Wait for God’s therapeutic Work by Pastor Laitinen

Wait for God’s therapeutic Work.

I Peter 5, 6-11

It gets ugly when people try to overthrow government. David saw this with his son Absalom. Absalom rallied an army against David. As they marched toward Jerusalem, David and his officials evacuated the city.

They marched east toward the wilderness. Many citizens supported them. But one man named Shimei stood on a ridge along the road and showered rocks and dirt on David’s entourage. Shimei basically said, “Yeah, you’d better run! You’re getting what you deserve, David.” One of David’s nobles asked permission to go kill Shimei. David said no: Perhaps the LORD will look on my misery and will return something good to me in exchange for his cursing this day.

You’ve been there. Maybe you’ve felt strained relations with a child like David did. Maybe it sounds like you to think of David questioning his career choice. Perhaps you can relate to David seeing his authority get undermined or public humiliation or even feeling rejected by God?

All of that and more, we call anxiety. Today’s epistle offered the solution for anxiety. Peter wrote: “Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.”

Simon Peter knew about anxiety and casting it on God. Today’s Gospel said: “They left the synagogue and went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon’s mother-in-law was lying in bed, sick with a fever. Without delay they told Jesus about her.” Simon Peter knew about stress. He was married. Marriage is wonderful, but it takes lots of work. It’s worth it, but it’s also stressful.

Plus, Peter had a sick mother-in-law. Do you know that powerless feeling when you have a sick loved-one? Or perhaps he had secret feelings of resentment. This sick woman took up his and his wife’s time. He could’ve also carried guilt about those resentful feelings.

That same Peter later wrote this letter, which said: “Cast all your anxiety on him.” Peter could’ve known anxiety from sitting in prison, from swinging a sword in the olive grove, from watching Jesus sleep in a boat during a storm, or from thinking he saw a ghost when Jesus walked on the water. But maybe Peter wrote: “Cast all your anxiety on him” while thinking about the time his mother-in-law was sick.

It said, “Without delay they told Jesus about her.” Peter showed how to cast anxiety on God. If you want that too, then without delay: tell Jesus about your stress. Yes, he already knows it. But what happened when Peter approached Jesus? “He went to her, took her by the hand, and raised her up. The fever left her, and she began to serve them.”

Peter’s mother-in-law hardly sounds like a manipulative old nag. She took care of people. Peter could say: “God cares for me. He gave me this wonderful family. I threw my anguish on him and he fixed it.”

I get to teach Shoreland students this letter from Peter. Talking through it with them has helped me better understand what it means to: Cast all your anxiety on him. I illustrate that in class by holding up my briefcase. I ask them to imagine their backpacks the same way. Each of you could picture your own version of a book bag, some item for organizing your life; a cluttered desk, a smart phone, a marker board calendar in your kitchen. Whatever your item, it should represent all your work; appointments, projects, people contacting you.

For me, it’s that briefcase I hold up in class. Then, I do my best impression of a track-and-field discus thrower and chuck it to the opposite side of the room. That’s what God asks you to do with all your stress in life.

Now one sharp young lady this year asked: “So, God’s asking us to throw away our homework?” That’s an important item in their backpacks and a major source of stress for them. You might say the same about all your appointments or your inbox or voicemail messages. You could reduce anxiety by ignoring tasks, right?

Notice that Peter writes: “Cast all your anxiety on him.” He does not say: Cast all your responsibility or all your efforts on him. What’s the difference? There’s a mental place that humans like to go where our brains are active, but they aren’t creating anything or solving any problem. Let’s call it the “ruminating space.”

It works like this: Pretend your family has regular reunions at a campsite on a lake up north. Everyone pitches in to pay expenses. But, for several years, a few people keep suggesting everyone meet at a resort in the Dells. It’s not in your price range. You’re going to see one of those relatives at Thanksgiving. On top of all the other stress during the holidays, you start thinking about that family member pressuring you to get on board with the Dells resort plan. That’s a ruminating space. Your brain isn’t working on solutions for handling that discussion. It’s stuck in a negative loop surrounding something you can’t control, someone else’s comments.

When Peter talks about “anxiety,” he doesn’t mean your adrenaline when your car slides on an icy road. “Cast all your anxiety on him” doesn’t mean: suppress your emotions if your child goes missing and you need to call the police. Casting off anxiety does not mean avoiding work because it’s less stressful to let other people do it. Cast all your anxiety on him means: kick yourself out of that ruminating space. Slam the door on thoughts that you can take no action on. Slap down mental problems that no one asked you to solve.

Wouldn’t you admit: it’s pretty arrogant of you to think it’s your job to fix your passive-aggressive in-laws? It’s thinking way too much of yourself to imagine you can stop every bigot from being racist. I’d have an overinflated opinion of myself, if I think it depends on me to stop all election fraud or expose corrupt media or to undo the downfall of the environment? Peter wrote in verse six. “Therefore humble yourselves under God’s powerful hand so that he may lift you up at the appointed time.”

If you want to cast anxiety on God, first recognize your own limitations. “Humble yourselves” does not mean degrade yourself. When I talk bad about myself, I’m still discussing my favorite topic: “me.” Degrading yourself is not humility. Humility means you think more about other people instead of yourself.

Another student this year made a great comment about that. He said: So, humility means thinking more about other people and that’s also how I cast off my anxiety; but what if my anxiety already comes from thinking about other people? What if I’m already too worried about their reactions or what they might say?

When Peter said “humble yourselves,” he did not mean: imagine how others might evaluate you. He meant: imagine what life is like for that person. Try walking in their shoes. Take an educated guess about how that person feels right now.

A funny thing happens when you do this. Let’s try it here. Think of two or three things that stress you out most. Now, take a good look around the room, even behind you and across the aisle. Pick one face that you saw and guess what kinds of things might be on that person’s stress list. Maybe you could ask the person if you guessed right or ask what their anxiety is or even try just doing something nice for that person based on your guess. That probably didn’t make your list go away, but it took you out of your ruminating space while you considered the worries of that other person. Humbling yourself actually lightened your anxiety load.

This is what God wants for us. Grace means you do less work, not more. Jesus already did the hardest job of redeeming you. Even with suffering on this earth, God promises it won’t last forever. You don’t have to save

yourself by your suffering. And, if bad things happen to you, he promises to fix and reinforce you better than before. Jesus promised this most vividly by rising from the dead. He guarantees, even if your body dies, he will put it back together on the last day in the new creation. Peter wrote: “After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who called you into his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.”

Absolute Authority by Pastor Klusmeyer

Text: Mark 1:21-28 Epiphany 4B

SN: 0041 01/28/24

Absolute Authority

Authority. We’re not always fans of that word, especially when it is connected to the word absolute. We have an innate suspicion of those who have or seek to have absolute authority. Books and movies are filled with villains seeking absolute authority: Thanos, Lex Luthar, and the Emperor from Star Wars as just a few examples. On the other hand, our culture holds up as heroes those who challenged what they saw as absolute and abusive authority. Think of John Hancock writing his name as large as he could on the Declaration of Independence as a direct challenge to the authority of King George, Nathan Hale courageously declaring that his only regret was that he had but one life to give for his country, or King Leonidas and his 300 brave Spartans challenging the absolute authority of King Xerxes.

We don’t like the idea of being told what to do, especially if we have absolutely no say in the matter. We have a natural tendency to resist despotic authority. We value our freedom and want to be able to make our own choices. This attitude translates into our spiritual life as well. Our sinful nature doesn’t like to be told what to do. It chafes under what it sees as the oppressive authority of God’s law. As Christians, we are engaged in a constant spiritual battle. There is a struggle between our new man who desires to willingly submit to God’s law and our old man who wants to rebel against God’s authority. Our enemy, Satan, is raging with all his might to destroy our faith and lead us away from God. Our Gospel lesson this morning reminds us that absolute authority has been given to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But unlike every human with authority, Christ uses his absolute authority only for our good. By his absolute authority, he has forgiven our sins and destroyed the power of death and hell.

The authority of Jesus is the same authority as God the Father. At the beginning of all things, God created the heavens and the earth. Because he is the creator of all things God has authority over all things. Everything that exists is subject to the will of God. At some point after creation, Satan challenged the authority of God and was cast out of heaven. Satan in his anger and rage then destroyed the perfect world that God created. He tempted Adam and Eve to sin and destroyed their relationship with God. Because of the sin of Adam and Eve, all people are born spiritually dead and hostile to God. We view God as our enemy. Our sinful natures chafe under the absolute authority of God’s law. Just like when a parent tells a small child not to touch a hot stove and the first thought of the child is to touch that stove, so we too desire to do the things God tells us not to do.

But God demands absolute obedience to his will. Our sinful natures hate this. We do not want to be told what to do. We think we know better than God does. We don’t think it's fair that we should be condemned to eternal death because of the few small sins that we have committed. We want to challenge God’s absolute authority and determine for ourselves what’s right and wrong. We don’t want to listen when God says that it's wrong to neglect his word, it's wrong to have lustful thoughts about others, it's wrong to gossip and lie, or it's wrong to be selfish with the blessings we have been given. We want to be a law for ourselves. This is sinful rebellion. This is challenging God’s authority and putting our own authority in its place. Every time we sin, we are breaking the First Commandment and putting our desires in the place of God.

How foolish! How foolish to think that we could in any way challenge the power and authority of the Creator. This is the same foolishness we see from the demon in our Gospel lesson. Did the demon really think it could win a confrontation with the Son of God? Did Satan think that he could undermine the work of Christ by telling people who he was? The actions of the demon seem foolish and self-destructive. And yet isn’t that what all sin is? Sin harms our bodies and destroys our relationships with others. We know that sin is bad for us, and yet we find ourselves falling into the same sins again and again. We know that there will be consequences and yet we foolishly think that this time it will be different. Satan and our own sinful natures are constantly trying to lead us to sin.

Satan is a very real and powerful threat. His only goal is to destroy our souls and lead us away from God. On our own, we are powerless to defeat him, but thankfully we do not need to fight our ancient enemy. His power has been destroyed by the absolute power and authority of Christ. This is why the Son of God appeared: to destroy the works of the Devil.

This is the authority that we see on full display in our lesson. Mark the Evangelist does not tell us exactly what Jesus was preaching in the synagogue, but we can assume it’s the same message Mark records in verse 15, “The time is fulfilled,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near! Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Jesus was able to proclaim the message of the gospel with absolute authority because he was the Word of God incarnate. Christ had come to fulfill the promises of God and bring salvation. As true God Christ had absolute power and authority. He could have ruled over every nation on earth, and no one would have been able to stand against him. But that’s not how our Savior appeared. He came to serve, not to be served. He clothed himself with humility and placed himself under the requirement of God’s law for us.

Just think, Jesus did not need to go to the synagogue to hear the Word of God, he was the Word made flesh. But he went to keep God’s Word and honor the Sabbath Day. Jesus lived among sinners and shared with them the message of the Gospel. He was able to teach God’s Word with authority because his will was perfectly aligned with the will of the Father. When he was confronted by the demon-possessed man he used his authority to rebuke the demon. The demon was forced to flee because Jesus was the Son of God.

Jesus had the absolute power and authority of God, and yet what did he do with that authority? He willingly allowed himself to be tortured and nailed to a cross. He took the sins of the entire world upon himself and paid for them with his life. God died on the cross so that we might live. By his death and resurrection, he destroyed the power of Satan. By his absolute obedience, he freed us from our slavery to sin and restored our relationship with God. He suffered the torments of hell in our place. He paid for our sins with his life.

We receive the benefits of his death and resurrection through faith. We have been washed in the waters of baptism. We daily drown our sinful natures and cling to the promises of God. We repent of our sins and believe the gospel message of our Savior. We receive the forgiveness of sins as we taste of his body and blood. We no longer fear the power of the devil because we know that he has been defeated. We no longer fear the sting of death because we look forward to the resurrection and eternal life that has been won for us in Christ.

Dear friends, all of our sins of rebellion have been washed away with the blood of Christ. By Christ's absolute obedience, we have been made God’s dearly beloved children. As children of God, we willingly submit to the authority of our Lord. We don’t view the commands of our God as burdensome because we know that they are for our good. We are amazed by the message of the Gospel because we know our sins and continually marvel at the height and depth of width of God’s love for us.

As his people, we seek to proclaim his Word in its truth and purity. We dare not compromise God’s Word because it is his absolute truth and we do not have the authority to change a single word. As his people, we have been given his authority to proclaim his message of salvation to the world. We baptize and forgive sins in his name. We serve one another in love. We offer him the very best of our time, talents, and treasure. We spur one another to love and do good deeds. We work doing all things to the best of our ability because we seek to serve him first in everything we do.

Dear friends, we do not despise the absolute authority of Christ because we know that he is using that authority for our good. We have this promise from our Savior, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and gather disciples from all nations by baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and by teaching them to keep all the instructions I have given you. And surely I am with you always until the end of the age.” Our Savior is with us. He has used his authority to destroy the power of the devil and free us from our sins. He uses his absolute authority to work all things out for the good of his church. On the last day, he will return with all his power, glory, and authority and he will take us to be with him to live in the eternal presence of his glory forever. Amen.

Called to Call Others by Pastor Zarling

Called to call others

Mark 1:14-20 After John was put in prison, Jesus went to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. 15“The time is fulfilled,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near! Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

16As Jesus was going along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea, since they were fishermen. 17Jesus said to them, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 18Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19Going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat mending the nets. 20Immediately Jesus called them. They left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

All these things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18) Amen.

John and Andrew took the day off from fishing with their brothers to go out into the wilderness to see this new preacher they had heard so much about. He was like the prophet Elijah in the Old Testament. He preached a fiery message of repentance and forgiveness. He also baptized a lot of people. John and Andrew became followers of John the Baptizer.

Then one day, John the Baptizer pointed to a man walking by and exclaimed, “Look! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (Luke 1:29)! John and Andrew left John and began following Jesus. They were so excited about meeting Jesus that they had to tell their brothers. Andrew told Peter, “We have found the Messiah” (John 1:41)! John told his brother James.

Jesus went to Galilee – the region in the north where these four men lived – preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. “The time is fulfilled,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near! Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Jesus then went to meet Philip and Nathanael and called them to follow him. He took his new followers with him to a wedding in Cana where he changed water into wine. His new disciples saw him clear the temple courts during the Passover. He talked to Nicodemus, preached throughout the Judean countryside, and then preached in Samaria (John 1-4).

Peter and Andrew, James and John were Jesus’ part-time disciples. In that time, they had seen and heard a lot from Jesus before he walked up to them along the Sea of Galilee. They were busy mending and fishing with their nets. Jesus walked up to them and said, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (John 1:17). Immediately both sets of brothers left their fishing businesses to follow Jesus full-time (John 1:18). The disciples followed Jesus for three years of on-the-job Seminary training. Jesus called them to call others.

Jesus called you to faith when the pastor poured God’s Word and water over your head at the baptismal font when you were an infant. Or Jesus called you to faith when you heard God’s Word read to you by your parent or grandparent sitting on their lap as a child. Or Jesus called you to faith as a close friend, a boyfriend, a girlfriend – someone who cared deeply about you and your soul – shared the Savior in conversations with you.

Jesus called you to faith. Now he calls you to put that faith into action by calling others to be fishers of men and women.

Jesus calls each of us individually to do this work of calling others. But by his gracious plan and providence, Jesus also allows us to call others to assist us in this calling. We call men and women to serve us and others with the gospel in the public ministry as pastors, teachers, and missionaries. So, today, we are going to talk about the call into the public ministry.

You’ve heard this plea, we need more pastors and teachers in our church body. God is blessing us with tremendous growth in our Lutheran grade schools and Lutheran high schools, and with planning to start ten new churches every year for the next ten years. We need more called workers to go out in Jesus’ name and on our behalf to call others to faith with God’s Word and Sacraments.

I recall how God directed my life to become a pastor. I was with my mom registering for freshman classes at Kettle Moraine Lutheran High School. We were in a classroom with Pastor Mehlberg who would be my advisor. Pastor Mehlberg told my mom, “Michael is a very smart young man.” I was thinking, “Yes, I am.” Then he said, “Michael could be a doctor or a lawyer.” I thought, “Yes, I can.” He said, “A lot of medical and legal terms are in Latin, so Michael should take Latin classes.” I thought, “I can do that.”

So, I took four years of Latin and two years of German … not realizing the Latin track was also the pastor track – not the lawyer or doctor track.

The Lord of the Church is blessing us right now at Water of Life with many students whom God is directing to consider serving him and you in the public ministry. One of our members recently graduated from Martin Luther College and accepted a call to be a Lutheran high school teacher. One is a current student at MLC. By God’s grace, we have two high school students considering becoming pastors and possibly six to eight who are considering becoming teachers.

What can we as a congregation, as parents, and as fellow Christians do to encourage these and other young people to consider the call into the public ministry?

One thing we can do is to repent, to confess our sins, and crucify our sinful nature.

What does that mean?

It costs money to educate pastors and teachers. We have scholarships in our church budget for MLC and WLC students. We have our CMO – Congregational Mission Offerings – for support of the WELS as part of our budget. Admit it, we can be stingy with our money. We can be content to give God our leftovers instead of our firstfruits. We can complain when we see how expensive it is to conduct ministry in our church and in our synod.

Young people may not desire the public ministry if they see their pastors and teachers being treated poorly. Parents badgering their children’s teacher. Members complaining about their pastor. Churches and schools overworking and underpaying their pastors and teachers.

So we – pastors and people, teachers, parents, and students – need to hear and put Jesus’ words into action, “Repent and believe in the gospel.”

We repent of our lack of financial support of the Lord’s ministries. We repent of our lack of verbal support of our current or past pastors and teachers. We repent of our lack of spiritual support of the Lord’s ministries and ministers with our prayers and involvement in our church and church body.

Then after we repent, by God’s grace and with the power of the Holy Spirit, we believe the good news. We thank God that Jesus gave up everything to cover over our stinginess of giving up a little. Jesus prayed for us and his future apostles because we neglect to pray for our called workers. Jesus was always passionate about saving souls to make up for our apathy and indifference to the plight of lost souls.

By his grace, Jesus called you to faith with water and the Word. He made you heirs of his salvation. He covered your sinful clothes with the white robe of his righteousness. He invited

you to stand before his altar to make your vow of faithfulness at your confirmation – to follow Jesus even to the point of death. Jesus forgives your sins and unites you to him and each other in his sacrament of Holy Communion. He announces the good news that your sins are removed as far as the east is from the west.

God also involves you in his ministry. God could have chosen to just tap people on the shoulder to call them to faith. Or he could have tasked his angels with making disciples of all nations. But he didn’t. Instead, he calls you to call others. He has chosen you to follow him and then uses you to make more followers through his Means of Grace of Word and Sacrament. He equips you for service in his Kingdom with his Word that comforts, encourages, and empowers, so that he can then comfort, encourage, and empower others.

This isn’t a call to sit in the pews or watch on your computer. It isn’t a call to remain comfortable wherever you are in your life. It is a call to action. A call to be fishers of men and women and children. A call to invite others into Christ’s kingdom.

God certainly calls each of you to receive forgiveness to then announce that forgiveness to others. To study the Bible to invite others to Bible study with you. To worship Jesus and invite others to worship Jesus with you.

As Jesus called Peter and Andrew, James and John to be his called workers serving in his name, Jesus also calls men to be pastors and missionaries, and men and women to be teachers in his name. What can we do to encourage our young people to consider calls into the public ministry in Jesus’ name … and in our name?

We support future called workers with our offerings. I take our young men who want to be pastors with me to visit shut-ins and then take them out to eat to talk about the pastoral ministry. We want to create a workshop for our students who desire to be teachers so they can talk to the dedicated grade school and high school teachers we have as members at Water of Life. But we have to feed them. They are teenagers, after all. That costs money. So, we support current and future called workers with increased financial support.

Support these young men and women with your prayers. There is often a petition in the Prayer of the Church for ministers of the gospel. Pray for your pastors and teachers, as well as our Synod’s called workers, in your personal prayers, too.

Speak well of your pastors and teachers. Young people are smart. They pick up on how you treat your pastors and teachers. Personally, I think that’s one reason why so many of our young people are considering the ministry. They see the way you treat your pastors and teachers – how much fun we have in the ministry together – and they like it. They want to be a part of it.

Talk to our young people – grade school, high school, and college students. They can all certainly follow your lead of being faithful servants as lay people. But some may also be willing to be public servants, serving you and others one day in the gospel ministry. They have heard and now want to share Jesus’ message, “Repent and believe in the gospel.”

Wherever we are – pastors in the pulpit, teachers in the classroom, or people in the pew – we are all called by Jesus to call others. Amen.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, inasmuch as God is making an appeal through us. (2 Corinthians 5:20) Amen.

The Call Out of Skepticism by Pastor Zarling

The call out of skepticism

John 1:43-51 The next day, Jesus wanted to leave for Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter. 45Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46Nathanael said to him, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” “Come and see!” Philip told him. 47Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said about him, “Truly, here is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” 48Nathanael asked him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered, “Before Philip called you, while you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50Jesus replied, “You believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that!” 51Then he added, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: You will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

You are loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation by the sanctifying work of the Spirit and faith in the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:13). Amen.

Philip ran through town looking for his friend. It was after work, and he knew that Nathanael liked to sit by himself under a fig tree to pray and meditate on the Scriptures he knew so well.

Philip skidded to a stop when he finally found Nathanael. After he caught his breath, he blurted, “He’s here! The Messiah is here! We found the one Moses and the Prophets wrote about. The Messiah is Jesus, the son of Joseph, from Nazareth” (John 1:45)!

Nathanael is excited! … And also skeptical. Like every Jewish person, he has been waiting expectantly for the long-promised Messiah to arrive. Nathanael knows very well what the Old Testament Scriptures say about the Messiah. He knows that Moses and the Prophets don’t mention Nazareth. Nazareth is just a little town in the backwater area of Galilee. The Messiah is supposed to be great and glorious. He is great David’s greater Son. All nations will bow before him. He’s supposed to be born in David’s hometown of Bethlehem and then reign on David’s throne eternally in Jerusalem. … But nothing about Nazareth.

So, Nathanael asks, “Can anything good come from Nazareth” (John 1:46)?

Philip doesn’t coerce. He doesn’t debate. He simply and wisely invites, “Come and see” (John 1:46).

Nathanael accepts Philip’s invitation and goes to see Jesus of Nazareth.

As they are approaching, Jesus demonstrates his divinity by announcing what’s located in Nathanael’s heart and his previous location. “Truly, here is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit. … Before Philip called you, while you were under the fig tree, I saw you” (John 1:47-48).

Nathanael’s skepticism is gone. He believes that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. He declares, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (John 1:49).

Yes, Jesus performed a miracle, but Jesus assures Nathanael he will see greater miracles than that. He declares, “You believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that!” Then he added, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: You will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (John 1:50-51).

Jesus is recalling the time in the Old Testament when Jacob deceived his elderly blind father and stole his younger brother Esau’s blessing (Genesis 27). Jacob fled from Esau’s murderous threats with nothing but that blessing.

Jacob slept that first night in the wilderness. He must have been exhausted because he used a rock for a pillow. God gave him a dream of a stairway to heaven with angels ascending and descending upon it (Genesis 28:12).

Jesus is claiming he is that stairway to heaven.

Nathanael had been skeptical. Jesus called him out of that skepticism. He called him to faith in the Messiah who was standing in front of him and then called Nathanael to follow him.

We can also be skeptical about Jesus. Our Messiah calls us out of our skepticism to faith and following him.

The young parents are worried as they sit in Children’s Hospital with their sick child.

The married couple has gone to bed again with their backs to each other because of another argument.

The teenage daughter is in her room frustrated that her parents don’t understand her. The parents are in the living room frustrated that their daughter doesn’t understand them.

The father of four is concerned about the economy.

The mother of one is scared she’ll never have more children but only miscarriages.

The single man feels defeated by his addiction.

The single lady feels nervous she’ll never find the right man.

The older couple are tired of taking care of their elderly parents.

The aged saint is wondering when she’ll die.

All these people are skeptical. By God’s grace, all of them have saving faith in Christ. But each of them also has doubts, concerns, worries, frustrations, and emotions that weigh heavily upon their faith.

They are skeptical. They are skeptical of where Jesus is. Skeptical of when God will step in. Skeptical of why God is letting all this happen. Skeptical of how any of this can be for their good.

Perhaps you find yourself sitting with them and with Nathanael under the fig tree. You are all skeptical together.

The devil is waging war on you. He wants you to give up. The world is tempting you. It wants you to give in. Your sinful nature is weak. It wants you to give out.

Pray for the Lord to send you someone like Philip to remind you, “The Messiah is here! Come and see him!” The Lord is here and you can see him in his house of worship.

Pray for the Lord to whisper in your ear like he did with young Samuel, waking you out of your spiritual slumber, calling you by name, inviting you to come to him (1 Samuel 3:10). He has important things to tell you in his Word.

Pray for Jesus to reveal himself to you like he did to Philip and Nathanael.

Throughout his ministry, Jesus did many things to remove skepticism. He proved over and over again that he really is the Son of God. We might think that Jesus has to prove himself to us by keeping us healthy, making our business successful, and providing peace in our family. But those

are things we want. They are earthly desires. Jesus displays his divine glory not in providing physical blessings, but in providing spiritual blessings.

Jesus proved he was the Messiah as he fulfilled the promises made to the patriarchs, the sacrifices under the Law of Moses, and the prophecies made through Israel’s prophets.

Nathanael was impressed that Jesus could read his heart and tell him he had been sitting under the fig tree. Jesus assured Nathanael he would see greater things than that.

As a disciple of Jesus, Nathanael definitely witnessed greater things than that over the next three years. He saw Jesus feed thousands, walk on water, calm the storm, heal the sick, make the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the leprous cleansed, the demons dispossessed, and even the dead undead.

Nathanael was with the other disciples when they saw the crucified but now very much alive Messiah standing in the locked room on Easter evening. Forty days later they saw Jesus ascend from the mountain into heaven.

With the eyes of faith, the Holy Spirit has allowed us to see those great things, too.

We are also blessed to see greater things as Jesus works through his humble Means of Grace of Word and Sacraments. The Holy Spirit whispers his Word into our ears to convict our stubborn heads of sin and comfort our guilty hearts with forgiveness. God the Father blesses the water poured over Bryan and Jackie today at the font to wash their sins away and mark them as his redeemed children. Jesus comes in the bread and wine that carries his body and blood so we can taste his forgiveness and see that he is good.

The Lord of the Church is also visibly blessing us with great things in what he is accomplishing in this corner of his Kingdom we call Water of Life. By his grace and to his glory, this past year we have confirmed 8 youth, confirmed 8 adults, baptized 9 children, and baptized 2 adults. We have also grown with 15 other adults and teens joining our congregation.

These are the kinds of numbers that happen in brand-new mission churches, not a church with a combined history of over 140 years. But maybe our newly merged church is more like a mission church. Lord willing, we’ll see even greater things than this next year.

With each of these newly baptized and confirmed members, Jesus comes to them and calls them individually. Just like he does with you. He calls you out of your skepticism.

He calls to the parents with the sick young child or the adults with their aging sick parents and assures them, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:29).

He calls to the married couple who fight out of pride and says, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up” (James 4:10).

He calls to the teenager and her parents, “My plans are not your plans, and your ways are not my ways, but I’ll help you see each other’s plans and understand each other’s ways” (Isaiah 55:8).

He calls to the addicted soul, reminding him to say to the devil, “Get behind me, Satan! I am baptized into Christ!”

He calls to those worried about finances or love life or miscarriages, “I will never leave you, and I will never forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).

He calls to the aged saint in hospice care, “Someday soon, you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

Because of the strength of the devil, the persistence of the world, and the weakness of our sinful nature, we will continually find ourselves under Nathanael’s fig tree feeling skeptical again and again.

Then the Holy Spirit whispers in our ears to remind us that Jesus is the stairway to heaven. He perfects our imperfect prayers before they reach the ears of the Father on his throne. He purifies our tainted works so our Father approves of them and hangs them on his heavenly refrigerator like works of art. The Messiah comes down to us in the Means of Grace of Word and Sacraments. It is through these Means that the Holy Spirit called you to faith. It’s through these Means Jesus calls you to put that faith into action by following him. By the greater things of his perfect life, redemptive death, and glorious resurrection, Jesus has opened heaven to us. We walk up the stairway to heaven on the Last Day.

Jesus finds us whenever we are sitting under the fig tree. He calls us out of our skepticism. He calls us to see greater things than we’ve already seen. Amen.

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and in his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and establish you in every good work and word (2 Thessalonians 2:16, 17). Amen.

The Wait is Over by Pastor Zarling

Luke 2:22-40 When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. 23(As it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male will be called holy to the Lord.”) 24And they came to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

25Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, waiting for the comfort of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27Moved by the Spirit he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what was customary according to the law, 28Simeon took him into his arms and praised God. He said,

29Lord, you now dismiss your servant in peace, according to your word,

30because my eyes have seen your salvation,

31which you have prepared before the face of all people,

32a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.

33Joseph and the child’s mother were amazed at the things that were spoken about him. 34Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Listen carefully, this child is appointed for the falling and rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is spoken against, 35so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

36Anna, a prophetess, was there. She was a daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old. She had lived with her husband for seven years after her marriage, 37and then she was a widow of eighty-four years. She did not leave the temple complex, since she was worshipping with fasting and prayers night and day. 38Standing nearby at that very hour, she gave thanks to the Lord. She kept speaking about the child to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

39When they had accomplished everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town, Nazareth. 40The child grew and became strong. He was filled with wisdom, and God’s favor was on him.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with gratitude in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16) Amen.

Simeon’s aged eyes didn’t look forward to death. No. They looked forward to life.

The Holy Spirit himself had said, “Simeon, you will not die before you see the Lord’s Christ.”

And so Simeon waited, looking forward to the coming of the Christ.

In the synagogue he had heard the promises so many times that he knew them by heart. That the Christ would be stricken, smitten, and afflicted, and by his wounds we would be healed. Simeon rejoiced as he heard the promise to Adam and Eve: that One would come to crush the head of the serpent, even as the serpent would strike his heel. He heard the promise that to those living in the land of darkness, a light will dawn. He heard the promise that the great descendant of David would rule on David’s throne and that it would be an eternal kingdom.

And Simeon waited.

He waited as his friends grew up with him, as they got married, as they had children, as they died.

And Simeon waited.

He saw the brokenness of the world, the weeping women, the poverty-stricken children, the evil men. He saw so many who lived in darkness. They needed light. He needed a light. And he waited.

He saw seasons come and go. The rains fall on the land, the crops come in. The Word of the Lord remained, declaring what he saw with his own eyes: They needed salvation. They needed deliverance. And he waited.

And then, the Holy Spirit said to him, “Today. Go to the temple.”

And so Simeon got up and went. And he saw the milling throng, so many people there! Mothers and fathers and children, old men and old women, sheep by the flockful.

And he saw them. There. That infant! Just circumcised – squirming in discomfort. That was him. The one that Simeon had been waiting for.

He pushed his way through the crowd to Mary and Joseph. He asked for permission and then he took the child in his arms and he praised God with words so beautiful they sound like a song, “Lord, you now dismiss your servant in peace, according to your word, because my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”

Then he handed the child back to the mother. He looked at the mother and he said, “Listen carefully, this child is appointed for the falling and rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

Simeon then walked away rejoicing. Simeon was waiting for the comfort of Israel. It had arrived! He told everyone he met: “The wait is over! The Christ has been born! Salvation has come to us! The light has dawned! The wait is over!”

The wait is over.

Waiting. That’s something we usually don’t consider to be a very good thing. In fact, to most of us, WAIT is a four-letter-word. We are forced to wait in checkout lines, to wait at the doctor’s office, and to wait for the repairman to show up at our home. We think microwave popcorn takes too long, so how can we be expected to wait?!

Advent forced us to wait. Four weeks of waiting. While the rest of our nation was physically, emotionally, and monetarily spent by the time December 25th finally rolled around, the Christian Church was just getting around to celebrating Christmas. Waiting encourages us to slow down, notice what is going on around us, look forward, look backward, anticipate, and wait to celebrate. Waiting gives us opportunities for conversation and meditation that we might not otherwise have in our busy and hectic lives.

But when the waiting is over, it’s time to rejoice! To break forth in jubilation! When we finally reach the front of the line, when our name is called, when we finally hear the knock on the door. And now our Advent waiting is over. We have ripped into the Christmas presents, visited with our relatives, and broken forth with Christmas hymns and carols. Our waiting is over – not because we have celebrated Christmas but because Christ has come in the flesh.

Simeon is the perfect man to hear about during the Sunday after Christmas for he is truly an Advent man. He was waiting for the coming of the Savior. He was waiting for the “comfort of Israel” which means the relief of Israel through its redemption. Simeon had been told by the Holy Spirit that he

would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Think about that. Doctors may tell a terminally ill patient that she doesn’t have long to live. But Simeon learned that he was going to keep on living until he had seen with his own eyes the promised One of Israel. This wasn’t a death sentence but a life sentence. Every day Simeon would awake and wonder, “Is this the day?” Every child who came into the temple would make him ask, “Is this the One?”

Simeon is a man on tiptoes, wide-eyed and watching for the One who will come to save Israel. Studying each passing face. Staring into the eyes of strangers. Patiently vigilant. Calmly expectant. Eyes open. Arms extended. Searching the crowd for the right face and hoping that face appears today.

We can learn a lot from Simeon, because you’ve probably noticed how short-sighted we all are. We are like children: “I want it now!” Waiting, patience and thinking ahead are all learned behaviors, skills that need to be taught. It is easy to live for just right now, to indulge our sinful nature and gratify our natural cravings. Drug or alcohol addictions, out-of-wedlock childbirths and credit card debts all “happen” to people who couldn’t defer gratification to a later time.

It is said that “patience is a virtue.” If that is true, then that must mean that impatience is a sin.

We are by nature impatient people.

We experience road rage because we are too impatient on the freeway. We covet what others have because we are too impatient to wait for blessings to flow naturally into our life. We stand fuming in the check-out line because we are too impatient for the clerk to finish with the customers ahead of us. We blow up at our children because we are too impatient for their immediate presence in front of us.

Impatience leads to a whole host of other sins – angry outbursts, foul language, pre-marital sex, addictive behaviors, financial debt, and many more.

Impatience is quite often our default setting.

Patience ought to be a way of life for the Christian. Sadly, it is not. That’s why St. Paul writes, “as God’s elect, holy and loved, clothe yourselves with heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience” (Colossians 3:12). We need to be taught to be patient. The best way for God to teach us patience is … wait for it … by waiting.

Waiting is not a weakness. It comes from the serene confidence that God will keep all his promises, that our future is going to be way better than our past, and that God is managing all the events of our lives to get us to the finish line of faith intact.

What joy must have filled Simeon’s soul when his waiting was over! His heart must have skipped a beat when Mary and Joseph walked into the temple carrying their Son. The Holy Spiriti whispered into Simeon’s spirit, “This is the One you’ve been waiting for.” And Simeon gathered the little Child in his old arms and lifted his weary eyes to heaven and broke forth in song.

Simeon’s time of service has come to an end for God has kept his promise. You can almost hear the relief in his voice, for he is at peace. His tired, weak eyes have seen the Lord’s salvation. Though Jesus has yet to be visited by the Magi, step into the Jordan River, do battle with the devil in the wilderness, preach on the Mount or be betrayed, arrested, scourged, crucified, and laid in the tomb – it is as good as done.

The waiting was over.

This Child is “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel,” but his Light hurts our eyes which are used to the darkness of sin. “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it” (John 1:5). Because he was rejected by his own people, Jesus revealed himself to the Gentiles – to us and the rest of the world. He is the glory of God to Israel, but that glory was revealed in serving, in lowliness and in humility, and so his glory was displayed in being nailed to the cross. This tiny Child was the redemption of Israel and the salvation of the Gentiles – the world’s Redeemer.

We still sing Simeon’s Christmas song. The traditional place for this hymn is at the close of each day. It’s the Christian’s “Now I lay me down to sleep” prayer. That is why we sing The Song of Simeon in two of our evening services in our new hymnal – Prayer at the Close of Day and Compline.

Personally, I use Simeon’s Song as a prayer after private communion. It is a fitting prayer there, too, for it is deep and wonderful theology. In that private setting of a living room or hospital room, the communicant and I have beheld the salvation of our Lord. We have looked upon the humble vessels of bread and wine that carry the Lord’s salvation to us in body and blood. We have held the glory of Christ’s body in our hands. We have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. We have heard his words addressed to us personally – “my Body given for you; my Blood poured out for you.” This body and blood born of Mary, laid in a manger, nailed to a cross, raised from the dead, glorified at the right hand of God – this he gives to us as our food and drink. Many of the saints will pray this prayer with me as together we lift up our old eyes to heaven to thank God for the comfort of release and redemption. The waiting is over. We can truly depart in peace.

Make no mistake, Simeon is now saying he’s free to leave. Not leave the temple but die. When I was a kid and we would use Simeon’s Song after communion, I used to think we were thanking God because we were free to go home from church now. That was my prayer, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant, depart in peace.” But that’s not what Simeon was singing. He was saying, “Now I can die and rest in peace. I am released from life’s sentence, and free to die. I have seen your salvation and I know it’s mine in this little Child.”

And so are we. We are free to go. We have worshiped the Child in the manger, the Man upon the cross and the Redeemer risen from the tomb. We have beheld his glory, hidden beneath word and water, bread and wine. With the eyes of faith, we have seen him laid in a manger and then laid upon the cross. We have witnessed him as God as an infant in Mary’s womb and the God-Man resurrected from the tomb. We have heard his proclamation of forgiveness and received his blessing upon us. We can truly depart in peace. Our wait is over. Amen.

And everything you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:17) Amen.

Nothing is Impossible with God by Pastor Klusmeyer

Text: Luke 1:26-38 Advent

SN: 0038 12/24/2023

Nothing is Impossible with God

“That’s impossible!” How many times have you heard or maybe even said those words? Think about some of the things that people have said would be impossible. If you went back a little more than a hundred years, people would have said it would be impossible to transport vast numbers of people by air across the oceans. It would have seemed like utter fancy to think that men would walk on the moon. Just think in our own lifetime. It was considered impossible for a powerful computer to be small or affordable enough to be kept in a house, let alone fit inside someone’s pocket.

All of these things were considered impossible, yet even these achievements pale in comparison to the impossible things that God has done on behalf of his people. Just think of some of God’s impossible acts. How he split the waters of the Red Sea and saved his people from the hand of pharaoh, how he provided mana and quail in the desert, how he made the walls of Jericho fall with a mighty crash, or how he destroyed the mighty Assyrian army as it surrounded the city of Jerusalem during the reign of King Hezekiah. But all of these impossible acts of God pale when compared to the greatest miracle that God did for his people. The great and mighty wonder proclaimed by the Angel Gabriel to a meek and humble maiden: that God would send his one and only Son to be born of a virgin to save the world from sin. This incredible act of grace fulfilled all of God’s promises to his people and assures us beyond any doubt that nothing is impossible with God.

All of humanity faces an impossible problem. To earn the eternal joy of heaven, God demands that we live perfect lives free from any sin in accordance with his just and holy law. This is impossible. By nature, we are born dead in our trespasses and sins as enemies who are hostile to God. We can do nothing to save ourselves. We are truly lost and condemned creatures. The very inclination of our hearts is only to do evil all the time. Even when we have been reborn through the waters of baptism, we must still struggle daily with the sinful nature we have inherited from Adam and Eve. We sin each and every day and deserve only the wrath and punishment of God. We are far, so very, very far from the perfection that God demands of us.

Adam and Eve destroyed the perfection of God’s creation when they listened to the lies of Satan and ate the fruit that God commanded them not to eat. They destroyed their relationship with God and brought sin and death into the world. The way to heaven was closed to them, and they could do nothing to save themselves. But God, in his grace and mercy, did not want to leave humanity in this wretched state. It was impossible for us to restore our relationship with God, but nothing is impossible with God. He promised that he would send a Savior who would crush the head of Satan and destroy the power of sin and death. This is the great and impossible promise of God that echoed down through the long ages until Gabriel announced its fulfillment in his joyous proclamation to Mary.

Throughout the long years of the Old Testament, the people of God waited in hope for the coming of the Savior. God continued to renew his impossible promise and show his love and mercy to his people. God renewed this promise to Abraham. He took a man and wife who were nearly a hundred years old and made an impossible promise to them. He told Abraham to look at the vast array of the night sky and count the multitude of stars. God promised, “Now look toward the sky and count the stars if you are able to count them. This is what your descendants will be like.” What an impossible promise, but nothing is impossible with God. Abraham's descendants grew and multiplied into a great people. A people whom God rescued from the bitterness of slavery with his mighty hand. A people whom God saved again and again through his grace and mercy, even when they turned away from him. A people God preserved so that from them a Savior would be born. A Savior who would rescue all people from the horror of sin.

In time, God chose a young man from the tribe of Judah to be his anointed king. God made an impossible promise to King David. He promised, “Your house will stand firm, and your kingdom will endure forever before you. Your throne will be established forever.” What an impossible promise that only God could fulfill. We know that God did not mean that descendants of David would rule over Israel for eternity. The line of kings was broken, but God preserved the descendants of David so that the King of kings could be born from an insignificant young woman from the house and line of David. This was to fulfill another impossible promise God had made through the Prophet Isaiah: "Therefore the Lord will give a sign for all of you. Look! The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and name him Immanuel.”

The Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to proclaim the time had come for God to fulfill his impossible promise. Mary had been chosen to be the mother of the Savior, the mother of God Most High. Mary wasn’t chosen because she was special or pure from sin. Mary was a sinner, just like you and me. There was nothing unique or special about Mary. God could have chosen a mighty queen or empress to be the mother of his Son, but instead, he chose an ordinary girl from an ordinary town. Mary needed a Savior just like us. God chose Mary out of pure grace. This is the same reason that God has chosen each of us.

What an impossible promise! What an impossible miracle that a virgin should be with a child, and not just any child, but the Son of God Most High conceived by the Holy Spirit. Jesus needed to be born in this unique and miraculous way to save us from our sins. Because Jesus was born of a virgin, he was free from the corruption of original sin. He could do what was impossible for us. He could do something that was only possible for God and live a life free from sin. Jesus placed himself under the burden of God’s holy law and kept all of its requirements for us.

In a truly profound and impossible mystery, Jesus Christ, who was the true God from eternity, was born as a tiny, helpless baby. He became Immanuel, God with Us, so that he could be tempted in every way as we are and yet be without sin. He lived a poor and lowly life so that he could understand what it was to be a human. So that he could feel our pain and sorrow and suffer for us. And then Jesus did something wonderful. He allowed himself to be tortured and crucified for us. He did this to fulfill the promise that God had made to Adam and Eve, Abraham, and David that a Savior would come to save the world from the curse of sin. On the cross, God died. On the cross, Jesus took all our sins upon himself and became sin for us. God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Dear friends, as we consider the Angel Gabriel’s words to Mary this morning, let us be encouraged and reminded that our God is faithful and keeps his promises. He kept the impossible promise to save the world from sin. He did the impossible and sent his one and only Son to be born of a virgin. We can be confident that God continues to do the impossible in our lives. We washed us and gave us new life through the waters of baptism. He is here with us as he gives us the forgiveness of sins through his body and blood and has given us the impossible gift of eternal life with him.

These are the promises of God that we can cling to during the darkest hours of our lives. When we face times of trouble and hardship, when we face times of pain and loss, we cling to the promises of God and know that he is continually by our side and will help, comfort, and support us every day of our lives. We can place our trust in God, cling to his promises with the same faith as Mary, and confess, “See, I am the Lord’s servant. May it happen to me as you have said.”

Now to him, who is able, according to the power that is at work within us, to do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.

The Greatest Mystery by Pastor Klusmeyer

Text: John 1:1-18

SN: 0039 12/25/23

The Greatest Mystery

Our world is full of mysteries. I could drop a pencil from the pulpit and know that it will hit the floor, but I don’t think I could explain to you why it does. I understand the concept of gravity and think it has something to do with the curvature of space-time, but I can’t explain it much better. I learned that light is both a wave and a particle, but I can’t explain that very well, either. I love listening to music but writing and reading it are mysteries to me.

These are just a few mundane mysteries that we encounter every day of our lives. These are things we can’t explain, but we believe and accept them as real. Today, we are celebrating a far greater mystery, perhaps the greatest mystery that has ever happened in the history of the world. The Apostle John describes this great and mighty wonder in beautiful and poetic words, “The Word became flesh and dwelled among us.” What powerful words! What a beautiful mystery that Jesus Christ, God from eternity, took on human flesh and was born of the Virgin Mary.

For almost 2,000 years, humanity has struggled to understand this greatest of mysteries. We have struggled to understand how God could become man. John begins his Gospel at the beginning of all things. He underscores the eternal nature of our Savior by revealing to us that Christ was with God the Father at the creation of the universe. These simple words contain complicated concepts beyond our limited human ability to comprehend. The mystery of eternity is that God existed before the creation of time itself. That God exists in eternity that extends in both directions beyond the explanation of time—the profound mystery of the Trinity itself. We worship one God in Three persons and three persons in one God.

As we ponder the birth of our Savior. As we rejoice in the truth that God became flesh and made his dwelling among us, we must keep these amazing mysteries in mind. Jesus is God, that Jesus is eternal, that Jesus and the Father are one, and yet it was not the Father who was born in that lowly manger but the Son who was begotten of the Father from eternity. Dear friends, this mystery is beyond our understanding. This is a mystery that is only revealed to us through the Words of Scripture, and it is a mystery that is only believed by the miracle of the Holy Spirit working faith in our hearts. This mystery is the foundation of our faith.

What joy! What wonder we have as we consider this greatest of miracles and mysteries. But as we consider the birth of our Savior, we must also remember the reason that Christ needed to become flesh and make his dwelling among us. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth in sinless perfection. He created Adam and Eve in his perfect image. But Adam and Eve disobeyed the command of God, and all mankind was cursed with sin and death. By nature, we are all born dead in sin and hostile to God. We are incapable of keeping God’s holy law. We daily sin much in our thoughts, words, and actions. God, in his perfect holiness, cannot tolerate our sinfulness. God must punish our sins.

But our God is also a God of love and grace. God does not want to condemn his children to the fires of hell. God wants to save us. We cannot save ourselves, and so God, in the greatest act of love, chose to save us himself. He sent his one and only Son to take on human flesh to save us. As the Apostle Paul beautifully writes for us, “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son to be born of a woman, so that he would be born under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we would be adopted as sons. And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts to shout, ‘Abba, Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if you are a son, then you are also an heir of God through Christ.”

This is the wondrous mystery of our salvation. Jesus Christ, God from eternity, was born as a helpless baby so that he could live a perfect life in our place. He would then offer his perfect life as a ransom to pay for the sins of the whole world. Jesus Christ, true God from eternity, suffered and died

on the cross to redeem us from our sins. The only Son of God died so that we could be adopted as Sons of God most high and receive the gift of eternal life instead of eternal death.

This is the amazing mystery of Christmas. This is the beauty of knowing that the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. Our God loved us so much that the Creator took on the form of the fallen creature to save us. The body that was in the manger was the same body that hung on a cross for our sins, and it is the same body that, in another mystery beyond comprehension, is giving to us to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of sins.

Dear friends, I cannot adequately explain to you the mystery of gravity or music. I also cannot explain to you the mystery of the incarnation of how God became man and made his dwelling among us. But what I can proclaim to you is the message that our God loved us so much that he came and lived as one of us so that he could suffer and die and save us from our sins. Amen.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

Comfort for All Who Mourn by Pastor Zarling

Isaiah 61:1-3, 10-11 The Spirit of the LORD God is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the afflicted. He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release for those who are bound, 2to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance for our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3to provide for those who mourn in Zion, to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, a cloak of praise instead of a faint spirit, so that they will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD to display his beauty.

10I will rejoice greatly in the LORD. My soul will celebrate because of my God, for he has clothed me in garments of salvation. With a robe of righteousness he covered me, like a bridegroom who wears a beautiful headdress like a priest, and like a bride who adorns herself with her jewelry.

11For as the earth produces its growth, and as a garden causes what has been sown to sprout up, so God the LORD will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up in the presence of all the nations.

Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). Amen.

Joe and Sharon had recently retired. They were planning on spending their retirement years traveling, spoiling their grandkids, and spending time together.

That all changed when Joe had a heart attack and died.

It’s been several months since Joe’s death. Sharon doesn’t know what to do. She feels lost. Lonely. Joe’s easy chair is empty. She keeps setting a place for him at the dinner table. There’s no one to fix the leaky faucet or open jars or kill spiders in the house.

They would each wear their Santa’s hats while putting up Christmas decorations together. Joe would think he was Bing Crosby and start crooning Christmas carols to her. But now she has lost interest in the decorations, lights, and songs. She waits until her children and grandchildren come over to help her set up for Christmas.

They never watched much TV. But Joe would cuddle with Sharon to watch her cheesy Hallmark movies. They would hold hands wherever they went. They would smooch and gross out their kids and later their grandkids. But now there is no one to cuddle or hold hands or smooch with.

Sharon’s friends encourage her to keep busy, get involved in her church’s quilting circle, play Pickleball, and even start dating. But she has no interest in Pickleball, quilting, and certainly not dating.

She is hurting. Aching. Grieving. Mourning.

Sharon and Joe are not a real couple. But their story is all too real. It is an amalgamation of stories I’ve heard from you over the years.

In the Old Testament lesson from Isaiah 61, the Lord’s prophet gives comfort to grieving people. Isaiah is comforting the children of Israel who will be returning from their 70 years in Babylonian exile. They will be mourning the loss of family (God’s people), the destruction of Jerusalem (God’s city), and the demolition of the temple (God’s house). Isaiah’s words give physical comfort, spiritual comfort, and also emotional comfort to those who are grieving.

When someone close to us – like a spouse – dies, there is pain. I don’t think pain is the result of sin. I’m pretty confident that if Adam stepped on an acorn with his bare foot in the perfection of

Eden, he would still have felt pain. Maybe not the kind of pain of stepping on a Lego … but close.

The pain we feel in our hearts, heads, and bodies when we are grieving – that is certainly the product of sin. God did not create us to die, but to live. Death is God’s curse upon the children of Adam and Eve because of our first parents’ first sin that destroyed the perfection of Eden.

Dying exists as God’s punishment for human evil and rebellion. It is not nice nor natural. Death is God’s curse upon the sinner, “For dust you are and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:19). Death is the clearest expression of God’s hatred over sin. St. Paul explains, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Because we all sin, we will all experience the curse of death. We will first feel the emotional pain of death when it robs us of our loved one. Then we will feel the physical pain of death when we die.

Many times, when someone dies, we try to blame God. But it is death who is the enemy. Death takes our loved ones away from us and leaves us a hole. And whether it happens suddenly or slowly, to a parent, spouse, sibling, or child, it really doesn’t matter, does it? The pain is great. The brokenness is absolute. The hurting is unbearable.

What God has joined together; death has torn apart.

Jesus comes to comfort you in your grief over death in this life. He also comes to remove the curse of death, so you have no fear of it for the life to come.

The Messiah says, “The Spirit of the LORD God is upon me” (Isaiah 61:1). This is the Son of God speaking through his prophet 700 years before the Messiah took on flesh in the womb of the Virgin. When Jesus preached in the Nazareth synagogue, he read Isaiah 61 from the scroll of the prophet, and then said, “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).

The Messiah continues, “The LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the afflicted” (Isaiah 61:1). Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit at his baptism to carry out this work of comforting all who mourn.

When I asked widows and widowers what helps them in their grief, they all answered that what helps is God’s Word and God’s people. They all admitted they don’t know how someone could handle grief without God. Jesus gives the good news to the afflicted Christian with a Christian spouse that their loved one was baptized in Jesus’ name, believed in Jesus as their Savior, and now is a saint around Jesus’ throne in heaven. That’s good news. … That’s the best news there is!

The Messiah continues with his job description, “He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted” (Isaiah 61:1). When your spouse dies, it can feel like you are shattered glass. Jesus came to unbreak your broken heart. Little by little, Jesus begins putting you back together again. It may take a little while, or it may take a long time … but Jesus binds up your broken heart by gluing you back together again. The glue is the divine and dying love he has for you … and the divine and dying love he has for your spouse.

“He sent me … to proclaim freedom for the captives and release for those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance for our God” (Isaiah 61:1-2).

Jesus preaches freedom. But he did more than preach. On the cross, he put himself in our dark dungeon and released us into the light. Jesus didn’t just talk about freedom; he set us free.

You are fully and eternally free from all punishment for your sins. Jesus signed your pardon papers with his blood. He placed his seal on the papers when he broke the seal on his grave. He

broke you free from the shackles of your sins. He released you from the guilt that imprisoned you. He gave you hope as you face the very real terror of your inevitable death. The darkness of death that haunts the dreams of all people no longer haunts you. You have been set free from that fear because through faith in Jesus you will rise to life just as he did.

Now the Messiah bandages your broken heart with the soothing message of your forgiveness.

He releases captives bound in the hopeless dungeon of your despair.

He breaks the bondage of Satan’s controlling influence over your life.

He brings resurrection comfort when you mourn the death of your Christian loved ones.

He proclaims the Year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance for our God. This is referring to the Year of Jubilee in ancient Israel. Every 50 years in the Year of Jubilee, slaves were to be set free, debts were to be forgiven, and purchased property was to revert to the original owners. The former slaves, debtors, and those who had sold their family farms were excited on the Year of Jubilee. There will be even greater excitement for us who were once spiritual slaves and debtors to the sin that enslaved us and held us down.

You may not feel much like “jubilee” while you are mourning. But when Jesus comes, we can’t help but rejoice and be jubilant.

In contrast to such good news, God threatens a “day of vengeance.” On Judgment Day, there will be those at Jesus’ right hand to whom he will say, “‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). There will also be those on his left to whom Jesus will say, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the Devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41).

Then the Messiah sets up a series of contrasts that bring joy to your hurting heart. “He has sent me … to provide for those who mourn in Zion, to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, a cloak of praise instead of a faint spirit, so that they will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD to display his beauty” (Isaiah 61:2-3) On the one side, we will experience mourning, grieving, ashes, and despair. On the other side, we will find comfort, a crown of beauty, the oil of gladness, and a garment of praise.

The Messiah is speaking of his ministry in verses 1-3. In verses 10-11, the speaker becomes one who has received the benefits of the Messiah’s ministry.

“I will rejoice greatly in the LORD. My soul will celebrate because of my God, for he has clothed me in garments of salvation. With a robe of righteousness he covered me, like a bridegroom who wears a beautiful headdress like a priest, and like a bride who adorns herself with her jewelry. For as the earth produces its growth, and as a garden causes what has been sown to sprout up, so God the LORD will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up in the presence of all the nations” (Isaiah 61:10-11).

When you are mourning, it may be difficult to get out of bed, get in the shower, and get dressed. On those difficult days, remember your wedding day. Recall how beautiful the bride was in her wedding dress and how handsome the groom was in his tuxedo (especially with the cummerbund and all the ruffles). The Messiah motivates you to move out of your bed as he showers you daily with his baptismal waters. He dresses you in something more beautiful than your tuxedo or wedding dress. He clothes you with the garments of salvation. He places on you the robe of his righteousness.

The Messiah gives us this makeover free of charge. Free to us, but at great price to him. To give you the crown of life, Jesus wore a crown of thorns. To gift you with his righteous robe, he was mocked with a scarlet robe, beaten, and flogged. He was stripped of his garments, stripped of his dignity, and nailed to a cross. All so that you and your Christian family can stand beautiful and glorious before the Lord.

People notice when your mourning is replaced with joy. When your despair is replaced with confidence. When your spouse is dying, and you anticipate that death with resurrection faith in the Lord. They see when the Messiah is comforting those who mourn.

We are all broken because we are broken sinners living in a broken world. You have permission to feel broken. It’s OK to feel like you are trapped in your heart or imprisoned by your emotions. You don’t have to fake happiness.

But know this, the Messiah binds up the broken hearted and comforts those who mourn. You will find real comfort for your real mourning in in the very real Messiah. Amen.

May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). Amen.

Prepare the Way of the Lord by Pastor Klusmeyer

Text: Isaiah 40:1-11 Advent 2B

SN: 0037 12/10/23

Prepare the Way of the Lord

Have you heard the joke that Wisconsin has only two seasons: winter and road construction? Lately, it seems like maybe there is only one season, and construction never ends. Driving in construction can be frustrating. It slows everything down and makes driving a hassle. The lanes are narrow, and we’re not entirely sure what the person next to us will do. The detours don’t seem to be going anywhere near where we are heading. But just think of how terrible driving would be if we didn’t have massive highway projects. Imagine trying to drive narrow, rutted, twisting tracks. It would take forever to get anywhere.

As much as we dislike dealing with construction, we like the finished product. There’s nothing quite like driving on fresh, smooth asphalt that is entirely free from any bump or pothole. This is the kind of road that the Prophet Isaiah describes for us. A smooth, flat roadway through the desert without any imperfections. This roadway is so smooth and level that even the very mountains and hills have been laid low, and the valleys have been raised up. Isaiah is not describing a literal road through the desert. Instead, he is telling us how we should prepare our hearts for the coming of the Lord. This is the same message that John the Baptist preached almost 700 years later.

John echoed the words of Isaiah when he preached his message, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Both John and Isaiah were preaching a message of repentance. They were using the tools of God’s Word to undertake a massive construction project in the hearts of their hearers. They used the tool of God’s law to break down the mountains of pride and fill in the valleys of guilt and despair in the hearts of the people. They wanted them to turn away from their sins and trust in the promises of God. Repentance is how God’s people prepare the way for their coming Lord. We understand the depth of our sin and our inability to save ourselves. We understand our need for a Savior and find comfort trusting that God has forgiven our sins through faith in Jesus Christ.

The nation of Judah needed a massive construction project. The hearts of the people had wandered far from God. They had broken the covenant God made with them at Mt. Sinai. They had rebelled against God and had worshiped many false gods. God sent Isaiah to call the people back from their sins and lead them to repentance. The first 39 chapters of Isaiah are a harsh preaching of God’s law. Isaiah needed to break down the mountains of sin and pride. He needed to remind the people and announce that there would be consequences for their rebellion. Chapter 39 ends with Isaiah telling King Hezekiah that God would send the nation of Babylon to conquer the nation of Judah. Jerusalem and the temple of God would be destroyed, and the people would be taken into exile.

This was not a pleasant message for the people to hear. It is never pleasant to be reminded of the times we have failed. But our hearts need constant renovation; because of sin, our hearts are not prepared for the coming of our King. Even though we have been reborn through the waters of baptism, we must still struggle daily with the evil wants and desires of our sinful nature. Satan is waging a war against our hearts and wants nothing more than to lead us away from God. We are being assaulted on all sides by temptations. In our weakness, it is easy to fall into sin. The list of the sins we commit every day could go on and on because we know that we break our God's commandments daily. We utterly fail to live to the standard of perfection that he demands and know that our hearts are not smooth and level and prepared for our Lord.

We don’t like to hear these things about ourselves. We don’t want to be reminded of our sins. But dear Christians, it is necessary for us to hear the harsh Words of God’s law. We must be reminded of our sins so that we do not become puffed up with our own pride. Just as it is so easy to fall into temptation, it is just as easy to delude ourselves into thinking that maybe we aren’t that bad. Of if we

are bad, at least we are not as bad as those other sinners who are far worse than we are. Isaiah warns us of these mountains of pride by reminding us that all human works are like grass. Our best righteous acts cannot stand before the glory of the Lord and are like filthy rags. In his commentary on this section of Isaiah, the Lutheran theologian August Pieper describes how our self-righteousness compares to God’s holiness. “The holiness of the Lord is not passive, intransitive, or inactive, but it is an attribute of God that is ceaselessly active and effectively in operation. Without pause it pierces all things with its light, blows upon, judges, and thus sears, burns, and consumes everything sinful, unclean, and unholy.”

Dear friends, God does not want to leave us in this wretched state. God wants to save us. He commanded Isaiah to follow up his harsh pronouncement of the law with these beautiful words, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call out to her. Her warfare really is over. Her guilt is fully paid for. Yes, she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” God would not leave his people in exile but would rescue them with his mighty arm. He would bring them back to the land of their ancestors and restore them as his people. They did not need to fear God’s punishment because their guilt had been paid for.

This is the same message of comfort we have received from the Lord. Our sins have been paid for, and our guilt has been removed by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The ministry of Isaiah and John the Baptist prepared the way for the ultimate revelation of the glory of the Lord. The amazing miracle that God himself would take on human flesh and be born as a tiny, helpless baby. God would live as one of us and suffer as one of us. That God would himself endure the shame and agony of the cross and the torments of hell in our place and that God would die for us. This is the great mystery of our Savior.

Jesus Christ, as true God and true man, offered his perfect life as a sacrifice for our sins. By his death, Christ renovated our hearts. He destroyed our mountains of sin and pride and filled in our valleys of guilt and shame. He made us pure and holy. Because of his death and resurrection, we do not need to fear the judgment of God. We have been clothed with the righteousness of Christ and look forward to that joyful day when our Lord will appear in all his glory and take us to our eternal home,

Dear friends, the season of Advent gives us an opportunity each year to focus on repentance. We know that we are sinners, and we know that our sins have been completely paid for by the death of Christ. We do not need to do anything to earn God’s grace and favor. So why do we repent? We repent to acknowledge our sinfulness before the Lord. We repent because, as God’s faithful people, we want to turn away from our sins and live as children of light. That’s what repentance is. We struggle daily against our sinful desires but acknowledge that we fail in that struggle. The Apostle Paul describes our struggle this way, “Indeed, I know that good does not live in me, that is, in my sinful flesh. The desire to do good is present with me, but I am not able to carry it out. So I fail to do the good I want to do. Instead, the evil I do not want to do, that is what I keep doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who am doing it, but it is sin living in me.”

This is why we confess our sins before God and our brothers and sisters in Christ each Sunday. We ask God for his forgiveness and trust that our sins have been forgiven. This is the other side of repentance; we turn away from our sins and turn to the promises of God. We trust that all of our sins have been paid for by the death of Christ. That our salvation is not found in our works but in Christ. We receive that forgiveness as we eat and drink the body and blood of Christ.

Comfort, comfort, my people. Your sins have been forgiven, and your hearts are prepared for the coming of the Lord. Because of Christ, our hearts are a smooth and straight highway ready to receive our King. Every mountain has been laid low, and every valley filled in.

O Savior, Rend the Heavens Wide by Pastor Zarling

O Savior, Rend the Heavens Wide

Isaiah 64:1-9 Oh, that you would rip open the heavens and come down. Mountains then would quake because of your presence. 2As fire ignites stubble and as fire makes water boil, make your name known to your adversaries. Then nations would quake in your presence. 3You did amazing things that we did not expect. You came down. Mountains quaked because of your presence. 4From ancient times no one has heard. No ear has understood. No eye has seen any god except you, who goes into action for the one who waits for him. 5You meet anyone who joyfully practices righteousness, who remembers you by walking in your ways! But you were angry because we sinned. We have remained in our sins for a long time. Can we still be saved? 6All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a filthy cloth. All of us have withered like a leaf, and our guilt carries us away like the wind. 7There is no one who calls on your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you. So you hid your face from us. You made us melt by the power of our guilt. 8But now, Lord, you are our father. We are the clay, and you are our potter. All of us are the work of your hand. 9Do not be angry, Lord, without limit. Do not remember our guilt forever. Please look closely. All of us are your people.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Amen. (1 Corinthians 1:3)

On Sunday, my family was together to celebrate my birthday. Shelley gave me two presents. I ripped open the wrapping paper on the first box. It contained a pancake maker – a pancake maker that presses the shape of R2D2 and Darth Vader into the pancakes. I ripped open the wrapping paper on the second box. It contained a toaster – certainly not a regular toaster – a toaster in the shape of Darth Vader’s helmet!

My wife does not know, nor does she understand Star Wars. But she does know and understand her husband.

The prophet Isaiah prays for God to rip open the heavens. But this ripping and rending is not to bring presents. It would be to rip and rend the heavens to bring judgment upon Israel’s enemies.

Isaiah prays, “Oh, that you would rip open the heavens and come down. Mountains then would quake because of your presence” (Isaiah 64:1).

As a response to Israel’s rebellion and worship of false gods, the Lord allowed Israel’s enemies to overtake them time and time again. With prophetic foresight Isaiah looks ahead to the time when the Lord will allow Israel’s enemies to overtake them and God’s people will be living in exile in Babylon. These will be dark days for the people of God. Judah will be overrun by the Babylonians. Her citizens will be carried as captives to a foreign land. Even their king will be made a prisoner in Babylon. Jerusalem, the city of God, will be destroyed. The temple, the house of God, will be leveled and its sacred vessels carried away. These will definitely be dark days.

It seems like God’s enemies were triumphing. God’s enemies smugly defy God and gladly oppose God’s people. It seems like no one can resist them. Isaiah turns to God and asks him to step in and demonstrate his power in a sudden, violent way – so that his people might again be delivered from their enemies.

Isaiah prays, “Oh, that you would rip open the heavens and come down. Mountains then would quake because of your presence. As fire ignites stubble and as fire makes water boil, make your name known to your adversaries. Then nations would quake in your presence” (Isaiah 64:1-2).

Isaiah pleads that God will rip open the sky to come down in a way to make the mountains quake, the stubble burst into flame, and the waters boil. He wants the Lord to rend the heavens and come down in judgment like he did with the Flood, the tower of Babel, and Sodom and Gomorrah – drowning the wicked, spreading out the rebellious, and destroying the perverse.

Isaiah admits, “You did amazing things that we did not expect. You came down. Mountains quaked because of your presence” (Isaiah 64:3). Who would have expected the ways God rescued his people in the past? He rescued his people by sending devastating plagues (Exodus 7:5), parting of the Red Sea with a strong east wind (Exodus 14:21), destroying the walls of Jericho (Joshua 6), and the scattering of the Canaanites with hailstones (Joshua 10).

It seems like these are dark days for the Christian Church in America. It appears as if God’s enemies are triumphing over God’s people. The abomination of abortion is promoted. The butchering of bodies is celebrated. The sin of sexual immorality is revered. Evil is called good. Wrong is called right. The pagan worship of “Mother Earth” is more religious than the worship by most Christians. The idolatrous devotion to sports is more powerful than devotion to the Savior by many Christians. Radical secularism rules our day. The Church’s influence on our culture has certainly diminished.

We can cry out with Isaiah, “O Savior, rend the heavens wide.” How long will God allow this low point to last? When will God intervene and act? We call out, “Strike down your enemies, O God! Deliver your people, O Lord!”

Yet, remember why God allowed the enemies to overrun his people. It was in response to Israel’s idolatry of false gods and their apathy toward worshiping the true God.

Could God be allowing our enemies to oppose the Christian Church in response to our idolatry and apathy? How often are God’s people apathetic to worship, disinterested in Christian morals, and callous to bringing children up in the training and instruction of the Lord? We must admit that the hearts and minds of God’s people – that includes us – have become dull and distracted. The ministries of God’s churches are hampered by inadequate participation, low worship attendance, and lack of financial support.

We may be pretty excited to see God come down to bring justice upon his enemies. But wait. … Are we the enemies? Are we praying for God’s judgment to come upon us? Have we incurred God’s righteous wrath over our pathetic sins and apathetic faith?

Isaiah sees it. “You were angry because we sinned. We have remained in our sins for a long time. Can we still be saved? All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a filthy cloth” (Isaiah 64:5b-6a).

The word “unclean” means “polluted and defiled.” The Old Testament Levitical laws described many things such as certain animals as being “unclean.” Isaiah confessed that the people themselves were “unclean” and placed himself among the polluted and defiled. Isaiah then emphasized the disgusting and revolting character of sin. We might think we’re pretty good people and consider all the great things we do for God and others. But Isaiah emphasizes that even our so-called righteous acts are nothing but “filthy cloths” to God. Our English translation softens the harshness of this Hebrew phrase. It really refers to a woman’s menstrual rags. God views our works of the flesh as something disgusting, embarrassing, to be thrown away.

Isaiah asks a great question, “Can we still be saved?” How can we be saved when we are so unclean and filthy in God’s eyes?

Isaiah then describes what sin has done to every person. “All of us have withered like a leaf, and our guilt carries us away like the wind. There is no one who calls on your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you. So you hid your face from us. You made us melt by the power of our guilt” (Isaiah 64:6b-7). Sin makes us lifeless and dead like dry leaves that skitter and scrape across the ground in the autumn wind. By ourselves we have no life and can produce nothing of value in God’s eyes. As a result, God hides his face and turns the sinner over to their own natures. As sinners abandon God to indulge their sins, God then abandons them to their imaginations. … That is a terrible judgment!

Advent is a season of repentance. God is giving you this time to repent of your apathy, to confess your indifference, to admit your idolatry. He is giving you this season to turn from your pathetic sins, to ask for help with your apathetic faith, to pray for the Holy Spirit to make you different in your indifference to the Lord’s ministries. He is giving you this time to recognize your filth and acknowledge your lifelessness. He is calling for you right now to turn toward him to seek his forgiveness. To beg for cleansing. To ask him to shine his face on you again. To pray for the Holy Spirit’s sanctification. To plead for undeserved mercy instead of the judgment you deserve.

Isaiah prays for that mercy. “But now, Lord, you are our father. We are the clay, and you are our potter. All of us are the work of your hand. Do not be angry, Lord, without limit. Do not remember our guilt forever. Please look closely. All of us are your people” (Isaiah 64:8-9). “But” – such an important word. Despite our righteous acts appearing like menstrual rags; despite our unclean nature; despite our lifeless faith life – “but” we can still call God our Lord and Father. God is our Lord. This name means he is a God of free and faithful grace, the God who made a covenant of salvation to Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, … and you. He is also the God whom we can wondrously and confidently address daily in our prayers, “Our Father in heaven …”. No matter what we’ve done, no matter how far we’ve gone away from God, no matter how embarrassing and disgusting we are, God still considers himself our Father and calls us to himself as his adopted children.

Isaiah also writes, “From ancient times no one has heard. No ear has understood. No eye has seen any god except you, who goes into action for the one who waits for him” (Isaiah 64:4).

Just as no one could have imagined how God would deliver his enslaved people through the Exodus, so no one could ever imagine how God would deliver enslaved humanity through Jesus. Who could conceive that God would allow his Son to be conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin? Who could imagine that God would send his one and only Son as a substitute to redeem the world from sin and deliver all humanity from death? Who would consider God would accomplish this salvation by sacrificing his own Son? What human mind could have anticipated the empty tomb? Would anyone create a plan where the Creator takes on the flesh of his creatures to saved his fallen creation?

God certainly did rend the heavens and come down! It was our Lord Jesus Christ, “who for us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became truly human” (Nicene Creed). Watch for the Son of God who came meek and mild, wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger (Luke 2:12). Watch for the Son of Man who will be “coming on clouds with great power and glory” (Mark 13:26).

Jesus is the answer to Isaiah’s prayer. God rends the heavens to send a Savior who takes God’s just judgment and righteous wrath. Jesus wore our filthy rags and gave us his righteous robes to wear. He became unclean with our sins so we might be washed clean by his baptismal waters.

In a few weeks, you will be ripping and rending the wrapping paper to open your Christmas presents. Your family knows and understands you. I’m confident they will give you good gifts.

Our Savior certainly knows and understands what we need. At Advent we rejoice that our Savior ripped and rent the heavens wide at his incarnation to defeat our enemies of sin, death, and the devil. He defeated them through his birth, life, death, and resurrection. He ripped open his grave and made the very gates of hell quake. At Advent we also rejoice that our Savior will one day – on the Last Day – rip and rend the heavens wide in power and glory. Then he will deliver God’s people by destroying our enemies once and for all. Make Isaiah’s Advent prayer your Advent prayer: O Savior rend the heavens wide. Amen.

[God] will keep you strong until the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:8).