Pentecost IV (Proper 6 B) [Mark 4:26-34] (17-Jun-2018)

This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 8.15am, and Grace Lutheran Church, Childers, 10.30am.

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

The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.

Prayer: May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

In the Book of Judges, we read about Gideon. Gideon was one of the judges whom God raised up, and he defeated the Midianites in battle. When Gideon was gathering together an army, God kept telling him that he had too many soldiers. We read: The Lord said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ Eventually God kept on reducing the number of the army from 32,000 men down to 300 men. If 32,000 men won a victory, they would congratulate themselves. But if they could win the victory with only 300 men, then they would give glory to God for helping despite such bad odds!

In the Book of Judges, we also read before the battle, how God sends Gideon down into the Midianite camp to listen to what they are saying, and he overhears a man telling his fellow soldier a dream. He says: Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat. Here we head about this man having a dream where a bread roll rolls into the camp and knocks over a tent. The other soldier says: This is no other that the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp. And so we read that Gideon with his measly 300 men, wins the victory over the Midianites. From a human point of view, it seems so unlikely and so impossible, but God is on their side. It is as unlikely as a bread roll knocking over a tent!

And so, also in our Gospel reading today, Jesus tells us about seed scattered on the ground, or a mustard seed being planted. From a human point of view, these seeds look so small, so insignificant, so useless, but actually, they grow up and become useful plants, and large bushes and trees. The seed here in the reading is God’s word, and the Gospel, and the Kingdom of God. It looks so small and insignificant, just like a bread roll, or Gideon’s army of 300 men. But when the seed grows, it flourishes and blossoms and flowers and produces fruit. God’s word, the Gospel, and the Kingdom of God have all the power in heaven and earth to destroy all the strongholds of the devil and to crush him. When God is the one at work, then a little bread roll can knock over a whole tent, and Gideon’s army of 300 men can defeat the Midianites.

So in our reading we read about two parables: the first is about the seed scattered on the ground, and the second is about the mustard seed.

Jesus says: The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle.

This is an amazing parable. Here the seed is the word of God which is scattered, and grows into the wonderful kingdom of God. And in the Gospel of Matthew, we read where it says: All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world”. Here Matthew quotes this prophecy from Psalm 78: I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.

In the parable of the scattered seed, it brings us back to the foundation of the world, back to Genesis chapter 1, where we read about creation. Here we see God creating the world, but he doesn’t just sit down and set about doing it, he does it in a particular way and with particular means. God creates the world through his word. He speaks and it happens. He says: Let there be light, and there was light. And so we see how God’s word has this wonderful creative power in it. It does things, and it brings things about, and brings new things into existence. It’s really quite an amazing reality for us to think about!

But we also read about the creation of plants and seeds. It says: Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

So we see here how God’s word produces plants, but then that these plants yield seed. And these seeds fall to the ground and produce more plants and more seed. God creates nature to be continually fruitful, and productive.

And so we also read in our reading today, how God created seeds and plants to reflect the way in which the word of God, and the kingdom of God works, and how they grow, and produce, and are fruitful. God created seeds to work in a similar way to his spoken word. Just as his word brings things into existence, so also seeds bring forth rich harvests, bountiful crops, fruitful vines, bushes, and abundant trees. Jesus says: The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

What is so important in this parable is that the most important thing is the seed. And this tells us something about mission. We are living in a time when we are seeing a great decline in churches all throughout the western world, and it is something that can sometimes make us depressed and worried. We can worry about our congregation and parish finances. People start to think, “how can we bring more people in”?

Now, we are living in times that are dominated by buying and selling. Everything is for sale, and it seems like everyone is trying to sell us something. Sometimes we can easily fall into the trap of thinking like this as Christians too, and we start to think, “How can we grow the church, so that we can pay the church’s bills?” No wonder people are suspicious sometimes of Christians, if they think we’re just after their money! So there’s a real danger of treating the church like a business, and people like consumers.

The problem is that we focus on the harvest, instead of the seed. We often want to see the church full of people, we want to see the church as successful, and productive, and flourishing! But every farmer knows that if you want a harvest, you have to plant your seed. Unbelievers are not customers—they are empty ground in need of the seed of God’s word. We could share the word with them as we are able, we could pray for them, we could invite them to church, or make friends with them and help them, and treat them as we think a Christian should treat them. God has placed us in particular homes, in particular areas, workplaces, or families, and we all have our different gifts—some in speaking, some in serving, some in helping, or however. What Jesus calls us to think about here is not the harvest – let God sort that out. He calls us to focus on the seed. And the seed here is the word of God—it doesn’t look like much, but it has incredible power to produce a very rich harvest indeed.

Now, in the parable, we read something quite amazing. It says: The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how.

Here we see that the power to grow this seed belongs to God and not to us. The seed grows and sprouts even while the farmer is asleep. Now there is a very famous quote of Martin Luther about this passage. He says: I simply taught, preached, and wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philip and Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything. (LW 51:77).

You can see here how confident Martin Luther was knowing that he has simply preached the word and sowed the seed. He could go to sleep now, and have a beer, because he knew that the Gospel was now doing its work. Now, Luther was not saying that once he had preached the Gospel, he could now have the other six days of the week off! But he was saying that while he slept, while he drank his Wittenberg beer, the word of God was working, it was changing people, it was growing a harvest. And so the glory did not belong to him, but to God who was doing the work.

In 1 Corinthians, St Paul talks about how people were playing him and Apollos off against one another. We suspect Paul was not a particularly good public speaker, but Apollos was known to be eloquent. And even though Paul was the apostle, and Apollos was not, people started to prefer Apollos because he was a better speaker. But in the church, we are not simply sowing the seed of public speaking and rousing speeches; public speaking and rousing speeches can whip people up for a while. Even Hitler knew how to put on a good speech! We are sowing the seed of God’s word, and the glory belongs to him. So St Paul says: What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. The glory belongs to God, not to Paul and Apollos.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul writes: Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant. Paul and me and you are nothing but insignificant bread rolls – the power to knock over a whole tent belongs to God.

Sometimes, we might look at ourselves and our weaknesses and our insecurities and our failings and all of the things that we wish we had or we wish we could do or we wish we were, but in reality we don’t have, we can’t do, and ain’t – then it’s time for us to look to Jesus’ words in 2 Corinthians 12, where he says: My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. And Paul writes: Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

And so Jesus says, while you sleep, while you are weak, while you are useless, while you are completely out of the way, the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.

Now we come to the second part of the reading, about the parable of the mustard seed. Jesus says: With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is grown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.

Now, there is a wonderful passage in the book of 1 Kings, where Elijah is feeling very miserable for himself. There is a terrible king on the throne, King Ahab, and Elijah thought he was the only faithful follower of God left. But God says to him: I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal. Elijah feels like he is the only one left, like he is just a little mustard seed, a little black speck on white sandy beach. But God knows how to grow a large tree from a mustard seed.

We might even look at the life of Jesus. He lived in a time when he was the only one who preached the message that he did. His own people didn’t receive it, and every single nation on earth did not know the God of Israel. He was just a small mustard seed – but here we are, over 2000 years later, on the other side of the world, part of that mustard tree, part of his branches.

But then, sometimes in the church, we can often find ourselves as small insignificant people in a big world, where nobody cares about us or what we’ve got to say. But we speak the same word of God, we plant that same Gospel, even if no one in the whole world cared for it or not, even if no one in the whole universe listened to us. Because when it is God’s word that we speak, then we know that his power is able to make that mustard seed turn into a large bush, a large garden plant, and put out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.

At the end of the reading today, we read two little verses, that look very insignificant, like two grains of mustard! It says: With many such parables [Jesus] spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

The amazing thing about the way Jesus teaches here, is that as we think about these parables, and churn them over, we find new insights and new discoveries that we never thought about before. The pictures that Jesus plants in our minds of the seed and the mustard seed produce fruitful and rich thoughts in our minds. Sometimes we don’t understand the parables, and we think about them, and think about them, and push and push, but we don’t seem to get it.

Now, just imagine if we were reading some Shakespeare, or something, and we didn’t know what he meant. And all the Shakespeare scholars don’t really know either. If Shakespeare were still alive, we could ring him up, or write him a letter, and ask him just what he meant.

But the Scripture is different, because for every book of the bible, there are two authors. We have the person who wrote the Gospel, whether it is Matthew, Mark, or Luke, or whoever – and then we have the Holy Spirit. Now we can’t ring up Mark or John or Ezekiel what they meant, but the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are still alive. The problem is not that the word is not clear, it’s that our minds are not clear. Sometimes there are people who think that the bible is just a dead word, and not the voice of the Holy Spirit. So no wonder when they talk about the bible, it sounds like a coroner’s report. However, Jesus is alive, the speaker of the parable has risen from the dead, and if we ask him, he will teach us and send us the Holy Spirit, and explain to us what the parable means.

So we read: With may such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. By nature, because of our sin, we are simply unable to hear the word, until the Holy Spirit comes and opens our ears. It says: He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything. To the outsider, nothing that Jesus is saying makes sense. But when Jesus sends us the Holy Spirit to enlighten our understanding, then it makes sense. It’s similar to when the apostles found themselves very busy in the book of Acts, and they appointed some helpers to share their work. And they said: But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. These two things go together: prayer and the ministry of the word. They go together because they can’t do the ministry of the word without Jesus’ help, and so they continually ask him for help.

So let’s commend ourselves to him, to Jesus, who died for us and rose again from the dead, to win the forgiveness of sins for us and the promise of eternal life. This word of God doesn’t look like much, maybe like a little seed, but it grows and produces, and puts out branches, and brings about a wonderful harvest. Amen.

Dear Jesus, plant your saving and powerful word in us, and let your kingdom grow. Send us the Holy Spirit, that we may hear and understand your word more and more. Amen.

Lent III B [John 2:13-22] (4-Mar-2018)

This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 8.15am, and Grace Lutheran Church, Childers, 10.30am.

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

                                                                                                                               

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

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

In our Gospel reading today, we read about where Jesus goes into the temple in Jerusalem, and he throws out the traders. The second thing is where some Jewish leaders go to Jesus and question his authority. And these two things are going be to focus of our sermon today.

Let’s come to our first part, where

I.                   Jesus cleanses the temple.

We read: The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In John’s Gospel, this event is recorded early in Jesus’ ministry. But in the other gospels, it happens later on Palm Sunday, a week before he died. Now, we Lutherans believe that the Bible doesn’t have mistakes. Our congregation’s constitution states this, we pastors confess this at our ordinations, and also it is stated in our church’s confession of faith, the Book of Concord. In Luther’s Large Catechism, we read: We know that God does not lie. I and my neighbor and, in short, all people, may err and deceive. But God’s Word cannot err. However, it is common in the bible to find some difficulties and things which seem to contradict. We all recognise that these things are there and all scholars who are honest know about them. The difference between people who think the bible does have mistakes and we who believe it doesn’t is not simply that we are too naïve to see them or not honest. The difference is in how we deal with these differences.

So instead of chucking the bible out the window, it has always been the custom of Christians to propose a harmony of these difficulties, and give a possible explanation. Some writers in history believed that Jesus cleansed the temple twice, once earlier and once later. We read in the Gospels that Jesus performed similar miracles more than once: for example, at one time he fed 5000 people, and at another time he fed 4000. Other writers believed that it only happened once, but that John wasn’t too worried about the chronological order. Sometimes the different writers put things in a different order. Whatever the answer is, we know that this event really did happen, either once or twice.

We read in our reading: In the temple [Jesus] found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with

the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. Even in Mark it says: And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. Now, in this passage, Jesus is angry. In a culture like ours, where people often don’t believe that there is such a thing as truth, people emphasise that we always have to be nice. A person who loses his temper, loses the argument. But what about Jesus here? Here we see him not always mild and friendly, but also angry.

Sometimes people make the mistake of saying that in the Old Testament, is an angry God, and in the New Testament, he is a friendly God. People almost talk like there are two different gods! There is only one God, and he is both angry and friendly. Both of these things show that God cares: his anger shows that he cares about his law and his commandments. Sin makes God angry. But also, God cares about sinners, like you, and he wants to rescue you and win you. Even though Jesus here is angry and often speaks God’s law, he is also friendly, because he wants to save you with the Gospel.

Now in this reading we’re talking about the temple. Now, in the Old Testament there are some parts (which might not seem very interesting!) which describe in great graphic detail how God wanted his temple to be built. He planned it exactly to be a beautiful house of worship. In the New Testament, we don’t have a temple, because all of the old ceremonies of the Jewish people no longer apply. We don’t sacrifices lambs and bulls anymore, because we have a better sacrifice, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who was sacrificed once and for all. But Jesus cares here about worship and about the temple. When he was a boy, he called the temple his Father’s house. And so also, we Christians too should dedicate ourselves to worship, and come to church, and hear the word of God.

We learn something here about the Third Commandment: Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy. In the Old Testament, the Jewish people had to keep all kinds of rules and regulations of ceremonies and worship. They were forbidden from working on Saturdays, they performed sacrifices, circumcisions, offerings, washings, and all kinds of things. In the New Testament, we don’t follow these things, because Jesus has fulfilled these laws and has brought them to an end. Sometimes today, we come across Christians who believe we still need to do these things, like worshipping on Saturday and eating certain foods. We believe that these things are now left free, including the day of worship. We worship on Sunday freely, because Jesus rose on Sunday, not because it is commanded. However, God still commands us to come together as Christians and hear the preaching of the word of God. The writer of Hebrews tells us not to neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some.

Jesus in our reading cares about the temple and about the worship. He lived a perfectly obedient life as a Jew. Just as Moses came down from the mountain when he saw the people worshipping the golden calf and became angry and even smashed the Ten Commandments, so also Jesus throws these traders out of the temple, because they hinder worship and prevent people from hearing the word of God. Jesus says: It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’. How can it be a house of prayer with all this going on? How will people learn to pray if all they think they need to do is pay God off with a few cheap animals?

Now these words: My house shall be called a house of prayer, are written in large letters at the front of our church in Maryborough, together with some beautiful wooden plaques depicting the different sections of the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus says: It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers. Jesus says: Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade. Jesus doesn’t distinguish here between good trade and bad trade—he throws everyone out. There is a time and place for trade, but this temple is a place for prayer.

We Christians also need to realise that the church is not a business. God’s house is not a house of trade. Now, sure, every church has various expenses—we have buildings and property that need to maintained. Pastors also need to have a living. Paul says: the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the Gospel. However, we don’t preach the Gospel for a price, but freely, and sometimes pastors need to work on the side, if the church can’t support them. For instance, Paul made tents. But the problem of church finances is not getting more money out of people’s pockets, but getting the Gospel into people’s hearts. God is a living God, and he has already provided what we need, even if we can’t see it. The question then is how can we use our money, our gifts, and our abilities freely in the service of others.

John writes: [Jesus’] disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” Here we see that Jesus’ anger is a holy zeal, it is pure and righteous. However, when we get angry, we always have some sin in it. We always get too angry. Parents know this well, and we parents have many regrets about this. We knew that we were right to be angry, but if only we hadn’t been so angry! Or sometimes we were wrong and we got angry. Remember Jesus died for bad tempers too. He died not just for the sins that are easy to fix, but especially for the ones that we hate ourselves for. Jesus covers over our excessive anger with his pure and righteous anger.

Now what if a pastor comes to a new parish (cough!) and finds things to be not as he would like it? Should he make a cord of whips and fix everything straight away? Let’s look at Martin Luther. When Luther went into hiding at one time, a man called Carlstadt thought that we have to fix everything in the church right now, and he made a real mess. Luther said, Just because some people in the world worship the stars, doesn’t mean we pluck them out of the sky! Wine, women and song make a fool of many a man, but that doesn’t mean that we pour out all the wine and kill all the women! A reformation must only happen through prayer and teaching, and Jesus himself must open the door for any change in his own time. He says: I am the door for the sheep.

However, sometimes the church is desecrated. I remember once seeing in recent years a situation in Germany where an imam was invited to sing the Muslim call to prayer in a church at the beginning of a concert. A lady in the audience shouted out and said that salvation was only in Jesus Christ, and that this act didn’t belong in the church. I think she was right for doing this. Sometimes, zeal needs to take over, and sometimes this kind of zeal comes from the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, the only way in dealing with a problem in the church is to say, Begone, Satan!

Now, we come to the second part of our reading, about where

I.                   some Jews question Jesus’ authority.

We read: The Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Here Jesus calls his own body the true temple of God. In John 1 it says: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Literally, it says: He pitched his tent among us, or made his tabernacle among us. Just as God dwelt in a tabernacle and a temple in the Old Testament, Jesus teaches that God is now to be found in him. Colossians 2:9 says that in [Jesus] the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily. This means that Jesus’ human body is a house for the living God. But it’s not as if Jesus’ human body and his human flesh are a dead thing, like a house made out of bricks, but his human body is connected to God in such a wonderful way that Jesus is both true man and true God in one person. Jesus is not just a temple for God, but he is actually God himself, and he lives in perfect unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Now, you might know that Muslims always pray in the direction of the city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Wherever they are in the world, they have to face in that direction. When we Christians pray, which way do we face? Now we might say, we can face anywhere, but that’s not the whole answer. When we pray, we always face towards Jesus, because he is our temple, he is our holy place. Jesus says: No-one comes to the Father except through me. So, because Jesus is now seated at the right hand of God, he is available and accessible anywhere, and he can listen to our prayers wherever we are. And because of this, we can pray anywhere and in any direction. But we also pray in the direction of Jesus, and in the name of Jesus.

Now, sometimes, New Age people say that their body is a temple. Normally, people mean that they should exercise and keep their body looking trim, taut and terrific. But what they never say is who their body is a temple for. Is it a temple for the Holy Spirit, or some other spirit? Jesus’ body is a temple for the living God, and he is also true God. Our bodies are also temples of the Holy Spirit. This is not to say something particularly special about bodies. We are weak and we are decaying. St Paul says: We have this treasure is jars of clay (not in jars of gold) to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. Our bodies as Christians are not simply temples for anything, but temples of the Holy Spirit. St Paul says: Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God. You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God with your body.

So when Jesus cleanses the temple, he knows full well that the temple will become redundant. Jesus himself is the new temple. When Jesus died, the curtain in the temple was ripped from top to bottom. The temple is no longer needed. In the year 70 AD, the temple was destroyed by the Romans. Jesus is our new temple, and his word will never pass away. Just as Jesus got rid of all the hindrances in the temple to hearing God’s word, so also we should put away all hindrances in hearing Jesus’ eternal saving words.

Jesus says: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” You know, it shouldn’t really take forty-six years to build a temple. But as with all building projects, they get finished when they get finished. Remember the Tower of Babel never got finished, because God didn’t allow it. The prophet Daniel had said about the rebuilding of Jerusalem that it would happen in a troubled time. This temple was actually the second one in history and King Herod had built it. He wanted to make a name for himself. Sometimes in the church, people want to make a name for themselves and start a building project, but then the project for some reason takes a long time to finish. Even though his building project took 46 years, Jesus’ building project—his resurrection from the dead—only took three days. It only took the length of time to show that he was really dead!

And so we see here that Jesus is a real human being. He has a real human body. In other places, Jesus says that he has flesh and bones, that he has a soul, a spirit, a will, flesh and blood. He is a true human being just like us. But he also shows us here that he is true God. He has the power to raise his own body from the dead. He says: In three days I will raise it up. This is Jesus’ building project, a building project like no other. He says: I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. Even on the cross Jesus says: Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

So what an amazing person Jesus is! He is both true man and also true God. He lets us meet God the Father through him—he is our temple. The temple was destroyed on Good Friday, but on the third day, Jesus raised himself up again. Even today he speaks his gospel to us again, and draws us to himself through his friendly, gentle words. He shows his zeal and shows us how we should put away anything and everything that would hinder us from hearing this word and his voice. He has baptised you and made you a temple of his Holy Spirit. And he gives you that very same body, the temple of the living God, and his blood, the sacrifice which atoned for your sin, for you to eat and drink in the Lord’s Supper even today. His body and blood is given for you and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This body and blood was destroyed on Calvary, and on Easter Sunday it was raised up with a power that is greater than all the power in heaven and earth. Let’s thank Jesus for the wonderful way in which he cares for us! Amen.

Dear Jesus, bless us with your Holy Spirit, and if there is anything unclean in us, then cleanse us out, and make us vessels and instruments for you and for service in your kingdom. Amen.