“The Lord became king…when the heads of the people were gathered, all the tribes of Israel together” (Deut. 33:5)
“Who is the King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle!” (Ps. 24:8)
“The Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our king; He will save us.” (Isa. 33:22)
But they had even more often denied it:
“Is the Lord among us or not?” (Ex. 17:7)
“In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 17:6)
“We have no king but Caesar.” (John 19:15)
That day, they were being asked who their king was. They threw their lot in with Pontius Pilate and Tiberius Caesar. Hardening their heart, they forgot this: “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever” (Ps. 146:3-6)
There will be times when we will be asked whom we are loyal to: Either to Him who has delivered us from sin, death, and hell, or people who promise an earthly kingdom of contentment and peace.
But like the people who threw their lot in with Egypt or Rome, they will be disappointed because the power of those rulers is only for a time. Their glory is a façade which one day will be ripped away. And who will they meet when this world passes away, but the true King?
They can try to strip Jesus of His kingship, but they don’t have the power to do this. We too, can harden our hearts and try to get out of His reign, but it’s only delaying the inevitable. To this King has been given the authority to judge the earth—to judge rulers, and to judge every person.
Repent before it is too late. Bow before the true King of the universe. “Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” (Ps. 2:10-12)
The rulers of this world are no lasting help! Put not your trust in President Biden or Donald Trump, in the power of AI, or the social contagions of each year. These have no power to save at the last, and whatever power they exercise now is not theirs, but has been entrusted to them from above for a time.
We have heard once again tonight what this King has done for the sake of His rebellious subjects who would not honor him. What happened to the Israelites and the hard-hearted Jews has been written for our learning. May it wake us up from our slumber to consider the right fear of God the King. He desires all to be saved, but only through faith in His Son: His holy, innocent suffering and death, His rest in the tomb, and His glorious resurrection and ascension.
The King will return, His holy angels with Him, and His judgment will be carried out:
3 The books are opened then to all, A record truly telling What each has done, both great and small, When he on earth was dwelling, And ev’ry heart be clearly seen, And all be known as they have been In thoughts and words and actions.
4 Then woe to those who scorned the Lord And sought but carnal pleasures, Who here despised His precious Word And loved their earthly treasures! With shame and trembling they will stand And at the judge’s stern command To Satan be delivered.
5 My Savior paid the debt I owe And for my sin was smitten; Within the Book of Life I know My name has now been written. I will not doubt, for I am free, And Satan cannot threaten me; There is no condemnation! (“The Day is Surely Drawing Near” LSB 508:3-5)
At the hour of our death and in the day of judgment, good Lord, deliver us!
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Passover, God provided salvation from death by the substitute of another. But this couldn’t be the fullness. No lamb could take the place of a person, for how had a lamb sinned and deserved a bloody death? The crude whole-roasted lamb, whose blood set the people free, ultimately could not our place.
At that time, the Lord was present among His people in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. And even though He mighty acted on behalf of His people, He was still far removed from them, “For man shall not see me and live” (Ex. 33:20).
What mercy God showed in that he didn’t remain as far removed as a lamb is from a person!
The great love of God could not stay distant—God remembered His mercy, He saw our affliction, and God knew [Gen. 8:1; Ex. 2:25]. It moved Him to come near, even more so than seeing the cruelty of the Egyptians.
The Lord, who once delivered His people with a metaphorical “mighty hand and an outstretched arm” (Deut. 5:15) then did so concretely. To His people—suffering in the flesh and harassed by the devil, sin, and death—He came as Immanuel, God with us.
Behold this Lamb of God, by whom He saves not just the sons of Israel, but takes away the sins of the world. He came in our flesh to be condemned for our sin, to suffer our death. For He was not as far removed as a Lamb, but He became our brother, yet without sin. He was like us in every way, except sin (Heb. 2:17). Therefore allegorically, He is the true spotless Lamb whose blood shields us from destruction.
Unlike those bloody sacrificial lambs whose ashes were discarded outside the camp, Christ the Lamb of God has risen over death as its master. This is the Lord God who has joined Himself to us. He says, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20), and indeed that is truer than it was for His ancient people, Israel. His living Word is spoken in our congregation, His benediction is upon us and our children, His Baptism unites us with His death and resurrection, and—especially on this night—are we comforted and strengthened by His Body and Blood, broken and shed for us.
Here’s how Martin Chemnitz explained this heavenly and saving union:
“Our body is the body of death, but in that same body of ours which the Son of God assumed from us, death was again destroyed. Although our sins have separated us very far from God (Is. 59:2), so that we have been alienated from the grace, righteousness, and life of God (Eph. 2:12), yet the Son of God has brought very close to us those heavenly blessings which had been removed far from us (Eph. 2:13-19)…
Moreover, in His Holy Supper He joins Himself to us in that flesh, so that we may be strengthened by this most certain pledge of the salvation and glorification of our nature; for He does not blush to call us brothers. Therefore, because we are such, He also joins Himself to us in that flesh and blood (Heb. 2:14). Flesh brought death into this world and, again, the flesh of the Son of Man was given for the life of the world in order that he who eats the flesh of Christ may have eternal life. (John 6:54)” (Martin Chemnitz, Two Natures in Christ, pp. 55-56)
And that’s the whole picture of God’s deliverance. It’s not just about Him delivering us from adversity, but that He also dwells with us, giving us His peace, His strength, and His keeping with His mighty saving arm, and His hand once outstretched upon the cross for you and me. Take comfort in this meal because it is not just a symbol of a lamb, but the very Lamb of God who once was slain and now lives and reigns that we might live with Him.
At last this is how He gives us the command: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35) For Israel it was the commandments and the statutes which set them apart, and the Lord who dwelt in the midst of the congregation. But in Christ we have more: We have the Living God, who has made us people for His own possession, living in us and doing His work in the world. He has washed us in the Red Sea of Baptism, making us die to sin and live before Him. To love one another as He has loved us is the result of His dwelling in our midst. Whenever we see a coldness or hard heart in ourselves or our brothers, it must be drowned and die in our Baptism. And living in God’s abundant mercy, people will know that we belong to Him, the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
Readings: John 12:12-19 | Philippians 2:5-11 | Matthew 27:11-54
Text: John 12:12-19 (Procession Gospel)
Many of our favorite English translations label this section the “Triumphal Entry.” But this term can be somewhat misleading. The Evangelist doesn’t call this a triumphal entry, because it isn’t one…yet. It definitely has the features of the triumphal entry of a king returning from war. But there’s something missing: there has been no great battle yet, there are no captives, and the King is riding not on a horse, but on a donkey. Suffice to say, this is not the kind of triumphal entry the crowds were expecting.
Image by macrovectora on Freepik
They welcomed Jesus because they had seen the signs He had been doing: the raising of Lazarus from the dead (John 11), the healing of the man born blind (John 9), the feeding of the 5,000 (John 6), and the healing of the lame man at Bethesda (John 5). Yet all of these were signs of why Jesus had come into the world. The crowds were often blinded by the brightness of these signs, so that they were disheartened when Jesus spoke of His true identity as God’s Son, and what the Son would do to save this world.[1]
The crowd that journeyed the two miles from Bethany to Jerusalem was not misplaced in their hopes for healing, forgiveness, and resurrection—“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” These are all things which God has promised to His redeemed people. But the crowds were not expecting how Jesus would bring all of that about. John even admits that the disciples didn’t grasp the full significance of Jesus entry into Jerusalem, until after He was glorified by His death and resurrection (12:16).
Jesus would bring triumph, but not before being rejected by all His people (even His own disciples), suffering at the hands of the chief priests and Roman soldiers, lifted up on a cross to bleed and die. And all of this was beyond the understanding of the crowds.
What they could see was that Jesus was a King, very similar to Solomon, the direct son of David. His entry into Jerusalem paralleled Solomon’s, as it says in 1 Kings 1:
38Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah… had Solomon ride on King David’s mule and brought him to Gihon. 39There Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!” 40And all the people went up after him, playing on pipes, and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth was split by their noise.
The people hoped that just as Solomon unseated the illegitimate king Adonijah, so Jesus would unseat Herod Antipas. They hoped for the restoration of Israel as a powerful nation. They had hoped that this Son of David, Jesus, would restore the earthly land of Jacob to Israelite power.
Yet, by nature, none of us hopes for the sort of King that Jesus really is. Later in Holy Week, Jesus would tell Pontius Pilate that He really is a King, but “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”[2] Jesus does not conquer lands, rain down fire on His enemies, or make the streets run with their blood. His reign is established through servanthood, as Isaiah wrote,
Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.5
What kind of King would suffer such torment from His servants, and on behalf of His servants? Yet, this is the sort of King who Jesus is. But all of these things remain hidden until God makes them known to men. As Isaiah wrote in the next verse, “Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?”[3]
In eight days’ time, God would make it clear how His servant King was to triumph. By the light of the Holy Spirit, God would open the disciples’ eyes to see Jesus’ triumph and where His Kingdom is established.
Jesus truly is the “King of Israel,” as the crowds cried out on Palm Sunday. Yet He’s different from every previous king. Even Solomon, whose reign enjoyed peace, had to shed blood of wicked men. But under the reign of King Jesus, He sheds His own blood for the wicked. His rule is not temporal and it does not end in His death, as all the other kings’ rule had. In fact, His rule begins with His sacrificial death for the people, and continues in His resurrection forever and ever.
The past kings of Israel were successful based on how much of the inherited land they controlled. Yet the land which King Jesus wins for His people is not part of this decaying, cursed world. The inheritance which He wins for His faithful is the new heavens and the new earth, which shall never pass away or be taken away by force. The rule of King Jesus has begun even now, not in countries with borders, but in human hearts. Jesus says you enter His Kingdom when you are “born of water and the Spirit”[4] in Baptism. He promises that whoever thus “believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”[5] And the Evangelist John sums up His entire Gospel by saying, “these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”[6]
All of the spoils and benefits of God’s Kingdom come through the Son being offered up on the cross, the true Passover Lamb for our sins. In eight days’ time, Jesus Christ will be declared victor over the devil, victor over sin, and victor over the grave. That is His triumph and everyone who hopes in Him will never be put to shame.[7]
You who now believe in Him share in His triumph. His victory is certain and His Kingdom shall last forever. It is for you and for your children. His eternal victory has been gifted to young Dorothea, even though in and of herself she is weak and sinful. This victory has been delivered in humble means, but with the certain and powerful Word of God. You are born from above, of water and the Spirit, baptized into His death and resurrection, so that you can take up this taunt:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.[8]
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
[1] Controversy arose in John 5:18-47, John 6:22-66, John 8:31-59, John 9:8-41, and John 11:45-57
Readings: Genesis 3:1-21 | 2 Corinthians 6:1-10 | Matthew 4:1-11
Text: Matthew 4:1-11
Doctors who fight infections are all too aware that having just one weapon isn’t enough. Viruses and bacteria each respond differently to medication. Sometimes a strain comes along that refuses to respond to treatment. Then, newer, stronger, and more innovative means must be developed.
But this is never the case with the Word of the Lord! His Word endures forever (Isaiah 40:8). His Word always accomplishes the purpose for which He sends it (Isaiah 55:11). Similar to acute infections, all of us suffer from original sin and its fruits. We’re also regularly attacked by the malignant spiritual enemy of the devil. But no matter how cunning he is, he will never grow resistant to God’s Word. The Word will always cause the devil to flee, as we heard today in the Temptation of Christ.
The context helps us better appreciate the Temptation. In all three synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—Jesus’ temptation comes immediately after His Baptism. There at the Jordan, He is declared to be the Son of God. Satan doesn’t comes to congratulate Him or bow down before Him, but to try to make Jesus fall like he had made the first man and woman fall. The Serpent had gotten all mankind to fall by appealing to their reason—“sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned,”[1]
This time, the Tempter chose to appeal to Jesus’ divinity: Command these stones to become bread, throw yourself down, and gain the glory of the kingdoms of the world. Do it for your own glory (doesn’t God want to be glorified, after all?). Don’t trouble yourself with this pitiful human race. Didn’t you regret that you had made them once, anyway? They won’t appreciate what you do for them. But Jesus, the Son of God, wouldn’t have it. “If many died through one man’s [Adam’s] trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.”[2] The devil was not successful in making Jesus fall, and that victory is given to all who are in Him.
The devil tempted Jesus because He is the Son of God, and Satan like cannot stand to have any child of God not be condemned. So, he tempts everyone whom God has made His children through faith.[3] This is why St. John heard the angel say, “Woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”[4] It’s not much comfort by itself, but one way you can know for certain that you have a true faith in Christ is that you will be assaulted by the devil. You have assurance from your Lord who endured this assault with you. On the other side of His temptation, He tells us, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”[5]
No doubt, the devil is a powerful enemy over humanity. He’s still extremely cunning, and if he pulled a fast one on sinless Adam and Eve, imagine how much more he is able to hoodwink us! In our weakness, we won’t necessarily be able to put our finger on the temptation the way Jesus does in the Gospel. Yet, the effect of the devil’s work is still evident. Just like many diseases are identified by their symptoms, the devil’s temptations can be seen by their resulting sin. Take these examples:
The Tempter draws God’s children away from the Word—the only medicine that can heal them and drive Satan away. You might hear someone say they had a falling out with people at church or they have a disagreement with whoever the pastor is. Yet, when the end result is them not hearing the Word you know who’s really behind it. Satan is delighted to cause those emotional wounds to fester and bring up bad memories that drive a wedge between the sheep and the voice of their Shepherd.
In school, your children’s future can seem like such a noble goal. At work, you can feel like you’re catching up on all the things you haven’t gotten to yet. Yet, if you would rather see your children at special events and projects get done around the house, more than being in the Divine Service where Jesus is, remember that Satan promised Jesus the kingdoms of the world and all their glory.
Another of the devil’s favorite tricks is to convince you that you’re so well-grounded in your faith that you can let Bible study or devotions slide. You “passed” confirmation like you got your diploma from high school or college. Trouble is, there’s no end to the things Satan can convince you to believe when you only think you know what God’s Word says. Being a student of God’s Word is something we never ought to “graduate” from!
The devil’s tactics have not changed from the time of Adam and Eve, to the Temptation of Christ, to today. He is still the same evil angel who aims at the destruction of all who cling to God by faith. But just the same as that hasn’t changed, God’s Word is still the antidote against his temptation. St. John tells us, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”[6]The work of the devil is seen in doubt and unbelief, robbing us of the salvation which Christ brought into the world for sinners. He stirs up doubts and makes the poison of sin look sweet and harmless. But all these works are on the chopping block for the Christian. In His birth, His Baptism, His temptation, His Passion, His Resurrection, and Ascension, Jesus Christ destroys the works of the devil.
He destroyed them that day by overcoming where Adam and Eve had fallen, and standing in our place as the faithful and Holy One. He won the victory for all who believe through His innocent suffering and death, breaking the sting of sin and the power of death. He continues to overcome through the Holy Spirit in you, bringing that Almighty, life-giving Word to your mind and heart.
Unlike hepatitis B, it’s not that you’ll be inoculated by a one-time dose of the Word of God, but in each temptation, the Lord will show you His power to rescue you even in your weakness. He taught us to pray regularly: “Lead us not into temptation” and it’s good for us to recall what this means:
God tempts no one. We pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. Although we are attacked by these things, we pray that we may finally overcome them and win the victory.
That’s how we, as dearly beloved, baptized children of God withstand the devil’s assaults. He may be strong, but the Word within you is stronger—“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.”[7] Arm yourself with that Word, and believe its powerful work. We can’t praise the Lord enough for how accessible His Word is to us now. Study it, meditate on it, learn it by heart. Keep studying your Catechism. It may seem like the very basics, but it is the very Word which sends the devil running.
St. Peter, who was a fellow sinner whom Satan set his sights on, wrote to us: “8 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. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”[8] In your Lord Jesus and His words, you will be blessed, not because you can suddenly go toe-to-toe with Satan, but because he will flee from you when you have the Holy One guarding your heart and mind.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Readings: 1 Samuel 16:1-13 | 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 | Luke 18:31-43
Text: Luke 18:31-43
The theme for Quinquagesima is “Grace is not easily understood” and you could broaden that to say that “God’s ways are not easily understood.”
In the lesson from 1 Samuel, we saw that God’s choice for king of Israel is not what Jesse, his sons, or even the prophet Samuel, expected. Was that because God just wanted to keep them on their toes, guessing at what He is going to do next? Not hardly. It’s an indictment against our understanding which we prize so much. It may have been a while since any of you thought of this, but consider the word, “sophomore” for those who are in the second year of school. From the Greek, it literally translates to “wise fool,” with a definite emphasis on the latter—a fool who thinks him or herself wise.
And this is the way that God humbles us in our wisdom, as we heard recently from 1 Corinthians 1: “In the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the foolishness of what we preach to save those who believe…For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” (1 Corinthians 1:21, 25) What is the key which unlocks this wisdom of God?
Consider what happens in the Gospel today in Luke 18. Our Lord clearly predicts His passion (not for the first time):
31 And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. 32 For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. 33 And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” 34 But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.
Even though He says it in plain words, there’s this blindness—a threefold blindness that overcomes the Twelve (v. 34):
They understood (comprehended) none of these things.
This saying was hidden from them.
They did not know/understand what was said.
That is, they were totally in the dark when it came to understanding exactly how Jesus would save them and be the Savior of the whole world. It was as if they couldn’t even comprehend the sounds coming out of their Lord’s mouth as He was saying this. How ironic that those who were with the Lord day in, and day out, and yet utterly powerless to understand this crucial teaching! This is why we say today that “Grace is not easily understood” and why our Lutheran confessions explain, “[God] gives the Holy Spirit who produces faith, where and when he wills, in those who hear the gospel.” (Augsburg Confession, V)
To illustrate how this isn’t a matter of what “makes sense,” they went on to Jericho. Even though the disciples were helpless to unravel these things, the Holy Spirit granted understanding to an unexpected person:
35 As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. 37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” 38 And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Reason would dictate that those who had the most exposure to Jesus, heard the most of His teachings, would be the best informed when it comes to recognizing who He is and what He has come to do. But this chapter 18 in Luke’s Gospel is about faith receives, not what reason can accomplish. Just the very city in which this takes place carries a reputation. Jericho was the first Canaanite city the Israelites encountered (Joshua 2). Even before God’s way of conquest—marching around the city walls—was demonstrated, there was seen an unexpected believer in Rahab. James commends her as a woman of faith: “In the same way [as Abraham] was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” (James 2:25-26) The place on the way to Jerusalem, which was expected to be a place of ignorance, actually was the place where Rahab, the faithful woman, had lived.
So near Jericho, they meet another believer: a blind man who has been listening in faith about Jesus: He is the Son of David—the one seen by God not as man sees—that is to see with the eyes of faith. Just like with Jesse and his sons, God is not choosing as man would, but as God does, who works in the inner man or heart.
39 And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 40 And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” 42 And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” 43 And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God.
Those who were leading the procession of the Lord through Jerusalem ought to be the ones who had the best understanding, but instead they were trying to silence this stupid beggar. “Kyrie eleison!” He’s crying after Jesus. Doesn’t he know this will get us in trouble with Rome, who insists that we give this cry to Caesar?
But the “problem” isn’t this blind man who is crying after Jesus; it’s us, who aren’t. This physically blind man has been given eyes to recognize Jesus with the sight which truly matters: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Kyrie, eleison! He’s crying out the most simple, and yet profound prayer in the Church: “Lord, have mercy.” To our thought, it doesn’t sound like much. How could you ask the Lord for so little as to have mercy? But in asking the Lord to have mercy is to ask Him to remember more than His just judgment against us. Instead, look upon us through the blood of Jesus Christ. Look upon us in your promise to save, and be as merciful to us as possible!
Look at us and our children, and do not give us what we deserve, but what your mercy toward sinners appoints. Like blind men who can only receive what your grace pours out, give us eyes to see Jesus and your mercy upon the cross! Give us eyes to see why He goes to the cross.
Up to this point, many people have been asking Jesus to arbitrate (Luke 12:13-14), and to settle theological arguments (Luke 11:53-54). But notice the ones who the Lord answers: Those who call on Him simply saying, “Lord, have mercy upon us!” Kyrie Eleison. Through granting us repentance, God gives us an understanding which our reason can’t see: “For He will be delivered over…mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him.” Yet, how often do we think of this merely as a cold transaction between the Father and the Son for us without any connection to us?
What repentance reveals is that it is actually our own sins for which Christ suffers. We would choose for someone else to suffer instead of us bearing the punishment we deserve. Our pride mocks the Son of God who has come in order to liberate us from sin, death, and the devil. By continuing in our sins, so that grace may abound, we are no better than those who mock Him to His face saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself.” (Luke 23:35) And yet those wounds and mockery were for you. The flogging He endured is testimony to the ways we deserve to bear punishment for our disobedience to God and flagrant disregard for His stern commandments!
This grace is most difficult for us to understand, and without the Holy Spirit, all of us would be hopeless to find it! Yet, despite what we deserve, “the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” (Small Catechism, Creed, 3rd Article)
And rather than the judgment that we well know we deserve, He comes to the repentant heart with the question, “What do you want me to do for you?” [The blind man] said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” 42 And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” And here we see how the Lord answered this poor man with more than He ever imagined or deserved. He asked simply for his sight to be restored. Yet in the Lord’s answer, He answered His request and gave him all that he truly needed: “Your faith has saved you.”
This is how the Lord deals with each of us, whom He draws in humble repentance, with eyes that He Himself has opened. Kyrie, eleison, Lord, have mercy. We don’t know what we ought to ask for, but the Holy Spirit has taught us that HERE in Jesus is where to look for help. Though we sit on the darkened side of that “mirror dimly” which St. Paul describes in those rich words in 1 Corinthians 13:12, our Lord and God has given us the sight which is better. By His grace, we are given to see Jesus Christ with all His gifts: Our sins, small and great, are atoned for by His blood passion. Through Him, God the Father has made peace with us. Now, we approach Him as dear children asking their dear Father. However weak or strong we look in the eyes of man, He has given us a heart which He knows and named us as His own.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Readings: Isaiah 55:10-13 | 2 Corinthians 11:19-12:9 | Luke 8:4-15
Text: 2 Corinthians 11:19—12:9
Hearing today’s Epistle lesson is like you came to church late, while St. Paul was already deep into his sermon. In fairness to those of us who didn’t start reading at the beginning of chapter 10, I’ll catch you up to speed.
1. What happened after Paul left Corinth:
a. Paul established this congregation beginning with Aquila and Priscilla (exiles from Rome), and later Crispus and Sosthenes (former synagogue leaders) and stayed with them for over 18 months (Acts 18:1-18)
b. He continued to correspond with them [1 Cor. 5:9] in at least one letter we don’t have. What we have as First Corinthians was written about AD 55 from Ephesus.
c. Sometime after that, a group that had been upsetting the church elsewhere came in claiming to be better than the Apostle Paul, with a better understanding of the Law of Moses and how it related to Jesus. They were possibly disciples of the Judaizers or the original party moved north after the matter was addressed by the Apostles in Jerusalem (see Acts 15, circa AD 45).
III. Paul contrasts a true apostle with a “super apostle”
a.Paul is concerned for the Corinthians, that they have been devilishly deceived by smooth-talkers who come in the guise of servants of Jesus. Paul is exposing the “super-apostles” for their duplicity and seeking to profit from selling an “improved” Jesus. They claimed stronger eloquence (10:10, 11:6). They counter Paul’s free Gospel with the argument ‘you get what you pay for’ (11:7-9) and disparaging Paul because of his bodily weakness (11:9).
b. What Paul has to “boast of”—his curriculum vitae or resume—is not money, skill, and popularity. (After all, isn’t this what Satan himself promised Christ in the wilderness? Matt. 4:1-11). His boasting is not of things that “shine the spotlight” on him, but on Christ alone even while he suffers.
22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
i. It wasn’t that Paul could make promises about how their congregation would grow under his tutelage, as some do in our day. The authenticity of Paul’s apostleship came from the Lord who sent him, and its truth was hidden under many rejections and the weakness of Paul the man.
c. Paul, even though he was gifted with a heavenly vision, was not thereby made anything more than a sinful and redeemed human being. He repentantly struggled against coveting (Rom. 7), and may have suffered residual eye problems from the Damascus encounter (Gal. 6:11)
i. Even more shocking is that the Lord allowed Satan to continue to harass him so that Paul’s flesh—so prone to pride and wickedness—would be kept in submission.
7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.
d. For St. Paul (and we should expect no different), the outward evidence of our faith is not how many people we can influence, how well we can put Bethlehem Lutheran Church on the map or leave our mark in history. The success we want to be affirmed in isn’t this worldly kind.
III. Pastoral application: The Lord is working for our good in suffering, so that we may bear fruit with patience.
a. In the life of St. Valentine of Rome:
i.Valentine was a priest in Rome in the late 250’s AD, at a time when the Roman Empire was struggling to maintain its territory. They wanted to see a golden age return and were eager for whatever would bring that.
ii.At that time, since around the time of Decius (249-251), it was popular to blame the Christians for why the Empire was not prospering, and persecution was carried out in the name of “the safety of the empire”[1]
iii.Around that time, it was illegal to marry Christians. This was an order which the priest Valentine could not abide, because it came from God not Caesar. But “obeying God rather than man” (Acts 5:29) did not gain him success or popularity. It meant his arrest and eventual beheading by government officials.
b. In the walk of every Christian:
i. We’re told the verse from Philippians 4:13 , “I can do all things through [Christ] who strengthens me.” Then, we lament our failure and think our faith is inferior. We want there to be a silver bullet solution to our persistent sin, our bodily weakness, the troubled marriage, the contention at work or school.
8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
ii. When the Lord says, “My grace is sufficient for you,” He means it. His grace is enough support you through your hardship and heartache, through the temptations and failures, in the long journey of the fruit of the Spirit growing.
iii.So long as you continue to rest on His grace. If you give up on His ways and timing, you can fall into unbelief which has an end far more dangerous and unpleasant than the temporal angst and pain you know now. Continue to hope in His steadfast love, His power made perfect in weakness, shown in how He will uphold you day by day.
iv.The Parable of the Sower warns us against this faith’s enemies:
1.Satan who would love for us to forsake God and treat Him as a stranger and enemy.
2.The troubles of this passing life as if “something strange were happening to them” (1 Pet. 4:12) and those struggles were more powerful than the Lord of heaven and earth.
3.The deceit of temporal cares and pleasure of this life, a desire for these over the Lord who calls us to the life to come.
c. Our aim is that good soil, “As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.” That remaining firmly rooted in the Lord, we bear the fruit of faith in our daily life.
For the Christian, both the sorrows and the joys of this life are passing away. Neither ought to captivate us, since the Lord has given us something better: “The inheritance of the saints in light.” (Col. 1:12) This life, in its pains and pleasures, pales in comparison to what God has laid up for those who love Him.
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
[1] Cited in D.S. Potter “Persecution of the Early Church” (1992), p. 241
Readings: Exodus 17:1-7 | 1 Corinthians 9:24-10:5 | Matthew 20:1-16
Text: Matthew 20:1-16
No doubt, envy is a powerful emotion. It takes coveting up a notch, and is defined as, “painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage.” (Merriam Webster) The perception of another’s advantage is behind most tantrums from ages 3 to 83. Without envy, where would all this talk of such-and-such’s privilege come from?
Can envy in fact harm another person without them lifting a finger? Many ancient people have thought so, all the way back to the time of the Israelite Exodus. Hittites, Egyptians, and Greeks were terribly afraid of the power of the “evil eye.”
I. Belief in the Evil Eye is based on a fear of evil from outside, especially caused by envy.
a.It was believed that a look could bring a curse on another person, especially the vulnerable (pregnant women, children, the elderly). This curse would cause poor health or other misfortune. At its root, the evil eye came from envying another’s prosperity or beauty.
b. Greek philosopher, Plutarch (AD 46-119), writing just after our Lord’s ministry, tried to reason an explanation:
“Now, when men thus perverted by envy fix their eyes upon another, and these, being nearest to the soul, easily draw the venom from it, and send out as it were poisoned darts, it is no wonder, in my mind, if he that is looked upon is hurt.” (Plutarch, Quaestiones Convivales, Book V, 7.4)
c. What can one do to protect against the evil eye? Solutions range from wearing amulets and painting large eyes on objects, to special gestures (akin to “knock on wood”) and avoiding the gaze of strangers.
II.Our Lord, the God of Heaven and Earth, exposes the truth about the supposed evil eye.
a.By now, you’re probably wondering why so much about the evil eye? At the heart of Jesus’ parable today about the Kingdom of Heaven is the Master’s response to the one who has worked a full day: “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?” (v. 15). The footnote in most Bibles will offer the literal translation: “Is your eye evil because I am good?”
b. Jesus also recognizes the power of envy which the full-day workers displayed, but He says it’s root is in a different place. In the Sermon on the Mount, Matt 6:22-23, He says,
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy [generous], your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is [evil], your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
He doesn’t give the evil eye power to curse others, but makes a sad statement of one’s own condition: You are the one who suffers for the evil eye, because it means that you are filled with darkness and cut off from the life of God.
c. What of the evil eye and envy? That’s made even clearer in another place, where Jesus explains what defiles a person. In Mark 7:20-23, He says, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come…envy [the evil eye]… 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” Jesus lists the evil eye among things that come from inside our sinful heart and curse, not others, but defile us.
III. Through God’s truth coming to us, we see that our sin is the real peril each of us faces. Because of our sin, we deserve nothing but the reward of our evil hearts. Yet, God is gracious to offer what we could never merit.
a.Envy rises up in reaction to God’s goodness: “Is your eye evil because I am good?”
i.To Cain whose face fell when Abel was regarded by God. Eventually Cain’s envy led to murder [Gen. 4:1-16]. Yet even in that, God showed grace to Cain by giving him undeserved protection.
ii.To the Israelites who ungratefully rejected God and Moses, even accusing both of evil intention. Yet to this rabble, He still gave water. [Ex. 17:1-7]
iii.It was not those who worked the hardest who gained God’s favor, but those who in repentance acknowledged their fault. Grumbling is the fruit of heart’s unbelief.
b.If there is any cursing going on, it this sin of grumbling against God and the wages of death which bring us the truest misfortune. Where pagans can only worry about bad luck and poor health, the end of this curse of sin is eternal suffering.
c. The true God is not fickle like our fallen minds imagine Him. He doesn’t leave us to figure out for ourselves what amulet or incantation will ward off the consequences. His cure to the evil eye is for His Son to be cursed for us:
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:13-14)
The grace of God is higher than our ways. Our natural minds are darkened and can’t fit God’s ways into our “I deserve better” system. We envy one another, but don’t see how the evil eye is actually an accusation against our inability to save ourselves. In spite of each of our evil thoughts—while we were still sinners [Rom. 5:8]—Christ took our curse and instead gives us what He has earned: “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased.” And at the last judgment, not on the basis of our works, He will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your Master.” (Matt. 17:5; Matt. 25:21).
Readings: Exodus 34:29-35 | 2 Peter 1:16-21 | Matthew 17:1-9
Text: Matthew 17:1-9
I. The Transfiguration can best be understood in light of the cross, comparing the different features. Our desire is to stay at the Transfiguration because we’ve “arrived.”
a. Immediately before, six days before, Jesus told His disciples, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”(Matt. 16:28)
b. Is this the fulfillment of that word? No, Mount Hermon is not “where it’s at”
c.This is a mystery which the repentant thief understands: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” (Luke 23:43)
d. Rev. John Bombaro quote:
“The scene at the Transfiguration offers a strange parallel and contrast to crucifixion (Matt 27:33-54). If you’re going to meditate on the Transfiguration, you should hold the crucifixion as a sort of backdrop and terminal point. Here, on the mountain, is Jesus, revealed in glory; but there, on a hillside outside of Jerusalem, is Jesus, revealed in shame. Here his clothes are shining white; there, they have been stripped off, and soldiers have gambled for them. Here on Mount Hermon Christ is flanked by Moses and Elijah, Israel’s greatest heroes representing the law and the prophets; there on the mount of Golgotha, he is flanked by criminals, representing the level to which Jew and Gentile had sunk in their rebellion against God. Here at the Transfiguration a bright cloud illuminates the scene; there at Calvary darkness overshadows upon the land. Here Peter blurts out how wonderful it is; there, Peter is hiding after repeatedly denying he knows Jesus. Here a voice from God declares that this is his wonderful Son; there, a pagan soldier declares, in surprise that this really was God’s Son.
“The mountain-top explains the hill-top; the hill-top explains the mountain-top. We only really understand either of them when we see each side by side with the other.”[1]
e. We too are often hoping that—sometimes quite convinced—that this is the last generation, and we will not have to taste death before seeing Jesus’ coming.
II. In reality, the Transfiguration was an intermediate step. It was necessary to prepare for temporal affliction and doubt.
a.Why the Transfiguration then? Why Peter, James, and John? Why not tell anyone until the Son of Man rises from the dead? Because this “vision” was necessary to give the disciples an anchor to hold them through the Passion and death of the “Christ, the Son of the Living God” and that the “gates of hell should not prevail against [His Church]” (Matt. 16:16-18)—although it sure seemed like the gates of hell had won. It was also needed for all who “come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (16:24) The norm is the cross, God’s work hidden under suffering, weakness, and rejection; it’s not the mountaintop.
b. The purpose of the Transfiguration was clear afterward, as Peter eventually would write to the Church in the Epistle today (2 Peter 1:16-21): That the people of God would “have the prophetic Word more fully confirmed.”
III.We are in an “in-between state too” waiting for our Lord’s manifest return.
a.The vision of our Lord’s Transfiguration was sufficient to strengthen the disciples through His Passion. But there is more that happened on the Mountain: The Father spoke and said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”
b.How often were the disciples were rebuked for not believing the words of Jesus to them? Three times He foretold His coming rejection (Matt. 16:21-23; 17:22-23; 20:17-19). So, the angel at the empty tomb rebuked them (Luke 24:5-7), and Jesus Himself rebuked the disciples (Mark 16:14; Luke 24:25, 38-41). They had not “listened to Him” and look at what duplicity [Peter’s denial], doubt, and fear it had led to!
c. For us, we live in a much longer time awaiting His return. How much harder it is for us, if not for the Holy Spirit, to endure the Last Days! “19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:19-21)
IV. Christians living in the Last Days especially need to “listen to Him.”
a.How much more we need and want to “listen to Him”! It’s not just a nice option, icing on the cake of being a Christian. We daily need to be in the Word of God, hearing His voice more/louder than the world. We ignore this to our own peril. Many other things will want to “be heard,” but if we are to endure to the end, we must listen to His voice before and above all others.
b.If we are not in our Lord’s Word regularly, we will suffer much worse for our ignorance when we take our cues from our friends; what’s being thrust upon us on TV, YouTube, and Facebook algorithms; how our own flesh wants an easy way out of hardship.
c. What does being in the Word this look like? Find what works for you. Devotions are great prompts. Psalms, devotions, meditations, prayers.
> By listening to the Word of our God, we won’t be saved from hardship, but we will be equipped by Him to take up our cross and follow Him through this passing life into eternal life. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
Readings: Exodus 40:17-21, 34-38 | Titus 3:4-7 | John 1:1-18
Text: Exodus 40:17-21, 34-38
Focus: The difference between the tabernacle erected by men’s hands (even according to God’s command) is far surpassed by the tabernacle not made with hands by which the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.
Function: That my hearers would better appreciate that God showed His work through His Son in types and shadows, but in the fullness of time, He showed us His holy, gracious, and unchanging will by sending His Son in our likeness to restore His image to man.
It’s been a full year since the Exodus. The Lord has done many amazing things—bringing His people across the Red Sea on dry ground, judging Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt, bearing with Israel for 40 years of much necessary discipline.
Now on this momentous day, the Tabernacle is erected. It’s the climax of Exodus, that fulfilled the promise made to Moses before it all began: “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” (Exod. 3:13) The tabernacle is erected with all its precise design. The holy items are placed inside—the ark, the table for the show-bread, the lampstands, the golden incense altar, and the altar for the offerings. Finally, the glory cloud descends on it and remains. The Lord personally and magnificently guides the sons of Israel with His visible presence.
Nevertheless, even as incredible as this is, this was only a shadow of what God would ultimately do in order to fulfill His promise not just to Israel, but to all the human race through His Son.
1.Made by human hands:
a.God gave the schematic to Moses on Sinai (Ex. 25:9) It was constructed by skilled craftsmen of the finest materials (Ex. 31:1-11).
b.In His Son, it would not be the work of man’s hands, yet still be in human flesh. Mary, untouched by a man, conceived by the Holy Spirit through the creative Word: “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.” (Luke 1:31)
c. In His trial, this is the accusation brought against Him: “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’ ” (Mark 14:58)
II. Hidden by the veil:
a. The levels of nearness to God were hidden behind veils and screens. His glory was hidden: The veil before the ark of the testimony, a screen for the door of the tabernacle, a screen at the gate of the court around the tabernacle itself (vv. 21, 28, 33) It was delineated between the priests making the offering, the high priest, and the high priest once per year.
b. Now that God has come to us:
i.“in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Col. 2:9)
ii. He allows men to draw near\
1.crowds to press against Him: “he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, 10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him” (Mark 3:9-10)
2. Lepers to approach Him (Mark 1:40-41)
3. disciples to see His glorious face and not perish (Matt. 17:1-9, John 2:11)
III. Fellowship with God through sacrifice, washing, eating:
a. The center of the tabernacle was what brought fellowship and peace between God and His chosen people: sacrifice at the altar, washing of the body, and eating the bread and peace offerings in His presence.
b. Now that God the Son has tabernacled among us, He is the center of fellowship and peace.
i.In Him we have the once-for-all Lamb, the sin-offering for the world.
ii.We have a washing, not just of hands or feet [John 13:3-10], not even of one’s whole body, but “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 3:21)
iii. We have bread with the sacramental presence, the sacrifice brought near: “This is My Body, this is My Blood.” This is the true peace offering to eat in His presence, for by it God says, “Take eat; take drink for the forgiveness of sins. Go in peace.” [Matt. 26:26-28]
IV. The holiness of the Tabernacle/Temple has been surpassed.
16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. (Colossians 2:16-23)
a. The temple with its glory has been surpassed by the greater glory of the Word made flesh, in which the Lord tabernacles among us. The shadow has passed away, and the substance has been revealed.
b. This new tabernacle calls for a new way of approaching God, not simply in human precepts, for the Father seeks those who worship Him in Spirit and truth, who approach Him in the holiness and righteousness of His Son. This is bestowed upon you through faith. Although it is necessary to discipline our flesh, it is only by the flesh of God’s Son that we will be saved.
A blessed Christ-mass to you, in the faithful reception of the New Covenant delivered in His Body and Blood at this and every Christian altar. In the Name + of Jesus.
Readings: Genesis 3:8-24 | Isaiah 7:10-14 | Luke 1:26-38 | Matthew 1:18-25 | Luke 2:1-20
Text: Luke 2:1-14
You’ve no doubt heard it at least once so far, and maybe several times today: Merry Christmas!
Merriam Webster declared the Word of the Year—the most looked-up word of 2022—was ‘gaslighting’. They write, “In this age of misinformation—of ‘fake news,’ conspiracy theories, Twitter trolls, and deepfakes—gaslighting has emerged as a word for our time.
“A driver of disorientation and mistrust, gaslighting is “the act or practice of grossly misleading someone especially for one’s own advantage.” 2022 saw a 1740% increase in lookups for gaslighting, with high interest throughout the year.
“Its origins are colorful: the term comes from the title of a 1938 play and the movie based on that play, the plot of which involves a man attempting to make his wife believe that she is going insane. His mysterious activities in the attic cause the house’s gas lights to dim, but he insists to his wife that the lights are not dimming and that she can’t trust her own perceptions.”[1]
I don’t mean to imply that when we say, “Merry Christmas” to one another, the person saying it is “grossly misleading someone especially for one’s own advantage.” But there is a similar effect, when we’re told that Christmas should be merry. There is a dissonance between what can see and feel and what we’re told. “Merry Christmas!” which means, we should are expected to be glad about some ethereal “spirit of Christmas.” For a moment, forget all of your troubles, choke on saccharine-sweet nostalgia of days which you may or may not have had, put on a smile, and sing glad songs. It may not be insidious for us to wish “Merry Christmas” to one another, but in a time of death, economic turmoil, natural disasters, and increasing alienation, it can be a bit like the biblical proverb, “Whoever sings songs to a heavy heart is like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, and like vinegar on soda.” (Prov. 25:20)
I would like to suggest a stronger word to associate with Christmas: Joy. Joy and happiness are two related, but separate things. Joy has deeper roots than happiness, because it has to do with solid truths, not just passing circumstances. Joy has to do with faith. Happiness comes and goes, but joy endures through hardship.
A Christmas can be merry if you have peace in your family, the ability to be together (think of all the post-WWII ideals of Christmas, which now are meant to drive you to eat more cookies, drink too much, and spend more money than you have).
But even under the shadow of the death of your spouse, the long trial of bodily pain and unsuccessful treatment, the increase of inflation-driven poverty—you can have a joyful Christmas.
Why? Because light has shone in the darkness of this world. God is not disinterested, but has come to save. Peace has come to earth between God and man in the forgiveness of their sins, one who has the power to conquer the devil, and break the curse of death. It is for all who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death: the divorced and the married, those whose infirmity keeps them at home and those who take part in festivities, etc.
No matter what pop music and the retailers say, the Nativity of Our Lord is a celebration of the holy, almighty, God taking our sin and disease-ridden race and world into His own care. It is the greatest rescue mission ever done. As one hymn puts it, “For you are the Father’s Son, Who in flesh the victory won. By Your mighty power make whole All our ills of flesh and soul.” (Savior of the Nations Come, LSB 332, st. 6)
Don’t be gaslighted at Christmas, but take joy at your Savior. Celebrate that, bask in it, sing it out, in spite of the rage of sin and death against it.
