The Horcrux of the Matter

Spoiler Alert!  Nerd Alert!  Consider this a Deathly Hallows prequel to the movie review.  Sorry to say, I did not see Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows at the stroke of midnight when it opened recently.  I simply value sleep to much (sorry Fan-boys, I guess I lose some geek street cred there).  But, I do plan on seeing it this afternoon.  So far everyone who has seen the movie has enjoyed it, and allegedly it follows the book fairly accurately, at least as well as any Hollywood production can.  It can't get much worse than Two Towers (am I right, my fellow Tolkien fans!?).  There's been one question I've had since I heard they were doing the movies and especially this final 7th and soon to be 8th movie.  It's rather fitting that this series will end with an 8th movie.  After all, the books are by Rowlings own admission, all about death and life.  And there's no better number for talking about death and life than the number 8.  8 sided fonts. 8 saved in the ark.  Baptism.  New creation.  Eden restored.  Paradise is yours in the resurrection of Christ - today!  But this is not a paper for Dr. Just (hope you all can take a joke, I do appreciate his work on this subject and if that joke was totally lost on you, I'm sorry for the seminary humor).  This is actually supposed to be a brief post about the one thing I really hope to see in this first installment of the Deathly Hallows.  So, let's cut the muggle and get to the point.  We've known throughout all the books that Harry is the boy who lived because his parents were the ones who did not thanks to he-who-must-not-be-named (here on referred to as Voldemort because He is defeated in Deathly Hallows and his name no longer has any power in Hogwarts or Huntington Beach).  In the book, Deathly Hallows, Harry comes to his parent's tombstone and finds an inscription written on it.  This is what I am most interested in.  For the key to understanding the entire Potter series rests in the inscription on that headstone: The last enemy to be destroyed is death.  Most may pass it off as a clever way to wrap some hope into an otherwise sad and lonely life of a teenage wizard.  But the more nerdy (or just Biblically literate) will recognize this passage, and it is no small significance.  Here's where it comes from:

Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the first fruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For “He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.  - 1 Corinthians 15:12-28, especially note verse 26 in bold!

And that my fellow Hogwarts students is the horcrux of the matter.  I won't spoil the entire reason why this is so important in the book.  You'll have to read if for yourself, or watch the movie (maybe, hold the phones on that one).  We'll see if the resurrection shows up as clearly as it does in the books.  Ultimately, that is the reason for the series: confidence in the resurrection in the face of death.  Perhaps you could even say that Harry (and all who are not associated with Voldemort) live in this hope and in the end triumph in it as well...but I fear I have said more than needed.  For now, we'll leave further review for after the show.  Rest assured, I'll be looking at one headstone very closely because Harry was and so was Rowling when she wrote it all. 

We Need A Little Advent

Every December the LWML ladies at Redeemer Lutheran, Huntington Beach host a wonderful event known as Advent by Candlelight. It is a joy to receive their hospitality as we dine on exquisite deserts, sing a few hymns and listen to God's Word of comfort and peace during this Advent season. The following devotion is a little something I prepared for last night's event. It would not have been written were it not for a ginormously enjoyable article by my good friend (and distant cousin) Rev. Hans Fiene in the November Lutheran Witness. His little article along with the memories of Alexander's "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day," gave me the perfect idea for a humorous, yet thoughtful Advent "homily." And in case you're wondering, Christmass is not mispelled. Let's keep the mass in Christmass

Advent by candlelight is the perfect name for this evening.  It’s not just because the calendar doesn’t say December 25^th yet.  Advent is its own season.  Your pastors are always telling you that Advent is not pre-Christmass; that it's not just preparation for Christmass – It’s not Chradvent or Adventmass; Christmass has 12 days of its own after all.  Advent is a season of repentance; waiting, lowliness and preparation.  These are all good, right and salutary things. 

And yet in our daily lives, Advent seems to be everything but the calm before the storm…“let’s face it, it’s hard to celebrate Advent when the demands of celebrating Christmass, both the true version and the secular version, are weighing you down.  With parties and presents, candles and credit breathing down your neck from the moment Thanksgiving ends, it’s not always easy to have the proper Advent frame of mind” (How to Escape the Christmas Madness, Lutheran Witness, Rev. Hans Fiene, November 2010).

So, if your legs are still aching from standing in line at the “you-know-what-crack-of-dawn” and you are all twisted like a peppermint stick because you only bought half of the stuff on your list for 25% of the price you hoped.  Pause.  Take a deep breath.  Listen to the words of John, the Advent man: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”  With aching legs He walked to Jerusalem bearing our cross to buy you back  from sin and death, not 25, 50 or 75% off, but 100% saved, forgiven, redeemed. When you need to step outside on the porch to escape the Christmass madness remember, from Jesus’ very first breath in the manger to His last breath on the cross – He lived and died and lives for you.

If your legs are still aching and your boss is a total Grinch and you won’t be receiving that bonus check you’re expecting despite the increased workloads this holiday season leaving your knuckles as white as snow with tension…and those TPS reports need cover sheets and you have meetings coming out your tinsel toes and you’d rather deck your fellow employees than the halls.  Pause.  Take a deep breath.  And listen to the prophet Isaiah: For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder, and His Name shall be called, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  He is Immanuel the God who is one of us, God for us, Messiah, Savior, Lord.  He was born to carry your burdens.  He became flesh to take away your sin.  When you find yourself burning the Yule-log at both ends…remember, Jesus is the beating heart of Christmas and He is also the pulsating life of Advent.

If your legs are still aching and your boss is a total Grinch and your children deserve nothing but a lump of coal in their stocking because they’ve been naughty cotton headed ninny muggings (more than once or twice), your fingers look like a pin cushion from sowing the ears last minute on the polar bear costume for the “winter solstice pageant”, and you’d rather be putting those kids up on the roof-top than the blow-up-Santa that they shot with the BB-gun (I told you, you’d shoot someone’s eye out, kid)!  Pause.  Take a deep breath.  And listen to the Words the angel said to Joseph: “She will bear a Son and you shall call His Name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” 

After the egg-nog has worn off and you are feeling ho-ho-horrible and you’re just about fa-la-la-la-la-ed out remember that His manger is the paradise at which our souls reclineth, for there, in the Word made flesh, is the One whose voice the wind and waves obey, the One who rested in Mary’s bosom is the One who goes to the cross that you might rest in His almighty arms.

If your legs are still aching and your boss is a total Grinch and your children deserve nothing but a lump of coal and the only ones coming to town are your relatives and your head won’t stop spinning what with all the TSA pat downs, presents to wrap, Christmass hams to get in the oven, parties to attend, cards to write, concerts to sing, children to dress and get out the door and in the pew 7:31 on Christmas Eve.  Exhale.  Take a deep breath.  And listen to the angels sing: Fear not, behold, I bring you Good News of a great joy that will be for all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 

ness is piled higher than a Minnesota snow drift and you're starting to feel like a scrooge (BAAH, Humbug!) and you'd love nothing more than to tell that guy who cut you off in line to kiss something else under the mistletoe and your head is spinning and your legs are aching and your boss is a Grinch and your kids deserve nothing but lumps of coal and the only ones coming to town are the relatives and your Christmas is quickly turning into an Oh Holy Nightmare...and you haven’t had a silent night in weeks and you need relief from a season that has buried you up to your nose so bright in a pile of guilt and worry – remember the Words of our Lord: “Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”  This is Jesus, your Savior, born in swaddling clothes, crucified, dead and buried in swaddling clothes, for you.  This is the Christ, our God Most High, who hears your sad and bitter cry; He will Himself your Savior be, from all your sins to set you free.

Don’t let Christmass steal your Advent.  Don’t let the world Grinch you of the joy that is yours in Christ.  Advent is a season of repentance, waiting, lowliness and preparation – it is here, in the midst of these things, in Advent, where our Lord meets us with all His forgiving, fulfilling and exulting joy.  “In a season where it seems like everyone and everything is weighing you down, Advent is here to build you up by showing you the love of your Savior, upon whom we wait.  In a season that is often full of stress and chaos, Advent never fails to give you the peace of God in the forgiveness of Christ whose birth, life and death we celebrate” (How to Escape the Christmas Madness, Lutheran Witness, Rev. Hans Fiene, November 2010).  We need a little Advent, right this very minute.  And in Jesus, that’s exactly what we have.  Listen to The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, the second chapter:

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them. (Luke 2:1-20).

Life in the Wilderness

Wednesday of the First Week of Advent + December 1^st, 2010
Text: Isaiah 40:1-5; John 1:19-28
Theme for midweek 1: Repentance and Forgiveness:

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

    Who are you? I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord.
Behold the finger of John the Baptizer who points us to the Lamb of God. But there's a problem. Of all the messenger "tricks up His sleeves," what does God use to announce the coming Messiah? No burning bushes; no dreams or visions; no angels…just a man; and an uncivilized man at that. There stands John with locust legs stuck between his teeth. Disheveled hair. And his wardrobe! No project runway awards for this camel-hair-clad, leather-belted, crusty desert preacher.
    John makes you uncomfortable, doesn't he? The kind of guy fathers hope their daughters never bring home. The kind of guy you make apologies for when he shows up in the Sunday readings: "Oh yes, John the Baptizer, well, he's a little eccentric and a bit uncouth, there's always one in every family."
Why does John make you uncomfortable? Let's be honest; it's not just the diet, or the hair or even the clothing. John the Baptizer is uncivilized – that's the problem. He doesn't live in a gated community with Orange County beige paint and 2.5 children. He doesn't shop at South Coast Plaza. He doesn't try to win friends and influence people. He lives the kind of life we find so unfortunate. He leaves the "real world" and runs to the Judean wilderness – the very place we would avoid - only to eat locust and wild honey and dress like Elijah. He's not his father's kind of priest either - the desert is his temple, the Jordan River is his altar and animal hides are his vestments. Malachi's messenger won't even accept honorable mention. Although our Lord calls him the greatest of men born of woman, unworthy John can't even bear to lay a single sinful finger on the strapping of the Messiah's feet. John is everything that civilized sinners don't want to be.
    Who are you, John? The oh-so-civilized Pharisees want to know. "I am not the Christ." What then, are you Elijah? "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" "No." "Who are you? What do you say about yourself?" But John has nothing to say about himself. So the prophet Isaiah speaks for him: "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, "Make straight the way of the Lord."
    John is a one-tracked record megaphone. Christ is the Word. John is the voice. The forerunner. The advent man, who prepares you for Christ. He will not rest. He incessantly, persistently proclaims that the Messiah is here. John is what most psychiatrists call a monomaniac – someone with an excessive interest and irrational obsession with one subject: yes, a monomaniac about Christ.
    And that's really the heart of our problem. The humility of John lays bare our false humility. John's preaching forces us to answer the same question the Pharisees asked of him: Who are you? You are not the Christ. And that only leaves one alternative: you are the sinner in need of repentance.
Again, relentlessly John the Baptizer beckons you to into the wilderness. To leave behind the devil's lies that you are a reformed sinner, that you're not that bad, that surely you won't die. Leave behind the savage, fallen place you call "the real world" – a world that calls evil good and good evil, that speaks: "peace, peace," where there is no peace. Leave behind your old sinful nature whose only obsession and excessive interest is yourself.
    Not only does John the Baptizer make us uncomfortable. There's a part of us deep down, that hates John. We'd rather have his head than listen to one more word of repentance. Our Old Adam hates to be stripped naked and made to stand ashamed in front of the mirror of the Law. John's repentance calls us outside of ourselves; because repentance calls down the winnowing fork of judgment. God's Law sandpapers our old Adam as John lays bare, how swiftly our tongues wage war on others, how comfortable we are with mammon, how professional we are at blaming others, how easy we are on ourselves. In the wilderness we're open to the elements. Exposed. Uncovered.
     Is there no other way, John? Again the voice: "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord." Repentance is the only way through the wilderness. You can't go around it; can't go over it, can't go under it. You must go through it. Our Lord draws you, like John, into the wilderness. To live a life of repentance at John's feet. And there in the desert, where John has pulled out every leg your Old Adam has to stand on, you fall to the dust alone with your sin. You see, the desert is also a lonely place. A place where God's Law stares us straight in the face and reveals the arid wasteland of our sinful hearts. A place where we sit in the dust and ashes of our own mortality.
    And this – as Dietrich Bonhoeffer says – is why Advent is a disturbing penitential season for us. Before Jesus stands John the Baptist (whom we must not skip over)." Before Christmas stands Advent. And it is through Advent repentance that we come to the true fulfillment of Christmas joy.
    Repentance and forgiveness are not how we, or the world, see Advent or Christmas, but it is how Jesus sees it. John calls you out to the barren desert, where the only life is where there is water. John the Baptizer we call him. The water man. His sole purpose is to get you to the river. And once he's got you in the water, he's done his job. Because John's identity is all wrapped up in baptism and so is yours.
    For there in the oasis of the font stands Christ: Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away your sin. Behold the Lamb of God who pours the water of life into the desert of your sinful flesh, drowning your sin-hardened flesh; there in the desert He prepares a highway to Himself. A road He Himself makes straight through John, through His Word. The preaching of John is really the work of Jesus. For only God can work this kind of repentance in you…only God can turn, change, and flip unrepentant sinners 180 degrees. We go where John goes: Wherever Jesus calls us. To the wilderness for Repentance. To the River of Life for forgiveness. And you, like John, now point to The Font. Altar and Absolution. Lectern and Pulpit and say: Behold the Lamb of God who takes away my sin.
    John's Advent sermon is fulfilled in Jesus the moment He steps into the Jordan. Jesus is right where He wants to be, in your dirty old bath-water. The sinless baptized into a sinner's baptism so that we sinners are baptized into Him. In those blessed waters His life and promises are yours and all your sin is His. There, your conscience which burns with the heat of guilt and sin finds the soothing coolness of sins forgiven. There, your sinful heart cracked under the blazing sun of the Law finds rest in the shadow of Christ Crucified. Behold the Lamb of God. He takes our false humility and suffers our humiliation. He takes our shame and wraps Himself in it. He takes our guilt, our sin, our death and makes them His own. Come down to the river and play. The water is fine. Drink. Swim. Bathe and soak in His fountain of immortality.
    There is life in the water as there is life in the blood. For there is a river of blood and water whose streams make glad the people of God. One fork fills the font where Jesus irrigates your desert of repentance with a flood of springing-sopping-wet- forgiveness. Liquid life. And the other fork fills the chalice, where His life is in the blood. Take, drink for the Forgiveness for your sin-parched lips. Take, eat - your manna in the wilderness.
    Who are you? You are the sinner in need of repentance. And yet in Christ, you are Baptized, you are forgiven and lack for nothing. You are the voice of one crying in the wilderness…Lamb of God you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us. And there in Jesus, there is joy in the wilderness. Joy in Advent. Joy in Christmass.

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

The Real Meaning of Advent

   We are quite accustom to all the holiday hullabaloo that occurs this time of the year, perhaps none more well-known than those winter watch words, “Put Christ back in Christmas,” or “We Say Merry Christmas.” Of course, the real meaning of Christmas is essential and we dare not over look it. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves and jump the liturgical gun (or, if you prefer football metaphors, draw a false start penalty), missing the most over-looked, under-appreciated and misunderstood seasons of the church year, Advent. In fact, we need to put Advent back in Christmas, for the real meaning of Christmas lies in the real meaning of Advent. If the culture has tossed out God’s gift of Christmas with the wrapping paper, then the Church in modern times has thrown out the season of Advent before the baby is even in the bathwater. Why has the season of Advent fallen on such hard times? What can be done via positive – even Scriptural and Confessional - arguments to restore the rich treasure that is the season of Advent?

   In order to answer these questions briefly, we will be led through three Scriptural themes of Advent by the light of God’s Word in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s sermons; here the Holy Spirit will take us to His workshop and tinker with His Word.

   Repentance. This is where the season of Advent begins in earnest, with the call of John the Baptist, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Repentance is a theme of Advent as in Lent. However, the focus is different. In Lent, repentance focuses the believer on the life of Christ and His suffering of our sins on our behalf. In Advent, while His future death is expectant, the focus of repentance revolves around the anticipation and waiting, not only His first advent in human flesh but also His second advent on the Last Day. This makes John the Baptist the iron preacher of Advent.

   “The message of Advent becomes a disturbing penitential sermon for us and this is as it must be. Before Jesus stands John the Baptist, before Christmas stands Advent. It is only through repentance that we come to the fulfillment of Christmas” (Bonhoeffer, DBW 10:588).

   And yet this runs counter to our “me-generation” way of life. Repentance calls us to examine ourselves in light of God’s Word, in light of the Commandments, which expose our sin. And much more than expose, repentance calls us into judgment for our sin. Repentance calls us to live outside ourselves, to be convicted of our sin, but also to be forgiven by Christ, who is he fulfillment of Advent. God’s uses His Law in Advent just as He does throughout all seasons, to kill and bring to life, to bring low and to exalt.

   “Look up, you there staring emptily down at earth” (Bonhoeffer, DBW 13:341). Lift up your heads, you mighty gates, the King of Glory is coming. Jesus comes for those whose eyes have been turned away from heaven only to weep at the world before them. Advent announces the coming end of your humiliation and defeat as they become Christ’s humiliation and defeat. This is the joy and promise we look forward to as we wait.

   Waiting. Advent is a season of waiting which also runs counter to our old sinful nature. “Celebrating Advent means being able to wait…those unfamiliar with the bitter bliss of waiting, of doing without while maintaining hope, will never experience the blessing of fulfillment” (Bonhoeffer, DBW 10:542). Much of life is spent waiting – engagement, laborious years in education, employment, politics, sickness and so on. But when it comes to Advent, it seems that the Church has had more influence from the culture than vice versa. We are by sinful nature, impatient. And so, waiting runs counter to everything our old Adam knows and loves so well, you. Waiting means denying yourself. Waiting means the church is not at all like our private living rooms, but rather a sacred space in which the holy days of Advent are spent in joyful anticipation of the coming of Christ through Christ’s own presence in Word and Sacrament. This transforms everything we say and do in the church. Popular traditions, such as the Advent wreath and the banners hung each Sunday as Christmas approaches, visually confess what the Scriptures teach about Advent. Traditions like this can be easily replicated in the home. Historically, many churches have even set up decorations in stages as Advent anticipation increases with each new week, drawing us closer to the promise and fulfillment of Christmas. Bonhoeffer reminds us well that it is precisely in waiting that our Lord comes to us:

   Only people who carry restlessness around them can wait, and people who look up reverently to the One who is great in the world. Hence only those who souls give them no peace are able to celebrate Advent, who feel poor and incomplete and who sense that something of the greatness of what is coming, before which one can only bow in humble timidity, in anticipation till God inclines toward us – the Holy One, God in the child of the manger” (Bonhoeffer BDW 10:542).

   This was the restless hope that Mary carried with her as she pondered the coming birth of Christ. In her lowliness, she embodies the lowliness of Advent throughout the ages.

   Lowliness. It should come as no surprise that this theme, as with the previous ones, seems foolish to the world. But this is precisely the way God works, through foolish, lowly means – an unwed virgin mother, God in infant human flesh. God is not ashamed of human lowliness. Quite the opposite in fact. He is most concerned with it and has done everything to for us who struggle with in this sinful fallen world.  In our world of sin, evil and death, Advent even carries for us an aching homesickness for the new creation that comes in Christ.

   “A groan wrests itself from our breast, ‘Come, God, Lord Jesus Christ, come into our world, into our homelessness, into our sin, into our death, come you yourself, and share with us, be a human being as we are and conquer for us…Come along into my death, into my sufferings and struggles, and make me holy and pure despite this evil, despite death” (Bonhoeffer, DBW 10:543).

   The only answer is the pronouncement of Advent, the promise of Redemption through Christ where God Himself answers the cry of humanity definitively in His Son. Jesus comes. That’s what Advent means after all, come. Come, Lord Jesus. And in this way, Advent is a picture of the entire Christian life: repentance and forgiveness, waiting and fulfillment, lowliness and exaltation, death and redemption – all won for us by Christ and all experienced by Christ for us. And so with each passing Advent, we await the final Advent.

   “The time of Advent is a time of waiting, though our entire life is a time of Advent, a time of waiting for that final time when a new heaven and a new earth will emerge…Yes, come soon, Lord Jesus. Amen” (Bonhoeffer, DBW 10:546).

   May your homes and families be filled with the hope and promise of Christ this joyous Advent season as the Sunday sermons and midweek services draw us into the joyful, penitential, waiting, lowly and yet blessed, glorious and holy season.

Gluttonous Forgiveness

Thanksgiving Eve + Thursday, November 24^th

Text: Luke 17:11-19; Deuteronomy 8:1-10; Philippians 4:6-20

Today's sermon has a narrative style to it; it's written as a phone conversation between two Christians discussing thanksgiving and includes occasional third party quotations, some are direct quotes, while others are relayed messages. The discussion revolves around thanksgiving, the Gospel reading for today, and Christ's work for us. Keep in mind this is a rhetorical device. I pray you find it edifying.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
    
"What do you give to the guy who has everything?"
"I dunno?"
"Hmm, what about a custom designer, fancy name-engraved Starbucks mug, a stunning cup fit for a kingly size venti, Arabica bean…wait, what's that?"
"He says He's already got one."
"What do you mean, He's already got one?"
"Yea, and He says it's better too."
"Ok, time to up the ante…how about a diamond studded Rolex– and not one of those knock-offs from Tijuana?"
"No that won't do, He's always going on about the fullness of time and such; guess he just doesn't like watches."
"Well, let's see. Time to think big. A luxury SUV…the best Orange County can offer, Australian leather seats, his and hers climate control, satellite radio, GPS – all the bells and whistles. Wait, what's that? He still says no? What, He's got one of those too?"
"Well, no, but he prefers walking and something about four legged domesticated animals of the humble variety…and he really got a good chuckle out of the climate control and the GPS."
"Seriously, who does this guy think He is? What can I possibly give Him? I can't think of anything. There's nothing I can do to please this guy."
"He says that'll do perfectly."
"What'll do perfectly? I haven't even given him anything yet."
"Exactly."
"What do you mean exactly? That makes no sense. I'd better do something or else. Isn't there anything I can do?"
"No. Nothing at all."
"He wants nothing from me? Zero? Zip? Zilch?"
"O wait, there is one thing…"
"Ah, finally. What is it? This guy is really trying my patience. Tell me already, what must I do?"
"He says you can give him your disease."
"My what? You're kidding right? I'm not even sick. I feel fine. Now those 10 lepers. They had it bad. Skin falling off. Outcasts. What losers. Crying out for mercy, looking all pathetic. And only one of them - the double Loser Samaritan - even bothered to go back to Jesus and say thank you. Come on? What's up with those other 9?"
"He says don't worry about them. You're the one with the problem."
"Wooo, wait a minute. First of all, why not? Those lepers were pretty bad, the least those skin-shedding leeches could've done was go back and say thank you. Is it really that hard? I would've at least scribbled a quick "thank you" card or a sent a text…thx J! And what's this about me being the problem? Those other guys are the problem. Remember? I feel fine, great in fact, as long as dinner is on time. Is that turkey ready yet?"
"Well, He said something about missing the point. And the only words I could make out were: unconditional, outrageous, free."
"What are you trying to say, huh? I know how the story goes…Lepers cry for mercy. Jesus heals the lepers. One returns to give thanks. His faith is commended. Now, you go and do likewise. Isn't that it?"
"No, not at all. He said try reading Luke again: "As Jesus entered a village He was met by 10 lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices saying, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when He saw them, He said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests…and as they went they were healed along the way." …So, did those lepers heal themselves?"
"No."
"Did they do anything to deserve their healing?"
"Well, no. But the one returned to give thanks…that's gotta count for something, right?"
"Hold on a second; you're getting ahead of yourself. You don't start by giving thanks, that's putting the turkey inside the stuffing."
"Well, ok, that doesn't make any sense, now does it? Come to think of it…neither does Jesus healing those 10 men. The first mistake He made was going to hang out with those nasty sick people, who does that anyway? Didn't His mother teach him to stay away from lepers? And then He goes and just up and heals them willy nilly. And look at all He got in return…only one lousy Samaritan said thanks. You can't go around recklessly, freely giving out gifts and healing everyone who has diseases. There's gotta be some kind of limit on this madness. Standards! Criteria! This is an outrage. Why, if He keeps this up all the sick people are going to be healed and all those guilty – oh I can't even bear to say it – sinners will get off scot-free."
"Now, you're beginning to understand."
"But that makes no sense. Who would give a gift – like healing or salvation - and not expect anything in return?"
"Jesus."
"Come on. There's gotta be a catch. There's no such thing as a free lunch."
"That's where you're wrong. He said to tell you everything is given by Him and this is the only free lunch, and it's more like a big fat heavenly wedding feast than a subway sandwich – a feast of rich foods and fine wine…cups brimming with salvation…come, eat and drink without price. Feast on my forgiveness."
    "Sounds like gluttony to me."
    "That's right. Gluttonous forgiveness."
"This giving sounds like risky business."
"It is, Jesus' gifts often go unappreciated. Even abused and sadly, rejected."
"Sounds like He'd be better off not giving at all. Safer that way. At least He wouldn't be disappointed by people's lack of thanks."
"Perhaps, but Jesus takes the risk. He sets no conditions. No pre-healing interviews to see who deserves healing. No surveys to see who is worth dying for. He heals all 10 and then He's off to Jerusalem to forgives the whole world."
"Wow, that sounds great. But that'll lead to chaos…no one will do anything. There must be rules. Can't he just give me a to-do list?"
"But don't you see, that's not love, that's not even freedom; it's a new slavery."
"So, I can sin that grace may abound, right?"
"By no means. But let me ask you this: if you do sin more, will Jesus forgive you?"
"I sure hope so."
"Don't worry. He does."
"It sure sounds like you're trying to tell me that Thanksgiving is not about my thanksgiving at all."
"Right."
"And I can't do anything to earn God's love? No gifts I can give Him? No life I can live for Him?"
"Right. And stop making yourself the subject of the sentence."
"Sure, whatever, but you're absolutely sure? There's nothing…not even a little bit?"
"That's right; He's given you everything…take it from Him; He's the expert on giving."
"But this is Thanksgiving! I thought the least I could do was go to church (and I went twice btw just to show how thankful I am), tell God how I thank Him for my Xbox I love so much and how I thank Him for my clothes that impress all my friends and how I thank Him and how I praise Him and how I give everything I have to Him."
"But you haven't told me anything about God yet."
"Sure I have…I just told you all the things I'm thankful for."
"He says that's part of your problem."
"So, I shouldn't give thanks?"
"No. Giving thanks is good…but that's the wrong place to start, remember? He also says your grammar problem hasn't gone away. Too many personal pronouns. Cut it out."
"Boy, this guy has a lot of nerve! I don't use too many personal pronouns in my sent…o wait. I see now. Oops, did it again!"
"He says that's a common problem with us."
"What, is?"
"Talking about ourselves."
"Are you trying to say I'm more like those 9 losers than I am the Samaritan? Are you trying to tell me that when I give gifts I'm only thinking about myself, what I'll get in return, how good it will make me look before my neighbors and God of course?"
"Yes, now you're hearing clearly."
"But how else will He know I love Him?"
"He said to say, I don't need your thanks and praise; that's your problem. You think you have something within you or something you can do to please Me. You can't please me. I'm not impressed with your good works. You have a disease, you are sick, you are dead."
"Ouch. That hurt."
"He says it was supposed to. That's the point. Think about it…Jesus doesn't need your thanksgiving. Jesus doesn't love you because you say thank you or because you praise Him."
"Wow, I guess I really am sick. So sick in fact, I don't know how – ooh, I hate to say it – sinful I am."
"Yes, and God gave you that too."
"Gave me what?"
"The proper diagnosis of your sin. You are dead in trespasses. You are worse than those lepers. Those who are well have no need of a physician."
"Well, it sounds like I need more than a physician."
"You're right about that! You need a Savior."
"I feel like a beggar, like a scum of the earth, like a double loser Samaritan."
"Now, you've got it."
"Got what?"
"The whole point of thanksgiving."
"How do you figure? Why on earth should I be thankful for my sin?"
"Because that's all you have to give to Jesus."
"But who would want that kind of person, a poor miserable sinner?"
"Jesus does."
"Really?"
"Yes. He loves sinners, especially the dead ones. That's where He does His best work."
"I don't follow."
"Listen to the words of St. Paul: "The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord," and, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith."
"He did that for me?"
"Yes, for you and for the whole world, 10 lepers and all."
"That's amazing."
"Not just amazing, that's love. You see, God gives on the basis of who He is. And He does not stop giving. That's who He is; that's what He does, for you. He gives. He forgives. He saves. In fact, He doesn't benefit from our thanking Him."
"Now you're talking crazy again!"
"Nope, just Biblically. The more we thank God the Father through Jesus Christ His dear Son, the more we realize how generously and abundantly He deals with us."
"So, we do give thanks!"
"Yes, we do. But in its proper place. Thanksgiving begins and ends with the cross. First the gift, then the thanks. After all, what else can we say but Amen?"
"I never thought about it like that. But what about our thanksgiving? What do we do?"
"There you go again! Remember, God doesn't need your thanksgiving, or your good works, but your neighbor does."
"So where do I give thanks and help my neighbor?"
"In your vocation?"
"My vacation?"
"No, vo-cation. Wherever God has called you: husband or wife; son or daughter, father or mother, pastor or congregation, employee or employer - the list goes on. In fact we have dozens of vocations."
"Yea, thank God for the plumber!"
"Indeed, thank God for toilet paper."
"Ok, now you're getting gross."
"Seriously. Thank God for toilet paper and all the other ordinary things in life: fresh squeezed orange juice, running water and turkey and canned-cranberry and football, well, maybe not the Lions, but you get the point, right?"
"Yes, I think I do… it's our vocation to receive from Jesus every good gift He has to give us?"
"Exactly. Couldn't have said it better myself."
"Well, I should get going…I think I just heard the timer go off."
"Sounds good…Oh, one more thing…before you fall asleep this afternoon, pull out your catechism…"
"That dusty old thing? I haven't looked at it since confirmation."
"Well, it's good for you…so, turn to Luther's explanation of the 1^st article of the Apostle's Creed. And remember, thanksgiving begins and ends with the cross."
"Thanks, it was great talking with you."
"The pleasure was all His… happy thanksgiving; enjoy the turkey; it's gotta be done by now. Oh wait…the static has cleared up on the other line. He has one more message for you. Here, listen, "Rise and go your way; your faith has saved you."

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

The Beginning is the End is the Beginning

Sunday of the Fulfillment – Last Sunday of the Church Year – Nov. 21^st, 2010

Text: Luke 23:27-43; Colossians 1:13-20; Malachi 3:13-18

In the Name of Jesus + Amen.

   Who fouled up the readings? What's going on here? Where's the burning of the chaff? The weeping and gnashing of teeth? It's the Last Sunday of the Church Year – we want some judgment. A little fire and brimstone's not too much to ask for is it? We need some flames to roast our chestnuts on as we launch into a four week frenzy – It might be the end of the world if I don't get this holiday list checked off - but not Good Friday.

    Jesus is the expert on beginnings and endings. And the Last Sunday of the Church Year is both. It may seem like you can't tell where the church year ends and Advent begins. But that's the way it should be. The church year ends as it begins: with Christ's second coming. This is why we celebrate this festival (or any other festival of the church) - Sunday of the Fulfillment. For the church year gives us the life of Jesus. And the life of Jesus is the life of the Church. The Sunday of the Fulfillment is the Church's Nunc Dimittis. We sing with Simeon – and the malefactor: "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace; Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom."

   This is precisely the right reading for the Sunday. No mistake. No liturgical faux pa; just a confession and a declaration: the Lord has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. What does Jesus' crucifixion have to do with the Last Day? The answer's in the question.

There's no bigger fulfillment. Jesus' Crucifixion is the central event of all human history. Everything in the world – your sin, the death of death the devil's defeat – all hang on that cross, on that crucified for you God-Man. Jesus goes as He promised.

Jesus is also an expert on predictions. Sure, plenty of people make predictions –Heaven's Gate, Mayan calendars. But no one else backs them up by dying and rising from the dead. That makes all the difference. When Jesus predicts something, it happens.

"The Son of Man must suffer many things. He will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and spat upon and after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise."
(Luke 9:22; 18:31-33)

    He goes there to die for those thugs – even those who reject Him. He dies for Peter who had denied Him three times. Remember, Jesus predicted that one too. And He goes there to die for you.

For He knows your sin better than you know yourself. He knows that we live in a fallen world sullied by sin and corrupted in rebellion. We are both perpetrators and victims. On the one hand, we, like the Israelites in Malachi, see the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer; sinners everywhere we turn. We want judgment. We demand justice. Wait. Stop and think. Do you really want people to get what they deserve? What about you? Do we dare God to be fair in His judgment? Be careful what you wish for; you just might get it.

    And on the other hand, we languish under the curse of a poor miserable fallen world. Where families' lives are changed forever by disease or tragedy; where parents bury their sons or daughters; where infants die by the knife and life is treated casually or callously. There's a reason we call this a vale of tears. Weary heads. Droopy hearts. Disease. Accidents. Pain. Sorrow. Guilt. Death. We doubt, we fear, worry we tremble. "Why are you cast down, o my soul?" Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

    And He does. Jesus snatches us out of the pit of death by throwing Himself into it. There is nothing left outside His death. No one too sinful for Christ to save – not a thief, not a rebel, not a God hater, chief of sinners like you and me. And no judgment too harsh for Him to bear. No guilt, fear, disease or sorrow too heavy to carry.

    He goes the way of His own prediction, stumbling under our cross until Simon of Cyrene bears the burden as He staggers to the Skull. And when a place is called the Skull there's only one possible reason to go there. And He goes there for you.

    No wonder the women wail with lament. They weep for Jesus. But they weep for the wrong things. The days are coming, says Jesus, when one stone will be turned upon another, when they will say, "The shame of childlessness is better than the suffering that awaits the coming destruction of Jerusalem." Judgment is coming. The temple had to be torn down in 70 AD; it has been replaced in His own flesh. Its end is destruction, a type of the Last Day. Do not weep for Jesus; He needs no tears. Weep, rather, for those who reject Christ.

    See how the world mocks Jesus. Hear the criminal's arrogant cry: "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!" The soldiers' spit, the crowds jeer, and the guilty mocks the innocent. But here's the irony, it's precisely through His suffering and mockery and shame and humiliation and death that we are saved. Guilty sinners find their eternal rest in those innocent wounds. Gaze upon those glorious scars, dear tokens of His passion. He bears them – along with His crucified, risen and glorified body - for an eternity of blessing you.

    The thief was half right. He is the Christ. But Jesus will not save Himself. He needs no Savior; you do. He will not pull Himself off those nails. He will not let you get what you deserved. That's how valuable, how precious you are to Him. It's not fair, it's free. It's not what you deserved; it's pure gift. It's justice you want? Well, it's justice Christ gets. Jesus is judged and you are innocent. That is how all things in heaven and earth are reconciled to God, by the peace-stained, blood-soaked cross.

    As the world curses Him, He is cursed for the world. As they reject His forgiveness, He forgives their rejection. Our mouths do nothing but curse Him; His lips do nothing but pray for us. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

    His Word and work of forgiveness bear fruit. The other malefactor gets it. Through Jesus' word He is transferred from the domain of darkness - on the darkest day of the world – into the Kingdom our Heavenly Father. Jesus' Word brings this man to faith: "Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom."

And there is Jesus in His Kingdom: crowned with thorns, enthroned on the cross, reigning as King of the Jews, just as the sign above Him read - for you, for the thief, for the world.

    The best way to be prepared for Christ's second coming is to look to His coming: His Word made flesh Advent among us. His watery Advent. His body and blood Advent. His "in the stead and by the command" Advent.

    Baptism is your: "today you will be with me in Paradise." Jesus' Word is as good with water as it was with that thief. It's no different when you're at the Lord's Table. We give Him sour wine and He gives us His very own blood to drink. And here in His body and blood He remembers you in His Kingdom.

The question is not when will the end come, but who is the end? Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, your beginning and your end; the firstborn from the dead. Lift up your weary heads. Watch for His coming. For Christ has already gone down the Last Day road ahead of us, through the darkness, through fear and guilt, shame and death and He's come through alive, risen from the dead.

    For most of us this fulfillment comes at death – unless you're taken directly into heaven like Elijah or Reepicheep into Aslan's country – and yet, until the Last Day comes, we rest in sainted slumber awaiting the day of resurrection, where Christ will awaken us from the grave as quickly as He awoke Lazarus from his 3 day dirt-nap. Fulfilling for you what is already yours in Him. He will breathe life into your rotting flesh even Jesus peacefully proclaims now, "Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise." And that's one end times prediction you can trust.

In the Name of Jesus + Amen.

Nachamu, Nachamu

"Comfort, Comfort ye My people, speak ye peace," saith our God;

"Comfort those who sit in darkness, Mourning neath their sorrows' load. 

Speak ye to Jerusalem of the peace that waits for them;

Tell her that her sins I cover and her warfare now is over." (LSB 347)

I could barely sing these words to (we'll call him) Sailor and his wife without tears as he laid in bed, waiting.  Waiting for the cancer to finish its cruel course.  Waiting for His Day of Fulfillment.  Waiting for death.  Waiting, like Simeon, to die peacefully in Christ.  Waiting for the promise.  Waiting for fulfillment.  Come, Lord Jesus; come quickly.  Make haste, O God, to deliver me.  Make haste to help me, O Lord.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer's words came to my mind on the somber drive home: “A groan wrests itself from our breast, ‘Come, God, Lord Jesus Christ, come into our world, into our homelessness, into our sin, into our death, come you yourself, and share with us, be a human being as we are and conquer for us….Come along into my death, into my sufferings and struggles, and make me holy and pure despite this evil, despite death.”

The Sailor family knows something about waiting.  13 years for a liver transplant.  Today marks the 2 year anniversary of that day, a joyful day in the life of Mrs. Sailor.  And now, 2 years later cancer moves like a plague through Sailor's body and they find themselves waiting again.  In the words of the hymn, "he hath suffered many a day."  And yet, even now His griefs have passed away.  He has already died.  Christ has marked him as his own in Baptism where God changes pining sadness into ever springing gladness. 

The Sailor Family also knows something about darkness and mourning for in these grey and latter days, death and grief accompany waiting.  And yet, it is precisely in the midst of our bitter darkness, when the warfare appears to be too long, when the burden too heavy, the disease too painful, the coming loss so numbingly real - it is precisely there in the depths of our sorrow and poignant grief where our Lord comes.

Hark, the herald's voice is crying in the desert far and near,

Calling sinners to repentance, Since the Kingdom now is here. 

O that warning cry obey! Now prepare for God a way;

Let the valleys rise to meet Him And the hills bow down to greet Him.

Thy Kingdom come, we pray.  And the King does not tarry.  He comes.  He advents Himself.  At the bedside of a dying man through the steady, yet sorrow-filled voice of a pastor, through His word of absolution and consolation, through the mercy shown by a loving spouse - comfort, comfort.  The end of the church year and the beginning of the church year are marked by waiting and fulfillment, hope and expectation are met by promise and consummation.  Soon it appears that Sailor will see his own Sunday of the Fulfilment even as we await the final resurrection on the Last Day.  The Day of the Lord is a day of comfort, when cancerous, embattled bodies will be will be changed in the twinkling of an eye into resurrected, glorious bodies; livers will not need transplanting; loved ones will not need funerals; spouses will not weep for sorrow, nay, only for joy at the feet of the Lamb.   Indeed, the dead are more easily raised from the grave than a slumbering teenager.  "Arise," commands the Lord.  You see, even the dead obey His voice.

This is what our Lord goes to Jerusalem to accomplish, to fulfill, to realize - to pronounce: "It is finished...Truly I say to you - Sailor, to you Sailor's spouse, to you who struggle under the guilt of sin, the yoke of death, the tempter's rod, to all who suffer and are weary of this vale of tears - today you will be with me in paradise." 

And there is joy, even more poignant than grief.  There is the eucatastrophe.  Joy in the Crucified, the King, the Savior.  Comfort incarnate.  Consolation in human flesh.  God for us, God who is one of us, God who is with us, yes, in death, and if he is with us in death, how much more will He be with us in the resurrection of the dead and the life everlasting.  Amen, come quickly, Lord Jesus. 

"For we do not want you to be uniformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.  For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.  And the dead who are in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive, who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.  Therefore, encourage one another with these words"

- 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.