Funeral of Judith Gierke [Romans 8:18] (27-Jan-2015)

This sermon was preached at Adelaide Hills Funeral Services, Mt Barker, 10.30am.

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

(Romans 8:18)

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Prayer: Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

In the year 1613, in what is modern-day Poland, there was a massive epidemic that broke out in the city of Fraustadt. The Lutheran pastor there in that town, called Valerius Herberger, then wrote the only hymn that he ever wrote, which begins like this:

Farewell, I gladly bid Thee,

False, evil world, Farwell!

Thy life is vain and sinful,

With thee I would not dwell.

I long to be in heaven,

In that untroubled sphere,

Where they will be rewarded

Who serve their God while here.

Now to our ears, we might think: The world is false and evil? Life is vain? Life is sinful? Is that all there is? But I often think that if we consider the fact there are over 2 billion people who profess to be Christians in the world today, and if we consider that Christianity has been going on now for 2000 years, I think it would be safe to say that most Christians who are alive today and most Christians who have lived throughout history have understood this very well. Most of the Christians in the world today don’t live lives that we might think are particularly successful, particularly affluent—in fact many Christians today live in poverty and suffer tremendously. Most Christians throughout history have never lived in such prosperous times as what we do. And yet—the Christian faith continues. Why? Because the Holy Spirit knows how to encourage us, and the Holy Spirit reveals in God’s word, as St Paul says, that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Do you hear that? The glory that is to be revealed to us.

So as we gather here on this day for Judith’s funeral, there’s a wonderful truth for us to remember: the sadness of this occasion is only felt by us, but not by Judith. Her death is a sad for us, but not sad for her. Because the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

In the bible, this comes out constantly—In the gospel of Luke, we read that there was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and liked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his bosom.

This is such a powerful story that Jesus tells here. Here we see a rich man, an important man, a wealthy man, a successful man. And outside of his house we see a battler, a struggler, someone who in the eyes of the world isn’t important, isn’t successful—but at the end of the day, what happens? Is it the rich man who goes to heaven, and the poor man who goes to hell? No—it’s the poor man who goes to heaven. He has been the faithful one.

Now, is Jesus saying that all poor people go to heaven and all rich people go to hell? No—that’s not true. Lazarus went to Abraham’s bosom, and Abraham himself was a very rich man. In Genesis 13, it says: Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. But these things didn’t define Abraham. When you read about his life, you don’t necessarily notice his wealth. But for the rich man in the story—the only thing that can be said about him is that he rich. He is defined by what he owned, by what he wore, by what he ate.

And so in the story—it’s the poor man, called Lazarus, who goes to heaven. What’s amazing about this story is that Lazarus sat at the rich man’s gate, and for years and years the rich man didn’t notice him. And yet, God noticed him.

And so—here we might think about Mt Barker or the areas in which we live? Who are the important people in the eyes of the world? Who are the successful people? Who are the influential people? And yet, these are not necessarily the people whom God notices. And this is the most important thing—God shines his light on all kinds of people, who go about their everyday lives, not making a big name for themselves, but who hear his word, believe it, and carry on in faith and in hope.

It strikes me that Judith would never have run for mayor in Mt Barker. There would be plenty of people who would never have noticed her, even in the church. But God noticed her—and this is the greatest blessing of all.

And so, the old Lutheran pastor I mentioned before, says not just farewell to the world, but good morning to heaven: I long to be in heaven, in that untroubled sphere, where they will be rewarded, who serve their God while here.

You see, whatever sadness there is in the world, whatever heartache, whatever grief, there is something that is stronger, and deeper, and more powerful than any of that put together, and that is the blood of Christ. We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and that he is the one who has paid the price, the bill, which we should have paid for our lives, not with gold or silver, but with his precious blood. In this world, people may think success likes in gold and silver, achievements, successes, but in the church, our success, our boasting, and our joy is in one thing: the precious blood of Christ. When we go to bed at night, as it says in an old musical, we might like to snuggle up to our cash register—it’s a little lumpy but it rings. And when we die, we’ll take none of it with us. But the Christian faith believes in something much more precious: the blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sin.

Now, you might think—goodness me, pastor Stephen—this is a gloomy sermon. Sure—it’s a gloomy sermon, if all we are looking forward to is something in this life? St Paul says: If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

All of the gloominess has been destroyed by Jesus. His death and his resurrection have destroyed it all. And so, when we die with Jesus, then we will have every wonderful gift, and joy, and pleasure of heaven to look forward. The gloominess has been washed away with Christ’s blood, so that all that is left is pure joy.

A pastor said to me recently: Don’t you know that we live in Sodom? He’s referring here to the old cities in the bible, Sodom and Gomorrah that were well-known especially for their wickedness, as it says.

And so, isn’t it a wonderful thing to come and remember the fact that our sister in Christ, Judith, has left the city of Sodom once and for all, and has now entered the city of Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem?

We all know from our own experience that there are many sorrows and disappointments to be found in this life. Isn’t a wonderful thing to come and remember the fact that Judith has left each and every sadness far behind her, never to return to again?

We all know that there’s plenty of sin that catches us all the time. Isn’t it a wonderful thing that Judith is now completely free from sin now for the first time in her life?

And it’s not because of her or what she has done, her virtues, or even her successes or her wealth—it’s because of the precious blood of Christ, it’s because of her Saviour, her Lord, her Jesus.

And so no wonder that St Paul says: For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

I once read where an old writer wrote that we are all built into God’s house like living stones. But if we are going to be useful for the house, we have to be cut and polished, and then brought to the house, and built into the walls. And then all the walls form together a wonderful city, the heavenly Jerusalem—and in this city, we will no longer hear the hammer or the axe.

That’s what we remember today—the hammer and the axe have ceased, and the only thing left is God’s comfort, God’s joy, God’s pleasure that another one of his little ones, another one of his quiet ones, has entered his city. As it says in Hebrews: For her we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.

Jesus says: Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Amen.

We thank you, dear Jesus, that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed to us. We thank you for Judith and for the great many blessings that so many of us have received from you through her. Strengthen and comfort us in our grief with your word and with your Holy Spirit. Amen.

Epiphany III Year B: Audio Sermon (25-Jan-2015)

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Epiphany II: Audio Sermon (18-Jan-2015)

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Epiphany II Year B [John 1:43-51] (18-Jan-2015)

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mt Barker, 8.30am, 10.30am.

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

Our sermon text today was inspired by the Holy Spirit by the apostle St John. And we read from his gospel where it says:

Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.

Prayer: Come Lord Jesus, and dispel all the darkness of our hearts through the purity and light of your word. Amen.

In our Gospel reading today, we read about how Jesus calls two of his disciples, Philip and Nathanael. And also right at the end of our reading, after Nathanael, has been brought to Jesus, Jesus says something not just to Nathanael but to all of the disciples who were there at that time: Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. This is a wonderful passage which Jesus teaches about angels and also about Himself.

So this morning in our sermon today, we’re going to look at these three things: firstly, how Jesus calls Philip, second, how Nathanael comes to Jesus, and then lastly, we’re going to meditate about this wonderful mystery about the angels that Jesus talks about.

So let’s read, first of all, about what it says about Philip. It says: The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.

It just so happens that in the previous verses, we also read about Andrew and Peter, and how they came to follow Jesus. Just before, we read about John the Baptist, who is giving a particularly wonderful witness to Jesus—first of all, John calls Jesus the light. We read: The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. It’s a great thing to stop and think for a minute about what it means that Jesus is the light. We actually say in the Nicene Creed each week, that Jesus is God of God, Light of Light. Jesus calls himself the Light of the world. If we were to imagine all the darkness of the world, whatever it happens to be, and in all its various forms, Jesus is stronger than all of it. All that is needed is for him to walk into a room, and darkness is destroyed. It’s just as when someone turns the light on, and immediately it’s not dark anymore. And with this light comes forgiveness, comfort, joy, peace, love. There are so many gifts that come from Jesus, as he shines his light into our dark hearts. It’s a wonderful thing!

But also, then John witnesses to Jesus not just as the light, but also as the Lamb of God. We read where he says: Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! Often in Christian art, John was often painted with a very long finger—in some sense, this was the most important thing about him. King Herod, later on, didn’t recognise this. He and his family thought that the most dangerous part of John was his mouth, so in order to shut his mouth, he had his head cut off. But the most important of John’s body was not simply his mouth, but his finger. Who was John pointing to? So even when John has asked for John the Baptist’s head, John’s finger is still there, pointing to Jesus, as a witness to the Lamb of God, who in the future will also die a brutal death on a cross, in order to destroy sin and the power of sin. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

And so, it turns out that Andrew was a disciple of John, and together with another of John’s disciples, he listens to what John has to say about Jesus, and they follow Jesus. As a pastor, I always find this a wonderful encouragement in the ministry. Sometimes, it happens that pastors are removed from their parishes wrongly and unfairly. This mostly happens because people don’t believe that their pastor was sent to them by God, but they just think that the pastor is their employee, who they can hire or fire as the like. This attitude towards the ministry is simply not biblical, and it is a lot closer to our backyard than we care to admit. Pastors don’t stay in one place as long as they wish, or as long as the congregation wishes, or as long as the bishop wishes, but as long as Christ desires. And so, sometimes, for all kinds of wrong reasons, a pastor’s ministry is sometimes cut short because of human sin—but what is the most important thing is not that the pastor gathers a group of people around himself to follow him, like some kind of personality cult. But the legacy of a pastor’s ministry is in who he pointed his finger at, just like John the Baptist: Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

And so Andrew listens to John and follows Jesus, and then Andrew goes and gets Peter, his flesh and blood brother, and Peter follows Jesus.

In our reading today, we read about Philip. It actually doesn’t say too much about it. It says: The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. It doesn’t even say whether Philip followed him—of course, we assume he did. But the focus here is not on how wonderfully Philip followed Jesus, but on the wonderful word that Jesus spoke. It says not that Philip found Jesus, but that Jesus found Philip. And he simply said, Follow me. And it just so happened that Philip was from the same town as the two brothers, Andrew and Peter.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if whenever we heard the word of Jesus, that we would simply get up and go, just as Jesus says, all the time! Isn’t it amazing that Philip just simply follows him. And yet, the power is not in Philip’s heart, but in the power of Jesus’ word. Maybe we don’t treat Jesus’ words as very powerful anymore—maybe we think our own words, our own thoughts and opinions, are just as powerful as those of Jesus. If only we knew just how powerful, how loving, how true Jesus’ words to us really are. How is Jesus calling us to follow him today? How is he encouraging us to walk with him in a new way, and in a new aspect of our lives?

But then, we read a longer section about Nathanael. In other parts of the bible, Nathanael is called Bartholomew. It says: Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

We get the impression here that Philip and Nathanael knew the bible well, and that they were waiting for the Messiah. Philip says to him: We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote. Philip was found first, and then Philip goes to his friend and wants to share this with his friend. He knows just what a wonderful person Jesus is, and so it just seems so natural to him to want to share the news about him with others. But Nathanael is not convinced straight away. Philip says to Nathanael that the Messiah is called Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael says: Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

Now, why does Nathanael say this? It’s not because Nazareth is a bad place, and has a bad reputation necessarily. We might think of a place where something bad took place, and then the place has a bad reputation, like Snowtown, north of Adelaide. Then if something good happens there, we might be a bit cynical and think, “Can anything good happen in Snowtown?”

But this is not what’s going on. Nathanael knows his bible well, and he knows that the Messiah was going to come from Bethlehem, from the city of David. This is what the wise men want to know when they come to Jerusalem. Where is he who is born the king of the Jews? And the high priests give the answer from the Scripture: In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. So Nathanael knows to expect a Messiah from Bethlehem, not Nazareth.

Sometimes it so happens that we might have a question here or there about the bible, and we don’t understand how it matches up, or something like that. What happens in our reading? Philip says to Nathanael: Come and see. Come and bring the problem to Jesus. Let him sort it out.

And so we read: Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Jesus commends him for his careful study of the bible, and for trying to nut things out exactly. Nathanael is a true Israelite, a faithful follower of God’s word, and he is asking the right questions, and he is genuinely trying to look for the right answers. And so Jesus calls him: an Israelite indeed, a true Israelite, in whom there is no deceit, not a doubter, but a searcher.

But hang on? This is the first time that Jesus and Nathanael have met. Nathanael hasn’t even spoken yet. And so Nathanael says to him: How do you know me? Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.”

This is an amazing thing that happens. We read that even before Philip had gone to find Nathanael, Jesus already saw him, he already knew him, he already had a specific plan for him. We often think that we are the ones who forge our own destiny, but it is not the case. Even before we have begun to even think about what we want to do, Jesus has already seen us, and looked upon us, and found us. Jesus here shows to Nathanael that he had the ability to read his heart and to know his mind.

And whatever was so significant about this fig tree, this was all that Nathanael needed to be convinced. He says: Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel! And Jesus commends him, and says: Because I said to you, ‘I aw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these. This is how it often happens for all of us. We are convinced by Jesus at such small things, and yet, Jesus blessed the small things and then leads us into the big things.

But then Jesus says something not simply to Nathanael but for the benefit of all the disciples. He tells them what greater things he will see. Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.

It is not simply that Jesus will see people under fig trees, but the very next thing we read about in the gospel of John is the wedding at Cana where Jesus turned water into wine. They will see all the power of God at work in Jesus, with all the angels ministering from heaven, and all the angelic power at work through Jesus. But Jesus’ power is not simply the same as the power of angels, but all of the angels are servants of him. They ascend and descend on Jesus. Jesus has an entire army at his disposal, and he says to one, Come, and he comes, and to another go, and he goes.

Now, here in the little verse, Jesus calls to mind an event in the Old Testament, where Jacob had a dream about a ladder going all the way from earth to heaven, with the angels going up and down upon it. Here we read Jesus interpreting this dream about himself. He is saying: I am the ladder from earth to heaven, and the angels are going up and down on me. This is what Jesus says in another place where he says: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you want to go to the Father, then come and be with me, and the angels of God will carry you up the ladder, which is me. This is just such an amazing thought! And it’s not us who climbs the ladder, as if we reach God by our human achievement, but through Jesus’ achievement of reaching all the way down to us to carry us up in his own arms and on the wings of angels.

But this verse is also a very important passage when it comes to spiritual discernment. There may be other angels at work, which are not ascending or descending upon the Son of Man. If this is the case, then they are demons. It says in Revelation 19: The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. If something comes to us that is not testifying to Jesus, then it is not from the Holy Spirit. If there is an angel that comes to us, that tells us something that against the gospel and against Jesus, then it is not from Jesus, and not inspired by his Spirit. St Paul says: Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

And so sometimes, Christians find themselves comforted and strengthened by an angel. But often this comes in times of the cross, times of suffering. If we read about Jesus’ ministry in the gospels, we read that the angels were ministering to him, not when he was “having a good day”, but when he was experiencing the most intense suffering. There are only two passages where angels are said to minister to Jesus during his life: after he was tempted by Satan for 40 days in the wilderness, and when he is sweating blood in the Garden of Gethsemane. We should also remember that. If you want to see an angel, then expect the cross. The angels ascend and descend on the Son of Man. And the Son of Man is a man of sorrows, God’s suffering servant, the Lamb of God who takes away and shoulders the sin of the world.

So it’s always best to be suspicious if we find an angel coming to us to help us on a good day to boost our own ego—remember the devil also manifests himself as an angel of light, as St Paul says in 2 Corinthians.

Now we also know that Jesus promises to be here in our church, in his human flesh, through the preaching and teaching of his word, through the speaking fo the forgiveness of sins in the absolution, through holy baptism, and through the Lord’s Supper. We know that when we come here, to receive these things, and to receive them in prayer, that we simply come and join in with his prayers, as he sits at the right hand of the throne of God. But wherever Jesus is, the angels are there too, because they are ascending and descending on the Son of Man. They are spirits who minister, and who perform a kind of heavenly liturgy. Hebrews says: Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

And so when we come to church, and sing and pray, we are simply doing what’s always going on in heaven. Coming to church is entering heaven for a brief time, to sing God’s holiness together with the angels and the archangels and all the company of heaven. If only we knew that the things that go on in our church service today are things at which angels cover their faces because they are too wonderful! If only we knew that, then maybe people wouldn’t so quick to want to throw the liturgy out, and we wouldn’t get so bored with it, as if the angels in heaven could only ever be doing something that our flesh finds exciting and new and novel. The angels don’t ascend and descend on you, on your ego, and on your boredom. The angels ascend and descend on the Son of Man, and like the wise men from the East, we have seen his star and have come to worship him. We have come to be united and joined to this Saviour, who is God of God, Light of Light, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Amen.

Dear Jesus, bless us with your Holy Spirit today, and gather us to yourself, that each day we may follow you in faith, and love and in obedience to your word. Open our eyes that we may realise the magnitude and the splendour of our holy Christian faith, and send us the peace which transcends all understanding, the understanding of humans and the understanding even of the angels. Amen.

Baptism of Jesus: Audio Sermon (11-Jan-2015)

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Epiphany [Matthew 2:1-12] (6-Jan-2015)

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mt Barker, 7.30pm.

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

Our sermon text today was inspired by the Holy Spirit by the apostle St Matthew. And we read from his gospel where it says:

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

Prayer: Come Lord Jesus, and dispel all the darkness of our hearts through the purity and light of your word. Amen.

In our Gospel reading tonight, we see Christ’s followers and we see Christ’s enemies. On the one hand, we read about the wise men who were following a star from their home country who were coming to find the baby Jesus, to worship him and to offer him gifts. On the other hand, we read about Herod who is threatened by their visit, and wants to do harm to Jesus.

And this event where the wise men come to visit the baby Jesus is a wonderful occasion of such encouragement to us. We read in our Gospel reading tonight: When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. Joy is heaped up on joy which is heaped up on joy which is heaped up on joy. It’s like that wonderful verse in John chapter 1, when it says about Jesus: From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. We have received grace upon grace upon grace upon grace… and the wise men rejoice with joy upon joy upon joy upon joy.

So right at this time, Jesus not only reveals to the wise men where he is, but he also reveals to them where his enemies are. In the church today, something that we need so desperately is discernment—and discernment comes through studying and learning God’s word. Because when God speaks his word, he speaks it so that we may receive grace upon grace, through Jesus Christ. At the same time, he reveals to us where the darkness is, to warn us away from it. May the Holy Spirit come and fill our hearts tonight so that we may go with the wise men and worship Christ, and offer to him every gift and every treasure that our hearts are able!

So let’s read our text:

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem.

This passage about the wise men coming to Jerusalem is one of the most amazing passages in the whole New Testament, because so much of what we learn about tonight is shrouded in mystery. For example, how many wise men are there? We don’t know—it’s not mentioned. We often say that there were three wise men, but the bible doesn’t say how many there were. It does say that there were three different gifts—gold, frankincense and myrrh—and so we often assume that there are three men, each with a different gift. But there’s no reason to say that there were many more, and that they all presented these three gifts together.

And we also are not really sure where these men are from. In the reading, the word is translated “wise men”, but in Greek the word is “Magi”. And Magi in the proper sense were priests in the Zoroastrian religion which was practised in Persia. But were these men from Persia? The magi were obviously well-renowned people in those days, otherwise nobody would have known who Matthew was talking about. Some people have thought these men were from Babylon, which is modern-day Iraq, or Persia, which is modern-day Iran—I heard recently that Kurdish people in northern Iraq claim to be descended from the Medes, and they think that the wise men were Medes. I wonder if Matthew wanted to describe some strange scholars from a far-away country, how else would he have described them except by calling them “magi”, as if they were from Persia? All he says is that they were from the East. It might be like someone who has no idea about all the different countries in Asia were to call all Asian food “Chinese food”. Perhaps Matthew would call all wise men from the east “Magi”.

In the book of Genesis, there’s a man a bit like this who turns up called “Melchizedek”. After Abraham had won a battle, we read: And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. Here is this man, who is a king and a priest, called Melchizedek, who just comes out of nowhere to bless Abraham. The book of Hebrews makes a bit point out of him, and says that he’s a bit like Jesus. It says: [Melchizedek] is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.

Hebrews says that Jesus is a bit like Melchizedek, because Jesus as true God also doesn’t have a human father or mother or genealogy, his life doesn’t have a beginning and doesn’t have an end, and he is a king and a priest forever. At Christmas time, we celebrate how Jesus enters the world as a human baby, but he existed long before that. At Easter, we commemorate how Jesus dies, and how his life comes to an end, but also how he rises from the dead, and now he is alive and continually ruling his church through his word and sacraments.

And at the same time, just as Melchizedek almost came out of nowhere and met Abraham, so also Jesus’ kingdom almost comes out of nowhere, because it is created by God’s words. At the beginning of the world, God said: Let there be light, and there was light. Light came out of nowhere. Also, from a human point of view, the baby Jesus also comes out of nowhere—actually, he comes out of heaven, with no human father, and is born of the Virgin Mary. And then also, Jesus’ kingdom is almost created out of nowhere—all of a sudden all these strange men with strange ideas and strange clothes and strange gifts come almost out of nowhere. They are like Melchizedek—we don’t know who their parents are, we don’t know their genealogy, we don’t know how old they were, when they were born or when they died. They arrived with star, the left with a dream.

And so it also happens with the church—I remember in my previous parish, in Gippsland, people telling me how they often felt like this. Ten years ago they were a small struggling parish, not knowing where they were going, and then all of a sudden—almost out of nowhere—a whole group of Sudanese people showed up. One man said: “I always had dreams as a boy of going to deepest, darkest Africa: never for a moment did I ever think that deepest, darkest Africa would come to me!” 

We learn here how God is the one who builds and gathers his church through his Holy Spirit. He is the one who draws it together. And he will only draw it together around Christ—he will not draw it together around anyone else, and he will not draw it together around anything else. Only Christ. We often come up with a human solutions to things, and we want to grow and build Christ’s church around some idol—some golden calf that we have invented. But God knows where his Son is, and he will shine his light and align all the stars in the world to point to Him, and he will point to nowhere else and to nothing else.

Let’s read from our reading:

Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

Once again, this is shrouded with such mystery. How do these wise men know that there is a king who has been born? How did they know that this star that they saw indicated that king? And how did they know that they should come and worship him? It often happens, that those who are following Christ, notice things that other people don’t. Here were group of men who studied the stars, and they noticed something that other people didn’t, and they thought it was significant, and they investigated it. Sometimes, something happens to people in their life, and they look back at it, and they think that, with all reason and intellect aside, this could never have been explained in any way except God.

Now where does this star lead them?—the star leads them to a dead end. They find themselves in front of a brick wall after so much travelling. They have arrived in a large city and have no idea what to do from now.

But there is a light that shines even more brightly than this star. And that is the light of God’s word. And so we read: When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: “And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.”” Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”

Now, I want you to think about this very carefully. We read that the wise men just showed up in Jerusalem and were asking their question—but it doesn’t say that they asked the king himself. Maybe they were asking people in the market place, and eventually, the rumor spread and the king eventually heard. Who knows how long the wise men were going around asking people their question.  It says: [Herod] was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. Somehow Jerusalem found out about this news too. And so what did Herod do? He asked the priests and the scribes. And what did the priests do? They consulted the word of God. And we know from God’s word that it says: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. And so it’s the word of God that gives the answer that they are looking for.

And so, the wise men ask the people, the rumor reaches the king, and then the king asks the priest and scribes, and the priests and scribes search the word. But now, what happens? The priests and scribes tell the king, and then the king tells the wise men. But notice how it happens: Herod summoned the wise men secretly – do you see this? He gets them to come to the tradesmen’s entrance late at night. He doesn’t want everyone to know. And he ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. We know later that Herod uses this information for evil later, in order to work out roughly how old Jesus was, so that he could kill every 2 year old baby boy in Bethlehem. Then we read: He send them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”

Isn’t it amazing? The wise men get the answer they are looking for. Herod is the one who tells them to go the Bethlehem. But it is shrouded in lies, in deception, in darkness. Herod’s words are loaded with politics, with cunning, with deceit. And yet, just like the star, the purity of God’s word shines through all this darkness, and the wise men still receive the answer they need.

And then we see such a wonderful way in which God shows his power, and shows to the wise men the purity of God’s word. We read: After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen [in the east] went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

God shines his light before them in such a miraculous and supernatural way. I don’t know very much about astronomy, but I am told that stars don’t normally move in a southerly direction, as from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, which is 10 kms south of Jerusalem. And so, to these wise men this would have been such an amazing thing for them to observe. But God’s word is proved true—not to draw them to marvelous palace such as King Herod’s palace, but to a small house where the holy family were living after Mary had given birth. Here we see a poor family, who had to spend the night of the birth of their child in a stable with the animals. We read when they went to visit Simeon in the temple, they had to offer the poor people’s option as a sacrifice, so we know they were poor. And they don’t go to meet a king, with power, and might and wisdom and riches—they go to meet a tiny baby.

Doesn’t this just highlight the way the church is all throughout the world, and all throughout history? Sometimes the church has had great wealth in certain periods of history, and in certain places of the world. But the real treasure in the church is Jesus himself, who often goes unnoticed, clothed with humility and poverty.

So for example, we might have gold and silver, and beautiful churches, but what’s all that without the preaching of the Gospel? What’s all of that without being able to come and receive the absolution—the free forgiveness of sins? That’s the treasure—these things are here, in such a way that God wants to shine his spotlight on Jesus speaking these words to you.

What about baptism? Baptism is a wonderful treasure. So many of us don’t remember the day when we were baptised, because we were so small, but that was the occasion when Jesus himself poured out his Holy Spirit on us, together with every gift of forgiveness, life, and salvation. There’s the treasure. Can you see God’s spotlight shining on to the font, and showing you your Saviour there?

What about the Lord’s Supper? If only we understood what a wonderful treasure this is. This is the true body and blood of Christ, for you to eat and drink. And God shines the light of his word onto the Lord’s Supper, and wants you to notice it. Coming to the Lord’s Supper each week is like being guided by the light of a star like the wise men and bowing down and worshipping him. It’s no wonder that we come and receive these gifts on our bended knees, worshipping the Lamb who sits on the throne, who has descended into our church and feeds us.

You see, wherever Jesus is, then we know he is there breathing out all the wonderful gifts of the Holy Spirit. Wouldn’t it be such a wonderful thing if this year, this 2015, were a year where Jesus shows you the riches of his word, the riches of your baptism, and the riches of the Lord’s Supper? These are the places where God sends his star to shine down upon.

And so we read about the wise men: When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. You know, so often when our joy fades away from us, we have forgotten where to find our dear Lord Jesus. And how easily it is to forget?  We start to think that Christianity means wealth, health and success—and yet each week, he meets you in a way that is even weaker that you, in the word and the sacrament. He comes and joins you, and sits with you, like a friend in the dark watches of the night, waiting for the brilliant dawn of a new day, with all its brilliant light and all its brilliant comfort. 2 Peter says: We have… the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

The picture here is of holding on in all the darkness to the simple word of God, until the wonderful comfort comes, until the gospel comes to flood all over your sin, and you realise again where Jesus was to be found in his word and sacraments. Wait with patience through whatever night you need to endure—whatever hopelessness, whatever sorrow or pain, whatever failure—Jesus is faithful, and he will let the day dawn for you, the morning star rise in your heart, just like the wise men after so many days and weeks of searching. This is the joy of God’s word, the joy that from a human point of view almost comes out of nowhere. We read: When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.  And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

After they had worshipped Christ and offered them all their treasures, we read that they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod. Here all the darkness of Herod is exposed and vanishes—his idolatry, his greed, his deceit is all finished. All that is left for these wise men is that one word of God that was forced out through King Herod’s teeth! All that is left is that one precious word: Bethlehem. What a wonderful miracle! What a wonderful place! What a wonderful child!

Amen.

Dear Lord Jesus, we come to you to meet you in the simple, poor clothes of your word and in water and bread and wine today. Shine the light of your word into the darkness of our hearts, and into the darkness of the world, that we come and receive all the gifts of your Holy Spirit from your hands, and rejoice exceedingly with great joy. Amen.

Christmas II: Audio Sermon (4-Jan-2015)

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Christmas II Year B [Luke 2:41-52] (4-Jan-2015)

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mt Barker, 8.30am, 10.30am.

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

Our sermon text today was inspired by the Holy Spirit by the apostle St Luke. And we read from his gospel where it says:

And Jesus said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know  that I must be in my Father’s house?

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, send to all of us today your Holy Spirit, to me that I may preach well, and to all of us that we may hear well. Amen.

In our Gospel reading today, we read about Jesus’ childhood. It’s a very strange thing, that in all of the four gospels, in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, nothing is really said about the Jesus’ early life at all. Here in the Gospel of Luke, this passage about Jesus going to Jerusalem when he was twelve years old is the only thing we know.

In Luke chapter 3, we read that Jesus began his ministry when he was baptised at thirty years old. We often say that each of the gospels tell the history of Jesus’ life, but in reality, they only tell us about the 3 years from when he was 30 until his death and resurrection and then when he ascended into heaven.

Normally, if we were to go to a library or book shop and read a biography about someone, we would expect there to be a section about the person’s early years. Sometimes, reading and learning about a person’s childhood, gives us a window into the psychology of a person—for example, sometimes the things a person does when they are an adult are influenced by things that happened to them when they were children.

So if we were to read the gospels of Mark and John especially, we might be disappointed to find nothing really said about the history of Jesus’ early life as a child. In Matthew, nothing is said about Jesus’ life between the time when the family came back from Egypt when they fled from King Herod and settled in Nazareth until the time when John the Baptist was preaching in the wilderness when Jesus came to be baptised.

The only thing we know from the time Jesus was a child is written here in the Gospel of Luke, when Jesus and his family went to Jerusalem when he was twelve years old.

One more thing—you might be aware of the fact that in the history of Christianity, there have been other gospels apart from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Some of these gospels have names such as the Gospel of Philip, the Gospel of Mary, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Judas, etc. Christians have never recognised these gospels as authentic, and not the voice of the Holy Spirit. Some of these writings attempted to satisfy people’s curiosity about Jesus’ childhood and fill in some of the missing details. There are stories about Jesus playing with mud when we was a child, and making pigeons out of the mud, which then fly away. Sometimes, at different times in church history, Christians have held these stories in higher regard. But we have to be careful with these things, and make sure that we stick to the word of God as revealed to us in the Scripture.

But in 2 Peter it says: We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

Do you see here? Peter tells us that as Christians we are not following cleverly devised myths. When it comes to cute little stories about Jesus’ childhood, we should make sure that follow the truth, and not cleverly devised myths.

So what actually does Luke write about Jesus’ childhood? This is what we read: Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom.

The feast of Passover is the celebration of that wonderful event where God lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. Passover commemorates the time when the Israelites had to paint the blood of a lamb over their doorposts, so that the angel of death would pass over them, and not slay their firstborn children. In our passage, Jesus himself was also Mary’s firstborn child. And we read about him as a twelve year old boy—this is a very significant age, because it kind of marks that time between being a boy and a teenager.

We read: And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him.

Here we get a picture of how life was in those days—here was a group of travellers, and people seemed to trust each other in looking after each other’s children, and Mary and Joseph didn’t seem too worried about the fact that they hadn’t seen Jesus for a whole day. They just assumed that he was with his friends, having an enjoyable time, sitting on the back of someone else’s cart, playing games and doing all the kinds of things that kids do. But after a while, it occurs to them that they should go and check on him, and make sure they know where he is.

Now, many parents can often identify with this story—I heard about a family recently who went to a Christmas party in two separate cars, for whatever reason. When they got home, both of them thought that the other one was bringing their daughter home, but neither of them did, so that had to go back and get her! Many families have a story like this—“Remember the time when so-and-so got lost at the Royal Adelaide Show”, and things like that! I think that today, people are probably so much more protective of their children, because of all the news reports we hear about people who mistreat children, and all sorts.

By today’s standards, we might think that Mary and Joseph were a bit careless. After all, this was God’s son. But we get the impression that in those days, there was nothing particularly unusual going on—it seemed as though it was common for people like Mary and Joseph to let their children have plenty of freedom when travelling together, and let them enjoy the company of other children and other families.

But at the same time, if this was God’s son, then God the Father was not going to give up his job as father. God the Father knew where he was.

But can you imagine what must have happened in the minds of Mary and Joseph? We read: When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.

Have any of you ever lost a child for three days? I remember when I was in high school, I went on an overseas music trip to Japan. One of my friends, who was a twin, was left behind when we went to Hiroshima, because they counted his twin brother twice! I remember the panic of the possibility of us not finding him, and that was only a matter of a few hours.

But imagine three days—and this wasn’t just any child, this was Jesus. Let’s think about this for a minute—we know what it must be like to lose a child for three days. But what if we were to lose Jesus? Surely, as Christians, we wouldn’t want to lose Jesus for a minute. Sometimes, it’s easy for as Christians who come to church each week to be happy to lose him for six days of the week, only to be pretty uninterested in finding him the following Sunday. Of course, many of us go through patches in our life when our faith is not as important to us—it doesn’t mean that God had abandoned us during those times. He is faithful to us even during our times of weakness in faith.

But what’s our attitude towards Jesus? Are we happy for him to make friends with other families, and play with other children, but not to be with us? We have to be careful how we talk about this though—Jesus does not slip away from us, simply because we don’t feel his presence, or when we are not in a good frame of mind. Of course, it’s a good thing for us to read the bible at home, and to pray, and to do works of love towards people around us. But Jesus does not stay with us only when we have put our “religious hat” on. He stays with us, because the word we hear from him in the Scripture is a living and abiding word, and it is a word that continues to work on us and shape us through all kinds of things that happen to us in life. And when the words of the Scripture keep on churning over in our minds, through good times and bad times, through happy times and sad times, through times of joy and times of grief, we know Jesus is travelling with us faithfully through all of this.

It’s when we start to reject the word of God that things get dangerous. We don’t value God’s word anymore, and when we go about our daily business churning over the word, we resist it and repel it from us. We start to think that the Holy Spirit comes from our own hearts, or that God’s word is no different from what we think, or that the things God rejoices in are only those things that make us feel happy. No—if we want to find Jesus, we find him in his word. John says: Whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Whenever we think that our sinful human hearts have pushed and forced Jesus out, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. God reveals to us a new word, that is greater than all the standards of spirituality and religiousness that we set for ourselves, and that word is the forgiveness of sins, pure and free.

Let’s read our reading: After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you now know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

What a wonderful mystery we learn here in this reading! We see here a wonderful picture of how Jesus is both true God and true man. Jesus had Mary as his human mother, but he had God the Father as his true Father. And it’s a wonderful thing, that Jesus was looked after by Mary and Joseph as a child, and yet at the same time, as true God, Jesus didn’t actually need them at all. For example, think about the whole of the Christmas story—did Jesus actually really need a human mother? Did he actually need to be born of the Virgin Mary? Did he actually need Joseph to take him to Egypt? Well—if it weren’t for Mary and Joseph, Jesus would have survived, I’m sure, even as a baby. After all, this is not just any baby, this is the Son of God, and God knows how to look after his own son. But Jesus knows that we all have to be born of a human mother, he knows that we all have to be looked after by our parents, and he chooses to be like us in everything.

Afterwards we read in the reading: And Jesus went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in his heart. Listen to that: Jesus was submissive to them. If we want to know about Jesus’ life before his baptism, then just listen to these words. He was a good and dutiful son. He did was his parents asked him to do. If he had to go outside and perform a chore, he did it. He didn’t have to do, of course—he didn’t actually need his parents at all. But in order to be like us, he chose to bless our life at every single stage, so that we could pattern our lives on his. But also, in all our failures in life, Jesus lived a perfect life on our behalf. We often look back on our childhood, and we might think about all the wasted opportunities. We might think that we were rotten children who gave our parents a hard time and pushed them to the edge. We might think that these years we could have spent learning God’s word and serving him were used on all kinds of other things. And so we read in Psalm 25: Remember not the sins of my youth. And then we look to Jesus’ youth, and we no sin there—only purity. This shouldn’t discourage us, but through the forgiveness of sins, through holy Baptism, all the purity of Jesus’ youth is ours. Jesus’ perfection becomes our perfection, and our failures become his failures. He dies for our failures, and we receive his perfection purely by faith, and all the sins of our youth are completely wiped clean.

One more thing—Mary in our reading almost tells Jesus a bit! Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress. Often we go through times in our life when we are searching for Jesus in great distress. And we can even become a bit angry with Jesus. Why are you letting this happen to me, Jesus? Why do I never seem to get past this problem? Why am I feeling like this or that? Why is this going on for so long?

And then, in all our frustration, Jesus looks at us calmly and lovingly and says: Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house? Come and find me in my Father’s house. Look, and see me standing at the right hand of God bringing all your needs and all your worries to my Father. I spend each day regularly in prayer for you, says Jesus. I am always there in my Father’s house, with my blood, offering it to my Father for you. But also, the will of Jesus is done on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus comes and makes our little humble churches here on earth his Father’s house, so that he says: come and find me here, in my Father’s house—don’t find me in all the fluff of the world. Find me here, speaking my words of comfort in the church, the words of the forgiveness of sins. Find me here in my Father’s house, baptising people, and encouraging you with the gift of the Holy Spirit which I gave you there. Find me here in my Father’s house, strengthening you with my own body and blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?

Amen.

Lord Jesus, teach us to find you where you have taught us to find you, in your Father’s house, and nowhere else. We thank you for your holy life, which you lived completely for us, and to forgive us. Come and dwell in us, and help us to grow and become strong in faith and in you, and let the favour of God the Father rest upon us, just as it does on you. Amen.

The Name of Jesus [Luke 2:21] (1-Jan-2015)

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mt Barker, 7.30pm.

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

Our sermon text today was inspired by the Holy Spirit by the apostle St Luke. And we read from his gospel where it says:

And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, send to all of us today your Holy Spirit, to me that I may preach well, and to all of us that we may hear well. Amen.

New Year’s Day is exactly eight days after Christmas, and it has long been the custom in the church to celebrate on this day an event which took place exactly eight days after Christmas, which is when Jesus was circumcised. But it was also the custom that when a baby boy was circumcised, he would also be given his name on the same occasion.

This was the same occasion that we read about when John the Baptist was born, when we read: On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.” And then, they go and ask Zechariah his father about the question, who can’t talk, and he writes down for them that his name will be John. Then Zechariah regains his speech. Anyway, this event also happened on the occasion when John the Baptist was circumcised.

Circumcision was commanded first of all to Abraham. In fact, on that occasion God also gave Abraham a new name. Beforehand he was called Abram (which means exalted father), and now he is called Abraham (father of a multitude). And then we read: As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised.

So, right up until when Jesus was born, this was still practised, and if it was not practised, it meant that you would not be part of the Jewish faith.

The Jewish faith is not the only religion that has practised circumcision. Other cultures all throughout the world also practised it, for example, some parts of Africa and Asia, and also Aboriginal people, but there was something very unusual about the Jewish practice. Most other cultures would perform circumcision when a boy was entering puberty, and it was used to initiate a boy into manhood. Before the ceremony, he was a boy, and after the ceremony he was a man.

But in the Jewish religion, it was practised when the boy was only eight days old. This was very significant, because it meant that when the boy was only eight days old he was considered a full member of the Jewish faith. If a man wanted to convert to Judaism, then he would be treated like a baby and given the same treatment. So all the boys were treated like men, and all the men were treated like boys.

After Jesus rose from the dead, circumcision was no longer practiced, since circumcision was for the Jewish people, but now the Gospel was going out to both Jews and Gentiles. In fact, whether or not Gentiles should be circumcised was one of the first disputes in the earliest times in the church. You can read about that in the book of Acts.

But in the Christian faith, baptism replaces circumcision. A person becomes a Christian through baptism. And also, we know that baptism is given not just to men, but to women. In the Jewish faith, people are part of God’s family through their family line. But in the Christian faith, we become part of God’s family through being grafted into Jesus, through baptism, and through the gift of the Holy Spirit. And when we are baptised, the babies are treated like adults, and if a person converts to Christianity later in life, then adults are treated like babies.

There’s a lot written about this in the New Testament, and I won’t go into it all in detail today. But I’d like to read something from Colossians about baptism and circumcision: We read: In Christ the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have bene filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven all our trespasses, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

You can see here that baptism is now the thing which unites us to Christ.  In fact, here St Paul calls baptism a circumcision made without hands. And the mark that is made on us in baptism isn’t seen by the human eye—but it’s seen by God. God marks us with his word and with his name: I baptise you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. He stamps them onto us, and we receive these things not by sight, but by faith. Faith comes not from sight, but from hearing—God is the one who has spoken his word and his name onto us in baptism. And then we say: God said it, I believe it, and that settles it.

So this brings us to the second thing that we commemorate today, and that is that on the same occasion, Jesus was given his name. In the reading today it says: At the end of eight days, when we was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

How many of us would ever say that our mothers and fathers named us our particular names because before we were conceived an angel came and gave the name to them? What amazing thing this is! Now in the Gospel of Luke, it is said that when the angel Gabriel went to visit Mary, he says: Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.

But also in the Gospel of Matthew, we read about how an angel spoke to Joseph in a dream and said: Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

Here from Matthew we learn the meaning of Jesus’ name. Jesus is the Greek version of his name. In Hebrew, we would call him Yeshua. It’s almost the same as the name “Joshua”. It’s often the case, all throughout the bible, that children are given names that have a certain meaning. And Yeshua in Hebrew means “He saves”. And so the angel says: You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

If we go to the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew, we’ll see there a genealogy of Jesus. And one thing that we notice from this family tree is that there’s so many sinners there. Some people among Jesus’ ancestors were complete idol worshippers. Solomon, for example, had so many wives, that in his old age he was dragged away from God to worship idols. And also, David, his father, also had an affair with Bathsheba, who was married to Uriah the Hittite. Then David sent Uriah off to battle, and put him at the front line, so that he would be exposed in battle and killed.

This is Jesus’ family. And it says: He will save his people from their sins.

But you know, it’s not just for the circumcised that Jesus came to die for, it’s for the whole world. The Jews are not the only sinners—Gentiles are sinners too. In Romans, St Paul says: For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

This is such a wonderful passage. The only people that Jesus will save is sinners. The only people God will have mercy on is the disobedient. The so-called perfect won’t want him, and the obedient don’t need him.

Sometimes, we look at our own hearts, and all we can see there is sin. God for you—that means that God has consigned you to disobedience. But there is a purpose, a reason, why he has done this. It says: For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

So when the devil comes along and wants to rub your face in it and say, You’re a sinner, and you’re no good, and God doesn’t love you anymore, and you’re not worthy of God anymore, then you can say: Yes, devil, you’re right—I am a sinner, and I am no good, but I have a Jesus, who was circumcised on the eighth day of his life, and given the name Jesus, which means that he will save his people from their sins. The only people Jesus is going to save are sinners.

There are so many passages then in the bible which speak so highly of Jesus’ name. There are so many treasures contained in his name, and the more we learn this, the more it will be such a joy to call on it.

Do you know, after Jesus rose from the dead, and after the day of Pentecost, when the apostles were going out and preaching, the first problem they encountered was that they were forbidden to preach in the name of Jesus. The first thing that the Jewish high priests tried to do to thwart the Christian faith was to silence the name of Jesus. The apostles had said: This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

Do you hear how important the name of Jesus is here?

Also, there’s the wonderful passage in Philippians, where it says: He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Do you see here how important Jesus’ name is? Do you see the wonderful power and the wonderful blessings that come simply from Jesus name?

Just one more thing: Often in early Christianity, people often saw in the circumcision of Jesus, a foretaste of the cross, because this was not just the time when his name would be given, but also the first time when Jesus would shed his blood.

But then also, when we look forward to the cross, when Christ shed his blood for us in his most wonderful sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, what do we notice nailed to the cross above Jesus’ head? His name—Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.

And this teaches us that every time we enter into God’s presence in worship, and in prayer, and also when we enter in heaven when we die, we enter not without our name written over our head, not with the name of a sinner over our head, but with Christ’s name over our head. And not just with his name, but with his blood which was poured out for us on the cross. And it’s Christ’s name and Christ’s blood that is applied to us in baptism. And in the Lord’s Supper, it’s Christ’s name and Christ’s body and blood that is given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins. It’s not just anyone’s body and blood, but Christ is the one who attaches his name to it—It’s our Lord Jesus Christ who on the night he was betrayed took bread.

There’s a lovely story about Martin Luther, where he says, that the devil came knocking on his door, and said: Does Martin Luther live here? And Martin Luther said, “No, Martin Luther died long ago. Only Jesus lives here.”

This is a story about baptism—through baptism, Martin Luther has been put to death. And he has been raised from the dead with Jesus.

But the devil wants to accuse him by name. And the devil also comes to want to accuse us by name. But we are given a name that is so perfect, that the devil can’t accuse it—and that is the name of Jesus. And so we say, “I died long ago—only Jesus lives here.”

What a wonderful gift is the name of Jesus!

Amen.

Dear Jesus, we thank you for the gift of your name, given to you when you were eight days old, but also given to your parents by the angel before you were conceived. What a wonderful heavenly name you have! Come Lord Jesus, and be with us, and save us from our sins! Hallowed be your name! Amen.