Sermon for 1st Sunday of Christmas

 1st Sunday of Christmas - December 27, 2020

Series B: Isaiah 61:10-62:3; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:22-40

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

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

 

And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. (Luke 2:22-40)

Everything here in Luke 2 cries out “fulfillment.” Jesus is the fulfillment of OT Israel. He is the Son of Israel, the Son of Abraham, Son of David, the true Davidic King. He is prophet and priest. He is everything promised of Israel in one man. When Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple on the 40th day, that was precisely 490 days since the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah in the temple. 70 times 7 days. Perfect prophetic fulfillment, as Gabriel had told Daniel. That’s no coincidence; it’s fulfillment.

Anna also speaks of fulfillment. She had been married a brief seven years, and now she was 84, 12 times 7. The number of her life’s years bears witness that she is living in the time of fulfillment. Together with Simeon, she waited and watched in the temple for the coming Messiah. She remembered the passage from Malachi: “Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple, the messenger of the covenant whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty.

And so these Simeon and Anna watched and waited; the prophet and the prophetess, embodying OT Israel. Simeon had been told by the Holy Spirit that he wouldn’t die before he had seen the Messiah. Usually the case is you find out you don’t have long to live. It’s the opposite for Simeon. He wasn’t going to die until he had laid his eyes on the promised One of Israel. That wasn’t so much a death sentence as it was a life’s sentence. Every day Simeon would awaken and wonder, “Is this the day?” Everyone who came to the temple would make him wonder, “Is this the one?”

Then one day Mary and Joseph came to the temple with Jesus, 40 days old. It was their purification day. Stop right there. Purification day? For what? Mary was a virgin, and her Child was the sinless Son of God. What need was there for any purification. This was a pure a birth as there could possibly be. Ah, but here’s the Gospel. Whatever Jesus does, and whatever is done to Him, is to fulfill all righteousness, to fulfill the Law. At eight days He was circumcised under the Law. At forty days, He was brought to the temple, in accordance with the Law of Moses. He has joined the human race, not only sharing in our flesh and bone, but sharing in our burden, the burden of being sinners under the Law.

It is also His redemption day. Think about it. The Redeemer is brought to the temple to be redeemed. Every first-born male was holy to the Lord. Even the animals. They had to be redeemed, bought back with blood. The Redeemer is redeemed by the blood of two doves, the poor man’s sacrifice. “He was poor for ours sake, so that by His poverty we might become rich.” It’s all there already in place – Jesus the Substitute, Jesus the Redeemer, holy to the Lord, dedicated to die in our place. And all of it, before Jesus can utter a word or even walk. Like a baby brought to Baptism, the Lord of all must be carried to His temple for His first appearance.

When Simeon saw the holy family and looked at this child, his old heart must have skipped a beat as the Spirit testified to his spirit that this was the promised One, the One he had been waiting for all these years. He gathers the little One in his tired arms and lifts his cataract-blurred eyes to heaven, seeing clearly through the eyes of faith. And he prays:

Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace According to Thy Word, For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, Which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people, A Light to lighten the Gentiles
And the glory of Thy people Israel.

You know that hymn. You sing it almost every Sunday after the Lord’s Supper. You sing it with Simeon as you receive the Body and Blood of the promised One, His gift to you. As genuine a presence as when Simeon held that sacred Baby in his arms. You pray with Simeon. “Let your servant depart in peace, according to Thy word.” I can die now, in peace. That’s what it means. Simeon was waiting to die.

The cross looms large of this passage. Did you hear it? “Behold this Child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed, and a sword will pierce through your own soul also, so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

This Child, embraced by Simeon and Anna, of whom the prophets of Israel spoke, would be rejected by Israel. “He came to His own, but His own people did not receive Him.” His coming precipitates a crisis of faith and unbelief, of rising to faith in Him or falling in unbelief against Him. There is no middle ground, no neutral position when it comes to Jesus. You either trust Him or you don’t. You can’t refashion Him or reinvent Him. You receive Him as He is – your Christ and Lord and Savior, or you reject Him in unbelief.

This Child comes with a sword and a cross. Mary would live to see her Son crucified. She would stand at the foot of the cross and watch her first-born die. The sword would pierce her gentle soul too. What a burden that must have been for her to bear! She knew that this Child did not belong to her; she was there in the temple to redeem Him back from the Lord with a sacrifice. But she knew that she could only have Him for a little while. He had come to save His people from their sins.

The Child of the manger is born with blood on His hands. No escaping. It’s the blood of our sin, our rebellion against God, our atheism, our rejection. For this cute little Baby all swaddled and mangered on Christmas morning is a warrior destined to do battle with the darkness, the devil and his demons, with Death itself.

The work of redemption is bloody work. It isn’t with gold or silver that we are redeemed from sin, death, and the Law. But we are redeemed by Christ’s holy precious blood, and His innocent suffering and death.

Christmas joy inevitably gives way to reality. Presents are unwrapped, the tree eventually gets put out on the burn pile or is packed away, the lights grow dim, we return to our business as usual whatever that may be. We know not what the coming days, weeks, and months will bring. But we know this much. Christ is born for. You.

In that way, we’re all 21st century Simeons and Annas in the temple, watching, waiting for that Day when Christ’s salvation becomes visible to our resurrected eyes. And today, like old Simeon and Anna in the temple, we are given to embrace the Christ-Child in Word and Sacrament, and having embraced Him in the arms of faith, we are prepared for the future, because this Child of Mary, this Baby of Bethlehem is our future. Israel’s glory, our Light and our Life.

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

Sermon for Christmas Day: "Beautiful Christmas Feet"

 + Nativity of Our Lord – December 25^th, 2020 +

Series B: Isaiah 52:7-10; Hebrews 1:1-6; John 1:1-14

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news,

Be honest. When’s the last time you thought about feet on Christmas morning? And I don’t mean your favorite cozy socks or the stockings hung by the chimney with care. Just plain old feet. 

 

I’m guessing there aren’t any foot ornaments on your tree, unless it’s a baby foot print from a child or grandchild. I highly doubt any of us painted our Christmas greetings with our toes or stamped our footprint on our family Christmas cards. And chances are, like me, you probably hadn’t thought about feet at Christmas at all, until of course, Isaiah put his feet – and Jesus’ feet - in our ears this morning.

 

We tend to ignore feet, until of course, we stub our toe or drop something on them. Feet as hairy, smelly, and dirty. But beautiful? Probably not for most of us. But that’s exactly what God sent His prophet Isaiah to say. 

 

How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace,
Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

This Christmas morning, the prophet Isaiah draws our attention, of all places, to the beautiful feet of Christmas; the feet that bear the good news of Jesus our coming King. And the feet of our Lord himself, born to save you.

 

In Isaiah’s day, God’s people were in need of Good News. Mighty Israel had fallen into idolatry. God’s people had forgotten his covenant, and walked in the ways of darkness. God’s kings had forgotten their true King, YHWH. The once united kingdom was divided. The northern kingdom would soon be conquered. Judah was not far behind. Israel’s future looked bleak. Assyria came. Then Babylon. Then exile. Judah had no political power. No military might with which to repel Babylon. 

 

Today, we find ourselves, like the saints of old, in need of Good News. Though we’re not in exile in Babylon, life in 2020 has sure felt a lot like an exile. Separation from loved ones. Closures. Quarantines. A global pandemic and countless other events this year, totally out of our control. Like Israel, we’re just barely hanging on to God’s promise, looking for some sign of hope, a ray of light on the horizon. Like Israel, perhaps we too have forgotten God. All we like sheep have gone astray, each to our own way. Israel wanted a king. The world wants a king. Our sinful flesh, too, thinks we are our own king. But in the end, in our sin, all we are is usurpers, king nothings, rulers of an empire of dirt. 

 

Like Israel, there’s only one King, and it’s not us. YHWH, the Lord himself is our rightful, and faithful, and good King. And that’s why the Lord sent Isaiah to Israel. 

 

Your watchmen shall lift up their voices, With their voices they shall sing together; For they shall see eye to eye When the Lord brings back Zion. Break forth into joy, sing together, You waste places of Jerusalem! For the Lord has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has ^[made bare His holy arm In the eyes of all the nations; And all the ends of the earth shall see The salvation of our God.

 

This is what makes the prophet’s feet beautiful. Not their designer sandals. Not their pedicured toes. But the good news their feet carry. The beautiful feet of Isaiah, and prophet after prophet who declared the good news that YHWH, the true King, was coming. That YHWH would restore his people. And stretch out his mighty arm to save. In part, this good news came when Cyrus the Persian had defeated Babylon. When exiled Israel began to return home. When the temple was rebuilt, the walls, reconstructed, God’s people restored. 

 

But it was not until the day when the Lord planted the feet of John the Baptist in the Jordan River and proclaimed the arrival of Him whose sandals he was not worthy to stoop down and untie, that this good news finally came to pass. God’s promise long foretold and long-expected had finally come to pass. At long last, YHWH, the King, had come. 

 

The Lord God who spoke his promises through the prophet Isaiah – who declared beautiful the feet of him who bears good news – dipped his two very human feet in the Jordan River, and before that, in the Virgin’s womb, for you. God put his foot down, not for judgment, but for your deliverance.

 

The Lord God came to walk, not just a mile in our shoes, but a lifetime. The beautiful feet that Isaiah proclaimed bear the legs, and arms, and head of a man, Isaiah’s Lord and ours. Jesus, the Theanthropos, the early church called him. The God-Man.

 

Isaiah foretold his coming. John’s Gospel declares, “He’s here.” Isaiah announces that YHWH is King. John tells us this King, YHWH, made his home among us, literally, tabernacled, dwelt among us.

Isaiah glimpsed his glory in the heavenly throne room. John says that in the face of this man Jesus we behold the glory of God incarnate. Isaiah’s beautiful feet proclaimed God’s Word, the good news of his coming. John declares that Jesus is the very Word of God made flesh for you.

 

How beautiful are the feet of him who not only bears good news, but is Good News enfleshed for you. God becomes man for you. He is the one through whom all things are made, and yet he is made man for you. He is very God of very God, yet born of the Virgin Mary for you. Born with eyes to see your need, ears to hear your cry, lips and mouth to speak comfort, hands and fingers to heal, legs to walk, and yes, even feet. Beautiful feet. In Jesus, God himself has feet. With toenails. Joints. Tendons, bones, callouses and all. Ordinary, yet beautiful feet that did some extraordinary things to save you…

 

Feet that kicked and wiggled in Mary’s womb. Feet that were wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in a manger. Feet that grew and walked in His Father’s footsteps for you. Feet that walked on water, brought healing, and good news on every mountainside and town he walked into. Feet that journeyed to the cross, were pierced for you, and three days later stood on the cold ground of the tomb and walked out of the grave for you. 

 

How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace,
Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, 

 

Who says to you this Christmas Day, that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

 

A blessed and merry Christmas to each of you…

 

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

 

Sermon for Christmas Eve - Lessons and Carols: "Christmas is for Storytelling"

 + Christmas Eve Service of Lessons and Carols – December 24^th, 2020 +

Genesis 3:8-15, 17-19; Isaiah 9:2-7; Luke 1:26-38; Luke 2:1-20; John 1:1-14

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

More than any other holiday, the Christmas season is a time for many things, traditions old and new. Baking and eating. Family photo taking. Card and letter writing. Gift wrapping and gift giving. Decorating the tree and setting up the nativity. Gathering and singing. And the one thing that holds all of this together is a simple, yet wonderful story.

 

Yes, Christmas is a time for many things. And most of all, Christmas is a time for storytelling.

 

As the old Sunday School song goes, we love to sing the old, old story of Jesus and his love. 

That’s the very heart of Christmas. An old, old story. It begins all the way back in the Garden of Eden and keeps unfolding until the final pages of the new creation in Revelation. Every story in Scripture, in one way or another, leads us to this night, to this day, to the little town of Bethlehem, to a manger, to the heart of the greatest story and the storyteller himself, Jesus born for you. 

 

Christmas is the story of God’s salvation that is told and retold again and again by the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles. And every Christmas, we join in hearing and telling and retelling this great story of God’s love come down to us in Jesus.

 

For without Jesus there would be no family traditions, no reason to decorate, give gifts, or gather. Without Jesus there is no Christmas. And yet, with Jesus’ birth God gives us all good things. Because of Jesus’ birth and life and death and resurrection – the greatest story of all time because it is both true and marvelous all at once – God gives us every good gift in heaven, and on earth.

 

Christmas is the story of God’s unending, amazing, gracious love for you in sending Jesus. 

 

Christmas is the story of God’s rescue promised to Adam and Eve – and all mankind – that one day a child – the promised Seed – would be born of a woman to destroy the ancient serpent under his feet. 

 

And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”

 

Christmas is the story of God’s glorious arrival and his gracious reign, foretold by the prophet Isaiah. 

 

The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined. For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever.

 

Christmas is the story of God’s blessing and favor, conceived in the Virgin Mary’s womb, woven in human flesh that you would see God’s grace in the face, arms, hands and feet of this Holy Child born for you. 

 

Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

 

Christmas is the story of God’s glory and goodness and grace revealed to and for humble, poor, lowly, nobody, nomad shepherds, and to you and for you.

 

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.

 

Christmas is the story of God’s illuminating, enlightening, enlivening Word – the Word made flesh for you. 

 

the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

 

Yes, Christmas is for storytelling. 

 

The story of Christmas is the story of God’s unending, amazing, gracious love for you in sending Jesus. And that means that tonight we are more than casual readers and hearers of this story. 

 

The Christmas story is our story as well. The story of your rescue and redemption in Jesus, of God’s grace and goodness given to you in Jesus; of God’s light and life sent to you in Jesus.

 

A blessed and merry Christmas to each of you…

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sermon for Christmas Eve - Midnight: "The Christmas Truce"

 + Christmas Midnight – December 24^th, 2020 +

Series B: Isaiah 9:2-7; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-20

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

There are certain words we expect to hear at Christmas. Words like: Hope. Joy. Promise. Gift. We could also add two more to the list. War and Peace. 

 

It’s not hard to understand why peace is a Christmas word. After all, Jesus the Prince of Peace is born to bring peace on earth, goodwill toward men. But war? That doesn’t sound very Christmasy at all. 

 

And yet, those two words, war and peace, are a great picture of Christmas. To illustrate, let’s take a quick trip through the history books. Back to World War I, what is often called the first modern, mechanized war. 

 

It was the war of the infamous Lost Generation of writers whose nihilism and spinning moral compasses helped kill the Victorian age of gilded optimism. Traumatized authors like William Golding, George Orwell and J.R.R. Tolkien, all veterans of the French front, later painted a picture of human nature that contradicted man’s folly of moral progress. Battered by the horrors of modern combat, it was hard to convince folks that humanity was getting better every day and in every way.

 

On December 24^th, 1914, the war had been raging only a few months and already 800,000 men had been wounded or killed. Imagine it. That’s a lot of blood and guts. The Western Front was a meat-grinder. The dugouts in France were filled with terror-stricken men and boys set on mutual destruction.

 

But then something truly remarkable happened on Christmas Eve of 1914. For a brief time, peace invaded a warzone. A few German soldiers lit candles and set up Christmas trees in their muddy trenches, filled with rot and stench. They sang Christmas carols over the canon fire:“Stille Nacht!  Heilige Nacht!” Soon the British joined their voices: “Silent Night, Holy Night. All is calm. All is bright.” The hellscape of the War to End All Wars was punctured by the sounds of heaven.

 

One by one, the combatants laid down their weapons and poked their heads above the trenches, disarmed, and ventured into no-man’s-land for an informal Christmas truce. They gave each other small gifts of chocolate bars and cigarettes. Men who, the day before, had been shooting to kill each other were now shaking hands and sharing plum pudding. Then, early on Christmas morning, some of the British soldiers produced a soccer ball. They started a game. Some of the Germans joined in. All thoughts of killing were forgotten. In some places, the informal armistice continued the next day, neither side eager to fire the first shot. 

In the middle of one of the bloodiest, most brutal hostilities this world has ever witnessed, the birth of Jesus cleared the fog of war and revealed something of the love of God. Cynical types attribute the cease-fire to nothing more than a natural human desire for relief from battle. For a day, at least, the birth of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, brought soldiers together in a way that no earthly peace ever could. It became known as the miracle truce of Christmas

That Christmas, enemies became friends. And by the grace of God in Christ, is happening today and around the world. God is in the business of turning His enemies into His friends, through manger and cross. A neighbor with whom you’ve shared the Gospel. An unknown family in need who’s received food you gave to the local foodbank. A friend, family member, or fellow brother or sister in Christ you’ve called or sent a card to share some comfort in this crazy, pandemic, fear filled year. 

This is a new order of things, a new heaven and earth, a peace Jesus gives in his birth at Christmas, his death on the cross. In this new creation, we will beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks. In the new creation, “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb … and a little child shall lead them” (Is. 11:6–7). In the new creation, all that is wrong shall be set right.

When you think about it that way, war and peace aren’t all that strange of words to hear on Christmas. After all, that’s exactly what happened that first Christmas. Jesus’ birth is everything the angels declared it to be. Good tidings of great joy. Peace on earth. Goodwill toward men. A Savior born for you. 

And yet, Jesus’ birth is also a declaration of war. Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem began God’s grand invasion to rescue, liberate, and save us from captivity, death, and darkness. We who live in enemy occupied territory; who are surrounded on all sides by sin, death, and the devil – to us Jesus came; He was be born, to enter the fray on our behalf. To fight death and sin and Satan for us. To stand in the breach of death and the grave and fight to the death on our behalf. To lay down his arms on the cross and conquer and finish the battle once and for all. 

Christmas is the story of how the rightful King has landed in Bethlehem to take back his fallen creation in the greatest Christmas miracle truce of all – his birth in the manger for you. His death on the cross for you. His rising victoriously from the grave for you. 

This Christmas, God is still in the business of turning enemies into friends, sinners into saints. War into peace. The new creation we long for is here. Jesus’ peace is given to you in word, water, body, and blood. The same body of Jesus, born for you, crucified for you, given and shed his blood for you, now joins us in the midst of our daily warfare, and he feeds us. This is the feast of victory for our God.

This Christmas, we may still live behind enemy lines. We may still live in the trenches, battling disease, wrestling with our own sin, and others. We may still live with one foot in the age of rebellion.  

And yet the hour is coming when feuds and fighting will be no more. When war will be no more, and only Jesus’ peace will remain. Yes, the hour of perfect fulfillment is yet to come, but it’s here already. It began in the Virgin’s womb long ago. The peace the world is pining for. The peace glimpsed that Christmas Eve in 1914. The peace we long for. The peace of which the angels sang. Is born for you.

Jesus brings peace unlike anything the world offers. Jesus reconciles the world to God by His blood. More than a ceasefire, God has done everything to redeem, rescue, and restore us. In Jesus, our warfare is ended. Your victory is won. And you are at peace with God. 

 

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 that, dear saints, is the real miracle truce of Christmas.

 

A blessed Christmas to each of you…

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

Sermon for 4th Sunday in Advent: "The Strangest Story in the World"

 + 4^th Sunday in Advent – December 20, 2020 +

Series B: 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16; Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

Growing up our family had a tradition that when we were telling stories about our day over dinner someone would raise their hand if they’d already heard it; if it was a familiar story.

 

Today we probably all could’ve raised our hands as Luke told us the story of the angel Gabriel’s visit to the Virgin Mary. It is a beautiful, well-known, well loved, and well-read…familiar story. 

 

And that’s not a bad thing. Familiar Scriptures are familiar for a reason. The angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary is a beautiful story, full of comfort, hope, promise, joy, and grace in the coming savior. When it comes to God’s Word and promises in Jesus familiarity is good; it breeds comfort and contentment.

 

Still, there’s a temptation – like there was at our family dinner table – to hear a familiar story and tune it out. “Oh, I’ve heard that story before. I know how that story goes.”

 

And when we do that we might just find ourselves missing out on how strange and wonderful this story really is. It is a truly remarkable, extraordinary story, both in what God promises, and how He fulfills his promises.

 

So, let’s take a few moments this morning to wonder at the wonder of Gabriel’s visit to Mary. 

 

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 

 

It’s not every day an angel drops in to deliver a message. In fact, before delivering God’s message to Zechariah, Joseph, and Mary, God’s people hadn’t heard from Gabriel since the days of the prophet Daniel, over 400 years ago.

 

Strangely, when he arrives, where does Gabriel go? Not the capital. Not Jerusalem. A tiny settlement up in the hills of northern Galilee. Nazareth. A forgettable town. A no place, really. The butt of the joke that everyone knew, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

 

Stranger still, God sends Gabriel to a Virgin. A teenager. Probably too young to drive if she lived in 2020. And definitely not anyone’s pick for Galilee’s fortune 500; she was engaged to marry a humble carpenter from the equally humble, lowly, little town of Bethlehem.

 

All the more reason why Gabriel’s message must’ve sounded strange to Mary.

 

“Greetings (literally, “Rejoice!”), O favored one (one graced by God), the Lord is with you.” Do not be afraid, Mary,” he said, “for you have found favor with God. And you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus. 

 

Mary knew what we know. Ordinarily, virgins don’t bear children. “How can this be, since I have not known a man?” 

Impossible for us, but not for God. So, God doubles down on his extraordinary work; tops it all off with the strangest, yet most joyful news of all. Mary’s Son… “shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Strange, yet wonderful indeed! The Virgin Mother would also be the Mother of God. Mary’s Son is also Mary’s Lord, and ours. The child in her womb is her Savior and ours. The Holy One of Israel, the Son of God, becomes a frail, fragile, puny baby boy. 

 

Today. Tomorrow. In the next few weeks. I encourage you to stop. Take a moment. And ponder how remarkable this story is. Marvel at the mystery. And take comfort in the familiar, yet extraordinary grace of God. That God sent his angel Gabriel to a forgotten, nobody town, to announce to a poor, unwed teenage girl that the God of infinite cosmic power would take up the itty bitty living space in her womb for nine months. To live for you. To die for you. To rise for you. 

 

How strange. How joyful. How wonderful this story is.

 

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

 

Sermon at Graveside Service of Evelyn Colclough

 + Graveside Service for Evelyn Colclough – December 19, 2020 +

Acts 16:11-15

Sumner Cemetery – Sumner, WA

 

In the Name of + Jesus. Amen.

 

The more I thought about Evelyn this week, the more I realized that – even in the short time I’ve known her – she reminds me of so many of the great women of Holy Scripture. 

 

How her trust in God’s promises reminded me of God’s promise to Eve to one day send a Son who would destroy death by dying for us. How her steadfast faith – even in her last weeks and days of life – reminded me of Sarah and Elizabeth whose steadfast faith reveals the greater steadfast love of the Lord.

 

How her faith would give voice to God in prayer like Hannah knowing that in His own way and His own time, he would answer her prayers in His good and gracious will in Jesus.

 

How her quiet moments of listening to God’s Word reminded me of Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus. And how her moments of loving, serving, and caring for others in countless ways reminded me of Martha. 

 

But of all the faithful women in Scripture, Evelyn reminds me most of all of Lydia. Now, Lydia’s home city of Thyatira and Evelyn’s home of Edgewood, WA are worlds apart. And yet Evelyn and Lydia have several things in common. 

 

Like Lydia, who was a seller of purple goods, anyone who knew Evelyn, whether for a moment or much longer, knew she loved the color purple. In Scripture, purple was a royal color, a color that reminds us of Lydia and Evelyn’s true hope and comfort – in Jesus who is our King of kings who was enthroned on the cross, crowned with thorns, and died for Evelyn and for you. Then rose for Evelyn and for you.

 

But Evelyn and Lydia have far more in common than the color purple. Luke tells us in Acts 16 that Lydia was a worshiper of God and that the Lord opened her heart to hear the Gospel that St. Paul was called to preach. 

 

The same is true for Evelyn. She too lived her life as a worshiper of God and his Christ. This life of faith and worship is God-given, to Evelyn, and to you. The gift of faith and worship that rejoices in the simple, yet saving truth that even though we have no gift to bring God but our sin, He gives us all we need. Everything we have – body and soul and all things – is a gift from God. The Lord opened Evelyn’s heart as surely as he did Lydia’s, and yours and mine too. All by his Holy Word, by his Holy Spirit, in the waters of Holy Baptism.

 

Evelyn also has this in common with Lydia, that after she was baptized, she spent her life in service to our Lord. So too for Evelyn. She loved others because Christ first loved us. She was the consummate hostess because Christ was her chief host, serving her in His Word, water, body and blood. She loved to care for others because Jesus had shown her God’s love and care in laying down his life for her, as he did for you.

 

And that is why I remember Evelyn along with the other great women of Scripture. What made Evelyn’s faith, hope, and love so great was that she knew she had a Savior in Jesus who was greater than sin. Greater than her illness. Greater than even death itself.  

 

A great Savior who died in her place on the cross. A great Savior who rose from the dead and promises that in Him, one day, Evelyn and all his saints, will rise from the dead as well. 

 

A great Savior who comforts you this day and always with his sure and certain promise: 

 

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. 

In the Name of + Jesus. Amen.

Sermon for 3rd Advent Midweek: "Jesus, the Life of Jesse's Tree"

 + 3^rd Advent Midweek – December 16, 2020 +

Matthew 3:13-17; Romans 6:1-11

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

We began Advent in Genesis with God’s promise that one day the Seed of the woman would be born, a child to destroy the serpent. Last week we heard how God preserved His Seed through the life of Isaac, the promised son of Abraham and the bearer of the promise of the Seed of the woman. 

 

As the story God’s promise continued on through the centuries, God continued to protect and rescue His erring and sinful chosen line. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and eventually Jesse. From Jesse to David, God kept his promise of the Seed generation after generation

 

And just when the promises of God appeared to be only a distant sound echoing to deaf ears, a daughter of Adam, of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jesse, and of David brought forth a Son. This Son grew to be a man and lived among His creation. Not as a mighty king like David. Not in the palaces of the powerful. But one whose life was like his birth, humble, lowly, and often hidden.

 

In our stained glass windows above, we see the image of a scallop shell, an ancient symbol of Holy Baptism. It reminds us not only of our Baptism but also of the One whose Baptism sanctifies our own. 

 

John was the final prophet who proclaimed the rule and reign of God, which was coming into the world. Jesus appeared at the Jordan River to be baptized by John. As Jesus was baptized, the Spirit descended as a dove upon Him and a voice proclaimed Him to be both Mary’s Son and Son of God. Here at last was the true Seed promised from the beginning. Here was Jesus, the Life of Jesse’s Tree.

 

Though He came among his people, the world could not see who Jesus really was. For Israel, their present circumstance was a daily grim reminder of a much more glorious past. They remembered the days of David and Solomon when they were a mighty nation, united and powerful. But that was then. Now they were under the thumb of yet another foreign empire, Rome.

 

What they did not see or expect was who this man really was as He came to the Jordan to be baptized. He was just another man by all outward appearances. In fact, He was less esteemed than most simply because He was from the little village of Nazareth. When Jesus called Philip to follow Him and Philip went to tell Nathanael about Jesus, Nathanael’s response sums up the social standing of Jesus of Nazareth: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46). Yet here He was—the Seed and Root and Life of Jesse’s tree. 

 

The Lord had raised up a prophet named John to prepare the way of the Christ through preaching and Baptism. Through Palestine ran the Jordan River, a life-giving source, as its waters irrigated land and quenched the thirst of all. At this river, John stood and preached repentance and baptized all who came.

 

At the Jordan River, the truth of who Jesus was would be revealed, no matter what the human eye saw in this Nazarene. St. Matthew tells us, “And when Jesus was baptized, immediately He went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on Him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased’”(Matthew 3:16–17).

 

Our life can often seem like living in a wilderness, an arid and barren world. We dream of a better days from the past. But in truth, in many ways, the golden eras of the past were not as golden as we might imagine. People then, as now, struggled for meaning and hope. Society wrestled with morality and oppression. The Church struggled to find her voice and identity in an unbelieving world. 

 

But life arises wherever there’s water. And just as Palestine had the Jordan River, so the Church has her source of life-giving water. Always present, even in her darkest days of past, present, and future, is the font of water with the Word. As the Church prays in the Rite of Holy Baptism, “Through the Baptism in the Jordan of Your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, You sanctified and instituted all waters to be a blessed flood and a lavish washing away of sin” (LSB, p. 269). 

 

Humble water is applied through the all-too-human hands of a called and ordained servant of the Word at the command of the One baptized in the Jordan. And just as the glory of Jesus was cloaked in human flesh, so the glory of Baptism is cloaked in water. Here is the unseen but eternal truth of your Baptism expressed in the words of St. Paul: “We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). Here is life—true life—arising from water sanctified by the life of Jesse’s tree, the life of the world!

 

The world had long awaited redemption. As the horror and darkness of human sin descended at the fall, a promise was made by God—a promise of redemption and life in the midst of death. As Abraham prepared to offer up his son of promise to the Lord, God Himself prepared a substitute. As generations passed, God’s promise of redemption was never rescinded. God’s promised Seed was carried by the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob through Jesse and David to Mary, their descendant. And in Jesus, Son of Mary and Son of God, the Redeemer came to His broken world. In the midst of death, He came as the true life. For you.

 

It is Jesus’ life lived and laid down for you that defines our lives, even in a world full of death and sin. It is Jesus’ life that nourishes you dear children of God as His Word is proclaimed. It is Jesus’ life that comes to every altar in every place as the Church gathers to celebrate the Eucharistic feast with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. 

 

As Jesus is baptized in the Jordan, our own Baptism is made a sure and certain union with Christ in His death and resurrection. “For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His” (Romans 6:5). 

 

From Jesse’s tree came the life of the world, and now in Jesus, through the tree of His cross, His life comes to you!

 

 

In the Name of + Jesus. Amen.

 

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

 

Sermon for 2nd Advent Midweek: "Jesus, the Root of Jesse's Tree"

 + 2^nd Advent Midweek – December 9^th, 2020 +

Genesis 22:1-18; Hebrews 11:17-22

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

In the last few years, you’ve probably seen or heard a commercial for Ancestry.com or any number of similar services. People are fascinated by genealogies. And it’s easy to understand why. We like to know who we are, where we came from, or who’s in our family tree. 

 

Modern genetics can tell you a lot about who your ancestors were. Several years ago, the remains of a fifteenth-century English king, Richard III, were discovered under a parking lot. How did archaeologists confirm the identity of the bones? By comparing the DNA in the bones to the DNA of a known twenty-first-century descendant of Richard III’s brother! Hidden to the eye is the link that extends from generation to generation. But it’s there.

 

Today we are lead to another part of Jesus’ family tree, another branch on Jesse’s tree, an elderly man by the name of Abraham. He was not the promised Seed of the woman. But he was chosen by God to be an important part of Jesus’ family tree, a branch that joins Eden and Bethlehem. 

 

In the Garden of Eden as man and woman fell into sin, God immediately promised that One who was the “Seed” of the woman would defeat the serpent (Genesis 3:15). Down through the generations, God preserved the human race. Generations later, God called a man by the name of Abram out of the idolatry and into a relationship with Him. God also made Abram a promise: “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” “So shall your descendants be.” For in your Seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.

 

With a promise like that, you’d think there was something spectacular about Abraham that caused God to give him such good news. But no. When we first meet Abram, there’s nothing particularly special about him, nothing that made him worthy of God’s blessing. Like all of us, Abram was chosen solely by the grace of God. He was to be the bearer of the promise of the Seed of the woman. 

 

The problem, at least from Abraham and Sarah’s point of view (and ours), is that when God gave His promise, Abraham and Sarah were long past child bearing years. The very idea of having a son at their age would be . . . well, impossible. And yet what is impossible for man is not impossible for God. 

 

This promised son was to be named Isaac. But more important than his name was his role in God’s redemption of all humanity. Isaac was to be the bearer of a seed and the father of nations (Genesis 17:19). From Isaac would come Jacob. From Jacob would come Judah. From Judah would come Jesse. From Jesse would come David. And from David would come Mary. And, miracle of miracles, from Mary, the virgin mother, would come the Christ, the Seed promised to our first parents at the fall. Nothing is impossible with God.

 

Imagine, then, what was running through Abraham’s mind as he heard the same Lord say, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you” (Genesis 22:2). 

 

Abraham, however, was prepared to fulfill God’s command. He prepared the wood, the fire, and the knife. And there was his son, Isaac, the son of promise, bound on the altar and wood. “Father!” “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”

 

Abraham held the knife in his hand. He was prepared to kill Isaac, his son, his only son whom he loved. But he was stopped. “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me” (Genesis 22:12).

 

Ever wondered how Abraham could have possibly done what God had asked of him? I know I have. Thankfully, the book of Hebrews tells us. Abraham, “considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back” (Hebrews 11:19). Abraham could not see the future, but he trusted the Lord, who held the future, and knew that with God, all things were possible.

 

God’s promises never fail. Abraham knew that. So do we. God did not fail Abraham, Neither will he fail you. Just look at what happens through Isaac. He lives, and though he fails and fails over and over, he still fulfills God’s promises. The generations of Isaac’s descendants continue down through the centuries. The promised Seed remains in the line God had chosen to bear a Savior, not just for that Abraham’s family, but for all children of sons of Adam and daughters of Eve. 

 

As Abraham told Isaac, “The Lord will prepare for Himself the sacrifice, my son.” That’s exactly what God was up to all those years, generations, and down the line through Jesus’ family tree. God was preparing us for the coming of the promised Seed, who, as the angel declared, is named Jesus, for he will save us from our sin. He is the Seed promised. He is the Root from which Jesse’s tree grows. He is the reconciler of the past, the redeemer of the present, the hope of the future.

 

In Isaac was the promised Seed that would one day take on human form in the virgin-born Son of God. There is the very Lamb of God. When Isaac was spared from Abraham’s knife, the Lord provided a sacrifice in Isaac’s place—a ram caught in a thicket. So He provides a substitute for you and for all —Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. One sacrifice for all time and all people. One death in place of our deaths. One tomb in place of our tombs. One resurrection by which we, too, shall be raised on the Last Day. One Baptism that we share. One Supper where He brings life, forgiveness, and peace. One Lord. One faith. One Hope. 

 

And all of this because of the One Seed, whom God has given you, Jesus, His son, His only Son whom He loved. Sent to love you, save you, and bring you into his family tree. 

 

 

In the Name of + Jesus. Amen. 

 

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