NEWS

Paul is talking to himself in today’s Epistle, for although he knows what’s right, he finds it virtually impossible to do. That’s because he (and all of us) have this sickness called sin, for which we ourselves have no antidote. Worse, it keeps producing evil symptoms in our thoughts, words, and deeds. As a result, we are both sick in spirit and tired from struggling. Zechariah foresaw the solution; we can see his prophecy fulfilled as Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, there to die for us and rise victorious. In the Gospel, our Lord thanks our heavenly Father for revealing to us that He is indeed the One we need to overcome our sickness of sin. Indeed, thanks to our Savior, as David penned in the psalm, that when people call out to Him, God hears their cry and saves them.

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Without the truly good news of the Gospel we cannot see the hard truth that we and all people are poor sinners who deserve nothing but punishment from almighty God. It takes the Gospel to open our eyes wide to the severity of God’s Law, which our Savior took on Himself in our stead. In Jeremiah’s day, and our own, false prophets proclaim an easy peace that requires little change in our daily living. Now, as when Paul was writing, some people in the Church think the freedom Christ won for us can mean a disregard for God’s Law. And when Jesus was calling disciples, He had to warn them (and us) that some of their own family members would actively oppose their following the Lord. But the Gospel announces what is real and good: God has kept all His promises in our Savior Jesus Christ. His death shows the enormity of the punishment we deserve, and His resurrection assures us of eternal life. Because our Lord gave His life for us, with eyes wide open we can lose ourselves in service to Him and with the psalmist “sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever” (Psalm 89:1).

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It should be no surprise, for the Lord warned them from the beginning. To follow Christ, to live our Baptism, to be a Christian will not be a life of ease, peace, and abundance, but rather one of trouble and contradiction. All the apostles and prophets found this to be true. Jeremiah’s complaint is repeated by all who have discovered the Christian life is but warfare between life and death. Because Jesus gave Himself to the defeat of the devil and our spiritual slavery by letting it all have its way with Him to the cross, all who believe are freed and made participants in newness of life by simple faith in this grace and mercy of God for us. Jesus says three times today, “Do not be afraid,” so now even with the prophet’s complaint repeated, we can rejoice with him, “Sing to the Lord! Give praise to the Lord!”

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We begin the long, green season of Sundays after Pentecost by acknowledging the apostolic ministry whereby the authoritative Word of God is delivered to the world. Fundamental to faith in the Word is the understanding of our sin and the love of God for all. Through the apostle Paul, we are given this understanding—sin is an inherited disease from which no one is exempt as descendants of Adam. Even greater, however, is to understand and believe that forgiveness of sin and eternal life come to all who hear and believe the Gospel call to repentance. By Baptism we receive forgiveness and the righteousness of Christ our Savior. God’s Word continue to be proclaimed to this day. Thank God for the ministry and His ministers who open to us the way of saving faith.

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The feast of the Holy Trinity is about the one true God who has revealed Himself in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But the feast is not about God alone. As the Trinity, He is, of course, never alone even in Himself. But also in His creation, even the pinnacle of His work, man, is not to be alone. Male and female He created them. But even greater than this relationship is man’s relationship with God. Created “in His image,” we are never to be alone but find our identity in fellowship with God. Without Him, we are incomplete. The image of God means to possess God’s righteousness. The “righteousness” of God means everything working together like God intended. That includes a relationship with Him. Though we lost that righteousness by our sin, choosing to be alone without God, God still took into Himself our very human nature in the person of the Son of God, Jesus. By His innocent life and His substitutionary suffering and death, all who repent and are baptized into Him are restored in righteousness. With Christ and in Him, we, too, are crowned in glory and honor. All praise to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever.

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What can “top” the story of Easter? For fifty days, the Church has exalted in the glory of the resurrection of Jesus, shouting, “The Lord is risen” and “He is risen indeed.” “This is the feast of victory” we’ve said and sung. But our risen Lord has told us there is more—there is something greater. Today, on the great fiftieth day of our celebration, the Lord poured out in a dramatic way the Holy Spirit. Not as if the Spirit has been absent until now, for wherever faith is, there is the evidence of the working of God the Holy Spirit. Not a different helper, but the one true triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is poured out into the world. We hear the mighty acts of God in our own language to this day. We heard God the Father say at our Lord’s transfiguration, “Listen to Him.” Today our attention is diverted from the Holy Spirit as He means to tell us, “It is all about Jesus!”

In Jesus, the glory of God has come to enlighten our dark world and lives. In Jesus, the water of eternal life makes us alive forevermore. Remember the Christmas angels singing “Glory to God in the highest”? Then His true glory shined forth from the cross of His atoning suffering and death for us. Now the glory of His resurrection is made known in the living Word of God as it is spoken in many languages the world over and distributed through the Holy Sacraments. Now the only thing left is our final glorification, being raised completely to that new life on the day of our resurrection.

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Our Savior Jesus Christ told us He was going to His Father. The first disciples saw Him do this, actually leaving them and us behind, ascending through the clouds. But they and we are to know His “going” is not exactly His “leaving.” For He has not left us alone as orphans. We are to know that His real presence with us is now not by sight but by faith through His Sacraments. It is His voice we hear from now on, saying, “I forgive you all your sins.” By faith we know that Holy Baptism and Holy Communion are not primarily something we do only to remember Him but the Means by which He washes us and fills us now with His righteousness. Through it all, we are formed by His cross, enduring suffering for His sake with the great and sure hope that, in the end, we will be with Him forever.

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During these great fifty days of Easter, we gather again to hear the risen Lord Jesus as He appears and speaks to us in no less a real way than when He appeared and spoke to the first disciples before His ascension into heaven. As Scripture says, “The LORD is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him” (Habakkuk 2:20). So we gather in reverent, holy anticipation as we hear the words of Jesus in John’s inspired account, recalling His promise given on Holy Thursday, His word concerning the promise that He would send “another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16–17). The Holy Spirit is wherever He creates and sustains faith through God’s Word. However, our Easter celebration will break forth before the world on the Day of Pentecost.

Jesus says the world cannot receive, see, or know the Spirit. Paul found this to be true in Athens as he noticed an altar dedicated “To the unknown god.” Though many in our day certainly have heard about Jesus, they do not know Him apart from faith in His word. But you know Him! Baptized into Christ, His resurrection life has given us new life, which for now is but the beginning to be stretched out into life eternal.

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Our fifty-day celebration of Easter continues as we solemnly gather in the presence of our crucified and risen Savior Jesus Christ. Present He is for we see and hear Him touching and speaking to us through His Spirit, in the water of Holy Baptism, in His very body and blood in Holy Communion, in His words of Holy Absolution, and in the preaching of His Word. We gather not as much to give anything to Him but to receive from Him His gifts of deliverance, salvation, and righteousness. Today, once again He bestows on you His own righteousness, making of us a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession. Our sin has been taken away, and we are renewed with eternal life by the faith created in us by His Spirit. In this faith our doubts and fears are taken away as we look forward to our heavenly home, the many rooms and mansions, the place prepared for us, as we await His final return.

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