C, The First Sunday after Christmas - Luke 2:41-52 "A Lost Child"

Mary and Joseph are in great distress as they search for Jesus.  After three days they feared the worst but expected the best.  Anyone who has lost a child knows the feeling that washes over oneself when a child goes missing.

The story of the twelve-year-old Jesus missing as the family returns from the Passover feast, could be the original script for the Christmas movie franchise, Home Alone.  The extended family leaves to go on holidays with much chaos and confusion only to leave the youngest child behind.  The mother only realises when they have taken off and are high in the sky.

But it’s not little Kevin who’s been left behind, but Jesus.  And he’s not the youngest, but the oldest, Mary’s first-born son.   Yet every parent knows the feeling when the realisation hits home when a minor is missing.

Separation anxiety is bad enough when parent and child are split up on the first day of school, moving out of home, or marrying and making their own way in the world.  We’ve heard about Hannah making a linen robe for her little boy, Samuel, seeing him only once a year as he serves with Eli in the temple.  Imagine that, seeing your little child once a year!

But that would  be a blessing for those who don’t know their child’s location.  How much worse is it when a child’s whereabouts is not known?  The mind races!  Have they been taken?  Are they alive? Where are they?  One fears the worst!

And then there’s the relief when one sets eyes on the child safe and sound.  Along with the joy of the lost being found, there’s also chastisement, especially if the child has wandered off of their own accord.  Measures are put in  place to protect the minor from going missing again.

Then there are those who have lost children in death.  December twenty-eight is the remembrance for the Holy Innocents, the children martyred by Herod in his rage to rid himself of the rival Christ-child King.  Unimaginable is the grief of those who’ve lost a child, seemingly before their time!  Children are expected to bury their parents, not the other way around.  This would have to be one of the worst things a parent has to confront.

But there is relief for Mary and Joseph.  When Jesus is found he says, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49 ESV)  Here Jesus mentions his Father, but it’s not Joseph.  In fact, Mary is the only parent mentioned by name.  Mary and Joseph didn’t understand what Jesus said to them.  Yet Mary remembered and pondered Jesus words, passing them onto Luke at some stage in the future for him to record it in his gospel account.

We know Jesus was not the natural born son of Joseph.  He was incarnate by the Holy Spirit when Gabriel, the archangel spoke to Mary.  Not naming Joseph can be viewed as a deliberate exclusion by Luke, the gospel’s author.  The boy Jesus, naming God as his Father and not his earthly father, Joseph, is a lesson for all fathers to ween their children from their fatherhood.  To teach and instruct their children about their adoption by the Heavenly Father in baptism.  God does not have grandchildren, just sons and daughters!  So, it’s mum’s and dad’s responsibility to hand their children onto their God and Father — Jesus’ Father who is in heaven.  In a similar way Elkanah and Hannah did this with Samuel.

One can imagine Samuel not understanding what was going on when he was young and sent to the temple to live with Eli.  Mary and Joseph also didn’t understand Jesus, having to be in his Father’s house. When we teach of God’s adoption in baptism, children may not understand, and as parents we might sinfully seek to have our children glorify us over God.  But through enduring teaching of our children, they will believe they are sons and daughters of the Father, long before they understand, if ever!

Losing a child is traumatic, no matter if it’s permanent, in death, or even, just for a time!  In a picture similar to Hannah and Elkanah, God the Father, gave up his one and only Son, to be born to human parents, Mary and Joseph.  However, Samuel’s ministry before the Lord differed greatly from Jesus’ ministry.  Jesus’ ministry was a baptism into death.  From the moment Jesus was conceived, he became the child, who was to be lost in death so humanity could be found by the Father, with life in Christ!  

Three days lost was too much for his parents to bear and understand, how much more his death on the cross, descent into the grave and hell, and resurrection on the third day?

How difficult it is for us to understand God the Father turning his back on his one and only Son to allow him to be the Son of Man, to be the Holy Innocent One for us, serving us salvation and innocence in exchange for our guilt and sin.  Serving you salvation to save you from your humanity!

The generations of children growing up today face a myriad of challenges that see too many realise their corruption only to give up and commit suicide.  Some take a longer road to death by giving themselves over to their desires that don’t deliver the perceived pleasures they thought they were going to get.  Like a throwaway Christmas present, over time they realise they’re on the garbage heap of life.

From the moment a child learns to say “no”, every human has always sought to make the pleasure, “all mine”!  These desires and pleasures become sexual in adolescence and adult life.   Then somewhere in there, we add the fixation of amassing goods; wealth and possessions that really aren’t all that good.  And when, and if, these temptations die down, honour and glory become more important as we seek to leave a legacy of our desires that ultimately, lead us to death.

How difficult it is for us children to turn our backs on the addictions that cause death.  So much so, the hopelessness realised in these days is accelerated in parallel with the ease and quickness of the ability to get, and be failed by, our desires and pleasures.

How difficult it is for us to understand that from the moment the Son of God was conceived within  Mary, he was saying “yes” to the will of our Father in heaven.  That when Jesus lay in a manger as a weak human baby, the Son of God was willingly putting aside his divinity to be in an environment of desire, disease, and death.  To serve and save humanity as the Son of Man! 

When he was a toddler and the holy innocents were being murdered by Herod’s men, he understood his mission as the Son of Man, and the Son of God, was to be innocently crucified on the cross, to save us from our desires, diseases, and death. 

Even now as he is at the right hand of God the Father, in all his risen glory, he continues to carry us in prayer before our Father. 

Our Father, together with his Son, send the Holy Spirit to serve us in a way that leads us from our evil, temptation to furnish our kingdoms of destruction and unwillingness to forgive.  To forgive!  To know and welcome God’s will is being done.  To hope in God’s kingdom coming in power and glory!  And to know and believe we are holy, because Jesus is our holy bread, despite the unholiness that leads every person to death.

What we consume and hang onto in this world is death.  We call it life and living, but it’s not!  However, a deposit of life has been placed within your shell of deathly existence.  When Jesus lay in the manger and when the children of Bethlehem were being murdered, he saw you!  When Jesus was asking questions of the teachers in his Father’s house in Jerusalem, when he wept over Lazarus’ death, and when he wept over Jerusalem, he was learning your death and weeping over you.  When he was nailed to the cross, when our sin nailed him there, he said of you, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34 ESV)

And because you do what God does not want you to do, he and Jesus constantly send you the Holy Spirit!  So, you too, do not like what you do, but allow the Holy Spirit to lead you in your destruction of death, and resurrection to life eternal, even now in this earthly existence. 

The Father of Lies, the devil, and society in all its good and evil, rages against the destruction of death.  So too does the Old Adam within and it seeks a resurrection of its own that seeks to reestablish the savagery and death from which you’ve been rescued.

But our Lord and Father wins the battle over the devil, sin, and death, through his Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. 

See the almighty heavenly joy, when you, the lost child, are brought by the Holy Spirit into the Father’s house.  See also the heavenly choir sing, “Glory to God in the highest”, when our Father is glorified in his Son Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit, at your resurrection and return to be with your Heavenly Father, face to face forever. Amen.

Let us pray. Father welcomes all his children to his family through his Son, Father giving his salvation, life for ever has been one.  Lord God Holy Spirit, let us daily die to sin, let us daily die with him.  Holy Spirit, walk us in the love of Christ our Lord, so we live in the peace of God, our Father.  Amen.

C, Christmas Day, The Birth of our Lord - Luke 2:8-20 "You Cant' Hit an Angel with a Stick"

 

Text:     Luke 2:8-20 

…[T]here were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests.”

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Sermon

You can’t beat a shepherd with a stick!  None of us here would be able to strong arm a shepherd and steal his sheep.  Rather if we tried to overrun the shepherd and flog his sheep we would end up on the wrong end of the stick.  We would be struck with the shepherd’s staff.  We would feel the sting of his rod on our backs; the shepherd’s staff would bear down heavy on our shoulders, and we would have to flea from him and his flock in fear.

Shepherds are masters at caring for their sheep.  Looking after sheep in the daytime is one thing — watching their sheep feed on pastures, making sure they don’t stray too far.  But at night as the sheep rest, the pressure to keep sheep safe rises to a whole new level.  For in the cloak of darkness lurk all sorts of menaces just waiting to make a meal out of a sheep.  Often you would find not just one shepherd looking after the flock but a number of shepherds watching the sheep every hour of the day: a family of shepherds perhaps.  So, while one watched the others slept and when alerted they would all jump up, take their staffs, and drive off the attacker.

It would have been just a regular night outside Bethlehem.  The shepherds were watching over their flocks at night.  They were on the lookout for lions, wild dogs, or wolves, and thieves seeking a quick catch before disappearing into the darkness.  And if one of these attackers had stepped out of the darkness, there would have been a commotion, as the shepherds would have banded together and scared off the foe from the flock.

But this night outside Bethlehem was no ordinary night.  In fact, the night became as bright as day as an angel of the Lord appeared and the glory of the Lord shone all around.  Now the shepherds knew what was transpiring, was not the normal.  They knew they couldn’t beat off an angel of the Lord with a staff or sticks, and the fearless shepherds shook with terror.

But this angel was not about to strike the shepherds and scatter their sheep. No!  He came with good news.  And for folk like the shepherds, the news he brought was truly life saving news.  He said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:10-12)

This was good news for the shaking Shepherds.  As rugged as these men were, they had no access to God because of their lifestyle.  Being shepherds brought them into contact with ritually unclean situations and animals, and having to watch over their sheep twenty-four hours a day, meant no time to go and make the appropriate sacrifices to the Lord at the temple at Jerusalem.  So, the shepherds lived as outcasts, unclean and unable to have an audience with God in the temple.  It’s no wonder that these men shook with fear.  Not only was this an extraordinary event, but the holiness of God shone upon these men who knew they were not fit to stand in the holy presence of God.

However, the angel’s call to have no fear was well founded.  He told them to have no fear because the Saviour born is “for you”, and this sign is “for you”, that you will find the baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.  And with that the shepherds were privileged to be the first people on earth to hear the song of heaven, Glory to God in the highest, only ever sung in the presence of God; sung now because God was Immanuel, “God with us”, lying in a manger wrapped in cloths — for us — for you!

It must have been a great show seeing the hosts of heaven light up the night sky and even greater to hear that the Saviour was born for them, unclean shepherds.  So much so these shepherds left their sheep — now that’s just not done — and they said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”  And off they went and found everything as the angel had told them.

The irony in all of this is that these men gained access to God, through an extraordinary event; these men leaned over a manger and saw the child, where usually they would have tipped food into similar mangers to feed their sheep when no fodder was to be found.  What was extraordinary for them was for God too, for God had never lowered himself to such a point that he was restricted to one place in time — as a baby lying in a manger.

We should never let the enormity of this event slip past us.  God came into darkness and shone his glory.  God came to earth for us, for you, for me, and he continues to shine his glory on us.  Although now it’s masked by faith in his Word, so that only those who hear and trust his Word see his glory, and, like the shepherds, have access to a holy God in these dark times. 

The irony doesn’t stop their either.  The child, the Son of God, these shepherds viewed was to grow into the man who was sent by God to be the Shepherd of humanity, beginning with the Jews and then all people, including us, who are the Gentiles.  This holy God born into the darkness of humanity, brings light as he comes as Supreme Shepherd, and was deserted by God and sacrificed as a lamb, in the darkest hour on Good Friday, so that in his sacrifice we — having been cleaned — can say, “Let’s go and see and hear what the Lord has done for us.”  And having been in the Risen Shepherd’s supreme presence and receiving forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation, we can return to our everyday lives glorifying and praising God for all the things we have heard and seen, which are just as we have been told in God’s Word.

So, the inspired words Isaiah wrote all those years before Christ was born are for us.  The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. 4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.  (Isaiah 9:2,4,6-7)

The zeal of God has accomplished this for you.  We no longer have to fear the shepherd’s rod and staff striking us and oppressing us and driving us away from the flock of God into darkness and death.  Rather because this Christ child was born for you, because this Shepherd was laid in a manger for you, and was nailed to the cross for you, we now can live in peace as the Shepherd’s sheep, living forever in the light.  We have been adopted and given an identity as his children, his sheep, with eternal access to his divine glory.  And now the rod of the Shepherd beats off the enemy, from within us and from near us, every time we hear the Law.  And his staff, the Gospel, saves us and comforts us as we live under his twenty-four hour a day watch. 

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.   You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.  (Psalm 23:1-6)  Amen.

C, Fourth Sunday of Advent - Micah 5:2-5a "Micah's Shepherd Prophecy"

In the days of the split kingdom, Micah was tasked to tell Israel and Judah of their impending destruction.  Both kingdoms had become conceited and presumptuous in their existence, bending God’s Word to suit their disobedient desires and pleasures, refusing to repent, not listening to those God tasked with the call to heed his Word and change their ways.

And why should they listen to Micah?  He was a man from Moresheth, near the former fields of the Philistines.  His imagery speaks of a remnant of the mighty Israel, shepherded again from Bethlehem by a new king who will lead in the strength of the Lord.  This new leader will come after the annihilation of Jerusalem and Samaria.

Although the book of Micah is just seven chapters, we are told the Word of the Lord came to him during the reign of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, before the Samarians were exiled to Assyria and the Judeans were exiled to Babylon.

Israel and Syria joined forces to attack Judah when Ahaz was king.  Before and after him his father Jotham and Hezekiah his son did what was right in God’s sight.  But Ahaz did not, he appealed to the king of Assyria who attacked and conquered Syria.  After this, Ahaz, king of Judah, went to meet the Assyrian king in Damascus, the capital of Syria, he had just won.  While meeting there with the Assyrian King, Ahaz saw the altar used in Damascus and ordered a replica be used in the Jerusalem temple instead of the bronze altar God had consecrated.

To this and other similar behaviours, God says through Micah, “Hear, you peoples, all of you; pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. For behold, the Lord is coming out of his place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will split open, like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place. All this is for the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?” (Micah 1:2–5 ESV)

God’s justice was not only to descend upon the kings, priests, and prophets of Judah and Samaria, but on all from the greatest to the least.  Therefore, judgement fell on Israel not long after, when Assyria took Israel into exile.

However, Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz did what was right and restored Judah and Jerusalem back under the Law of God and God blessed him.  Yet even so, when Hezekiah was ill, envoys from Babylon came to him, and he showed them the treasuries and storehouses of Judah to which the prophet Isaiah prophesied…

“Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” (2 Kings 20:17–18 ESV)

A reprieve occurred for Judah in the face of their Israelite brothers being exiled to Assyria, and Judah under Hezekiah heeded God’s Word spoken through prophets, such as Isaiah and Micah.

When Hezekiah died, his son Manasseh rebuilt the high places that God, foretold of their destruction through Micah, and were physically demolished by King Hezekiah.  Now, this renewed disobedience set Judah up for exile too.  Bringing to fulfilment what Micah and Isaiah had forecast. 

God then stopped speaking to Israel for four hundred years, fulfilling the silence prophesied by Amos, “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.”  (Amos 8:11–12 ESV)

God had handed them over to themselves, and it didn’t go well for them.  The land of milk and honey they were given, became desolate.  Those prophets whom they loathed for speaking the Word of God, disappeared.  God left them to themselves even after they returned from exile.  Even more so, the Jewish priests had become use to worshipping their own way without God.  They were smug in their desires and embroiled in political scheming.  Now under the rule of the Romans their way had become so wicked, they bowed to Herod the Great who began building the second temple in Jerusalem in 20 B.C.

Then this happened…  

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem,  saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”  When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him;  and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.  They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:  “ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ” (Matthew 2:1–6 ESV)

Forced back into the Word of God, Herod and the Jews discovered the prophet Micah and his prophesy from chapter 5:2-5a. 

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labour has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace. (Micah 5:2–5a ESV)

Now that Jesus has been born in Bethlehem, he shepherds his people.  He does this with his Word of Law and Gospel.  We are God’s people now that Jesus has redeemed us through his death and resurrection.  Yet like the Jews and the Israelites, we seek to go the way of the world around us, just as the Jews did and were caught napping at Jesus’ first coming.

He is coming again, yet many even within the church have turned from “the whole council of God’s Word”.  Leaders in the church, proclaim messages of hope, peace, and love, without addressing sin and calling people to repentance.  We have become fixated on our feelings of happiness without allowing the Holy Spirit to finish us in the joy of God’s holiness.  The second coming of Christ is set to catch out many, just as it did the first time.

If God can destroy the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, his very own chosen people, for not adhering to the work of the Law, what will he do to those who call themselves Christian and do not abide in Jesus’ work of the Gospel?  Who grieve the Holy Spirit by not allowing the Spirit to bring them to salvation humility in the Gospel through the humiliation and mortification of the human spirit in the Law.

Although Jesus came as the Shepherd, he came to be the Lamb of God. Like a shepherd who leads his sheep through the gate, in all humility he entered the gates of death as the sacrificial lamb. 

Are you allowing him to humbly shepherd you through death to life eternal?  Are you being shepherded into the holiness of God’s new heaven and earth in which righteousness dwells?  

Or are you shepherding your own righteousness, like those whom God allowed to be humiliated and perish in their sinful refusal to repent at Jesus’ first coming?

The church is proving itself to be no different to the Jews when Christ came the first time.  The way is wide that leads to destruction, even for God’s people when they choose not to hear his Word.  It’s tragic how so much of the mantra coming from our “human high places” proclaims a love that has nothing to do with being prepared by the Holy Spirit for the holiness of God, through the love of Jesus at the cross.  Like the Jews in Jesus first coming, don’t be turned in on yourself, using God and his Word to worship yourself!  Pick up God’s Word, hear and heed the warnings of the Apostles at the end of the New Testament!  Don’t be like the Jews who killed the prophets and were surprised by what was written in the prophets of the Old Testament when Jesus was born!

However, allow the Holy Spirit to humiliate the heights of human haughtiness within you.  To crush the arrogant altars and idiotic idols within.  Allow the Spirit to work you, so you heed the call of Moses, Micah and the prophets, Jesus the Good Shepherd himself, and the Apostles, to be led in humility, just as Jesus Christ was at his first coming. 

The Shepherd now seeks to shepherd you in the strength of the Lord, as members of his holy remnant, so you’re not surprised by his second coming.  

Come Lord Jesus Come! Amen.

C, Third Sunday of Advent - Luke 3:8a, 16 "Joyful Repentance"

Luke 3:8a, 16 (ESV) John the Baptist said, “Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. I baptize 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 baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire”.

What is it that separates a Christian from all other people?  Is it sin?  By sin I include everything that threatens to dilute or weaken God’s holiness.  No!  We Christians are no less sinners than those who are not Christian.  Hopefully for us, though, we have knowledge of our sinful nature and the sin that comes from it.  In fact, if a Christian, does not believe they’re a sinner, they actually add sin to sin in their unbelief. 

We’re all warned, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”  (1 John 1:8–10 ESV)

If a person can be free of sin, then why aren’t they free of decay and death? 

From the moment we’re born, our existence decays day by day through death.

So, if sin isn’t what separates a Christian from others, is it that we are good?  Are all Christians good people free of evil?  This really is no different to the question of sin. 

If a Christian holds the view that to be a Christian one should be good, then all Christians should be good!  We know this not to be true. 

Are you one who makes judgements through your own knowledge of good and evil, rather than a right judgement made through a knowledge of Jesus Christ?  Why do we judge some as good, and some as evil?  We do so because we’re sinners!  We like to put aside right judgement, in God’s Word, and become the authority of good and evil, standing in the place of God, standing over his Word, sinning against the First Commandment. 

The Lutheran understanding of a believer or Christian, sees in God’s Word, we’re one hundred percent saint, and one hundred percent sinner, (simul iustus et peccator).  That is, “at the same time righteous and a sinner”.  This was rediscovered by Martin Luther who as a monk was seeking and failing to justify himself before God.  Rightly, he knew his love or good was never good enough in God’s eyes!

The joy Luther learnt, through the Holy Spirit showing him, in God’s Word, that although he failed to love God perfectly, God already loved him perfectly.  He was made right and holy in the work of Christ at the cross and the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in his earthly existence.  Luther discovered he didn’t have to work his own righteousness.

But it’s not even a matter of being good.  Believers surpass goodness by being made holy, despite being sinners.  The holiness of God covers one’s sinful nature and its deeds in baptism.  As a result, the baptismal life is one of being continually led by the Holy Spirit, into the holiness of Jesus Christ, out of the sinful condition of our human nature. 

As we pray and learn in the Lord’s Prayer, we trust Jesus’ Word and deed, as the Holy Spirit delivers us from evil, leads us out of temptation, wills us to forgive others while he works the forgiveness of sin within us.  We live in peace existing on the daily bread God gives for our physical and spiritual needs according to his earthly and heavenly will, so we seek his kingdom and glorify his holy name.  The Lord’s Prayer actually teaches us how the work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, moves us from evil to God’s holiness, through repentance.

The human desire to not repent, to not believe one’s forgiveness, to not forgive, to resist being led from temptation, to remain in evil are the very deeds Paul talks about in Romans chapter seven.  He does not give into sin, by saying, “all sin, I sin, so I’ll keep on sinning!”  That would be resisting the Holy Spirit’s work within, who seeks to daily return the sinner to the holiness of Jesus’ blood spilt on the cross.  

Rather he says, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.” (Romans 7:15–20 ESV)

Our Lutheran understanding of being a saint and a sinner, stands out as pure Gospel against other beliefs.  Such as, once one is baptised, the act of baptism saves, so the person can do whatever they like.  Or baptism is the decision of the person and once baptised, the decider has to work to keep their salvation.  Both of these strip the Holy Spirit of his power and dilute the necessity of Jesus’ work at the cross.

But the Lutheran understanding, is pure Gospel, because baptism is the work of God, and one’s Christian life is a work of God that we allow to continue within.  After baptism, when others fall into sinful deeds, or when the Holy Spirit chooses to reveal their deeds as sin, they have a crisis of faith.  “Am I really a Christian?”, they worry!  And others who observe their sin, are quick to hand them over as lost sinners unless they work their way back into the observer’s “good books” in their “good time”.

When a Lutheran falls into sin.  Yes! The Holy Spirit gives one a hatred of the sinful deeds and shows the sinner the Law. And the Law’s holy perfection rightly causes fear!  

But in God’s Word, the Holy Spirit also shows us Jesus Christ on the cross in our place.  He shows us the love of God.  Our revealed deeds of sin, testifies to the truth of God’s Word, that human nature is sinful. 

So, others see deeds of sin and immediately pass judgement that a person is condemned by their sinful nature because their decision for Christ and baptism appears contrary.  However, you and I understand our sinful deeds show our sinful human nature.  This is the very reason why we need God’s work in Holy Baptism, and every day after it, in the work of the Holy Spirit, to make us holy before a perfectly holy God.

So, the thing to truly set a Christian apart from all other people on earth, is a believer although a sinner, has freedom through Christ to come into God’s presence to joyfully repent of sins.  Covered in Christ, we don’t dilute God’s holiness, with our sinful humanness of being human.

Sin can see a person flee God or seek to stand before him in self-justification or through one’s works.  Both of which, make God’s love out to be a lie. 

But in the freedom to repent, we joyfully rush to the foot of the cross and pour our sins out in confession, repentance.  We throw ourselves completely at the mercy of God trusting our confession is not just a good work, but a mega-work worked by the Holy Spirit, now that Jesus is at the right hand of the Father in Heaven.

Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”  (John 14:12–14 ESV)

God has forgiven us as repentant sinners! God forgives us now as repentant sinners! And God promises to forgive repentant sinners! 

Our sins are horrible, and they cause us hurt and death. They caused Christ to come and suffer and die for us, too.  But the willing confession of our sin, glorifies God, in the salvation Jesus brings us through the cross.  Our confession is a joyful “Amen” and “Yes” to God’s good works for us and in us.  God the Father’s and Son’s good works are glorified by the Holy Spirit’s good works within you, when you repent and confess your sin. This is the salvation event that sees your existence in death be transformed into life, even today in this existence of death!  But these days of death will give way to the light of eternal life!

At the resurrection, when Christ returns, the salvation event will finish.  Beforehand, any who make judgements, about who’s good or bad, are susceptible of falling under one’s own judgement, before God. 

So, joyfully I say, joyfully repent, sinners!   

God is patient where we are not.   Like an onion, God works with sinners during this earthly existence, to peel back the layers of sin in all of us.  So, there’s always something for which we need to repent. When earthly death comes, or Jesus returns, only then will God’s patience end. 

So, before this comes, joyfully I say, joyfully repent!  

John the Baptist prepared those at the Jordan with a baptism of repentance for the coming of Christ.  Now that we have been baptised into Christ’s death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit moves us to continue in repentance through the hearing of God’s Word.  In God’s Word the Holy Spirit peels back the layers of death in our existence, so we can repent and be revived in the life of  Jesus Christ.

Jesus himself says to his church, “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.” (Revelation 2:5 ESV)

Again, he says, “Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.” (Revelation 3:3 ESV)

And a third time, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” (Revelation 3:19 ESV)

Therefore, seek God’s will in his Word!  Allow the Holy Spirit to show you your sin and keep you holy!   

Joyfully I say, joyfully repent, for Jesus’ sake, Amen!

C, Second Sunday of Advent - Malachi 3:1-4 "My Messenger"

The text on TikTok, and the notice printed in the local paper read, “Jesus Christ appearing this Sunday morning at such and such a place and at such and such a time.” 

Would you be surprised God might use such a message to announce the coming of his Son to a spot near you?  The advertisement is nothing grand; its text does not stand out from other texts.  What if God chose to send a messenger or a message in this way, how might you react on hearing or reading of his coming?

For the purpose of this exercise let’s say the message is not false, but entirely true and Jesus Christ is coming to a venue near you.  The words of the ad are the preparation for his coming and the way he comes is to your church this Sunday. 

Excited? Scared? Perplexed? Thrilled? Perhaps you’re just a bit apprehensive that he’s coming, “Why’s he coming to my church?” you ask yourself.  “Where’s he comin’ from and how’s he gettin’ here anyway?” Rightly you’d be sceptical!

Malachi receives an oracle from the Lord.  He is a prophet, and this oracle is a word from God; a word of burden on Malachi’s heart if he doesn’t pass it onto the people.  It’s a word or an utterance which has overcome his heart and mind.  Put there by God himself to glorify God and raise the attention of those called to hear it.  This word was given to lift up, stir up, sit up, shake up, shape up!  But also, to ease, to exalt, to forgive, heal and help.

Malachi spoke in a time after some of the exiles returned to rebuild the temple in the days of Nehemiah and Ezra.  However, the messianic age did not occur with the reconstruction of the temple.  What they built was a building which stood in the shadows of the former temple of King Solomon’s day.

This temple lacked the physical appearance of the former temple, and also noted was a spiritual vacancy.  It seemed God no longer spoke as he had in previous times prior to their exile into the custody of the Babylonians. The Israelites and Jews looked back to the days when God spoke through the Judges, the priests like Samuel and Nathan, the prophets like Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, and Jeremiah.  God had spoken, and no one listen, and now God had stopped speaking.

Malachi was the last prophet to speak some 430 years before Christ was born.  He was the last to speak on God’s behalf against the perversions of popular practice. He was a lone voice echoing from the silence of God before God went completely silent for some 400 years. 

Malachi’s name literally means “my messenger”, he was a messenger, and we hear him herald the coming of two messengers, the last prophet, and then a great messenger, who himself would be the message.

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.  But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.  He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.  Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. (Malachi 3:1–4 ESV)

Malachi’s message is harsh and sharp.  They have not been treating the Lord as their God; their righteousness was not acceptable as righteousness before the Lord.  They were not following God in the way he had willed them; in righteousness “to” the Lord.  Their worship of the Lord was a show which God was going to test as a blacksmith would refine metals, and as a fuller would cleanse and whiten fibre for fabric.

To be clear what the washing agent was for a fuller in their day, was human urine.  Not the fresh stuff, but that which was left to sit for a while, so the ammonia content was stronger and better for cleaning and bleaching the fabric. 

So, the show was going to be refined by fire and stood on like fibre worked in ankle deep urine.  But this is only a picture of who is to come.  To whom is the refiner’s and the fuller’s image referring?

The one to come came some 400 years after the fact.  John the Baptist came to prepare the way of the refiner, the fuller.

…during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.  And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (Luke 3:2–3 ESV)

But whom was he preparing and of whom did he proclaim?  He was calling the Jews and the Israelites to repentance for their sins against the Lord.  A preparation for the cleansing which was to come! This was preparation to make the people ready for the refiner, for the fuller.

John answered them all, saying, “I baptize 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 baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. (Luke 3:16 ESV)

So, Malachi left his fellow Jews with a picture of one coming to wash in the widdle of one’s own waste fluid and made pure with fire to remove the impurities.

And this one is the One and Only Son of God, Jesus Christ.  He has come once, and he is coming again.  Yet he has already put the refinement and washing process into place.  And he is coming again to finish what he has started.  He is coming to gather the gold and the fabric gleaming in God’s glory.

Now depending on how one might look at this we might see the ammonia of urine and the fire of refinement as something to be feared, as hurtful, and void of love!  We lose trust in God because of the trials and tribulations into which we’re subjected and suffer. 

When one falls into this temptation, they are like those who love wearing dross rather than silver or gold, who seek to swim in the proverbial piddle and poop that comes our way in this life rather than those who wear the white garments to come out of God’s cleansing and testing process.

On the other hand, Christ encourages his children, those who trust him, those who look forward in faith, to endure and persevere under the refiners and fullers of this life as a holy preparation for that which is to come.  An eternity of silver and gold, wearing robes of righteousness as white and as bright as our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! 

For we are told… when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.  The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. (Titus 3:4–8 ESV)

Therefore, the refiner’s fire and the fuller’s soap, no matter how crude they may seem are only agents of cleansing and hope to focus you on Jesus Christ.  After all, Jesus has been submerged into the fuller’s fluid and fired with the refiner’s fires in the place of those who trust in him.

The message may not be printed in the paper, or read as a text on TikTok, that Jesus is coming to such and such a place at such and such at time.  But it is written on paper, in the Word of God.  He has been coming and has come amongst us when we gather in the Triune name, and in his Word to hear this teaching and promise of salvation and refinement.  Therefore, those who take their garments soiled in sin can make them as white as snow by washing them in the blood of Jesus.

You see Jesus has been baptised by the Holy Spirit into his ministry of the cross and with the fires of hell itself on Good Friday, so that the trials and temptations in your life might test us so we trust all the more the putrid and pungent plight of Christ being washed and refined for you, cleansing all of you this Sunday and every time the Holy Spirit calls and gathers us into Jesus’ presence. 

Jesus is the messenger!  He is the message!  I pray he is yours too. Amen.

C, First Sunday of Advent - Psalm 25:1-10 Good and Upright is the Lord

There once was a working-class man, who became king.    He treated his palace staff as though they were royalty; he even refurbished the workers’ living quarters to palace standards.  The new king was compassionate and kind; he wanted the best for his servants having been a labourer once too. 

But in time his staff became conceited and loathed the king — even his generous rule.  They got up to all sorts of revelry in their plush living quarters and after a short time it looked more like a pigsty than the property of the palace.  They destroyed their regal residence, and the name of the king was slandered inside its wall. 

In fact, his servant subjects had completely rejected his rule, and they credited themselves with the prosperity which had been bestowed upon them.  The king knew about this and was grieved in his heart.  But rather than rid himself of these workers, he patiently and continually encouraged them to renew their allegiance to him and his rule so that peace and harmony would return once again to the servants’ living quarters.

In time the king had a son, but the staff had become so rebellious and distracted by their own importance they didn’t even realise the king had borne an heir to the throne.  This boy knew nothing of the working-class life from which his father had come.  All he had ever experienced inside the walls of the palace was his princely life. 

So, the king lovingly sent his son, to live as a working-class servant boy, to experience life outside the palace walls, so he might better understand his father’s kingdom and better lead the country when he became king.  The boy went to work and live with the palace staff; no doubt he very quickly got some real-life experience. 

Picture what this young boy walked from… cleanliness, prestige, excesses, good manners, honour, and respect.  Now picture what he walked into… dirtiness, coarseness, hard work, debauchery, drunkenness, disrespect, disunity and fighting.  This was hardly an inheritance for a king!

King David was an earthy working-class man too.  He grew up as a shepherd boy.  But God saw that this lowly boy became king. 

David seeks God’s mercy in Psalm 25, saying, To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; 2 in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. 3 No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.  4 Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; 5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long. 6 Remember, O Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. 7 Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O Lord.  8 Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. 9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. 10 All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant.  (Psalm 25:1-10 NIV)

King David knew where he stood with the Lord; he knew he was a sinner.  In the very next verse, after what we have just heard, David pours his heart out to God, saying, For the sake of your name, O Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great. (Psalm 25:11)  David knew the Lord’s way was loving and faithful.  However, for a sinner like David to keep the demands of the covenant is impossible, and it brings this cry of contrition from his lips — for the sake of your name, O Lord, forgive my sin, though it is great. 

For the sake of God’s name, these inspired words from David among others, needed to be fulfilled in the advent of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.  So we do well to see this Psalm, and all Psalms—in fact, the complete Old Testament—fulfilled in Christ.  Jesus needed to come into the world as a servant; the creator needed to be created, it was advantageous for us that God make his advent amongst us.

 We—like King David and the rebellious workers we’ve just heard about—need a Saviour.  None of us can keep God’s covenant, and, therefore, receive God’s loving and faithful ways.  All of us left to our own devices become treacherous without excuse; before God our best work still brings us shame.  We all need Christ’s coming and his supreme sacrifice.  In fact, we do receive God’s faithfulness and loving guidance, but only because of Jesus Christ.

In this Advent season as we prepare for Christmas, the coming and birth of God amongst us, let’s focus on two things.  Firstly, the heights from which God the Son came to dwell among us.  And secondly, the lengths and depths to which he went, so that we his sinful rebellious and treacherous servants might be saved.  In clearly hearing and grasping the sanctity and privileged position of Almighty God over against the utter depths to which we and all people have slumped, only then do we even begin to truly appreciate just what the grace of God is and how privileged we are to receive it!

Look at it from the point of view of the son sent to live in the servant’s quarters.  How much would the contrast have struck him between princely exuberance in which he had lived and the squalor and filth into which he was delivered?  Think of the shame and despair he could have felt!  Had he done something wrong, did his father, the king, still love him?  Had he been sent to the palace quarters to die with the sacrilegious servants?

Now let’s use Psalm 25 to see Christ’s advent — from his point of view.  To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.  Jesus came from heaven to us, he came from timelessness to a point in time, he the creator was created as a weak baby, he came from infinite knowledge and power, to be born by a mother who was pregnant outside wedlock, and grew to be the son of a lowly Nazareth carpenter.  He was handed over to treacherous men, and put to shame because of our sinful ways.  It looked as though his enemies had triumphed over him.  And yet, he still trusted in his Father who sent him into his fallen sinful creation to save us.

Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long.  God taught him his paths and showed him the way that led straight to the cross.  Jesus knew the truth, he was innocent and we are guilty.  Yet Jesus’ hope remained in God all day long and now we are called to faith in him who was faithful to his Father’s will for our benefit.

Remember, O Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O Lord.  Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.  Put yourself in Jesus’ place.  How great would God’s goodness and mercy and love “seem to be” if it was you he had sent to die.  Our sin and rebellious ways have continued from of old, right back from our youth.  God remembered them and placed them on his innocent Son.  How good was that for Jesus, who is good?  How good is this for us, who are not good?  Yet we walk in freedom while the Almighty King of the universe, in all goodness and godliness, walked the way of the cross.

 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant.  Christ came as King and humbled himself and became obedient unto death, death on a cursed cross.  This is the loving and faithful way the Lord walked even though he kept every demand of the covenant.

As we reflect on Christ’s first coming, and wait for Christ’s second coming, know that all the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for us, because Jesus Christ has kept the demands of the covenant.  So be humble, repent, seek what is right, and allow him to teach you his way. 

By your Holy Spirit, Lord, give us the power to trust your Word, to watch, and to pray.  Amen. 

B, Last Sunday of Church Year Proper 29 - John 18:37-38 What is Truth?

John 18:37–38 (ESV)  Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him.

What is truth?  Pilate askes Jesus this question, after Jesus not only speaks about, what is truth, but speaks the truth of his kingdom.  God’s kingdom is, God’s kingdom was, and God’s kingdom will be as we proclaim at the end of every Psalm, “Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever more”.  And the great resurrection proclamation of the church, “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again!”

Yet ringing in the hearts and minds of all people from the first in God’s creation is the question, “Did God actually say?” (Gen 3:1) Tripping us up to place his Word second to ourselves and everything else.

God’s kingdom, despite its existence is not seen by humanity.  If it were so, God would not have had to speak through Moses, Aaron, and others, his priests and prophets of the old covenant.  God would not have had to send Jesus Christ to be the new Israel through which all people can be blessed!  And he wouldn’t have had to send the Holy Spirit after the Ascension, to call, gather, enlighten, and make us holy through pastors faithfully preaching God‘s Word and administering his sacraments.  Without the action of the Triune God, no human would see or seek God and his kingdom.  The only kingdom we see without God, is of this world!

However, Jesus says, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” (John 18:36 ESV)

The only way God’s kingdom is seen is through Jesus Christ’s atonement in God’s law.  The Son had to step into the void and fulfil what vain humanity couldn’t do!  Jesus Christ became Israel!  Out of “Galilee of the nations”, came the only one who could truly bless the nations of all time!

Yet even in Jesus’ time on earth, the disciples struggled to see his kingdom coming.  Therefore, the Holy Spirit was sent for the sole purpose to continue turning us away from our motives to Jesus’ motive, so God’s kingdom could be built, within us, with us, and for us. 

God’s kingdom is hidden, but not to those whom Jesus allows the Holy Spirit to make it unhidden through his Word.

Jesus said to Pilate, “Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37d)

In the English text there’s a hidden irony.  It’s partially revealed in Pilate’s response, “What is truth?”  But there’s much going on in this exchange between Jesus and Pilate, that’s missed in English translations of God’s Word!

We know the riddle of God’s kingdom, that it’s hidden and only seen by faith, generated within by the Holy Spirit when we receive God’s Word into our hearts with our eyes and ears.  However, hearing how the Greek word for “truth or true” is constructed, deepens our understanding of Pilate’s and Jesus’ discussion, and exposes the farce of Pilate’s hand washing and allowance of the Jews to crucify Jesus.

The Greek word for truth is made up of two words, “not and hidden”.  Jesus is the one who makes heaven truly known, or unhides the reality of heaven to us!   Therefore, those who are unhidden hear and heed his voice and receive the hidden kingdom not of this world.  So, when Jesus unhides us with his Word we see his kingdom unhidden in his world.

The craziness of Pilate’s action comes about, despite Pilate finding no guilt in Jesus. He found nothing hidden in Christ! Yet contrary to his conclusion, he turns Jesus Christ over to the Jews for crucifixion.

Listen to the discourse with Greek meaning of the word for truth inserted in its place.

Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to what is not hidden. Everyone who is not-hidden listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is not hidden?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him.”

Pilate responds to Jesus with classic political double-speak, “What is not hidden? There’s hiddenness in everything!” Or in today’s language, “everyone has a truth!” But after this he asks the Jews if they want him to release, “the king of the Jews”. 

Regardless of Pilate being sarcastic or not, he has been allowed to see two things, Jesus’ innocence, and his kingship.  He has answered his own question, “What is truth? What is ‘not hidden’?” This innocent king is the unhidden truth! But the revelation of truth continues, not just of Jesus, but of Pilate too, who knowing the truth unhidden before him, hands Jesus over to death.

What is not hidden? Pilate’s hidden political motives for pleasure and popularity become unhidden, in the path of least resistance in his leadership over the Jews and having to answer to Caesar.

Because Jesus is not hidden, he is like no other! His un-hiddenness reveals the truth, not just of God’s kingdom and his Word, but of those who think they’re hiding their reality from him!

God is a God of love! But he is also a God of justice! As you move towards your last breath on this earth, God lovingly has placed before you his Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Why? To unhide your hiddenness! All things we’ve sought to hide since Adam and Eve hid themselves in the Garden of Eden. He seeks to call you out of your knowledge of good and evil into the light of perfection found only in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.  He does this “in you” by the Holy Spirit, when you hear his Word.

If any of us, having been unhidden, return to hide from what Jesus has unhidden, that is ourselves, we endanger ourselves, by stepping out from under Jesus’ protective Word of truth.  Jesus unhides the motive of all human thoughts, words, and deeds.  The Holy Spirit wills you to be repentant!  Those who resist repentance, resist the justice that fell on Jesus at the cross. If God’s justice doesn’t fall on Jesus Christ, then God’s justice has to fall on those who do not listen to his Word!  Being unhidden without Jesus, before God on judgement day is a bad place to be!

The feelings you feel when God’s Word of Law convicts you, makes you want to hide what’s been unhidden!  We all understand this, for sure, as it’s in our nature to run and hide.  However, the Holy Spirit comes to gather and enlighten you in God’s Word of Gospel.  So, rather than running and hiding from the light, you can run unhidden into the light and loving forgiveness of God.  Listen to Jesus’ voice saying, “Come!  The Holy Spirit wills you to come and confess your sin to the Lord Jesus Christ!

At the start of God’s Revelation to John, we hear that having been unhidden by his just love, he “has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”  (Revelation 1:5b-6)

The unhidden reality is that you are priests of God in his kingdom.  This now is seen only by faith, revealed by the Holy Spirit in God’s Word.  We call this the priesthood of all believers.  You were unhidden and given the right to be “children of God” priests in your baptism.  Now the Holy Spirit seeks to lead you out of this place, prepared to practise your faith amongst those to whom God leads you in everyday life.

When he comes, he promises all will see him, the kings, the politicians, those who have excluded him from their lives, those who have pierced him at the cross and pushed him aside and hidden themselves from their call into his baptismal priesthood.

God is the Alpha and the Omega!  The beginning and the end.  Will God find you uncovered in Christ, or will he uncover your reality hidden with this world? 

Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. (Revelation 1:7 ESV)

With Pilate, all those who have pierced Jesus, literally, “kicked him out”, will wail on account of him.  Their wailing will occur because they will be chopped, cut down in their kingdom, because his kingdom will come and discontinue all other kingdoms!  In his justice and love, God has the first and last say. 

Before this finally occurs, you and I have access to the unhidden truth, to be unhidden, so that what we seek to hide can be bound to the cross.  We now have the freedom through Christ’s blood, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, to be unhidden before others, so they too can have sins bound and be sinners set free by what Jesus unhides at the cross and in the unhidden truth of his Word.

What is the truth?  Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”(John 14:6 ESV)

Even so, your kingdom come! Amen.