Reflection: Looking to the Helper (April 21, 2013)

The Fourth Sunday of Easter
Acts 20:17-35; Revelation 7:9-17; John 10:22-30


After the bombing at the Boston Marathon, this quote from “Mister Rogers’ Parenting Book” spread across social media: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” The practical aspect of this thought is that it redirects children from the bad things that are happening to the good things that are going on. But behind that practical application is a horribly false premise, one that has misdirected many people in our society: people (or at least most people) are basically good and evil is exceptional. The reality is that we live in a fallen world filled with fallen people who are, by nature, predisposed to evil. While people are capable of doing acts of goodness, our natural response to things is selfish and self-centered. Looking for the helpers requires us to look past the many more people who are acting to help themselves as well as the evil doers.

When we function from the premise that people are basically good we are doing more than deceiving ourselves, we are making ourselves vulnerable to those who would take advantage of our naiveté. This is especially true within the church. When Paul said his good-byes to the pastors of the churches in and around Ephesus, he knew that he would never see them again and that he needed to prepare them for what he knew would happen. He told them to be on guard against false teachers. He warned them that evil people would work to destroy God’s flock. He explained that they would twist God’s Word and use it to get people to follow after them instead of Christ. Paul pleaded with the pastors to be diligent in their care of those whom God had called them to shepherd. And he shocked them by telling them from where these ravenous wolves would come: from among those very same pastors. Some of those called to be helpers would be wolves instead.

Looking for the helpers will not keep us safe. Trusting in the goodness of other human beings makes us vulnerable. Where can we turn for safety and security? Whom can we trust to be faithful and true? How can we be sure that we will not be destroyed by ravenous wolves? Only by looking to the Helper, the Good Shepherd who has laid down His life for His sheep.

Audio file of the sermon "Looking to the Helper."

Reflection: Déjà vu with Jesus All Over Again (April 14, 2013)

The 3rd Sunday of Easter
Acts 9:1-22; Revelations 5:1-14; John 21:1-14


What did the disciples do after they had experienced Jesus’ Resurrection? At first they hid out in a locked room. Twice. After Jesus came to them there a second time, they made their way to Galilee where He had said He would meet them. As they waited and wondered, they went fishing. We can’t know whether they went fishing to kill some time, to earn some income, or to go back to their lives as they were before encountering Jesus. But we do know that Jesus’ Resurrection was meant to have a far greater impact in their lives than going into hiding or back to the way things were.

The seaside appearance of the resurrected Jesus should have given the disciples a strong sense of déjà vu. After spending the entire night fishing and catching nothing, these professional fishermen were given unsolicited advice from a novice. When they followed the seemingly worthless advice, they end up catching a huge amount of fish. Based on this miraculous catch they recognized Jesus for who He is. So far this event was the fishing expedition of Luke 5 all over again. But the Resurrection had changed things. Now instead of asking Jesus to go away from him because of his sinfulness, Peter put on his clothes, jumped from the boat, and swam to Jesus. Peter knew that things were different, even if they seemed the same. Jesus’ victory over sin, death, and the grave had made them so.

There are times when everything seems like the same thing over again for us. We seem to bring the same sins, same attitudes, and same circumstances to the Lord and then receive the same forgiveness and assurances. When we see it as all the same, we’re likely to go back to living our daily lives as though nothing has changed and seeing worship services, Bible study, our use of the Sacraments, and Confession and Absolution as routine activities in our lives. But something has happened that has changed everything for us. Through the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus we have been put to death and made alive. We and everything about us has been made us new in Christ. We've been joined to His death and Resurrection in Holy Baptism. In Him, we have died to the old and now live in the new. There’s no going back to the old way of things. So, what are you doing now that you've experienced Jesus’ Resurrection?

Audio file of the sermon "Deja vu with Jesus All Over Again."

Reflection: Believing Jesus-When, not If (April 7, 2013)

Second Sunday of Easter
Acts 5:12-20; Revelation 1:4-18; John 20:19-31

Our experience as the church is becoming more and more like that of the early church: we live in the midst of gross immorality, we contend against an array of religious beliefs, we are a minority in our culture, and our message contradicts the mainstream worldview of the people around us. Like the 1st Century church, we have been marginalized in our society and have little influence on public policy. And like the early Christians, we have been called to share the Word of Life with a spiritually dead world that fights against us and rejects our message. Given our situation, it’s tempting to give up trying to have an impact in our world. But just as the first followers of Jesus endured persecution and rejection for the sake of others, we press on knowing that sooner or later — either in joy or in terror — everyone will believe that Jesus is their God, King, and Judge.


Sadly, many of the people around us refuse to believe Jesus now. Like Thomas on evening of the first Easter, they insist on evidence of their own choosing before they will consider believing Him. While the variations of “Unless I see … I will not believe” are endless, the assertion is just as false. The reality is that everyone will believe Jesus. It’s a matter of when, not if. For Thomas the when came in plenty of time. Only one week later he looked upon the Pierced One and believed. But for many people, it will come too late. They will only believe after He who holds “the keys of Death and Hades” comes to judge them. “Every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him” (Rev. 1:7).

By God’s grace we know and believe that Jesus “loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood” (Rev. 1:5). We have been made a kingdom of priests to glorify Him by serving our broken world in His name. Like the early Christians, we are called to love others by boldly proclaiming “all the words of this Life” (Acts 5:20) even in the face of opposition and persecution. We are blessed beyond measure to believe Jesus now and to be looking forward with joyful anticipation to the day when we will see He who was pierced for us. Moved by His love, we  speak the Word of Life to those who do not yet believe knowing that it’s a matter of when, not if — and the when makes all the difference in the world, and in eternity.

Audio file of the sermon "Believing Jesus: When, not If."

Reflection: From an Empty Cradle to an Empty Grave (March 31, 2013)

Easter Sunday (The Resurrection of Our Lord)
Isaiah 65:17-25; 1 Cor. 15:19-26; Luke 24:1-12


In the movie “Talladega Nights,” Ricky Bobby’s wife interrupted him when he offered grace to “Dear tiny, infant Jesus.” “Hey, um, sweetie,” she said, “Jesus did grow up. You don't always have to call him baby.” Ricky’s reply captures an attitude that is common among us: “Look, I like the Christmas Jesus best.” Actually, we’d have to change a word to fully capture that attitude: “I like the Christmas Jesus instead.” People do like the Christmas Jesus instead of the Grownup Jesus with His difficult teachings and calls to self-denial. People especially like the “Sweet Baby Jesus” lying in His makeshift cradle instead of the grisly mocked, beaten, and Crucified Jesus who was laid in a borrowed tomb. In many ways, we’d prefer to keep Jesus in His cradle to lessen the challenge of being His disciples so that we can live however we want to live while holding thoughts of “dear tiny, infant Jesus.” But a cradle-bound Jesus would leave us as lost and condemned as one who was still in the tomb.

Today, as we celebrate the empty tomb that briefly held Jesus, we also celebrate the cradle that was also made empty for us. Jesus’ empty cradle reminds us that He did grow up. In growing up, Jesus fulfilled a vitally important requirement for us — one that would render the Cross and the empty tomb meaningless if He had not met its challenge. From the cradle, Jesus lived a perfect life under the Law in order to satisfy what it demanded of us. Throughout His entire life, He bore the burden of our sins and the weight of our sinfulness. He was tempted and tried in every way that we are, but was without sin. Leaving His cradle behind, He accomplished what had to be done in order for His death to achieve its purpose and have the power to set us free from sin and death.

If Jesus’ cradle were not empty we’d have no empty tomb to celebrate today. But it is empty, even if we live as though it weren't  We have our Ricky Bobby ways of squeezing Jesus back into His cradle to avoid the challenges of following Him. We like the Christmas Jesus best — even instead — because we don’t want to consider the ugliness of our sins, their horrible consequences, and the tremendous price that had to be paid to satisfy them. Both His cradle and His tomb are empty to assure us that in Jesus — the Christmas Jesus, the Grownup Jesus, the Crucified Jesus, and the Easter Jesus — we have life and salvation.

Audio file of the sermon "From an Empty Cradle to an Empty Grave."