Glory to Share – God’s Glorious Love for Human Life - Sermon for the Transfiguration of Our + Lord

Transfiguration of Our + Lord
January 25^th, A+D 2026
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Glory to Share – God’s Glorious Love for Human Life.   
Matthew 17:1-9, 2^nd Peter 1:16 – 21

Audio of the sermon available HERE.

    Glory!  Last Monday evening, Indiana University completed the greatest ever turnaround of a major college football program, going from a perennial doormat to an undefeated season and the national title in just two years. 

     As they celebrated, do you think the Indiana Hoosiers shared any of their glory with University of Miami, the team they beat for the title? 

   Glory.  There are just four NFL teams left, vying to win Super Bowl LX, the Seattle Seahawks, L.A. Rams, Denver Broncos and New England Patriots.  Will the three teams who are not crowned champion in a couple weeks still get to glory in the fact they did better than almost all the other NFL teams?  Not really.  To the victor go the spoils, in sports for sure.  The champions usually say some nice words about the rivals they defeated, but all the focus is on their victory celebration, their storied place in history.  Scenes from the losers’ locker room are typically only shown on T.V. if there are outbursts of raw emotion, lockers being punched or grown men reduced to tears, which serve, by contrast, to heighten the glory of the victors.   

   Glory.  Earthly glory in our popular culture is very much a winner-take-all affair, or at least, that’s how we portray it in the media, and around the table or through our screens, when sports fans or political junkies gather to talk about their favorites.  And here’s the weird thing: our ideas about earthly glory are both in-line with the truth about heavenly glory, and they also contradict God’s glorious ways.  Understanding the complex truth about God, His glory, and how we relate to it is challenging.  Understanding God’s way of glory is both frightening, and comforting. 

   January 22^nd was last Thursday.  Christians in the United States continue to focus on the Sanctity of Human Life on the Sunday closest to this date of the now-reversed Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision, which in 1973 legalized abortion throughout our land.  The fight for life is not over.  It will not be over until Jesus returns visibly, to end all injustice, wipe away all our tears, and usher His children into eternal life. 

   Glory.  On this combined Transfiguration and Life Sunday, we can consider glory, and grow in our understanding and commitment to God’s love for life.  Because an important feature of God’s love for life is His desire to share His glory with every human being.  Only God is truly glorious, and from eternity He has always wanted to share His glory, with you, and with every other person ever conceived.        

   Glory.  Heavenly glory is winner-take-all, and God is the winner.  Soli Deo Gloria, to God alone be glory, is true.  Anyone who, like Satan, proudly rejects this Truth will be cast into the outer darkness, forever.  God alone is glorious in Himself, and His unveiled glory is confusing and frightening.  At the Transfiguration, Jesus let a portion of His divine glory show through His human body, and Peter, James and John were scared witless.  Peter’s proposal, that he and the Sons of Thunder should make three tents, one each for Jesus, Moses and Elijah, reflects Peter’s frightened befuddlement.  The light of heaven is shining forth from Jesus’ physical body, and Peter thinks He needs a tent to hang out in?  The three disciples’ fear turned into terror when a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him. 

   Glory.  Why is even a limited revelation of God’s glory so frightening to behold?  Because in His glory, every aspect of the Lord’s being and character are fully visible.  God’s glory is not merely a brighter and more intense light than any of us have ever seen.  It is that, and much more.  God’s glory reveals the Almighty.  All power, all the energy of the entire universe, flows from God’s glory. 

   During the liberation of Kuwait, I had the opportunity to walk towards one of the burning oil wells the Iraqi’s lit off as they withdrew before the advancing Marines.  I estimated that I still about 100 yards away when I was forced to stop, because the heat was too intense to go closer.  It was really hot.  But, compared to the unveiled glory of God, that burning oil well would be like a single candle or a burning match. 

   Glory.  God’s glory also reveals His omniscience, His perfect knowledge of every thing and of every person.  The majesty of God sees right through you and me, and that is a problem, because God in His glory also reveals His purity, His sinlessness, His perfect holiness, which will destroy and cast out every being tainted with sin. 

    Every man and woman ever given a partial glimpse of God’s glory is rightly frightened, because our un-glory, our weakness and sin, make the Lord of Glory a threat to us.  For we in our foolishness again and again exchange the glory of the incorruptible God for an image, perhaps made like corruptible man - or a bird, or an animal or a bug, or we worship the image of bank account balances, or earthly prestige, or a thousand other good gifts, which we turn into idols. (Romans 1:18-23)  As Martin Luther said, “Anything on which your heart relies and depends, I say, that is really your God.”  [LC , First Part: The Ten Commandments]

   Glory.  God’s glory is way too much for us sinners to handle.  And yet, we are created by God with an innate desire for His glory.  Even someone who has never heard that there is a God, if such a person exists, is still wired to seek glory.  Usually we substitute a pale, contrived version of glory, and pour our energy into pursuing these fake copies.  And yet, we are created with a desire, and a need, for true glory. 

   This is because all life flows from the Glory of God.  There is no life without God.  In mercy and hope, then, so that human life might continue, the Lord has put up protective barriers, clouds and curtains and other veils, to shield us from His glory, and so keep mankind alive until salvation is complete.  And so we see that God in His glory also reveals His mercy, His love.  Despite our rebellion against Him, the Lord still wants to share His glory with us.  With all people.  Because God loves human life.  We are, despite our sinfulness, His favorites.  

   Glory.  The whole arc of God’s Word to us is a narrative of this mystery, this tension, that God in His glorious holiness hates sin, and yet still seeks to have people with Him in the fullness of His glory, forever.  The man and the woman in the Garden, before the Fall into sin, basked in a glorious paradise, and were growing toward the fullness of glory the LORD had planned for them.  But they made the first cursed exchange, trading the glory of God for the serpent’s lie, who said there was greater glory to be found in knowing good and evil, greater than trusting in the LORD of Glory.  The rest of the Bible, indeed, the rest of history reveals God’s plan and work to bring us sinners safely back into His glory. 

   Glory.  The life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth is the high point of the arc of God’s Word, and also its low point.  The mercy and mystery of God’s glory-restoration plan is revealed in the humble Teacher from Nazareth who visibly walked the dusty paths of Judea 2,000 years ago. 

   Powerful, wise and holy, God’s eternal Son revealed to Peter, James and John that the glory of heaven was hidden inside His physical body.  Amazing, frightening, awesome Good News!  And yet, Jesus strictly charges these three not to share this Good News “until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.” 

   Glory.  As we discussed last week from Matthew chapter 16, the understanding and presuppositions of Peter and the Twelve had already been dealt a blow when Jesus predicted His suffering and death at the hands of the Jewish priests and scribes.  Just before, Peter had been enjoying the high praise he received after he confessed Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of God.  Glorious! 

    But, when Peter then rejected the Word of the Cross, “this will never happen to you. Lord,” Jesus then rebuked Peter, calling him ‘Satan.’  Jesus warned that anyone who denied the Cross, anyone who refused to pick up their own cross and follow Him, would be cut off from God. 

   Glory.  Now, in chapter 17, up on the mountaintop, fully convinced that all the glory of heaven dwelled withing the flesh of Jesus, Peter, James and John are again forced to balance this wonderful knowledge with the promise of Jesus that He was going to be killed.  For, “as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, "Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead."”

   Jesus’ command helps us see that the purpose of bringing these three up on the Mount of Transfiguration was to make sure that they would rightly understand Who would be hanging on that Roman cross outside Jerusalem.  Because, contrary to appearances and despite what we naturally expect, the greatest glory ever revealed in this sin-stained creation was the death of the Man who is also God. 

   Glory.  The true glory of God is revealed in the scandalous, heart-breaking death of Jesus.  You see, God’s glory, His great desire, is to show mercy.  God is love, and so the highest act of love is His majesty, is His greatest glory.  And this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and gave His life as a ransom for many.  Whoever loves his life in this world will lose it, but whoever loses his life for the sake of this Gospel will preserve his life forever.  

   Glory.  Jesus hated His life in this world, even allowing it to be taken from Him.  Jesus was willing to die, in love and obedience to His Father, and in love and mercy toward you.  He has laid down His life, and taken it up again, so that, by His forgiveness, He can share His glorious resurrected life with sinners, like you and me.  This is the Glory of the Cross.  This is the glory that the Father wants to share with all people, no matter where they are in life. 

   An infant, developing in the womb?  A target for God’s merciful glory.  A baby, being washed with water and the Word?  The highest public display of heavenly glory in this world, glory hidden under a simple and common rite.  A family, doing their best to look like they have it all together, but in reality wrestling with all kinds of challenges?  Our imperfect families are God’s plan-A location for sharing His glory with sinners.  An old man, a poor man, a scruffy guy who might make you cross the street or hold tight to your possessions?  He may frighten you and me.  But he is no less a soul that God wants to bless, by uniting him with His glorious Son. 

   Glory.  What does God’s Cross-shaped glory mean for us?  For our lives?  Everything, really, but for this morning, let’s just talk about a few things.  First of all, even though our Synod is named Missouri, we know that “show me” is not the way for Christians to live.  St. Peter in his second letter wrote about that glorious moment, when, with James and John, he saw Jesus transfigured, shining bright like the sun, Moses and Elijah by His side.  Glorious.  Nevertheless, Peter is clear: Marveling about what Peter saw is not the best way to stay connected to God. 

   The world works that way: talk is cheap, seeing is believing.  But, in the glorious plan of God for our salvation, heavenly power and glory are often hidden under humble things, like mere words.  Peter recalls the Transfiguration, but then proclaims that we have something even better, more sure, “the prophetic word, 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.  

    Glory.  In the Word of the Holy Scriptures, in the Old and New Testaments, we have the very voice of God, and not just one time on a mountaintop, that we can never get to.  No we have God’s living Word whenever and wherever we want to read it or hear it.  We have in our Bibles the powerful, creative, world-sustaining, always-pointing-to-Jesus, faith-creating, wisdom-teaching voice of Christ, empowered by the Spirit, the unstoppable engine that gives life to the Church.    

   Glory.  From God’s Word we learn that in this life we will always desire glory.  We have two desires for glory, actually.  We have the righteous desire to bask in God’s merciful glory.  And, sadly, the unrighteous, sinful desire to find glory in ourselves and our accomplishments still clings to us.  Both of these desires for glory will be a part of who we are as Christians, as sinner-saints, as long as we live in this fallen world. 

   So, when glorious good things come your way, put God’s Wisdom to work.  Remember from Whom and how God’s true glory comes to us: from Christ Jesus and through the proclamation of His Truth.  Be wise as you deal with the glorious things of this world, like wealth, beauty, success, intelligence, or popularity.  Receive them and share them as good gifts from God.  But do not let them infatuate you; do not make them into idols.  Do not let them get between you and the Source of all glory, which is Christ, crucified and resurrected, for you. 

   Glory.  If earthly glory leads you astray, repent.  Turn from the ways of men and see the Way of God, revealed in the face of Christ.  Repent, and remember, God’s glory is hidden under seemingly unglorious things, like a Cross, and an old book.   

   Glory.  God wants to share the glory of Christ Jesus with everyone.  This is another way to say, God believes in the sanctity of every human life.  And so, we too love life.  We, as redeemed children of God, love babies, and families, (warts and all).  We love the elderly, and the down and out.  No one is outside God’s desire to share His glory, and so we seek to extend His sharing, through acts of mercy, and most of all, through speaking the Good News of Jesus.   

   Glory.  True glory only comes one way, the Way of Jesus, who came down from the shining mountaintop to enter the dark valley of death that would lead Him to Calvary.  And because He was glorified on that Cross, we, in and through Christ, look forward to the glory of heaven, in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.       

A Waiter, Matchmaker and Wedding Planner for Christ - Sermon for the 2nd Sunday after Epiphany

The Confession of St. Peter 
   and the 2^nd Sunday after Epiphany
January 18^th, A+D 2026
A Waiter, Matchmaker and Wedding Planner for Christ
John 2:1-11, Mark 8:27 – 35, Ephesians 5:22-33

Audio of the Sermon available HERE. 

   In the Name of Jesus, our Heavenly Bridegroom. 

   How do we conceive of the pastoral office?  How did St. Peter understand the ministry into which he was called?  How does Christ want the ministry He has given to His Church to be understood and conducted? 

    During our time as Lutheran missionaries in Spain, we knew a young man, for convenience sake we’ll pretend his name was Mario.  Mario joined our Sevilla congregation.  He had been studying at a Roman Catholic seminary to be a priest, but midway through he became convinced that the theology of the Reformation was correct.  After a time of searching, he found and joined our congregation, after studying with us and confessing the faith of Scripture, as taught in Luther’s Small Catechism. 

    Mario was interested in becoming a Lutheran pastor from the start.  Although we had a two-year membership requirement before any man could begin formally studying to become a pastor, we were happy to have Mario help out in many ways, for example, preparing for and cleaning up after services.  This was a great way to get to know him better, and let him learn more about the Lutheran way, that is to say, the Biblical way of being and doing Church. 

    Now, from April through October the weather in Sevilla, Spain varies from warm to scorching hot.  So I almost exclusively wore my “Panama” style clerical shirts, short sleeved and square at the bottom, not to be tucked in, allowing a bit more air flow, a bit cooler.  Black shoes, black lightweight dress pants, black short-sleeved “Panama” clerical shirt, my chosen pastor clothes fit the basic expectation of Spanish culture for clergy garb, and also kept me from melting in the Andalusian sun.  I could have worn a suit jacket, or any number of complicated, fancy clerical accessories.  But not me.  I treasure my right to bare arms, after all. 

    Now, one Sunday morning, Mario and I were setting up for service, and, feeling comfortable with me, I guess, Mario asked me why I didn’t dress up more, try to look fancier, wear more impressive clerical accessories.  I really didn’t know what to say, and so my reaction was basically a blank stare, I think.  I only remember that Mario pressed his point with the following:  “I mean, you’re the Bishop of the Spanish Lutheran Church, but you dress like a camarero, like a waiter in a restaurant.” 

    Mario thought my clothing made me look like a Spanish waiter.  I thought for a moment, and replied, “You’re right, I do look like a waiter.  And that’s o.k., because in many ways, that’s what I do!” 

    Mario did not like my response.  He had a certain image of what a clergyman was, from his Roman Catholic and Spanish upbringing.  Many Spaniards, especially from the left side of the political spectrum, quite despise Christian clergy.  But, in the mind of a faithful Catholic Spaniard, which Mario had been, a priest, and especially a bishop, is an important, upper class person.  And so, he should dress and act the part.  The bishop should have people serving him, and wear expensive and impressive clothes.  Mario’s conception of the ministry would prove to be a problem.  While he did pursue ordination, in the end, he was not pursuing the reality of pastoral ministry in a Lutheran mission congregation.  It didn’t work out for him; he never became one of our pastors. 

    So now Karla Efird knows why we have this photo on the bulletin cover.  She was very confused last Thursday, and I wouldn’t tell her why we were using this picture.  I have to do something to make sure she comes to church.  The funniest part is, this young man on our bulletins, modeling an all black waiter uniform for an online store, actually looks quite a bit like Mario. 

   No earthly analogy of Biblical realities works perfectly.  But thinking of a pastor as a waiter is a good one.  The congregation gathers, hungry for the bread of life.  I wonder what the main dish will be today, something from Luke, Matthew, John?  The pastor waits on the gathered guests, delivering the life-giving food of Word and Sacrament, helping to insure each “diner” receives the good meal of the Gospel that they need for spiritual health, for eternal life. 

    In fact, I once heard South Dakota native LCMS preacher Wally Schultz, long time Lutheran Hour Speaker and editor of the “Good News” magazine, speak about preachers as waiters.  He said, “When I go to the restaurant, I don’t much care what the waiter looks like, how eloquent he is, how fancy he’s dressed.  I just want the steak he delivers to be good.”  In the case of a pastor-waiter, the steak Wally referred to is God’s Word, His soul-saving message of Law and Gospel, served to God’s people through Word, Water, Wheat and Wine. 

    St. Peter had a lot of ups and downs in his itinerant seminary training.  The Gospel for celebrating his correct confession of Jesus as the Christ is a great example.  Jesus asks the Twelve who they say that He is.  Peter rightly identifies Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, the new king, the Son of David, sent to save Israel.  Who else could do the mighty miracles Jesus did?  Who else would be able to explain the Word of Moses and the Prophets so clearly? 

    Peter confesses Jesus to be the Christ of God.  But then things fall apart quickly, because Peter’s idea of what Christ and His Mission were all about was totally wrong.  Peter was up, but then he fell down.    

    Matthew’s version of the same event adds details that show Peter’s high was actually even higher than St. Mark describes.  Jesus asked who His disciples said He was, and Peter answered:  “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷ And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸ I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” ²⁰ Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.  (Matthew 16)    

     It is hard to imagine higher praise than what Jesus said to Peter.  He must have been exhilarated, flying very high.  Which made what followed devastating.  For Jesus “began to teach them that the Son of Man (that is Jesus favorite way of referring to Himself) the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³² And he said this plainly.  And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.  This always amazes me.  Peter knows who Jesus is, and yet still thinks he should correct Jesus, that he should rebuke the Son of God! 

    But he did it.  Peter pulls Jesus aside and rebukes Him.   And here it comes, for then “turning and seeing his disciples, [Jesus] rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” 

    Mario’s misconception of Christian ministry led him to correct and almost mock his bishop about his clothes.  But at least Mario didn’t rebuke the Son of God. 

    Poor Peter simply couldn’t conceive that the promised Messiah, the Christ of God, come to save His people, would be rejected by the Jewish elite and be killed. 

    It seems from the rest of the Gospels that the prophecy of the Cross always filled the disciples’ ears to overflowing, so they couldn’t hear “and after three days rise again.”  The thought of Jesus dying, of allowing Himself to be executed, was unthinkable, too terrible.  That cannot be what God would want, could it?  The disciples never could understand, let alone rejoice, in the Resurrection, until they saw Jesus, still bearing His scars, standing before them, risen from the dead.     

    To reject the very idea of the Cross, as understandable as it is, is Satanic.  It is to set our minds on the things of man, and not the things of God, and that is where the Devil wants us to focus.  God’s Way is not our way, his thoughts and plans are impenetrable to us, until the Holy Spirit opens our eyes, our hearts, our minds, to perceive that God’s strange Way is the Way of Life.  The only Way.  The Way that leads to and flows from the Cross of Calvary.  Without the Cross, the ministers of the church cannot loose sins, that is to say, without Jesus’ death, there is no forgiveness for the Church to proclaim.      

    There are lots of useful ways to conceive of Christ’s Church and the vocation of pastor, as well as the vocation of every Christian within God’s mission.  All good comparisons for understanding the reality of  pastors and congregations always keep Christ and His Cross at the center.  The Cross must be central, because it was and is the only Way for God to achieve His goal, which is to save sinners and have them living with Him in glory, forever.  A clear understanding of Christ’s Gospel will always focus on delivering this strange Good News to the people the Holy Spirit gathers. 

    To serve with the Cruciform Gospel is always the heart of a pastor’s calling.  If the suffering and Cross of Jesus and the forgiveness they bring to repentant sinners is not clearly at the center of what your pastor says and does, then you, dear Christian, owe it to him, your fellow members, and to yourself to ask why.  Someone needs to gently, or not so gently, help such a wandering pastor get back on the right path.  Because if a pastor will not stick to the Way of ministry that Jesus established, he is not serving the cause of God.  God’s people are being neglected, and sooner or later, such a ministry will end in ruin.      

    Another earthly vocation that is helpful in describing the pastoral office is that of a flight attendant.  In fact, both flight attendants and pastors are also called ‘stewards.’  Set aside for a moment that flight attendants are both men and women, while Christ has restricted the Office of the Holy Ministry just to men.  Just think about what the flight attendants do, and don’t do.  They are on a journey through the air with the people on the plane.  Flight attendants don’t fly the plane, the pilots do that.  The captain is upfront, unseen.  The attendants communicate from the pilots to the people, and they serve the people, both helping them with needs, feeding them, showing them the right way, and also directing them, to keep them safe.  “Seatbelts please.”  “Sir, I need you to sit down.” 

    There is even a liturgical connection between the work of flight attendants and pastors.  As flight attendants serve the passengers, on behalf of the pilot, they face the people, who always face forward.  If the attendants need to go to the pilot with some concern of the passengers, then they face forward, and head up to speak to the pilots on behalf of the people. 

    Liturgically, pastors follow a similar pattern.  The pastor and people are together in a vessel, traveling through time, to eternity.  The pastor is not piloting the Church; God the Holy Spirit and His two divine co-pilots have that honor.  Our Captain is unseen, but truly present.  The pastor, steward of God’s mysteries, attends to the passengers, the people who sit in rows, of pews.  On behalf of the Pilot, the Captain, the pastor serves.  When the pastor speaks to the people, on behalf of God, in the readings, the sermon, the blessings, he faces the congregation.  When the pastor speaks to God on behalf of the people, as in the prayers, he faces the front, toward our heavenly Pilot. 

   One more comparison: the pastor as matchmaker and wedding planner.  Which brings us to one of my favorite passages, the Wedding at Cana.  Marriage is God’s institution, given to mankind for our benefit, and also to fill God’s kingdom with souls.  If Adam and Eve had not sinned, growing the church would have simply meant having babies, and raising them.  Without sin, our first parents, and all their descendants, would have naturally raised their babies to know and trust God, and rejoice in His love.  There would have been no other Way. 

    But Satan slithered into the first marriage and destroyed God’s good creation, opening up the way to perdition.  The evil one successfully tempted the man and the woman to leave God’s Way, and follow him into darkness.  Curses and sadness followed.  But also, right away, God promised the Seed of the Woman would come.  All was not lost. 

    As Paul describes in Ephesians 5, Jesus has come to restore marriage.  He is the Seed of the woman, and the New Adam, the Good Bridegroom, who does all that is necessary, even giving His own life, to win back His bride, the Church.  Since the Creation, and also in His re-Creation project, marriage is important to the Christ.  So, Jesus attends the wedding at Cana, and goes out of His way to bless the newlyweds, just because His mother Mary asked. 

    Notice how our Lord works this earthly blessing through servants, ‘deacons’ in the original.  Deacons who have been given wonderful advice by Mary, in her last words recorded in the Bible:  Do whatever [Jesus] tells you.  The wedding party is saved, the newlyweds are spared embarrassment on their special day, and Jesus’ wedding-crashing disciples believe in Him.  The Twelve learn that this Teacher from Nazareth has miraculous power, starting Peter on the way to his great confession. 

    God loves marriage.  He created it as the means by which He would fill His heaven with saints.  And marriage is still essential, to life, and to Christian mission.  So, the pastor’s job has a bit of matchmaking involved.  Pastors sometimes literally play matchmaker, trying to connect single Christian men with single Christian women, for their good, the good of the Church, and for the joy of God.  This is not central to the pastor’s role, but it happens.  Pastors also support and teach about marriage, seeking to help the couples in his congregation to protect, build-up and rejoice in the marriages into which God has called them. 

    But even more essentially, pastors, serving God’s people and reaching out to unbelievers, are trying to cement a match between Christ and one more soul, who by faith becomes and lives as a member of His Body, as part of His Bride.  And the Divine Service is very much a wedding party, a celebration of the Bridegroom’s sacrificial proposal, a rehearsal for the celestial wedding reception, even offering a foretaste of that heavenly feast to come.  The very best wine possible is served here, best not because it’s Mogen David, but because, by the power of the Bridegroom’s Word, spoken over the bread and wine on the night He was betrayed, the wine we drink here is truly the blood of Christ, shed for the forgiveness of all our sins. 

    Jesus called Peter ‘Satan’ for denying the Cross.  The future Apostle’s expectation and understanding of Christ and His mission were all wrong, demonic even.  So that Peter could serve Christ’s mission for the rest his life, he had to be corrected, changed, and aligned with the shocking and life-giving reality of the Cross.  God is faithful; He completed this work in Peter.  And He is bringing this saving work to completion in you, for the great joy of having you with Him forever and ever in glory. 

    It is my great privilege to wait on your table, to help you find your seat in God’s airplane, and to oversee the joyful details of this wedding banquet rehearsal.  Together, having our conception of Christ and His salvation constantly renewed, we journey together to meet face to face with our Pilot and Captain, the Giver of the Feast, the only Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who reigns on high with the Father and the Holy Spirit, forever and ever, Amen.            

Baptism of Our Lord 
January 11^th, A + D 2026
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
Walking the Watery Way
Joshua 3:1-17, Matthew 3:13 -17

Audio of the sermon can be accessed HERE.  

   Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. ¹⁸ Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.  James 1:17-18

    Living faithfully, walking in the way of Jesus, is hard, because we can’t see the future.  And we can see all the confusion and problems and challenges of life.  We can see the struggles of Christianity, unfaithfulness in the Church, and declining numbers.  We are supposed to be bound for eternal life, but our bodies are not holding up that well.  We are supposed to be the victors, but do we see victory in our lives?  How can we walk in God’s old way, when change seems to be the one constant in our lives?  What good does being faithful do for us? 

    We might be tempted to despair, to give up hope.  We might be tempted to just live for today, to pursue pleasure, and not think about eternity.  After all, so many of the most respected voices in the world say God and heaven are myths.  So, why not eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow, who knows? 

    As he wrote to Christians who were likewise struggling to live faithfully, James, the brother of Jesus and the head of the Jerusalem Church, warns against giving in to these temptations.  Then James offers the encouraging reminder that, while our lives are full of shifting shadows, change, and uncertainty, it is not so with God.  God, the Father of lights, is the Giver of every good and perfect gift, and He does not change.  His gracious, loving, giving nature is, always has been, and always will be.  And He is our Father, because He has brought us forth, (given birth to us!) by the Word of Truth. 

    The God who does not change creates and gives life to His children, through His Word.  So, it follows that to be faithful requires that we stay close to God’s Word, that we hear it regularly, and let it have its way with us, learning from the Holy Spirit to trust that God’s Way will be good, even when it seems the opposite.  James makes this advice plain in the next sentence, where he pleads with his hearers to “receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

    God is always the Giver of good gifts; He does not change.  He delivers those gifts through His Word, most especially the gift of rebirth, of being reborn, transformed from an enemy of God to being His child.  And so, you might expect that the Holy Bible, the written repository God’s unchanging Word, would display some repetitiveness, some recurring themes, as the unchanging Father of lights works out through time His plan of rebirth and salvation.  If you have this expectation of repetition, you are right!  And, there are few better Sundays to recognize the recurring themes of God’s good gifts of regeneration and rebirth than the Baptism of Our + Lord. 

    Because God does not change, there was, already in the beginning, a foreshadowing of the scene at the Baptism of Jesus.  There in the Jordan River, after John the Baptist reluctantly administered his baptism of repentance to his Lord and cousin Jesus, the heavens were opened, and the Spirit of God descended on Jesus in the form of a dove, hovering over the waters, and from above the Father spoke: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” 

    In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters, and God said: Let there be light!  That speech of God, the Word of God, is the Son, the Light of the world, present at the creation, who would later enter into His Creation, to redeem it, to win it back from Satan, who by sin had destroyed what God created very good.  The Baptism of Jesus is the public launching of His Ministry of Re-Creation.  A new beginning, that looks like the original beginning, because God does not change.    

    At the Creation, sin and the decay and death that it brings were not present; all was new life and growth and good.  But the holy peace of the Garden was shattered, and reconciliation between God and man would require renewal and rebirth.  And so Noah and his family, eight souls in all, were rescued through water from the destruction earned by the utter wickedness of mankind, as humanity was given a do-over, a re-birth, if you will.  Later, God’s faithfulness was proved through a miraculous human birth, gifted to 100-year-old Abraham and 90-year-old Sarah.  Isaac was born, Abraham and Sarah’s son of promise, through whom all the nations would be blessed. 

    Later, baby Moses, floating in a basket in the Nile to avoid the wrath of the Pharoah, was rescued out of the water and spared, by Pharoah’s daughter.  Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer!  The little Hebrew boy rescued out of the water would become God’s deliverer, rescuing the children of Jacob from a later Pharoah’s army, leading them to pass safely through the Red Sea on dry ground.  The divinely supported walls of water then came crashing down to destroy their enemy, horse and rider thrown into the sea.  God’s chosen people were set free, through the water.  They were given new birth as the Nation of Israel.     

    Today we heard another watery victory story, with a few twists that teach us more about our unchanging Father of lights and His desire to give good gifts to His people.  In Joshua, chapter three, we are a little over 40 years past the baptism of Israel in the Red Sea.  The people’s fear and lack of faith and desire for the idols they worshiped in Egypt condemned them to 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.  All those who for fear refused to enter the land promised to them by the LORD had to die off in the wilderness, before their children and grandchildren could enter the land, to conquer and prosper.  Moses also, Israel’s deliverer and lawgiver, due to his own failings, was not allowed to lead Israel into their new home.  This task fell to his faithful right hand man, Joshua, whose name means “the LORD saves.”

    The LORD God had been present with Israel throughout the 40 years in the wilderness, veiled in a pillar of cloud by day, and by a pillar of fire by night.  After Moses had built the Tabernacle, that tent-temple was where the LORD dwelt with His people.  When the cloud and fire of His presence was above and around and in the most Holy Place, Israel stayed where they were.  When the cloud was taken up, it was time to break camp and move on, following the LORD, present in the cloud, going before them on the Way. 

    And so we see God, who has always desired to dwell with His people, arranged a way to do so, while still protecting the sinful Israelites from His holiness.  For God’s unveiled holy glory would destroy any sinner.  For this same reason, since the Ark of the Covenant was the seat of mercy, the place where God sat in the Holy of Holies, the Israelites were instructed to stay back a safe distance, 2,000 cubits, as the Ark was carried into the Jordan River. 

    The LORD had built up Moses’ credibility, with the Egyptians before their Exodus, and with the Israelites all along, by performing great miracles through Moses, most dramatic of all being the parting of the Red Sea and their escape from Pharoah’s chariots.  Now, as they prepared to enter the Promised Land, the LORD says to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you…when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.”  Through another water miracle, a variation on the Red Sea crossing, our unchanging God again delivers His people, leading them from the struggle of the wilderness to enter into a good land, flowing with milk and honey.  

    More good gifts from the Giver, the Father of lights.  And those gifts should have been enough.  This new miraculous water-crossing should have led Israel to be faithful, brave and true to follow on the “derek YHWH,” the Way of the LORD.  That’s all God was asking.  That’s all He ever asks, that His children trust Him, and follow in His Way.  But just as the leopard can’t change its spots, so also we sinners can’t erase the blot of sin; the leprosy of our sin-disease runs too deep.  Israel entered the Promised Land, but they would not walk in the LORD’s Way.  Reading the rest of their history might cause you to lose hope, to imagine that nothing could ever change.  God’s special, chosen people almost never displayed any faithfulness.  They could not change. 

    But change was coming.  It is depressing to read Israel’s history, except that the Giver kept repeating His promise to save.  From his people Israel, despite their epic unfaithfulness, the LORD promised, again and again, and with ever greater specificity, to bring One faithful Israelite, One anointed Servant, a Messiah, sent from heaven and revealed to be also Mary’s Son, come to cure Israel’s sin disease, once and for all. 

    Unsurprisingly, that anointed Servant started His ministry of salvation in the water.  The waters of the same Jordan River, to be exact.  At the Baptism of Jesus, or Joshua of Nazareth, (they are the same name), we come to realize that all of the water rescues that came before, and there are plenty more that we didn’t mention, all of those ancient water rescues were pointing to this moment, when the sinless Son of God would step into the place of sinners, taking onto Himself the sins that John had washed from them. 

    The Law of Moses, or better said, the Law of God delivered to Israel by Moses, is holy and good and right.  Anyone who keeps God’s good law will live, forever.  But Moses’ Law is of no help to us, for it always reveals our sin and accuses us in our guilt.  We need something stronger, something better.    

    Moses couldn’t lead Israel into the Promised Land, that task had to wait for Joshua.  So also, the Law of Moses, as good and right as it is, cannot save.  That task had to wait for the New and Greater Joshua, Jesus, the Christ of God.  Mary’s Son, the Father’s perfect gift to the world, He would do it all.  Perfectly fulfilling, for us, all the requirements of Moses’ Law, Jesus sets us free from fear.  The good works required of us to be pleasing to the Father of lights?  Fulfilled by Jesus.  The punishment we have earned by our sins?  Swallowed up and washed away by Jesus, in His second Baptism, the Baptism by fire that was His suffering and death at Golgotha. 

    As He promised to the John the Baptist, this is the way that Jesus has fulfilled all righteousness, for us.  In Him, we are declared not guilty, holy and good in the Father’s eyes, for Jesus’ sake.  Trusting in the work of Jesus, the Father calls us His beloved.    

    But how do you know?  How can we be sure that this great gift is really meant for us? 

 

   We know that the Father of lights accepts us as His beloved children, because He has publicly declared it.  After His devil and sin destroying death, and after His glorious resurrection from the tomb, Jesus extended God’s watery rescue, one more time.  His Baptism by John in the Jordan is combined by the Holy Spirit with His Baptism by fire on the Cross.  

    Christian Baptism is empowered by the Word of the resurrected Christ: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” 

    This is the same implanted Word that James exhorted his readers to meekly receive.  God’s Word teaches you to trust and rejoice in the adoption as sons that you received, at this font, or one like it.  Rebirth, adoption by the Father, union with Christ, death and resurrection, the gift of the Holy Spirit, forgiveness, life and salvation: the Word of Truth declares that all of this, and more, are yours in your Baptism. 

    So, how can we live faithfully, when we can’t see the wonderful future God promises to us?  How can we live victoriously, when it doesn’t seem like the Church is winning?  What good does being faithful do for us?

    Well, first we should turn that last thought around.  We aren’t faithful in order to get good from God.  No, rather, we are faithful because we know the Father of lights has already been good to us, giving us every good and perfect gift.  Then, once we get that straight, we listen to James, and see with our ears.  Receive the implanted Word, which is able to save your soul, the Word which will remind you, from Genesis to Revelation, of your unchanging Father, who loves to play in water, who rejoices to give new birth. 

    Speaking of new birth, you should also see with your skin.  Every time you wash your face, stand in the rain, take a shower, or quench your thirst, every time water touches you, remember your Baptism, where God washed away your sins and joined you to His Son Jesus, the sinless One who was baptized as a sinner, for you. 

    In Him, joined to Jesus by baptismal faith, you can walk in His Way, for He has walked that Way for you, and still walks with you, in the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.