Sermon for Pentecost: "Water and Spirit"

 + Pentecost – May 24^th, 2026 +

Series C: Numbers 11:24-30; Acts 2:1-21; John 7:37-39

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

Jesus and his disciples were in Jerusalem for the Feast. Not of Pentecost – not yet. The Feast of Booths. A week-long feast looking back upon Israel’s wilderness wandering. And looking forward to the temple restored and the new creation. The whole event is soaking in God’s promises, saturated with the story of salvation.

 

Every morning during the priests led a procession – a holy water brigade – down to the pool of Siloam. Gilded crocks of water filled up to brim. The holy parade made its pilgrimage to the temple. Water splashing. Mirth and joy filled the air. Isaiah’s words rang out:

 

With joy will you draw water from the wells of salvation.

 

Around the altar three times. And finally, poured out upon the altar. Remember the headwaters of Eden. Remember the waters poured out of the rock. Remember the promise of water out of the new temple. 

 

Then on the last day of the Feast, the Great Day, the 8^th day if you count from 1^st to the 7^th day, the parade surrounded the altar seven times in a perfect crescendo of praise. Waving myrtle, willow, and palm fronds set the scene. Creation clapping her hands at the coming rescue by her Creator and Lord.

 

At this Feast. On this day. In his temple. Jesus steps forth and proclaims: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as^[f] the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 

 

Come to me and drink, our Lord says. “I AM the door, the gate to paradise restored. I AM the rock in the wilderness, gushing forth with new and living water for you. I AM the new and greater temple. The priest, the sacrifice, and the holy of holies all rolled into one, and out of my side flows life-giving water for you.” 

 

Jesus’ promises flow downstream from his crucifixion and resurrection to you. From his promise declared at the Feast of Booths to his promise fulfilled at the Feast of Pentecost.

 

Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

 

The living water of the Holy Spirit will come. But first the flood of fire and blood and wrath falls upon Jesus on the cross. For the Spirit to be poured out to give life you, Jesus’ blood and life must first be poured out unto death for you. The Holy Spirit always given through the cross. Where there’s Jesus crucified, there’s his life-giving Spirit. Where his life-giving Spirit is, there’s his cross. 

 

Every river has a source, a spring, a headwaters. So it is with the great stream of salvation. Jesus crucified and risen is the source; his holy body poured out and his life laid down on the cross is the headwaters of the Holy Spirit being sent to you. Our whole life is lived downstream from the cross. Birth and new birth. Life and callings in life. Death and resurrection. 

It all goes back to the source, Jesus. He sends the Holy Spirit to bring you back upstream to Jesus the fountainhead of life and faith. Jesus pours out his life to pour out his Spirit upon us who pours out upon us the life-giving waters of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

 

And it must be this way. Jesus must pour out the Holy Spirit. Jesus gives us to drink of his living water. Our souls are parched. Thirsty. Dead and brackish. A wasteland without a drop of water. 

 

We cannot draw water from our own well for there’s no living water there to draw from, only a cesspool and a swamp, fetid waters of unfaithfulness and idols floating everywhere. 

 

In Genesis the Lord placed his bow in the sky and promised never again to pour out a flood upon the earth in divine judgment, wrath, and destruction. Here in John 7, Jesus promises something even greater, to flood the whole earth with the water of life -a flood of pardon and peace and deliverance.

 

If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

 

What is this water? Is it the Holy Spirit Jesus pours out? Yes.

Is it His life-giving dying and rising? Yes

Is it the new birth by water and word and the Spirit? Yes.

Is it the life-giving waters where water and Spirit, and Jesus’ death and resurrection are poured out upon you? Yes.

 

It all flows downstream from Feast of Booths to Feast of Pentecost. From the Jesus crucified and risen to his holy house and holy gifts.

 

The living water you need, Jesus sends. He pours out his life. He pours out his Holy Spirit. He pours out his body and blood for you. 

He draws water from the wells of salvation which goes deeper than the grave and washes away every sin. Three times he pours out his name and water upon you. 

 

On the 6^th day Jesus is crucified for you. On the 7^th day he rested in the tomb for you. And on the 8^th day he rose again, opening paradise for you.

 

And he who poured out his life for you, pours out his water and Spirit and promise upon you. 

The same Spirit who hovered over creation’s watery abyss, now makes you a new creation. 

The same Spirit who descended on Jesus in the Jordan, comes swooping down into the water to fill your heart with faith, your mouth with praise, and make you his holy temple.

The same Spirit that blows with the breath of Jesus crucified and risen gives you new birth from above by water and word.

 

And this is the same Spirit who began a good work in you on the day of your Baptism and will bring it to completion on the day of our Lord Jesus. 

 

And until that day, this well of salvation, this pool of Jesus’ promise, his life giving, living water never dries up, never runs out; His grace and goodness are ever-flowing downstream from his cross to you.

 

A blessed Feast of Pentecost to each of you…

 

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

 

 

 

Sermon for Trinity Sunday: "The Triune Name"

+ Trinity Sunday – May 31^st, 2026 +

Series A: Genesis 1-2:4; Acts 2:14, 22-e36; Matthew 28:16-20

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

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

 

There’s a beautiful moment in Disney’s Toy Story when the toys are given a boy's name upon their feet. The boy takes a sharpie and inscribes his name upon each of them, carefully, personally. You see, like most young boys, Andy loves his toys, so much in fact, that he writes his name on the foot of each one. To be one of Andy’s toys, to have his name written upon their foot, means they are loved, they are treated more like family than toys; and above all, they are Andy’s own prized possession, they belong to Andy and no one else. 

 

Although it can be difficult to imagine the mystery of the Holy Trinity on this Trinity Sunday, this gives us a picture. A glimpse. 

 

It’s all in the name. No, not Andy’s name. Not a fictional name of a cartoon created by man, but the true name above all names of the Creator of man. The Name who names everything and everyone. Who redeems. Who hallows. Who rescues and saves and names.

 

The Name: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We worship the Trinity in unity and the unity in Trinity, neither confusing the persons, nor dividing the substance, as we confess in the creed.

 

So the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Spirit is Lord;

And yet there are not three Lords, but one Lord.

 

There is many a great mystery here to be sure. But there is also a depth of grace just as unfathomable. For by God’s grace, His name is also yours. For he has placed his name upon you.

 

With his word - the same word with which he spoke creation into being - and water - the same waters he called forth into their places, he places his holy name upon you. 

 

This is what our Lord promises in Matthew 28, to his disciples, to his church, to you:

 

 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe (to guard, cherish, treasure, hold fast to) all that I have commanded you. 

 

With something far more permanent than a black sharpie, our Lord inscribes his holy name upon you. 

 

For unlike all other so-called gods, the one, true God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, loves you. And not because we are particularly lovable. No, anything loveable in us or about us comes from him. The Holy Trinity loves us because that is who he is.

 

And he loves us in a particular way. The Father sends his Son. The Son lays down his life. Dies. Rises. Ascends. And the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son to bring us back through the Son to the Father.

 

Behold what manner of love the Trinity has given unto us, that we are called children of God. washed. Cleansed. Hallowed. Rescued. Saved. Forgiven. And given a new name.

 

God makes us more than creatures. He calls us his children. Members of the family of God. You belong to God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. You are his prized people. You belong to him and to no one else. God writes his name – not on your foot – but upon your forehead and heart with the blood of his cross to mark you as one redeemed by Christ crucified. You are God’s own chosen people; you belong to him and no one else.

 

I baptize you in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

 

Baptize and teach.

 

These are the gifts Jesus gives his church. Baptize in Jesus’ name and teach Jesus’ Word. Receive Jesus’ baptism washed over you. Hear Jesus’ absolution declared to you. Take, eat and drink, Jesus’ body and blood given and shed for you. Everything else we say or do in this place exists to serve, support, and deliver God’s gifts.

 

Today, Jesus gathers us to receive his gifts in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This Name by which we enter God’s family is the Name by which we enter his house. We’re called to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures as his inspired Word, to confess the doctrine of the Scriptures summarized in the Small Catechism, to receive the Lord’s Supper faithfully, and to suffer all even death rather than fall away from Christ’s church.

 

To do this faithfully means to confess that we have all been unfaithful. To believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe, but only by the Holy Spirit. As we heard our catechumens confess a few weeks ago…I do, by the grace of God!

 

Like the disciples, the first catechumens, we live in a world full of doubts, fears, and anxieties. There will be days when we do not live up to the name that we confess today. 

 

For days when darkness surrounds. When sin overwhelms. When guilt, shame, and sadness would silence our praise, that is why there is a Trinity Sunday. To remind us again and again, that there will never be a day that Jesus forsakes us. That the love of Christ crucified is with you always. 

And that the Holy Trinity who reveals his name to you.

Who places his name upon you in those holy waters of Baptism

Will also keep you in his name

Now and forever.

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 Easter 7: "Words of Life"

 + 7^th Sunday of Easter – May 17^th, 2026 +

Series C: Acts 1:12-26; 1 Peter 4:12-19, 5:6-11; John 17:1-11

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

Biologists will tell you that cells, DNA, and proteins are the building blocks of life.

 

Farmers will tell you that good soil, water, and sunlight are needed for growth, for life.

 

And yet, there’s something more than molecules and particles that holds life together. Something much older and ancient. Something sacred. Holy. 

 

Words. Words give life. Our whole world hangs on a word. That first, “I love you.” The announcement from the doctor, “It’s a girl! It’s a boy!” That moment when time stands still until she says, “yes, I will.”

 

And if our words are able to bring such moments of life and love and laughter, how much more so do our Lord’s words. Before there were atoms and amino acids there were words. Our Lord’s word. “Let there be.” And there was.

 

The Holy Trinity is the inventor of words. God is a divine wordsmith. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are the wellspring of words. And our Lord’s word gives life.

 

Creation begins with our Lord’s word. All things are made through the Word of God. Creation is upheld by Christ’s word of power. So it’s not surprise that when the Word is made flesh, when the Son of God takes on our humanity, he also speaks our language. Jesus delivers to his disciples, and us, his word of life.

 

I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.

 

When Jesus prayed these words in his high priestly prayer. On the night he was betrayed. On the night before he spoke his final words on the cross. He spoke these words to the Father, but also for his disciples. And for you.

 

These are more than ordinary words. Jesus’ words are life, for his disciples, and for you.

Jesus’ words bring life to a man’s lifeless legs. 

Jesus’ words send demons running in fear.

Jesus’ words hushed the wind. Stay the storm. Whisper peace to the waves.

Jesus’ words bring healing, holiness, and honor to the sick, the unclean, and the ashamed.

Jesus’ words raise dead Lazarus.

Jesus’ words pull Peter and Thomas and the fearful, doubtful disciples, out of the darkness and into the new creation.

Jesus words’ deliver what he promises: peace. Forgiveness. Grace and goodness. Truth and beauty. 

 

This was true for Jesus’ disciples. They spent years hearing Jesus’ word, memorizing, Jesus’ word, learning, marking, inwardly digesting Jesus’ word. And then they were given a vocation to speak and deliver and proclaim Jesus’ word.

 

This is what our catechumens have been doing these past several years. What we should be doing in all our years, no matter our age. Sitting at Jesus’ feet listening to his word. Dining at his table where his word is our daily bread; where bread and wine are full of body and blood and promise.

 

The truth is, confirmation isn’t the end of your time as a disciple, but the beginning. Confirmation is a boot camp preparing you for the war of words that is the Christian life. Your Small Catechism is your field manual as a soldier of Christ. The Scriptures are God’s word, and your sword and shield. 

 

Do not let it grow dull or dusty or rusty. Rather, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest our Lord’s holy words. 

 

Because if you haven’t figured this out yet, you will soon enough. Words are unavoidable in this world. But not all words are created equal. Some words offer death disguised as beauty. Poison parading as pleasure. False and wicked words dressed up in their Sunday’s best. The kinds of words that worm their way straight through your ears into your heart and mind and soul. And there in the dark they twist and turn; they curve you inward, and finally, slowly, step by step, word by word, whispering you away from Jesus’ words of life. 

 

The question in this life is never whether or not we will hear words, but whose words will fill our ears? 

 

Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

 

And remember, while Jesus uses ordinary words, his words are anything but ordinary. 

 

The Lord who says, “Let there be light,” also says, “let there be life,” baptizing you with word and water into his holy name. 

 

The Lord who told the demons to eat dust also raises you from the dust and ashes of repentance by his word of forgiveness.

 

The Lord who rebuked the wind and the waves, speaks his word of redemption into our storm-tossed hearts and minds.

 

The Lord who healed the sick, made the lame to walk, and raised the dead, speaks his absolution to you every Sunday and you are healed, you are holy, you are pulled out of the grave. 

 

The Lord who called forth Lazarus from the tomb will one day stand over our grave and call out our names and call us into his new creation.

 

The Lord who speaks this prayer to the Father still prays and pleads and intercedes for you with his blood. By his grace. With his word. 

 

The Lord who sat and taught and ate and drank with his disciples, promises he is present with us here at his table, in his body and blood. You have his word on it.

 

Every day. Wherever you go. In all your callings in life… Jesus’ word is your life.

 

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

Sermon for Easter 6: "Another Advocate"

 + 6^th Sunday of Easter – May 10^th, 2026 +

Series A: Acts 17:16-31; 1 Peter 3:13-22; John 14:15-21

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

 

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

 

In the beginning, the Lord declared everything he made to be good. Creation, with its greater and lesser lights, its flora and fauna, its creeping things that creep on the ground. Finally, on the 6^th day of creation, the Lord declared it all that he had made not only good, but very good. There was, however, one thing that was not good in Eden. It was not good for the man to be alone. So God made Eve as a helpmeet and companion and wife for him.

 

From the beginning, where God gave Adam and Eve to each other as husband and wife in the garden, to the marriage supper of the Lamb in Revelation, God’s grace is our constant companion, and in his compassion he creates us to be in communion, in fellowship with him and with one another. 

 

God patterns our earthly lives after his own mysterious, eternal life and being. God himself is an eternal communion: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the eternal three in one. 

 

I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. 

 

What’s true of Adam and Eve in Eden is true for Jesus’ disciples and for you. It’s not good for us to be alone.

 

For when we’re alone, we are the sheep that stray and wander from our Shepherd. 

We’re Israel in the wilderness, grumbling and complaining and longing to return to slavery in Egypt. We’re Cain living East of Eden, with a heart full of murder and hands stained in blood. 

We’re Israel in the days of the Judges, each of us doing what is right in our own eyes. 

We’re David, full of lies and lust and love of self. We’re the dead, lifeless bones Ezekiel saw decaying in the valley. 

We’re there with the disciples in the upper room. Afraid. Dismayed. Bewildered. Betrayers. Alone. Worried. Sinners in need of rescue. The guilty in need of an advocate. The helpless in need of a Helper. 

 

It is not good for us to be alone in our sin. 

 

So what does our Lord do? For us, he is no fair-weather friend. Jesus is faithful. The friend of sinners. Our advocate. 

 

The Good Shepherd who leaves the 99, pulls us out of the wolf’s jaws, throws us on his back and carries us home. Jesus is our Passover Lamb who was sacrificed to set us free from slavery, sin and the serpent. Jesus is our brother whose blood speaks for us a better word than the blood of Abel – pardon. Forgiveness. His life for our life. Jesus is the one who does what is right in the Father’s eyes for you. Jesus is David’s son and David’s Lord and our faithful King, crowned in thorns and blood and robed in all our lust and lies to save. Jesus breathes his life-giving breath on his disciples, and upon you, raising your from the dead by His life-giving Spirit.

 

What Jesus promises, he gives. What we lack our Lord supplies. The comfort and help we can never seem to find on our own, Jesus delivers. The Holy Spirit, the other advocate we need, Jesus sends.

 

It’s not good for us to be alone. So Jesus sends another Helper. Another Advocate. Defender. Comforter.

 

When Jesus sends his Holy Spirit, splashing into our lives and hearts and minds in Holy Baptism, you are given the holiness you lack. You are given a holiness you did not earn or deserve. That’s what makes God’s work grace. Gift. The Spirit, and fruits of the Spirit and life by the Spirit…freely given to you in Jesus.

 

When Jesus sends us the Holy Spirit, we who were alone in death and darkness and the dungeon of the grave are made and declared to be a new creation by water, word, and the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit who hovered over the waters of the deep in the beginning, makes you a new creation and a new beginning in Jesus. 

 

When Jesus sends us the Holy Spirit, our lifeless, dead, decaying bones are raised from the dust and the ashes. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live

 

Jesus sends his Spirit not only do the work of God for his disciples - comforting them, strengthening them, encouraging them - but He will also do the work of God through them. He will dwell with them and be in them (14:17). The Spirit will lead them to keep the commandments of Jesus. The sacrificial love of Jesus becomes the sacrificial love of His disciples and the world will know God’s people by the love they have for one another and for the world (14:12, 15, and 21; cf. 1 John). “I will not leave you as orphans” Jesus promises. I will come to you.

 

Our Lord knows that it’s not good for us to be alone. So until the day of our Bridegroom’s return and the return of the King and the marriage supper of the Lamb, our Lord sends the Holy Spirit

 

Who points us to Christ.

Who consoles us in the cross and resurrection of Christ.

Who intercedes for us through the blood of Christ.

Who hallows us in the name of Christ.

Who dwells with us and for us and in us filling us with the love of Christ.

Who instructs us in the Scripture of Christ.

Who enlightens us, enlivens us, and encourages us in our daily callings in life in Christ.

 

Jesus sends his Spirit to you still. 

To comfort you in the cross of Jesus. 

To strengthen you in his Word. 

To point you, like a good hunting dog, to the word and water and body and blood where Jesus crucified and risen abides with you and for you. 

 

It’s not good for us to be alone. And in the Father who sends His Son, in the Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son to you and in you, you are never alone. 

 

 

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

 

Sermon for Easter 5: "The Way"

 + 5^th Sunday of Easter – May 3^rd, 2026 +

Series A: Acts 6:1-9, 7:2, 51-60; 1 Peter 2:2-10; John 14:1-14

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

When Jesus says, “I AM the Bread of Life,” your nose remembers the smell of a fresh-baked sourdough and you can imagine Jesus’ words.

When Jesus says, “I AM the Vine.” Your tastebuds recall the rich, full-bodied, well-aged wine and you can picture what Jesus is saying.

 

But what about when Jesus says, “I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life”? How do you imagine that? 

 

One way to understand Jesus as the Way is by walking along the pathway of a good story. 

 

In C.S. Lewis’s book, The Silver Chair, a little girl named Jill Pole finds herself in the magical, imaginative world of Narnia. Early on in this story, she finds herself lost in the lonely, quiet woods of Narnia. Eustace her friend had fallen over a dreadfully tall cliff, and she was all by herself. Afraid. Bewildered. And terribly thirsty from crying. She soon discovers a stream. But there’s a problem. A lion (the great lion, Aslan) stands between her and the water.

“I daren’t come and drink,” said Jill.

“Then you will die of thirst,” said the Lion.

“Oh dear!” said Jill, coming another step nearer. “I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.”

“There is no other stream,” said the Lion.

 

For Jill (and everyone else in these stories), Aslan is the way. And the only way to life is through the Lion.

 

So it is for us, only not in a fairy tale, not a fantasy, but in truth and life and reality: Jesus, the Lion of Judah, is the Way. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, the Door, is also the Way. Truth. Life.

 

There is no other stream. No other road. No detours. No HOV, toll roads, or express lanes. 

 

When it comes to Truth and Life, there is only one way. By the time Jesus says this in Holy Week, he has already told his disciples time and again exactly what his way is and where his way is headed and what it means that he is the Way. 

 

His road and journey leads straight ahead to Jerusalem. To the place of the skull. To the cross. To his bloody death, to his becoming sin on a cursed tree. This is the way of Jesus. The way of his disciples.

 

And yet, Thomas and the disciples don’t understand this yet. They will, but not until his cross and resurrection shed light on the path. Jesus’ disciples think it’s a one way trip into Jerusalem. Jesus will be killed and that’s it. End of the road. Dead end. “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 

 

This is the way it is for sinners apart from Jesus. Thomas and the disciples aren’t alone. We’re right there with them. Confused. Bewildered. Scratching our heads. Lost and wandering in our own thoughts. Apart from Jesus and his dying and rising, the way, the path, the road to God is not only closed, it’s impossible to find. 

 

Apart from Jesus, our Old Adam is a drunkard wobbling down the hallway, staggering from one wall to the other. Separated. Lost. Estranged. Cut off. And the worst thing to do when you’re lost is to try and find your own way out. But that’s exactly what we love to do.

 

Our Old Adam thinks himself a master architect, an award winning engineer, always building new roads to God, creating endless detours around God’s ways, laying tracks in every wrong direction. 

 

We build our own towers of babel. We stoke the forges hot for our golden calves. We’re constantly turning back to Sodom and Gomorrah. 

 

If we’re to be rescued, God must accomplish it.

If we’re to be set free from slavery, God’s truth must ring forth in our ears.

If we’re to be delivered from death, God must give life. 

 

And he does. He promises.

For we who are lost, Jesus goes the way of the cross.

For we who are lost in lies, Jesus is the Truth enfleshed. His word of truth sets you free.

For we who are lost in death, Jesus lays down his life raise you out of dust and ashes.

 

There is no other stream. No other way. For no other way saves. In Jesus the Way, in his dying and rising, here is Truth and Life.

 

Jesus goes the way of the cross for you. Jesus goes to Jerusalem, not on a dead end, road to nowhere, but a round trip, up on the cross, down into the grave, and out alive again. Do not be afraid. Let not your hearts be troubled. Jesus carries you along his way.

 

When we find ourselves sitting with Thomas and the disciples in fear, uncertainty, and confusion, Jesus leads you this way. Jesus carries us along the way, as he makes the way for us upon the tree, into the earth, and out of the grave again.

 

When we find ourselves standing alone in the woods with Jill Pole, lost, alone in our sin, and dying of thirst, Jesus the Lion of Judah stands between us and the water and says. “There is no other stream.”

 

Come on in, the water is fine. Drink deeply. Draw from the well of salvation. Swim in the rivers of redemption. 

 

Jesus knows you’re dying of thirst, so he quenches it with the cup of his own blood. He knows your starving for salvation, so he feeds you his own body in the bread. 

 

I AM the Way, and I have found you; you are mine. I AM the Truth, and I set you free. I AM the Life, and I have conquered the dragon and the grave for you.

 

 

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

Sermon for Easter 4: "Jesus is the Door"

 + 4^th Sunday of Easter – April 26^th, 2026 +

Series A: Acts 2:42-47; 1 Peter 2:19-25; John 10:1-10

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

Life is full of doors. Front doors. Back doors. Sliding doors. Garage doors. Car doors. Little cat and dog doors. Sliding and swooshing doors that make you feel like you’re a Jedi or a wizard. Round doors that lead to holes in the ground. Wardrobe doors that lead you into a new, undiscovered country. 

 

Most doors in life serve an ordinary, yet noble purpose. An entryway. A portal. A sentry. A defense against the wolf outside. A fortress for those inside. A warden against wind and weather.

 

Life is full of doors. Then Jesus comes along in John 10 and says that he is door full of life for you. He is greater than any other door. He is the door that gives all other doors their door-ness. 

 

“Truly, truly, I say to you, I AM the door of the sheep.

 

Jesus speaks a living metaphor. Alive, having put the lid on the coffin of sin, death, and Satan. Alive in the light radiating from the open door of his empty tomb. It’s not that he’s like a door. Resembles a door. Or represents a door.

 

Jesus is the gate. 

 

“Truly, truly, I say to you, I AM the door of the sheep.

 

Jesus draws upon other doorways in his divine drama. Jesus’ words trace and then fill in with greater color and clarity the promises God has been making all along.

 

Jesus is the promised Son, born of a woman, who has come ordering the cherubim at the gates of Eden to stand down. Paradise is opened in Him, his promise and passion.

 

Jesus is the door of Noah’s ark, which kept the water from the gates of the deep and the vault of the heavens at bay, and is now flung wide open after the flood into the new creation.

 

Jesus is one who opened Jacob’s eyes to see angels ascending and descending around the Son of God as He repeated the promise of Abraham to Jacob. “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

 

Jesus wounds bring us rescue and redemption, deliverance, and a doorway. His pierced hands are the portal, his wounds the wardrobe that opens up into the new creation, the good pastures of his grace and peace. Jesus’ resurrection from the grave is the guarantee and down-payment that our death is but a doorway he leads us through to himself.

 

“Truly, truly, I say to you, I AM the door of the sheep.

 

This is what the Pharisees and religious leaders in his day, and in John 10, failed to understand.

Not only did they lack faith in Jesus. But they lacked a liturgical imagination that comes with faith in Christ.

Jesus isn’t teaching us about architecture or agriculture. Jesus is speaking liturgically. Sacrificially.

 

The way into the temple, into the Father’s presence, into the atonement, into the blood of the Lamb which marks the doorposts is Jesus. Jesus is the door for you. And he leads you to the Father through his sacrifice on the cross. 

 

I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 

 

Jesus is the gateway to the temple. And he is the temple. And the sacrifice. The Shepherd King and the who calls, gathers, leads you out of sin, through himself, into his good pasture. 

Peter says it this way: He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.  For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Jesus is the gate, the door. The entryway to God’s peace and presence. By wood and blood and nails and spear he leads you into the sheepfold, the temple, the church, the people of God, the flock of the Good Shepherd. There are no other doors. No holes in the wall we can squeeze through on our own. 

 

Try as they will, the Pharisees cannot enter through their own righteousness, rule-keeping, or law-abiding ways. Neither can we. 

 

Jesus calls them thieves, robbers. Wolves in sheep’s clothing. False shepherds. The pharisees only wanted to take. Jesus came to give his life. They steal. He offers his life freely. They kill by their lack of faith and false hopes, false teaching. Jesus’ word is life. They destroy and only offer death. Jesus brings life. Life in abundance. Life eternal. Life in Him who is the door. Life for you.

 

Jesus is the Door. And Jesus is your Door. Your Gate. The Shepherd who leads you in and out through him. The same doorway he opened in that watery portal of your baptism. Jesus is, and always shall be your door. Your entryway to the fields of salvation. Jesus is your defense against the prowling wolf. Your safe haven is in his wounds. 

 

I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 

 

Here he brings us the good grazing on his grace. Here he prepares a table for us that defeats our enemies of sin and death and Satan. Here his cup overflows with goodness and mercy for you. Here, Jesus the Door, opens the way of everlasting life, and salvation for you.

 

Here, in His house, is where Jesus the Door opens the way of life and throws the gates of his grace and kingdom wide open. 

 

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. But I came that you may have life and have it abundantly. 

 

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