Good Food - Sermon for the 7th Sunday after Trinity

Seventh Sunday after Trinity, July 31^st, Year of Our + Lord 2022
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, Sout Dakota
Good Food – Genesis 2:7 – 17, Romans 6:19 - 23, Mark 8:1 - 9

      Good Food.  What comes to mind when I say, “Good Food?”  How about
a yellowy-pink, just perfectly ripe peach?  Momentarily firm to your bite, then juicy, sweet flesh melting into your mouth, the dribble running down your chin, a sweet drop you catch with your finger or your tongue, because every taste is to be cherished. 

     How about a crisp apple?  Just picked, crunchy and sweet on a cool fall morning, a noisy delight that pleases your tastebuds, cleans your teeth and promises good health. 

     Or fresh, warm bread, steaming just a little from the oven, maybe home made dinner rolls, pulled apart to reveal the delicious, satisfying, happy interior, full of flavor and goodness.  Good Food.   

     The man, made alive by the very breath of God, was given to eat freely from the fruit of the trees of the Garden, every tree except one, free to take and eat, and be satisfied.  He and his bride, eating Good Food for life, were even free to eat the Good Food of Life, the fruit of the Tree of Life.  In those moments of biting into wonderful food, I think we taste a hint of just how great the Man and the Woman had it, of just how good God is, how much He wants to bless us, providing for our daily bread.  Good Food that gives pure joy, a hint of Paradise. 

     God still desires to bless us with pure joy.  But finding and enjoying Good Food is more complicated for us, isn’t it?  When we find them, we love the juicy sweetness, the crisp crunch, the warm wholesomeness.  But our food is not always so good.  Having tasted some good, we are, by that pleasure, set up for a small reliving of the Fall into sin.  We taste a bit of the Fall in the disappointment of a dry, pithy peach, good looking on the outside, but almost ashy on the inside, displeasing, even making us choke a little as we bite into the coarse, gritty, ruined flesh.

  Or the apple with hidden bruises, turned to mush, rotten to the core.  Worse of course is biting into an apple and finding only half a worm.  Bread can be wonderful, or it can be stone-hard, or full of fungus, covered in mold, unfit to eat. 

     We know and long for the fresh, delicious and good, but we also know the dry, rotten and ruined.  And not just in our food, but also in ourselves. 

   We know about hunger, a little.  More common for 21^st century Americans is when disease or emotional trauma robs you of your appetite, the cancer or the depression turning your body’s signals against you, so that everything is tasteless, inedible.  We know thirst, and we know dry mouth from disease or its medicines, dry mouth that doesn’t go away even though you drink gallons, and spend half your day in the bathroom.  And there’s the thirst for alcohol that can take over, a thirst you know is killing you, and yet you still long for that drink.  

     We also know fear, that can put knots in our stomach, and drive out physical hunger.  We know physical fear, of violent men, of heights, of viruses, or of a thousand other threats, real and perceived.  We know the fear of being found out, the fear of being shamed, exposed, ridiculed.  We know fear for ourselves, and fear for others, because life is fleeting, and fragile, and our fragility frightens us, because we know something about death. 

     Some years ago, a young woman named Janae, one of my daughter’s high school basketball teammates, wrecked her pickup on the way to work and died.  Janae had played ball in college.  After college, she still loved playing so much that she come out early in the morning to play basketball with a bunch of old men.  Janae was a joyful athlete with whom I matched up frequently on the court, including just a couple weeks before her death.  One day, one moment, full of energy and talent and potential.  The next, she was gone.  I knew Janae.  You knew others.   Most of us know a list of names, lives cut short, a depressing list, far too long.  The bread of tears all around. 

     And our daily bread of tears is even broader and deeper, is it not?  Even when our fridge is full and our lives are outside the shadow of death, still, we know. Every part of our life is tainted, prone to decay and bitterness.  

     Like Work.  Sometimes work is great, and we rejoice in our vocation.  But sometimes work is monotonous, filled with strife, slowly taking our life from us, 40 or 50 or 70 hours a week. 

     Or Family.  We love our family so much, and so also suffer so much from their sins against us.  We often suffer the most at the hands of those we love.  Except when we suffer even more from our own guilt, for all the wrong we do to them. 

     Marriage.  The one-flesh union of man and wife, created by God to be our closest relationship on earth, also offers the well from which we draw the deepest hurts. 

     Guilt and Shame.  Our personal failures, those known to all, and even worse, those we alone know, and can’t tell anyone.

     Our stomachs churn, not often from physical hunger, but certainly when any of the gifts from the Garden turn moldy and rotten.  And so we hunger for Good Food, for life, real, good life, like God made it.  We think we can see it.  We can almost taste it.  But can’t quite hold onto it.  We hunger for life, for the breath of God, without which, we slowly die.  It all traces back to a piece of fruit, the one that Adam was told, “Thou shalt not eat.”  Adam sinned, for he ate.  The woman, his wife, was deceived.  And even though Adam wasn’t created to be a follower, he followed her into sin, taking and eating, eating to receive hunger, decay, sadness, and death.  For the wages of sin, as God so clearly told him, is death. 

     Jesus knew you would be starving for life, for Good Food.  Indeed, He
started His ministry with hunger, a hunger strike if you will, fasting in the wilderness forty days after His Baptism, fasting and  hungering to strike back at the serpent.  To show that One Man could and would refuse temptation, fasting to join you in your hunger, which He had come to relieve.  Jesus knew you would be starving for Good Food, and so He breathed out on the crowds, speaking and teaching and having compassion.  Jesus breathed, because that’s how we human beings speak, breathing out over our vocal chords. 

     And so Jesus, God in the flesh, breathed out, speaking words of peace, speaking of the Bread of Heaven.  Breathing out, Jesus said:   “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat.  And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way.   And he asked the 12, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.”  … And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd.  …  And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.  And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away.

     Jesus sent them away, filled with Good Food, their spirits filled with His Word of Promise, and their stomachs filled with His promise predicting bread.  For the feeding of 4,000 foreshadows the final fulfillment of all God’s promises, the final fulfillment of every hopeful meal recorded in Scripture, the final fulfillment of all of humanity’s deepest needs and hungers. 

   Having compassion on all people, Jesus, on the night when He was betrayed, took Bread, and having given thanks, transformed it into His Supper, the food and drink of everlasting life, the Body broken on the Cross, the Blood poured out to wash away the sins of the world, every sin, from Adam’s first bite, to your latest failure.  Good Food, indeed.

     And so by God’s Spirit, we hear of this Good Food, and we hunger and thirst.  We by God’s grace hunger and thirst for righteousness and forgiveness, for life with God, at His table, forever.  We hunger and thirst for righteousness, that God would fill us with His Good Food, and overcome our ongoing desire for the empty food of sin.  We hunger and thirst for righteousness, because we know and believe that Jesus Christ lived to fulfill all righteousness on our behalf, and died to suffer all punishment, in our place.  We hunger and thirst for righteousness, and Jesus feeds us Good Food, giving Himself to us, that He might then turn and give us to His Father. 

     Brothers, what can we do, when the bread of tears enters our life, again?  What can we do, sisters, when our sins and the sins of others gives us knots in our stomachs?  What can we do when the sin that entered into this world through eating leaves us with no appetite for life, no hope for satisfaction, our souls struggling to breathe?  We, the baptized believers in Jesus Christ can come and receive His Good Food, His forgiving meal, His life giving breath, breathed out through His Holy Word.  We can come and bring our spoiled rotten sins, our bread of tears, our wounded hearts, and confess them, laying them all before the altar, knowing absolutely that God will exchange them for His Good Food of Forgiveness. 

     The next time you taste something really special, I pray that you are reminded of Jesus, of His eternal gift of Good Food, prepared for you on His Cross.  Even more, I pray that the Spirit of God would create in you and in me a hunger for God’s Good Food, a daily desire to take and eat of the promises that Christ has made to us, in His Word, and in His Meal.  Taste and see that the Lord is good, and you will hunger no more, nor thirst anymore, forever and ever, Amen. 

The Last Penny - Sermon for the 7th Sunday after Trinity

The Sixth Sunday after Trinity
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Luth. Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota            
The Last Penny – Matthew 5:17-26

   Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. ²⁶ Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.     

This is the Gospel of the Lord.              

   Really?  Is this Gospel, is this good news, that our accuser can throw us in jail, until we pay the last penny of our debt?  This does not sound like good news to me.

   Of course, we remember that the word ‘Gospel’ has nuances of meaning.  Gospel’s basic meaning is simply ‘good news.’  But then we also call the first four books of the New Testament “Gospels.”   They are in total good news, but they are not exclusively filled with good news in each verse.  The whole Bible is a mixture of Law and Gospel, from Genesis to Revelation. 

    We also use the word Gospel in various ways in everyday speech:  To say something is ‘the gospel truth’ means that you swear a statement is true, whether or not the statement has anything to do with God and His teaching.  Gospel music has more to do with style than actual theological content.   ‘Gospel’ has a many possible connotations, not all meaning precisely and exclusively ‘Good News.’  Still, it is a little ironic when our reading from one of the four Gospels on a particular Sunday concludes with a strong word of law, and then I say: This is the Gospel of the Lord.  Like today:   Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.      This is the Gospel of the Lord.

   That’s ironic.  But the more important question is this: What will we do with this Word of God?  The whole teaching of Jesus that we have heard today is harsh.  Our Lord makes us very uncomfortable, saying that the entire law of God must be fulfilled, one hundred percent, without exception.  Jesus declares, “Not one iota, not one dot,” that is to say, not one letter or punctuation mark “will pass from the law, until everything has been accomplished.”  Fulfilled.  Satisfied.  100%.

    Jesus goes on to declare that your righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees, who were the basic definition of a religious person in Jesus’ time.  Think of the most pious, God-fearing religious person you have ever known.  Jesus says you must do even better, or “you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”    

    And it gets worse.  Jesus next reinterprets “Thou Shalt Not Murder” in a new and
terribly demanding way.  “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ ²² But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” 

   Angry insults and slams typify life in Jr. High and High School, but they used to be left behind by most people sometime after graduation.  Now insults seem to make up the majority of what passes for news, politics and entertainment in our digital age.  Jesus will have none of it.  All who lash out with their tongues against a brother are liable to judgment as murderers.  I think we are all in trouble.   

   Jesus definitely puts the burden of standing before the judge directly on our shoulders: Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. ²⁶ Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

   Talk about bad news for us.  For Christians equally as for unbelievers, because according to Jesus, we kill each other every day. Anger and insults are as common in our lives as food and drink. And the Lord continues the same line in the following verses of Matthew, chapter 5, teaching us about the adultery of lustful thoughts, the lying reality of our promises, and God's requirement that we love our enemies.  Jesus sharpens the law, until our hope of satisfying it is completely gone.

   Which makes me think about purgatory.  I used to think that the Church invented purgatory in the Middle Ages for financial reasons, to earn more money.  In 1517, the sale of special indulgences, that is, selling a papal authorized piece of paper that promised  forgiveness of sins, in order to reduce someone’s time in purgatory, was authorized to raise money to finish the roof of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.  The sale of these indulgences to his members was what moved Pastor Martin Luther to protest, eventually sparking the Reformation. 

   But perhaps the original motive for the false teaching of purgatory was a little better.  Still wrong, but at least trying to be more merciful.  Purgatory is the false teaching that Christians with a sin debt on the day of their death go to a place between hell and heaven, where they pay in sufferings for their remaining sins, as long as it takes to pay the last penny, and so gain entrance into heaven.  Purgatory is a non-Biblical, money-seeking heresy that contradicts the Gospel of Christ.  And it has been used to make money, surely.  But perhaps it was invented by a poor theologian who could not find a way out of the words of Jesus in Matthew 5.

   One basic problem with purgatory or any other scheme in which we must pay the last cent of our sin debt is that the divine treasury only accepts pure and perfect coins. The sacrifices made for sin must be without stains or defects. 

     It is as if the stores on the main drag here in Hill City/Custer only accepted perfectly new dollars, only bills without any wrinkles or stains. We could enter such a store with a million old dollars, but they would not be worth anything.   You know how it is: once folded, once handled by sweaty, dirty hands, a dollar bill can never be new again. If we try to somehow clean or iron the bill, its imperfections will become even more obvious. 

   And so it is with God and the payment of the debt of human sin.  In theory, we could, with enough years, perhaps a million years, suffer and pay our debt in a purgatory, if such a place existed.  It is theoretically possible, except for the fact that none of our sin-atoning work can avoid being stained by our own sinfulness. Our sacrifices are never perfect. We are like those soiled bills.  We cannot pay the last penny, or the first penny.    

   Taken seriously, our Gospel reading for today creates a quandary for us.  We must face the reality that we can never pay the last penny.   A dirty rag can’t be used to make itself clean.  Bad news, for sure. 

   But do not despair.  Jesus’ sermon today is harsh, no doubt.  Still, do not despair, because Jesus’ is not preaching about you.  His sermon is not about you, nor you, nor is it about me.  This sermon is true.  It is the word of God, and the correct interpretation of God’s Law.  And, like every word of God, it has an application for us.  But it’s not primarily about us.  First and foremost, as was his habit, Jesus is preaching about himself.

   Sometimes Jesus’ habit of preaching about Himself is obvious.  Jesus set the pattern in his first recorded sermon, when He entered the synagogue of Nazareth, and read the promises from the prophet Isaiah, promising a Savior would come, and lift up the downtrodden.  When He finished reading these promises, Jesus rolled up the scroll, and preached about Himself, proclaiming: Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.  Or again, in St. John and St. Luke, Christ Jesus explained that all Scripture, the whole Old Testament, speaks of Him and His mission. The whole Bible is Christ-centered, including the sermons of Jesus.  It is all focused on the Son of God, made man, and come to save.

   And this is good news, especially today!  Let's go back to Matthew 5 for a moment, and you'll see what I mean.  We cringe when Jesus says that "Not one iota or dot will pass from the law, until everything is accomplished.”  But listen well.  Just before, the Lord says something very important. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”  Jesus doesn’t mean He came to execute the threats of the Law on sinners.  Rather, He Himself came to fulfill the law for us, to perfectly keep the Law of God, in its entirety, 100%, down to the last iota and dot.   

   And this is exactly what He has done with his life without sin. The Author of the Law, God himself, has come down from his throne and entered our flesh, putting Himself under His own law, to fulfill it, in our place.  In Christ, the requirement of the law for good works has been fulfilled, perfectly.  So now there is no demand that you fulfill the Law in order to be saved.  For Jesus is the One who always loved, never hated, never felt an impure desire, never lied, never coveted, always loved God and His neighbor perfectly.

    And what about the requirement to love your enemies and do good to them who hate you?  This is the best part.  Because we were the enemies of Christ. 

   For our sin, for our rebellion against the good will of God, you and I were enemies of the Holy, Holy, Holy LORD.   But while we were still sinners, enemies of God, Christ Jesus, went up on the Cross, to pay the last penny, the last cent we owed to the Judge, his Heavenly Father.  Therefore, in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation, there is no debt.  It is one hundred percent paid, down to the last penny.

   This is the first part of what we call the great exchange, the wonderful trade. The Holy Son of God took away the sin of the world. All the sins of all people are totally atoned for, paid for not with silver or gold, but with Jesus’ innocent suffering and death and with His precious blood.  His blood is the pure payment, the spotless dollar bill of infinite value, and without blemish, the perfect and infinite  sacrifice of atonement that makes everything Jesus touches pure and clean.

   The second part of the great exchange is when the cleansing blood of Jesus touches you.  As in your baptism.  Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized   Christ Jesus have been baptized in his death?   For we were buried with Him by Baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. 

   Here we also discover why the Law is still so central to our lives as Christians.  Our motivation to live according to the Ten Commandments can never be to gain the favor of God, we already know the futility of this path.  No, our motivation to follow the Law of God is because, although we were without hope, in Christ we have been made alive, justified by his blood, forgiven and reborn, to live with God forever. Why would we not want to not follow the Law that has already been fulfilled for us?  The Law is clearly good, and in Christ we have been freed from its condemnation.  Now, we can dare to pursue the Law, to love God and our neighbor, without fear.

   The blood of Jesus, which is the currency of the Kingdom of God, has touched us through water and the Word.  The blood of Jesus is the authority and power of the Word of Forgiveness, the Absolution of God, in all its forms.  The Holy Spirit through His Church liberally delivers and bestows forgiveness, free and full, whenever and wherever the Gospel is proclaimed.  And, mystery of mysteries, we receive the true blood of Christ within us in the Holy Supper, the Gospel that we eat and drink.  The Sacrament is the medicine of immortality, forgiveness received by the mouth, that strengthens us for the Christian life.

   Every time we encounter the Good News of the Blood of Christ, poured out for sinners, the Spirit moves us to rejoice.  Because Jesus’ blood is the proof that our last penny has been paid.  Because of this, we are free, today, and unto eternity, free to live and to love, in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Master, at Your Word We Will Let Down the Nets - Sermon for the 5th Sunday after Trinity

Fifth Sunday after Trinity
July 17^th, Year of Our + Lord 2022
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
Luke 5:1-11

Master, at your word I will let down the nets.

   Some days before, Peter had seen a small-ish miracle when Jesus rebuked the high fever of his mother-in-law, and she was suddenly well, able to get up out of bed and serve her Guest. Peter probably also saw Jesus cast out a demon that was afflicting a man in the synagogue in Capernaum. Additionally, Peter had just heard Jesus preach a sermon from his own boat, which our Lord borrowed and converted into a temporary pulpit.

   So, after all this, when the Lord told Simon to head out to the deep water and let
down his nets for a catch, Peter answered "yes." Even though all through the previous night Peter and his companions had been fishing, without catching anything, Peter agreed to try what Jesus said.  Master, at your word I will let down the nets.

   We should try everything Jesus tells us to do. Though it often seems crazy, the word of Jesus is always a faithful guide. For example, the world for a long time has said that any sex between consenting adults is good.  “Just do it, there are no consequences.  And if there is a consequence, well, you can get rid of ‘that.’”   The world tells these lies again and again, and we are so tempted to believe it.  In recent years, the world’s perspective on sex has gotten weirder, and significantly darker.    

In contrast, Jesus has always taught us that sex is a gift from God, given for the use of married couples, a man and a woman who have publicly committed to be faithful to one another until death. 

    We have always struggled to protect sex and marriage as we should.  But the closer we can come to God’s way, the better for all, and especially for children.  As always, the way given by God is far better than the lies offered by the world, concerning human sexuality, and everything else. 

   For example, there’s work.  The world often says we work for our own interests, period, without a thought for others.  Every man, or woman, for him or herself.  But the Word teaches us that our work, beyond serving ourselves, is also a primary means by which we can love our neighbors and give glory to God.  

   Following the ideas of the world, in combination with our fallen selfishness, turns work into a burden, an affliction.  Because “I” always want more of the stuff my work earns. 

   But when we work as Jesus tells us to work, when, along with benefitting ourselves, we also seek that our work serve others, then we can find joy in each day’s labor, and rest in peace at night.

   Another lie of the devil, that fits with the world’s lies about work, is the idea that we can find joy in wealth. But Jesus tells us that He is our joy, for He is our creator and our provider.  Even more, He is our righteousness and life and salvation. What can the riches of the world offer to us, when we have the Lord Jesus?  He is our light and our salvation, we have nothing to fear, and true satisfaction.   

   Sometimes our family or friends suggest that it is better to be popular than to be Christian.  But if you make the foolish choice to pursue popularity with the world, you will soon learn how hard that is to achieve.   And even harder to maintain.  Worldly favor and popularity are fleeting.  But God through His Word, especially the Word that comes in and with the Water, gives us the acceptance that lasts forever, the divine popularity of being a beloved child of the Heavenly Father.

   Our proud flesh, our human pride, wants to say we can earn peace with God by living a good life.  And we should live right.  It’s a real blessing when people try to be good neighbors and good family members.  I’m all for it.  But true peace is impossible when sin and death still hound us.

   Jesus offers us peace, true peace, everlasting peace, in Himself, in His own God-and-man being.  He is our peace, peace with God, and each other, peace won by His blood bought forgiveness of all our sins.  This peace is what we need, and this is what we have, in Christ Jesus our Lord.

   We should ignore what the devil, the world and our sinful nature tell us. We should always listen and try to do all that Jesus tells us to do.  But we are not capable.  Truly, we are not capable of meeting God’s standard, because sin still clings to us, and God’s standard is perfection, perfect holiness.  Our reborn spirit wants to do what Jesus says, but our flesh is weak.  And so, far more than we care to admit, we do not do what Jesus tells us.

   So today let us give thanks and praise to God for the great number of fish that Peter, James and John caught that day, because through this miracle Jesus revealed His identity as God, and the purpose of His ministry, His mission.  

   Why did the eternal Son of God enter into human flesh and walk the earth, living among sinners, suffering, dying, and rising again?  It was not primarily to declare again the requirements of the law of God.  The law of God is right and true, but Moses had and still has that covered pretty well.  Jesus did not come primarily to preach the Law.  We need and cherish the Law, because it makes life livable.  But this same good Law, because of our sinfulness, kills us.  Rather than reveal the peace of God for sinners, the Law always accuses us.   

   And yet, God will fill His nets.  To do this, He sent Jesus.  And to do this today, He works through His elect, His chosen people, drawn from the same bunch of sinners that fill the world.  God works through them, through you, through your works and your words, to catch even more sinners in the net of His Church.

   This is the plan and purpose of Jesus, and it is hard to believe. It is much easier to think about doing what Jesus says, to follow the law.  This makes sense.  Even though we never succeed. But, to believe that God became a man to come into my life, to rescue me from my sins, from which I cannot free myself?  That last part is hard to admit, that I cannot even begin to save myself.  And the first part, that God became a man, for me, is hard to believe.  And then we are to believe that the Lord will use me in His mission?  This is a very strange plan.  And yet, this is who Jesus is and what He came to do.  This is what He is still coming to do. 

   Yes, today, the same Jesus who revealed Himself to Peter is also truly here, with us.  His presence is invisible, but quite real.  This is fearful. Consider for a moment: the Holy One of God is truly present here, among us.  Then remember your wasteful living, your worst moments.  Perhaps, with Simon Peter, we will fall at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinner.”

   Such self-judgment is just and true.  But Jesus will not leave you in it.  He has chosen you, and He joined Himself to you, in your Baptism.  Jesus has made you a favored child of his Father, and the Father never abandons His favored children.  In the washing of the water with the Word, you have received the gift of the Holy Spirit, who lives within you to keep your faith alive.  Faith in Jesus that receives the not guilty verdict that Christ won for you. 

   There exists a fearful possibility that we could reject the gifts of Christ, given to us through our Baptisms, and through the spoken Gospel in all its forms.  The sinner in us can still reject.  But God does not renege on his promises. 

   You, the baptized, have, right until the last day of your life, the daily opportunity to repent of your sins and return to the baptismal promises, to benefit from the forgiveness and life poured out on you in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Never forget that. 

   Also never forget that what Jesus has done for you, He desires to do for all.  The promises of Baptism, the promises of forgiveness and acceptance by God, are for all people, all who are brought to repentance.  And so, at Jesus’ word, with Peter, we let down the nets.    

   What are these “nets” we are to let down?  Well, the Spirit works Christ’s mission through His Word, the net which speaks of serving others and speaking the truth, and confessing the true God with our words and deeds.  Finally and decisively though, the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus are the content of the Master's word, the sticky part of the net.  To let down the nets is to preach Christ crucified, the power and wisdom of God.   

   The Good News of the Cross and Resurrection are the final word of Jesus, and the only effective bait to catch and save sinners.  The Word of the Cross is the central core of the net that the Apostles, and later pastors, and the whole Church use to fish, seeking more sinful men and women, in order that they too receive the Peace of Christ.

   Thank God we have been caught in the net of Jesus, and drawn into His Holy Church. We implore the Spirit to keep us safe while we are gathered, and as we go out into our daily life.  We look forward with joy to be useful laborers in the mission of Christ, which is still developing, here in South Dakota, and throughout the world.

   Let us pray:  Master, at Your Word, with Your Word, and by the power of Your Spirit, we will let down the nets. Empowered by Your Body and Blood, given and shed on the cross and received here at this altar, help us to love our neighbors and confess all that You have done for all of humanity, trusting that Your Word will never return to You empty, without accomplishing what You want, and achieving the purpose for which You sent it. Amen.

   In this prayer, in these promises, we live in peace, the peace of Christ, which passes all understanding, and that guards and protects our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, unto to eternal life, Amen.