The Day of Pentecost; John 14:23-31

Alleluia!  Christ is Risen!

            A peace treaty is a declaration that two warring parties have ceased their hostilities.  The Treaty of Paris ended the Revolutionary War.  The Treaty of Versailles brought an end to WWI.  Numerous cease-fire agreements ended several other wars.  And whether it was an actual peace treaty or a cease-fire declaration, both proclaim that men and women are brought out of warfare, danger, and trouble.  This is our idea of peace.  That we’re brought out of trouble, that hostilities cease, and that there’s no more fighting. 

            But in today’s Gospel text Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”  Jesus has a different idea of peace.  Jesus’ idea of peace isn’t to end all the bad stuff in your life.  His idea of peace isn’t to bring to an end those things that annoy.  Jesus’ idea of peace, as a pastor from Colorado recently put it,  isn’t to remove you from trouble but to remove trouble from you.

            Sin.  That’s the trouble.  That’s what’s working against peace.  Do you see it in your life?  Do you keep God’s Word, as Jesus says in the Gospel text?  Does your heart lust?  Are you satisfied with what God has given you?  Do you love your neighbor as Christ has loved you?  Do you reserve you fear, love, and trust for God alone?  Sin separates us from God.  It’s what drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden, it’s what caused God to confuse the peoples’ language at the Tower of Babel, and it’s what, ultimately, leads to the final separation from God.

            Because of our sin, because of our sinful nature, peace has been broken between God and there’s nothing we can do about it.  So God does.  “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” 

            Today is Pentecost, fifty days after Easter and the Lord gives us the Paraklete the comforter, the helper, the advocate.  The one whom brings us peace.

How does He do this?  He leads you to Christ.  The Holy Spirit is the “shy” Person of the Trinity, He doesn’t draw attention to Himself, but points you to Jesus.  He’s your guide for people who are separated from God because of Sin who leads you to the cross of Christ; where you’re given rest and comfort; peace and joy.

The ironic thing is that the Holy Spirit guides you to peace with God by pointing you to one of the most violent instruments of death created: the cross.  Jesus’ death that was died for you.  This Spirit leads you to Him who, viewed from human eyes, is the most inglorious thing ever.  A dead man hanging on the cross doesn’t look very glamorous or glorious, how can that ever bring peace?  The blood spilled from the sacred veins of the Son of God, to the world, looks shameful.  But through the Spirit and through the eyes of faith that He brings to you, the crucifixion on the cross is Jesus’ great and glorious moment… It’s your great and glorious moment.

The Spirit leads you to Him who willingly died a sinner’s death for you.  The Spirit leads you to Him who took all your sins upon Himself and paid for them in full.  The times you’ve grumbled against God, the times you’ve lusted, the times you’ve not been content with what you, and the times when your love for God and others has failed.  There’s not a sin that Jesus didn’t die for.  Even the really bad ones.  The ones you don’t want anyone to know about.  The ones that cause you shame and grief.  Jesus died for you.  That’s the Spirit’s task is to lead you to Him who is your peace, your life and salvation.  Who, by His death and resurrection, turns our hearts full of trouble, into new hearts ready to love God and our neighbor.  Who takes our sin out of us and takes them upon Himself for you.

Now we can also look at the world in a different light too.  Wars, tornadoes and floods will come, we still endure the results of a world that’s fallen into sin.  We still feel the effects of this fallen world that’s full of trouble, but since Jesus has died on the cross, even this fallen world need not frighten and terrify you, even though you can be sure trouble will find you.  Since Christ died on the cross, we have the sure hope and comfort that He’s with us through disaster.  God can even, though it’s sometimes hidden, make good come from calamity.  He gives you the promise that because of the death of Jesus, He’s set all things right.   

Peace has been made between you and God.  You’re forgiven, God loves you.  The Holy Spirit leads us to the cross and opens our lips so that our mouths will declare His praise.  Of ourselves, we have no peace with God, but because Jesus gone to the cross, you’re at perfect peace with God.  Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.  

7th Sunday of Easter; John 17:20-26

Alleluia!  Christ is Risen!

Happy Mothers Day! 

            Now I don’t know if it’s true for all kids, or if it was just me, but I loved trying to eavesdrop on my mom and dad.  When I was a kid my bedroom was immediately adjacent to theirs.  And when I woke up in the morning, I could sometimes hear them talking, but because of the wall between our rooms, I could never really make out what they were saying.  It was muffled and wasn’t understandable.  I wanted to be in on the conversation, though it was none of my business.  I wanted to know if they were talking about me, or perhaps, get some dirt on my sisters. 

            Haven’t we all, at times, been tempted to eavesdrop on someone else’s conversation?  If you had two landline phones in your house, and someone else was talking on the phone on the other side of the house, how tempting it was to pick up the other phone and listen in.  Well, today, we get to eavesdrop on Jesus and His prayer to the Father.  We get a glimpse into the mind of our Lord as He’s about to go to the cross.  The night before He suffers and dies for the sins of the world, for your sins, He prays.

            This prayer is the third part of what has been called “The High Priestly Prayer.”  As Jesus prays this prayer, it’s Maundy Thursday.  He has washed His disciples feet, He has fed them the Last Supper, and Judas has left to do his dastardly deed.  And in the midst of all of this Jesus prays.  He prays for Himself.  He prays for His disciples.  He prays for His Church.  And He prays for you. 

            “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that You have sent me.”

            Jesus prays for unity and oneness in the Church for a reason.  So that the world, as Jesus says, “May believe that You have sent Me.”  Yet, how does the world view the Church?  Endless divisions, sinful people, supposed “Christians” who aren’t any better than the world is.  More and more people are giving up on “organized religion,” seeing the divisions.  “How can a Church have so many denominations,” they ask.  So, how does the Church achieve unity and oneness?

            First, we must recognize that the cause of all divisions and disunity is caused by sin.  Sin is the grit that grinds our relationships with each other and with God.  It all comes down to idolatry, to a lack of trust.  We all have our own idea of what truth should be.  In our age, truth is something that’s personal but not absolute.  “What’s true for you may not be true for me, so let’s just agree to disagree.”  Or, “You just interpret the Bible differently, but we’re really saying the same thing.”  That’s not unity!  That’s a false unity built on the opinions and feelings of men.

            This isn’t the oneness or the unity for which Jesus prays.  And this isn’t the Father’s answer to His Son’s praying.  It’s a unity and a oneness that’s in Jesus Himself.  “I in them and you in me.”  This is a unity in faith.  In Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, the forgiveness of sins.  A oneness in the Word of God preached and lived truly and faithfully.  You see, unity isn’t found in ignoring the Word of God, or by dismissing it for the sake of a false “peace.”   We don’t make our own unity, God gives it to us in His Word.

            God’s Word is, by it’s nature, divisive.  As the writer to the Hebrews writes in Chapter 4, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”  God’s Word, indeed, divides truth from falsehood. 

            But we don’t want to place ourselves under any authority.  We’re Americans!  We’re autonomous and free.  But that’s where division in the Church starts; when we substitute our own ideas of what should and shouldn’t be for what God has said.  By refusing to place ourselves under the Word of God.

            The first step for unity in the Christian Church is to repent.  Repent that we’ve ignored the Word of God and in its place inserted our own religious ideas.  Repent for falling into the lie that’s constantly whispered, “Did God really say…” Repent for seeking our own “truth” instead of the Truth of Scripture.   Repent for not letting His love have His way with us, so our love for others has failed.  And of all the band of sinful misfits gathered here, I’m the chief of sinners.  Oneness isn’t found in us, in our own ideas, in our own thoughts, in the way that we think things ought to be, but in the unerring Word of God.  It’s found in Christ who came so that we would have unity and oneness with God Himself.

            Look at the cross and the lifeless body of Jesus.  What have we deserved from God because of our rebellious disregard of His holy Word?  Total hellish separation.  Yet, Jesus goes to the cross for you that this separation would never happen.  He pours out His blood for you, that you would have perfect peace and unity with the Father.   He puts Himself as enmity with the Father, becoming sin for you.  The Father pours out His entire wrath onto His only Son, so that you would be at one with God and we get what we don’t deserve: peace with God and the heavenly inheritance of the Son.  God loves you for the sake of Christ.  You’re at peace with God.  In Christ, there is no charge even He can bring against you.  You’re at unity with Him.

            Jesus prays, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given Me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given Me because you loved Me before the foundation of the World.”  Because Jesus displayed His bloody glory in full on the cross, for you, heaven’s gates have burst open that you would see Jesus’ glory in heaven.  Peace has been made between you and God and so it is with His Church on earth.

            Unity isn’t something that we have to make ourselves.  It’s not something that we can achieve if we try hard enough.  Peace and unity within the Christian Church comes by repenting of our sin, forgiving each other, and looking to Christ who bore His cross for the world, for His Church, and for you.  And having been made privy to Jesus’ prayer, let us continue to live in our baptismal life as Christians.  Repenting of our sins, forgiving those who sin against us, and always looking to Christ who heals every wound, so that we can show love to those around us. 

            He lives in you.  You live in Him.  After all, He died and rose for you.  He baptized you.  He feeds you.  You’re part of the church for which He prays.  And not even the gates of hell will prevail against her or you.  Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.

The Ascension of Our Lord; Luke 24:44-53

Alleluia!  Christ is Risen!

            Today we celebrate the Ascension of Our Lord, which is actually this Thursday.  It’s sort of a forgotten holiday; it’s not on the radar of most people.  When I watched T.V. this week, I didn’t see any Ascension Day sales.  I, admittedly, haven’t looked at the paper yet this morning, but I’d be willing to bet that there are no ads enticing shoppers to flock to the stores to take advantage of the Ascension Day bargains.  There were no Ascension Day gifts waiting for me this morning.  Not even a “Happy Ascension Day” Card.  I don’t know about you, but we haven’t planned an Ascension Day meal with all the trimmings. 

            It seems like a bit of a strange Feast Day of the Church.  I mean, don’t we normally celebrate Jesus’ coming to us?  Think of all the high and holy days of the church year.  The Annunciation and Christmas, Jesus comes to us in human flesh.  Palm Sunday, Jesus comes to us lowly and on a donkey.  Good Friday, Jesus is crucified for us and for our salvation.  Easter, Jesus comes from the tomb risen from the dead.  Pentecost, the Spirit comes to the disciples.  I could go on with many more examples.  But today, it seems that we celebrate Jesus’ leaving.  So here’s the question,  “Where’s Jesus?” 

            The Scriptures say that Jesus physically and bodily ascended into heaven, we confess this in our Creed.  So if Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, how can He be with us until the end of the age, as He said in Matthew 28?  Is He stuck there?  If Jesus is in heaven, is He confined there, after all, how can a body be in more than one place at a time?  At the altar, are we just remembering an absent Jesus or is Jesus really there?  Jesus has ascended into heaven, so is He stuck there, or is He present with us?

            Or is Jesus with us until the end of the age.  Jesus says that wherever two or there are gathered in His Name, there He is in the midst of them.  So, is Jesus in heaven at the right hand of the Father or is He present with His Church?  And the answer to these questions is, Yes, He is both at the right hand of the Father, and here with you.

            When Jesus rises from the dead, His resurrection is  spiritual, physical, and bodily.  And after His resurrection, He spends 40 days giving to witnesses proof that He has been raised from the dead, soul and body.  “Put out your finger, Thomas, and place it into my side.  Do not disbelieve but believe.”  Jesus ate fish in front of the disciples, Jesus is no ghost, but raised from the dead.  When Jesus ascends into heaven, the whole Jesus ascends into the presence of the Father.  Jesus, as God’s Word teaches us, is at the right hand of the Father - the whole Jesus- the God-Man, soul and body.

            So, is this the location where he’s stuck?  A body can’t be in more than one place, everyone knows that.  But, no, He’s not stuck up there.  If you say that someone is your “right hand man” does that mean that he’s stuck at your right hand and can’t be anywhere else but your right hand?  That wherever you go, he can only be there at your right side?  No, of course not.  It means he holds a position of authority that whatever he says it’s as if you’re saying it.  Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father with all His authority, authority over heaven and earth.  Yet, He’s still here present here with you, with His Church.   He’s omnipresent, present everywhere.  Does that mean that you can chew on a stick and receive Jesus?  No, because there are certain places where He has promised to be for you, where He’s there forgiving your sins, strengthening your faith, bringing you the balm and comfort of His Gospel, giving you Himself.

            In His Word, Jesus is there, forgiving sins.  Wherever two or three are gathered in His Name, proclaiming His cross for the forgiveness of your sins, there He is, doing exactly what He said He would do: forgive sins.  At the altar, under bread and wine, He’s there for you.  He Himself said, “Take eat, this is my body given for you.”  “Take drink, this is my blood shed for you.”  The Ascension of our Lord is testimony that Jesus is who He said He is and that He is with His church, really, physically, bodily.  Though our eyes only see a sinful man proclaiming mere words, and bread and wine don’t seem like much, but now isn’t the time of seeing, but believing.  Hear with your ears, because Jesus has died for you, taking upon Himself all of your sins.  You are forgiven.  See with your eyes of faith, because though you only see bread and wine, Jesus has promised to come to you with His body and blood and commune with you. 

            That’s why Jesus ascends into heaven, so that He wouldn’t be bound but could be here at Our Savior/St. Paul, and also in Cavalier/St. Thomas, in Grafton, Langdon, Grand Forks, in Haiti, in Kenya, and present with His Church throughout the world.  You’re His!  Jesus is with you always to the end of the age, bringing to you His most splendid gifts.

            Though Ascension Day, to the world goes unnoticed, for you, it’s a great and wonderful day.  Jesus reigns among you in His Word, which attaches itself to bread, wine, and water.  That all the things that Jesus did for you on the cross, winning for you forgiveness, eternal life, and salvation are brought to you here and now.  Jesus is with you exactly where He has promised to be. 

            Jesus is physically with you.  In just few minutes He’ll reach out to you with His hands and bestow His Body and Blood in the Sacrament.  And there He is to bless:  “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins.”  Listen.  His words give exactly what they say.

            Jesus hasn’t abandoned you.  He never really left.  And He’s seeing to it that through His church there is preaching done in His Name so that you repent and believe that you are forgiven.  In His Word and Sacraments the crucified and risen Jesus reigns among us sinners.  Reigning with His word of forgiveness that gives life and salvation, which He bestows and gives to you.  Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.