Something from Martin Chemnitz on the Human Nature of Jesus Christ

Martin Chemnitz (1522-1586) is known as the second Martin because without him, the work and theology of Martin Luther may have been swept away to trivial bits of history.  Chemnitz worked tirelessly to defend and confess the teachings of the Bible, both critiquing Roman Catholic teachings as espoused in the Council of Trent and in addressing false teachings that were creeping into the Lutheran Church.  

Chemnitz' work is best known among Lutherans in the Formula of Concord.  The quotation below, however, is from The Two Natures in Christ, in which Chemnitz details how God the Son, by taking the human nature into him binds himself to us.  He explains the comfort that we derive from this union of human and divine natures, as it secures our salvation and future glorification.

Here is something from Martin Chemnitz:

"What sweet comfort this is that the Son of God, our Savior, joins Himself to us and deals with us not with His bare (nuda) deity, but in, with, and through the nature in which He is like a head, our kinsman, and of the same substance with us, His members...  Here is a most present and certain pledge of our glorification.  For how could His members be forever left in their miseries when our Head by the very same nature by which He is our kinsman and of the same substance with us, which is now in the glory of the Father, has joined Himself to us most intimately in the sorrows of this present life?  These comforts are weakened and completely lost if we remove the substance of Christ's human nature or exclude it from the Lord's Supper, which is celebrated at in the church on earth." (page 289, The Second Martin: The Life and Theology of Martin Chemnitz.  J. A. O. Preus.  Concordia Publishing House: St. Louis, MO.  (c) 1994. A quotation from The Two Natures in Christ, pages 472-473.)

Sermon -- Christmas Day (December 25, 2025)

THE LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS.

JOHN 1:1-14 

In the name + of Jesus.

    Christmas Eve produces an image that is endearing, perhaps even romantic.  A young couple basks in the love of their child.  A chorus of angels sings good news of great joy.  Shepherds come to visit the Christ child who rests in a manger.  Our Nativity scenes make it all look cozy.  Our imagination matches Thomas Kinkade paintings. 

     Such images are etched in fantasy, not reality.  While the birth of a child is wonderful, giving birth is painful and messy.  Besides the risks of childbirth in the ancient world, the Virgin Mary also had to give birth near the manger—in other words, by the smells and feces of animals.  If the manger was filled with hay, it was scratchy.  If it was empty, it was hard.  In either case, it was not as comfortable as we like to think.  When the shepherds came in from the fields, they were damp with the night air and smelling of the sheep.  Our Lord entered a world that was gritty, rough, and cruel.

     By contrast, you and I get to enjoy many creature comforts that make life more bearable.  We have furnaces to heat our insulated homes.  We have overstuffed chairs that rock and recline.  We have cars that are climate controlled, perhaps with heated seats.  Thanks to indoor plumbing, we can bathe daily and remove our waste with one flush.  And thanks to modern medicine, both the infant mortality rate and the risk to the mother have been reduced greatly.  These benefits are not only all familiar to us, they are expected.  We are accustomed to being comfortable.  Our world does not seem to be nearly as rough or gritty.

     But it is still cruel. 

     The world can be a very dark place.  People carry emotional scars from relationships, perhaps strained or terminated because of fighting or betrayal or infidelity.  Part of the nostalgia at Christmas is the remembrance of loved ones who are buried in the earth.  It is also the reminder that the heart-warming days of childhood are gone and will never be repeated.  Sins put us in a dark place, especially if they result in long term consequences.  If you are carrying a burden, perhaps no one seems to notice or care.  In the midst of parties and music and cookies, it can be very lonely.  The house may be comfortable, but the world is still a cruel and dark place.

     Our hearts and minds are dark places, too.  The Bible says, “The heart is more deceitful than anything.  It is beyond cure.  Who can understand it” (Jeremiah 17:9)?  It is the home of anxiety and fear.  We fret over bad things that might happen, even though they probably won’t.  We take delight in Schadenfreude: we enjoy watching other people suffer.  Or on the reverse side, we drift into envy: we get angry over someone else’s blessings.  These attitude are especially dark, because the misery of others does not make your life any better, and the happiness of others does not make your life any worse.  The human heart is a dark and bitter place.  Repent. 

     But shining into the darkness of this world and piercing into the darkness of the sinful heart is a light from heaven.  St. John wrote about the Christ child: “In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind.  The light is shining in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4-5).    

     When a bright light breaks into a dark place, we immediately shield our eyes.  We squint or turn away because the brightness hurts.  That’s what Adam and Eve did when the Lord came to them in the Garden after they had sinned.  They did not want to see the Lord.  Likewise, when the Lord appeared to Moses at the burning bush, Moses covered his face.  When the angels appeared to the shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem, they were sore afraid.  The holiness of God, and even of his angels, exposes the filth of our sin.  The brightness reveals how dark our hearts and minds are.  This is why people want nothing to do with God.  We are fearful of judgment.  We are angry at accountability.  St. John wrote, “The light has come into the world, yet people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil.  In fact, everyone who practices wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, or else his deeds would be exposed” (John 3:19-20). 

     “God is light.  In him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).  God came into the world in human flesh, just as John declared, “The real light that shines on everyone was coming into the world” (John 1:9).  But the light of God is not sent to blind us or to roast us in blazing heat.  The light that comes into the world in Jesus Christ is sent to enlighten us.  Yes, it exposes us as the sinners we are.  But once our eyes have adjusted to the light, that is, once the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see, the Light of God shows us goodness and mercy.  Jesus enlightens us to see the beauty of God’s love which does not desire in the death of sinners.  He does not want anyone perish.  Rather, he acts to rescue us from the dominion of darkness so that we are not plagued by guilt, hounded by Satan, or swept away with a dark and dying world.  Jesus has come to bring joy to a cruel world, to bring peace to troubled hearts, and to bring hope for a bright and glorious heaven.

     “The light is shining in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).  That’s not to say the devil didn’t do his best to destroy the Light of the world.  The devil employed people with sin-darkened hearts to do his dirty work.  King Herod tried to slaughter Jesus in his infancy.  The religious leaders tried to trap him with carefully crafted questions, certain they could use his words against him to accuse him of heresy, blasphemy, or treason.  They tried to smear his reputation, calling him a drunkard, a glutton, demon-possessed, a Samaritan, and a friend of crooks and whores.  They tried to alienate his disciples from him, asking them, “Why do you follow a rabbi who acts like that?”  The darkness worked hard to snuff him out, but the darkness has not overcome the light.

     Even when the forces of darkness converged to plot his death, they did not overcome the light.  Unwittingly, the forces of darkness teamed up to fulfill all of God’s promises.  They orchestrated the very death that paid for the sins of the world.  When Jesus hung on the cross with all our sins upon him, darkness covered the earth.  The light of the Father fled from Jesus.  The love of the Father turned away and Jesus was forsaken as one cursed.  Jesus died on a dark and dismal day for all the evils that lurk in our hearts and minds.

     But the darkness did not overcome him.  The Savior rose from the dead.  The light did not burn out, but shines brighter than ever.  Jesus Christ is the Light of the World.  He lives to show us that we have a loving God who takes away our sin.  He lives to enlighten us to see God’s mercy.  He has ransomed us from the dominion of darkness.  Satan would still accuse you and try to expose you as a sinner.  He wants you to believe that God cannot love you because of the darkness that resides in you.  The devil tries to keep people blinded in unbelief.  He convinces people that sinful rebellion is freedom while holy obedience to God’s word is oppressive.  But Satan’s “freedom” leads to regret, shame, and hell.  Short-term sensual pleasures do not bring lasting joy and result in everlasting death.

     But Jesus shines the light of God’s grace upon you.  He has taken away your sins, so the devil’s accusations have no standing in God’s court.  He has claimed you as his own, so Satan cannot have you.  He has brought you into the kingdom of light.  “The real light that shines on everyone (has come) into the world” (John 1:9).  “The light is shining in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).  Whatever remains in darkness will die.  Where God’s light shines, there is life.  Therefore, he has made you children of light.  He guides you so that you walk in the light as he is in the light.  His word is a lamp for your feet and a light for your path.  He purifies your hearts so that you are disgusted by the deeds of darkness, find no joy in them, and will not return to them. 

     As St. Paul wrote, “The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people.  It trains us to reject ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope, that is, the glorious appearance of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.  He gave himself for us, to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people who are his own chosen people, eager to do good works” (Titus 2:11-14).  Our Lord shows you that godly living is not oppressive, but is filled with blessing and spares you many griefs.  You don’t live under threats, but under grace.  You know that your future is not dark, but exceedingly bright.

     The light shines in the darkness.  On Christmas day, it is wrapped in strips of cloth, rests in a manger, and nurses at Mary’s breast.  It is a scene that may appear cozy.  But the Savior has not entered a romantic Nativity scene.  The Savior has come into a rough, gritty, cruel world to do battle against dark and demonic forces.  The Savior has come to win you from death and hell.  It was a fight to the death, and it was a fight for you.  But our Savior is risen.  He has conquered death and the devil.  The light shines.  Darkness has not overcome it.  You are the prize he has rescued.

     Dear Christians, rejoice.  We celebrate the birth of our Lord which occurred some 2,000 years ago and 6,000 miles away.  But he comes to you today.  He still comes to us in our rough, gritty, dark world.  The God who came to us as a body and blood baby, who gave that body and blood into death to pay for your sins, comes to you today with his body and blood to nurture your faith and to cleanse your heart.  By strengthening and preserving you in the one true, catholic (NOTE: small “c”), and apostolic and faith, he assures you that the darkness will not overcome you again.  Today is Christ’s Mass.  Christ came to earth to save you, and now Christ still comes to earth to keep you safe.

     Christmas is not about romance or nostalgia.  Christmas is about God’s faithful love delivered to earth in a person, Jesus.  He has poured out that faithful love upon you and in you.  The light shines in the darkness.  The darkness flees away.  The warmth of God’s love embraces us all.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sermon -- Christmas Eve (December 24, 2025)

GLORY TO GOD.  GOOD WILL TOWARD MANKIND.

LUKE 2:1-20.

In the name + of Jesus.

    Chances are, you are going to open gifts tonight or tomorrow.  Even though you may be excited to see what hides under the wrapping paper, the gift is not the only thing that matters.  Each gift will have a tag on it to let you know who the gift is from.  Who the gift is from matters just as much as the gift.  It is a statement about the love and concern the giver has for the one who receives the gift.  If all that mattered was the gift, we would not care if a gift was given anonymously.  We would just want the loot.  But it does matter.  We want to know whom to thank for their consideration and their generosity.

     When the angels sang the heavenly hymn above the fields of Bethlehem, they spoke of two gifts that were given: Glory to God, and Good Will to Mankind.

     The angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest” (Luke 2:14).  Who gives this glory, and why?  Before we ask that, let’s ask this: Why does God need glory?

     Even if we did not meet tonight to sing praises to God, God would not be any different.  He would still be all-powerful.  He would still be all-knowing.  He would still be holy.  He does not need us for any of these things.  God is glorious no matter what we do or say or think.  If God did not send his Son into the world to save sinners, God would not be any different.  So, if anyone wants to argue that God does not need glory from us, then it should also be noted that God did not need to save us, either.  God is the same, with or without us.

     But God did not want to be without us.  God loves what he has created.  When sin ruined the relationship between God and mankind, God acted to restore it.  “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).  While God is glorious for being all-powerful, all-knowing, holy, and so on, we give God glory because he loves sinners and saves them.

     The angels sang their song of praise when God sent his Son into the world in human flesh.  The angels did not benefit from the birth of a Savior.  The angels do not need to be saved.  But the angels do marvel that God loved mankind so much that he became one of us.  That is why the angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest!”

     We who benefit from this Savior have all the more reason to give glory to God.  When we sing our songs of praise, we do not merely praise God for being pure and powerful.  We praise God for humbling himself to take on flesh that would be cut by a crown of thorns and pierced by nails and spear.  We glorify God for submitting himself to live in the same troubled world we live in—to experience mockery, slander, sorrow, pain, injustice, and death. 

     The Lord did not do this just to experience what we experience.  He did it to deliver us from the evils which infect the world and infect our own hearts.  God became a human of flesh and blood so that his flesh would be rent and his blood would be poured out as a sin offering.  This sacrifice made by the righteous God for unrighteous men appeases the Father in heaven.  This is why we give glory to God.  The glory of God is that he is “the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and overflowing with mercy and truth, maintaining mercy for thousands, forgiving guilt and rebellion and sin” (Exodus 34:6-7). 

     The angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest” (Luke 2:14), because they witnessed God’s love for mankind.  We sing, “Glory to God in the highest,” because we benefit from that redeeming love.  We glorify God because his love moved him to become one of us, to pay for our sins, and to open heaven up to sinners.  When we sing our hymns, we don’t offer up bland words of generic praise.  The best praise does not tell God what we think of him; the best praise retells what our Savior did for us.  For example: 

          Christ, from heaven to us descending
             And in love our race befriending,
                In our need his help extending,
                   Saved us from the wily foe.

          Jacob’s Star in all its splendor
             Beams with comfort sweet and tender,
                Forcing Satan to surrender,
                   Breaking all the powers of hell.

          From the bondage that oppressed us,
             From sin’s fetters that possessed us,
                From the grief that sore distressed us,
                   We, the captives, now are free.
          “Come Your Hearts and Voices Raising” by Paul Gerhardt (1607 – 1676)

     Glory to God because he has taken up our cause and saved us from death and hell.  Glory from the angels.  Glory from mankind.  Glory to God.

     While our glory goes to God, the greater gift by far is God’s gift to us: Good will toward mankind.  The angels proclaimed this good news to shepherds who often did not receive the good will of their society.  They were usually the undesirables.  Yet, they learned that God had a desire for them to be his.  The angel proclaimed to the shepherds, “I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all people: Today in the town of David, a Savior was born for you.  He is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11). 

     God’s good will toward mankind did not merely come in a proclamation, but in a person.  God’s good will came in that Bethlehem baby.  The baby in the manger is the Lord.  He who created the world comes to be with his creatures.  He who grants and sustains life comes to live among us. 

     To the shepherds, the angel said, “This will be a sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:12).  That meant Jesus was a peasant, just like the shepherds were.  When they heard that the Christ was wrapped in strips of cloth, they would have thought, “That’s how our wives wrap our babies!  He is not in some palace that we have no chance of entering.  He is one of us.  He comes for the likes of us!”  God’s good will is not toward some of mankind.  It is good news of great joy for all the earth. 

     At Christmas time, we hear a general appeal for people to have good will toward one another.  It is odd to me that this message receives such emphasis at this time of year.  But maybe it receives such emphasis because Christmas time can reveal the worst of us more than the best of us.  When we go to the store, wait for parking, shop among self-absorbed crowds, and stand in long lines, our good will toward others ran short.  The stress of year-end deadlines boiled over into rude remarks and office squabbles.  The pressure to produce the perfect Christmas magic in our homes made our homes unpleasant.  And while family gatherings seem like a great idea, family rivalries can flare up and arguments from the past can get renewed.  Our good will toward mankind takes a beating at Christmas, and it gets withheld throughout the year as well.

     If this is how we feel about our fellowman, what should God think of us who commanded us, “Love your neighbor as yourself?”  God does not put limits on this love, as if to say, “Love your neighbor, well, if he deserves it.  Love your neighbor, well, unless he is a jerk.  Love your neighbor, but only if he loves you back.”  On the contrary, this is what the Lord says, “If you love those who love you, what reward do you have?  Even tax collectors do that, don’t they?  If you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others?  Do not even the unbelievers do that” (Matthew 5:46-47)?

     But God’s good will toward mankind goes without limits.  The angel declared, “I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all people: Today in the town of David, a Savior was born for you” (Luke 2:10-11).  The Savior comes for all people—for those who are rude, tired, stressed, snarky, bitter, sad, jealous, petty, abusive, addicted, and adulterous.  That is because the Savior comes to pay for the sins of the world.  His love goes beyond covering minor indiscretions or social faux pas, but he also covers great and shameful sins.  Rather than pick and choose which sinners aren’t that bad, Jesus acted to suffer and die for all.  Rather than debate which sins are serious and which are insignificant, Jesus paid for them all. 

     Jesus proves God’s good will toward mankind.  He does not leave you to wallow in guilt or to languish in your sins.  He delivers you from the guilt, rescues you from the punishment, and reconciles you to God.  He even restores shattered lives and mends broken hearts.  The grace he bestows is greater than your sins.  The joy he brings endures even in the face of death.  God is faithful in his love and lavish with his forgiveness.  The Lord Jesus has taken your sins away from you.  The only way they can condemn you now is if you take them back.

     If you are unwrapping gifts tonight or tomorrow, you might get exactly what you want.  Or you might not.  Loved ones take their best guess at what they think you will like or what you can use.  They mean well, even if they don’t do that well with their gifts.  But our Lord gave the supreme gift that is useful, beneficial, and necessary.  A Savior has been born for you.  He is Christ the Lord.  Through him, God bestows his good will.  And we give glory to God.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sermon -- The Nativity of our Lord (December 25, 2023)

o logoV is "the Word",
St. John's name for God the Son,
the second person of the Trinity

JOHN 1:1-18

WE HAVE SEEN HIS GLORY.

In the name + of Jesus.

      In writing his Gospel about Jesus Christ, St. John seems to have all the apostles in mind when he states, “We have seen his glory” (John 1:14).  What glory is he thinking about?  It could be Jesus’ miracles.  That is the glory which was praised by the crowds throughout Palestine, from Galilee down to Judea.  When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, that was the reason the crowds were praising him.  “As he was drawing near … the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen” (Luke 19:37).  John also commented about Jesus’ miraculous signs, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book” (John 20:30).  “Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25).  Jesus’ miracles are certainly a reason to marvel and to praise him.  They revealed Jesus’ divine identity and power.  But that is not the glory John focuses on.

     What is the glory which John and the apostles witnessed?  To marvel at the glory of Jesus, John peers all the way back to eternity, before the creation of the universe.  John’s Gospel begins the same way that Genesis begins, “In the beginning” (John 1:1; Genesis 1:1).  This is the beginning of all things—matter, energy, time, and whatever exists.  Prior to the beginning, there was only God.  And Jesus was there—not on the flesh, that would come later.  But since he is God, he was there at the beginning, prior to the creation of the heavens and the earth.  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1-3). 

      On the front of the bulletin, you see the Greek words, o logoV.  John calls God the Son “the Word.”  That is how God deals with mankind, through words.  When God created all things, he summoned everything into existence through his word.  When God revealed his will to mankind, he did it through words—whether on stone tablets, by prophetic preaching, or on scrolls and parchments.  False prophets relied on consulting the dead, on dreams which would not be verified, and on omens which could be interpreted according to one’s whims.  But God gives us a firm word to hold on to.

     We also use words to communicate.  While body language and tone of voice convey information, our words are the most important part of communication.  If you had to choose between losing your hearing and your sight, you might choose to lose your hearing because you want to see where you are going.  But what if you were given these options?  You can have an I-pad which enables you to always see your loved ones, or you can have a phone to hear your loved ones speak to you.  Almost everyone would want to hear his or her loved one’s voice because that is how we communicate.  We connect and bond through words.

     God has always communicated with the human race through words.  This is how we know his will, his commandments, his threats, and his promises.  God has not hidden himself so completely that we cannot know him.  But the connection with humanity became much more glorious when Jesus entered the world.  Jesus is the Word, God the Son, begotten of the Father from eternity.  And what happens at 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” (John 1:14).  God communicates to us through his word, but now the Word has become a man.  Now God enters the world to deal with us in person—not only to be heard, but to be seen, to be touched, and to have him touch others.  St. John marveled at this in his first epistle as well.  He wrote, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—the life was made manifest, and we have seen it” (1 John 1:1-2).  We have seen his glory.

      At various times in the Old Testament, the Lord revealed his glory to people, but never in his bare glory.  No person can see that and live.  God’s glory was always hidden behind something.  But even when God hid his glory, the people who saw it were terrified.  When the Lord called Moses to deliver God’s people out of Egypt, the glory of the Lord was hidden in the fire of a burning bush.  Moses quickly pulled up his cloak and  hid his face.  When Isaiah saw a vision of the Lord in heaven, he described only the Lord’s throne and the train of his robe.  Seeing just that, he was convinced that he was going to die.  St. Luke recorded that, when the angel appeared to the shepherds in the field, “the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear” (Luke 2:9).  The angel was not God, but he reflected God’s holiness.  That was enough to terrify the shepherds.

     We seldom think what it would be like to stand before the Lord.  Perhaps we are pleased enough with ourselves to presume that God would find no fault with us.  So, we dismiss any idea that we have reason to fear the Lord, despite repeated testimony in the Bible that teaches us that we should.  What does produce fear in us, then?  We are afraid when we are at the mercy of something much stronger than ourselves that we cannot control, such as a tornado or a thunderstorm.  We are afraid of something that can take our lives or the lives of our loved ones, such as a car accident, a virus, a rattlesnake, or war.  We know that we are helpless against such things.

     And yet, our Lord is far superior to any worldly power.  He controls the winds and the waves; therefore, he is stronger than the winds and the waves.  The Lord is in control of the events that take our lives and the lives of our loved ones.  The Bible teaches us to confess to God, “My times are in your hand” (Psalm 31:15).  Therefore, the Lord is greater than the events which take life.  So, if we fear thunderstorms, viruses, and war, how much greater should we fear the Lord!  Jesus teaches us, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).  This is why we feel terror when we let our minds rest from daily activity and ponder death and eternity.  We become acutely aware of our sins, and we feel the justice of God striking our hearts.  It is one thing to fear death which can only send us to the grave; it is another thing to fear the judgment which can send us to hell for endless torment.  The day will come when we will stand before God in his full glory.  We will have to answer for our lives.  He will deal with us according to his word of judgment which is final and eternally binding.  If you claim that you have never been struck by fear over these things, I have to believe you are lying.

     Since we cannot stand before God, God has chosen to come to us.  And since we cannot see him in his glory, he hides it under infant flesh so that it produces no terror.  Mary and Joseph do not run away from their newborn child.  They embrace him.  But they know his glory.  He is the Son of God.  This is the Word made flesh who has come to dwell with us.  When he becomes a full-grown man, he gathers disciples to himself.  They do not cover their faces or hide behind trees.  They follow him.  They listen to him.  He is “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).  Jesus knows the truth; he knows our sins.  But Jesus is full of grace: He has come to soothe our consciences and to remove our fears.  He has come to rescue us from the terrors of judgment and from the iniquities which condemn us.  His words are full of grace and peace because he comes to save us.

     We have seen his glory.  His divine glory is hidden under human flesh, but the glory of God is revealed in all that he says and does.  St. John wrote, “No one has ever seen God; the only God who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18).  Jesus has made the Father known to you.  He shows you a loving and merciful Father who does not delight in the death of anyone.  Actually, the Father does delight in the death of one—Jesus.  The Father was pleased to send Jesus to be a sin offering for us all.  The iniquities which scar our minds and hearts are taken from us.  They have scarred and marked Jesus instead.  Jesus bears the scars for our sins, and his holy, precious blood is the salve which heals our wounds and brings the cure for our curse.  The judgment which produces terror has been diverted from us and has crushed Jesus.  The grave which mocks us by telling us it has a place reserved for us has been filled by Jesus.  And then Jesus emptied his grave to show us that death’s door opens both ways.  It may close us in, but it will open again to release us to live again.  The Word became flesh so that his flesh could be nailed to a cross and die there.  And the flesh and blood Savior lives to ensure new and eternal life for us.

     This is the glory of God.  God’s love for you is revealed in the divine wrath which Jesus absorbed for you.  The sweetness of God is seen in Jesus’ bitter sufferings for you.  The Lord’s compassion is made known by Jesus’ passion.  Salvation has been won for you by the Word, and it is delivered to you by words.  The word of God is preached so that your gracious God will be made known to you.  The word is joined to the waters of baptism where you have been cleansed in Jesus’ holy innocence.  The word is added to the bread and the wine so that the body and blood of your God are given to you.  The Word became flesh to unite himself to you, and in the sacrament he strengthens that unity even more. 

     Although his glory is hidden in Jesus, his glory, his grace, and his truth are revealed in Jesus.  His glory is now hidden in you, as well.  For “to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).  You are the children of God.  And God does not just love you in theory; he loves you in person, as a person—for, the Word became flesh.  And he professes his love again and again.  God continues to speak to you through the words of the Bible.  God speaks his eternal, unchanging word so that you know his love is constant, and the glory that was once hidden will be seen by you and in you when Jesus comes again.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Summer Reading -- (Dis)ordered

This book managed to jump in line and interrupt my reading of St. Augustine's City of God.  This book was a gift from the IssuesEtc studios that we received when we popped in for a visit back in June.  They gave us a lot of gifts.  The gift of this book saved me a few bucks as I was planning on buying it anyway.

Well, I just completed it and highly recommend it.  Perhaps it will be used as the basis for an upcoming Adult Bible Class.  But don't wait for that.  Purchase it now.  It will equip you for answering people who promote the LGBQ+ philosophy, reinforce your understanding of God's plans for human design, and help you to honor God in your vocation as a man or woman, husband, wife, or single person, and especially as a blood-bought, body-and-soul saint in the kingdom of God.

BIBLE BITS: Luke 18

In the Gospel according to St. Luke, he records an incident in which mothers bring their babies to Jesus so that he would bless them.  Luke, however, does not actually use the word "bless" in his account.  The blessing is implied.  St. Luke wrote: "Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them" (Luke 18:15).

The touch of Jesus is significant.  Jesus could certainly have spoken a word of blessing upon the children.  Or the mothers could have sung a psalm for their children which proclaims God's blessings upon his people.  But the touch of Jesus was important to them.  They made the effort to go to Jesus and to deliver their children to him.

This is significant for us today, too.  While we can take comfort in the word of God which delivers God's blessings to us (i.e., forgiveness of sins, new life, and salvation), the Lord knows that we need his touch.  God did not merely declare from heaven that he loves us and forgives us.  He became a man to connect himself to us, in fact, to unite himself to us.  In doing so, he exalts our humanity and, by his death and resurrection, will restore us to what God had created us to be.  He does not merely save our souls.  He saves us completely--body and soul, which is what God has created us to be.

When Jesus wants to connect with us today, he goes beyond his bare word to do so.  He could have issued Bibles to everyone and told us to read his word and said, "That is sufficient.  You need nothing more."  Instead, he chooses to touch us in physical ways.

He established the office of the holy ministry and sends out pastors who proclaim God's blessings, preach God's word, absolve God's people, and touch their lives.  When he brings us into his kingdom, he tells us to use water in connection with God's word to cleanse us of all sin.  Through the waters of holy baptism, he gives us his Holy Spirit.  When he strengthens and keeps us in the one, true faith, he gives us his body and blood in, with, and under the bread and the wine in holy communion.  

And even more, he connects us with each other.  We are all flesh-and-blood, body-and-soul people who get to support one another.  We do so not only with prayers, but also with human touch.  God designed us to have fellowship with one another.  We greet one another with handshakes and hugs.  In the early church where the culture called for it, they greeted one another with a holy kiss.  

Like those mothers who loved their babies and wanted Jesus to touch them and bless them, we also want to make the effort to come where Jesus touches us with his blessing.  In this way, we don't have to rely on how well we hear and understand God's word for our comfort.  We can have Jesus apply his blessings to us through things we can touch, taste, see, and smell.  

The blessings of Jesus came through his touch.  They still do.  

NOTE: The picture above is a painting by Lucas Cranach, the elder (1472 - 1553), on display in Frankfurt, Germany. (Source: Christ Blessing the Children by CRANACH, Lucas the Elder (wga.hu))

Meditation on the Epiphany of our Lord

          Today is the Festival of Epiphany.  Epiphany means revelation or manifest.  If you say, "I had an epiphany," that means something has become clear to you.  At the Festival of Epiphany and in the Sundays that follow, Jesus of Nazareth is manifested as the true Messiah, the Son of God, and the Savior of the world.  This is made evident by his miracles, his teachings, the testimony of John the Baptist, the proclamation of the Father from heaven, and so on.

          In a portion of St. Athanasius' (296-373) "On the Incarnation," Athanasius gives a refutation of the Jews and Gentiles who deny that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.  His refutation of the Gentiles seems to be more philosophical in tone.  But his refutation of the Jews leans on the Old Testament.  He would have us consider the prophecies made about the Messiah--what he would be, what he would do, what would be the results of his coming.  If Jesus did not do these things, he is not the Messiah.  If he did accomplish them, what other conclusion could be drawn except that he is the Promised Messiah?

          St. Athanasius demonstrates the main point of Epiphany and the Sundays after Epiphany: Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and the Savior of the world.  He has fulfilled all promises and, thereby, grants us comfort and confidence in our salvation.  Something from Athanasius:

               “For what more has he who is expected by them to do when he comes?  Call the Gentiles?  But they have already been called.  To make prophet and king and vision to cease?  This has already happened.  To refute the godlessness of idols?  It has already been refuted and condemned.  To destroy death?  It is already destroyed.  What then must Christ do, which has not been done?  Or what is left unfulfilled, that the Jews now rejoice and disbelieve.  For if, as we thus see, they have neither king, nor prophet, nor Jerusalem, nor sacrifice, nor vision, but the whole world is filled with the knowledge of God, and those form the Gentiles are abandoning godlessness, and henceforth taking refuge in the God of Abraham through the Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, it should be clear even to those who are exceedingly obstinate that Christ has come, and that he illumines absolutely all with his light and teaches the true and divine teaching concerning his Father.” (On the Incarnation, paragraph 40; translation by John Behr; St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press: Yonkers, NY. © 2011)

Something from ... St. Athanasius on the Incarnation of our Lord

St. Athanasius (c. 293 - May 2, 373) was the bishop of Alexandria, Egypt.  He was a staunch defender of the two natures of Jesus and of the Trinity.  He suffered exile five times for his firm defense of the Christian faith.  He also wrote several defenses of these crucial doctrines of the Christian faith.  Below is a quote regarding the incarnation of our Lord, that God became a man.

Athanasius reflected that God's love for his creation compelled him to redeem it.  He was not content to let sinners go merrily into their own condemnation.  But in order to redeem us, the Lord had to become one of us.  Therefore, to rescue us from sin, evil, and death, the Lord took upon himself our very human nature.  He does this to fulfill God's Law so that it will not condemn us, to give himself into death so that death gets its fill, and to rise from the dead so that death is powerless.  This is the love of God for sinners--he becomes one of us to redeem all of us.  From Athanasius:

"But now he comes, condescending towards us in his love for human beings and his manifestation.  For seeing the rational race perishing, and death reigning over them through corruption, and seeing also the threat of the transgression giving firm hold to the corruption which was upon us, and that it was absurd for the law to be dissolved before being fulfilled, and seeing the impropriety in what had happened, that the very things of which he himself was the Creator were disappearing, and seeing the excessive wickedness of human beings, that they gradually increased it to an intolerable pitch against themselves, and seeing the liability of all human beings to death--having mercy upon our race, and having pity upon our weakness, and condescending to our corruption, and not enduring the dominion of death, lest what had been created should perish and the word of the Father himself for human beings should be in vain, he takes for himself a body and that not foreign to our own." -- On the Incarnation, paragraph 8 (taken from "On the Incarnation" in the Popular Patristics Series, translation by John Behr.  St. Vladimir's Seminary Press: Yonkers, NY.  (c) 2011.)

Sermon -- 4th Sunday in Advent

HEBREWS 10:5-10

HE GIVES HIS BODY TO SANCTIFY YOU.

In the name + of Jesus.

     Quiz question: What was the first shedding of blood in the Bible?  If you are thinking of Cain’s murder of Abel, you are close, but off by one chapter.  Right after the fall into sin, we read that “the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21).  Fig leaves were not a permanent solution.  So, the Lord put to death animals for them.  They shed their blood so that Adam and Eve could be clothed in their skins and have their shame covered.  It foreshadowed what Jesus would later do—shed his blood so that he would cover sin with his righteousness.  Jesus would give his body to sanctify you.

     The second shedding of blood mentioned in the Bible is for worship.  We never hear of any instructions, but God must have given a command about proper worship.  Abel shed the blood of an animal for an offering.  Abel honored the principle which continued throughout the worship conducted by Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22).  It was always understood by the patriarchs that a body would be slain and blood would be shed.  A sacrificial death was essential to the worship of God—a substitute given on behalf of the sinner.  It proclaimed what the Lord would eventually do for all sinners: “This one dies for me.”

     When the Lord gave details about worship through Moses, he again gave direction for blood sacrifices.  The bodies of bulls, rams, goats, and sheep would be consumed by fire.  The blood of beasts would atone for the sins of the people with whole burnt offerings, sin offerings, peace offerings, and so forth.  Every day, morning and evening sacrifices would be offered.  The animal’s blood would be spilled at the altar.  The animal’s body would be turned to smoke from the altar.  The smoke was a continual sign that the Lord accepted the sacrifices and did not count the people’s sins against them. 

     The offerings needed to be repeated daily, monthly, annually—for centuries.  No matter how much blood was spilled, no matter how many animals were slain, they did not take away the sins of the people.  The writer of the Hebrews quotes Psalm 40 where King David—one thousand years before Jesus—acknowledged that these offerings were not the answer.  “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, …in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure” (Hebrews 10:5; Psalm 40:6).  How could God be pleased with offerings that do not remove sin?  It was never the bare act of slaughtering a ram that forgave sins.  People were saved by faith in God’s promises.  God attached his promises to the sacrifices.  Only faith made their worship of any benefit.  But every sacrifice confessed the promises.  Every sacrifice pointed to what the Savior would finally do.  Abel, Noah, Abraham, and centuries of Israel’s priests made the same confession: The Savior would make the one, perfect sacrifice that would make the full payment for sins, once and for all.  He would give his body to sanctify you.

     “Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, … ‘a body have you prepared for me’” (Hebrews 10:5).  It is not the sacrifice of a bull, a goat, or a ram that serves as a substitute for mankind.  It is not even another man who can stand in for all mankind.  It is God who comes for all mankind.  But to be a true substitute for mankind, God had to become a man.  So, a body was prepared for him, as we heard in our Gospel lesson.  The Holy Spirit implanted our Lord in the womb of the blessed Virgin.  He was conceived and went through nine months of gestation.  He was born, grew up, and presented his body as the sacrifice which once and for all made the payment for the sins of the world.  It is not a lamb, but the Lamb of God, which was slain for sinners.  He gives his body to sanctify you.

     “Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, … ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book’” (Hebrews 10:5,7).  Jesus came to do God’s will in two ways.  First, this one lived for you.  He became a man to submit to the Commandments that we must keep.  He had to do this because we have not.

     Our confession is correct: We are by nature sinful.  We cannot turn that off.  It makes itself evident in our thoughts, words, and actions.  We know what God expects of us, and we know that God’s standards are good.  Nothing is ever gained by jealousy, anger, sarcasm, obscenity, adultery, name-calling, or cruelty.  These things are destructive for you and for others.  Yet, the devil convinces us that we benefit from embracing them.  Our thoughts scheme evil against others.  Our words cut people down.  We act to get praise from others, and we get upset when we don’t get it.  We are guilty of the evil God has told us not to do.  And so, we have offended God and hurt our neighbor.  We have failed to do the good God has commanded.  And so, we have grieved God and proved unhelpful to our neighbor.  This is nothing to boast about, much less trying to convince God that we have been good.

     “Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, … ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God” (Hebrews 10:5,7).  Jesus lived for you.  Here is a man who did all that God commands, and he delighted in doing it!  For it is not the bare act of obedience which pleases God, but the heart and will of the person must be pure to please God.  The devil tempted Jesus to think that abusing his divine power would serve him well.  Jesus despised self-promotion and self-glorification.  The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve.  Miraculous healings were one way Jesus served others, but far better were the teaching and preaching of Jesus.  He preached what Mary sang about.  He told us that we ought not exalt ourselves before God, as if we are saved by impressing him.  Even so, we are not saved by our humility.  We humble ourselves because we are sinners.  Jesus, however, saved us by humbly obeying every word of God.  We hunger and thirst for righteousness which only Jesus has.  And Jesus is pleased to fill us with good things—his own righteousness.  The holy life Jesus lived he lived for you.  And through baptism, he has covered over your shame with his innocence just as he covered Adam and Eve with the skins of animals.  He gives his body to sanctify you. 

     “When Christ came into the world, he said, … ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God” (Hebrews 10:5,7)–not only in his life, but also in his death.  Jesus bore in his body the guilt of all your sins, and then he made his life a sin offering for you.  The body that was prepared for Jesus was destined for the cross.  There he made the one sacrifice which would satisfy God’s wrath and remove God’s curse.  This one dies for you.  His blood was spilled at the cross.  His body was consumed by God’s fiery wrath.  His holy, precious blood pays for your guilt.  His innocent sufferings and death secure your pardon and peace.  Behold, he has done God’s will!  He lived in innocence for you.  He died accursed for you.  He gives his body to sanctify you.

     “When he said above, ‘You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings’ (these are offered according to the law), then he added, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will.’  He does away with the first in order to establish the second.  And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:8-10).  By doing away with the sacrifices, Jesus relieves you of doubts that you have done enough for God’s salvation.  He takes away the fear of wondering if you ever could do enough.  Salvation does not come by making deals with God or by promising God that you will perform some heroic act for him.  You can’t buy God’s grace; it must be given for free.  And it is!  We do not come to church to do a favor for God.  Rather, we come so that God can deliver his good gifts to us.  It is God’s will that Jesus would do all the work to save you.  “And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10).  In Christ, you have been sanctified, that is, you have been set apart as his saints.   

     He gives his body to sanctify you.  The Lord took on a human body in order to exalt our humanity.  Your body is God’s creation.  It is a precious gift.  But because of sin, our bodies grow weak, sick, and will die.  Jesus has corrected that.  Jesus united himself to you by taking on a body.  He gave his body into death to pay for sins.  He had his body placed in a grave in order to burst forth from it.  Jesus rose from the dead with a body that is glorified and will never die again.  Jesus has prepared such a body for you.  These bodies will die and decay.  But they will burst forth from the grave at the command of our Lord.  And just like Jesus’ risen body, your body will be exalted, glorified, and perfected.  Every problem you suffer with your body now is the result of sin.  But Jesus has atoned for your sin, and he will restore your body and exalt you to what God had intended you to be.  He gives his body to sanctify you.

     Jesus became your body and blood Savior to serve you in yet another way.  He does not summon us like Abel to sacrifice the body of a lamb on an altar or to shed its blood.  Instead, it is the Lord who gives his body and blood for you.  Like Abel, we are saved by faith in a promise.  For Abel, God attached his promise to a sacrifice.  But the Lord has put aside the first covenant to establish a new covenant.  Now he attaches his promise to the word and the sacraments.  We still have an altar, and there is still body and blood on it.  But the sacrament is not what you do for God.  It is what God gives to you.  The body which has borne your sins is here for you.  The blood which was shed to atone for guilt is here for you.  The Savior who has overcome death is delivered to you. 

     Here, God delivers to you the gifts which take away sin, which strengthen faith, and which overcome death.  Here, you get to feast upon the living body and blood of Jesus by which you are sanctified and sustained in God’s kingdom.  He gives his body to sanctify you—not figuratively, but truly.  Your sins are not figurative, so neither is Jesus’ forgiveness.  It is the body and blood of Jesus Christ which saves, and here he gives it to you.  Jesus gives his body and blood in a manner that you can taste, smell, touch, and consume for your highest good.  Here, the holy things are given to the holy ones.  Here, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are satisfied.  Here, the humble are exalted.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Something from ... Martin Luther on the God and man being one in Jesus Christ

The great majesty of Jesus being born is the incarnation of our Lord, that is, that God and man are now united in one person.  This is a high and holy mystery and is worthy of a lifetime of contemplation.  

Martin Luther gives us something to contemplate about this.  While this quotation does not exhaust the mystery of the incarnation (far from it!), it is still worthy of pondering.

“These are marvelous things: to see a man and the lowliest creature humbled below all, to see the same creature sitting at the right hand of the Father and raised above all the angels, and to see Him in the bosom of the Father and soon subjected to the devil, as is stated in Ps. 8:5: ‘Thou hast made Him a little lower than the angels.’  Likewise in Eph. 4:9: ‘He had descended into the lower parts of the earth.’  This is a wonderful ascent and descent of the angels, to see the highest and the lowest completely united in one and the same Person, the highest God lying in the manger.  Therefore the angels adore Him there, rejoice, and sing: ‘Glory to God in the highest’ (Luke 2:14).  On the other hand, when they consider the lowliness of the human nature, they descend and sing: ‘And on earth peace.’” (Martin Luther.  Luther’s Works: American Edition, Volume 5 (Lectures in Genesis, chapters 26-30), p 218.)

Something from ... Luther on the Incarnation of our Lord

It is easy to limit Christmas to something cute and charming.  A young lady holds a new born baby.  Who would snarl at that image?

But Christmas is celebrated because it is far greater, far deeper, far more comforting, far more mysterious, and far more majestic than an ordinary birth.  On the one hand, it is an ordinary birth.  There was nothing about the birth of Jesus which appeared any different than what we see today.  A pregnant lady endured labor, pushed when the child was ready to leave the birth canal, and breathed and sweated through the pains of childbirth.  And the boy, coming out bloody and naked, entered our world.  He was cleaned and wrapped in cloths the keep him warm.  There was nothing usual about this.

But we also know the mystery of Christmas.  This baby who was born is the Lord--God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, through him all things were made.  God, who is not limited by time and space, entered the world in our time and confined himself to human flesh and blood.

God became one of us to redeem all of us.  This is the marvel of the Incarnation of our Lord.  Now, here is one of Luther's reflections on this incarnation.

          "The fact that God, as is stated in the Epistle to the Hebrews (2:16), is concerned with the descendants of Abraham, not with angels, is an incalculably great honor to that wretched mass of the human race.  For it was not difficult or impossible for Him to bring His Son into the world without a mother.  But He wanted to make use of the female sex.

          "He could likewise have formed a body suddenly from a virgin  just as He formed Adam from clay and Eve from a rib of Adam.  He did not choose to do this, but He adhered to the order which He Himself had established.  For a  maiden has been created in such a way that she should conceive, be with child for nine mothers, and give birth.  Therefore He wanted His Son to be conceived, carried and born in the womb of a maiden, not formed from clay and not conceived by a male.

         "It is surely a great comfort that it did not please God that His Son should become man from any other material than the human race.  He wanted His Son to become our brother and to adorn us with the exceedingly great honor of having a God born and made man in our flesh and blood." (pp 161-162, Luther's Works: American Edition.  Volume 4, Lectures on Genesis, chapters 21-25)