The Transfiguration of Our + Lord
Celebrating the Sanctity of Human Life
February 21^st, Year of Our + Lord 2024
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, South Dakota
God’s Special Dirt Makes People Special

Audio of the sermon is available HERE

   “Moses, Moses, do not come any nearer!  And take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”  Thus spoke the LORD God Almighty from the Burning Bush, revealing why the festival of the Transfiguration of Our + Lord is a most excellent day to celebrate the sanctity of human life.  For it is Jesus, the Angel of the LORD, who sanctifies, or makes holy, human life.  Indeed, He redeems and sanctifies the whole creation, which groaned under the burden of sin.  Jesus has come down to our dirty, broken world, and makes it holy ground again.  And so we rejoice, and we uphold the value of every human life, for which Christ Jesus gave His all.  

   Holy ground.  From the Burning Bush the LORD warned Moses he was standing on
holy ground.  Ground set apart and dedicated for God’s loving purposes.  Holy ground.  In Hebrew, Adamah Qodesh.  Which is so cool, don’t you think?   It’s been weeks since we’ve learned any Hebrew, so I’m sure your eager to unpack Adamah Qodesh this morning.   

   Qodesh is the noun form of the adjective which the Four Living Creatures sing as they fly around the throne of the Almighty:  Qadosh, Qadosh, Qadosh, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD God Almighty.  Qodesh is a noun, which means the quality of holiness, of being dedicated, set apart for God’s purpose. 

   Ground in Hebrew is adamah.  And if you’re thinking you hear an echo of a certain famous someone’s name, you’d be right.  The LORD God formed Adam, the man, from the dust of the adamah, the ground.  Man was formed from the ground, Adam from the adamah.  God’s fondness for inspiring plays on words in the Bible began already in Genesis 2, and continues throughout the Good Book.   

   The Angel, or Messenger of the LORD comes down and occupies the bush on Mt. Horeb, where Moses was tending sheep.  The presence of the Angel makes the bush burn, but does not consume it.  This flaming mystery served to attract the attention of Moses, to draw him near, in order that he might hear and deliver the LORD’s message to Pharaoh. 

   But not too near.  The presence of God’s Messenger made the ground, the dirt beneath and around that bush, to be holy, special, set apart for God’s purpose.  And of course anything taken and used by the LORD will also be made sinless, since He is without sin.  Holiness includes and presupposes sinlessness.  So the sinner Moses bowed his head to the ground and took off his sandals.  

   This Angel, this Messenger of the LORD does a mysterious thing:  He speaks as God Himself.  Moses is afraid to look at the bush, for he is afraid to look at God.  Somehow sent from the LORD, and yet also being the LORD, this Messenger is more fully revealed on the Mount of Transfiguration.  Jesus (whose name, btw,  means “the LORD saves”), took Peter, James and John up on the holy mountain and revealed a bit of the glory that was hidden within His flesh.  The Son of Mary is the New Adam, the New Man, who is also God.  And so, from His flesh shines forth glory, the glory which gives light to heaven.  The glory of God was always present in the flesh of Jesus, but it was normally hidden.  The Lord at the Transfiguration revealed His glory, for a few moments, to Peter, James and John.   

   The Transfiguration kicks off Jesus’ march toward Jerusalem, where He would rescue His people from the dominion of Sin and Satan.  This is much like the encounter some two millennia earlier, when God met Moses at the Burning Bush, to kick off the Exodus, God’s rescue of His people Israel from the wicked domination of Pharaoh.  This similarity makes sense, since truly, the Exodus and the Passion of Christ are two stages in the same story, one prophetic and foreshadowing, the other messianic and fulfilling.  The first shows God’s Way of restoring His fallen humanity, and the second finishes the project.

   Adam, made from the adamah, had brought curses down, on himself, and every other part of God’s good creation.  The very ground, the adamah from which he was formed, was cursed because of Adam’s sin.  But God loves the ground; He loves His whole creation.  Amazingly, God even loves us, the sinners who invite all the tribulations and struggles that we see in the world.  The ground is cursed when we sin, when we abandon God’s holy, special, set-apart will for our lives, and instead chose our own way, thinking we can live independently from the Creator.  Adam did it first, and we all have naturally followed in his way.  By our nature, we cut ourselves off from the only source of life, the only source of goodness and love, and make ourselves unholy. 

   Which is the height of foolishness and the greatest tragedy.  For the LORD is the great I AM.  He is not some petty god, like Zeus or Thor or Osiris, pretend gods who are subject to error and failure and defeat.  I AM who I AM, declares God, the One Being from whom all other beings, all other existence, flows and depends.  The One Source.  The One True God, who always has been and always will be.  Our existence, and our happiness, now and for eternity, depend entirely on Him. 

   So Adamah Qodesh, holy ground, is decidedly good news.  For at the Burning Bush the Holy, Holy, Holy LORD God Almighty began to show that He is willing to get down into the dirt, to come down to His own adamah, in order to put right everything that Adam and Eve, and the rest of us, have made wrong.  The ground re-made holy, as the LORD works to remake and sanctify fallen humanity.         

   This glorious truth of God’s complete commitment to our rescue is revealed on the Mount of Transfiguration.  This is who Jesus of Nazareth is: the eternal Son of God, who entered time and took on flesh from the Virgin Mary.  Jesus came to rescue humankind, by joining Himself most intimately, and forever, to our race. 

   Human life has dignity and value simply because God is our Creator, we are fearfully and wonderfully made.  But even more, we are sanctified, made holy.  We have the highest value in God’s eyes, because Jesus became our Brother.  Jesus honored our species by becoming one of us: in His humanity, like us in every way, except without sin, but in His divinity, in His God-ness, utterly higher and greater, the Source and Author of life, now also a Man, the New Adam. 

   The Transfiguration gives us a special window into why Christians are “for life.”  Every human life has value, is worthy of love and protection, because Jesus came for every human life.  He came to shed His blood which covers all sin, all the sins of all the people, from Adam and Eve down to you, and you, and me.  

   At the Transfiguration, three of Jesus’ Apostles glimpse Jesus’ glory, which would help them as they followed Jesus on the long, dark road to Golgotha.  To be sure, knowing Jesus held the glory of heaven within His body must have made His suffering and death that much harder to understand.  But on the third day, glory returns. 

   Jesus left the Tomb with a glorified heavenly body, which He revealed now and again, over 40 days, to His chosen Apostles and disciples, that they be restored and forgiven and empowered to carry His message of repentance and mercy to the ends of the earth. 

   And so, we Christians live differently.  I for one, as an American citizen living on the ground in 2024, am tempted to depression about the coming year, and the mud that is sure to fly politically.  Hopefully nothing worse than mud will fly.  Our nation and our polity seem frayed and brittle.  Violence between neighbors and nations, fighting over internet memes and worthless patches of ground, is on the rise.  I pray the Lord will bring us through this year without major troubles, but I’m not confident that this is His will.  Enough said.  I have my worries, and you have yours.  But as Christians, we know better.  The One who revealed His glory on the Mount and fulfilled His glory on the Cross now rules in heavenly glory, at the Father’s right hand.  The events in this world are not beyond His control.  We know how this all ends, for each individual believer, and for the Church in total. 

   We may suffer.  We may have to live through uncertain and even dangerous times.  But my future and your future, the future of Christ’s Church is absolutely secure, secure in the nail-scarred hands of the New Adam, Jesus our Savior.  Even now He is interceding for us before the throne of heaven, guaranteeing our future glory, by His victorious reign.  And so we Christians lift up our heads.  Trusting in the wonderful future that is ours, we are bold to speak and act and even sacrifice for other human lives.  Because our life is guaranteed glorious.

   Freed from fear by the Ascended Christ, Christians also see others with the eyes of Christ, who came to be the Savior of all.  We learn to value others specially, selflessly, faithfully.  To be sure, loving our fellow man is not always easy.  We ourselves are not, on our own account, all that loveable.  But we are not lovely or loveable on our own account; we are lovely to God, beloved even, because we are joined to Jesus Christ by Baptismal faith.  And the Spirit who drew us to Christ is capable and is seeking to draw all men, women and children to Jesus.  And so, let’s pray to the Lord of the harvest to impress us with a bountiful multiplication of His Church.  Let’s even dare to fight for life, with truth and love, to fight in the public square, and in our private lives.  Let us ask God to make us as innocent as doves and as shrewd as serpents, as we fight against the wolves who devalue and seek to end innocent lives.   

   Nineteen months ago, in the Dobbs decision, the Supreme Court ended the deadly tyranny of a nationalized “right” to unfettered access to abortion throughout nine months of pregnancy.  This was a good thing.  But we should not have been surprised that the enemies of life have fought back fiercely.  States with strong pro-death movements are even promoting abortion tourism.  Human life is still devalued in much of our society and the world.  Abortion is hardly the only threat to the sanctity of human life.  The fight has changed, but it goes on, just as it has since the Garden of Eden.  Sadly, this fight will continue until the Father calls time, and the Son returns on the clouds in glory. 

   And precisely because the fight goes on, our opportunity to be part of God’s rescue continues.  In the midst of death, there is life, because of Jesus.  In the midst of the sometimes brutal struggle for life, there are always opportunities for the Holy Spirit to use our words, our confession of Christ and His glorious love for life, to convert our enemies, to bind up the broken-hearted, to give new life and joy to the hopeless.  

   And so, God grant that we Christians continue to be about the work of loving life.  We are eternally optimistic because Jesus is risen and reigns on high.  We are continually compassionate, because God has poured out His compassion on us.  We are hopeful in the midst of troubles, because in Jesus, we have perfect hope. 

   As Peter, James and John hid their faces on the holy ground of the Mount of Transfiguration, they received strength for their journey, through their glimpse of Jesus’ hidden glory.  That was great.  But, as Peter writes, we have something more sure, the prophetic Word, the Holy Scripture, which tells the finished story of Jesus’ victory.  This prophetic Word, the Word of Christ, has the power to save. 

   In His Word and in His life, Jesus has declared us holy.  Today, He continues to make the dusty ground of this troubled world to be holy, wherever and whenever His Gospel is spoken, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.   

Seeking God's Glory, Rightly - Sermon for the 2nd Sunday after Epiphany

The Second Sunday after Epiphany                                   
January 14^th, A+D 2024
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, SD
Seeking the Glory of God, Rightly 
Amos 9:11-15 and John 1:43 - 2:11 

Episode Audio available HERE.

   Wine can be glorious.  Or, it can be a problem.  Wine can be a problem, but that sure isn’t how the Holy Spirit tends to speak about wine in the Bible.  Much to the dismay of some of my Baptist friends, a close reading of Scripture will reveal that for every passage which warns against abusing wine, there are three others in which God speaks about joy and paradise and eternal salvation through the language of enjoying good wine. 

 

   As in our reading from Amos this morning: “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it.”  That sounds like a lot of vino!  Or consider our Gospel, in which Jesus manifested His glory, revealing just how great life with Him would be, by producing gallons and gallons of the best wine. 

    Wine can be a problem, because we do not always handle it well.  The nature of a sinner is that we are capable and sadly prone to abusing the good gifts which God gives us.  But our frailty and perverseness do not change the goodness of God’s gifts.  The Lord’s desire is to have us with Him forever, “rejoicing with exceedingly great joy.”  A celebration, a super party, if I dare use the term.  Rich food, even a feast of fats, and wonderful wine, these are among the good gifts mentioned again and again when the Bible describes God’s eternal celebration.  God the Father is the host of the heavenly wedding feast, and He is the cheerful Giver of every good gift in this world, despite our tendency to misuse them.  Our sin cannot change the essential goodness of God, nor of His gifts.  And so, the believer’s desire to enjoy God’s gifts, even to enjoy His glory, isn’t essentially wrong, no matter how prone we are to mess it all up.  

    Moses gave us one famous example of the right way to seek the highest, most glorious gifts of God, without sinning.  In Exodus chapter 33, Moses expresses his desire to see God’s glory, to see His unveiled face.  Moses spoke with God face to face, but there was always something that shrouded God’s presence: a pillar of fire, a pillar of cloud, etc.  Moses wanted to see God’s full glory, to see His face directly.  Which is the right goal to have, because it is God’s goal that we bask in His glory, in heaven, before His throne, forever and ever. 

    All in God’s good timing.  But, Moses didn’t want to wait.  However, and this is crucial, Moses made his request with humility, and in obedience: “Please show me your glory.”  The LORD went on to explain this could not be, no sinful man could see God’s face and live.  But God would tuck Moses into a cleft in the rock, and then let him see all His goodness pass by.  Finally, He would let Him see His back.  Which is all pretty glorious, by earthly standards, even though not the full glory of the LORD God Almighty.  Moses, in faith and submission, sought a wonderful thing.  He did not receive his precise request, because he couldn’t, not yet.  But God was happy to give Moses a very great gift.       

    The examples of God’s people pursuing God’s good gifts in wrong ways are too numerous to count.  The men of Babel ignored God’s instruction to fill the earth, and instead tried to gather everyone into one mega-city, where they would make a name for themselves by building a tower into heaven.  Getting into heaven and having a good name are both worthy goals, but neither can be a do-it-yourself project for sinners. 

   Any name we make for ourself, however impressive it may seem to our friends and neighbors, is stained by our sinful thoughts, words and deeds.  If we try to force our way into God’s glorious presence, that will not end well.  So, to protect mankind from mankind’s misguided desires, God came down and confused their languages, forcing them to abandon their tower and scatter around to fill the earth, as the LORD had instructed. 

    Abraham and Sarah desired the fulfillment of God’s promise that they would have a child, despite their old age.  But they doubted that God could really make this happen, since Sarah had been unable to have children her whole life, and now she was old.  So, Sarah gave Abraham her maid Hagar as a concubine, and Abraham agreed.  They thought Hagar could have a child who would somehow truly be Sarah’s.  Their surrogate mommy plan didn’t work out so well.  Sarah became intensely jealous and spiteful to Hagar and her baby.  Their plan brought strife and pain into the family, not promise.  And yet, despite their faithlessness and sin, God did not abandon His promise.  By God’s grace, Sarah did conceive and bear a child, the old-fashioned way, with Abraham.  In joyful laughter, they received the promised son, Isaac, through whom the People of God and the Savior of the world would come. 

    Tamar’s desire to have a baby was also good.  She was the daughter-in-law of Judah, Abraham’s great-grandson.  She was also twice a widow, of Judah’s two oldest sons, both of whom were evil, worthless men, and the LORD put them to death.  Tamar was frustrated that Judah didn’t follow through on his obligation and promise to give her his third son as a husband, and so she was left childless.  Tamar had been wronged.  But her method of achieving the noble and wonderful goal of motherhood left quite a bit to be desired.  She took advantage of Judah’s sinful nature, disguised herself as a prostitute, and became pregnant by Judah.  Both Judah and Tamar failed to live out their sexuality as God intended.  It’s all a terrible mess.  But here’s the crazy thing.  God did not approve of their sin.  Nevertheless, He overcame their sin and gave Tamar not just one child, but twins.  From one of them, Perez, the human lineage of the Messiah would flow.  Tamar too, along with Judah, is an ancestor of Jesus our Savior. 

    The first human king of Israel, King Saul, sought the blessing of the LORD before entering into battle.  But Saul was impatient, and did not follow God’s instruction to wait for Samuel the Prophet to come and make the offering to the LORD.  Saul sought a good thing, the blessing of the LORD upon the armies of Israel.  But he did not do things the way the LORD had instructed.  Even though Samuel had told him to wait, Saul made the sacrifice himself, taking upon himself an office and a task the LORD had not bestowed.  Saul showed his lack of faith, and the LORD withdrew His favor from him.  He instead chose David, a man after God’s own heart, to replace him on the throne of Israel.      

    Sadly, there seem to be far more examples of God’s people pursuing good things in an ungodly way than there are of the faithful pursuit of God’s blessings.  This is true in the Bible, and if you look around, in our lives as well.  And even still, despite what we have earned again and again by our “do it my own way” approach to Christian living, God does not and will not abandon His promises.  Nor will God discard a good thing, just because we sinners abuse it.  God grant that we trust His promises, and also grant that we arrange our daily lives in keeping with His good plan and provision. 

    In our daily lives, we are free to pursue good gifts, but always with the greater gifts first in our minds.   Pursuing God’s good gifts, be they children or a good living to support your family, or a fine bottle of wine to enjoy with a special meal, such pursuit is good and right for Christians.  But, we are called to pursue these good gifts only in ways that are in keeping with God’s Way, His Order, His Plan. 

    A few examples:  We rejoice to come to God’s house and be treated kindly and graciously by our Good Shepherd.  Violence and coercion are fruit of the Fall into Sin.  God is love, and, while He has battled fiercely to defeat the power of Satan, He does not coerce us, or mistreat us, despite what our sins deserve.  Then we are sent out to make our way in the world.  If we who gather to receive the mercy of God turn around during the week and speak harshly, deal cruelly, and make our way by brutality and force of will, our witness is not Christian.  Jesus said: They will know you are Christians by your love.  If instead to get by we seek to dominate, and give scorn and insult, then who are we, really? 

     To pursue a good income, a good salary, but to do so by working and dealing in a less than honest way, is an insult to God, who placed His good name upon you in your Baptism. 

    To support your family by working hard, or to seek some recreation together out in God’s creation, both of these are fine and good.  But not if work or play end up keeping you or your loved ones away from the services of God’s house.  For it is here, among God’s gathered people, that God has promised to come and distribute His greatest gifts: forgiveness and new life in Christ.  Here is where God invites you to approach His glory.  A rich earthly inheritance or a thousand vacation photos will mean nothing to you or your loved ones, if in getting them you cut yourselves off from the inheritance Christ has for you in God’s eternal glory. 

    And don’t get me started about Christians who say they can just read their Bible at home, that they don’t need to be part of a Christian congregation.  Jesus makes us members of His Body when He saves us, and the Body of Christ is the Church.  Obstacles may sometimes prevent some Christians from regular Church attendance, others end up entirely unable to attend.  But other people stay away because they find gathering with God’s people, (a bunch of sinners), to be distasteful or tedious.  They prefer to go it alone.   When I get the chance, I always ask such people where in the Bible they heard God commending this idea of “lone-wolf” Christianity.  Spoiler alert, it’s not in there. 

    Thinking our faith can survive just fine, while we despise gathering with our local congregation, or while we live in an un-Christian manner, these are dangerous ideas.  Such thinking and living can easily morph into an idol, a self-made religion that twists God’s Truth, eventually twisting it into a lie that cuts one off from Christ.       

     Oof.  Heavy stuff.  Between all the bad examples in Scripture and the frailty of us Christians today, it’s a good thing we have the examples of Nathanael and Mary to bookend with Moses’ good example that we started with.  Because Nathanael and Mary both help us understand how we are to seek God’s good and glorious gifts, and also give us a window into the unrelenting will and drive of God to deliver on His Promises. 

      I always wonder what Nathanael might have been thinking about while he sat under that fig tree.  His conversion is amazing.  One moment he doubts anything good could come from Nazareth, and the next he declares Jesus to be the Messiah and the Son of God.  And his conversion seems to be triggered by a fairly minor miracle, that Jesus “saw” him under the fig tree.  Was there something about Nathanael’s thoughts under that fig tree, some message from the Holy Spirit, which prepared him for a sudden conversion to faith at Jesus’ words?   

    St. John doesn’t tell us.  But Jesus does promise Nathanael much greater visions of God’s glory, and takes him along to the wedding at Cana, where He began to manifest, to reveal His glory, through the miracle of water made wine.  And Nathanael demonstrates how a true Israelite, a true believer, lives: he follows Jesus.  He accepts the simple invitation to “come and see,” and then he follows Jesus.  (BTW, that’s not a bad outreach plan.  We could simply invite skeptical people to “come and see” Jesus, coming into our midst through His Word and Sacrament, and then we can pray and encourage and trust that Jesus, through His word, will make them His followers, new disciples.)  

     Finally, there’s Mary.  Because she knows the great things the Lord had done for her, she trusted in His goodness and power to help anyone with anything.  Her heart goes out to the newlyweds at Cana, who will suffer public embarrassment if more wine is not quickly found for their wedding banquet.  She does not tell her Son what to do, but simply presents the problem to Him, and waits.  Jesus, for some reason that would require a whole other sermon, tells her the request is badly timed.  But God loves to give, to help, and Mary knows this.  So she tells the servants, literally the deacons, to do whatever Jesus tells them. 

     And what do we learn?  First, God is love, and as His disciples, we are free to ask Him for big things and small things, trusting that whatever form His answer takes, it will be the best.  Jesus’ answer will be glorious, a little window into the future glory that Jesus is preparing for all true Israelites, all His true believers, all His Christians. 

    Second, in the day to day, we are wise to listen to Mary and do what Jesus tells us to do, even if it seems foolish or impossible.  Fill six big jars to the brim with water?  Why?  Stick with my husband or my wife, despite all the challenges?  Can there really be lasting joy in marriage?  Gather to hear some feeble preacher speak God’s Word, and then kneel to eat and drink a bit of stale bread and a sip of sweet wine?  How can that do anything?  Dare to simply invite people to “come and see Jesus?”  How could that ever make a difference?   

      These seemingly foolish things make all the difference.  They are joyful and glorious, because through them, Jesus chooses to manifest His glory.  Through them, Jesus draws our eyes up and away from our worries and foolish pursuits, and fixes our eyes on the culmination of Jesus’ glorious ministry.  Which, to our great surprise, was revealed on a Roman Cross.  High and lifted up, the despised and dying Jesus was in truth finishing the way for us to access God’s glory.  And so, it is finished.  In Christ crucified, eyes of faith can finally see the face of God, loving sinners, unto forgiveness, resurrection, and eternal life.  In, with and under the Bread and Wine, eyes of faith know that at this Table, Christ feeds us with the Good News of His glorious forgiveness and salvation. 

     Jesus Christ, crucified and resurrected, is the glory of Israel, the Promised descendent of Abraham, Sarah, Tamar, Judah and King David.  Look to Him, trust in Him, follow His Word, day by day.  And the Peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, unto life everlasting, Amen.  

My name is Simeon, and I rest in Peace - Sermon for the 1st Sunday after Christmas

First Sunday after Christmas, December 31^st, A + D 2023
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
My name is Simeon, and I rest in Peace - Luke 2:22-40
 Podcast Link

Merry Christmas! 

     How nice to be here with you today! As always, it is a pleasure to gather around Christ Jesus, the Anointed of the Lord, the Savior of the world, and the Glory of Israel.

     My name is Simeon. Yes, that Simeon.  I was in the Temple when the Holy Family came to perform
everything according to the Law of Moses. My fame, thanks to Saint Luke, comes from the blessing of having been in the presence of Christ, of holding Him in my arms, when He was just 40 days old.  This was the fulfillment of a promise I received from the Holy Spirit, that I would not see death before seeing the LORD’s Christ.  Oh, how I looked forward to that day, so eager to see the Savior, and then leave this life, in peace and joy.  

     I know this makes me unique, very blessed by what the Lord promised and did for me. But I was not the only one waiting for the promised Messiah. Waiting for the Savior was what it meant to be a faithful Jew. Have you ever noticed the fascination we Israelites had to maintain genealogies? Already in Genesis 5:  At thirty, Adam fathered Seth. And Seth lived a hundred and five years, and begat Enosh. And Enosh lived ninety years, and begat Kenan, and on and on it goes.  But why?  Why was it so important for us to remember our ancestors and the generations?

     Certainly it is important to honor ancestors, simply because we come from them, because the Lord God worked through them to give us our existence.  But the main reason for Israel’s fascination with genealogies was always THE Descendant, the promised Seed of the woman, who would crush the serpent’s head.  Later, Eve’s Seed was further revealed  to be the Seed of Abraham, the Promised Savior of God, who would come to correct, to recreate, all that was shattered by sin.  We Jews tracked our genealogy in search of the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed Savior sent from God.  Through the centuries, through the birth of generation after generation, we finally arrived at the Virgin Mary, chosen by God to be the mother of the Christ, the mother of the Son of God.   

     There’s another thing I want to explain.  Luke in his Gospel calls me righteous and devout, a godly man.  And so it was, and so I am.  But don't misunderstand, my righteousness was not my achievement.  I was not always perfectly patient.  I did not always wait faithfully, without doubt or error in my thinking and hoping.  I was a sinner, like all the others.  If not, I would not have been waiting for a Savior.  I was righteous and godly by way of my faith, the faith that the Lord gave me, my trust in His Promise.

     The difference between salvation in the Old and New Testaments, between the time before Christ and after, has only to do with timing, and the fulfillment and revelation of the Divine Plan.  Whether we walk this earth before, during or after the life and ministry of Jesus, salvation is found, and has always been found, in Christ alone.  As it was for Abraham, and for Mary, as for you.  The fact that I am just and pious is entirely the consequence of God's work for this sinner, granting forgiveness and new life to me, for Jesus’ sake.  Like He does for you. Luke makes me seem exceptional, but by my own works and holiness, I was nothing special.  Uniquely blessed, yes.  But I am who I am, a sinner declared to be just and devout, only by the grace, love and action of God. 

     The truth is, it was difficult to wait, difficult to maintain a good attitude.  I mean, there were so many distractions, and temptations, that the devil tried to use to divert me from the path of faith. In the first century, we Jews, or Judahites, the leading tribe of God’s Chosen People, were living under the control of the Romans.  And don’t be fooled by the famous name for that time: the Pax Romana.  Things were generally peaceful, true.  But that peace was always and only maintained at the point of a Legionnaire’s spear. 

     Besides having Roman overlords, Greek philosophies had infected our religion. Many Jews doubted or even denied basic teachings of Moses, especially concerning the promise of life after death.  Our Temple in Jerusalem had been rebuilt by the wicked King Herod, certainly no man of faith.  We had not heard the voice of a new prophet for 400 years.  There were so many reasons to doubt God’s promises, to believe in something different. 

     Is it still the same for you? Is it easy to continue on the path of Christ?  Or do you have distractions and temptations, philosophies contrary to faith, or different attractive religions surrounding you?  I suspect it remains the same today.  Even after 2,000 years, I suppose that following in the Way of Christ is still a continuous struggle. 

     Well, let me say this, as an encouragement to you:  Now, as then, focusing on Jesus Christ and hearing His voice is the key, because He is the source of all love and wisdom, of true righteousness and piety. 

     From the fountain of Christ’s Word I drank, and I continued on the road.  I kept hearing and reading the many promises of the Messiah, and then I prayed and watched and waited for His Advent.  Through the habits of my parents, and their parents, all the way back to Abraham, through a habit of hearing the Word and walking in the traditions that God gave us through Moses, my faith survived. 

     So, there I was, waiting for a special, exceptional promise, the opportunity to see the Son of God, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we could receive adoption as sons, heirs of God’s kingdom.   How strange and tremendous it was, to have that Child in my hands, a helpless baby, who, I knew, was also the very LORD God Almighty, made to be a human.  

     What a great moment for an old man.  I was ready to leave the fight of this life; I didn't really want to continue.  But in that moment, as I hugged the Infant Jesus, I realized that, although tired of life, I did not so much care anymore whether I lived or died.  With the Author of Life in my arms, I understood that Christ is my all in all, whether I live and continue on in this broken world, or whether I die and leave all tears behind.  With Christ, both were and are wonderful options. 

     Of course, the only suitable preparation for death is to find and know the Christ, or rather, to be found and known by Him.  Which was my blessing.  I do not want to suggest that other faithful souls who never had the opportunity to see and touch Jesus are not saved.  The Spirit does his work, in many different situations.  From Adam and Eve to my day, no one saw the Christ, but God saved many.  But it is better, much better, to have more tangible evidence.  Like the concrete, tangible evidence I held in my arms.  And so I sang with great joy:  Now Lord, you dismiss your servant in peace ...

    I was ready, resting in peace, and trust.  But that day was not without sadness. The Word I received to proclaim, with all its joy, also had a sharp and painful side, which I proclaimed to Mary.  Jesus' saving ministry was not going to be a quiet or gentle project.  Quite the opposite.  That Child was set forth by His Father for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that would be opposed by many.  

     The false ideas that had infected Judaism would not give up their position of power without a battle.  Jesus was going to suffer a lot accomplishing His mission.  And through His suffering, a sword came for the soul of Mary, and for every person who knew and received the love of Jesus Christ, and then lived to see His Passion, the sword of watching this Child suffer unjustly, in order to give liberation and life to all. 

     This was the painful truth for Mary, and Joseph, and all the faithful. There was no other way to achieve the salvation of men.  And the saddest part is that Christ suffered not only for the sin of others, but also for my sin.  Even though God declared me to be righteous and godly by faith in His Son, the knowledge that Christ also suffered for my sins gives me pain.  Even Mary, most blessed among all women, had to face the fact that, in order to be her Savior, her Son would also suffer for her sin.  But through suffering, God brings restoration, relief, and eternal renewal.    

    Those days were spectacular, intense, unique.  For my part, the euphoria of knowing that the work was under way washed away all the pain.  And the life, death and resurrection of Mary’s Child is clearly the most important event in history, including for unbelievers and enemies of Christ and His Church.  It is no small thing that the “before and after” of Jesus Christ still determines the global calendar.  The world can say “Common Era” instead of “Year of Our + Lord” all it wants.  But Jesus is what makes the era “common,” for He came to be the Savior of all mankind. 

      It is also good that there are still so many observations of this season. Yes, I understand that many people celebrate Christmas but avoid the essential part, the meaning and real importance of the Birth of Jesus Christ.  Don't worry too much about that.  It was the same or worse in my day; the world naturally seeks to ignore and denigrate God and His work.  But there is no earthly power that can stop God's plan in Christ, and so whenever His Name is spoken, there comes an opportunity that another sinner will truly hear.  

     Yes, it was spectacular to have the Son of God in my arms, an unforgettable moment.  But in a very important way, you have it better today. I was still waiting for the consummation of His mission.  The Cross and Empty Tomb were still 30 some years away.  But you live in the Resurrection.  Today.  The sword has already pierced the soul, because the blow of Divine Justice has been absorbed, and the obstacle to our salvation has been reduced to nothing.  Now, today, even though you cannot embrace the child Jesus, He has embraced you, with glorious nailed-scarred hands. 

     The risen Lord has united you to Himself in your Baptism.  You wear Christ as your robe of righteousness, your baptismal dress, that makes you a worthy guest at the eternal wedding feast.  Today you are invited to receive His true Body and Blood, in, with, and under the bread and wine, invited to eat and drink the forgiveness of sins.  Until the new heavens and new earth are revealed, there is no more intimate connection with the Lord.  

     One more thing. I know that my song, that is, the song the Spirit gave me, has been sung from the beginning of the New Testament Church.  For centuries and centuries it has been chanted as the faithful enter the night.  I have always loved that.  But I really like what you Lutheran Christians did a hundred and fifty years ago, in your liturgy.  It is very fitting how you sing my song at the end of the Sacrament.  How perfect to sing of seeing the salvation and glory of the Lord hidden in a very humble Supper, because Christ is there.  This is so much like the Lord Jesus, to hide His glory under seemingly weak and common things. 

     Thank you for the opportunity to talk with you a little today.  I know you will sing my song in a few minutes, after the Supper.  But maybe we could sing it again now, together, an old man and the people of God, rejoicing in the Savior, who has come to save us.  Sing it with me.  If you need the words or music, they are on page 199 of your hymnal.  

Lord, now lettest Thou thy servant...