Easter 2 Collect

What a wonderful prayer for the Second Sunday after Easter, Misericordias Domini!

     God, who by the humiliation of Thy Son did raise up the fallen world, grant unto Thy faithful ones perpetual gladness, and those whom Thou has delivered from the danger of everlasting death do Thou make partakers of eternal joys; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.

Indeed, by Christ’s humiliation we have been raised up.  Christ descended to earth, humbled Himself as a man and even to put Himself in our place, being judged as a sinner for our sake, even to the disgrace of the death of the cross, and through this raised Himself bodily from the dead so that we, too, would be raised to new life in communion with Him.

Every week I marvel at these amazing prayers that have been handed down to us through the generations.  Such prayers truly direct us to the glorious hope that is ours in Christ Jesus, hope that shines so brightly that even the ever increasing shadows of decay of society must flee in its light.  As the world grows darker, the bright light of the hope of Christ’s resurrection shines ever more clearly.

The light does shine in the darkness.  But will we turn from it or be drawn to it?  For those who perceive it for what it truly is, there is no choice.  Stumbling in the darkness is not an option.

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The Elusive Easter Bunny

In this photo the rumors are validated. April 10, 2012, this baby bunny emerged from the bushes, unaware that anyone would notice its appearance.

Cautiously emerging from the bushes, this little bunny surveys the many people in this mall parking lot, taking notes regarding how many houses it must visit next year.

It seems funny that for most people the image of Easter is a bunny. Funny bunny. But how funny is it that the greatest announcement in the history of the cosmos is reduced to chocolate bunnies and marshmallow chicks, jelly beans and chocolate eggs, and little white lies that later disappoint children and promote distrust of the word of their parents and grandparents.

Is it any wonder that Darwin despaired of trying to convince himself to believe the promises of the resurrection and turned instead to trust in imaginary science based on fiction far more disappointing than imaginary Easter Rabbits? At least one can actually find little bunnies like that one in this photo. Where are the countless necessary mutations that advance in genetic order upon which the evolutionist fairy tale is based? Not one documented case exists.

How sad that this is called “science.”

Oh well.

Yet the risen Lord has been seen by many. Multiple accounts have been recorded. His Church has spread throughout the world and His presence is regularly observed in the blessed Sacrament as well as through the wonders produced through it. The greatest force in the universe, the Forgiveness of Sins and the new life of grace, mercy, and peace generated through the gift of the Holy Spirit in Baptism, is observed continually.

And if cute and cuddly is what wows a person, what is more wonderful than to observe a baby emerging from the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit to live in the newness of everlasting life in God’s Holy Communion?

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The Day of Rest

Sabbath, the Seventh Day, the Day of Rest from the week’s work, Holy Saturday, the Creator of all again rests from all of His work of Re-Creation. Sunday He rode into the holy city, allowing Himself to be proclaimed the one coming in the name of the Lord. He preaches. He cleanses the temple. He observes the final festival of the Passover, which He prepares to fulfill. He ordains the New Testament in His blood. He suffers the betrayal, the false trial and judgment, the scourging, the crucifixion. Now He rests in another man’s bed of death, declaring all that He has accomplished to be good.

On the third or eighth day He shall raise Himself again bodily from the dead. He shall again make His presence known among His people.

On this Holy Saturday it seems appropriate to reflect upon a couple of comforting passages of the Holy Scriptures:

And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth. And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. (Exodus 33:14-17)

At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:25-30)

This promised rest is a different word than the Sabbath unto the Lord commanded in the Third Commandment. This rest is in connection with and the result given through the Sabbath Day, the day hallowed as the day that the Lord rested from all of His labors. In the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament passage the word is katapauso. The New Testament word is anapauso.

These two words have the same base word, which means to give rest or to cause to be settled. Both words are used in connection with the Lord’s presence with His people. Kata means down or against. Ana means up or above.

According to the Old Testament promises, the people were promised that the Lord would cause His presence to go with them, to separate them from the other nations, to keep them bound to Him through faith in the promised Seed. But while the Lord would be present with them, they could not actually come into His presence and could not look upon His face.

But with the birth of Jesus, this was advanced from kata to ana. With the Lord’s bodily presence, that is, in the body of Jesus, they could actually look up and see the Lord’s countenance. They could look up and see His face and touch Him. Now, not only were they separated from the world by the presence of the Lord going with them, but now they were separated so as to be invited to come into His presence and to see His face and to receive from Him the very things from above. Now He would give rest to them in and through His very body and blood.

And so the last Sabbath was observed by the Lord as He rested from His works of recreation, lying upon the cold stone bed of a sinner, until on the third day He raised Himself up again to be seen by all so that they could again come unto Him to be made to be everlasting recipients of the rest that He gives to all who come unto Him in His body, the Church.

Surely this is a holy day as we quietly await the joyous celebration of the Lord’s resurrection from the dead. Such a day is like no other. Such a day is true cause for the return of the Gloria in Excelsis and the Hallelujahs in the divine service.

For as St. Peter reminds us in 1 Peter 3:21, our connection to the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the answer of the good conscience poured out to us in the water of our baptism. His resurrection is the reason that we not only will not be separated from God forever in hell, but also is the reason that we will be bound together with God in His holiness and glory forevermore. His resurrection is the reason that we dare to come to God and confess our sins, knowing that our Lord Jesus stands as our mediator and intercessor, calling for our absolution that He purchased for us.

Surely this news is genuine comfort and peace and cause for relaxing in perfect rest.

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In My Father’s House

This week my wife and I were discussing the comfort of the promise that the Lord has a mansion awaiting us. As this age grows darker and more insecure, this blessed promise is very much on our hearts and minds.

The Lord Jesus gave this wonderful promise of assurance on the night of His betrayal, as He was preparing His disciples for the horrible things that they would soon witness, the things that would make this promise effective.

     In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:2-3)

My wife asked me whether we will really have a mansion. “I don’t really want a mansion,” she said, “just a place to stay.”

In verse 2 the Lord Jesus actually employs three different words for what is reserved for us. His actual words as John records them are:

     In the house (oikia) of the Father of Me abodes (monai) many are. But if not, I would have told you. I journey to prepare a place (topon) for you-all.”

The Father’s house or household is established. God knows His own. He knows from eternity. In His household He has residences for all of His beloved children. No one has been forgotten. Jesus assures His disciples of this as He journeys onward to the public condemnation and rejection of mankind and to the torturous scourging and death of the cross and finally to the grave. This is the means by which they and all who look to Him in faith receive the guarantee of a place together with Him in the Father’s household. He resolutely looked to this throughout His life. He continually proclaimed this to His disciples. Now, they would see the fulfillment of all of the promises and prophecies of the Scriptures, but would not understand until after the resurrection. What they were about to witness would crush their spirits and drive all hope from their hearts, except for these words of promise. Apart from this assurance, they would not understand the words of Jesus on the cross as He would cry out in our place with the blindness of our sin, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

These words are our false perception that we have inherited from Adam on account of sin. Just as Adam falsely imagined that the Lord had forsaken him on account of his guilty and filthy conscience, so we stand imagining that God has forsaken us. But even in that moment of being made to be sin for us, even in that moment when evil moved in so powerfully and fully that the very sun was darkened, even in that moment as the Son of Man cried out with our accursedness, still the Father looked on in merciful love and comforted His Son and through Him comforted all of mankind with the assurance that He has not abandoned us. It is only our refusal to trust Him that separates us from Him.

This is why the author to the Hebrews writes:

     So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec. (Hebrews 5:5-10)

Christ Jesus was saved from death. Though He took our place and was crucified as a condemned sinner in our stead, though He was rejected by mankind and tortured and killed, though our sin stood between Him and the Father, nevertheless the Father remained with Him even as they are truly one from eternity. Though Christ died for us according to the flesh, He was nevertheless preserved from death by His union with the Father. And so, on the third day He raised Himself bodily from the dead so as to ascend bodily to the Father and take our flesh to the very throne of God to rule on our behalf as both God and Man forevermore.

This is why St. Paul writes to the Colossians:

     If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:1-4)

Yes, by His suffering, death, and burial Christ has secured for us our place together with Him in His everlasting kingdom, the household of the Father, in which there exists an abundance of residences for all of His children. By His resurrection and ascension Christ has given us the assurance of our place with Him even as through our baptism we have been joined with Him as everlasting communicants of His Holy Communion.

As I explained to my wife, a baby is perfectly content to sleep in a dresser drawer, if that baby abides in the parents’ love. A little child is perfectly happy to share a room and even a bed with multiple siblings, if that child knows that the household is one in which abides the assurance of love. This is the promise given to us by our Lord Jesus. We are loved and we shall forevermore dwell in the security of that love. Our place has been prepared and awaits us after all that must transpire in the current age has come to pass. For now we live in that blessed hope, reminded of the Lord’s merciful patience that moves Him to wait until the Gospel has been heard and received by every last person for whom a place has been reserved.

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Make a Joyful Noise unto the Lord

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. Psalm 98:4

This morning I sang TLH Hymn # 196, “I Am Content! My Jesus Liveth Still”. We sang this hymn in the divine service Sunday and I needed to receive its blessed comfort again today. It truly is a marvelous hymn.

As I went outside to water some of the garden plants, I continued singing and humming this wondrous hymn. Then I began whistling it.

I was surprised by the birdies. Four mourning doves flew nearby and half a dozen finches landed in the little tree beside me and began chirping with me. Some of them were actually looking at me the entire time. I walked over and sat down and continued whistling the hymn and they continued in the tree chirping with me. When I stopped whistling they all flew away.

Did they come to join me in this hymn of comfort and praise to the God of mercy? Did God send them to be a source of encouragement and joy?

I certainly enjoyed the experience and was uplifted in my spirit regarding the wonders of God’s grace, mercy, and peace. I was reminded of what Moses writes concerning the creation and what the Scriptures say of the new heavens and the new earth that the Lord has prepared for His saints.

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What Is the Easter Celebration?

What is the Easter celebration to you? What does it really mean?

Below is a video of an advertisement that seems to depict what Easter means for most people today.




How about you and your family? Perhaps you began the day with an Easter Service or even a couple of services. Perhaps you attended an Easter Sunrise service and then a later service as well.

Perhaps not.

Did you get together with family? That seems to be the most common activity for people on Easter Sunday. Did you have an Easter egg and basket hunt? Did you have a big meal? Did you watch a sports activity on the television? Did you catch up on what has been happening in the extended family?

Did you pray together? If so, did you give thanks for the gift of restoration into God’s Holy Communion? Did you give thanks for the new life that is poured out in the cup of the New Testament in Christ’s blood? Do your family members even agree about such things so as to count these as true and as cause for thanksgiving?

Did you discuss together the rich texts from the Holy Scriptures? Did you talk about how death has been swallowed up by death? Did you marvel together throughout the day at what the Lord has accomplished for us all through the suffering, death, and bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead? Did you discuss what the Scriptures teach about Baptism and the Resurrection? Did you spend the day marveling at the limitlessness of the Lord’s goodness and mercy?

The Resurrection of our Lord is the highest feast day of the Church Year. Our Lord’s bodily resurrection from the dead is God’s seal of approval and acceptance of the redemption that Jesus accomplished and of the restoration to Life and Life in its fullness that He came to restore.

The Resurrection of our Lord changed history. It changed everything.

Truly it is cause for endless celebration.

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The Festival of the Resurrection of Our Lord

Mark 16:1-8 — “He Is Risen”



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Enough of Lent

For me, there is never enough of Lent. Lent is the season of the Church year that gets me through the tough times. For me it is more uplifting than even Easter. As much as I love Easter and the glorious hymns of the Resurrection, their joy and glory come only in connection with the austere season of Lent.

I remember as a child and a teenager often being disappointed on Easter because we did not sing enough hymns. And my family attended at least three services on Easter Sunday. But especially as a teenager, I wanted to sing every hymn of the Resurrection in the book. Why? The season of Lent made me hungry. The season of Lent taught me why the Resurrection is both absolutely necessary as well as why it is possible.

It is the Lenten theme that carries me through every day. Yes, the awareness of the resurrection is my hope, but the theme of Lent is what makes the hope of the resurrection real.

Lent is God’s cure for depression. When I am feeling down and depressed, it is the hymns of lenten focus that lift me up. I also sing “The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want” (TLH 436) regularly, but the hymn that I can always count on to lift me out of the depths is TLH 146: “Lamb of God, Pure and Holy.” Nothing in this world has been able to drag me down beneath the reach of this hymn. Other Lenten hymns will come into my heart throughout the year as well, but this one is very easy to memorize and carry in my heart and mind. Moreover, this hymn does not mess around with anything other than the raw power of God. When I am hurting and despairing and depressed, this hymn unleashes the raw power of God to drive out all but the glorious power of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Death itself is rendered powerless by this simple hymn and what it preaches.

Life Seems Bleak and Dark and Drear

Life seems bleak and dark and drear,
Until we see that Christ is near.
He is with us through His blood,
In His body washed by the flood.
Him we see, who once were blind,
Goodness and mercy now we find.
He is good, mercy endures,
Darkness and dread He now cures.
We do see beyond the dread,
Life is risen from the dead.
We, too, live in Him who died,
Lord Jesus Christ, the crucified!

The Rest of Good Friday

Today is the rest or Sabbath of Good Friday. On the cross Jesus purchased for us our Sabbath from sin, death, and the power of the devil. Tomorrow we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord, whereby God rose from the dead in His body to assure us that He has never abandoned mankind and never shall.

Has God ever abandoned anyone? This question is answered in the Good Friday sermon, “My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?”.

The Easter Yeahbut

Did you encounter the Easter Yeahbut this year?

Many people did. In fact, we all encounter him at various times and need to chase him out of the garden of our lives so that he does not eat up the fruits and produce of the true faith. Sadly, however, for many, the Easter Yeahbut is a welcomed guest.

The glorious message of Easter is the promise of the Resurrection of our Lord. The promise is the proclamation of the Lord’s death till He comes, and this proclamation is the Holy Communion. Since the Lord Jesus redeemed us from the powers of sin, death, and the devil by sacrificing Himself in our place, His gift of restoration to life in God’s Holy Communion is accomplished for us in Baptism so that we may come to the Lord’s Table in the good conscience of our baptism and partake of the body and blood of our Lord for our forgiveness and our nurturing in His kingdom.

All of this is by the working of the Holy Spirit through the Word and the Sacraments. All of this is a gift. God works it for us and we enjoy the fruits of His works.

Often people refer to this as salvation by grace through faith. They express a hearty “Amen” and shout “Hallelujah” to the good news!

However, then the Easter Yeahbut comes forward and lays his Yeahbut eggs all around. Then people say “Yeahbut” to God’s gift and the good news that our new life is purely God’s work. They say, “Yeahbut, I have to cooperate using my free will, don’t I?” “Yeahbut, I must decide to believe, mustn’t I?” “Yeahbut, I must commit my life to Jesus, mustn’t I? “Yeahbut, I have to believe, don’t I? “Yeahbut, I have to make Christ the center of my life, don’t I?

The Easter Yeahbut is very prolific. He seems to have an endless capacity to produce Yeahbut eggs and he seems to have lots and lots of Yeahbut assistants, because these Yeahbut eggs seem to be everywhere.

Even to the clear promises of Baptism and the Holy Communion the Yeahbuts bring forth disconcerting arguments. The Scriptures plainly declare that Baptism saves us, like in Acts 2:38-39 and in Titus 3 and in 1 Peter 3:21, and people read these clear promises of God and respond, “Yeahbut, these passages don’t mean what they say. These mean to say that Baptism symbolizes the salvation that Jesus won for me and that I choose to accept from Him.” There are many other Yeahbut arguments regarding matters of the true faith and regarding the life that God gives to us. The Lord’s Supper receives all kinds of Yeahbut responses. The Easter Yeahbut seems to spread responses of doubt to every article of faith declared in the Scriptures.

But the Easter Yeahbut is very friendly. He is very good friends with the Old Adam and with all who are of his family. Anyone with a personal interpretation of the Scriptures, anyone with contemporary ideas about how to win people for Christ and how to make the Church more appealing, anyone with an agenda of satisfying felt needs and accepting people where they are, will immediately receive the Easter Yeahbut as a close and trusted friend.

So be on guard. The next time that you encounter the Easter Yeahbut or find one of his eggs lying around, remember the one whom the Easter Gospel proclaims. There are no yeahbuts in the Holy Scriptures. There are no yeahbuts in the kingdom of God. In Christ God’s promises are all “Yes and Amen!” (2 Corinthians 1-18-20)

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Technorati Tags: +Easter, Easter Rabbit, Resurrection, Baptism, Lord's Supper, Holy Communion

Impending Darkness

Yesterday has been labeled by a number of bloggers as “Black Tuesday” and “a black day in the LC-MS” or “a dark day.” This has been the response of many to the action of the LC-MS to terminate the KFUO-AM program: Issues, Etc. This response is the expression of shock and grief over the unexplained actions of the LC-MS in terminating a program that brought a sense of hope and light to the lives of those who lent their hearts, ears, and attention to the message of this program.

Some have expressed shock and indignation that such an action against the listeners and against the program staff should be enacted during Holy Week.

Really, though, what more appropriate timing could there be? After all, did the Lord Jesus not promise that those who follow Him will be treated in like manner as He was treated? What is more, is not Holy Week a time of impending darkness? Is not Holy Week not the time in the Church Year where we celebrate the darkness that the Lord Jesus faced on our behalf? Is this not the season of impending darkness that reaches its darkest on Good Friday, when the Sin and Evil of the world and the prince of darkness come against the Light of the world and work their worst against Him? Was this week not a time of confusion for those who looked to Jesus? Was this not the time that led to Judas betraying Jesus into the hands of evil men for reasons of “programming and business”? Was this not a time that led to the scattering of the sheep and to Peter’s trinitarian denial of the Lord? Was this not a time that led to the sense of the loss of all hope according to human reason and strength?

When times grow dark and appear to be growing darker, this is when we need to remember the promise of the Scriptures regarding our good and gracious God.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. . . . (Rom 8:28)

It is important that we never forget the source of our light and our hope. It also is important that when we recognize the source of darkness that we do not continue to bind ourselves to the darkness. When we recognize a way that leads to more darkness, the Lord calls us to come to the Light. While Jesus marched to the cross, darkness surrounded Him and His disciples. But the Light continued to shine in the darkness. The Gospel was most certainly not being vanquished, not even at the darkest hour of Good Friday. In fact, this was the Light’s brightest manifestation, which continues to fill the world with the light of life even today.

So, then, whenever the darkness seems deepest, this is when we may look to the body of Jesus and see that He is the one who has taken the darkness upon Himself for us. The dark hours of our life can serve to draw us into ever deeper dependence upon the glorious preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. So when the Lord brings us into a trial that seems especially dark, rather than sinking into despair or grief, we are free to rejoice and to sing “Hosanna in the highest!” As we turn to the crucified Lord of glory, we truly see the light that cannot be comprehended or overcome and our hope and our confidence is renewed.

The way of the cross is the way of the resurrection.

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Technorati Tags: +resurrection, cross, hope, light, darkness, despair

Saint Patrick’s Day

It seems to me to be a special treat that this year Saint Patrick’s Day coincides with Holy Week. After all, the focus of St. Patrick’s Day is the Gospel of our salvation, the very Gospel that is so powerfully held before us during this week of progression from our Lord’s entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to the day of suffering and death to redeem us from the powers of sin, death and the devil, and finally having reestablished the eternal Sabbath or Rest, rising to everlasting life.

Truly this is a fitting time for observing the ardent zeal of St. Patrick for the Gospel. Truly St. Patrick’s Day represents for us what these final days of Lent really mean. For even as dear St. Patrick was taken captive and then became free from his captivity so that he learned to know the joyous freedom of the Gospel, so also this week draws us ever more to the preaching of Christ crucified where our freedom has been won for us. Moreover, as St. Patrick grew in his understanding of the freedom that Christ won for him, his great desire was that he could carry this liberating Gospel to those who previously were his captors and abusers. Such is the power of God’s forgiveness. As we observe the ensuing ministry of Patrick, we behold the necessity of purity in the preaching and practice by which we are made to be communicants of Christ’s body and blood. For the Gospel is emptied of its power when it is conjoined to anything other than Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

For more on the history of St. Patrick, Aardvark Alley has a nicely written piece.

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Technorati Tags: +St. Patrick, Holy Week, Gospel, freedom