Church guide

May 5, 2019 This is our second sermon on the Lord’s Supper. In the Holy Sacrament of the Altar, we have a wonderful illustration of both the power of God in Christ Jesus our majestic Lord, as well as His humble lowliness. He is the omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent Creator, yet He also delights to come in limited ways, hiding and concealing His glory from our eyes. What a mysterious truth is revealed to us in the awesome union between deity and humanity in Christ! God, who is a spirit without a body, took on flesh and blood, such as we have. Is it any less a mystery that the God who fills the universe with His presence puts Himself in wafer and chalice? The God who is infinite limits Himself so that we can receive Him. Just as He made Himself small in the Virgin’s womb, so He becomes small in the Sacrament. As He was found in the Manger and could be touched and seen, He is found in much the same way upon this Altar. Such mysteries are too great for our weak minds to fully comprehend. Yet we are compelled to believe with childlike faith the simple Word of the Lord: “This is My Body. ... This is My Blood.” If we let our human reason decide matters of faith, then we cannot hold on to this mystery for long. It will slip away from us like a slippery fish. If we believe strongly in the deity of Christ and His power, but we neglect the teaching that He humbles Himself, then it affect how we view the Supper. We may join those who believe in the True Presence of Christ in the Meal, but who say that Christ would surely not work through such lowly elements as bread and wine. Surely, they say, Christ must destroy or remove the physical elements in the Supper, and replace them with His own glorious Body and Blood. Now we could say, “At least these people believe in the Real Presence of the Body and Blood in the Supper. And what difference do bread and wine make? After all, the power is in the Word, and in the Body and Blood. Why should it matter?” It actually matters a lot. It matters whether Christ is able to come to us in a lowly way. Are bread and wine too common for Him? Then surely He would not have stooped to take our human flesh at all. Surely He would not have tolerated a manger, much less the Passion, with its scourging, nails, and thorns. Surely the Crucifixion would be far beneath Him and He would never submit to that. If Christ only works through exalted things, then we must surely wonder if His suffering and pain were actually real. If not, then our salvation is in doubt. But He truly did stoop down to unite Himself with our human flesh in the Blessed Virgin Mary, as well as He does today with the bread and wine upon the Altar. For if He went down even into the depths of hell, then what is bread and wine, that He would reject going into them? He has dared all this for us, to make our salvation certain. If, on the other hand, we believe strongly in the humanity of Christ, but we neglect His deity and power, then it affects our view of the Supper in a different way. We may join those who believe that Christ surely cannot give His Body and Blood to eat and drink. Surely, they say, the Body of Christ must obey the natural laws governing human bodies. So it cannot be on this Altar, they say. His Body that carried our transgressions, and His Blood, shed for our redemption, would be confined and trapped somewhere in distant heaven. It is easy to see how such a view would change the nature of the Sacrament. If the Body and Blood are far distant from this bread and wine, then He could not give forgiveness here. More than that, he would be a Christ who is unable to overcome the natural limitations of physical laws. It would be doubtful in what sense He actually is God. Salvation from such a weak man would be uncertain at best. But we know and believe that Christ is truly God, omnipotent and without any limitations. His Body and Blood are powerful to save us, both at Calvary, and upon the Altar. Even when He comes in the humble Means of Grace, He is the majestic and glorious God. He fills the whole universe with His presence, so that He can also sit upon this Altar for His Church. May we always trust in this Christ. May we always embrace this mystery: that He who is the Most High God is also a Man with human flesh and blood. He who is exalted above all the heavens and praised by mighty angels, is also found in humble bread and wine. So our God does great wonders for us, and performs mysteries beyond our comprehension, so that our sins may be forgiven, and our salvation be certain. God grant that we hunger and thirst for the great mystery of His Meal. In His Name, and to His glory. Amen.

Sermon on the Lord’s Supper, preached April 28, 2019 Today we begin a sermon series on the Catechism, the Sixth Part, the Sacrament of the Altar. What is the Sacrament of the Altar? It is the true Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, for us Christians to eat and to drink, instituted by Christ for us Christians to eat and drink. We do not find what the Lord’s Supper is from our own ideas or conceptions, but from the words of our dear Savior: “Take, eat; this is My Body. ... Drink from it, all of you. For this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” When we get to the end of our lives and look back upon our brief years on this present world, then we may think upon the various gifts of grace that God has given to us. We could point to earthly blessings, entirely undeserved, such as house and home, wife and children, land, animals, food and clothing, etc. We could point to our mental abilities or to the blessings that we enjoy as citizens of this great nation. If we turn to spiritual blessings, we might remember our Baptism. There is the Absolution that we have received. There is the Word of God, preached and taught and read. But today we focus on one particular, unimaginably precious gift - the Holy Supper of the Lord. As the steward of the mysteries in this place, it has been my privilege to distribute the Body and Blood of Christ with my own unworthy hands. I give out the very same gift that our Lord instituted on the night He was betrayed, Maundy Thursday. Truly, it is not I who have fed this Holy Supper to this congregation, but none other than our Lord Jesus Christ has fed us. We have not been eating earthly food alone. We have also tasted the true Manna, the Bread from heaven, which is Jesus Christ the Son of God. We have drunk the Blood of the Lamb. The food and drink we have received has given us life in abundance, overflowing life, life that does not end, here in this Divine Service. When we pass from this world, our body will sleep, but only until the resurrection. We can be assured that we will rise with a new, glorious body because we ate the Body and Blood of Christ. Such food is not without effect. It is food so nourishing and powerful that it strengthens us to life beyond death. If we eat healthy food, we live healthy lives. If we eat the Body and Blood of the Immortal Lord of Life, then we live immortal lives. Of course, this does not mean that if someone does not receive the Lord’s Supper, they will necessarily go to hell. Scripture does not make reception of the Sacrament a condition for salvation. Nor does the mere eating and drinking guarantee salvation, since anyone who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment upon himself. Those who despise the Sacrament, either by refusing to receive it or by disbelieving the Word of Christ, such people will not receive the benefits that He gives. But for us who eat and drink with repentance and faith, the Body and Blood of Christ have already lifted us above the troubles of our lives. Sin and death and satan plague us in this world. Indeed, we are powerless against these sinister and destructive forces. But we have received the great medicine given for the remission of our sins. We have received the antidote to death in the resurrected Flesh and Blood of Christ the Lord. Now death, that most dreadful of human diseases, is only a temporary annoyance to us. We will recover. The devil cannot accuse us, because we have immunity to all his accusations. None of our sins are counted against us, because the Blood of Christ was shed for us, for the remission of all our sins. The cup we have drunk here is the Blood of the New Testament. Christ gave this Testament so that when He died, all believers in Him would receive the inheritance of His riches, namely, salvation and eternal life in heaven. The Holy Supper shows that our Savior has passed before us into death, and that His death was the source of our blessings. We do not have to die in fear or loneliness, because He is waiting for us there. He conquered death and made it the entry-way for His saints to enter into glory. More than that, the Supper of Christ is a display of the resurrection of our bodies. For Christ does not offer to us something dead to eat, but His living Body and Blood. As He has given us living food and drink, so He shows us our future - resurrection to a living, renewed, and immortal body. As He unites Himself with earthly bread and wine, so He has united Himself with us in the food and drink He feeds us. Since we have been united with Him in our earthly life, how much more will we be united in the next life, where no sin will threaten, no tears or pain will be felt, and even death will be banished! Therefore, do not regard death with earthly eyes and earthly reason. As lowly bread is exalted as the Body of Christ, so your body will be exalted at the Resurrection. As we who are sinners are declared by God righteous and holy, so we who will rest in Paradise with our Lord are glorious now, although we cannot see our glory now. It is hidden as surely as Christ hides Himself in, with, and under earthly food and drink. But we will see the glory revealed one day, when the glory of all the saints is revealed. Christ shed His Blood for many, indeed, He shed His Blood for all the world, since He is the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. Christ has promised to raise all whom He has redeemed, and to give them eternal life and resurrection from the dead. Grant this, Lord, unto us all. Amen.

Easter Services: 7:00 am Sunrise Service 8:00 am Easter Brunch 10:00 am Worship Service with Communion

April 20, 2019, John 20:1-18, Vigil of Easter Saint Mary Magdalene, along with some other women who are not mentioned in our text, came to the tomb of Christ very early. While it was still dark, the stone had already been rolled away from the tomb and Christ was gone. When exactly did Christ rise? We do not know. It was sometimes after sundown on Saturday evening, sometime before sunrise Sunday morning. That is about as much as we can narrow it down, which is not much. We can say that sometime in the dark hours, the Lord of life left His own tomb. So we have our Easter vigil in the dark hours of this evening. As Christ did not wait for the sun to rise, so we do not need to wait for sunrise to hail His resurrection. Technically, this is Easter. We are here, like Mary, in the darkness, seeking our Lord. She says to Saints Peter and John, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.” She says pretty much the same thing to the two angels, although she is not aware that they are angels. Then later she says to Christ (just as ignorant of His identity as that of the angels), “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” Now, Mary apparently did not get the memo that the remains of a dead person are only an empty shell. Please understand that I am speaking tongue in cheek here. We Christians know that the body of a person is very important, even after death. Many in our culture do not understand that, and so do not understand the significance of Easter. Christ has risen and so resurrection is the destiny of all flesh, some to be raised to unending life, others to eternal shame. The body of a Christian is not forever dead, but is only waiting to be awakened on the last day. Our bodies are precious in the sight of Christ, since He paid so dearly to redeem both body and soul. Mary did not yet understand the significance of Easter. But she did understand that the body of a person is the person, or at least part of him. After death, the spirit departs, but that does not make the lifeless corpse a meaningless shell, like a candy wrapper discarded into the trash. So she did not say, “They have stolen my Lord’s body from the tomb,” or “They have taken the lifeless shell,” or something like that. No, they had taken her Lord. He was missing, not merely His disposable wrapper. Of course, since she was ignorant of these facts at first, Mary had the interesting conversation of asking Christ what He had done with Christ. “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” She was practically saying, “What have You done with Your body?” That makes no sense, but obviously she did not know that. We can smugly sit here and think how silly she was, but we sit at a great advantage through the revelation of the Word. Standing there in the dim morning hours, wracked by grief and confusion, I think we would do no better. Sometimes, even with our privileged position in history with the full revelation of Scripture, we do little better. In worship, how often do we forget that He is here? He is not a figure from history whom we ponder from a distance. No, He is here. The darkness of our old Adam’s dim eyes often makes us miss what is right in front of us. He speaks and we hear His voice. Indeed, He is speaking right now. From our advantaged position in history, do we miss the significance of Easter? We are here at Easter Vigil, which is a commitment above the average person. We are probably a good sample of those who know their Catechism pretty well. But we still forget. Let me remind you. Easter is the resurrection of Christ, which means the resurrection of you. You will rise. Indeed, you have spiritually risen already from the death of sin through water and the Word. The dead will come to life, and you will be raised with a glorious body that death will never touch again. But here in this Service, as we are perhaps as tired as Mary was, our minds may not be grasping much or remembering much. Thank heavens the Lord speaks to us through our confusion and the darkness of our thoughts. His voice is powerful to pierce our sinfulness to speak words of comfort. He says, “I am alive, not dead. I am risen, and you will rise too. This I have purchased for you.” So even we who see from the great distance of time can believe the resurrection. We can believe in Christ the living One through the witness of Mary and the witness of the apostles. This is the power of the voice of the Risen Lord, for His voice is His Word that He speaks to us. To Him alone be all power and glory and honor and authority and riches and wisdom and strength. Amen.

Mark 16:1-8, Easter 10 a.m. April 21, 2019 What did the women have to do in order to anoint Christ? They had to wait until after sunset the day before to buy their spices. They had to wait that long because Saturday was the Sabbath when you could not buy or sell if you were a pious Jew. So they had to wait. Then they had to get up very early Sunday morning to get to the tomb as early as possible – what commitment! What devotion of their heart! They would not wait a minute longer to show love to their departed Friend. But a living body does not need spices. There was no smell of decay for the Body of Christ, nor ever will be. In fact, there was and is no Body of Christ in the tomb to anoint at all. We would rather we were doing favors for Christ, like the women. If we do a good work, we want to think, “Aha! See that? I did so much work. God, did You notice? I hope You will remember this next time You decide whether to give me a big blessing.” Then if the Lord does not give us something we want, we think, “How could You deny me when I did such a great thing the other day? I deserve it! I did You a favor, but You treated me bad!” For example, we want to go to church as if we were performing some wonderful work for God. But He needs no favors. He owes us nothing in return. We are the ones who need worship, not Him. We die without worship. Our Savior, although He was obedient to every commandment, died and was raised, never to die again. He does not suffer any pain or hunger. He does not suffer anything. He needs nothing, least of all from us. Even if we could give Him something, everything that exists is from Him and belongs to Him, up to and including any good deed that we could do, no matter how selfless and extravagant we might think our works are. How could we ever give Him anything that He needs? He does not even need anything from angels. An angel rolled away the stone from the tomb, but Christ did not need the angel to do it. He could have spoken a word, and the stone would dissolve into dust. Or He could kick it, and it would go into orbit. What He apparently did was simply pass through the stone or the walls of the tomb to show how powerless it was to contain Him. He was already gone before the angel rolled away the stone, so little did He need any angel’s help. Christ is stronger than death – but do we fully believe it? He promised the disciples He would rise, and they did not at first believe. But that is how He works, by promises. Our joy and task as believers is to learn His promises and trust that He will keep them. Today we especially learn that He has promised us resurrection. He rose on our behalf, to show us our destiny. He showed us that the power of death is broken. He showed us that we will step out of our graves on the last day. What a wonderful promise! How could we not be as amazed as the women were? The enemy of man is defeated. Since the sting of death is broken, satan and sin also cannot destroy us. We have eternity of life and perfect happiness to look forward to! But, amazing as His promises are, we sometimes want other promises that we make up. We sometimes prefer to think that God needs to make us happy and healthy and financially well off. Oh, we do not ask for perfection. A little sniffle now and then is not bad, although we may get awfully grouchy at the time. We do not want to be too rich, although we would not complain. Just comfortable enough, and no need to worry about finances. If we had a little more, surely then we would stop worrying. And we tell ourselves other lies as we make demands of God. Do this for me, do that for me. Asking a loving Father for gifts and saying, “Thy will be done,” is one thing. But human nature likes to make ultimatums to God. Give us what we ask for, or else we will avoid Your house. Sometimes our problem is not God but the believers around us. They need to make us happy or else we will boycott them. As if God promised that all men would always treat us perfectly. All this is to treat Christ as if His resurrection is not reality. Christ has done it and Christ has conquered the unconquerable – how can we put conditions on Him as if He did not do enough for us? From a sinful human perspective, believing in the Resurrection of Christ is foolish. It does not agree with our scientific, real-life experiences. Dead bodies do not spontaneously come back to life. A man dead three days does not rise, any more than non-living matter suddenly comes to life. Death is final and unbeatable, at least from the perspective of our sinful flesh. Christ’s victory over death does not agree with our emotions. Death devastates and traumatizes us. Even the women at the tomb, after they heard the message of the angel, trembled and were afraid to say anything to anyone. They had just received the message of the Lord of life’s victory over the grave, but they were still afraid. Many things in this world may excite and astonish us, as the women were excited and astonished. But so often the things that make us ecstatic do not include the Word of God. The latest this and the latest that easily capture our attention. Our favorite pastime or a favorite person visiting or a favorite show or food or music or experience. But the Word of God does not often excite us. Should we not tremble with excitement, because the Lord who has conquered death for us comes among us to speak His promises? He gives out incomprehensibly magnificent gifts! How could we sit here and yawn, or worse, how could we be bored by the Word? So often, we are. So often, we are afraid. We are scared of life and what it can bring. We fear dangers, real or imagined. Or we are sorrowful, because we act as if we are not victors over death with Christ. We are too often tossed about by circumstances because we are not as steady in faith as we should be. As sinners, we are easily trapped in feelings of despair and depression. What is the antidote? Listen to the Gospel! Hear the message of the angel, as He speaks to us Christ’s victory. Hear what the women saw, because even the bare facts of their eyewitness testimony to us is good news to make the foundations of the earth tremble in excitement. So what does the Holy Gospel show us? What did the women see? There were angels. Our text mentions one, who is called a young man in a white robe. That is what he appeared to be, although we know from other Scriptures that he was one of a number of angels who appeared that morning. He tells us, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.” What fantastic news! The Crucified One has also become the Risen One. He did not only pay the price for our sins, but He also rose to show us that His payment has earned life and immortality for you. The Father has accepted the sacrifice of the spotless Lamb, and has shown His approval by raising Christ from the dead. So He will also raise you. There was also a stone-rolling angel not mentioned in our text, although his handiwork is. He rolled away the stone, which is not necessary for Christ, but is important for the women and us. The view into the tomb should be unobstructed so that the emptiness of the tomb can be plainly evident. Look! No body! Now, that does not necessarily mean resurrection, since the body might have just been missing or stolen. But the angel in the tomb helps the women and helps us by interpreting what they saw with the words, “He is risen!” Notice that the focus is never on the angels. It is on Christ. He is the important One. Look what He did! He has accomplished all things for us! In our lives, we want to focus on us. Look at my life. Look at all I have to deal with. God, look at my circumstances. What are You doing about it? But God simply tells us, “Look at My Son. That is what I have done about it. I am bringing death to life and erasing sin with the Blood of the crucifixion. I have opened up the door to everlasting life for you.” Praise be to this only Savior of men! In Christ, death, the enemy of all men, is conquered. It will be finally abolished on the day of the resurrection of all flesh. Even now, the true terrors of death cannot destroy us who believe, because Christ is risen. The tomb is empty. He has done it for you. Look at Him. In His Name and to His everlasting glory. Amen.

Daniel 3:8-25, Easter sunrise, April 21, 2019 From very ancient times, our Old Testament Reading, Daniel 3, was associated with Easter, as well as with funeral services, and the promise of resurrection from the dead. We know how perilous a raging fire can be. The danger posed by wild fires burning out of control often causes us worry. We understand the panicky fear that an approaching blaze can give. We know the threat to property and life, and the uncertainty of not knowing whether the wind will blow the danger our way. But we sinners face a more severe danger than merely earthly fire. We are menaced by eternal danger, both physical and spiritual, the flames of death and hell. No earthly furnace compares to never-ending torment in the flames that never die, and the agony of torture like excruciating burns that never heal. Most of us know that even a tiny first or second-degree burn hurts like crazy. The flames of hell are unimaginably worse. Some of us have felt the heat from wildfires, then the relief of escaping them. But from the furnaces of damnation, there is no relief or escape by any human power whatsoever. Our sinful race is threatened by the flames of hell because we have all disobeyed our King. Unlike the three young men, we do not face death innocently. Unlike people whose houses are threatened by wildfires they did not light, we ourselves have ignited the flames of judgment against ourselves. No unjust law accuses us, but God's perfect judgment and Law. We have rebelled against the King of the universe. We have broken His commandments. Too often we make our own rules and laws. Each of us are impudent and insolent against the great King, each in our own ways. We deserve His sentence of righteous judgment. We have, if only in our hearts, bowed down to many gods. Most of us have not worshiped an idol, much less a giant golden statue as in the Reading. But we have false gods nonetheless: Money, pleasure, entertainment, power, security, freedom, sex, alcohol, etc. Most of all, the single idol we most worship is ourselves, as we work and struggle to obtain whatever makes us happy. On the other hand, we often give God only occasional or half-hearted attention. Every one of us deserves to be cast away from God, out of His life-giving presence into that furnace where there is nothing but agony and death. Yet the most unexpected thing happens. Just when we were threatened with the fiery furnace of hell, suddenly there appeared with us someone else. He is far more than a created angel. Although a created angel can quench the heat of earthly flames, someone greater must quench the flames of death and hell for us. He is indeed the very Son of God, Jesus Christ. He entered the flames for you and felt their torment. He voluntarily submitted to the fiery furnace of hell in your place upon the cross of Calvary. He felt an agony so far greater than any earthly furnace that you will never be able to imagine His pain. After He had finished suffering for you, Jesus Christ stepped back out of hell and death. When His Father cried out to Him, "Come forth!" then Jesus stepped out of the grave. His work was completed, and your salvation was fully accomplished. The flames of death will not set you ablaze, as you walk straight through those flames without harm. The fiery furnace which is death may scare you on this side of the grave. Yet because Jesus rose on Easter, the grave's threat is empty, just as His Tomb is empty. As for hell, you will never enter that place. Hell and satan are conquered and can threaten you no more. So Christ will lead you to the place of perfect peace and joy where the Great King waits to give you the eternal reward. It is not the reward that you deserve, but the crown of everlasting life earned by His Son for you. The Fiery Furnace reveals that our God is a God who rescues from death. But we must be careful how to use that knowledge. The devil would have us leap off buildings, or take other foolhardy risks, trusting that God would catch us. But that is a false trust that would lead to disillusionment, doubt, and mistrust, and ultimately take our eyes away from Christ. We are not guaranteed by God that He will always rescue us the way we want Him to. Even the three young men admitted that God might allow them to die. So they did not do the right thing because they knew for certain that God would rescue them. He might have allowed them to die, as martyrs have died in every century of the world since Abel was murdered by Cain. Even saints were sometimes burnt at the stake for the true faith, like the two first martyrs of the Lutheran Church. So we must pray, "Thy will be done," because in this life sometimes we must feel the burn of suffering. We must sometimes taste the bitterness of the cross in our lives. Yet we do so reassured that the full weight of the Cross will never crush us. That is the great meaning of the Fiery Furnace and the Empty Tomb: You can know for certain that Christ has rescued you from death and hell. Death holds no sting for you. Hell shall not touch you. Whatever troubles you have in this life will be infinitely overshadowed by the unending glory of the life to come. There, no moment will ever be spoiled by disease or pain or loss or tears. Instead, joy upon joy, bliss upon bliss, will exceed the greatest pleasures of this life. So you shall live, resurrected in a perfect body like Christ's resurrected body. It is not that what is physical is bad, as if the soul is good but the body evil. God is concerned with both body and soul, which is why Christ Jesus rose from the dead in the flesh, not as a ghost. He redeemed both body and soul by suffering in both body and soul. When sin and death are eradicated permanently in the new Creation, we shall be resurrected to immortal life in bodies free of sin, death, pain, and sorrow: life as life was meant to be from the beginning when God created it, life perfect in every way, uninterrupted by death, forever and ever. That perfect life is what Jesus has given to you. He died, then rose, never to die again. So you, when you are raised on the last day, will die no more. Then there will be a home for you where God’s Creation is never out of control. Wildfires will not burn, and houses will not be lost. For that is a permanent home of peace and security, forever and ever. The curse of sin upon the world will be permanently removed by God, and only righteous perfection will dwell there. So we thank and praise our Savior who has rescued us from the flames because He entered the flames. We will forever keep our eyes upon Jesus Christ, who is our Life, in this world and the next, to whom with the Father and the Spirit be all glory and honor, forever and ever. Amen.

Luke 23:31, Good Fri. May 19, 2019 The text for the sermon is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke, the 23rd chapter, 31st verse: “If they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” Jesus spoke these words as He carried His Cross to Calvary. The women who wailed and mourned saw in Jesus a terrible miscarriage of Justice: an innocent man dying a criminal’s death. In the eyes of God, it was far worse: the only absolutely righteous Man dying the death of all sinners. Jesus is the green Tree that is full of health and life - yet He is cut down in the prime of His life. It is natural to say, “What a tragedy.” But Jesus says, “This is the green Tree. What will happen with a dry tree?” A dry, dead, twisted tree is rightly removed. It cannot bear fruit, and its wood is too unhealthy for anything but the fire. In the context, Christ made references to the terrors of the destruction of Jerusalem and the End of the World: “For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’” Those were the days of terror for the Jews. It was the destruction of their holy city and their temple and their religion. All the things that they thought made them the chosen people of God would be burnt to the ground. The favor of God was being turned away from their nation, all because they had rejected His Messiah. At the end of the world, the final day of terror will be for every unbeliever. They will see God tear apart the heavens and earth. They will know that their judgment of eternal death is near, all because they had rejected the Lord Christ. The end comes for every unbelieving sinner when they die and go to their judgment. They must face a terrifying end because they did not trust in the death of Christ. They will continuously suffer the pangs of death because they were spiritually dead throughout this present life. They were dead trees all along, desiccated and withered. Their death is so much worse than the death of Christ. He suffered unimaginable torment for a little while. But He is completely holy, so His death was precious in the sight of God. You cannot destroy the green Tree by cutting Him down. Even from a stump, there comes a sprout. Even from Calvary comes the Resurrection, because Jesus is full of life. His death must turn to life again. But what about the rest of mankind? We are not holy in ourselves. We are not full of life. We are not innocent. Our deaths are the rightful payment for our sins. We are all, by our sinfulness, dead, desiccated, dry wood. If Christ, who is righteous, had to suffer upon the Cross, how much more do we sinners deserve to suffer? We deserve not a few hours of torment, but an eternity of anguish in hell. After all, what else can you do with dry, unhealthy wood except throw it into the fire? So we see that there is a harsh warning in the Cross. Yet there is another message in the Cross, and another meaning we can draw from Jesus’ words. The life that is in the green Tree can be given to others. By the gift of faith, God grafts us onto the green Tree, and His life flows into us. Repentance rejects all that is ours, while faith lays hold of all that is Christ’s. In this way, the Holy Spirit attaches us dry, dead branches to the green Tree, Christ Jesus our Lord. In the same way, Jesus said, “I am the Vine, you are the branches.” Our life is in Christ. Without Him, we are dead. But with Him, we have more than enough life. We have life in abundance, welling up to eternity. In order to give us life, He had to suffer, as a tree must be cut in order to graft branches onto it. Christ was cut and bruised and flogged and pierced, and finally crucified unto death. The sap of His life had to flow from Him to us. It is His Blood that runs from the Cross, shed from His veins. His Blood is flowing out to us by the power of the Spirit through Word and Sacrament. The holy Blood comes to us through Absolution and Preaching, through Baptism and the Sacrament of the Altar. Everywhere in this Divine Service, His lifeblood is flowing to us. His Blood is for us. His life is our life. Now that our life is hidden in Him, we must expect our lives to resemble His. Since we are now green wood through justification in His Blood, then we also will suffer in the image of His suffering. Do not be surprised when satan pursues you. Do not think twice that the world wants to persecute you. Even your own sinful flesh will war against you. You must carry your cross now in this life; not so heavy a Cross as Christ carried, yet heavy nonetheless. But be of good cheer! You are green wood through Christ crucified. So you will only suffer a little while in this life. If you were still dead wood, then you could expect eternal pain without relief. But in Christ you are living, and therefore the short, painful pruning that is done in this life does not compare to the judgment and fire that you will not experience. Nor does your present cross compare to the glory and joy that you will have in Paradise. So look to the Cross. There is your life, both in the trials you face, and also in the salvation He has won for you by grafting you to Himself. Christ Jesus cause you always to remain in Him, and He in you, now and forever. Amen.

Isaiah 50:6-9, Good Friday, April 19, 2019 This reading gives us a different perspective than we usually think about. Isaiah the mighty seer foretells the Servant of Yahweh, who is the Savior Jesus, as He suffers the shameful torments of sinful men, and how He looks for the vindication of His Father, the Lord God. We are more used to hearing about how Christ endured the pain of this day because He loved us. And this is true. The love of Christ Jesus our dear Lord is so tremendous and powerful that He kept on the path right up to Calvary in spite of all the crushing burdens He had to bear. Isaiah does not dispute or deny the love of the Suffering Servant. Instead, He simply does not mention it. He is simply speaking about a different aspect of Christ’s sacrifice. Isaiah prophesies some of these torments. The Servant’s back would be struck, which was fulfilled in the scourging of the Roman soldiers. His beard would be pulled out, which is not mentioned in the Gospels. Perhaps this is figurative for the humiliation He suffered. Or perhaps, during the numerous times Christ was savagely beaten from Thursday night through Friday, they also literally pulled at His beard. That would be an excruciating experience. The Suffering Servant’s face would feel the disgrace of being spit upon. This is not a physically painful thing, but a humiliating insult, an emotional blow that denigrated the Son of God as being subhuman. Between the horrific pain and the disgrace He had to endure, it was more than an ordinary man could face. These things also had the effect of being accusations against Christ. “You are a despicable criminal, a filthy sinner of such blasphemous character, that you are worthy of being treated this way!” Of course He was not, but He had to be treated as if He were. That is the terrible insulting lie against the glorious Son of God. In the midst of the torturing actions, He is accused constantly by priests and Pharisees and a host of false witnesses who testify against Him. Isaiah records the thoughts of the Suffering Servant in reply to the lying accusations: “Who will contend with Me? Let us stand together. Who is My adversary? Let him come near to Me. Behold, the Lord God helps Me. Who will declare Me guilty?” But our Savior did not speak these thoughts out loud at the time of His trials on earth. He did not defend Himself, but let the accusations fall upon His ears unanswered. How? How could He endure the shame heaped upon Him? How could He not reply when He could easily disprove them or put them to shame as He had on so many occasions when they tried to entrap Him? Even on Good Friday, He could have confounded them with His wisdom. But no, He simply endures. As Isaiah says, He sets His face like flint. He hardens His countenance so that He steadfastly goes forward, suffering silently while He kept on, never turned back, never faltered. Such resolution and patience from our Suffering Servant is explained by Isaiah. The Servant puts His trust in His Father, who will vindicate Him. Christ knows that in the end He will be declared by His Father to be innocent of all the shameful accusations heaped upon Him. Even though He was treated as a vile offender, His Father would say in the end, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” So let them accuse. Only His Father’s opinion matters. The Suffering Servant does not care. Well, He sort of cares. The arrows of disgrace still hurt. The shameful treatment and painful torture still afflict Him. Especially, the shame of being burdened with the sins of the world upon the Cross hurts Him most of all. Surely all of heaven and hell gasped in awe as the Holy One was treated as the worst of the damned. How much shame was that! To be publicly treated that way must have been an unimaginably horrific terror to fill the soul of the Son of God with crushing agony. That is even apart from the pains of the punishment that the guilt of the world was afflicting upon Him. But still He kept on. He set His face like flint. He put His hope in His Father. Even when the Father turned His face away from His Son, prompting the anguished cry, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” - still Christ kept on. As Isaiah reveals, Christ set His hope in His Father beyond what any human senses could detect. “In the end He will vindicate Me! He will declare Me innocent to the whole universe!” Indeed, all who brought accusations against Christ would wear out like a garment. The Suffering Servant would see them eaten up as when a moth eats up cloth. He would endure, but they would not. They had chosen to oppose Him as if they could destroy Him. But they would be destroyed, because He is the Stone which cannot be destroyed, and all who fall upon that rock will be pulverized to dust. For with Christ is resurrection and eternity. That is what His hours of anguish earned for us who believe. All who love the Servant and cling to His sacrifice will see eternity. We will not wear out and be eaten up in eternal death. We will rise. That is precisely how the Father vindicated His Son. He raised Him on Easter. The shamefulness of Christ’s death was demonstrated to be a lie for the whole cosmos to see. Those accusations were not true. The shame He suffered was not deserved. His death, as the worst sinner ever, was not what He should have received. So the Father raised His Son as if to say, “You are My Son; today I have begotten You,” as another prophecy says. Or as Saint Paul says, “Christ was declared the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by His resurrection from the dead. This is also what Paul means when he says, “He was vindicated by the Spirit,” in First Timothy. There is the vindication that the Suffering Servant was waiting for. The resurrection proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that no shame belongs to the Son of God. Instead, He receives glory and honor and power and might and blessing. So we see what our Lord has done, and it teaches us much. When we are treated shamefully, where is our hope? When we must endure false accusations and terrible treatment as if we are evil haters, we can set our faces like flint and endure. We do not always endure patiently. Sometimes our impatient old Adam forgets to trust the promises of God. Sometimes we get anxious and our faces become far softer than flint. Something like pudding or sand comes to mind. For we are no equal of Christ and His perfect patience. But by the Spirit’s grace we seek forgiveness and He strengthens us to do better as we keep our eyes upon the hope set before us. Here is our hope: The resurrection of the dead. Do not put your hope only in this life. Your vindication comes with the new dawn when all flesh is raised. Then you will not only be raised, but crowned with glory and majesty. This is because you are also sons of God through adoption. The merits and forgiveness Christ earned by suffering are now applied to you. For now this is hidden, but on that day it will be revealed. As Paul also said, “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died – more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” These words are much like the words of Isaiah. Who will contend with us? Who is our adversary? Let him come near to us. Behold the Lord God helps us. Who will declare us guilty? For in Christ, the Father has declared us innocent for all time. The Blood of Christ cannot be nullified by scandalous accusations. Our reputations may be trashed on earth, but the Father’s opinion is the only one that matters. So we keep on, knowing that He will declare us to be sons of God with power on the day of our resurrection. For we are founded upon our holy Lord and His death and resurrection. What can man do to us? Whatever pain we suffer will pale in comparison with the eternity of glory that is Christ’s gift to us. The Lord keep us in faith until that wonderful day.

This is on 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, although it expands to cover many aspects of the Lord's Supper not explicitly mentioned in that text. Delivered Maundy Thursday, April 18, 2019 What are we here to receive tonight? What is Christ Jesus offering to us? What do we receive from His gracious hand? On this holy night, our Lord instituted His Holy Supper. This is no minor or casual meal. It is a serious and profound gift of God to His Church. We do well to learn and to ponder upon the mystery and the blessing of this sacred Meal. This Meal is the true holy Meal and the true worship, unlike all other meals and man-made worship. All other foods, all other ceremonies, and all other pagan practices are hollow imitations. They serve an empty plate and an empty cup because their meals and worship accomplish nothing before God. Our cup, on the other hand, is filled to overflowing with grace. When heathen nations ate the sacrifices to their gods, they hoped to receive the strength of the gods, but they did not. When revelers threw wild parties, as they do even today, indulging in every sinful pleasure with reckless abandon, they hoped to somehow escape the drudgery of this mortal coil and experience a perfect life of bliss, but they did not. When any false religion offered up some sacrifice, they hoped to appease their god, but they did not. All those things that the pagans have grasped at yet failed to hold, we have them in the Meal Christ gives. We have the true power of God in Christ His Son. We escape mortality by the salvation of our God. Our God is appeased for us, fully and for all time. He is not appeased because we have done the right things or followed the right rituals. No, it is through the Body and Blood of Christ. We participate in the only true sacrifice, the Cross, when we eat and drink the Lamb given for us. This is the true worship of God - to receive in faith the gifts He presents to us. This Meal is reality, not an illusion. It is not simply a matter of pious feelings. It is not mere symbolism. It is not an abstraction, but instead this Meal is a concrete reality. Indeed, it is the only reality that truly matters, since here is salvation and life. Here there is far more than a wafer of bread and a sip of wine. If that is all that is here, what is to be gained by eating and drinking? On the contrary, how wonderful is this Meal in which we eat and drink Christ’s Body and Blood. He does not merely give us a communion in a disembodied spirit. He does not merely command us to cast our minds into the clouds with our heavenly thoughts. Instead, He descends to us and feeds us. We touch and we taste God, who is greater than all things. There is no higher reality to be grasped. This is it: the Supper of God. In this Meal we receive the forgiveness of sins as a reality, not as a future promise or a future possibility, or an offer yet to be received. Those who eat by faith are eating forgiveness. We drink remission of sins. For this is the communion in the Body and Blood of Christ. Where this union with Christ is, there is also forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Doctor Luther wrote: “Christ is a person who gives Himself for you, so that it is impossible for sin, death, hell and satan to stand before Him, not to mention that they should gain a victory over the Divine Majesty. ... You have all power that God Himself has; that is, we become one bread ... with Christ, our Lord, so that we enter into the fellowship of His treasures, and He into the fellowship of our misfortune. For here His innocence and my sins, my weakness and His strength are thrust together, and all thus become one.” This is the Food that Christ gives His Church. He does not give it to those outside. If they dare eat it, they do not receive benefit, but harm. Christ did not fling abroad His holy Meal to the crowds, but He gave it secretly to the Disciples in the Upper Room. The crowds were not invited. This holy Food is for holy people. We are, of course, not holy in ourselves, but through the Gospel; by grace, through faith, on account of Christ. We dare not approach this communion rail on our own merits, but repentant and humble, on our knees. Consider how blessed we are to come to this Meal. We worms and serpent’s brood do not deserve to approach this most exclusive Meal. We deserve extermination. We are so unclean that even our righteous deeds are like bloody, filthy rags. But through God’s mercy, we, even we, are privileged to be invited. Not only that, but as we are joined together in communion with Christ, so also we are joined with one another. As Luther wrote: “When I receive the Sacrament, then Christ receives me and consumes me also, and devours me and my sins, and I enjoy His righteousness. Thus His godliness and riches swallow up my sins and misery, so that afterwards I am nothing but righteousness, and nothing but riches. Just so is it also among us, we all become one bread. ... You know when we make bread all the grains of wheat are crushed and ground, so that each grain becomes the flour of the others, they are then mixed together so that we see in a sack of flour all the grains joined together. ... The same way is it when we make wine, each grape mixes its juice with the juice of the other grapes, and each loses its form, so that there comes from it one drink. So should it also be with us.” As Luther said, it is not by works of love that we are joined together. That is the way that it seems best to our senses, that we cooperate together in good works, and our love will be the glue that joins us as one. Indeed, living together in love is a good thing. But how much greater is the love of God than our love! How easily our love fails when we grow weak. God neither fails nor grows weak. His grace is constant to us, to join us together. Indeed, He who is love binds us. Who is the Christ whose Body and Blood we eat and drink? He is very God of very God; God who is love. So we eat and drink pure love. When we eat and drink Him, we are knit together more closely than any earthly tie can bind. The Church traditionally has used one cup and one loaf as a reminder that we are joined as one by Christ. You may not feel the oneness. There may be someone with whom you feel out of harmony. When you experience that disunity with a brother in the Church, go to him and work it out quickly. Sacrifice, if need be, in order to be restored with your brother. For we who are one loaf and one cup ought to never act as if we were separate and divided. The mystical union in the Supper moves us to live our lives in that unity. As Saint Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “Endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Since we are one in the Supper, let us be one in our words and deeds. By ourselves, we are unable to meet that challenge. But we have mighty tools to aid us. We have holy absolution, by which the offenses that divide us are forgiven. We have the holy Word of God. We have the Supper of Christ, our Lord and God, to unite us and strengthen us. Let us hunger and thirst after this holy Food. Let us receive it in faith, recognizing Christ’s true Body and Blood and proclaiming His death till He comes. Let us approach in repentant sorrow over our sinfulness, but leave in joy and contentment, satisfied by the only Meal that gives eternal life. To the one true God who serves us His Meal, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon on Mark 14 and 15, Palm / Passion Sunday, April 14, 2019 Saint Mark records these words of Christ our dear Lord: “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” These words could well be a title for these chapters of Mark. All around Christ were people who had willing spirits, but weak flesh. There were the priests. They served God in the temple and heard His Word often. They were dedicated to serving God and the people. Surely they had a willing spirit. But we find them rejoicing in a plot to arrest and do away with Christ. Now, it is never good to rejoice in a man’s death. Even if someone is a terrible person, as they surely thought Christ was, it is still not loving behavior to wish him harm, or rejoice in his harm, or worse yet, cause his harm. May we never be found taking pleasure in someone’s misfortune. But this was even worse because Christ is not only a Man, but is also the true Lord of Israel in human flesh. His own people, the Jews, and particularly the priests as servants of the house of God, should have rejoiced and delighted in Him. Instead, they rejoiced and delighted in His destruction. Their spirits were willing to serve the true God. Yet when the true God stood before them, they plotted His death. They fell victims to their own sinful flesh. Their religiosity was full of man-made rules and self-righteous beliefs. That way, they could go on pretending that they were the good and faithful people, all the while they plotted the death of God. Judas was their accomplice. He began as a disciple of our Lord. Like the rest, he willingly listened to the sweet teaching of the Gospel from Christ’s lips. He worked alongside the other eleven and apparently performed miracles with them in the Name of Christ. Judas was not an evil villain who twirled his diabolical mustache as he laughed maniacally. No, he was a true disciple of Christ, for a time. If he were insincere or unwilling to be a disciple of Christ, Judas could have left the Lord much earlier. But he kept on for some three years, with the same kinds of sacrifices that the other disciples were making at the same time. That is a willing spirit! Yet in the end, the moral corruption in Judas fell short. Why? It started with greed and covetousness, as Judas dipped into the moneybag of the disciples. That was the chink in his armor through which satan first wounded him. The devil eventually implanted the idea of betraying Christ in Judas. Then, on the night Christ was betrayed, satan actually entered Judas. The willing spirit of Judas was no match for the tempter. So he was led to betray Christ with a kiss. What a vivid picture of a person pretending to be willing to love Christ, yet in reality betraying the Lord with a corrupt flesh! Then there is Saint Peter, to whom Christ spoke the words, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Peter, like Judas, was a longtime disciple. He had confessed his faith that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. With James and John, Peter was brought by Christ closer to Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. Surely Peter, the Rock, would not fail! So he pledged to his Lord that very night that he would never abandon Him, even if everyone else fell away. What a willing spirit! We should not fault Peter for making the pledge, but for failing that pledge. But satan was sifting Peter. Like Judas, Peter was no match for the prince of darkness, particularly on that darkest of nights when the Lord was betrayed. As Peter tried to remain faithful, his fears overcame him. He failed to confess Christ when confronted by a maidservant. Here we have the mighty Rock intimidated by a little girl! The willing spirit had fallen short. The potential threat of death was too much for Peter’s weak flesh. We know that we are no better. Christ did not speak His word about willing spirits and weak flesh only to Peter, but to all. We are faithful and strong one day, and then the next we fall to the smallest temptation. We pledge our lives to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away. Yet we are vulnerable, each one of us. Woe to us if we say that we could never give in to temptation. Woe to us if we delude ourselves into thinking that it is impossible to fall away and lose the grace of God no matter what we do. But that is just what our over-confident old Adam wants us to believe. Christ has chosen us to be His disciples. To be sure, we are not one of the Twelve, but only disciples in the broader sense. But even if we were one of the Twelve, like Peter and Judas, that would not make us immune to satan’s schemes. He sifts us, and we fail so often. May we repent like Peter. May we not lose our salvation, as Judas did. Better yet, may we be faithful. When we pledged ourselves in our Confirmation vows, we constantly said, “By the grace of God.” In other words, we acknowledge how weak our flesh is. Of ourselves, we can do nothing. Only by the Spirit working in us can we succeed at any spiritual undertaking. So we pray for His help. With that help, we can be faithful. Peter later in life was faithful even to death by crucifixion. We need not always fail, since God is with us. We can confess Christ before men without faltering, no matter the cost. The cost may come for us. May we not flinch and deny when that happens. Our example is Christ, although He is far more than only an example. He did not have a sinful flesh, so He never was limited by the weakness we have. But rather than use that as an excuse for our failures, we should strive to be like Him. He, the most faithful Witness, is more than worthy of our imitation. We might say, “It’s not fair because it was easy for Him!” But that is not really true, is it? In the Garden of Gethsemane, we glimpse the tremendous battle of will that He endured. Christ was greatly distressed and troubled because He knew the horrific tribulation about to befall Him. He said, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.” He fell on the ground and drops of blood broke out on Him. He prayed, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Remove this cup from Me.” He did NOT want to go through the horrors of that day. Here we glimpse the tremendous mystery of the two natures of Christ. He was willing to suffer, out of love for us and for His Father. Yet He did not want to suffer, because no sane man could desire the worst torture any man would ever endure. So His human will, with its natural instinct for self-preservation, wanted to be spared the monstrous suffering of the Cross. Yet He also said, “Not what I will, but what You will.” Christ’s will as the Son of God submitted to His Father. He bowed His head to the yoke He must bear. So this Man was the One whose will and spirit together obeyed. Even when faced with the most severe threat of death ever, He did not back down. He could have easily gotten out of it. He could have passed through the mob that came for Him, just as He had once passed through another angry mob. He could have beaten up the soldiers as Samson did. He could have hardened His skin so that no thorn or nail could pierce Him. Or with a single word, He could make no one able to approach Him. But He did not. His spirit was willing, and His flesh was strong. At the Cross, as He suffered to atone for sinners, some of those sinners stopped by to hurl insults at Him. “He saved others,” they said, “but He cannot save Himself.” In response, Christ could have said, “Cannot save Myself? Watch this!” and then shattered the Cross and stepped down while those mockers cowered before Him. Or He could have simply said, “Hey, I’m atoning for YOUR SINS. Could you give Me a break?” But He did not do that either. He WAS strong. He could have done anything He wanted at that moment. But His will was bound to His Father’s command. His heart was set upon paying for our salvation. He did not step down. He did not complain. He set His will and flesh to the task, and restrained His power so that He could be our Redeemer. And we, who have received His redemption by faith, are strengthened to be faithful where our flesh alone would surely fail. May we patiently follow His pattern, rather than deny Him. Amen.

for my sermon on April 7, 2019 on John 8:46-59, see the guest post by Nancy Eckert under "Visitor Posts"

Genesis 50:15-21, 5th Wed. in Lent, March 10, 2019 Who should we try to be like? Joseph, or his brothers? The obvious answer is Joseph. He has been the good guy throughout his story. We would be hard-pressed to find any fault in Joseph’s actions. He has patiently endured trials. He has trusted God when most people would have given up, even in prison, slavery, and betrayal. But I tell you, in this part of Genesis, we should also try to be like his brothers. True, his brothers threw him in a pit, sold him into slavery, and lied to their father by saying Joseph was dead. Indeed, I am not counseling you to follow their actions there, when they betrayed. Instead, follow their actions here, in Genesis 50. Here, they admit their sin. In their own words, they bore fruit to evil, not just a casual or accidental mistake, but something ripened and matured and grown until the evil was heavy on the vine. Their sins and wrongs were offenses and trespasses that revealed the rebellious nature of those who committed them. In words reminiscent of the prodigal son, they presented themselves to Joseph as his slaves, as if to say, “We are unworthy to be called your brothers.” So this is what we need to be like. True, we should also try to abound in good fruit. Be loving, be forgiving, etc. as Joseph was. These are good things to do. But more importantly I tell you, be like the brothers, by repenting. It is no mistake that the sons of Jacob were twelve in number, corresponding to the Twelve Tribes of Israel, which was the Old Testament Church, foreshadowing us, the New Testament Church of the Twelve Apostles. Like us, Joseph and his brothers surely did good works. Yet the story of their lives is dominated by atrocious sin after atrocious sin. Still, God claims them as His people. Their shining moment above all others is no good work they do. It is this, their repentance. That is what we must do most of all: repentance. That is what marks the life of a Christian. It is to sorrow over our sins and receive forgiveness through faith in Christ. As for good works, I trust that all of you are striving for good works continually. Where there is faith, the Spirit will always be prodding you to do good works through the New Adam being created in you. Yet we Christians are never to look in pride to our works, but only to say, “We are unworthy slaves.” So we are to be always throwing ourselves down upon our knees in humble repentance. We are to repeatedly drown our Old Adam. We are to put to death our sinful flesh. This is repentance, and a return to the waters of Baptism. But let us be clear that repentance is not a good work that we do, as if the emotions of sadness we muster causes us to be forgiven. On the contrary, true repentance is the total rejection of us sinners ever being able to do anything good in God’s sight. Instead, the truly good thing about repentance is God’s absolution that follows it. For if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The Lord’s Gospel of forgiveness and life covers up your evil works with His Blood. For the sake of Christ’s work upon the Cross, whatever you have done, even if it is as horrible as the wickedness of Joseph’s brothers, is replaced in God’s sight by the perfect goodness of Christ. He exchanges your sin for His sinlessness, just as surely as He took away the sin of the brothers. Holy Absolution lifts up the burden of your trespasses off of your shoulders, and places that heavy load instead on Christ on the Cross. You see, Absolution is more than merely an announcement or a reminder. Through the Gospel that is spoken, sins are actually forgiven. As Jesus promised, “Whoever’s sins you forgive, they are forgiven.” As Doctor Luther affirmed in the Small Catechism, when the Confessor asks, “Do you believe that my forgiveness is God’s forgiveness?” we answer, “Yes.” Although this Absolution is found in its most direct form in confession, Absolution is also found in all the Means of Grace. What is it to be Baptized in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit except to be absolved of all your sins? When you eat and drink Christ’s body and blood, you are eating and drinking the remission of all your sins. Likewise, where there is the Word of God and its pure preaching, there also is the powerful Gospel of Christ that does not only offer or promise forgiveness, but actually delivers it. So now in the preached Word, hear the voice of God telling you: I forgive you all your sins. That is the exact nature and purpose of the Sermon – to give God’s grace in the forgiveness of sins. In other words, preaching is Absolution. Joseph, in the last verse of our text, “spoke kindly to them.” More literally translated, he “spoke to their hearts.” What does that mean? The brothers came deserving retribution, with a heavy weight of guilt on their hearts. But Joseph said, “Fear not.” They offered themselves as slaves, but he embraced them as brothers and pledged to provide for them and their children. This great reversal of giving love instead of punishment is the essence of Absolution. Therefore, to speak to people’s hearts means to give the grace of God by forgiving their sins. Any merely human kindness falls short. No human words or works can heal or help the sinful human heart; only God’s Absolution. No pithy platitudes can replace the simplicity of God’s declaration to you, “I forgive you your sins.” That is why forgiveness is more than merely an act of human kindness. When Joseph spoke forgiveness, he was speaking in the place of God. What is impossible with man is possible with God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who shed His blood as the atonement price for your sins, and by whose death you are set free from the death of sin. We are able to forgive with that authority and power. For it is not only the Pastor who speaks God’s Absolution. The authority of the Keys belongs to the whole Church. The Pastor is called to use those keys to loose sin and open heaven in a public way on behalf of all the congregation. But privately, when your brother comes to you in repentance, you also may forgive sins by the same authority. You also may declare the Gospel message wherever you need to give answer for the hope that is in you. In an emergency, you may Baptize. You are Christ’s royal priesthood, with His Word of Grace upon your lips, the Word of Absolution. And yes, you should be willing to forgive whenever someone sins against you. Like Joseph, you should not count the cost of the offense against you, but think only of the infinite magnitude of the blood of Christ to atone for all sins. For none of the gifts of God are deserved. We are all still sinners by nature. Even our so-called righteous deeds are like bloody rags. Our calling as Christians is to continuously approach God in the only proper way – in repentance, on our knees, recognizing how great our sins are, and so casting ourselves upon the mercy of God. Repentance is not merely a one-time event in the life of a Christian. Rather, we are always repenting, just as we are always sinning. As human sinners, our thoughts are drawn toward doubt. Joseph’s brothers were already forgiven once by Joseph. But now they got to doubting. “Our father Jacob is dead. Even though Joseph forgave us back in chapter 45, now maybe here in chapter 50 he is going to get even with us.” Who can blame them for doubting? They did a lot of nasty things to Joseph. How could they trust the forgiveness they once received? Sometimes, we may doubt. Maybe we may think that we did too many sins to be forgiven. Maybe we have one sin that seems too big to forgive. Maybe we realize that, deep down inside, we like sin. How can we be forgiven? Let us come to God in repentance and cast out all doubt. For the very Absolution we receive is the tool by which the Holy Spirit creates and sustains our faith. Our trust is built up the more we hear God’s forgiveness. Since doubt is always part of our sinful flesh, we always need the medicine of faith. Neither let us not think our sins are small, for the smaller our sins are in our eyes, the less we will appreciate the Absolution. Instead, let us love, more and more, what God offers to us. He has provided in His richness, grace upon grace, forgiveness overflowing in His various Means of Grace. In these, we receive the precious blood of Christ for our salvation. Let us cling like little babies to the warm embrace of our loving Father, who gives us all things through His Son and Spirit. In the Name of the One and Only Triune God. Amen.

sermon text: Mark 12:35-44 (mainly the last part), on the Wed. after the 4th Sun. in Lent, April 3, 2019 In the Church, we must be very careful that we do not judge one another by appearances alone. We must not be too hasty. Something we perceive as poor may actually be widow’s mites. God gives to each person the gifts that He sees fit to give. We are to offer our lives as living sacrifices, giving back to God what He has first given us. No one is required to give more than they have. Each of us is to give in proportion to what we have received, whether we are talking about actual monetary offerings, or the good deeds we do. There is no strict tithe in the Lutheran Church. We do not say that you must give ten percent of your income. Nor do we say that not giving a certain amount to the Church is necessarily some kind of failure of faith and trust in God. So we should not be checking out our fellow Christians to see how good they are. We should not watch to see how much they put in the offering plate. If they give little and we give much, who is to say that their little isn’t really all they have to give, as the widow who gave two tiny copper coins, not even worth a penny? But that was all she had. She gave not ten percent, but 100 percent. She gave all she had to live upon. She gave her very life. We also should give all. I am not suggesting you give 100 percent of your income. But we ought to be ready to surrender all for Christ: all our time and energy. That does not mean that it all goes in the offering plate, or all goes into service for the Church. But in our vocation where God has placed us as father, mother, husband, wife, son, daughter, brother, sister, neighbor, citizen, etc. - in all these vocations, we have opportunities to give of ourselves to others. In all things, we are to be giving our lives to others, in every good work that we do. We often give of ourselves from faulty motives. We give out of guilt. We give to be better than others. We give to be seen giving. We give to get something back, even if all we are getting is a feeling of satisfaction. We give to make ourselves pleasing to God. But none of us can make ourselves pleasing to God by our good works. True, our works done in Christ are pleasing to the Father, but not in such a way that our status is created, sustained, or enhanced by our works. We are pleasing only through Christ Jesus, and we only properly give out of a motive of thankfulness for Christ, and out of compassion for the need of our neighbor. Christ gave and gave until it hurt. He gave of Himself beyond our understanding. He first emptied Himself of His majesty as the Son of God when He became Man. He became poor for us, poor in spirit and poor in position. He set aside from Himself all power and glory, and took the form of a servant, so that He had nothing. As He said, birds of the air have nests, and foxes have holes, but the Son of Man had nowhere to lay His head. All things still belonged to Him. He did not truly lose all things, since He never ceased to be the Son of God. Yet He did not exercise His power and glory, and He did not make use of all the blessings and comforts of the universe that belonged to Him as their Creator and Lord. Instead, He made Himself, as it were, a poor, homeless beggar. Finally, when He had emptied Himself of everything else, He also gave His life as an offering to the Father, the one true offering in which all our offerings find their meaning. He gave His life to us, to fill us with His life. All He had was given away. In the end, it did not seem like much. As the clink of two copper coins seemed cheap, so His life had the appearance of valuelessness. What worth is the life of a man whom even His friends abandon? Even His people and His world, whom He created and nurtured, all rejected Him. He is cast out of the city, thrown out like garbage. Even His Father in heaven forsakes Him. What value is in this Man’s life? He dies as a criminal. He dies with mocking and jeering in His ears. Finally, He dies and is buried in a borrowed tomb, because He has no place to lay His head, even in death. Born in poverty, He dies in poverty. But His death is not to be judged by appearances. His life was sold for thirty pieces of silver, and He seemed no more valuable than the two pieces of copper given by the poor widow. But what Christ has given is of ultimate value. He has given all His livelihood. All His life is laid down for us, and His life is of more value than all the universe combined. Indeed, it is a good thing that His life is worth far more than all gold and silver, because we could not be redeemed with gold and silver. But we are purchased and won from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil with His holy, precious Blood and with His innocent suffering and Death, as Doctor Luther wrote. One single drop of His Blood could buy back all the human race. To show us that there is no doubt that the sins of all men are paid for, He shed all His Blood, all His life. He did not give just enough. He gave all, for us. Shall we not also give in joyous gratitude of His gift? All our offerings, large or small, are pale shadows under the awesome magnitude of the Cross. Let us, therefore, give our very lives as living sacrifices. Let us give our puny coppers, unworthy as they are. In the Name of our only Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

This was delivered March 31, 2019, The Fourth Sunday in Lent, on John 6:1-15 This is a time in our nation for worry. People worry about the effects of the national deficit on our children and grandchildren. People worry about finding or losing their jobs, and how will they pay their bills? Many worry about retirement. You do not have to be a big Wall Street stock trader to fear what may happen. And there are many other potential causes for worry. Christ teaches today that you should not worry, whatever may happen. Even when you are stranded in the wilderness of life, He will take care of you. He has promised, and He will do it. The five thousand who followed Christ into the wilderness probably began to worry. They were stranded in the middle of nowhere. How could they find a meal? Most people eventually find themselves in a tight spot, without any apparent solution. It may seem like there is no way that things could turn out okay. At such times, you may be tempted to think that God is very distant. Although you believe that He could help if He chose to, you may doubt that He will actually do it. Christ promises you that He will always help you in whatever trouble you find yourself. But He may not help you in the way that you want. He may supply miraculous help, as He did with the five thousand. He may give you a miracle even if you do not recognize it at the time. Or you may experience something that seemed like a miracle, even though it may have only been God using natural resources. Sometimes, He organizes and orchestrates events in exactly the right way at the right time to help you. The most ordinary blessings, without a hint of the miraculous, are still Christ's loving hand for you. If you buy and enjoy a candy bar or cheeseburger or glass of wine, all these are from the Father who showers you with every kind of gift. Sometimes, instead of removing a problem, He may allow it to remain. He may choose to have you suffer the hardship for a time, or perhaps only supply you with the strength to endure. This, also, is Christ's loving hand. Or instead of removing the problem, He may choose in His wisdom to remove you. In other words, He may take you to Himself in heaven, where all problems and troubles cease. Yet, with all these ways that He expresses His love to you, how easy it is to worry! You know that He promises to protect you always. You ought to trust Him easily and naturally, all the time. But like all men, you cannot trust your Lord as you should. Worry is inevitable, if you are a sinful person. It comes to everyone as naturally as breathing. Sometimes, you may worry because you are not in the circumstances you wished you would be. You may find yourself sitting on grass eating plain bread and fish, when you wanted to sit in a restaurant eating steak. You may find yourself thinking, "If only I saw the great miracles of the Bible, then I would trust God more, and worry less." But that is not true. The Israelites saw the Red Sea part, and were fed Bread from heaven, yet they worried and complained. The disciples saw Christ work miracles, yet they worried whether the people would have enough to eat. If you could cease worrying by trusting God completely, then you would be able to keep the First Commandment perfectly, and every other commandment would be easy for you. But you do not trust God as you should, because your flesh cannot. But on account of your sinful flesh, Christ has given His holy flesh. He has given Himself as the Bread of heaven. That is what Christ wanted the people to see. He did not want them to merely be fed one meal, and then be none the wiser. He wanted them to see that there is one Bread better than any other. This one holy Loaf is divided up, not between five thousand, but is given for all the earth. This Loaf is Christ. After all, the Jews were about to celebrate the Passover, also known as the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Christ is the Bread that has no leaven of sin, and no impurity, but is only holy and pure. This Bread is not made by human hands, but descends from heaven as surely as the manna in the wilderness. No man could make the Bread of Life. Christ had to be conceived by the Spirit in the Virgin Mary. For Christ is Bread so powerful that anyone who eats Him will live forever. This eating is faith. Faith receives Christ and takes Him into yourself. He gives you strength and life, since He is the Food from heaven. So this perfect Bread entices you to hunger for every fragment and crumb and every little piece that falls from the Master's Table. He awakens a desire in you to devour every Word of grace. There is no need to ration His forgiveness, or go on a spiritual starvation diet. Christ richly provides an overabundant feast of His grace. Most of all, this hunger is driven by the awareness that you are a sinner, in need of Christ always. Of yourself, you are empty. But Christ gives you of His fullness, with baskets full left over. He fills the emptiness of your sinful worry and mistrust. Because of your fleshly complaining, you should be left in the wilderness to starve. But He fills you with the best food ever. Instead of allowing your death, He was broken in death for you. He was burned in God's oven of wrath, so that you could receive His life for salvation. He had to be broken and burned. Death and fire had to touch Him, just as earthly wheat must be crushed and baked before it becomes bread. Christ also had to be crushed. The yeast of mankind's sins had to be placed upon Him. Such torture He endured, yet He submitted to it willingly. Out of compassion and tender mercy for you, He was willing to be broken in death. Yet He could not remain dead. Even broken and burned and crushed, He remained Life incarnate. This is the Bread of Life who gives His life to you. Now He has given a wonderful Sacrament of life. His own Body is the Bread that is eaten. Here is the great Sign of all signs, that with our mouths we eat the flesh and blood of God. Every crumb and drop is so precious - how could we waste the tiniest amount? This Sign is not for all. He did not give His Body and Blood to the Five Thousand; only to those instructed who had confessed Christ, a small, select group. What a great gift He gives! Here we eat the true ambrosia, the food of immortality, the food of God who died and rose again. He has rescued you from death and hell and satan. He has already done the best thing that could ever be done. Since He gave His life in agony, how would He not give you a thousand other blessings? He could never fail you, since He has already put His life in you. Only this Bread from heaven truly satisfies sinners. People who want only their physical needs met by the Church will not be filled. Although we may feed such people, their heart is not set upon the True Bread, but on earthly bread. Like the people who followed Christ for His miracles, they do not truly believe. Like those who wanted Christ to be King because He fed them, they will never be filled. To believe merely that Christ cares for your daily needs is not saving faith. Even a heathen can believe that. That is why the Spirit's main work was to show you that you are sinners, and then turn your eyes upon Christ, the Savior from sin. The Spirit gave you first the Kingdom and His righteousness. All the other things will follow after. So you are safe and absolutely secure, no matter what happens around you, because you have Christ. Let all the world threaten you. Let demons surround you. Let family, friends, and even your life be taken away. If all these things happen, you are still forever founded upon Christ and His life. You cannot be destroyed, whatever may come. In the Name of this holy Lord whose death has made you alive. Amen.

Genesis 16:7-14, March 27, 2019, Wed. after 3rd Sunday in Lent, Annunciation (observed) Our Reading takes place in the story of Abram and Sarai, later known as Abraham and Sarah. They were waiting for the promise of the Lord to be fulfilled that they would bear a son. Sarai came up with a plan to have Abram take her maidservant Hagar as a second wife. Then a child could be born to Abram. So Hagar became pregnant. Hagar did what many people might do: She became proud. She despised her mistress, Sarai. Hagar judged Sarai to be small in her eyes. This is what the Fourth Commandment talks about. We are not to despise our parents and other authorities. This is a sin in the Lord’s sight. When He sets someone in authority over us, we are to treat them with respect and honor. We are not to belittle them or treat them with scorn. In America, we have free speech. Many seem to take this as permission to break the Fourth Commandment. People are liable to say almost anything about those in government, with little or no restraint on their tongues. This is not to say that we must approve of everything that the government does. Yet we should only criticize if we still allow them the honor that is their due. The same happens in families. A child who treats his parents with respect is rare these days. May our Christian homes be better, and bring repentance when it is not. Hagar had a mistress, that is to say, Sarai was in authority over her. They were both wives of Abram, yet Sarai was in charge of Hagar as her slave. There are several relationships here that are foreign to our experience, yet the main idea should be the same. Respect and honor those in authority. Hagar was sinning by treating Sarai with scorn. When Sarai began to discipline Hagar, Hagar did not tolerate it for long. Why should she put up with this from Sarai? After all, Hagar had the child of promise (or so she surely thought). Hagar had received a sign of the Lord’s favor when she conceived a son, which Sarai was still unable to do. Why should Hagar tolerate this harsh treatment? So Hagar left. She abandoned her mistress and ran away into the wilderness. By so doing, she was disobeying her mistress, adding that to her sin of insolent disrespect. She is met in the wilderness by the Angel of the Lord. He says, “Hagar, Sarai’s maidservant, where have you come from, and where are you going?” Right away, Hagar seems to recognize that this is no ordinary person. We are not told what the Angel looked like, although almost always such appearances are in the form of an ordinary man. But He knows her name, and the name of her mistress. Perhaps Hagar connected the dots. She had surely heard Abram speak about his God. Did she recognize that this was a representative of the Lord? In any case, she is startled into a sudden confession. “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress.” If you are an escaped slave, the one thing you do not want to do is say that you are an escaped slave. But Hagar opens right up and admits it. What might happen next? The man might return her to her mistress, or steal her for his own, or even kill her. What is she doing? She is repenting. She admits her sin. She makes no excuse. She just owns up. May we repent this way. We would rather hide our sins. We would rather keep them to ourselves and it is nobody’s business but our own. This likely means sweeping things under the carpet, concealing and possibly lying and compounding our sin with more sins. The Lord wants us to quickly repent. He has even given us private confession where we can admit to a man our sins. “But my sins are not his business!” we might say. No, they are not. But he is not there on his own. He is a representative for God. God already knows your sins, so He does not need your confession. But He plops a man in your midst to speak for Him because He wants to speak graciously to you. The Person who met Hagar is also gracious. This is a representative of the true God. He might have come to give Hagar the punishment that her sins deserved. Instead, He brought kindness and gentleness. He gives a message of command, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.” But no punishment. Indeed, the Angel adds a blessing that her child would have a multitude of descendants. So the Lord heard her affliction. He was moved with tender mercy toward her. He sent His Angel to give her a message of comfort. Now, Angel means “messenger”. This messenger is very special. This is not merely a created angel. This was the one and only unique Angel of Yahweh. When He gave the promise to Hagar regarding her son, He said, “I will multiply your descendants.” He did not say, “The Lord will multiply your descendants.” We might think that the Angel was speaking for the Lord. But if so, surely He would have said, “The Lord says, ‘I will multiply.’” Further evidence that this is no created angel comes from what Hagar says. “Truly I have here seen Him who sees me.” The text of Genesis says, “She called the name of the Lord who spoke to her.” Hagar and the writer Moses agree. This was the Angel of Yahweh who IS Yahweh. Moses also met Him at the burning bush. He is separate from God, yet is God. This is the Son of God before He became Man in the womb of the Blessed Virgin. This is the eternal only-begotten of the Father who in the fullness of time was born in human flesh. This sets some of the story in a new light. When the Angel who is Yahweh says to Hagar, “Behold you are pregnant and shall bear a son and shall call his name ...”, these words are so familiar that we almost expect Him to say, “call his name Immanuel” or “Jesus”. But no, this is only Ishmael, blessed by Yahweh but not the child of promise. The child of promise was Isaac, still to come, yet even Isaac pointed to the even greater Child of promise, prophesied even in the Garden of Eden. Here before Hagar stood the one who would one day be the Child of promise, to end all sin and defeat death and crush the serpent’s head. What grace, that Hagar received her blessing from the lips of Him! How awesome, that she who is not even one of the mothers in His lineage meets and hears Him face to face. Why? Purely out of undeserved grace. Truly He delights in mothers and babies and desires none of them lost. After all, He did not scorn the Virgin’s womb. He created the wonderful relationship of mother and child, and He participated in it at the fullness of time in Nazareth and Bethlehem, conception and birth. This same Angel of Yahweh graciously speaks to you. He speaks through a man who is not noteworthy or great. There is no appearance of the glory of Yahweh here. Yet the Word is His. The blessing and absolution are His. When I give you the Benediction, not I but Yahweh speaks. Do not miss His blessing, because it tells you His heart toward you. Then you can say, “The Lord sees me and takes care of me and hears my afflictions.” He willingly suffered greater afflictions than yours to fulfill and demonstrate His love for you. Therefore, do not fail to repent of your sins, since He is gracious. Do not try to flee from His presence, but willingly accept the gifts He loves to give you. In His Name, above all names. Amen.

This one is on Ephesians 5, 1-9, preached on Sunday, March 24, 2019 Saint Paul tells us, “Be imitators of God, as dear children.” What better example to mimic than God? The life and obedience of the Son of God stand as signposts and landmarks upon which we orient ourselves. So Paul in the next breath says, “Walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us.” There is the example. A problem here is our tendency to imagine what love is and then attribute it to Christ. “Well Christ would never do such and such, because He is loving.” Or, “You’re supposed to love your neighbor, so do this thing that I imagine is loving.” If left to our own imaginations, we naturally come up with all kinds of human rules in place of the commandments of God. But the pages of holy Scripture set forth the pure Law of God, without the taint of human imagination. Today we hear that fornication, uncleanness, and covetousness should not even be named among the saints. The more nit picky among us may respond, “Didn’t Paul just name these things? How can he say that it should not be named?” Of course, that is not really the intention. He is saying that these vices should not come up in conversation as problems found among us. In other words, it is okay to mention them as a warning so that we avoid these awful transgressions. No hint of them should be found among the saints of God. What a great name that is! “Saints of God.” It sounds so grand, and perhaps arrogant, in our ears. But that is the influence of Roman Catholicism, which says that only the very best of the best, the cream of the crop, are saints, as opposed to us poor regular people. But in Scripture, the word “saints” refers to the holy ones. We are the saints who are holy, not in our own works, but in the works of Christ. He lived, obeyed, died, and rose. So we are holy. This is a wondrous reminder from Paul, and good to repeat. Who could do enough to be counted holy in himself? None of us. Yet we are declared holy in Christ, and possess eternity and the promised inheritance, the new heaven and the new earth. Only someone who already holds these rewards in Christ can then set his hand to truly do good works. No thought of reward or earning. Who can earn more than what the holiness of Christ bestows? Thus we imitate our Lord. We are grateful for His works and want to be like Him, our elder Brother. So we, set free from the shackles of sin and self-righteousness, freely do good works. Paul sets before us here iniquities to avoid. Fornication and uncleanness are mentioned together to emphasize that all forms of sexual immorality are to be avoided, both obvious fornication, and also subtle lusts in the heart. We fight these because they are unfitting to us saints. We do not always win. Who can stop a sinful thought? They are never quite extinguished in this life. Yet we fight on. Shall I name the various sexual impurities in our culture? There is not a great need to go in depth. They are usually very obvious. Do not sleep with someone if they are not your spouse. Save sexuality for the marriage bed. Do not engage in homosexual activities or support them. Do not view pornographic materials. Do not harbor lust in you. So many things to entice, all the while our culture wants you to think that there is nothing wrong with these actions and thoughts. Also do not say, “If I only think it and do not do it, then it is not a sin.” Christ disagrees. If you lust after a woman, you have already committed adultery with her in your heart. So do not be proud if you have not actually committed full-fledged adultery, yet think many unclean things. On the other hand, if you are committing full-fledged adultery, STOP! Turn away from your sin and tear your heart in sorrow, and come find forgiveness. God is gracious, no matter how big the sin may seem. But if you go on living in sin, do not think that God will be merciful forever. Covetousness also follows. Here the heart is again accused. Just by desiring what belongs to our neighbor, we commit sin. God showers many blessings on us to overwhelm us with His love. Yet our twisted hearts must desire more. Do not let coveting lead you to lure others to you from another relationship, in employment or marriage or anything. Be satisfied with the people and property our Lord gives. Trust Him since He knows what is enough. Paul goes on to various sins of speaking: filthiness, foolish talking, crude joking. Of course, humor in itself is not bad, but is a gift from God to lighten the heart. Yet humor so easily leads to sinful, coarse language. God did not give sexuality to be used as a punch line in a dirty joke. Is there some innocent humor to be found in this area? Perhaps. But as saints we should not try to find how close we can get to the line where innocence turns to guilt. We should instead try to get further away from sinful talk. These are also difficult areas. Who has not spoken foolishly at some time? What even IS foolishness and how do we avoid it? God dedicates several books of Scripture to teaching wisdom: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and some other bits of Psalms and others. Yet we so grudgingly absorb these concepts. On the other hand, some people think that they have swallowed all of wisdom whole, but there is no such person except the One. So how to avoid foolish talk? Perhaps the best way is to avoid dangers. Do not walk along the edge of a cliff because you might fall down. In the same way, do not use language that you know leads to danger. That is foolish talk. So carefully train yourself to recognize when talk can quickly turn to sin. Particularly when your or someone else is talking about a person behind their back, the conversation will soon or has already turned to gossip. Be on guard in such moments and try to avoid letting your tongue wag out of control, since it is such an unruly and rebellious piece of flesh. Paul also says that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, which is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. This should lead us to tremble with fear. Who has not coveted? Who has not, even if they avoided fornication, held unclean thoughts or words? Yet Paul does not mean that anyone who has ever done such things is going straight to hell. No, those who live in such lifestyles, who indulge and do not resist, are dangling over hellfire. Those who excuse or wink at sin are courting disaster. DO NOT BE ONE OF THEM! Be filled with the fear of God so that if you slip into these habits of sin, you quickly turn away in repentance. And if you see a brother or sister caught in a sin, go to them gently and help them get out. What better work could you do than helping a person avoid damnation? If they take offense at your words, do not let it cause you sorrow, if you can. Love demands no less than that you try, even if they will not listen. But as for listening, guard your own ears against empty words, that is, false teaching. It is so seductive because the wolves may look so pretty and friendly. They may seem spiritual, and indeed they may follow most of Scripture. Yet there is some leaven that slips in with their teaching, and a little leaven can be devastating. In other words, do not think that 95% correct is enough in matters of doctrine. Accept only 100%! Any less and you risk deadly harm. This may mean investigating the confession of someone whom you hear. It may mean diligence and caution that appears unseemly to our lazy, indiscriminate world. Ignore them, and you be careful. For you are light, who once were darkness. Not just “in the light” or “illuminated by the light.” You are light in the Lord. You are filled with Christ who is the Light of the world. You contain Him. Light spills out of you to others, whether in good works you do or in the Word on your lips which is a lamp unto our feet. The light in you can shine on others to bring them into the light. As people who are light, live like light. That means following the Spirit, who guides us in goodness, righteousness, and truth. This takes work to know what really is good and righteous and true. It is not easy to know. Following feelings is not truth. Following my own human rules is not the righteousness of the light. Be light, both in the faith you have received and in your walk. Your faith grows as you receive the light in this place. You receive more and more of Him who is the Light. Your feet are trained to follow the right path so that your actions are light. If you are discouraged because you feel like you are living in darkness, well, that is accurate too. Your old heart is still full of dark thoughts and words and actions. When discouraged, come back to the light. During Lent, I especially encourage you to come to private confession. Admit to God, through me His tiny servant, that you have done and spoken and thought darkness. Then He will shine into your ear, again through the unworthy slave which is me. He shines His Son in His bright, shining absolution. He forgives the darkness by overwhelming it with His Light. The Spirit guide us to live in the light, and avoid the darkness. Amen.

This is on Genesis 33:1-20, preached on March 20, 2019 In Genesis 33, we read the conclusion of the story of Esau and Jacob. Previously, Jacob tricked Isaac into blessing him instead of Esau. Jacob desired the blessing of God and he set his heart upon the birthright of the patriarchs. Esau, on the other hand, despised the birthright. God declared, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.” That means that Jacob was called by God’s grace and eternal election to receive the kingdom of God, but Esau rejected the grace of God. Esau did not care about the spiritual blessing of being a part of the Seed of Abraham. Esau only cared about earthly blessings and power. When Jacob, who desired the blessing of God, received the birthright, then Esau was filled with rage. He began to plot to kill Jacob. Jacob was sent away, alone, with his brother’s murderous rage echoing in his ears. Twenty years later, Jacob was no longer alone. He had two wives and eleven sons and a great company of servants and flocks. He was a wealthy man because the blessing of God was with him. When Jacob returned to the land of Canaan, Esau came to meet him. Remember that Esau’s last words for Jacob were, “I’m going to kill you.” This same Esau was bringing a small army of four hundred men with him. What did Jacob do? He did not run for his life. He did not try to meet Esau in battle. Instead, he sent gifts - lots of gifts. He sent 200 female goats and 20 male goats, 200 ewes and 20 rams, 30 milk camels with their colts, 40 cows and 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys and 10 foals. That is a lot of animals. The size of the gift demonstrates the great desire Jacob had to make peace with Esau. You might say: “Well, of course Jacob wants peace! He sees Esau coming to kill him. Jacob only wants to save his life.” That is partly right. When Jacob first made the gift, he seemed scared for his life. But then something happened. God came down as a Man and wrestled with Jacob all night. Jacob won - not because he was the better wrestler. With one touch, this God-Man dislocated Jacob’s hip. God could easily win. But Jacob refused to let Him go until He blessed him. Jacob so valued the blessing of God that he clung on tightly for that blessing. Now Jacob, having been blessed by God face to face, knew that God would not let him be destroyed, because he knew that God and His blessing would be with him. Therefore, would Jacob fear Esau when Jacob had wrestled God and walked away alive? Would four hundred men make Jacob quake when he had faced the Lord of hosts? Instead, Jacob went walking (or rather, limping) straight to Esau. He did not hide. He met Esau face to face, and made peace. What lesson shall we draw from this man, Jacob? First, we should eagerly seek peace with our brothers on earth. Spare no expense. Go to any lengths. Seek their favor, as if you are seeking the face of God, as Jacob says. If we have given offense to anyone, particularly within this little flock, should we not give everything we possess, even risk our own life, to make peace with them? Very often we are consumed with pride and self-justification. We often say things like, “Well, it is really his fault, so it doesn’t matter that I hurt him.” May we instead humbly seek peace. Secondly, we also learn from Jacob to trust in and confess the grace of God. Jacob openly spoke to Esau about the source of the great blessings Jacob had received. He introduced his children as those “whom God has graciously given your servant.” Later on, Jacob confessed that “God had dealt graciously with me.” Jacob was not only talking about his earthly blessings, because he had realized that he received his blessings because of the grace of God - that God had not looked upon Jacob as his sins deserved, but only by His eternal love. That rich grace chose Jacob before he was even born. So Jacob, at the end of our reading, called the altar he built by the name, “God, the God of Israel.” Israel was Jacob’s other name, given by God. So Jacob was saying that God is his own God. He was not only the God of the universe. He was the God who watched over Jacob and blessed him in many ways. He was the God of his fathers, Abraham and Isaac, but also Jacob’s God, the God of the great promise to send the Deliverer through the Seed of Woman, who is Christ. More than that, because the God-Man came and blessed him, Jacob trusted that God would be with him. The God-Man has come to you also, who existed from eternity, begotten by the Father, yet also born of the Virgin Mary. This God-Man has come to you and blessed you. His blessing is more than merely a kind of hallmark card of fervent wishes. God blesses you, and you are forever blessed. His face shines upon you because He gave up His very life to make you His own. He chose you from before you were even born so that you could be His child for all eternity. This is a blessing upon which you can trust and depend. You need never fear anything in this life, for the God-Man is with you. So are you less blessed than Jacob? Are you not much more blessed? Jacob received a new name, Israel. But you, the new, spiritual Israel, have received the Name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in your Baptism. Jacob looked forward to the promise of the Messiah. You have seen the full revelation of Christ’s glory, as you gaze upon the Holy Scriptures and upon the Holy Cross, where Christ’s fullest glory is revealed. Jacob met God in the shape of a Man, but he did not know His Name. You know the Name of Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Man, Immanuel, your Savior and Redeemer. Jacob had herds and flocks to eat, but you have feasted upon the Body and Blood of the Lamb of God. You have received overwhelming flood waters of God’s grace in the salvation poured out in the death of Christ. All you receive is a gift from God. Nothing is earned, because you are sinners. Yet the God of Jacob graciously fills to overflowing your cup of blessing through Jesus Christ your Savior. May you always trust in and confess with your mouths the grace of God. He has been merciful, and will only give you more. In the Name of your gracious God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Sermon on Matthew 15:21-28, March 17, 2019 As we read this story, we first consider what the disciples said. When the woman loudly begged Christ for help, the disciples asked Him to “Send her away, because she is crying after us.” This may sound at first hearing as if they were callous. How could they be so unfeeling as to suggest that the Lord send this poor woman away without helping her? But that is not what they said. They did not say, “Do not help her.” What they most likely meant was, “Give her what she wants so she will stop bothering us.” This is probably the meaning because of Christ’s response: “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” If He was responding to the disciples pressuring Him to send her away without aid, it makes no sense to say, “I was not sent to help her.” Why would Christ talk about not helping her unless He was resisting their suggestion? If He agreed to send her away without aid, then He would have simply sent her away. Instead, He seems to be saying, “No, I will not help her, because I was sent to help Israel, not her.” Set aside for a moment how strange that is to our ears. Ignore for now that Christ sounds racist and uncaring. Instead think of the disciples. They want this woman to get help, although it is for a less than noble reason. If they want her helped only because she is annoying them, that is not exactly pure, unselfish love. Yet it is surprising that they want her to receive help at all, considering the common attitude of Jews to people like her. She was a Canaanite, one of the worst kinds of Gentiles. The Israelites were never supposed to intermarry with them because their idol-worshiping practices would lead them astray. Instead, the Israelites under Joshua were supposed to wipe out the Canaanites and take their land. God’s patience ran out for the wicked Canaanites, and the time of their judgment came. Yet the Israelites failed to destroy the Canaanites completely. Some survived. They were an accursed people, hated and shunned by Jews at the time of the Gospel Reading. So the fact that the disciples seemed to want her daughter healed was a good example of kindness. We do well to imitate their desire and prayer that even enemies receive mercy from God. But Christ refused their wish. Why? It does not really say. We can guess, but we do not know. We know that He is not unfeeling and unkind. For a time He refused the prayer of a loving mother, as sometimes He refuses our prayers. We do not know why He refuses us, either. We know there must be a good reason for the loving Lord to say no to our prayers. Yet Christ goes even further. Not only does He say that He was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel, but then He adds that it would not be right to help her because she is a dog. That is even more shocking. Dogs were not admired, beloved pets and companions, as today. To be called a dog was to be identified as an unclean, wicked, or, at best, useless creature. Christ’s words are devastating: The woman is not worth helping, and should not receive the help for which she begs. But the woman does not lose hope. She sees the Lord as merciful and generous, even though He is treating her as if He holds contempt for her. It is as if she is saying, “I know this is not Your true face, O Lord. You are hiding Your loving heart from me, and I deserve it. But I know that You will be merciful, because that is who You are.” The exact response of the woman is not well translated. Every English version I have seen says something like this: “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat from the crumbs that fall from the master’s table.” The word “yet” indicates some disagreement or counterargument with Christ. But the Greek word never means “yet”. It means “for”; “Yes, Lord, for even the dogs eat the crumbs.” She is not disagreeing with Christ’s conclusion at all. She is not seeking a loophole through which she might get what she wants, or making a clever play on words to impress Christ. She is simply agreeing with what Christ says, and explains that she understands. She understands that it is wrong to take food for children and throw it to the dogs. But when children sit down to eat, there will be crumbs. Dogs will get some, without having to take food from children. By saying this, the woman shows that she understands what the Son of David is like. He comes to bring an abundance of gracious gifts. An overflowing feast of mercy arrived when Christ did. Yes, He was primarily sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But where so much abundance happens, some crumbs fall to those outside. Such a great feast cannot be contained to the table of the Jews. After all, Christ is the One who fed thousands and there were baskets left over. He is not a Son of David who must carefully ration out His acts of mercy. He overflows, even though His main mission is to His own people. So the woman is saying, “I am here for the crumbs because I know that You are the Son of David who brings an exceedingly overflowing outpouring of tender mercy.” The woman could have said, “You are racist and sexist!” or “I am more worthy than anybody else!” or “Call me a dog, will you? I was just trying to help my daughter! How dare you?” But instead she responds out of humility, refusing to take offense. She also responds by testifying to who Christ is: the Son of David who brings enough mercy to Israel that even some scraps can fall to an unworthy dog like her. That is great faith! The Spirit strengthen us to have such faith. We cling to God even when He seems to push us away or seems to treat us with contempt. We wait for Him to show His true face, which is kindness and mercy. He will not hide that face forever. He will abound with mercy for us, as He already has and will again. He filled the table of the Jews so full of the Bread of Life that mountains of crumbs even fell to us Gentiles. We were the dogs and the unworthy ones. We should have received no mercy. But He calls us His people. He has even called us to sit at His table. We are not dogs, hunting for scraps on the ground! Nor is He a miserly scrooge who makes sure no crumbs reach the dogs. For the Bread of Life is Christ, who gave Himself into suffering and death to give life everlasting. His sacrifice could not be contained to one people on earth. Such precious Blood – the Blood of God! - could not atone for only a few chosen ones. No, Christ atoned for all. He purchased all. We, too, the dogs, have received the mercy of the Son of David. Remember what a gift this is. We should not receive mercy, but we do. He has noticed us, begging for mercy, and He has chosen to help us. Although He tests our faith for His good reasons, He never fails to rescue. Although demons may afflict us and death may seize us, He will save in the end. Be patient and humble, and trust Him. Remember that He is the Son of David, the merciful, overflowing One. In His Name and to His glory, Amen.

Luke 4:1-13, Wed. after First Sunday in Lent, March 13, 2019 There is a question that may arise when we hear the story of the Temptation of Jesus. Was it possible for Jesus to fail? Was there any chance that He could give in to the temptations of the devil? To this we must answer that Jesus, as the holy Son of God, could never sin. If Jesus was merely a holy Man, then we might doubt whether it was impossible for Him to commit sin, since we also know that Adam was holy, yet fell into sin. But Jesus is more than merely a holy Man. He is holy God. His sinlessness is incorruptible. The devil could entice Him for a million years and never succeed. Now, the devil indeed gave real and powerful temptations. Jesus was truly tempted, although He did not desire sin at any time. He truly suffered under temptations. Yet He did not sin in the least way, not even in the tiniest thought in the most secret corner of His heart. Christ Jesus was always pure and holy for our sake. But then we turn to us. How are we doing in the face of temptation? Unlike Christ, we are more than able to sin. We fall every single day. The devil hardly has to try with us. Even if he leaves us alone, we find ways to sin, because the world and our sinful flesh lead us into sin. As Christians, we know that we are forgiven. The Blood of Christ cleanses us from every sin. So we are tempted to think that it does not really matter if we sin. We are tempted to shrug our shoulders and say, “Oh, well. I’m only human.” That is the way of the sinful world that excuses or rationalizes sin or blames someone else. People say things like, “I stole it because I’m too poor.” “I lusted because she dressed that way.” “I lied to protect myself.” “I’m gay because God made me this way.” These days, modern man hardly believes there is any such thing as sin, and satan would love to lead us to the same attitude. If there were no such thing as sin, then we would not have to worry about a guilty conscience. We would not have to worry about God who punishes the wicked. We also would not have any reason to believe in Jesus, nor to look to the Cross, nor to flee to the Blood shed for our atonement. The grace of God would become foolishness to us. Who needs forgiveness if there is no such thing as sin? That is the state of mind that satan wants for us. He wants us to become so comfortable with our sins, and even to love them, that we could never bear to part with them. If the devil makes us complacent and callous toward sin, then we are in danger of unbelief, at the peril of our souls. All temptation has this goal - to lead us away from the Cross. The goal of satan’s temptations in the wilderness was exactly the same. The devil wanted Jesus to choose any path for His life except the Cross. So He offered Jesus three alternatives. In the first alternative offered by satan, Jesus would be a Bread King, who went around solving everyone’s physical problems with miracles. He would make the whole world a better place by solving world hunger and abolishing all sickness. As a result, not only would Jesus be a lot more comfortable because He would not have to suffer at all, but He also would win over the whole world to His side. Everyone would love Jesus and call Him Messiah, and they would worship at His feet. But on that path there is no Cross and no forgiveness, and all the millions who were comfortable in this life would spend eternity suffering in hell, because there was no atonement paid for their sins. On the next path that satan offered, Jesus would purchase the world by bowing down to satan. If Jesus worshiped satan, then there would be no cause for suffering or death on the Cross. After all, Christ’s goal in becoming Man was to get back the nations of the world, and that is precisely what satan was offering Him. There would be peace on earth - but not true peace. True peace could only be purchased by the suffering and victory of the Cross. The third path was for Christ to become a superstar - a Messiah of spectacles. He would leap off tall buildings, and the angels would swoop down and rescue Him. Of course, everyone who saw the wonders performed by Jesus would immediately recognize that this is the One, the Christ, the Son of God. Who would ever doubt Him if He showed such convincing proofs? He would be a superstar, and everyone loves a superstar. All would bow down and worship. But of course a superstar does not die on the Cross. A superstar does not suffer anguish and rejection, nor shed His Blood for the redemption of the world. Praise the Lord that Jesus did not give in to satan. He stood firm, unlike us, and beat satan. In the temptations in the wilderness, Jesus fought the battle for us, the warfare between light and darkness. Jesus won the victory for us, in our place. So the victory of Jesus over temptation is counted as our victory. When we face temptation, the final outcome is not measured by our performance and how strongly we resist. Instead, God judges us as if we were Jesus. His resistance is counted as ours. His faithfulness and patience under suffering are counted as ours. Even if we fail miserably, the Father looks upon us with favor, because we are declared righteous through the obedience of Jesus. He could not fail because He is both God and Man. The human and the divine are perfectly united in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are united with God in Christ Jesus through Baptism, so that His holiness belongs to us. So we cannot fail, covered as we are by the Son of God. Although we fail in our actions, in Christ we are victorious. But we must not use His victory as permission to indulge the sinful nature. By reason of faith, we are perfectly safe. Yet if we abuse that faith by sinning without restraint, then faith cannot last long. We should take sin seriously. We should be horrified by sin and fight fiercely against temptation, not because we earn forgiveness by our efforts. Instead, we fight because we have been recreated in the image of Christ. We are forever His, and forever the enemies of satan. We fight because we are now set free from bondage to sin and satan, so how shall we live any more as if we were slaves? When we fight temptation, the way out is always provided by God. In our weakness, we often ignore the way of escape provided by God. Instead, we often indulge our sinful flesh. Yet for every time we fail, the Spirit pokes us with the pains of an injured conscience, so that we flee quickly to the foot of the Cross, and to holy absolution and the Supper. The greatest lesson from temptation is this: that we are not equal to it, but the Cross is always more than equal. So cling tightly to the Cross. Never forget the Blood shed for you, nor the sufferings Christ endured. Remember that He has won the victory in your place. He faced satan and crushed that serpent’s head. Rejoice in His victory. In His Name, which alone is able to save. Amen.

This was for the First Sunday In Lent, Sunday March 10th, on 2 Corinthians 6, 1-10. The sermon is mostly by Doctor Martin Luther, but with editing and some additions of my own. This lesson is an admonition to the Corinthians calculated to stimulate them in the performance of their duties. The words are easily enough said, but execution is difficult and practice rare. For Saint Paul gives a strange description of the Christian life. The characteristics with which he exhibits it render it decidedly unattractive. First he says: "Working together with Him, we plead that you do not receive the grace of God in vain." He calls the Corinthians co-workers, as in First Corinthians 3: "We are God's fellow-workers; you are God's husbandry, God's building." That is, we labor upon you with the external Word—teaching and admonishing; but God, working inwardly through the Spirit, gives the blessing and the success. He does not permit our labor with the outward Word to be in vain. Therefore, God is the true Master, performing inwardly the supreme work, while we aid outwardly, serving Him through the ministry. The apostle's purpose in praising his co-laborers is to prevent them from despising the external Word as if it were not essential to them. For God uses preachers as fellow-workers to accomplish His purpose through the Word when and where He pleases. Now, since preachers have the office, name and honor of fellow-workers with God, no one may be considered smart enough or holy enough to ignore or despise preaching; especially since he does not know when the hour may come when God will, through preachers, perform His work in him. Paul shows the danger of neglecting the grace of God. He boldly declares that the preaching of the Gospel is not an eternal, continuous and permanent mode of instruction, but rather a passing shower, which hastens on. What it strikes, it strikes; what it misses, it misses. It does not return, nor does it stand still. The sun and heat follow and dry it up. Experience shows that in no part of the world has the Gospel remained pure beyond the length of man's memory. Only so long as its pioneers lived did it stand and prosper. When they were gone, the light disappeared; divisive spirits and false teachers followed. Thus Moses announces [Deut 31, 29] that the children of Israel will corrupt themselves after his death; and the book of Judges testifies that it came to pass. Each time a judge taught the Word of God, as soon as he died, the people fell away and became more wicked than before. King Joash did what was right so long as the high priest Jehoiada lived, but after the priest’s death this ended. Following the time of Christ and His apostles, the world was filled with divisive spirits and false teachers. Paul declares [Acts 20, 29]: "I know that after my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock." So also we now have the pure Gospel. This is a time of grace and salvation and the acceptable day; but should the world continue, this condition, too, will soon pass. To receive the grace of God in vain is to hear the pure word of God that presents and offers His grace, and yet to remain listless and unresponsive, undergoing no change at all. Thus, ungrateful for the Word and unworthy of it, we merit the loss of the Word. Such as these are described in the parable [Lk 14, 16-24] where the guests invited to the banquet refused to come and went about their own business, thus provoking the master's anger until he swore they would not taste his feast. Similar is Paul's threat here, that we may take heed and accept the Gospel with fear and gratitude. Christ says [Jn 12, 35], "Walk while you have the light, that darkness not overtake you." I should think we might have learned wisdom from experience. But often we forget; we show neither gratitude nor amendment of life. Beware, lest we find out the consequences. Paul continues: "Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation." These words portray the richness of salvation wherever the Gospel goes: nothing but grace and help; no wrath or punishment here. First, he tells us that it is an "acceptable time." This is a gracious time, when God turns away His wrath and is moved only by love toward us and is pleased to do us good. All our sins are forgotten; He takes no note of the sins of the past nor of those of the present. In short, we are in a realm of mercy, with only forgiveness and reconciliation. The heavens are now open. This is the true golden year. Second, Paul declares that it is a day of blessing and salvation. It is a day of help. We are not only acceptable and assured of God's favor and good will toward us, but we experience that God really does help us in this life. He verifies His assurance, for His goodwill gives testimony that our prayers are heard. We call it a happy day, a blessed day, a day of abundance. God is both favorable toward us, and He extends relief to us in this present life. Both these facts are to be seen by faith; a superficial judgment would lead to the view that this period of blessing is rather an accursed period of wrath and disfavor. Words like these, of spiritual meaning, must be understood in the light of the Holy Spirit; these two glorious, beautiful expressions refer to the Gospel, intended to magnify all the treasures and the riches of the kingdom of Christ. In other words, God has given us salvation and grace, and as proof for it gives us aid in our earthly lives. But we must see by faith and not trust our eyes, which would lead us astray. Trust His promise that it is so, and thank Him if you see it with your eyes. But do not judge Him by your eyes, as if they were mightier and wiser than the Omnipotent All-wise Lord who faithfully keeps His promises. Instead, trust His mercy and generosity to you. Paul says, "Giving no occasion of stumbling in anything." Since this is a time of blessing, let us make right use of it, not spending it to no purpose, and let us take serious heed to give offense to no one. It is evident from the connection to what kind of offense the apostle has reference; he would not have the Gospel doctrine charged with teaching anything evil. Two kinds of offense bring the Gospel into disgrace: In one case it is the heathen who are offended. This is because some people use the Gospel as a means of freedom from restraint. They substitute worldly liberty for spiritual freedom. They thus bring shame upon the Gospel as if it is teaching lawlessness, and make it an object of scandal to the heathen and worldly people. So they are misled and become enemies to the faith and to the Word of God, being even harder to convert since they regard Christians as hypocrites. The responsibility for this must be placed at the door of those who have given offense in this respect. In the other case, Christians are offended among themselves. The occasion is the indiscreet exercise of Christian liberty, which offends the weak in faith. Concerning this topic much is said in First Corinthians 8 and Romans 14. He takes up the same subject in Philippians 2, teaching that every man should look out for others. Then no offense will be given. Paul adds, "That the ministry be not blamed." Who can prevent our office from being blamed? For the Word of God must be persecuted equally with Christ. That the Word of God is reviled by unbelievers ignorant of faith in God is something we cannot prevent. For, according to Isaiah 8 and Romans 9, the Gospel is a "rock of offense." This is the offense of the faith; it will pursue its course and we are not responsible. But love's offense is caused by shortcomings in our works and fruits of faith, the things we are commanded to let shine before men. If they see these, they may be allured to the faith. But if we cause offense in this respect we cannot avoid responsibility. It is a sin we certainly must avoid, that the heathen and the weak may never be able to say: "Behold the hypocrisy of these people! Surely their doctrine cannot be true." Otherwise our evil name and the obstacles we place before others will extend to the innocent. Even the holy Word that God has given us to believe and to proclaim must bear our shame and in addition become unfruitful in the offended ones. Grievous is such a sin as this. Let this be enough for now. Paul has instructed us on what should be the manner of our life now while the season of grace continues; nor must we fail to heed this! This is true service of God, service well pleasing to him; unto which may God help us. Amen.

Amazing classics and fun rods arriving to the car show!