Sermon for Trinity Sunday: "Before Abraham"

+ Trinity Sunday - June 16, 2019 +

Beautiful Savior Lutheran, Milton

Series C: Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31; Acts 2:14-36; John 8:48-59

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

The catechism teaches us that whatever or whomever we fear, love, and trust above all things, that is our god. Some go searching for God in their emotions, actions, reason, or even their sourdough toast. Some will say you can find God by spending time in nature, by the power of positive thinking, or simply by sending a check or cash mailed to the following address. 

Fallen, sinful man has a rather nasty habit of searching for God in all the wrong places. This is why Martin Luther once said that if you want to find God, don’t look up into the heavens, rather, look down. Look and see God for you in the womb of Mary. God born for you in the manger. God crucified for you on the cross. 

This is a good reminder for us, especially on Trinity Sunday. It’s good to confess the truth revealed to us in Scripture. That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confusing the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. It is good to confess the saving work of God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And it’s also good to confess this teaching of Scripture is a mystery. A mystery revealed, made known, and shown to us (at least in part) in Jesus. In the flesh and blood of God who became man for you. In the Son who is one with the Father, who sends us his Holy Spirit, and who makes God knowable, touchable, seeable. The key to the Trinity (from our point of view) is Jesus. 

When we see Jesus in action, the Trinity is known. When we hear Jesus’ Words the Trinity is known. When we know Jesus, we know the Trinity. 

That’s a big part of what’s going on in the Gospel reading from John 8 today. 

We jump into John 8 like someone jumping on a moving train. For most of chapter 8, Jesus has been teaching the Jewish crowds about who he is, what he came to do, and how he is the fulfilment of God’s promises to Israel. How he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the flesh come to save them. 

But the crowds would not have it. “You are a demon and a Samaritan”they say to Jesus. They thought he was crazy, or possessed. But not God. Who do you think you are? Abraham died. The prophets died. Are you greater than our father Abraham? 

It’s easy for us to listen to this exchange and think. “Wow. They’re so stubborn. So foolish. So shameful. I’m sure glad I’m not like them. 

Truth is, we’re not all that different from that Jewish crowd. We have not loved the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbor as ourselves. We don’t always fear, love, and trust in God above all things. We too have been stubborn, foolish, shameful. We too have looked for God in all the wrong places, in what we see, feel, think, say, or do. 

Thankfully, we’re not saved by our emotions, our actions, our reason or our strength. But by the compassion, redemption, will, and grace of God in Christ. We’re not saved by our love for God or our neighbor, but by God’s love revealed for us on the cross. We’re not saved by our keeping of the Law, but by Jesus who kept the Law perfectly for us. We’re not saved by our finding God, but by the God who came to seek and to save the lost. 

You see, Our God is different. Our God gets His hands dirty. So dirty, that God Himself gets down into the mire we’re wallowing in. Our God cares about you so much, that He takes every one of our sins on to His own shoulders. Our God comes Himself to save you. He doesn’t even think of letting anyone else do that in His place. Our God looks at you and sees someone worth so much, that you are worth dying for. Our God loves you. 

This is what Abraham saw when he saw Jesus’ day. For when Jesus visited Abraham in Genesis 18, Abraham saw the day that Jesus would take on human flesh. That he, the Promised Son of God, would be born of a virgin womb, even as Isaac his promised son was born of the barren womb of Sarah. That the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who appeared to Moses in the burning bush as the great I AM, would take on human flesh to dwell with us and save us.

When God spared Isaac in Genesis 22, Abraham saw the day that God would not spare his Son, his only begotten Son whom he loved, but would give himself up for us all on the cross to save all nations. Jesus who honored the Father in all he said and did for you. Jesus who took on all our shame, foolishness, stubbornness, sin and death, so that today and always we might rejoice with Abraham and all the faithful. Jesus who reveals the love of the Father to you. Pours out his Spirit upon you.

“Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” 

Today we join Abraham rejoicing in the God who makes himself known to us in Jesus. Today we’re reminded that every Baptism, Communion, and Divine Service is a Trinitarian celebration where God’s love is made known, revealed, and delivered to us in Jesus. 

Today God is found, not by looking up, or within, but where he finds us, in the body and blood of Jesus who reveals the mystery and love of the Holy Trinity for us.

A blessed Trinity Sunday to each of you…

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.  

Sermon for Pentecost 2: "How Much God Has Done"

+ 2^ndSunday after Pentecost – June 23, 2019 +

Series C: Isaiah 65:1-9; Galatians 3:23-4:7; Luke 8:26-39

Beautiful Savior Lutheran, Milton

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

When we come across stories in Scripture like we hear in Luke 8, it’s good to remember that these things truly happened. Luke records a real event about real people at a real time in a real place. Bizarre and wild as it sounds, Luke is a reliable historian. And this is a true story.

And yet it does not cease to be a story. 

Today’s Gospel reading has all the marks of a good summer blockbuster movie. It’s a dramatic, suspenseful story of a hopeless and helpless man whom Jesus rescued. It’s a story that shows the reality of the devil’s work, and yet his ultimate defeat and destruction by Jesus. Above all, it’s a story that reveals Jesus’ compassion and mercy. 

Like every other story in Scripture, it’s all about Jesus crucified and risen for you. His saving work for this Gerasene man and for you. This is a true story of his grace, mercy, and love us who are just as helpless and hopeless as the man Jesus saves, even if we are better at hiding it than he was. 

Now, Luke doesn’t go on to tell us much about what happened after Jesus exorcised the demons and saved this Gerasene man. But at the end of the story Luke writes that the man “went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.” 

So, for the next few minutes, as you hear this story again, I invite you to use your imagination. Put yourself in the shoes of one those nameless townspeople in the region of the Gerasenes. Imagine this story from their point of view. Imagine that you’re one of the people this man witnessed to about all that Jesus had done for him. And that in hearing this good news, as St. Paul says, faith came by hearing the word of Christ. 

Now, normally, this was a pretty quiet town in the region of the Gerasenes. The herdsmen tended their pigs. The townspeople went to the market. Fishermen cast their nets in the lake. Life was pretty ordinary here. But that all changed one day when some strange thing started happening in our ordinary town. That guy from across town was running around naked in the desert again, hanging out with the dead – that guy used to give me the creeps. And then there were those farmers griping about how they lost their herd of pigs in the lake. Strangest news of all was the man and the pigs were all possessed by unclean spirits. And at the center of all of this was some Jewish rabbi named Jesus from Nazareth of all places.

Now, unlike the herdsmen and the Gerasenese chamber of commerce, who wanted Jesus gone from their town and out of their region for good, there was something peculiar about this rabbi from Judea. Jewish rabbis usually avoid Gentile territory, but not this teacher they call Jesus. He came by boat, across the sea of Galilee to the opposite side, out of his way, out of his home country to rescue a helpless, hopeless man. He wasn’t just passing through. It’s like he wanted to be here. Wanted to find and save that man. Wanted to find and save me. To find and save you too. 

I’m not proud of it, but like my neighbors, my friends, and my family, I was afraid too. Who wouldn’t be? This is normally a pretty quiet town. But then Jesus shows up. Performs an exorcism. A man possessed by a legion of demons who’s one day out there running around the tombs naked and wounded and yelling things out at anyone who passed by, and then the next day, he’s sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed. In his right mind. Like nothing ever happened. Better than he was ever before. The man who was demon-possessed had been healed. And then the demon-possessed pigs running off into the sea. Crowds of angry, fearful people. 

So, yea, I’ll admit it, I was afraid. So I went along with the crowds and yelled for Jesus to leave. But truth be told, I was far more afraid of whatever possessed that guy and drove those pigs into the lake, than I was afraid of the guy who defeated a legion of demons with a word. And saved a man no one cared about. No one even went near that guy. He was always running around naked. Living among the dead. Sure sounds a lot more like death than life to me. And yea, some of his family had tried chaining him down a few times but he’d always just escape and go back out into the wilderness again. Back to a prison with no bars. 

Until the day Jesus came. He was not afraid. Not afraid to come near the – what’s that Jewish word again, oh yea, unclean spirit. Jesus went to the most unclean of the unclean and he cleansed him. He went to the man naked and clothed him. He sought out the outcast and brought him home. He cared for the helpless and hopeless. He walked into the tombs to bring this man out alive again. He battled the demons and won. He rescued that guy. And me. And you.

That’s what that Gerasene man told me. Jesus came for him. For me. And for you. I know he would have rather gone go away with Jesus. But I’m sure glad he stayed. Glad Jesus told him, Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you. Glad that he told the whole city – even those angry farmers, even those fearful, skeptical friends, like me – how much Jesus had done for him.

Because that’s how Jesus saved me, through the word of a man Jesus had saved too. A word that brought joy out of hopelessness. A word that brought life out of death. A word that clothed the naked. Cleansed the unclean. Rescued the lost. A word that saved. 

A word that comes to you as well. You see, Jesus finds and saves you just as he did that Gerasene man. And in a similar way. Jesus became unclean for you. Jesus became the outcast, alone on the cross for you. Jesus hung their naked and assaulted by the devil for you. Jesus went into the tomb…but came out alive again for you. 

He does the same thing for you as he did for that Gerasene man. Here you are, sitting at the feet of Jesus. Clothed in his life, death, and resurrection for you. And in your right mind. The mind of a baptized child of God. The mind of Christ.

So today we do as Jesus gave the Gerasene man to do. You are saved, Rescued. Restored in Jesus, therefore, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Baccalaureate for Concordia Christian Academy: "Surrounded"

Concordia Christian Academy

Baccalaureate 2019

Ephesians 3:14-21; Hebrews 12:1-3; John 16:33

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Graduates and students, families and friends, faculty and staff of Concordia Christian Academy…

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior + Jesus Christ. Amen.

On his journey through Middle-earth, Frodo had Samwise and the Fellowship of the Ring.

In the Endgame, Captain America had the Avengers.

When Harry Potter faced He-who-must-not-be-named, he had Hermione, Ron, and his friends.

As he fought Doomsday, Superman had the Justice League.

While the rebel fleet attacked the second death star, Luke Skywalker had Leia, Han Solo, and Chewbacca. 

Hopefully, you’re starting to see a pattern. It’s an important one. In real life, as in some of our favorite stories, You are not alone. And that’s a good thing. Indeed, as the preacher of Hebrews declares, in the Christian faith you are surrounded. In Jesus’ death and resurrection for you, you are never alone. 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

When I think of Concordia, I think of community. A community of people called, gathered, and enlightened by, in, through, and upon Christ’s death and resurrection for you. You are surrounded by, and by God’s grace, a member of the great cloud of witnesses, Hebrews calls God’s people. Or, a cast of hawks, as a group of hawks is called. 

In Jesus’ death and resurrection for you, you are never alone. 

Graduates, these past years you have been surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. Wise, caring, encouraging teachers who have taught you everything from the ABCs to Latin roots, witnesses who have taught you the most important thing of all - the love of Jesus crucified for you. You are surrounded by family, friends, and loved ones who have packed your lunches, helped you with your homework, or simply been there with a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on. 

Parents, friends, and families, you are surrounded. By fellow parents who share the burdens and joys of your holy calling of fathers, mothers, and grandparents. By teachers who treat your family as part of a larger family. By children who share that good infection of joy in Christ’s salvation for us.

Faculty and staff, you too are surrounded, by parents who pray for you, support and encourage you in your vocation of service. By those who teach and work alongside you bearing your burdens and sharing your joys. By students, who I’m sure on more than one occasion, have taught you something while even you were teaching them.

Yes, you are all surrounded. And most of all by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.This is a great comfort, to be surrounded. For in this world, as our Lord promises, you will have tribulation. Even so, we live by Jesus’ word and promise. Fear not, be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.

Jesus surrounded himself with our sin, wrapped himself in our death, bore every weight which clings so easily to us, and finished the race for us by going to the cross. So that in this life, in this school, and in every journey in life, we would always be surrounded by his grace and mercy. So that even while we live in a world of tribulation and sorrow, we would be surrounded by his forgiveness, life, and salvation. So that when we are tempted to feel that we are alone, we might hear again the Good News that in Jesus’ death and resurrection for you, you are never alone. 

You are surrounded. By family and friends. By teachers and classmates. By God’s baptized saints past and present. And most of all, by the love of Jesus crucified for you. 

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Funeral Sermon for Vernon Westmark: "The Family Man"

+ In Memoriam – Vernon Westmark +

Beautiful Savior Lutheran, Milton

Psalm 23; Job 19:23-27; Colossians 3:1-4; John 14:1-6

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 

In my Father’s house. 

Fitting words from our Lord today as we remember and give thanks to God for the life of Vernon Westmark. A man who was many things: a welcoming, protective, loving husband, father, grandfather, and friend. A family man. From the simple Sunday drives to bringing his household to the Lord’s house, from baseball games to time spent in the backyard, Vern was a family man. 

And even though family life, at least from what his children have told me, resembled something like the Brady Bunchor Leave it to Beaver, Vern didn’t become a family man by reading a TV guide or watching classic sitcoms. He learned how to love his family at home and at church because God the Father first loved him in Christ. Vern was welcoming and watched over his family because God in Christ had made him a member of his family in Holy Baptism, a washed, forgiven, redeemed child of God. Vern cared for his own household because Jesus promised him, as he promises each of you, that he already has a place for you with him in his heavenly home.

For Vern knew that we would have no love for one another without the gracious, boundless, undeserved love of our Heavenly Father. He knew that all our love pales in comparison to the great and gracious love of our Heavenly Father. He knew the most important thing any father can know. That there is a gracious heavenly Father who did not withhold his Son, his only Son for us and for Vern, but gave him up for us all on the cross. The Father who welcomes us in his Heavenly home through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection for you. The Father who sent his Son Jesus to be our Good Shepherd. 

To lead us into the still waters of holy Baptism where we too become God’s children. To feed us, as he did Vern throughout his earthly life from his table with the finest of foods in Jesus’ body and blood. To be with us in this valley of the shadow of death. What’s more, to go ahead of us into death and the grave that we might fear no evil; and to arise again three days later that we, and Vern, and all the faithful departed, will one day rise again. To join in the great family reunion of the saints in heaven gathered around the throne and the Lamb. To join Job in the great confession of faith…

I know that my Redeemer lives,    and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been thus destroyed,    yet inmy flesh I shall see God,

You see, God himself is the ultimate family man. In Jesus we see the Father’s love made known to us, given for us. Jesus joined our family, the family of Adam and Eve. The family of fallen, sinful people that he might restore us again to new life.

Jesus became our brother and savior that we might always have, and always call upon God as a merciful Father. 

Jesus was crucified on the tree of the cross that we might forever be rooted in, and grafted into his family tree forever. 

Jesus’ life was lived wholly, completely, and entirely devoted to loving you, saving you, and welcoming you, as he has welcomed Vern, into his heavenly home. 

And so we live, as Vern did, by God’s grace. By his love and mercy. Our lives, as Paul declares, are hidden with God in Christ. Sin. Disease. Guilt. Sorrow. Death. They are all dead. Vern, and all of you, are alive in Christ Jesus. For in Jesus you are members of God’s family. 

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

This promise is what made Vern the family man, and it’s what sustains us in our families today and forever.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.   

Sermon for Pentecost Sunday: "Babel Reversed"

+ Pentecost Sunday – June 9, 2019 +

Beautiful Savior Lutheran, Milton

Series C: Genesis 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-21; John 14:23-31

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

There’s an old saying that goes like this: “those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.” 

And while there’s wisdom in those words, it’s not always true is it? History, especially Old Testament history, is full of people repeating the same mistakes over, and over, and over again. 

Adam and Eve rebelled against God and fell in sin. Cain rebelled against God by murdering his brother. From Adam to Noah, generation after generation, they all rebelled against God. And after the flood, did God’s people learn from history? No. They built their city of rebellion on bricks, mortar, and pride. 

“Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 

You see the pattern? Story after story, the opening chapters of Genesis is one of rebellion and separation. Humanity separates from God in sin. Humanity separates from each other in sin. 

In fact, if you want to know what sinful humanity does, just look at Genesis 11. let us make a name for ourselves. Up until this point in Genesis, names are given, not made for yourself. God named Adam. Adam named Eve. Adam named the animals. 

A name, like God’s grace is given, not taken. It is received as gift, not earned. But like the architects of Babel, sin turns us inward on ourselves. Makes us prideful. Arrogant. Usurpers of God’s gifts. Everything’s about us. My kingdom come. My will be done. My body, my choice. And so on. Like the confused people of Babel, we’re constantly reaching up to God, building our ladders to impress him and look down on our neighbor. 

The irony of all this, of course, is that while built the tower up, up, up, and away…it wasn’t high enough. God still had to come down. The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do.

Same is true of us. We come to God, not by our own reason or strength. God comes down to us. 

At Babel, God came down. In an act of gracious forbearance, God unbuilt their rebellious unity. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.” So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confusedthe language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

So what’s all this have to do with Pentecost? Everything. Genesis 11 is the Old Testament background for the New Testament Pentecost. With Babel in the background, we have a fuller, more complete picture of what happens at Pentecost. Pentecost is the complete, total, gracious reversal of everything that happened at Babel. 

At Babel everyone gathered together for an evil purpose – to make a name for themselves. Eventually, their worst fears come true. There was confusion. Division. Disunity. And finally, dispersion.

At Pentecost, God’s people were gathered together in Jerusalem to remember the giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai. While they were gathered to celebrate the giving of the Law, God sent His Holy Spirit to point the hearts and minds of all to the Good News of the keeping of the Law in Jesus. In his life, death, and resurrection, the Law is completed. Fulfilled. Accomplished. 

Pentecost is Babel reversed. The curse of Babel is undone. We who were separated from God by sin are reunited, redeemed, and rescued by His Son crucified and risen. We don’t need to build ladders to God. Jesus comes down to us. And the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son comes to each of you, gives you the greatest of all names: baptized child of God. 

Where there was division of languages at Babel, the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit so that each one was hearing the Gospel in his own language. 

Where there was disunity at Babel, God sends his Holy Spirit at Pentecost to deliver us into the embrace of Jesus crucified and risen for us.

Where there was separation from God at Babel, Pentecost declares the Good News that we are united to God, not by our own reason or strength, but in the cross of Jesus.

Where there was confusion at Babel, God pours out His Holy Spirit at Pentecost so that we receive the same promise Jesus gave his disciples: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 

Where the people of Babel wanted to make a name for themselves, Peter proclaims…whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Where the people of Babel tried to make a tower to climb up to God, The Holy Spirit descends at Pentecost to give us faith and point us to Jesus who came down to the manger and the cross to save us. And who still comes down to us in his Word, water, body and blood.

A blessed Pentecost Sunday to each of you…

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon for Easter 7: "Jesus Prays for You"

+ 7^th Sunday of Easter – June 2, 2019 +

Beautiful Savior Lutheran, Milton

Series C: Acts 1:12-26; Revelation 22:1-6, 12-20; John 17:20-26

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Scripture is full of prayers. The Psalms are the prayer book and hymnal of the Old Testament. Abraham, Moses, and the prophets prayed. King David prayed. The disciples asked Jesus:” Lord, teach us to pray.” And Jesus gave us the Lord’s Prayer. Every book from Genesis to Revelation includes God’s people in prayer.

And, as we hear in John 17, even God himself prays. John takes an entire chapter to give us the words of Jesus’ prayer to the Father, for his disciples, and for you.

It’s often called Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer, and for good reason. Like the priests of the Old Testament, only better, Jesus intercedes for us. Jesus is our mediator. Jesus is the one priest who laid down his own life as the sacrifice for our sin. His death was our death. His blood covers our transgression. Jesus lives to intercede on our behalf.

Of course, it’s a great comfort when someone says, “I’ll pray for you” or “You’re in my prayers.” And if our prayers, which falter and flounder, are a support for others, how much greater then, it is to know that Jesus prays for you. 

Jesus never forgets to pray. Jesus never fails to pray for exactly what you need. Jesus faithfully prays for you. And what does Jesus pray for?

Jesus prays for those who will believe in me through their word. Whose word? The Apostles’ Word which is another way of saying Jesus’ Word. Faith comes through hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ. Jesus is praying for you in this prayer, today as you hear his Word read, sung, and preached, and every time you read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest his holy Word. Jesus prays – not that we believe his word based on how we feel or that we believe what we want to hear in his Word - but that we would have faith and trust in his words, not ours.

It’s Jesus’ word that declares to you: Baptism saves you. Jesus’ Word promises: your sins are forgiven by his called and ordained servants of the Word. Jesus’ Word gives his new testament in his body and blood for the forgiveness of all your sins. Jesus’ Word does not return void or empty but creates life. Through his Word Jesus gives you the very faith and trust in him that he is praying for in John 17.

Jesus also prays: that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us.

Jesus prays for you again, and for all Christians, that we all may be one, as the Father and the Son are one. We confess this divine reality in the Nicene Creed. Jesus is God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made. And Jesus prays that this mysterious oneness in the Trinity, this unity that is at the very essence of God, would also be ours.

This may be one of the more difficult petitions to understand in Jesus’ high priestly prayer. After all, when we look around at the Christian church today, or take a brief stroll down history lane, it’s quickly apparent that we are not one. There have been divisions in the church since the days of the apostles, and there will be until Jesus returns. It’s sad. It’s not what Jesus intended. We long for the church to be one as Jesus prays.

And yet, when you look over the last 2000 years of church history, and consider the Church that began as 120 believers gathered in one room on the eve of Pentecost, it’s a miracle that the Church managed to survive throughout the centuries. Empires have come and gone. Nations have fallen and risen. Great cultures have reached their pinnacle and then disappeared. Antagonists have risen up: Islam, communism, atheism, pietism, rationalism, agnosticism, skepticism, post-modernism. And there have been enemies from within too: heresies, false teachers, egocentric leaders, corrupt clergy, faithless people. 2000 years of mismanagement that would have driven any other organization into extinction long ago.

But for this: Jesus promised He would build His church on the confession that He is the Christ, the Son of God, and that the gates of Hell would not prevail against his Church. Jesus promised to always be with his bride, the Church. And Jesus prays for His Church, as a loving husband prays for his wife. He is one flesh with her. He prays for her, and in praying for the Church, Christ also prays for you.

Jesus also prays that the world may believe that you sent Me.” Jesus prays that we, his congregation of Beautiful Savior, would be an outpost for the Gospel, a safe-haven of his forgiveness for all people. The Church exists for the benefit and blessing of the world around us, just as Old Testament Israel existed for the benefit and blessing of the world.

And lastly, Jesus prays, Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 

Glory is one of those loaded words in the Scriptures. Like a freight train barreling our way, loaded with the Old Testament tabernacle, temple, and covenant on board. Where God’s glory was, God was present with his people and for his people. Think Moses on Mt. Sinai. Aaron and the priests in the tabernacle. Israel before the pillar of smoke and fire.

It is this glory that belongs to Jesus from before the foundation of the world. And yet, for our sakes, God in all his glory comes and dwells among us in human flesh. In Jesus the glory of God is present. His holiness is accessible. God is no longer hidden in smoke and fire and the brilliant light of Sinai. Jesus reveals the Father. Jesus is the Glory of God in human flesh for you. His Word for you. His body and blood for you. His great glory revealed in his death on the cross for you. Jesus – who prays for you.

In everything he does, Jesus prays for you. Even now, at this very moment, Jesus intercedes on our behalf. Unlike our prayers, Jesus’ prayer never ends. So, when we’re receiving his gifts in his church, serving in our vocation at home or work, or just enjoying something in his creation – Jesus is praying for you. When you fall into sin, Jesus is praying for you. When you’re in a routine doctor’s visit, receiving chemo treatments, or undergoing surgery – Jesus is praying for you. When you are despairing, depressed, or downtrodden – Jesus is with you and praying for you. When you’re talking with your neighbor about what you believe, when you’re not sure what to say, or when you’re afraid to say anything about your Christian faith – Jesus is with you. 

Today, and always, Jesus’ promise – I will be with you, still stands. Today and always, Jesus is praying for you. 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.