen my title from Judy Garland. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” It is one of my favorite songs. It is probably one of yours. It was made famous after Judy Garland first sang it in the musical Meet Me in St. Louis. You know the song. Have yourself a merry little Christmas Let your heart be light From now on your troubles will be out of sight. It is a well-liked song. One that has been recorded over and over again by singers to the likes of Frank Sinatra, Christiana Aguilera, and Michael buble. I read on Wikipedia that “Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is the third most preformed Christmas song ever, and I would not doubt that to be true. But despite its popularity it is generally understood as a sad song. In 1957, Frank Sinatra asked Hugh Martin, who wrote the song, to revise the line which read "Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow." He told Martin, "The name of my album is A Jolly Christmas. Do you think you could jolly up that line for me? Well he did, and now the line reads: Through the years we all will be together if the fates allow. Hang a shining star upon the highest bough Have yourself a merry little Christmas now. I’d like for you to understand, I like the song, but Christmas has nothing to do with the fates. Christmas does not depend on fate. It depends upon the God of the universe and what Christmas celebrates is something God has chosen to do for us within human time. Have you noticed, Christmas has fallen on hard times over the years. It has become culturally diluted and watered down. So much so, that many people who are not Christian celebrate Christmas; and worse than that, I have come to understand that there are some who claim to be Christian but don’t celebrate it because they piously assert that the Bible does not say anything about Jesus being born on the 25th of December. I’d certainly hope you are not surprise when I say “we don’t know the day of Jesus’ birth… we don’t know the day or even the year.” Truth be told, we don’t know and we are not all that concerned about it… the reason being is that our faith is not dependent upon knowing the day or the hour. Christmas has never been about marking the actual day of Christ’s birth. It is about designating a time in “our year” to celebrate the incarnation. It is about marking a time in our busy lives to stop and reflect upon the fact that the God of the universe chose to become like us in every way except for our sin. Christmas is a memorial. It is a remembrance, but not a celebration of the day itself. Besides, what we remember on this memorial-day is that because Jesus Christ was born in real time and in real history, the resurrection of Christ from the dead also took place in real time and real history. Yes, it is true; Christmas points us towards Easter. The reason being is because Jesus’ birth does not save us, but his death and resurrection does. The title of my sermon is “Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” It is an intentional play on the song that Judy, Frank, and many others have sung over the years. It is a sad song, as I have said, but I want to underscore the joy of Christmas. Christmas is a joyous occasion. No doubt, it was a joyous announcement of Good News when the angels told Mary, and Joseph, and the shepherds. It is a joyous Good News not just for them but for all peoples especially the overlooked “little” people of the world, the poor. The word “poor” in the Bible can be an economic designation but it is more than that. The Good News of Christmas was meant for the spiritually impoverished and metaphysically disenfranchised. For in a world like ours that is deeply in love with money and many have a whole lot of it, the Bible’s word poor is far richer than most of us have dared to inquire. The good news is that this joyous announcement of God becoming flesh is for all of us spiritually impoverished sinners. Christmas is such a large part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is why we celebrate it even though we have no idea the day or the hour. It is because Christmas pointedly concerns God’s revelation of himself to the world. Luke said in Chapter 2 that Jesus is God’s revelation of God’s self to the world. That’s mind-boggling stuff to be talking about… so let me paraphrase that: Christmas is the game changer that turns everything we ever thought we know about God on its head. Now, did you know Luke builds the whole Christmas story around three annunciations? Gabriel comes to Zachariah, an elderly man. He said, “You and Elizabeth will have a child in your old age. He will prepare the way for the Messiah.” Gabriel then goes to Mary who was a poor unmarried teenager and says, “Hail favored one. You shall have a child and your child will be the Son of God.” The final annunciation was given to the shepherds out in a field. Isn’t it amazing? Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas. It was about the little people of the world. How God blessed a humble old man and old woman, how God blessed an impoverished young couple, and a bunch of no-named outcast shepherd boys. But more than that, for through them He would bless the rest of the world. It is extremely odd, isn’t it, that God would choose such lowly people. But the Bible delights in taking the little and making them larger than life. “Oh little town of Bethlehem” we just sang that song. I’m sure little Bethlehem would have been the last place anyone would have expected the king of the universe to be born. Nazareth was not much better. Nathaniel once said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” That would be like saying can anything good come out of Grover. God loves to choose the least likely to be favored. That is a theme that runs throughout the Bible like a thin thread from start to finish. Think about what this baby said when he was all grown up. “Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are meek. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the hungry and thirsty.” Not the rich, not the powerful, not the mighty, but the weak and the infirm. Truth be told, the message of Christmas is Ann Rand’s worst nightmare. For God did not choose to begin his story among the wealthy, and, prosperous, and the powerful. God comes to us, the lowly, in order to share with us His glory and His grandeur. How many of you have ever been in a Christmas pageant in your church or some other church? I was a wise man in a Christmas pageant a long long time ago. One day during rehearsal one of my wise-guy friends told my bible school leader “don’t you think he would be better cast as the donkey.” Be that as it may, I hope you understand Christmas pageants don’t claim to be any more Biblically accurate than our nativity scene outside. The wise men were not there on Christmas, neither were any angels that the eye could see, nor were there any animals that Luke thought important enough to record. On that Christmas Eve, all the angels, all the sheep boys, all the pomp and circumstance, and the bright lights took place in a field several miles away among a bunch of lowly shepherds so insignificant they are neither named nor counted. All things considered, I guess one could say maybe it was a pretty “Merry Little Christmas,” for Mary and Joseph to give birth to Jesus privately on their own. But it is odd isn’t it; to consider that God’s son was born into the world without a fan-fair at his place of birth? No bright lights… no trumpets, orchestras, or choirs singing. Nothing like what we are doing today. It is easy to get the idea from reading Luke that this first Christmas was not what anyone would have expected. The truth is that the Christmas story is anything but Hallmark. It is a profoundly offensive message which says God has claimed this world and God expects those who believe the Christmas truth to live that truth all year long. The truth is that what happened on Christmas should stop us in our tracks. What happened on that occasion, in the middle of time and a stone’s throw away from nowhere, means nothing will ever be the same again. The angel said, “Do not be afraid, Mary. Behold you will give birth.” If we are honest, the older you get the more you realize Christmas “isn’t what it used to be”. Maybe so, but Christmas is true despite how we feel about it. Luckily for us our helper has come to restore light to our dark and broken homes by gracing us with his presence on this “little” Christmas in 2024. On Christmas Jesus made himself like us, and more than that, Jesus has come to forgive our sins and reconcile us to our Heavenly Father. I pray you all have a Merry little Christmas. I pray “From now on your troubles will be out of sight”. And in the name of Jesus I pray “From now on your troubles will be miles away.” “Have yourself a merry little Christmas.” Now. In the grace of God, which surpasses all understanding, trust your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, Amen.
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December 22, 2024 - Luke 1:39-56
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. This past week, I saw a meme on Facebook that showed a picture of a dog sitting in front of a nativity. It said, “I ate the Christ child… I’m definitely not looking forward to Christ’s second Advent.” The other day I passed a church sign that read, “What the world needs most is more stable.” I liked that one. I passed a different church sign that read “If not for Christmas, there would not be an Easter.” Fair enough, I suppose that is technically true. Christmas did come first. None the less, that is not quite accurate. Our culture wants to make everything about Christmas, maybe because we are nostalgic, or maybe because we love fat men in red suits, either way, it is the other way around entirely. If it were not for Easter we would have never have celebrated Christmas at all. In fact, the early Church celebrated Easter for 300 years before they began celebrating Christmas, moreover, without Easter, Jesus, who would have been just another baby born in Bethlehem. He would never have been remembered, and his birthday would have been long forgotten, along with his mother. I don’t say that to lessen Christmas, the incarnation is one of the most profound and amazing things to ever happen. But what I’m here to suggest is that you miss something when you take a season like Advent and make it all about Christmas or you use Christmas to lessen Easter. Christmas is good, but even the angel said to Mary “You will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” The focus of the angel on Christmas was Easter. That is to say, Christmas points us to Easter… don’t forget that. And just so we are clear, Easter does not point us back to Christmas. Easter points us onward to the second coming of Christ, when we too will be resurrected like Him. Christmas is on the horizon, but we are still in Advent, and the Advent prayer is Come Lord Jesus, Come quickly… You have come once, come again. Return and restore this broken world. In the midst of the seemingly endless waiting, on the fourth week of Advent, I’m always inspired by Luke Chapter 1, as I read the discussion between Mary and Elizabeth, and as I read along with Mary’s magnificent Magnificat… I find it inspiring on multiple levels. If you are looking for an example of a woman of faith, an example of a woman that knows her Bible well, and you are looking for an example of what faith is and does, look no further than Luke Chapter 1. Considering her situation from a purely human viewpoint, it is not surprising to me she would run to her aunt rather than her mother. Let us not make too much of this, but moms don’t take news of unwed teenage pregnancies very well, not then and not now. So Mary set out on a long journey to see Elizabeth and after a multi-day 80 mile journey, Mary entered the house. Luke tells us that Mary greeted Elizabeth and immediately John the Baptist leaped for joy in Elizabeth’s womb. Likewise, Elizabeth, who had also recently become pregnant, shouted in a loud voice “Blessed are you and blessed is the child that you bear.” I cannot imagine that Mary expected that kind of reception and response. Furthermore, those words really should cause us to pause. We should notice that just prior to this text Luke had just politely told his readers that Elizabeth was “along in years,” or in other words, Elizabeth was an older woman. “Blessed are you,” this wise in years woman shouted. An interesting, but no doubt inspired response to her young pregnant niece. It is obviously interruptive and I would go as far as to describe the episode as explosive. And Mary went on to have an “explosion” of her own. Mary responds with the Magnificat. And in it she strings together about 13 Old Testament quotes uninterrupted. That is why earlier I said it is obvious “Mary knew her Bible.” The Magnificat is particularly remarkable because the whole song is about God, God’s promise and God’s initiative. The song is about what God did, and therefore, what God will do. Have you ever noticed how most of the verbs in the Magnificat are past tense? It points anyone who reads it or sings it back to what God did in the past in order to point us toward what God will do in the future. Promises that were once made are now to be fulfilled, but what promises? Notice the promises those two women in the back woods of Judah were celebrating were much more than the Christmas story. This was going to be dangerous. If you have ever seen Jesus Christ Super Star, you will recall the Pharisee’s refrain “He’s dangerous.” How is a little baby going to be dangerous? This little baby is going to shake up a system that we have become too comfortable living in. This little baby boy was going to scatter the proud. Bring down the mighty from their thrones. What we celebrate on Christmas is bigger than Christmas proper. Because Christmas inaugurated God’s new kingdom. And this kingdom is discontinuous from the past. Meaning, without God, it would have never happened. Yet what is surprising is that when Mary sang the Magnificat she was 30 years from witnessing the promises fully at Easter. And more than that, all those pious sounding words in the Magnificat were no doubt tested over those 30 years. In the following chapter of Luke’s Gospel, for instance, the boy got lost. Have you ever lost one of your children in a mall or in an airport at Christmas? Have you watched Home Alone recently? There is no feeling quite like that. Mary’s song was tested and she would be tested many more times between that first Christmas and Easter. But Mary was right. All generations will call me blessed… they have… for 2000 years. But most importantly, what we remember is not Mary but her boy. Christmas is God’s story. Every single bit of the story of Christmas is about Jesus. It is not about Rudolph or Saint Nickolas. They are, HOPEFULLY, a means of pointing us back to Jesus… but certainly not in and of themselves. Charlie Brown looked for the true meaning of Christmas and he could not find it in parties, or decorations or even friends and family. Linus tells him that the true meaning of Christmas is found precisely in the words of Luke Chapter 2: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ, the Lord.” Christmas is important, but it was not the birth of Jesus that saves us from anything, it was his death and resurrection of Jesus, that saved us from our sin. Mary sang, “My Soul Magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” I hope you can see the clarity of Mary’s faith in the midst of a difficult time in her life. And my hope is that you can apply this text to you. Do you turn to your sustaining faith in the difficult times in your life? Mary is not an anomaly, but rather, she is a role model of how to cling to the promises of God no matter what life throws our way. I have always found Botticelli’s painting of Mary’s Magnificat inspiring. The painting it clad in gold leaf. But honestly don’t think that is what makes the painting priceless or timeless. It is what is depicted in that painting. On her lap is little baby Jesus and Mary is writing what appears to be the first chapters of the Gospel of Luke. Interestingly enough Luke is also depicted in the painting, but what is he doing? He is kneeling and holding Mary’s ink well… I think that is rather appropriate, wouldn’t you say. I hope that you see Mary’s Song for what it is. It is a timeless response to literally the greatest thing that has ever happened to us. The Messiah, the long foretold Coming One, He had arrived. This news should be as overwhelming to our ears as it was to hers. It should affect us as it affected her. In these turbulent times, in these frustrating times, I pray that you will hold the truth of God and his second coming near, dear, and deep within your heart. Knowing that He will come again should bring a song to our lips no matter what else is happening. Jesus is coming and He makes all the difference and so as always we pray, “Come Lord Jesus. Come quickly. It is your Advent we hail.” May the grace of God that surpasses all understanding trust your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus -Amen
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December 18, 2024 - Isaiah 60:1-3
Today we are in the third and final Wednesday of our Advent journey. Today we will continue on course as we Anticipate Christ’s coming. Christmas is now upon the horizon. I hope you are prepared for Christmas, or at least will be. If you have not finished your online shopping, you had better do it soon. My hope for you is that Christmas enlivens your expectations for Christ’s return. Christ has come once, he will come again. And most importantly, in the midst of all the preparation and the stress of the holidays, lighten up just a bit, and may your light shine forth. How many of you love Christmas lights? Stephanie and I went with Christine and Dave Strattmann to O’Fallon’s Celebration of Lights. It happened to be on one of the coldest nights of the year... thankfully Dave and Christine brought hot chocolate. Interestingly enough, there was also a firework show which my kids loved. Let me ask you this, is there anyone who doesn’t like Christmas lights? Is there a scrooge in the room that would cry bahumbug at the sight of your neighborhood all lit up for Christmas? To be fair, you might not be all that enthused if you were the guy putting them up… If there were anyone who understands both emotions, that of joy and frustration of Christmas lights, it would be Clark W. Grizzwald. The joy the lights brought him, yet the agony it took to get to that point. Maybe it’s true, you don’t like Christmas lights because last year you haphazardly put them away, and this year you had to untangle them. Maybe you don’t like Christmas lights because it only takes one bulb to blow and the entire strand goes dark. A couple of days ago, we had a wasp in the house, and got a broom, and of course the wasp flew into a garland. While trying to shake the garland with the groom handle, I broke a Christmas light, and the strand of lights near the television went dark. Have you ever had that internal conflict between the should I check every bulb, or just throw it all out, but then I have to drive to the store, and buy a new strand… at least I don’t have to untangle it. Have you ever put the strand up before you tested it? Have you ever hung the whole thing on the roof, finally to plug it in, and only then realize something was wrong with one of the lights somewhere? There is also the great debate between should they be white or color, blinking or still. Why do we put ourselves through all of this, anyhow, they’re just lights? Surely we recognize Christmas lights are a modern invention. No one had them for thousands of years. It was not until the advent of electricity. However, maybe you know, or at least you do now, that Martin Luther is credited with starting the tradition of adding lights to a Christmas tree. Of course during his day he would have used candles. Of course that was no doubt dangerous, but he did that to acknowledge something more important than the danger… I’d dare say, it is far more hazardous to miss. What was it? It is that on Christmas the light has come into our dark world. Sometimes I wonder if we have retained the reason Luther started the tradition in the first place. The tradition was started so that at the darkest part of the year, when the dreaded nightness encroaches upon us at 5:30, our city centers and our homes remain lit. Do you understand the significance? Because that is at the heart of Advent and Christmas. At the deepest darkest moment, the Light, Our Redeemer Jesus, arrives. This also has practical implications. What is clear, since the Bible predates electricity, is that the Bible does not command us to put up Christmas lights. But what it does command is that we are to be the light of Jesus in the world. The best way to describe this is in terms of the moon (which by the way, have you seen the moon recently? Two days ago the moon radiated the most amazing yellow I have ever seen). Consider the moon. If Jesus is the sun (literally, Son), we are to be the moon. Meaning, the light is not created by us, but we are to reflect it in the world around us. What are you reflecting? Jesus or something else? Understand, it is not quite Christmas yet, so you still have time to make a couple adjustments. The first reason we are to reflect the light is because our light has come. “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. As to not skim over it, let me tell you a little bit about the phrase “the glory of the Lord”. Recall from the Book of Numbers where “The glory of the Lord” is always cloaked behind either a pillar of fire or a pillar of clouds. But there the Glory of the Lord is a phrase used to describe God’s presence. In Exodus Chapter 40 at the completion of the tabernacle, the “glory of the Lord” filled the tent of the congregation. Later in 1 Kings Chapter 8, it says that when they completed the temple, the “glory of the Lord” came and filled it. “The Glory of the Lord” is a phrase used when describing God’s presence and his unique manifestation in the world. And in the exile the Glory of the Lord left and did not return even after the temple was rebuilt… How Long Oh Lord must we wait? It was not until Christmas that the Glory of the Lord re-invaded the scene. The Apostle John testified “We have seen his Glory.” The angels shouted, "Glory to God in the highest." And so too the shepherds, testified to have seen his glory. The “Glory of the Lord” was the aura that invaded the Christmas scene. The magnitude of God’s intervention and Isaiah’s command to “arise and shine” also needs to be read in light of Isaiah 59. Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. 3 For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken falsely, and your tongue mutters wicked things. Isaiah is saying the people have violated the 10 Commandments at every level. Our lives which are supposed to be emanating God’s glory is bringing to light something else entirely. On account of sin, Isaiah says, in chapter 59 verse 9 We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows. Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like people without eyes. At midday we stumble as if it were twilight; among the strong, we are like the dead. Have you heard enough? It goes on like that for 16 verses, until God was so displeased, disappointed, and appalled that he intervenes. And what does he do? And he intervenes not by getting rid of us, but astonishingly He intervenes by sending his Son to be our Savior. “The redeemer will come… from the west, people will fear the name of the Lord, and from the rising of the Sun, they will revere his glory.” Merry Christmas! Do you remember Zachariah’s song? (Morning Prayer , p. 240) The reason we shine is because our light has come. John 1:4, which will be our reading Christmas Day, says, “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” It might sound simple or even a platitude to hear the text read from Isaiah “arise and shine your light has come.” And when I ask you who is the light, you simply say the Sunday school answer “it is Jesus”. It might sound simple, but when you heard Zachariah’s song and then you read John 1. And when you put it all together in the context of Jesus’ own words, “I am the light of the world and whoever follows me will never walk in darkness.” It might sound simple, but it is also true… and when we don’t make the conscious connections, I fear we could fail to shine. Do you live in his light fully aware that his glory changes everything. Does it permeate your life and inform your interpretation of everything else? If not, I fear this Advent we are failing to shine. You might say, but isn’t that Jesus job. Answer yes. But it is also yours. Jesus said, “you are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.” Paul also said, “For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ.” I love that verse for multiple reasons… One might say the Glory of the Lord is on display in creation. And that is not untrue, but nothing makes more clear the Glory of the Lord than the face of Christ. And moreover, that light was made to shine in our hearts. Do you long for salvation, redemption, restoration, not just for you but for everyone? Do you want to shine? What should you do? Look to Jesus. The message of Isaiah 60 is this, lighten up! God has not abandoned you to darkness. It might feel like that at times, no one said it wouldn’t. None the less, lighten up. In a more Biblically load phrase, “people of God, let there be light!” And let me just explain how this works. When people spend time in the light you can tell it in their faces. Have you been to the beach? It looks like you have gotten a tan. The other day a glow stick was given to Adeline. I said it glows in the dark and Adeline said, it doesn’t work. I said, “sure it does”, but it needs a light source. It just has to charges in the light and then it will glow in the darkness. The point is, if you are not seeing a change in your life, maybe you’re not spending enough time with Jesus or maybe you’re distracted when you are. Because like I said, it’s not your light but it will radiate off you. I’ve just told you how it works but my worry is our lives are more like Pajama day. Last week I got Adeline and Oliver ready for school and they said, I’m not ready for school I’m still in Pajamas. Well, yes that because it is pajama day. Are you dressed and prepared for the day or are you dressed like it is night time and you’re going nowhere but to bed? Jesus Christ is the light and if we bask in his presence, if we enjoy being with him, we will shine. And people will say you look different. Where have you been? And you need say little more than I’ve been with Jesus. This Advent I pray that you hold the news of Jesus Christ and his glory near, dear, and deep within your heart, but more than that, my prayer is that you lighten up… shine forth, reflect Him. Because the problem is that the world is more familiar with our disagreements than our good deeds. The world is more familiar with our screw-ups and mix-ups, than our clean-ups and make-ups. Ask yourself do my actions reflect Jesus or something else? What do we do with Isaiah’s command? As Jesus as our model, be incarnational, show up, lighten up, and reflect Jesus in the midst of our lives. That is exactly what God would do… that is exactly what God did do. If you look upon your life and notice some things not quite right, maybe you notice some of your bulbs are missing or just aren’t lit. Even if you notice there is an entire strand out, or perhaps you just left them in the garage this year. Know this, Advent is not over yet, there is still a little more time for preparation. Prepare yourselves… for your light has come. In the grace of God, that surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, Amen.
December 15, 2024 - Luke 7:18-28
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our father and Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Earlier in the service, the third Advent Candle was lit. Did you notice the color? It is different than all the other candles. We have three blue candles, one pink candle, and one big center white candle. The white candle is the Christ Candle which we light on Christmas. The blue candles we use to count time, but what is the Pink candle? The rose colored candle stands as a symbol of joy. Advent is traditionally a season of repentance and a time for preparing our hearts to celebrate the coming of our Lord. That beings said, the third Sunday of Advent, offers us a fortunate reminder of the joy we already find in Christ. Recall how I have pointed out, Advent is about the future, but it is also concerned about you right now. My prayer for you on the third Sunday in Advent is that you may have joy. Let me explain. There are many unhappy people. I run into them all the time. The third Sunday of Advent is a call for Christian joy. Christian joy should not be confused with mere happiness. Sure I want you to be happy, but the goal is that even if everything is wrong, and you are unhappy, you can still have joy. Why? How? Because the opposite of joy is not unhappy, it is despair. Therefore, Christian joy is not incompatible with sorrow and grief. But it is incompatible with despair and hopelessness and unbelief. Wherever you find yourself today, may you have joy. After last week’s sermon on John the Baptist, someone said to me, “I hope that is the last Baptist sermon we will hear this Advent.” Fair enough, maybe I should call him John the voice. But the thing is he is the forerunner to Christ, and although he will soon be stepping aside, not quite yet. The Scripture does not say much about John, but the stuff it says is important. John was the forerunner to the Messiah. And John is portrayed as a man of urgency who wasted no time. John preached “You brood of vipers”. Not a particularly enduring way to address your congregation. One reason why I admire John, especially now a days, is that John told the truth, even if telling the truth would get him put into prison. John preached… Luke says, the good news. In the words of our hymn we just sang, “St. John the Baptist came with words of consolation.” What do you think? Were John’s words good and consoling? It is surprising the folks that showed up? Soldiers and tax collectors were among the crowds. John was firm, but he did not say anything like “you cannot be in the army or be a tax collector while also following God.” But when they asked “what should we do”, John told them the truth. He said, “do not abuse your position. Do not coers money from others. And John said, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.” John the Baptist flatly told the truth. He told Herod Antipas, the tetrarch, he was committing adultery with his brother’s wife Herodias. John preached repent. Change your mind, change your ways, Why? Because the Messiah was coming, the mighty One, he said. In Luke Chapter 3, he preached his message with confidence. So, what has changed between Luke 3 and Luke 7? In Luke Chapter 7, on account of what he said to Herod, John the Baptist has been sitting in prison. Has his confidence been shaken? He sent some of his disciples to Jesus to ask him a very important question. He sent them to ask, “Are you the one to come or should we expect another?” Sometimes I think the English translations on this verse are less than helpful. There are no capital letters used in our text and so we would never get the idea that this is supposed to be a messianic title. What John is asking Jesus is are you “The Coming One” (with a capital C). What he means with this question is this, are you the One (capital O) who has come to set what is wrong in this world right? This is a very important question because John is sitting in prison for telling the truth… and we as readers know what will happen to him in his future. Hear what Jesus had to say. Jesus replied “The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.” Jesus could have simply responded yes to question. “Yes John, I am the “One to Come.”” But notice instead he pointed out all his miracles and how He had fulfilled the job description of the Coming One recorded in the book of Isaiah Chapter 29 and Chapter 35. Isaiah Chapter 29 for instance said, “In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.” Given the words of Isaiah, Jesus’ answer “The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.” That is a pretty definitive answer wouldn’t you said? Isaiah Chapter 35 said, “Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.” “Joy” seems to be a reoccurring theme of the day doesn’t it? So what can and should these readings say to us on this third week of advent. It is hard to miss the fact that we live in a messed up world full of messed up people… but so did John. Herod was an evil and sick man twisted by conspiracy theories and violence… not so different than today… What Joy is there to be had on the Third Sunday of Advent? We could blame God for not protecting us and we could suggest that it was somehow His fault. I had a friend tell me this past week “I hate God.” “Life is empty, stupid, and vain.” He also said, “Given infinite time, a computer randomly generating texts would sooner or later write a Shakespearian novel or the Gospel of Luke.” Whether that’s true or not, a computer will never generate life from nothing nor would it generate Jesus actually being born into the world and dying on the cross for the sins of the world. As I said, last week, that is world history not artificial intelligence. I had another friend that said, “I’ve tried to do the right thing my whole life, but I have lost everything. The future looks pretty awful and I’m mad at God… I don’t think I even believe in God anymore.” I guess those are ways to see it, and I’m sure the world reads our Gospel lesson and says something very similar… Why did Jesus not free John? If He was willing, but not able? Then he is not all powerful. If he was able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. If he was both able and willing? Then why was John not freed? Maybe he was neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? Like I said, criticizing God is a common response, but that is not the only response one could have. So allow me to offer you a different perspective… a better one. Before I say anything more, allow me to offer you the reason behind this whole discussion. I’m aware that this question posed by John may not be your struggle this morning. What I am suggesting is if it is not your struggle than you are blessed to hold a minority viewpoint and that those on the outside do not sympathize with, and given that it is our call to evangelize, and sympathize with them, sometimes considering the world through the eyes of others is important. So let’s be fair, if we were to look at John’s predicament, or if we were to be in John’s predicament, most people would say what John needed most was to be freed from prison. Now allow me to assert the opposite. I’m not so confident that was what John needed most. What he needed most was solid reassurance to his question, “Are you the One to Come.” And Jesus gave him the best possible answer; and the answer was not that God has a plan to take bad situations in life and work good through them. But Jesus does show us, time and time again, that even in suffering He is still God. Hear these words from our collect this morning. “Lord Jesus Christ, we implore You to hear our prayers and to lighten the darkness of our hearts by Your gracious visitation.” Notice the prayer- what is it asking for and what it is not asking for. It is not asking Jesus to remove us from our situation. What it is asking for is that Jesus would be present among us. Why? Because His presence makes all the difference. This is such an important message that John the Baptist is front and center for two weeks in a row. Why? Because he was more than just Z Z tops sharp dressed man. He is a voice crying into our wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord. So on this third Sunday of Advent, let us pray that Jesus would grace our hearts and homes with His presence and that He would provide us and others the necessary means to interpret the world through His lens. Know that the Lord’s presence can and does make a difference. It can change a heart of despair to a heart of joy and it can put a different spin on a bad situation, even if He doesn’t change it. In the words of Paul, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I said rejoice!” Paul did not get out of that prison either. Paul died soon after writing those words. Lord Jesus Christ, in the midst of this fallen world, grace us with your presence. For only You can change our heart. Transform our disappointed despairing heart into a heart of joy and a heart ready to receive you. To that end, command what you will, but grant what you command… May the grace of God that surpasses all understanding, trust your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen
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