In the sophisticated thinking of higher critics, Jonah is not to be thought of as historically accurate. After all, how often has a fish been large enough to swallow a man? They doubt it because it seems too fantastical to be true.
The view of self that holds sway today says that we are more powerful, more masters over nature and the future. After all, every intelligent person knows that these times are more advanced and different from the past. We’ve evolved, don’t you know, you Neanderthal?
Jonah himself suffered for his own idolatry. He put his ways above God’s. When he did, how did that work out for him? Could he not find respite because of his own tormented god-consciousness? Or was there indeed a God of heaven who had chosen him to preach a small but powerful Word?
Consider these verses:
“7The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. 8The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.” (Psalm 29:7–8)
“6The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.” (Psalm 46:6)
“6By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.” (Psalm 33:6)
In our reserved, sterile minds, we might take these words figuratively. That doesn’t really mean that God’s voice comes out in fire or earthquakes. I’ve never seen the earth melt! Because it’s so far removed from our daily experience, we accept only intellectually that God created by His Word, the same as people intellectually assent to the theory that all things came from a “big bang.”
May the Word of God preached topple the idols we have today and put us in sackcloth and ashes, just as it did in Nineveh. There is a piece making the rounds in churches by Eric Metaxas, called A Letter to American Churches. I agree with him that Christians need to wake up from their suburban, comfortable and culturally acceptable Christianity. This is truly a time for us to wake up from the denial that our world is not Sodom and Gomorrah, and that we are not living in proud Tyre and Sidon, against which the Lord will bring disaster. I disagree with Metaxas, however, that the tipping point will be in the number of Christians who speak up.
One lone Hebrew went into the great city of Nineveh, and preached eight words to strangers. Before you know it, even the king is proclaiming a fast. Proud pagans to cowering sinners, asking, “Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” (Jonah 3:9)
We are the church on earth, given that same all-powerful Word to confess before men. And confess we must, lest we be like salt that is bound to be trampled by men’s feet. For as many individual cases of apathy or rebellion, it is not the Word which has failed. God has not granted them repentance yet. On we believe, teach, and confess that God’s Word is living and active.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.
It is a blessing to our faith that we meditate on our Lord’s passion yearly. A Christian faith that has a fuzzy view of the historical, fleshly sufferings of Jesus Christ will easily fall for suggestions that the Christian life is just the best of the methods for self-improvement. Such Christians may intellectually understand themselves to be sinners, but it remains abstract. “Jesus died for my sins,” they say, but they cannot or will not conjure an image in their minds that the bruised and bloody Savior was not a victim of a cruel world. He was standing where I deserve to be, and so do you.
So, I would like to consider three aspects of our Lord’s passion from when He stood before Pontius Pilate.
1. Righteous Judge
Pontius Pilate was a government official. He was chosen to govern the province of Judea (Luke 3:1)
He was familiar with the ways of the Jews. He had both a familiarity with the ways of the Jews and the edict to keep the peace in Caesar’s name. (Luke 13:1)
The chief priest and scribes brought Jesus to the governor not because they wanted a fair decision. They wanted to get rid of Jesus with a veneer of justice.
What they got was exactly what they wanted—a judge who was acting unjustly. Slyer than a lawyer who knows how to manipulate a certain justice, they used the very tactics that spoke to Governor Pilate. Despite the warning of his wife (v. 19), despite his own judgment (v. 23), Pilate perverted justice.
In a last ditch effort to do what is right, he offered to the crowd to free either a known insurrectionist or Jesus. To emphasize this even more, he called Jesus the Christ. Nevertheless, they called for His death. They had the Christ, and would they had known it—but they did not understand.
Neither did Pilate. He did not understand at this point God’s narrative that the Righteous One must be condemned in order for the unrighteous sinner to be made free. Barabbas was a placeholder for you and me. “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18)
2. What profit is it to me?
“24 So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.’”
Pontius Pilate was a selfish coward. He was no William Wilberforce who would rather face slander than drop his righteous cause. When the first round of resistance came to him, he remembered what his superiors had sent him to this backwater province for: keep the Jews in line. There had been incidences of radial Jews who had led the crowds awry. His job was to quell the nonsense.
So, despite his wife’s warning of this man’s innocence, despite the final question to the crowds, “Why? What evil has he done?” A riot was beginning, and he could not have that on his watch. His reputation was more important than doing what was true and good and right.
Who are we to point a finger at him? When it’s become difficult for us, how have we not caved to family or social pressures? What do we gain from standing for what is true? A lost job? Ridicule? Being alienated from our own children? When we see that it profits us nothing in this world, we are just as quick as Pilate to cave to the pressures.
3. Washing in water, washed in blood
What was Pilate’s response to this? He took water and washed his hands of the matter. What good was this? It has no power to absolve him.
What did the people respond? “25 And all the people answered, ‘His blood be on us and on our children!’ 26 Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.”
Water and blood—both thing which God highly prizes, but without faith they are blind to its true importance! Pilate wanted to wash himself of the sin of condemning the innocent to death. If only we could simply wash ourselves of the sins which we have done. If only there were some cosmic “undo” button that would take back the past! But just like Pilate, we can find none, no matter how earnestly or publicly we renounce it.
“His blood be on us and on our children!” The crowd shouted this as they murderously sought the death of this Jesus of Nazareth. Likely, they didn’t know the significance of what they were shouting. This wish was heard in the cry of the Lord, who prayed for them, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34) And what they meant for evil—the lust for his blood and to be rid of him in the moment—God was working for good. For it was not their bloodlust, their will to “crucify the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:8) that had the last say.
“Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Acts 2:36) Through their evil acts, their utmost rejection of the preaching of the Kingdom of God and rebellion against it, God worked a salvation that is for every one of us. No matter how we have rebelled, it is a full forgiveness.
That water which Pilate desired to absolve himself? It’s fulfilled in the water of Holy Baptism, which cleanses not just hands and one’s own wounded conscience, but the whole person and truly is “an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 3:21)
The blood for which the mob cried? It was exactly what they needed: The blood of Christ, the spotless Lamb, who shed His blood for the rebellion and wickedness of all of us. His blood be on us and on our children was answered by a heavenly messenger: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” (Acts 2:38-39)
And all we can offer to God is thanksgiving for the true and heavenly washing given us in the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
Readings: Genesis 22:1-14 | Hebrews 9:11-15 | John 8:46-59
Text: Genesis 22:1-14
“God, what in the world are You doing? I can’t handle this! I just got done with the last wrench You threw in the works!” There are times like this, where honestly, we have no idea what our God is at work doing—only that it’s hard and we can’t see how it’s going to work out. But in these times, He doesn’t tell us what He’s thinking, except the familiar words of Jeremiah 29:11: “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Yet, there is a time where we are given a glimpse into the Lord’s thoughts. That is the passion of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. There, God tells us so much of Himself, that the Father speaks directly from heaven three times: at Jesus’ Baptism, at the Transfiguration, and in John 12 when Jesus prays, “’Father, glorify your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven: ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’”[1]
But when it comes to the Passion of Christ, perhaps we’ve heard it so many times and seen different depictions, that its full weight doesn’t always hit us. That’s why we turn to Abraham, so that we can learn what cost and pain God bore to gain our salvation. The testing of Abraham puts flesh on the Father’s offering, in terms that we can appreciate and feel ourselves.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son…”[2]
Abraham had waited for his son Isaac. In fact, he had waited an entire lifetime; Isaac was born to him at one hundred years old. Isaac was quite possibly the most special child ever given in answer to prayer. He meant everything to Abraham, and he was the fulfillment of God’s promised mercy. His very name, which meant ‘laughter’ was a constant reminder of how exceedingly overjoyed Abraham and Sarah had been at his birth, and God’s supreme faithfulness.
But then God gives the command: “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” Is this some kind of perverse humor on the part of God? This sounds more like something out of pagan mythology. The thought must have crossed Abraham’s mind, “God, what are you thinking?” God demands the life of Abraham’s promised son. This is the same son God had said, “The son of your own loins will be your heir.”[3]And Abraham believed God and “saddled his donkey” with Isaac.
Abraham did not know the outcome of this. On the way, Isaac noticed that something wasn’t right about their sacrifice, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham knew, but didn’t want it to be true. Yet, he knew that this is how it must be. His God of promise had given the command. So, prophesied unknowingly to Isaac, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”
St. Paul would later call Abraham the “man of faith”[4] because he obeyed God’s Word even though it meant terrible loss to himself. God had given Him Isaac and now it seemed the Lord would once again take away. “9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.” Abraham remained completely faithful to God’s command, “not turning to the left hand or to the right.”[5] His upraised hand held the knife that would put his own son to death. It wasn’t like Job, who lost his family to natural disaster. It wasn’t even like Adam who lost one son to the evil of his firstborn.[6] No, Abraham had to do the slaying because God had commanded it.
“11But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.”
Abraham’s faith in God was justified because he offered up his son, his only son. But God did not take Isaac’s life. The Lord provided a substitute for the life of Abraham’s son: a male lamb for a burnt offering. And that is how it continued for Israel all their days under the Law of Moses—the lives of bulls, sheep, goats, and birds for the life of the Israelites.[7]
Years later, God’s people, Israel, would live near people who were so perverse they did offer their sons to get an answer from heaven. The worship of the god Molech, involved sacrificing your children, burning them alive to garner the god’s favor. At that, we ought to wretch. So desperate is our desire to have some control over what happens to us.
The last plague of Egypt was something unthinkable: “every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill.” (Exodus 11:5) God would put to death the firstborn of every Egyptian. Why be so inhumane, we might ask the Lord?
God was not beyond showing that sin is so serious that it deserves the death of the firstborn son. But just as He did for Isaac on Mount Moriah, He did for the Israelites:
11 “When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, 12 you shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb…Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. (Exodus 13:11-13)
Sin’s deadly poison infects even the youngest child. But just as with Isaac, God provides a substitute, a redeemer. He does not ask for the life of you or your child. Even though sin is very serious, deadly even. Instead, He provides a Lamb for the sacrifice.
"God…gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish.”
God provided for Himself the Lamb, and because of Him, your life is saved. God gave up His Son into death so that you are His child and call on Him as Father. And He tells you no lie: You are truly His children because He adopted you in the waters of Baptism. From Galatians 3, “You are all sons of God, through faith, for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ…And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”[8]
That has made Mathilda an heir of that promise. God has not demanded her life, but provided for her a Lamb, who has died in her place. Simon and Corinne brought her to these saving waters because they believe in the Lord, who says through St. Paul, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Rom. 6:3-5)
This is why we treasure Baptism so much and call it holy. It is God’s salvation delivered. The substitute Abraham believed the Lord would provide, nailed to the cross of Calvary, so that everyone who clings to Him in faith shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Mathilda may not be able to display and articulate her faith today, but she has received an eternal gift. And it is now your duty, Simon and Corrine, to teach her about that gift she has from God as she grows, so that she would live all her days as an heir of eternal life.
And should any Christian ever doubt God’s love for them, look back and see what price He paid for your salvation. The Father suffered His only-begotten Son to be betrayed, mocked, flogged, crucified, dead, and buried. Faith will tell you all of this was for you, so that you would be His child. St. John tells us, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God, and so we are.”[9]
We began Lent in the wilderness. Jesus is alone and hungry. Then, the Devil comes along and tempts him. Hunger is evil, he seems to say: “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread to feed you in this wilderness”. The feeding of the five thousand echoes this temptation of Jesus. In the first wilderness, Jesus was starving in the wilderness, on the verge of death. To Satan, He quoted Moses: “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Matt. 4:4)
The wilderness is known as a place of testing. When that testing is in the hands of the devil, it becomes a place of temptation. Satan is influential in this wilderness by tempting the disciples to despair and the people to love bread and the stuff of creation above the Word. “Philip answered him, ‘Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little’…[Jesus said,] Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” (John 6:7, 26)
As far as temptation goes, just like our first parents and unlike Jesus, they fail. They sin. They don’t want a Savior from sin, they want a bread king. “15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.” If they have full bellies, they feel no hunger for the Word.
Jesus has come for the sake of these failures. The Word made Flesh [John 1:14] provides bread not from stones or manna, but by an abundant multiplication of the boy’s gift distributed by the apostles. This foreshadows how He will give His own risen Body through bread.
This all brings together the providence, patience, and grace of God, which comes for the unworthy through means.
Vulnerability and Need:
1. Like the people in the wilderness—both Israel of Old and those people who came out to hear—we often don’t recognize how weak we are, that our every breath comes from God, and that we are easily killed. We wander about without a plan, stumble into spiritually harmful situations, while thinking we have it all under control. We will do well to identify with the Israelites and those crowds in the wilderness. It’s only to our detriment when we think we’re a higher caliber of human being than them.
Our trouble today is that we have an arrogance which calls itself “common sense,” (how pragmatic!) thinking it is actually superior to others. Related to that, we think that most people, unlike ourselves, are stupid. We suffer from incredible biases and pride.
This bias and this pride mislead us and deceive us by false comfort and cause great harm to ourselves and to others.
2. Unbelievers simply call this ignorance, but they find no serious fault in it. Not so with us Christians. We should know the Creator and His mercy. Therefore, our guilt is greater. Our vanity comes from a hardness of heart against God’s revealed will which we know.
What this looks like is when ee ignore or hush His Word and then assume it will always be there when we want it. “Of course,” we say, “God will always rescue us!” When we take God’s providence and patience for granted, we commit blasphemy and idolatry.
3. Worst of all is our abuse of grace. When we behave as though God’s mercy and grace is deserved, that He will forgive us no matter what. That is, when we commit premeditated sin willfully, repeatedly, without true remorse or any effort to amend our ways, we mock God and the gifts that He gives. This is highest blasphemy. It is anything but “walk[ing] in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness” (Ephesians 4:1-2) Such abuse is poisonous, and I warn you, if left untreated it will destroy faith.
4. Therefore, we rightly learn to see ourselves in the wilderness in our present day, on the cusp of destruction. We have foolishly paid no attention to spiritual matters. We have been misled by our pride and wicked men. We are starving for what God gives, in desperate need of His grace. There is nowhere else to turn. Without you, we perish, Lord. Save us. As we prayed last week in the hymn, “Naked, come to Thee for dress; Helpless, look to Thee for grace; Foul, I to the fountain fly; Wash me, Savior, or I die.” (LSB 761:3)
God’s providence, patience, and mercy revealed is in the miracle of feeding the five thousand.
1. What do we do with the historical events that happened there for these 5,000+ people in the wilderness? So far removed from these eyewitnesses, and with “common sense” as their guide, liberal scholars teach people to view this miracle as an inspiration to share with the needy.
2. This is not completely wrong. Jesus did use the means of the boy’s bread for the miracle. The boy’s generosity was inspired by the teaching and love of Jesus. We ought to be careful not to despise the smallness of any gift. This boy gave to the need that was presented to him. That is, he gave it to the Church, in love and what he gave away is no longer his. That is okay because he gave it in love.
3. But the idea that Jesus is simply teaching us how to share is blasphemy, because it treats Jesus as simply a moral teacher, not true God. Yes, He is an example worth emulating. Yet, if that’s all we take way, how sad our state! What’s more, He is the Giver not the sharer. He is the Almighty and His miracles are real. He works through means, but it is He alone who multiplies loaves and fish.
What was it that moved Jesus to act that day? Consider the heart of God first of all. It was His compassion: Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” Not simply that they needed a meal for a day. They needed life-long spiritual care. In another place, Jesus also looks at the crowds and this is what He sees: “36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9:36). What does He do, but rescue the people from their helpless and ignorant condition? He gave them what they needed, more than nourishment: He gave them, “the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35)
This is to say He showed them that “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God.” Not only did He resist Satan in his temptations, but He also steers us against the dangers of faith-destroying unbelief. Unbelief will steal everything from us. We will lose everything—the temporal gifts of God that our bodies enjoy, but also the eternal gifts of His grace and a place in His eternal Kingdom. May He preserve us from such a dreadful condition! In the Naem of Jesus Himself, who overcame in the wilderness, and showed His willingness to save us in our own need.
This time of year, many of us are looking at spring cleaning. As more light comes in the window, the grime on the windows and the dust in the air is harder to turn a blind eye to.
The first part of spring cleaning involves moving things out of the way to uncover what you haven’t been dealing with: dead leaves, fur, dust, long lost items that fell off behind the table. There’s an excitement about making visible progress.
As the job wears on, you may reach a point where you say, I never want to have to do this ever again! Let’s just do a massive purge! If we just didn’t amass all the stuff, it wouldn’t be so much trouble. Your stories of cleaning may vary…or it might be an unpleasant reminder of how you haven’t or can’t seem to get to it.
Of course, our Lord is not concerned whether our houses are tidy or messy, just as it doesn’t put Him off if the clothes you’re wearing today are up to cultural snuff. He is concerned with saving us from things far more insidious than dust mites.
If it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; 22 but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. (Luke 11:20-22)
Satan is no friend to people. From the beginning, he has shown what sort of deceitful “friend” he is. Those who today claim to be Satanists, and who dabble in taboo practices like tarot and Ouija boards are embracing the sweet poison of the lies that Satan dispenses. C.S. Lewis was wise to depict Satan as a woman in white who invites the unsuspecting in with Turkish delight (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe).
The difference between the devil and dust mites is that the clutter simply accumulates due to inattention, but this Satanic strong man and his demons are an active danger: “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) The dust and daddy longlegs do not target you as Satan does. His aim is your eternal destruction with him. He would like to see you and your family, as well as every human being ripped away from God eternally because of spiritual death and proud rebellion (like him).
~ Demonic Possession ~
In the past, overt displays of violence and a show of strength to make people cower and avoid the demoniac. [Mark 5:1-20]
Today, it manifests itself in what Jesus says today: “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather [together, that is, synagogue] with me scatters.”
What demonic lies have won over your friends, your children, and grandchildren that keep them from being gathered with the faithful?
23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Whoever is not with Christ is actually against Him. The lip service people pay to being a Christian (that is, one who follows Christ) is proved to be false by their way of life, and it will not escape the Judgment Day. Whoever does not synagogue with Him scatters. What this means is that the chief work of Satan we see today, and even more so after the COVID revolution, is when the victims of Satan are kept from the congregation.
The satanic way is to put the proverbial rock in your shoe: be it what you think of the other people at church, some supposed failing in the music or the manner in which the service is conducted, and perhaps Satan will even tempt your spouse so that they incite you and drive you away.
23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. For the one who has been rescued by the Lord, there is comfort and safety in the congregation. It’s not merely a matter of “church attendance,” but of the ground upon which our life is built: beginning with Baptism.
~ Living in Baptism ~
Baptism of Christ by Cima da Conegliano
We have to clean multiple times. It’s never truly complete until we move out of a house and lock the door for the last time. Then we can set down our mop. What are the sort of things we only have to do once? Get a social security card? Usually just take the driver’s test once.
We do confess in the Nicene Creed, “I believe in…one Baptism for the remission of sins.” But whenever we treat it like a past event as if it were a lifetime membership, a ticket to heaven, that is a lie out of hell. That is the work of Satan and his demons in our day.
24 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”
In Holy Baptism, it begins with an exorcism. Not the Hollywood pea-soup kind, but a warning against the devil and all his host: This one being baptized now belongs to a new Lord and Master.
“Do you renounce the devil? Do you renounce all his works? Do you renounce all his ways?” (Rite of Holy Baptism, LSB 270)
Who is the devil, but a fallen angel who masquerades as an angel of God [2 Corinthians 11:14].
What are his works? He is a liar and a murderer from the beginning [John 8:44]. He twists God’s Word into exactly what He wants it to say, seeking spiritual and eternal death of men and women.
What are his ways? To appear as a pious friend, who tells you that you are right, and “the church” or people in it are wrong. [1 John 2:18-20]
The alternative rite for Holy Baptism, authored by Martin Luther puts it very frankly, “Depart, O unclean spirit, and make room for the Holy Spirit!” And in our dull awareness of the spiritual realm, we think it can’t be all that bad away from Christ. I mean, they’re not shrieking and cursing Christ vocally. But that is not where the unclean spirits show themselves today in America.
They want to keep the baptized away from Baptism. There they lurk, in waterless places. That is, places away from the waters of Baptism. Listen to these wise words from the church father, Tertullian, speaking to us from the 3rd century:
“Happy is our sacrament of water, in that, by washing away the sins of our early blindness, we are set free and admitted into eternal life! A treatise on this matter will not be superfluous; instructing not only such as are just becoming formed [in the faith], but them who, content with having simply believed, without full examination of the grounds of the traditions, carry (in mind), through ignorance, an untried though probable faith. The consequence is, that a viper of the Cainite heresy, lately conversant in this quarter, has carried away a great number with her most venomous doctrine, making it her first aim to destroy baptism. Which is quite in accordance with nature; for vipers and asps and basilisks themselves generally do affect arid and waterless places. But we, little fishes, after the example of our ΙΧΘΥΣ [ichthus, an acronym for ‘Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior’], Jesus Christ, are born in water, nor have we safety in any other way than by permanently abiding in water; so that most monstrous creature, who had no right to teach even sound doctrine, knew full well how to kill the little fishes, by taking them away from the water!” (Tertullian, On Baptism, 1)
Beloved little fishes at Bethlehem, Beelzebul is no friend and inert danger that we can steer clear of by our own wits. The Stronger Man, the Lord Jesus, has cast him out and away from you. He has saved you in the waters of Holy Baptism. Live in it every day. Begin every day in the sacred Name He places on you.
You have been cleaned out of the devil’s works and ways, in order to be filled with Him and the Word He speaks. Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it. By the Word which speaks to each of us in our lives—as husbands and wives, parents and children, leaders and followers, rulers and citizens—He shines the bright truth that we may recognize and flee from the craft of our enemy.
11 Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you…14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:11-14)
One of our world’s favorite questions is to ask, “Where is God?” When the floods rage, where is your God? When the tornadoes touch down, where is your God? When tidal waves destroy, when earthquakes level cities, or people die, where is your God? “I thought He was good. I thought He was all-powerful. I thought He loved you.”
In fact, why wait for the big things. What about when it happens in your life? When a loved one dies, where is your God? When you find out you have cancer, where is your God? When you can’t make ends meet, when everything goes wrong, when you hurt most of all, where is your God?
It’s a good question to ask, really. Because we don’t bother with where God is until something terrible comes up. Everyday routine stuff, what’s God have to do with that? I don’t go looking for God every time I write a check, or wash my hair. I don’t go looking for God when I put on my pajamas or watch an evening sitcom. I don’t go looking for God when the 49ers take the field…except when they lose the Super Bowl. Well, maybe then. But that’s different. For the most part, we can handle it on our own.
Jacob was also pretty good at handling things on his own. He skillfully negotiated Esau’s birthright out from under him for a bowl of stew without any help. Jacob and his Mom got Dad to give him the blessing instead of Esau without a single prayer. He convinced his future father-in-law to let him marry his daughter just on his own skills. He convinced his father-in-law to let him marry his other daughter after his father-in-law conned him into the ugly one—poor, unloved Leah. He came up with that plan all by himself. When he was only allowed to keep the defective sheep for his flock, he managed to breed them all to look defective. When He heard his brothers-in-law were jealous enough to hurt him, He got his family the heck out of Dodge. And as we see in this text, when Esau’s on his way, he’s got an escape route all planned out, just in case things go south.
Jacob talks a big game about God. He’ll say that God blessed him with this. That God was looking out for him in that. That God is a really great guy. But you know? It’s been the Jacob show all along. And now, Esau has small army. And Esau was looking to kill him not that long ago. And Esau isn’t going to be bribed out of his anger. And even just sending the women and children across the river is only buying time. So Jacob, where is your God now?
Right in front of him, trying to pop him in the teeth. It’s funny, the word for wrestle in Hebrew: אבק. It literally means to kick up dust. And I think both meanings are intended here. Jacob has a history of turning tail. But God’s not going to let him go this time.
But now? Can’t you go wrestle Esau instead? This is the worst possible time, God. And God does come at the worst possible time. For Jacob, and for us. Can’t you wait until I’m ready? Can’t you wait until I’ve got time to deal with you? Our moment might not be a life and death showdown with Esau. But it’s often not far from that. It’s when there’s too much going on. Too much to handle. And we need to be completely on top of our game if we’re going to get through it.
It’s then that God gets up in our faces. Wrenches our hip out of socket. Breaks us in such a way that we just can’t do it anymore. Why?! And why now, God?! To teach us some divine object lesson? To show us that we need Him for everything? To knock us off our high horse? Humiliate us into bowing our heads? Perhaps. He’s there to tell Jacob, and tell you that, “you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
Prevailed? Let me get this straight. God comes down, puts Jacob in a headlock, breaks his hip, all to tell Jacob that Jacob wins? God makes a trainwreck of my life, turns everything upside down, hurts me badly, all to tell me I win? How does that make any sense? I could understand it if he wanted to show me that I need Him. I could understand if He wanted to me to keep my eyes on Him at all times. I could understand if He wanted me to pray more, get Him more involved in my life, and stop doing it alone. True, He exercises our faith to that goal. But God uses that place and that time to give Jacob a message: You have already prevailed. It’s a message to us: You have already prevailed.
When you’re used to doing it on your own, it can be overwhelming when you can’t. When you’ve relied on only yourself and your own means, it’s frightening when there’s nothing left. When you’ve pulled yourself up by your bootstraps all your life, it’s absolutely crushing when there’s nowhere left to pull. You cannot win. You cannot prevail. So God has to tell you that you already have…yet not in a way that you can rest in your hard work.
Because Jesus died on your behalf. Jesus rose again for you. Jesus won. Jesus prevailed. Yes, He did. Sin, death and Hell, He conquered them all. Sin is overcome, because He carried all that sin with Him when He died. Death is undone, because it couldn’t hold Him when He rose on the third day. Hell is beaten, because He unlocked its gates and set the captives free. Satan is vanquished, all because of Jesus. Not us. Jesus.
So how can God tell us that we’ve already prevailed? Because Jesus has already given all this to you. It’s certainly not because you were always there. Not because you leaned on Him at the right time. (that would be a lie) Not because you had a good relationship with Him. You have overcome because God gives. He gives even to those who aren’t really good at doing the right thing–even to those like Jacob the swindler in our text.
That’s an incredible comfort for us. In a world that is so geared toward one’s own getting ahead. We see this in the wrestling of the Canaanite woman in the Gospel (Matt. 15:21-28). She comes to Jesus, and it seems like He’s her enemy. What’s up with Jesus’ responses? Saying He hasn’t been sent to her, implying that she’s a dog, and pushing her off these three times?
But in her responses, we see faith—the gift of God—at work. Look at them:
“Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.”
But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”
“Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.
As strange as this sounds, this is the work of faith. Faith doesn’t come to God boasting about how much we’ve done for God. It doesn’t count the hours we’ve agonized for those for whom we’ve kept vigil. Faith doesn’t expect that God should move heaven and earth because of something in us. No, faith comes in humility before God-in-the-flesh.
There’s a song that’s making the rounds right now that goes,
“You say I am loved when I can’t feel a thing You say I am strong when I think I am weak And You say I am held when I am falling short And when I don’t belong, oh You say I am Yours… What You say of me, I believe” [1]
What if God were to say to you, “You don’t deserve His goodness”? “You are of no account, and ‘I have mercy on whom I have mercy’?” [Exodus 33:19] What if God calls you a dog, begging from the table? What faith says is, Yes and Amen. And in that confession, as weak as it sounds, you have the victory.
Jesus has given you His death and resurrection, and because you have that, God is right. You have already prevailed. Whatever you face in life, whatever the world does to you, and whatever Satan would use against you. You have already prevailed. In faith, you have faced off with God, and God has declared you the winner. What can anything else do to take that away?
None of the things that matter before God can be taken forever. The resurrection is coming. And we look forward to that with all our hearts. To our eyes, and to the eyes of those around us, it doesn’t look like victory. Does it ever look like defeat and Pollyannaism! Faith looks foolish to the unbelieving. But to the faithful, we trust that God has the victory; that God is true and we will say Amen to Him even though all others scoff. In the meantime, when the world asks, “Where is your God.” You have an answer. He’s right here, giving me Jesus.
The Apostle Peter warns us, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.” (1 Peter 5:8-9)
In the first reading from Genesis 3, we learn a great deal about the devil both in his works and his ways, as well as why we as Christians should be concerned with the devil.
It doesn’t say exactly how long it was between Genesis 2 and 3, but it’s a stretch to imagine it was very long before the devil came to corrupt the only other creatures with a free will: man and woman. He entices them by possessing a serpent. Why a serpent? Because it is crafty, stealthy, and shrewd: The serpent slips in where others are blocked, it stalks its food and lays in wait to strike, and it knows how to slip out of the scene before it is detected. All of these qualities fit the devil’s ways, as we see in how he interacts with the woman. God uses a turn of these traits when it comes to punishing the devil, however. “On your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the day of your life.” Just as Satan used the craftiness of the snake, now God uses the fact that the snake is a “creeping thing” to show that God will keep him in submission until the Lord’s ultimate victory: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:14-15)
Later in history the devil would be compared to other creatures, such as Leviathan the great sea beast, as lions, as a dragon (Psalm 74:12-14, Daniel 6:16-24, Isaiah 27:1). In the New Testament, the legion of demons in Mark 5 ends up possessing a herd of unclean swine and being destroyed in a mock baptism. Each of these teach us about the devil and his followers. But, the point here isn’t the mechanics of how the devil possessed the serpent, or how an ordinarily mute animal spoke, but that we learn that the devil is a wily enemy to both God and us.
Then what this crafty devil does first of all is attack their trust in God’s Word. He tramples on God’s order that the husband is the spiritual head of the household. He is apathetic to what misery will be wrought for all humanity. The devil’s boldness flies in the face of his Creator and Master
“He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1b-5)
The devil questions God’s truthfulness and he questions God’s good intentions for His creatures. Our first parents, formed in innocence by the hand of God Himself, were tempted and sinned. They sinned, not merely by breaking God’s rule, but by breaking faith with Him through disbelieving His Word. Even from this primordial world, “man has lived by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) The very definition of a right relationship between Creator and creature is on the basis of taking God at His Word.
But sin changed all of that. When the first doubt was planted in the heart of Adam and Eve, they now had another authority—themselves. The question of what was good had a new answer: “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”
That is what humanity—and we ourselves each day—have been wrestling with ever since. Do we take God at His Word, or look for another authority that tells us what our corrupt hearts want to hear?
The devil consistently attacks the truthfulness of God’s will and His goodness toward us. This is the root of why immorality persists and increases. This is why there are so many religions in the world and even divisions within the Christian Church on earth. This is why so few of the world’s population cares about God and what He says. The devil’s work is to cause people to doubt and disbelieve God’s powerful, all-creating, life-giving Word.
Do we take God at His Word or not? Alas, it’s not really a choice so simple. Every natural born offspring of Adam and Eve is born with this deafness and aversion to God’s Word. So, the story of temptation with man is a story of failings. The serpent was craftier than Adam and Eve, and deceived them so easily. Now he exercises authority over us, their children.
When we think of temptation as Christians…as human beings, it isn’t about trying to overcome the devil and make personal triumphs. If our sinless parents fell, how much worse is it for us? Listen to the diagnosis of our condition:
“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
“For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other.”
Who is able to save us from this wretched condition? Our only way out from under the devil’s thumb completely depends on this Man, facing the devil. The sole Overcomer is Jesus Christ.
Here the devil is called “the tempter” because his purpose is to lead men consistently to put God to the test (same word as “tempt”) without faith. The devil does his worst to this man, Jesus, but He consistently replies with God’s Word rightly believed.
These are the works and ways of the devil: to subtly slip in and break our faith. In Holy Baptism, and again at Confirmation, we are asked: Do you renounce the devil? Do you renounce all his works? Do you renounce all his ways? If it were up to you and your strength, you would say yes, but not be able to accomplish what these questions ask. It is only by your Baptism into Christ, the Victor over the devil, that you gain the victory.
That brings us back to the passage that we started out with: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.” The only power we have to resist and overcome the devil comes through baptismal grace. Baptized into Christ, the Son of God, we have forgiveness and spiritual victory which lasts to eternal life.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Those few words describe the most important event in all creation. You would think that the universe being created out of nothing by the Lord simply speaking His Word would, by default, be the most important. Or maybe when the Lord created humanity in His image and likeness. But no. The One through whom all things were made become one of us. Was born just like we were. Lived just like we live. Died just like we will die. So that everything else He did would be counted as ours.
Last night we celebrated the night when Jesus was born. We remembered Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and angels. This morning, the opening of John’s Gospel reveals just how much the incarnation, that is God taking on our flesh, means for all of creation. Before this, the Lord was certainly our creator. But even with His image and likeness, we were not the same. God did one thing, humanity did another. God is perfect and holy, humanity chose sin and depravity. God is eternal and immortal, humanity chose death and self-destruction. One man’s sin reflected all humanity. One man’s death meant death for all. It would take the sinlessness of God to overcome inherited sin. But only a human being could do it for it to count for us all.
And so, the Word who was with God, who is Himself also God, through whom all things were made, did something new. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. God became a human being, just like you and me.
But before that happened, the Lord first made the world ready. He set aside a people to whom He would be born. He gave them all the Law that He required us to fulfill. He had them hand it down from generation to generation. He kept those generations faithful, sometimes through only a small remnant. They were Jews.
He also turned other kingdoms into empires that would conquer all. Persians, then Greeks, then Romans. Each adding another piece. The Persians funded the temple rebuild, and the walls that let Jerusalem survive. The Greeks brought the language that would unify the nations. And the Romans gave peace and free passage to all who were within their borders. So, at the right time, God entered His creation, took on human flesh, and was born to a virgin. He was named Jesus. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
Jesus did not take a comfortable life. He did not enjoy the charmed life of those born wealthy. He did not inherit a life of power for those born into royalty. He did not inherit anything of note, except a name handed down from generation to generation. He did not live a life that only a few may know, but the life that all experience. A life of hardships, and loss, and pain. We read that “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power . . .” But He sets everything aside to be just like us. Not because He would like to fit in with us, or gain our favor. Rather that’s the only way we can be saved from our sin.
And did He ever take our death away! The spotless Lamb of God, was nailed to a cross in our place. He received the wages of our sin as one of us. He died a criminal’s death because He became one of us. He was buried alone in His tomb like we deserved. And in exchange, we are now children of God like the only-begotten Son. We stand without our sins before the judgment seat, just like Him. We have life instead of death, just like Him. Because, here’s the kicker. on the third day, Jesus stopped being dead. Not as a god freed from his humanity. Jesus rose in our humanity. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
In the flesh, Jesus left the grave. In the flesh, He appeared to Peter, the twelve, and five hundred witnesses. In the flesh, Jesus remained with them forty more days after His resurrection. And, get this, when Jesus ascended back into heaven, He did it in the flesh. Jesus still has our humanity. That means that the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, has our humanity joined in. God is no longer an other. God is one of us. Everything that is His, He has made ours.
He has made us sinless, by taking our sins away, dying with them on His cross, and forgiving our sins forever. He has made us immortal, by dying and rising on the third day. He has made us children of God by becoming our brother. He has made us heirs of His kingdom in the same way. So this Christmas Day, we rejoice. We have heard the good news. We have good tidings of great joy that is for all people. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
What would Christmas be without gifts? I mean, imagine telling your child that you’re going to celebrate Christmas, but they won’t be getting anything—no toys, no candy, no special meals, no family visits. It’s unthinkable. There can’t be Christmas without gifts! And that’s not just the voice of a brainwashed consumer. Christmas and gift-giving go together, and you can ask anyone. Even people who aren’t the least bit religious celebrate Christmas by giving gifts.
The Word of God read tonight has the language of gifts in it:
Christmas is about giving gifts because Christmas is about the God Who is giver of gifts.
I want you to think about the gifts you selected this year (or those you feel like you should have gotten). Who were they for? What kinds of gifts were they? Usually we buy gifts for people who we think are worthy of them—your favorite relatives, your friends, your boss (if he’s nice enough). Occasionally, we might give a gift if we think it will earn us some brownie points.
But what about those people who haven’t called or written all year? What about the guy who cheated you? The woman who spread lies about you all over town? The people you unfriended on Facebook? Do you buy Christmas gifts for them? I think not. They deserve a lump of coal.
Now consider how God gives gifts. Listen to Jesus, God’s Son, tell it: “43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”[2] God gives His gifts to the very people who least deserve it.
Don’t believe me? Consider your life: Your food and drink, your clothing, your spouse, your children, your health, your job, your reputation, and your country. Consider the safety you’re enjoying right now, thanks to police, paramedics, and our soldiers. Where do you think this all comes from? It is a gift from God. What if you think that’s nonsense? God still gives those gifts to you. He makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, the believer and the unbeliever alike.
But what reason could God have for doing all this good to us, regardless if we acknowledge Him or not? Giving is in His nature. You’ve heard it quoted that “God is love,”[3] and that love is expressed in what He gives: His Son, Jesus Christ, for the salvation of the world. The familiar passage from the Gospel of John says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”[4] Tonight on Christmas Eve, we hear how unto us the Son was given and laid in a manger. God’s gift is His Son, who made His dwelling among us.[5]
Yet the full beauty of God’s gift comes years after Jesus was “in a little stable.” More than once in His ministry, He told His disciples, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.”[6] At the root of the words for Jesus being “delivered up” and “betrayed” is “to give” (paradídomi). God gave His Son into death for our offenses. Jesus “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession.”
Was this gift for those who were worthy? Those who prepared themselves by their good conduct and a godly demeanor? Was it just for the people who made a decision to ask Jesus into their heart? St. Paul writes in Romans 5, “6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” While we were God’s enemies, He gave His greatest treasure to for our greatest good.
Deep down, each of us recognizes this kind of love, and we know that it’s better than being selfish. The best-loved stories aren’t those where a super-human figure wins by his might. They’re the ones about those who sacrifice themselves for others. Think of characters like Uncle Tom, Mufasa (Lion King), Gandalf (Lord of the Rings), or even Neo (The Matrix)—all of them suffered to save others. The reason we are drawn to these stories is because God made us all in His own image.
Yet even though we know this godly love, we scarcely practice it. How quickly are we ready to give up on people when they don’t appreciate our hard work? Would we gladly spend ourselves on others for no return? How many of us could persevere through a lifetime of rejection from the one we love? Think of how burdensome and stressful the holidays are for us! If we were really unselfish people, it would be a joy to receive guests and give gifts.
But that’s exactly where God comes in with His gifts. To us selfish and cold-hearted people, no matter if we grew up in church or have only come tonight, God showers us with His grace. “Glory of God in the highest, and on earth peace among those on whom His favor rests.”[7] That Christmas night, the Father gave His Son into human birth. He was for all human beings the substitute before God—the Righteous One, the One who was without sin, who didn’t wrong His neighbor, or resent God for the suffering laid on Him. In fact, He even bore sin that didn’t belong to Him; it was rightly ours. He took our sins and was betrayed, handed over, given into death in our place. He then rose from the grave as a guarantee to all who believe in Him that, by faith, they too have been washed from all their sins and will rise to eternal life. “On earth peace among those on whom His favor rests.”
In this way, you can think of God’s gift in Christ as Him taking something away from us. Jesus takes away our sins and bears the wrath they deserve. Then, in return, He gives us forgiveness, adoption as God’s children, and grants us a home in the new creation.[8] He takes from us our sinful hearts that are full of greed and selfishness, and gives us hearts where His Spirit dwells, so that our hearts become like His—loving and giving, generous and patient.[9]
And we see how that happened for the people around Jesus’ birth. The angel Gabriel declared God’s favor to Mary,[10] but she still had to bear the scorn of being thought an adulteress by her relatives and friends. She had to bear with the news that the Son of her flesh and blood was destined to unjustly suffer and die.[11] Joseph, who had been ready to divorce Mary secretly, submitted himself to God’s Word and took her as his wife. He had to defend her against slanderous attacks, raise a Son who wasn’t naturally his own, and even take his family to Egypt and back.[12]
It was the grace of God that had appeared to them, which gave them the strength to bear these burdens. They denied themselves because Jesus would also deny Himself and take up the cross of their sin, and the sins of the world.[13] They risked life and property because the Lord gave His own life to ransom all humanity and gain for them a heavenly inheritance.[14] They bore all these things without complaint or resentment because the innocent Son of God was rejected by all mankind and said not a word in rebuke.[15]
God’s Christmas gift is the very definition of grace. It starts with Him giving Jesus for our redemption, and is received by unprepared and undeserving sinners. Those who are touched by His gift are forgiven and transformed. So, then, Christmas really is about gifts, but gifts that are given in the spirit of the God who gave His greatest treasure to us—His Son, in whom we have forgiveness and eternal hope. Tonight, may God create in you a clean heart, and renew His right spirit within you. May He give you joy in His salvation and uphold you with a willing spirit, through Jesus Christ, the Lord.[16] Amen.
The Gospel for today is set about 9 months prior to the birth of Jesus. Gabriel is perhaps not gone very long. Mary, though betrothed to Joseph, would still be living at home with Mom and Dad. The Holy Spirit has only recently overshadowed her and conceived the Christ-child in her womb. She is not yet showing that she is pregnant but she probably was scared. Her parents may have even been the cause of her long trip south to visit her old aunt while they tried to figure out what to do with the news of a young daughter now pregnant. Joseph at least had the angelic message to not divorce her, which may have helped Mary’s parents come to grip with this unexpected news.
Mary, now with the Son of God in her womb, travels like the ark of old, until she reaches Judea where Elizabeth lives. When Mary enters her house, Elizabeth greets her with an exclamation reminiscent of David dancing before the first ark as it is brought into Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:16-19):
Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb!
“Blessed are you among women,” Elizabeth says, which interestingly St. Luke does not use the normal “exclaim” word here, but uses a word that was most commonly used in liturgical ceremonies involving the Ark of the Covenant. Elizabeth is worshipping her Savior, who is in the temporary ark of Mary’s womb, which is part of why Mary is blessed among all women. She is the God-chosen Mother of God.
The baby, who was miraculously conceived in this virgin’s womb, is the Son of our heavenly Father. As such, Jesus shares his Father’s nature, even as my sons shares my human nature. Jesus is fully divine; He is not only Lord and Savior but God. Since Jesus is God, and Mary is the mother of Jesus, then Mary is the mother of God. It’s that profoundly simple. “I believe that Jesus Christ—true God, begotten of the Father from eternity; and also true man, born of the virgin Mary—is my Lord…” (Small Catechism, Creed 2nd Article)
God’s favor rested on this virgin of Nazareth, for her to have such a high position. It’s just as God chose Noah for no apparent reason [Gen. 6:8] or Abraham while he was worshipping idols [Gen. 12:1], God simply chose the virgin Mary to be the flesh and blood giver of life to the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, to become human like one of us.
The God who in days of old brought forth Eve from Adam’s flesh now brings forth the New Adam from the flesh of the New Eve – “This One is now bone of our bones and flesh of our flesh; He shall be called Man, because He was taken out of woman.” [Christ Alone: Meditations and Sermons]
Chromolithograph, published in 1886.
When our first mother, Eve, ate of the forbidden fruit, all her children inherited her and Adam’s sin. Both Adam and Eve had rejected God’s Word by listening to the lies of the fallen angel, the liar who twists God’s words, and so disbelieved divine truth. Their rejection of the Word ushered in sin and death f. into our world.
How often do we do the same? We are masters of rejecting the Word of God.
God said to honor father and mother, those who have authority over us, and from every excuse we make why parent or teacher can be ignored, to every speed limit we “push”, we reject the Word of God.
God said not to steal and how often do we steal a few minutes to check Facebook or Instagram.
God said not to covet your neighbor’s wife or possessions — something the Internet helps us do both too well in the darkness and privacy of our home.
We are commanded by God to remember the Sabbath, to spend time receiving His Word, which we all too easy ignore on Sundays and other days during the week as push devotion time aside because we are so busy believing the lie that there are more important things in this life than God’s Word.
“You shall have no other gods” is the root of every rejection of God’s Word. When we give our time, our energies, our money, our devotion, our all to spouse, children, work, drugs, pleasure, fill in the idol of your own making, we reject God’s Word, just as our original parents did, just as all humanity does. No wonder David says, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.” (Ps. 51:4)
Yet, in the midst of sin and death, it was to Eve that God gave the promise that her seed would crush the head of the serpent, even as that ancient serpent would strike that seed’s heel (Gen. 3:15/Rev. 12:9). Mary is like a new and better Eve in two ways. First, Mary was the “Eve” who bore that promised seed. The child in Mary’s womb is the One who crushed our ancient foe, even as the venom of death struck Him. Christ came into the world through the Virgin’s womb, assuming the body prepared by God for Him. He came to do the Father’s will, which we cannot and have not done. Christ came to offer Himself, fully divine and fully human, as the sacrifice that takes away the sin of the world once for all. Every sin you have committed or will commit in the future, no matter who you have been, are, or will be, Christ has offered His life on the cross to save you. This child conceived in Mary, the blessed fruit of her womb, is your salvation through His death. He took your sin, your death to Himself in order to give you His life that will never end. Of this you can be assured, which brings us to the second way Mary is the new and better Eve.
When the angel spoke God’s Word to her, she believed. Her reception to that word was the reception of the Word Himself. When the archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary to tell her that she was to be the mother of the Christ, the Savior, by the power of God, she responds, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) She did not put forth a list of rational arguments about the absurd nature of such a claim. She acknowledges her place as the servant of the Lord. She takes God’s messenger at His word. She knows that God cannot lie, so anything He promises is trustworthy, even if it seems irrational or downright crazy to the human mind. As such, Mary is a model hearer of the Word of God. She shows us how we are to receive the divine message. God speaks, we hear, we believe, we confess with Mary, “I am a servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
This is further emphasized in our Gospel reading. When the Word of God now made flesh came to Elizabeth, she praised Mary for believing what God had said He would accomplish: “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” When God speaks, His Word comes with the Holy Spirit to create faith that believes His Word. This is true for you as well. There will be a fulfillment of those things which you have been told by the Lord.
And what are those things He has told you? He has told you, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” He has told you, “I forgive you all your sins.” He has told you, “Take; eat. This is my body. Take; drink. This cup is the New Testament in My blood.” The life, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ stand in your place before God. All His good and perfect works are credited to your account, and God is well-pleased with you.
It may not feel that way. Like a woman just pregnant, it may not show. But it will be fulfilled. It is true already, whether or not it feels like it or shows. You have been overshadowed by the Holy Spirit in the water of your baptism. Jesus abides in you as you eat His body and drink His blood. You belong to Him. You will be freed from all this pain, sorrow, and shame. What God has said to and about you is truer than what you or anyone else sees.
Therefore, we also join with Mary in singing the praises of God:
In Christ, Jesus God has done great things for you. He has saved you from sin and death passed on from generation to generation. The promised seed of Eve, who would save us, was found in the new Eve named Mary. God stepped down from His throne in heaven to be found in human flesh through Mary, to be her Lord and Savior, to be my Lord and Savior, to be your Lord and Savior. The Jesus born of Mary, the Jesus who bore Mary’s sin, who bears your sin and mine— this Jesus is yours and you are His. As Mary received the Word of God and believed it, so you receive the Word of God and believe it. God grant you this by the power of His Holy Spirit. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
