“Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” (2 Peter 3:4)
St. Peter is writing to the Jews of the Diaspora, which is a funny word for “dispersing.” “Diaspora” refers to the Jews spreading themselves out across the Mediterranean world, rather than being concentrated right there in Israel. They, like many people today – including you and me - were wondering when the Lord was coming back. It’s been two thousand years! Doesn’t God figure it is time yet?
St. Peter is clear that the Lord’s final coming will be unexpected, and it will involve much waiting. The Lord desires that all should come to a knowledge of salvation and have faith in Him. “All” means all, and alltakes a really long time!
In the meantime, though, the Lord does come. He comes often and much in His body and blood. For those who must sit and wait for our Lord’s glorious coming on the last day He gives a gift of flesh and blood, hidden under bread and wine – a mini-coming, each Lord’s Day. The Lord’s Supper is our own little mini-Last Day, with the Lord judging sin and forgiving it right there in your mouths and your bellies!
The Lord thinks differently than we do. He looks at lowly things and makes them great. He looks at sinners and sees redeemed, perfect children of God. He sits back for a thousand years and only one day passes by. The Lord does things His way, because His way is the way of life and salvation.
The Lord has everything under control. He’s worked out your salvation for you, and He delivers that salvation to you in the waters of Holy Baptism, where He claims you as His own. He delivers that salvation to you in the words of Holy Absolution as your Pastor proclaims them to you. He delivers that salvation in His own “hidden-coming”, the Lord’s Blessed Body and Blood given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
My God desires the soul’s salvation; My soul He, too, desires to save. Therefore with Christian resignation All earthly troubles I will brave. His will be done eternally: What pleases God, that pleases me. (LSB 719.3
But he answered, 'Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.' Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. (Matthew 25:12-13)
Pastor Philipp Nicolai was a faithful pastor in Germany at a very difficult time. Seminary had not prepared Pastor Nicolai for what he would face in his ministry. At one time he was averaging 30 funerals a day due to bubonic plague that had engulfed his community. One day he was sitting at his desk, which overlooked the church cemetery, and saw the mounds of all the people that had just been recently buried there. What was worse, he had just buried a 15-year-old student of his and the thought of his own impending doom was great. However, Pastor Nicolai was ready to meet his Lord, .
As a testimony to this fact, he wrote a book of meditations which contained many hymns of rejoicing at the thought of meeting Christ.. Whether the Lord would take him now or allow him to stay and comfort those under his care, Pastor Nicolai was comforted in the Gospel that brought him so much peace.
Many of us have suffered the loss of loved ones. These times are difficult, and death and sorrow make it hard to sing and rejoice. Yet, that is exactly what we do. We rejoice and sing because Jesus will come again and bring us home to be with Him. We rejoice and sing because Christ has risen from the dead and the dead in Christ will rise first. When you are united with Christ, you are united with Him in His death and His resurrection.
Where does that uniting finally happen? In the Lord’s Supper. He does so by calling us here, to His Altar, to His holy meal of body and blood. That is your link to His death and resurrection. Everything comes together here. Heaven and earth intersect. Death and life. Our Lord joins Himself to you here and gives you His very life.
Almighty God, we implore You, show Your mercy to Your humble servants that we, who put no trust in our own merits, may not be dealt with after the severity of Your judgment, but according to Your mercy; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen
And the LORD said to Moses, "Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. " (Exodus 32:7)
Moses is up on the mountain of the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights. The Israelites begin to think that God has deserted them. They call on Aaron to help them make for a god that would be able to lead them as they wanted to be led. Aaron, giving in to the people, tells them to take off their gold rings and other jewelry and bring them to him. When he received these items he melted them down and made an idol, a golden calf and he said to the people, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!"
What is the first commandment? Oh yeah, “You shall have no other gods.” And what commandment do they break first? The first commandment! Isn't that ironic? Or is it? After all, that was the commandment first broken by our parents Adam and Eve. They, like the Israelites, made a god, themselves, that would come before the true God.
Now, before you think you’d never make an idol, you need to understand something. When we sin, whatever the sin may be, we are putting something before the true God. We are showing what we truly are, sinful beings who sin in thought, word and deed....sinners who don't “trust in God above all things.”
The question is, why wasn't Israel destroyed for their idolatry? Moses pleaded with the Lord, “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.” He reminded the Lord of the promise of a Savior. This is the same reason you don’t face the wrath of God....Jesus.
Now don't get me wrong, the wrath of God still needed to be displayed, but it fell on His Son. Jesus, on the cross, was forsaken by the Father as he experienced the very hatred that God has for sin and the sinner. Jesus was sent to hell for us as punishment for our sins that He bore in his body. And so God keeps His promise.
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
(1 Thessalonians 4:13-14)
When one thinks about life after death, eternal life, salvation and/or heaven, there are basically two groups of people - those with hope and those without hope.
The question is...are you one with hope or one without hope?
In light of the reading above, each of us knows that we are sinners doomed to death. Just look at our lives and what we do. We do sinful deeds, because we are sinners who have been sinful since birth. Perfect? God knows that we aren't.
Our problem is that such sinfulness cuts us off from God. But the LORD has taken our problem on Himself. He works it out so that we will stand before perfect and guilt-free. . There is nothing anyone can possibly do to work this problem out.
God can, however. God has worked faith in your heart to believe the Good News of God--the Good News that He sent Jesus as your redeemer. So, do you remember when that Good News was first spoken to you? For most, it was on the day of Baptism. The day Jesus washed away your sins by the water and the Word. The Bible has a promise that became effective that day: "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:16). That promise was not for you only, but as it is written in the Word of God: "The promise is for you and for your children" (Acts 2:39).
Living in the promise of your baptism, you have hope. You have hope because you are in Christ Jesus. And this hope is not like hoping it won't rain tomorrow or your team winning...no, not at all. This is sure, certain and will not disappoint. We have God's promise and Christ’s death behind as the guarantee.
My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
No merit of my own I claim But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand. (LSB 575:1)
Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. (1 Peter 5:5–6).
The 4th commandment begins with a special word “honor.” In Hebrew this word means to prize highly, to respect, to care for and obey. The 4th commandment is “Honor your father and your mother so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
In this 4th commandment we get a glimpse of God's will begins, by bringing us into this world through our parents, we honor the Lord. And when we honor our parents, we honor those who represent them....all other authorities.
We offer nothing when we come into this world. In fact, this 4th commandment depicts the very act of God in creating mankind in the beginning. Adam and Eve were not created by their own will or desire. They were created by God alone. Likewise, we are brought into this world by the will of God working through our parents. And God wants us to honor them as he wanted Adam and Eve to honor him, their creator.
Of course, God was not honored by Adam and Eve when they ate of the fruit that God told them not to eat. They broke the first and greatest commandment, to love of God above all things. Subsequently, they passed on this dishonor to all mankind. We don't honor our parents just as we don't honor God. We deserve God's punishment just as Adam and Eve deserved it for their disobedience.
Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ did what Adam and Eve, you and I, failed to do...He truly honored God, His heavenly Father and His earthly parents. He did everything that was commanded him and he did it with humility and submissiveness. That was Jesus.
Through Jesus, you, too, honor God your Father and your parents and everyone else that God has placed in your path to guide and protect you. In Christ, we humble ourselves in submission to them and God lifts us up.
Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you…” (Matthew 26:26-27)
If you think about it, the night our Lord was betrayed is all about Christ giving us a very special gift. He knew he would be betrayed, and would soon feel the weight of that betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane. How could He be thinking about this special gift on this night?
Jesus knew that Judas would betray Him; he knew that Peter would deny Him and He knew that his closest friends would all desert him. Furthermore, He knows each of us. He knows that we betray Him every day. We are no better than those disciples those many years ago. We, like sheep, have each split off in our own direction, not paying a moment’s notice to our Lord and His sacrifice for us.
Jesus tells the disciples that one of them will betray Him. What is their response? They were sorrowful at the news, but you almost get the impression that they were more worried they were going to be the one. They most certainly had a guilty conscience.
This is our response to God’s Law. Rather than see the truth about us in the Law, repent and admit our sin, we would rather deny it, skirt it somehow, blame our parents, our friends or something else. This is who we are since the Fall. Guilty, but always trying to blame someone or something else.
But this night is about gifts—God's gift of His Son to us.
Jesus in our text does not try to comfort or console or strengthen His disciples with cute sayings and quick answers. He gave them the only thing that could bring comfort to their sin-sick souls. He gave them Himself, His own body and blood.
This is why it matters that what we receive in theSacrament is Jesus' true body and blood. Jesus Himself comes to us, giving us His body and blood for what we need the most, the forgiveness of sins. Let me repeat, Jesus body and blood are given to you for the forgiveness of sins—all your sins.
For Your consoling supper, Lord, Be praised throughout all ages!
Preserve it, for in ev’ry place The world against it rages.
Grant that this sacrament may be A blessed comfort unto me
But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?"
(Matthew 26:54)
Jesus is sorrowful. He falls on His face and prays. "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done." He had just given the cup with His blood to His disciples, the cup of the New Testament poured out for all. Now He faces the contents of this cup alone, the cup of human sin and suffering. The cup filled with God’s wrath against sin. Only Jesus can drink this cup, and he will drink it alone.
He prays “your will be done.” He desires to save mankind from sin and death. Three times He seeks a way around this cup of the cross.
Jesus’ disciples can't stay awake having been asked to pray with the Lord. As it turns out, Jesus is alone in His prayers. The spirit is willing but the flesh is too weak. Too weak to pray, to worship, to serve. Too weak some Sunday mornings to get out of bed and rejoice in the resurrection. Our sinful nature fights against us all the way.
Jesus prays for us all: "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done." Jesus’ will is to do the will of His God and Father who sent Him. The hour was near.
Judas comes to betray Him with an armed guard with swords and clubs. Judas kisses Jesus and calls Him “Rabbi.” Teacher. He honors Jesus and betrays Him,
One disciple uses his sword and strikes the ear of a servant and cuts it off. Jesus says, "Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” Violence just brings about more violence, even when it’s justified. Jesus is not that kind of Messiah. He could call more than twelve legions of angels to help. But then, how can all righteousness be fulfilled? How can the sin of the world be taken away? Jesus must die.
All of this took place that the scriptures might be fulfilled. Really the entire Old Testament was pointing to this event and it would all be fulfilled the next day, Good Friday. On that day Jesus would bear your sins, my sins and the sins of the entire world. What looked like a tragedy became the greatest day in human history. Man's salvation was won.
Stricken, smitten, and afflicted, See Him dying on the tree!
’Tis the Christ, by man rejected; Yes, my soul, ’tis He, ’tis He!
’Tis the long-expected Prophet, David’s Son, yet David’s Lord;
Proofs I see sufficient of it: ’Tis the true and faithful Word.
For he has delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies. (Psalm 54:7)
Jesus is arrested, stands before the religious leaders and makes no sound. “Like a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth,” the prophet Isaiah said. God is on trial here, and God doesn't open his mouth.
Finally, in frustration Jesus is asked, "I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." And Jesus responds, "You have said so.” There you have it. Jesus is the Son of God. Hearing this, the high priest tore his robes and shouts out “blasphemy.” They have what they are looking for, or so they suppose. They reason, “He deserves to die.” They spit in His face and mock Him as a false prophet. And the Son of Man, Son of God, Messiah, falls silent once again.
Peter was waiting outside. A servant girl sees him and says, "You also were with Jesus the Galilean." Peter denies it, in fact, he denies it three times. The rooster crows, and the saying of Jesus is fulfilled. Peter breaks down and weeps.
Peter the great confessor, who said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter, valiant Peter, who once said, “I would die with you before I would deny you.” Peter, like Judas, betrays his Lord.
We join Peter in denial. We ourselves have said it: “I do not know the man.” We’ve said it with our lips and our lives. We are afraid of what others might think of us and so we deny; we betray our faith and our Lord.
But Jesus will not deny us, nor does he abandon us. There is hope for all in Jesus, and He suffers this all for you. Remember this night when our Lord was dragged from place to place; when our Lord was beaten to within an inch of his life; when our Lord was spit upon, had his beard pulled out and allowed it all to happen. Yes, remember this night when our Lord would not call upon the angels of heaven to end this injustice. Remember, that when this night was over, our Lord was made to drag his own execution cross through the streets of Jerusalem all the way to a mountain call Golgotha and there get nailed to the cross for the sins of the world. Your sins. And wake up tomorrow to celebrate that He rose again, and you have life and salvation.
Jesus, I will ponder now On Your holy passion;
With Your Spirit me endow For such meditation.
Grant that I in love and faith May the image cherish
Of Your suff’ring, pain, and death That I may not perish. (LSB 440:1)
“When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’“ (Matthew 25:38-40)
Jesus is talking to His disciples privately on the Mount of Olives and he’s giving them instructions as pastors for when He leaves earth to ascend on high. He’s been talking about glory, and the disciples have one thing in mind when it comes to glory – a King. That’s what the Jews of the day want more then anything, an earthly kingdom with an earthly king – like David or Solomon or someone better.
For Jesus, glory means something totally different. Glory for Jesus happens on the cross, in flesh and blood, pierced and spilled for you. That is the glory point of God, where He saved you and me and all of mankind. He died for our sins, not because we deserve it, but because the Lord said He would.
Today though, we hear Jesus talking about the care of His pastors. They are those whom He shall send to be Jesus for you in a specific place, at a specific time. Jesus spells out that the care of your pastor is caring for Him. Your pastor is nothing more then Jesus’ agent of grace. He has the particular responsibility of forgiving sins. He takes what you confess to him in confession and buries those sins in the tomb with Jesus. Then, through the Words of Holy Absolution he frees you from those sins and sends you off on your way.
The Lord instituted His Office and gives us pastors, so that we might know where to find the forgiveness of sins. Go to your pastor and receive the Lord’s grace - that’s what he’s there to do! Receive the blessed words of Holy Absolution, “I forgive you!” Receive the blessed Sacrament, the Body and Blood of Jesus, given and shed for you. Your pastor distributes them all, and He wants to give them to you.
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
O Lord, so rule and govern our hearts and minds by Your Holy Spirit that, ever mindful of the end of all things and the day of Your just judgment, we may be stirred up to holiness of living here and dwell with You forever hereafter; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Collect for the 2ndLast Sunday of the Church Year)
“I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.” (Daniel 7:13-14a)
Today’s text is taken from Daniel’s dream. A few chapters back King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream too, and it was similar to Daniel’s. The big difference between the two dreams is perspective. King Nebuchadnezzar was a pagan and so his dream was meant to be heard by the unbelievers. Daniel, on the other hand, was one of the Lord’s chosen people, so his dream was meant for those redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, Christ Jesus.
Daniel sees “A Son of Man”, which is Old Testament talk for someone seemingly human. The Son of Man is coming to the Ancient of Days – more Old Testament talk for Almighty God the Father. In the whole of the chapter Daniel will get a preview of the coming attractions, the Godhead contained in flesh. Daniel will see the Son of Man descending to earth to deliver humanity from their sin.
The dominion that Daniel sees is the same dominion you see each Sunday. The dominion that Jesus has been given is marked so that we know where to find it. There, at His dominion He gives out gifts of life and salvation, given and shed for you. The glory of the Lord is His Body and Blood. Jesus is glorified by the fact that, as God, He took on lowly flesh and with it saved all of us from eternal death and damnation.
The Lord’s Kingdom is everlasting. His Body and Blood are the marks of that Kingdom, so the forgiveness they bring is everlasting as well. His Body and Blood have overcome death, they have risen again, and there is nothing that can stop them.
Behold, you see one like the Son of Man, Coming in the clouds of heaven! He stands with bread and wine, His very true flesh and very true blood – and everlasting kingdom, His dominion, give and shed for you! In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Immortal, invisible, God only wise, In light in accessible hid from our eyes, Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days, Almighty victorious, Thy great name we praise. (LSB 802.1)
