Sermon for Easter 3: "Alone Together In Jesus"

+ Easter 3 – April 26^th, 2020 +

Series A: Acts 2:14, 36-41; 1 Peter 1:17-25; Luke 24:13-35

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

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

When the apostle Peter wrote his letter to we call 1 Peter, he addressed it to Christians who were scattered across the Mediterranean. 

To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Peter’s words are a reminder that though God’s people were scattered, they were at home and together in Jesus.

When Jesus appears to his disciples after his resurrection he finds them scattered around Jerusalem. Some were in Galilee locked behind doors. Some were on the road to Emmaus, as we heard in today’s Gospel reading. After these two disciples talk with Jesus along the road they returned to the 11 disciples in Jerusalem and those who were with them gathered together,  saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Jesus’ words to his disciples remind them that although they were scattered, they were at home and together in Him. Jesus is known in the Scriptures and the Breaking of the Bread.

Scattered, yet at home in Jesus. 

That’s where we find ourselves today as well on this third Sunday of Easter. We find ourselves for a short while scattered. And though we know this is temporary, still we find ourselves scattered in our thoughts and minds – forgetting what day it is, struggling with motivation to do anything, wrestling with the effects of isolation. Scattered emotionally, and if we’re honest, probably in our spiritual life as well. Like those two disciples on the road to Emmaus, we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.

And yet, this is precisely why God called St. Peter to write his letters, to give encouragement, hope, and comfort to exiled, scattered Christians. 

This is why Jesus appeared to his disciples behind locked doors, in their homes, over dinner and breakfast, to fill them with his peace, joy, and consolation. 

Today, as we find ourselves in this pandemic exile, scattered from one another – at least physically – for the time being, Jesus declares his words of life and hope and promise to us, just as he did to his disciples so long ago.

Today, our Lord brings us a gentle admonishment, just as he did to the disciples on the Emmaus road. 

 “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”  And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Yes, we have had, and probably will have many moments of fear, doubt, and worry. And yet, if our Lord who contended with death itself on the cross and overcame the grave, appeared to his disciples, and spoke his promises, he will also be with you where he promises to be: in the Scriptures and the breaking of the bread. Jesus’ faithfulness to you far outweighs even our greatest moments of foolishness.

Today, we pray a similar prayer to those disciples on the Emmaus road. “Stay with us, Lord, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” And he does. Though we were scattered and exiled in our sin and death, Peter declares, you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

Today as we wrestle with so many unknowns in the world – when will the pandemic subside? When will people return to work? When can we return to church? – though much is unknown in this life, the apostle Peter proclaims that Jesus was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Today, as we see the frailty of human life and the havoc caused around the world by a deadly virus, we rejoice that in Jesus’ death and resurrection, you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

Today, as we witness so many things shifting and changing and failing, we rest in the sure and certain words of our Lord, The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And though we are exiled for a time, we are rescued, ransomed, and restored in Jesus death and resurrection. And even though we’re scattered we are, today and always, at home in Jesus, in the Scriptures and the breaking of the bread.

A blessed Easter season to each of you…

In the Name of + Jesus.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding…

Sermon for Easter 2: "Jesus and Thomas and Us"

+ Easter 2 – April 19^th, 2020 +

Series A: Acts 5:29-42; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

Grace, Mercy, and Peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

In the Church of the Holy Nativity in Bethlehem there’s a mosaic of Doubting Thomas with our Lord’s words spoken to him in John 20

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

At first that might seem odd. Why would Thomas and an Easter story make its way to the Church of the Nativity? 

But if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Visitors come to the place of Jesus birth not seeing the things Jesus did for us 2000 years ago, and yet believing in him, in his birth, life, death, and resurrection for us. 

This Sunday we find ourselves in a similar situation as Thomas did. Not seeing, and yet believing. Living in Jesus’ words, especially at a time when to our eyes, everything around us looks contrary to his word.

That’s why I’m thankful for Thomas, doubts and all. 

Thomas wasn’t with his fellow disciples when Jesus appeared to them that first Easter evening.

“We have seen the Lord!” They told him.

And Thomas replied, “Unless I see in His hand the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hands into His side, I will not believe.” 

Thomas demands visible, tangible proof. An empiricist to the bone, long before the state of Motto of Missouri – the show me state – came into being. 

But rather than blaming Thomas for this, or wagging our fingers in shame at him, we can be thankful for Thomas, and even more thankful of how our Lord deals with Thomas in his doubts.

As the church father St. Gregory once said, “More does the doubt of Thomas help us to believe, than the faith of the disciples who believed.” I thank God that Thomas doubted, for when he later “touched the wounds in the flesh of his master, he healed in us the wounds of our unbelief.”

What was Thomas’s hang-up? He wanted something “real,” something you can see or, in this case, touch. Like that hole left by a crucifixion nail in Jesus’ hands. Like that wound in his side from the spear.

Thomas had seen the blood drip from Jesus’ dying body; he had seen the steel penetrate that body; he had seen the wood smeared crimson; he had seen the stone rolled in front of the tomb. He had seen it all. And for Thomas, seeing is believing.

Yet another reason I’m thankful for Thomas. For we are Thomas. For us, seeing is believing too. We see what a virus can do to our world, nation, state, communities, and daily lives, to our gathering together as God’s people, and it’s hard to believe we’ll get through it. We see how people treat one another – virus or no virus – with little thought for others, and it’s hard to believe there’s any good anywhere in anyone. We see how our own sin and selfishness has been exposed this last month, and it’s hard to believe when we all we see around us is sin and suffering, disease and death. 

And yet, our Lord promises. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

You see, believing is not the same as seeing. In fact, more often faith is believing the exact opposite of what we see, for that is how God reveals Himself to us.

Consider our Lord Jesus. He looks like a man, lives like a man, dies like a man. And yet faith says, “Jesus, my Lord and my God.” 

Consider our own daily callings: you work long hours, put up with rude customers, deal with unruly students, you do the ho-hum work of the daily grind. Yet faith says, “My labor is holy, divine work, for I am God’s tool that He uses to take care of others.” 

Consider our lives right now in this pandemic. People we know and love, and people we don’t know, are struggling or sick, some are dying. We wonder how long, O Lord? And yet faith says, I am baptized into Christ and by his wounds I am healed now and forever, no matter what the world looks like. 

Yes, Believing is not the same as seeing. To believe is to confess that God is where God seems not to be, to confess that God is good when God seems to be bad, to confess that God is hidden and working in our weakness for us and for others, to confess that even though all I see is suffering and death and sin, yet I am blessed in Jesus’ dying and rising. 

That’s why faith is a gift. Because we can’t do it. 

But notice how Jesus deals with Thomas’ doubts, and ours.

Jesus doesn’t reject him, or send him off, scolding him. Jesus doesn’t appear and slap him for his doubt. No. Instead, he holds out His scarred hand for Thomas to see. “Reach here your finger,” He says, “and see my hands; and reach here your hand, and put it into my side; and be not unbelieving, but believing.” 

Thomas sees with the eyes of faith who Jesus really is.  “My Lord and my God.”

This is how our Lord deals with us too. Jesus doesn’t leave Thomas in his doubts. Neither will he leave you. Jesus takes your doubts and your fears and your shame and your bitterness and He makes them His own. And He takes His faith and His hope and His life and His joy and His glory and He makes them your own. He doesn’t always remove our outward troubles; but he does give us something better: his peace in his dying and rising for you.

Jesus’ peace in knowing that no matter how great our sin, Christ’s love for you is always greater.

Jesus’ peace in knowing that no matter how unfaithful we have been, Christ our Lord is always faithful to you and for you.

Jesus’ peace in knowing that although we often live with doubts and fears, blessed are you who have not seen, and yet believe. 

Jesus’ peace in knowing that you are blessed today and always in his dying and rising for you.

In the Name of + Jesus. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses…

Sermon for Easter Sunday: "Do Not Be Afraid"

+ The Resurrection of Our Lord – April 12^th, 2020 +

Series A: Jeremiah 31:1-6; Colossians 3:1-4; Matthew 28:1-10

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

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

Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

I think it’s safe to say that those words have a deeper meaning for us this Easter. This has been a Lent, Holy Week, and Easter unlike any we’ve ever experienced. 

We come to Easter, perhaps more aware than we were a few months ago that we live in a fallen, broken world. We come to Easter with heartache and pain. We come to Easter surrounded by death. We come to Easter wrapped in fear.

Not unlike that first Easter, if you think about it. 

There was a great earthquake, just as the earth shook at Jesus’ death. Only now the earth shakes with joy at Jesus’ resurrection. Now an angel of the Lord descends from heaven, rolls back the stone to reveal an empty tomb, and sits on it. A sign of Jesus’ triumph over the grave. 

And yet, notice how the Easter story is wrapped in fear. The guards around Jesus’ tomb fell to the ground with trembling. Stunned. Scared to death.

The Marys approach Jesus’ tomb expecting to finish the burial; but instead they’re greeted by a group of possum-like Roman guards strewn about the ground and an angel clad in white. Do not be afraid. Stop fearing, he declares.

Later on, when Jesus appears to his disciples in Galilee, he finds them huddled in a room. Behind a locked door. Wrapped in fear.  

And again when Jesus first appears to the Marys, he declares: Do not be afraid. 

While this Holy Week feels very strange and foreign to us, we’re in good company. God’s people have a long history of rejoicing in the midst of suffering and fear. In fact, God does some of his greatest work in times of weakness, fear, and suffering. 

As Noah and his family were huddled in the ark, no doubt enduring many fearful moments, the Lord kept them safe from the raging flood outside.

As the angel of death passed through the streets and homes of the Egyptians, death passed over the homes of God’s people. Even as they huddled in fear, they stood around their table eating the roasted lamb and the unleavened bread, they were safe from the plague by the blood of the Lamb that covered their doorpost. 

As the disciples sat in fear and bewilderment in the boat on the storm-tossed Sea of Galilee, the same Lord who by His word ordered and gathered the waters together from the chaos of the deep, spoke his word again and calmed the storm. Do not be afraid. Peace be with you.

As Jesus hung on the cross on Good Friday covered in darkness, wrapped in our fear, bearing our sin, disease, and death. There in his weakness, pain, and suffering God was doing his greatest work for you.

Today, it’s tempting to think that this coronavirus has robbed us of Easter as the Grinch stole Christmas. But this pandemic cannot ruin Easter. It’s the other way around. Easter, ultimately, is the good news that this pandemic, that the great plague of sin, the curse of death, and the sting of the grave - are forever undone in Jesus’ death and resurrection. 

Today, as we gather together, huddled in our homes, perhaps fearful of the plague that covers our land, frightened by the darkness of sin and death, worried or wondering about what tomorrow will bring, our Lord sends his word and his messenger to us as surely as he did to the women at the tomb that first Easter morning. 

Do not be afraid. I know that you are seeking Jesus who is crucified. He is not here, for he is raised, just as he said.

Notice the present tense. Yes, Christ is risen, but he also is the crucified one for you. Jesus is the Lamb who is slain and yet he stands in victory for you. Crucified for you. Risen for you. 

Come, see the place where he used to lie, the angel says. Used to lie. Past tense. 

Take courage and comfort in this dear saints of God. Do not be afraid.

Jesus’ tomb is empty. Just as he said.

Jesus rose from the grave. Just as he said. 

And one day, he will raise us from the dead. Just as he said.

Yes, today we may still be fearful. We may be filled with grief, anger, pain, and sorrow. And yet, like the women at the tomb, we also have a great joy. A joy that no social distance or quarantine can contain. A sure and certain hope that is ours no matter what our fears and worries may be. This pandemic cannot and will not undo Christ’s promises to you in his dying and rising for you. Do not be afraid. For Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

A blessed Easter to each of you…

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Sermon for Good Friday: "Cling to the Tree"

+ Good Friday – April 10^th, 2020 +

Series A: Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12; Hebrews 4:14-16; John 18-19

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

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

On December 26^th, 2004, an 8.3 magnitude earthquake hit just off the coast of Indonesia. A massive tsunami soon followed. The destruction was catastrophic. Water, mud, and debris covered the coastline. Thousands were killed on land, and thousands more were washed out to sea.

In the aftermath, the BBC reported a story of a woman named Malawati who was among those swept out to sea. She was stranded, surrounded by sharks, 18 weeks pregnant, and survived 5 days before a cargo ship rescued her. 

When reporters asked her how she survived, she said, "I almost drowned twice as I could not swim and was thrashing in the water trying to keep my head up when I chanced upon the tree trunk".

She survived by clinging to a sago palm tree and eating its fruit.

This Good Friday we find ourselves in a far different situation. In the midst of a global pandemic. In our homes instead of gathered together here in person as we yearn to do during this Holy Week. In a constant state of worrying and wondering what the next week, day, hour, or minute will bring. And yet, there is a profound truth in Malawati’s story. This Good Friday we live and survive in the same way, only far greater.

Cling to the tree and eat its fruit.

So they took Jesus,  and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.  There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”

All the trees of the Bible that we’ve looked at throughout these past 40 days of Lent lead us here, to this day. To this place. To this tree. To Jesus’ cross.

The same Lord who came to Adam and Eve after they were overcome by temptation, sin, and death through the tree of the Garden, now overcomes our sin, temptation, and death by the tree of his cross for Adam and Eve and for you. 

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”

The same Lord who appeared to Abraham under the Oaks of Mamre, and promised a son to be born, now appears upon the tree of his cross to fulfill his promise to Abraham and Sarah and to you. 

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

The same Lord who came to Gideon and the people of Israel in their suffering with deliverance, suffered in our place on the tree of the cross to deliver us.

he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

This is how we live. How God rescues. How God saves. Cling to the tree and eat of its fruit.

So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.

Following the Scriptures, the church has long taught that the blood and water flowing out of Jesus’ side fill the chalice of the Lord’s Supper where you receive the fruit of Jesus’ cross and the font where you are Baptized into his death and resurrection. And though we do not experience them today in person, these gifts, this fruit of the cross is yours even now.

Cling to the tree and eat of its fruit.

This is especially comforting for us today as we are unable to gather together in person for a short while. As we long for that friendly embrace and fellowship in the body of Christ. As we look forward to gathering around our Lord’s table to eat the fruit of his salvation won for us in his body and blood. As we yearn for that Holy Communion together. 

Though life may overwhelm us, temptation overcome us, sin overtake us, they cannot and will not overwhelm or overcome our Lord’s work for you on the cross. Jesus’ death on the cross for you overcomes all.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

This Good Friday. Tomorrow. And every day, we survive and live by God’s grace, as we cling to his tree, and eat its fruit.

A blessed Good Friday to each of you…

In the Name of + Jesus. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Sermon for Maundy Thursday: "Servant of All"

+ Maundy Thursday – April 9, 2020 +

Series A: 

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

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

These last few weeks actor John Krasinski, or Jim from The Office, has done a series of short YouTube videos under the title of SGN. Some Good News. In his first episode he highlighted stories of good news from around the world. Police officers in Spain flashing lights and blaring sirens outside local hospitals. People around the world clapping in support of doctors and nurses. Pictures of heroes in scrubs and N95 masks sacrificing their lives to serve others in this pandemic.

As I watched all of this, I couldn’t help but think that, whether he meant to or not, John Krasinski has touched on the heart of what’s happening in Maundy Thursday and Holy Week. And you could sum it all up in a word.

Servant. 

We’ve all seen or experienced someone being a servant during this time of quarantine and stay-home orders. Postal workers and delivery truck drivers. Grocery store employees and police officers. A neighbor. A friend. A brother or sister in Christ. A card. A phone call. A wave across the street from safe social distance. The list could go on. But it all comes back to the Maundy Thursday word.

Servant.

These examples of service and servants point us to a service and a servant who is far greater. Christ Jesus the servant of all who teaches his disciples in Mark 10 that the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

And in Luke 22:27, as Jesus celebrates the Passover with his disciples and prepares to lay down his life on the cross the following day, “I am among you as one who serves”

A servant who is born in human flesh that he might know and bear all our suffering, pain, disease, sin, and death for you. A servant who sacrifices his life to save yours. A servant who rests in our tomb. A servant who will raise us along with him by his resurrection from the dead. A servant, who on that first Maundy Thursday, stopped down to wash his disciples’ dusty, dry, cracked feet. 

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God,  rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.  Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

There’s that word again. Servant.

But our Lord is not done. Not yet. He broke the bread and blessed the cup. He gave his body and his blood. He promises forgiveness. A true divine service from our Divine Servant. A service we will enjoy and rejoice in all the more when we gather again in person soon.

Jesus goes to Gethsemane to pray. To be betrayed. To be the suffering servant for you. To serve you by his trial, by his mockery, by his agony and bloody sweat. By his cross and passion. By death and burial. By his resurrection on the third day. 

Jesus is your servant. This is why he came. To save you. To rescue you. To redeem and restore you. To serve you by giving his life for you.

John the evangelist, who recorded this act of service in John 13 will later write in his epistle, 

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 

And here again, our Lord is not done. Christ the servant of all, calls us to serve others. 

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 

Wherever you find yourself this evening, whether you’re at home serving your family or helping your neighbors, or are out in the community serving nameless strangers, know that you are forever held in the arms of Jesus our true Servant, who continues to deliver his Word and promises to you, who serves you in his holy body and blood, and saves you by being our servant in life and death.

And that is some truly good news. 

A blessed Maundy Thursday to each of you…  

In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard and keep your hearts in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Sermon for Palm Sunday: "What's Next?"

+ Palm Sunday – April 5^th, 2020 +

Series A: John 12:12-36

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

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

After lunch or dinner, our kids will often ask, “What’s next?” After we finish reading a good book, we ponder, hmm, what’s next on my reading list? After watching a press conference about the virus, we’ve probably all asked that same question lately, “What’s next?” 

Palm Sunday is a day of “What’s next?” The crowds gathered in the streets of Jerusalem, waved palm branches, shouted out Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel! And Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a borrowed donkey.

The crowds, the disciples, the pharisees – they’re all wondering, “what’s next?”

After the Hosannas have ceased their echo in the city streets. After the palm branches are left on the road side or thrown out. After the crowds have gone home. What’s next?

And here, we have an advantage over the disciples. We know why Jesus enters Jerusalem. We know where he’s going. What he’s doing. What’s next? Jesus’ betrayal, trial, and crucifixion is next.

But before that, Jesus takes some time, in the rest of John 12 to teach his disciples about what he is doing.

And I, when I am lifted up^[g] from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”  He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going

Perhaps these words from our Lord stand out more than usual this year. With fears of illness and economic uncertainty, with death and disease – it feels like we’re walking in darkness, constantly wondering, what’s next.

To be sure, Jesus was not talking about the coronavirus. He was talking about Himself and about what life is like for those who live apart from Him. And yet, there’s a similarity here in our present day. 

We enter Holy Week this year unsure of many things. It’s a reminder that so much of life is out of our control and that we live every day not knowing, what’s next.

The crowds on Palm Sunday were in a similar situation. They went out to meet Jesus because He had raised Lazarus from the dead (12:17-18). But they did not understand why He had come or where He would lead them. 

Same was true of Jesus’ disciples. John explicitly tells us they did not understand what Jesus was doing as He rode into Jerusalem on the donkey (12:16). In both cases, they were in the dark until after Jesus’ resurrection. Only in the light of Easter did they understand who Jesus is and what it means to follow Him.

More this year than most, we are acutely aware of our ignorance. Like the crowds and disciples at the beginning of Holy Week, we don’t know what’s next. But, also like the disciples, we have heard about Jesus and His resurrection from the dead. We believe, having been lifted-up, He is in the process of drawing all people to Himself (12:32). That is why we continue to gather even online to celebrate such things as Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter. We are witnesses of His glorification through His suffering, death, and victory over the grave. Our God-given faith, despite our lack of sight, has made us sons and daughters of light (12:36) who walk in the light even during dark times.

Though we may not know what today or tomorrow will bring, we do know how the story ends. In a way, during this Holy Week we know even more than Jesus’ own disciples during that first Holy Week. 

We know that Jesus’ death and resurrection is coming. We know that it has already come. We know what’s

next. Jesus crucified for you. Jesus risen for you. Jesus returning in glory for you. Jesus with you in his Word, even in the darkness of this world. Jesus with you as you love and serve your neighbor.

We don’t know how, or when, or what will take place in the short-term. But we know this, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We know that Jesus is God’s Hosanna for us. Lord, save us. And he does. Christ is crucified. Christ is risen. Christ will come again and raise us from the dead. 

And that means, to paraphrase St. Paul, that no amount of social-distancing, or quarantining, or stay-at-home orders, or anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the resurrecting love of God in Christ. He has made us sons and daughters of light and He sends us to live in and share His light with a world struggling through darkness and uncertainty.

A blessed Palm Sunday to each of you…

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

Lenten Midweek 5: "Good Trees and Good Fruit"

+ Lenten Midweek 5 – April 1^st, 2020 +

Galatians 5:13-25; Matthew 7:15-20

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

Grace, Mercy, and Peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus. Christ. Amen.

In the Scripture readings we’ve heard these past few Wednesdays, sometimes, Old Testament Israel is depicted as a tree. At other times, Jesus is the tree. In today’s reading from Galatians 5, the metaphor shifts again. In Galatians 5, you are the tree. St. Paul describes our life in Christ as trees that bear fruit produced by the work of the Holy Spirit.

What St. Paul is teaching us here in Galatians 5, is not a how-to lesson on becoming Christians, but how we live as Christians. What our identity and life look like in Christ; how we live as his holy people, redeemed by the blood of Jesus and baptized into his death and resurrection. Or to say it another way, the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 isn’t a rulebook we follow in order to earn God’s love, but how we live in response to God’s love delivered to us in Christ Jesus.

And as I thought about our Lord’s words in Galatians 5 and Matthew 7, I remembered the avocado tree we had in the parsonage when we lived in California. It was a beautiful, old avocado tree. At least 25 feet high, and just as wide. Here’s the thing about this tree. I didn’t plant it. I didn’t water it. Occasionally, I’d trim some dead branches, but that was about it. And yet every fall it produced hundreds of avocados, milk crates and boxes full of them. I didn’t do a single thing to deserve or produce all that fruit, all I ever did was pick them, eat them, enjoy them, and share them with church members and neighbors. The entire operation, at least from where I stood on my ladder, was one of grace.

And I think that’s a good way to think about our life in Christ, as St. Paul teaches us in Galatians 5. The fruit of the Spirit, is just that. It’s fruit. It’s all gift. It’s all God’s doing. Yes, it’s in and through us, but we’re only branches. Christ is our true Vine. All the fruit we produce in our Christian life is just like his mercy given to us. It’s all given by God’s grace for us to enjoy, and to share with our neighbors. 

Consider how St. Paul contrasts our life apart from Christ and our life in Christ. He does it by using the language of flesh and Spirit. Flesh, here, meaning our sinful, fallen nature – the old Adam, our sinful flesh. And Spirit, meaning our baptized, redeemed life in Christ. Notice how Paul says we are led by the Spirit. That means our Lord is doing all the heavy lifting here.

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, ²¹ envy,^[d] drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do^[e] such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

St. Paul paints a pretty ugly picture of our sinfulness here, doesn’t he. Apart from Christ and his life-giving Spirit, all we produce is self-serving, self-absorbed, rotten fruit. Our sinful fruit corrupts ourselves and one another, like one rotten apple spreads its mold to the next and so on. 

But, Paul goes on to say, the fruit of the Spirit is far different.  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. 

This fruit of the Spirit is revealed in you because it is first revealed in Jesus for you.

His gift of love in his sacrificial death on the cross for you. 

His gift of joy, founded not on our feelings, but in his loving action for us in Jesus’ life and death and resurrection.

His gift of peace , true shalom, in the reconciling work of Jesus restoring our broken relationship with the Father.

His gift of patience as we hear in the Psalms, the Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love towards us.

His gift of kindness, God’s active, merciful goodness in calling us to faith in Christ and fervent love for one another.

His gift of faithfulness, where our Lord reveals his faithfulness to us and for us, even when we are unfaithful.

His gift of gentleness, revealed in the humility of Jesus who loved his neighbor as himself, indeed better than himself for you.

His gift of self-control, that we would continue to live daily in his gifts of repentance and forgiveness.

All of this, like the fruit of the avocado tree, is accomplished by God’s grace and given to you freely, so that you, in turn, can be a fruitful neighbor to others around you. And if there’s one good thing that has become a bit more visible during this pandemic, it’s the fruit of the Spirit in our life together as a congregation. I’ve heard of members calling one another and checking in on each other. I’ve received phone calls and messages of prayer and encouragement. I’ve heard of countless gifts of love and kindness you have shown to one another, and to your neighbors.

As Paul says, against such things there is no law. Freed from sin and death, and freed to love others. We are free in Christ. Baptized, redeemed, and joined to him, our Vine, we his branches. And the fruit – it’s all gift by the Holy Spirit, from Christ to you, and through you to others. 

The peace of Christ which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.