C, Epiphany 4 - 1 Corinthians 13:4–8,13 Luke 4:22,28-29 "Love-All Victory"

1 Corinthians 13:4–8,13 (ESV) Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.  It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;  it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends.  As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.  So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Luke 4:22 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”  And all spoke well of him and marvelled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth.

Luke 4:28-29  When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.  And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 

Watching the Australian Open tennis in recent days, one wonders why the word “love” is used as the score for zero, nothing or nil.

The most logical explanation I have found, seems to be, if someone plays tennis and doesn’t win a point, they’re only playing for the love of it. 

Love is not just a tricky word for the tennis court.  Our society struggles with love.  In fact, the church even struggles with love, and has done so for the past two-thousand years.

I remember when I met my wife, we told each other we loved each other.  However, I came away and pondered, “What actually is love?  There has to be more to it than just nice fluffy feelings?”  Three decades and three children later I am still learning what love is.  It’s such a large and all-consuming topic to digest.

And so, I also ponder, “What is the opposite to love?”

To not love could be to hate, to be wrathful, to detest, abhor, despise, loathe, or dislike.  Or perhaps it could be to consider one unworthy, devalued, or to be disregarded.

Jesus stands and delivers his one sentence sermon in the synagogue at his hometown of Nazareth.  What began with words of marvel and encouragement, became wrath, to the point of his town folk taking him to the edge of a cliff to discard over the edge in death. 

The changing love of the Nazarites is a precursory event to holy week and the actions of the crowd at Jerusalem, who worshipped Jesus on Palm Sunday and had him killed on the Friday.  But it was not Jesus’ time to die amongst his own at Nazareth and are simply told, “But passing through their midst, he went away.” (Luke 4:30)

Thinking about love in the context of the Nazarite’s reaction to Jesus, I realise that both reactions were actions of love.  Jesus knew this too when they spoke well of him. 

It seems that he goes on to antagonise the locals  with stories of Elijah and Elisha who served a widow from Sidon and a lepper from Syria.  But Jesus knew their love was not love for him or his Father, but their love was for themselves, their own pleasure, their forefathers and the fatherland God had given to them.  

It's at this point I realise my love is the same as theirs.  And words of Paul ring in my ears showing me my love is impotent to say the least.

How often is human love impatient and harsh?  How much envy, and arrogance boils away within, bursting out in rude outbursts when we think no one will notice.  And when folk are within earshot the boastful desires within, are spoken to coerce others, so one gets one’s own way.  And when one doesn’t get their way, irritability and resentfulness usually become the fruit of revenge. 

Our human love seems to glorify wrongdoing and is quick to take hold of Pontius Pilate’s word of truth.  What’s true for me is good for me, and what’s true for you is good for you! 

Love is love!  But if you tell me, what I love, or, how I love is wrong, then let me show you just how ugly human love can be.  It’s as if humanity loses against itself in a love-all draw!  Love becomes nothing!

Love that quickly becomes hatred, anger, and wrath, is not the love of God!  It’s love-all to nothing without God!

Some might say Jesus acted in anger when he overturned tables in the temple!  It’s true!  He did!   However, Jesus’ anger was a holy anger based on the knowledge of God. 

Our anger, on the other hand, is based on the knowledge of good and evil, which is desire that rises from within the sinful self.  Like the Nazarite’s anger, or the angry mob calling for Jesus’ crucifixion, our anger is born from sin.  And the score is still, love-all to nothing without God!

Last week we heard Jesus finds himself amongst the people of God with God’s word, at the start of his ministry, on the Sabbath.  He was brought into the synagogue by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Even when we are most sincere in our coming into God’s presence, we come with motives far from perfect.

But despite this, when we come, the Holy Spirit struggles with the human spirit within, to bring us to Jesus.  And in the turbid mix of desires and personal demons that the human spirit loves, the Holy Spirit loves to bring true love, the love of forgiveness in Jesus Christ.

We might be led to believe we need to work for this love of God.  But that is just not true.  God is love, and in his love, there is no accusation calling for works of love to acquire God’s love.  Death and the devil do all the accusing that needs to be done.  God loves you and comes into your love-all nothingness.

All the power of human understanding, power in predicting the future, the ability to unpack the greatest mysteries of God or the world, and faith that can move mountains, is love-all to nothing if there is not love.  So how do we love God when we are defeated love-all before we even get on the court.

A community bound together in the forgiveness of Jesus Christ, is where love occurs. 

All community ideals are destroyed in Jesus Christ.  At Nazareth, and at Jerusalem, the community was exposed for its disunity and disfunction, or for its love of self.  Any grandiose dreams of loving God that Peter and the disciples had, were destroyed, and also scattered in fear when Jesus was arrested and crucified.

It seems Jesus was defeated; game, set, match, all love defeated love-all.  But Jesus defeated all love and comes to us with love that covers all.  Not a love-all defeat but a love-all victory over sin, death, and the devil.

Jesus loves us to death.  When all our desire to love God is gone, and your love is exposed for what it truly is!  Jesus loved you so much he died for you! 

Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to be your active doubles partner within.  He makes the serve and hits all the returns.  With Jesus, the Holy Spirit wins your game, and he does it even while he struggles and wrestles your human spirit within. 

The second and third members of the Trinity do this, despite your hellbent human spirit, who seeks to take issue with everyone else on the court.  Like one who thinks they know more about the game than the referee or the Creator.

The beauty of God’s love and our salvation is this: Although we and Jesus are defeated, love-all to nothing, in Jesus’ all-loving victory we too, are being, and will be, raised out of our nothingness to join in Jesus’ all-loving victory.  Amen.

Heavenly Father help me ponder the cruelty of the cross that reduced your Son to nothing.  So that we believe he daily raises us up and makes us something glorious to you.  When we should have been defeated love-all, you saved our wretched lives; game, set, and match in all-loving forgiveness.  Let your Holy Spirit bring us into this victory, let your Holy Spirit continue gathering us as a forgiving community in your victory.

Glory be to Jesus Christ, Son of God, Amen! 

C, Epiphany 3 - Luke 4:14–21 "It's Time to Come to Church"

 Luke 4:14–21 (ESV) And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country.  And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read.  And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,  to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”  And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.  And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.  And he began to say to them,“Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

This is the start of Jesus’ ministry.  And where does he find himself?  In a congregation, amongst God’s people with God's Word!  He's been brought there by the Holy Spirit.  And there he does not bring them new word but Word from Scripture which they would have heard and considered many times before.

The Holy Spirit rested on him in his baptism.  Led him into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan.  And now brings him into the synagogue to proclaim the Word of God; to fulfil the Old Testament Scriptures.

Jesus announces he is the one to bring good news to the poor; freedom to slaves and those afflicted; sight to the blind, and favour or a holy jubilee from the Lord.

But first to the pattern.  This pattern is easily overlooked!  The Holy Spirit works within a very precise structure.  He does so because he is God, he proceeds from God the Father and God the Son, and he inspired peopled to write down the Word of God.  Therefore, the Holy Spirit chooses to work through the Word of God!

All the way through his ministry, Jesus goes from synagogue to synagogue and on the Sabbath day, finds himself in the presence of God’s people and God’s Word.

In the synagogue at Nazareth, he is given Isaiah to read, and he reads from chapter sixty-one, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,  to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” (Luke 4:18–19 ESV)

When Jesus finishes the reading from Isaiah, he gives the scroll back and preaches a one sentence sermon, saying, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21 ESV)

Unfortunately, I cannot preach a one sentence sermon.  Not because I have more to say than Jesus!  But rather, because I am not Jesus.

All the Old Testament pointed forward to the Messiah.  A Messiah anointed by the Holy Spirit.  Jesus preaches a one sentence sermon, but its preface is everything written about him beforehand under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. 

But what is it the Holy Spirit is anointing the Messiah to do?

First, he is anointed to preach the Gospel to the poor.  The poor are beggars, and beggars beg for mercy.  With outstretched arms those who truly know their predicament and trust Jesus over all things will cry out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Luke 18:38 ESV)  Just as the blind beggar Bartimaeus did, when Jesus of Nazareth was entering Jericho, on his way to Jerusalem and death on the cross.

But it was not just a word of good news that the poor received, it was also release from captivity, a recovery from clouded sight, and deliverance from the madness of being overlooked.  The poor and the blind and the oppressed would have a new start in the Lord’s favour. 

This favour was greater than the jubilee of the Old Testament.  Every fifty years was a jubilee, debt was released, and people got their property back.  Here, Jesus was led by the Spirit to declare the eternal release to the poor, the captives, the blinded, and the oppressed.  All those held down by their sin and the sin of others. 

People get their life back through the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth.

Just as the Holy Spirit led Jesus, our lives in Christ are led in the pattern of the Holy Spirit.  And through the Holy Spirit’s work, we get our lives back.  The Holy Spirit wills those to trust in Jesus for sight and faith, for release from captivity and oppression, and to cry out for mercy!  The Holy Spirit wills us with his pattern and we see the pattern at work in Jesus.

What is the pattern of the Holy Spirit for you?  What is the Holy Spirit’s will for you?

We get a glimpse of what it is when Jesus sends out the seventy-two followers and they return to him having been given power over Satan.  We hear from Luke ten… 

In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I  thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.  All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Luke 10:21–22 ESV)

Just like the seventy-two sent out by Jesus, you have been sent out from this place in the Word of God, in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Just as Jesus went out and came in, by the power of the Spirit you too come in as beggars but go out rich in the Word of God.  Jesus reveals his Father to you!

You have come in as captives but have been free from eternal death in the forgiveness of sins.  You have sought mercy to be released from the depression and maddening oppression of your old Adam.  You have been given the promise of an eternal inheritance in the glory of God the Father.

Just as Jesus came into the synagogue and the seventy-two came to him, you have come here to church, led by the Holy Spirit, gathered together in our Messiah, Jesus Christ, all forgiven members of the one body under our head, Jesus Christ. 

The Holy Spirit has brought us here to be taught by Jesus Christ in the Word of God, and through his word the Heavenly Father is revealed to us, his little children, his church.  We his children in his church are his weak ones – poor, captives, blind, and oppressed. 

Today is the first day of the new week.  Today is the first day of the new creation in Christ.  It is also the eighth day of the old week.  It is the day of resurrection from sins of the last seven days of the old creation.  We are sent out bearing his victory.  The sin which we all carry; the poverty, the captivity, the blindness, and the oppression, is now covered under his cloak of victory over sin.

When you have doubt about the power of God to cover and forgive your sin, Jesus tells us to ask for the Holy Spirit.  “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”(Luke 11:13 ESV)

If Jesus is led by the power of the Holy Spirit!  If he tells you to ask for the Holy Spirit!  If Jesus praises God in the joy of the Holy Spirit!  And, if you are his child and we are his children!  If Jesus was led into God’s congregation on the sabbath, if he fulfilled the Sabbath by resting in the grave and descending into hell between Good Friday and Easter Sunday!

Then surely, we will receive the greater gift of the Gospel, the forgiveness of sins and peace with God the Father, when we come to church to be forgiven and fed on the day of his resurrection. 

Jesus finds himself with his people on the Sabbath.  Find yourself with Jesus and his other forgiven sinners on the day of his resurrection.  Let the Holy Spirit place you in his weekly pattern, in church.  It’s time to come to church!

In church you receive the will of God the Father, the will of God the Son, and the will of God the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

C, Epiphany 2 - John 2:9-11 "Change"

John 2:9–11 (ESV)When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”  This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

We’re living in times of change.  Indeed, even days and hours of change!  Things seem to be evolving at such a rapid rate of change. 

Technology has much to do with this, but in recent times our health in the face of the pandemic has heightened such change in such a short time.  Who would have thought we would be into the third year of a global virus with all its restrictions and debilitations?!

In these uncertain times of radical change, one certainly feels bashed and beaten by the unexpected readjustments we are required to make in our day to day lives.  We wonder when or if things will ever return to what we expect as being normal.  Whatever “normal” is now!  We talk of coming to terms with living with Covid.  But what does that really mean for us?

This uncertainty and change affect us!   Are our expectations in life in need of change?  How we live our lives; even our purpose in life is being questioned.  Confidence is being lost in the stability of things we took for granted as being rock solid.

How has this time of accelerated change, affected your hope? 

If we look to the media, it testifies humanity is miserable, getting poorer, afflicted with disease, on the verge of blowing ourselves to smithereens, as well as facing a climate catastrophe.  Humanity’s hope has changed for the worse!  It all sounds dismal, but perhaps it is not as bad as the media is making it out to be.

The loss of hope and confidence in humanity’s progress seems quite alarming, but the reality is our hope and confidence has been a house of cards tottering on the edge of collapse for some time.  Our towers of trust are being torn down revealing we should never have put our trust in them, and our motives for building them in our hearts prove questionable.

At the centre of our loss of hope the Holy Spirit seeks to refocus your confidence and restore hope in Jesus Christ. 

As all the things you love are removed, the Holy Spirit moves you to trust in him who loves you.  The great thing to come out of the uncertainty and change of the last three years is the renewed brightness of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. 

But there is a temptation to be distracted by the arguments of our human spirit and the world, over knowledge of, the good and evil of Covid immunisations, lockdown limitations versus the freedom of choice, health versus wealth, a growing Chinese threat, climate change, and gender rights.  

On the other hand, the change Jesus Christ puts in front of us, now shines ever so much brighter as all worldly temporary hopes in us become exhausted and die.   Ironically, they always were going to die.  But we have breathed so much life into these gods of microchips and memes, the modern-day idols of wood and stone!

Unfortunately, over the last decade, personal electronic devices have become so dominant in our lives, it has distracted and led us into chaotic waters.   And like a covid riddled cruise ship unable to dock, we’re so preoccupied and paralysed from our personal pursuits of pleasure.

In the same way, this mobile phone and app god is dying too, and many will soon need Jesus Christ to board their boat and change their lives as well, lest their paralysation renders them eternally lost.

A French writer of the 19^th century, Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, is quoted as saying, “the more things change, the more they stay the same”.  And this is true of humanity as it seeks to make change for what it believes to be “the better”.  But as humanity idolises change for the sake of progress it continues in its hopeless plight contributing to evil.

However, Jesus Christ introduces change that’s contrary to all other human endeavours of change.  Jesus Christ is the only true agent of change.  He makes all things new, eternally new and eternally different! 

We get a picture of this change today as we hear what he does at the wedding at Cana, and who it revealed him to be. 

Jesus takes the water for old covenant purification and changes it into the best wine, eternal pleasing wine!   In the wedding at Cana, a glimpse of his glory is revealed, which would become fully uncovered at his death and resurrection.  He makes change at the wedding, turning water into wine, and it reminds us of the change we have undergone in our baptism into his death and resurrection.

You now carry the knowledge of Jesus Christ as a result of being baptised.  You are forgiven and fed with God’s word and sacraments, the Holy Spirit works Jesus Christ in you every time you hear his word and eat and drink his body and blood.

The wedding water, changed into the best wine, reminds us that there is now no longer need for purification through the Law.  Fulfilling the requirements of the Law are finished in Jesus’ death on the cross.  The ritual to be cleansed and washed, to be purified was put aside after Jesus, the true bridegroom, washed the feet of his disciples and made way for our entry into the wedding feast of the Lamb, through the purification and sacrifice of his death.

In the book of Revelation, we are reminded of the promise given to John when he was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day and commanded to write, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb… These are the true words of God.” (Revelation 19:9 ESV)

Weddings are joyful occasions.  How much greater is the joy of the eternal wedding between Jesus and his bride, the church, now that God promises our purification through the death and resurrection of his firstborn Son.  Our hopelessness, and helplessness, is covered with the life-changing robes of Jesus’ righteousness.

There are changes happening all around us. But God calls you away from those distractions to focus on Jesus Christ and the change he has made for us and in us. He sends the Holy Spirit to change us, and this work continues to happen throughout our lives.

In fact, we are engaged to God’s Son in this life.  God has placed his Holy Spirit in us as a very good deposit, sealing us for the day of hope, our resurrection from the dead and marriage with our faithful eternal Bridegroom, Jesus Christ.

Let us proclaim the true change Jesus is bring to us at the conclusion of this life here on earth.  As we look forward to Jesus’ return where he will make all things new, let us remind each other and tell others of the unlimited good wine of eternal abundance that awaits all who allow themselves to be changed into the wedding clothes of Jesus’ righteousness. Amen.

“Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.  Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory.”  (Revelation 19:6b-7a ESV) The marriage of the Lamb is coming!  Let his Bride be made ready!

Amen.

C, The Baptism of our Lord, Epiphany 1 - Luke 3:18-22 "The Heavens were Opened"

Luke 3:18–22 (ESV) So with many other exhortations he (John the Baptist) preached good news to the people.  But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done,  added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.  Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened,  and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

It seems strange that Luke would set out his account of Jesus’ baptism in this way.

We know from the other Gospel writers; Jesus was baptised by John in the Jordan.  But here in Luke’s account of the Gospel, when the people suspect him of being the Christ, he says, “I baptise you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.  He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Luke 3:16 ESV)

After this, Luke has John detained by Herod the tetrarch before Jesus was baptised.  Why does he do this when we know John baptised him?

After this, twice only is John the Baptist, mentioned in Luke’s Gospel account.  In chapter seven Jesus speaks about him and quotes Malachi 3:1 as one being sent as a herald for the Messiah’s coming.

He says, “This is he of whom it is written,  ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’  I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John.  Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” (Luke 7:27–28 ESV)

In chapter nine Luke reports Herod as being perplexed by the rumours that Jesus was John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the other prophets raised from the dead.  Luke has not even reported John’s death but uses Herod’s words to declare his death, how he died, and his interest in seeing Jesus, saying,  “‘John I beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things?’ And he sought to see him. ” (Luke 9:9 ESV)

It appears Luke is deliberately setting out his account to make it extremely clear that John the Baptist and what he represents is closed.  His calling of those being baptised to repent is finished.  He was the last prophet of God and therefore the last herald of the Messiah.

With John finished we hear of Jesus having been baptised and while praying the heavens were opened.  In this opening the hearer of the Gospel is given a revelation of Jesus, the Holy Spirit descending in a bodily form, like a dove, and the voice of God the Father declaring this Jesus of Nazareth as his beloved Son.

Heaven is open and the full Triune Godhead is made known at Jesus’ baptism.  Not only is John finished, but Jesus is the first born of a new way of salvation.  One that is pleasing to God, through his beloved Son.

With the baptism of Jesus begins a transitional period.  Apart from Jesus’ disciples reported baptising at the beginning of John chapter four, the only mention of baptism is of Jesus being baptised with the baptism of the cross. 

Jesus says, “I have a baptism to be baptised with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!” (Luke 12:50 ESV)

And again, Jesus says to his disciples in Mark 10, “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptised with the baptism with which I am baptised?”  And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptised, you will be baptised.” (Mark 10:38–39 ESV)

It's not until Jesus’ baptism of fire at the cross, his descent into hell, and resurrection from the dead that the transitional period is complete. 

After this we hear the great baptismal proclamation of heaven remaining permanently open, where Jesus says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  (Matthew 28:19 ESV)

And from the end of Mark’s Gospel Jesus says, “Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:16 ESV)

This transitional period was the opening of heaven through the baptismal opening afforded to us by Jesus being the Messiah.  What does this mean?

Jesus being the Messiah, or the Christ, is, the Son of God,  the Son of Man, being anointed to bear all the things confessed by those who received John’s baptism of repentance.  To bear all the infirmities of those he healed, to bear all from those he cleansed of evil spirits, to bear all the sins of those who heard him and believed, as well as bearing those who came to belief after he was raised and ascended into heaven. 

Jesus opened the gate of heaven by fulfilling all the requirements of God to be holy.  Jesus was not just good!  His goodness was second to none, so much so he was as perfect as his Father in heaven is holy.  But on the cross, he became all your sin and evil, and mine too!  He perfectly pleased the Father and opened the way closed to Adam and Eve because of sin.

The heavens were opened for the forgiveness of sins.  Now we no longer repent in fear as those did before John the Baptist, but we repent knowing that our sins have been forgiven, our sin is being forgiven, and our sin will be forgiven.

How is this possible?  How are we able to come to God now that he has become all sin for us?  Even though Jesus has done all this for us, if left to our own means we would flee straight back into the darkness and deny his forgiveness is “for me, for you”.

We need to go back to the Jesus’ baptism to hear once again what John the Baptist said and what happened at his baptism.

John said of baptism,  “I baptise you with water…  He (Jesus) will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Luke 3:16 ESV)

Now, we know when Jesus was baptised with water, the Holy Spirit came down on him in bodily form, as that of a dove.  And he underwent a baptism of fire on the cross.  We also know, he did not baptise anyone.  But John says, “he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire”.  Is this a mistake, a contradiction?

What we need to realise is the Holy Spirit was revealed when Jesus was revealed as the Son of God.  The Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ are inseparable as far as the forgiveness of sins, our faith, and our willingness to repent are concerned.

In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit is named only three times.  Once in Psalm 51 and twice in Isaiah 63.  Incidentally, these two passages speak of David’s and Israel’s sin and God’s mercy.

Turn to the New Testament and the Holy Spirit is mentioned numerous times.  In fact, by the time Luke reports the Holy Spirit coming down on Jesus in bodily form as a dove, just after his baptism, he has already mentioned the Holy Spirit seven times.  And after Jesus was baptised, Luke tells us he was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness where he was tempted by Satan.

Luke also gives us the book of Acts.  Commonly it is called the Acts of the Apostles, but in reality, it is the Acts of the Holy Spirit, beginning with the bestowal of the Holy Spirit at the festival of Pentecost just ten days after Jesus’ Ascension into heaven.

The heavens were opened, and they remain open.  The Holy Spirit keeps it open in our ears, and in our mouths.  He enables us to pray to our Father in heaven, he empowers us to believe we join in with Jesus, praying the ceaseless petitions of our great high priest and Saviour.  The Holy Spirit wills us to return to the Law to see our sin, so we can confess our sin, and remain in the holiness of God, where we’re kept in the true faith.

Because the heavens are open, we live in the open reality of the Triune God.  The Holy Spirit is not just present by himself, but is present with the Father and the Son, with us, in the realm of heavenly forgiveness.  Here again, the Holy Spirit works to open our hearts and minds to this reality.  He does this through God’s Word and the Sacraments, continually reminding us of, and bringing us to, Jesus Christ.  He does this so we might receive the forgiveness of sins.

Now that heaven is open, let the light of God shine on you.  Are you reading this sermon,  watching it  online, or falling into habits disconnecting you from the light of God shining on you?

In the office of Christ, I encourage you to pray and let the Holy Spirit return you to the light of God’s forgiveness and receive your Baptismal booster, face to face with the Triune God in church!

The heavens were opened at Jesus’ baptism, and the narrow door remains open through the forgiveness of sins.  Amen.

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” (Revelation 22:17 ESV) Amen.