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By Rev. David Hartung

Isaiah 65:17-25

Grace Mercy and Peace be unto you, from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

HE IS RISEN!

Here we are, on the Sunday of the Resurrection, celebrating once again our Lord’s victory over sin and death; what a wonderful day! The tomb is empty, our Lord has risen, our sins forgiven and eternal life accomplished. What a totally glorious day! But is that all there is? Is this day only about the salvation won for creation by Jesus’ death and resurrection?

In a word, yes. The events we have been remembering these past few days, along with the event of today, all happened for just one reason. Jesus allowed himself to be falsely accused and unjustly executed so that you and I would receive the gift of forgiveness, so that our sins, and the sins of the entire world would be wiped out.

What makes this so amazing is that this is something which God ha planned since Mankind was turned out of the garden, and we see this in today’s Old Testament lesson.

Normally when we speak of the Old Testament, one thing we point out is that it points us forward to the cross. Today’s lesson is just a little different. Yes it does point us to the cross, but it also points us beyond the cross to the results of the cross. Is that as clear as mud?

Let me see if I can make this a little clearer. Think back to what we learned about humanity in the first three chapters of Genesis. There Moses give us an account of creation, and tells us just how God spoke this entire marvelous universe into creation. We are told how Man was created and placed into the home God had created for him. Thus far everything was hunky dory. Adam and Eve were given dominion over the earth and the things in it, they never wanted for any of the things we toil and labor to get. There was always enough food, never a lack of water. They didn’t have to worry about anything.

Anything that is except one thing.

The only restriction, the one and only thing that God forbid man to do, was to eat of the fruit of the tree in the center of the garden. This tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The only rule given to man in creation, and we managed to break it. When we did that, our carefree, easy, idyllic way of life ended. When mankind disobeyed God and ate of the fruit, our face to face, one one personal relationship with our Creator ended. In short, that one act of disobedience changed all of creation.

Before the fall, all life lived together in harmony, after the fall there was the hunter and the hunted. Before the fall there was no such thing as famine, everyone and everything had plenty to eat. To be honest, I seriously doubt that any of us today can come close to accurately describing the world as it was before the fall; it is that far beyond our comprehension. Despite this wonderful life, despite the fact that there was truly only one rule given by God, we managed to break that one rule.

I don’t have to describe for you what creation is like now, we all live it. Even those of us who have lived lives of incredible blessing can not begin to understand what life was like before the fall.

It is this life that Isaiah is trying to describe in his words. In today’s lesson, Isaiah is trying to paint a word picture of what live is going to be like once the promised Messiah has done his work. In this sense, Isaiah is not just pointing the people forward to the cross, but he is actually pointing past the cross to the time when God will once again bring back the garden, and when all of us will live with him eternally. This text is an amazing description, but I have news for all of us here this morning. As good a job as Isaiah has done, he still is not reflecting the true glory of what our life will be like. Because we still deal daily with sin, we still are incapable of comprehending the life to come.

Yes today is a day of celebration, but at some point we all ask the question: “What happens next?”

The resurrection was two thousand years ago, when will we enter the end times and when will Jesus come back to claim his church, and begin his kingdom? When will the Kingdom of God begin?

What happens next is Simple. You and I live the lives to which we are called as God’s children, working in the vocations we have been given. Yes, life as God’s children really is that simple. We serve God and we advance the Gospel by living and working in our vocations. Just as God has always done, when he deems the time to be right, he will return. This time he will not return as a babe in a manger, but he will return in glory, proclaiming his kingdom and calling his people to him. Just as with his earthly incarnation as the Son, we are not given to know when that will be. What we do have is his word which tells us that he will return. That is truly all we need.

One of the things we see around us is people trying to figure out when the end times will come. These well meaning folks will scour God’s word looking for clues to figure out when Christ will return. Every generation has done this for most of the last two thousand years. As understandable as this is, there are two problems with such study.

First, Jesus himself has told us (Matthew 25:13) that we will not know when he will return. If none other than the Son of God has told his children that we will know know, why should we waste time trying to figure it out? Yes it is human nature to do these things, but might I suggest that our time is better spent living as his children? Is that not the best possible preparation for Christ’s return? This seems simple, and when pointed out, most folks have no problem understanding it. There is something else that is much more challenging to understand.

You see, we are already living in the end times. Yes, we are now living in those times spoken of by John in the Revelation. Those “end times” began on Good Friday when Jesus allowed himself to be nailed to the cross. They will continue until the day that our Lord returns, and as Jesus has told us, we will not know when that will be. Once again, for this reason we live as if his return is immanent.

Isaiah has given us a picture of the world to come. As his children we already have a home in that world, and we already live in his kingdom. That is our great blessing. Even here on Earth, even though we still inhabit our sinful bodies and daily fight the battle against evil, we are a part of God’s kingdom. Through the events we commemorate and celebrate this weekend, we do have full assurance that we are God’s forgiven, redeemed children. We can be sure that we now live in his kingdom, and when he calls us out of this world, we will simply transfer our membership from the Church Militant, to the Church Triumphant!

HE IS RISEN!

May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Amen.

Psalm 22:

 1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, but I find no rest.

 3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the one Israel praises.
4 In you our ancestors put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried out and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

 6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
8 “He trusts in the LORD,” they say,
“let the LORD rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him.”

 9 Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
10 From birth I was cast on you;
from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

 11 Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.

 12 Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
13 Roaring lions that tear their prey
open their mouths wide against me.
14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted within me.
15 My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.

 16 Dogs surround me,
a pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce my hands and my feet.
17 All my bones are on display;
people stare and gloat over me.
18 They divide my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.

 19 But you, LORD, do not be far from me.
You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
20 Deliver me from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dogs.
21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

 22 I will declare your name to my people;
in the assembly I will praise you.
23 You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or scorned
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.

 25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.
26 The poor will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek the LORD will praise him—
may your hearts live forever!

 27 All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,
28 for dominion belongs to the LORD
and he rules over the nations.

 29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
those who cannot keep themselves alive.
30 Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
31 They will proclaim his righteousness,
declaring to a people yet unborn:
He has done it!

Psalm 2

  1 Why do the nations conspire
and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth rise up
and the rulers band together
against the LORD and against his anointed, saying,
3 “Let us break their chains
and throw off their shackles.”

 4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.
5 He rebukes them in his anger
and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
6 “I have installed my king
on Zion, my holy mountain.”

 7 I will proclaim the LORD’s decree:

   He said to me, “You are my son;
today I have become your father.
8 Ask me,
and I will make the nations your inheritance,
the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You will break them with a rod of iron;
you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”

 10 Therefore, you kings, be wise;
be warned, you rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear
and celebrate his rule with trembling.
12 Kiss his son, or he will be angry
and your way will lead to your destruction,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Psalm 27

 1 The LORD is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?

 2 When the wicked advance against me
to devour me,
it is my enemies and my foes
who will stumble and fall.
3 Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then I will be confident.

 4 One thing I ask from the LORD,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.
5 For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
and set me high upon a rock.

 6 Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the LORD.

 7 Hear my voice when I call, LORD;
be merciful to me and answer me.
8 My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
Your face, LORD, I will seek.
9 Do not hide your face from me,
do not turn your servant away in anger;
you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
God my Savior.
10 Though my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will receive me.
11 Teach me your way, LORD;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.
12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
spouting malicious accusations.

 13 I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.

Psalm 51

 1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.

 3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

 7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.

 10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

 13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
you who are God my Savior,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, Lord,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.

 18 May it please you to prosper Zion,
to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
in burnt offerings offered whole;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Jesus Sentenced to Be Crucified

 1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.

 4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

 6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”

 7 The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”

 8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”

 11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

 12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”

 13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). 14 It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon.

“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.

 15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

 16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

The Crucifixion of Jesus

    So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

 19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”

 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

 23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

 24 “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”

This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,

“They divided my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.”

So this is what the soldiers did.

 25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

The Death of Jesus

 28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

 31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”

The Burial of Jesus

38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Sermon 16 December 2012

David Hartung

Zephaniah 3:14-20

Advent 3c

Grace, mercy and Peace be unto you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

After getting caught up on the news the past several days, and seeing the comments by some of the parents and loved ones from the school shooting Friday in Connecticut, I felt a need to address the situation, and hopefully, by the time this is done, I will have tied it to the Sermon text for today, and to our advent preparation.

What happened Friday is beyond any doubt, a tragedy. There are twenty children who will not grow up to live full and fruitful lives. There are twenty eight families who will never again spend time with their loved ones.

Yes, there is no doubt that this was a tragedy. When this sort of tragedy happens, we go all out trying to figure out why it happened, and what we can to to prevent it from happening again. The pundits look around for someone, or something to blame, and the politicians look for someway to reap a political benefit. In the end, we all get past it, move on with our lives, but those who lost their loved ones still have to pick up the pieces and try to put their lives back together.

The rest of the world does not believe us but we, you and I know the cause of the shooting. It is the same cause for every evil that has happened since Adam and Eve disobeyed God. The cause is sin. The cause is our inborn hatred for God and his will. Yes, it is a simplistic answer, but one which would explain why this sort of thing has been going on throughout recorded history. The questions for us today are simple.

Since this has been going on for all these years, why should we concern ourselves with yet another killing. After all, this was only twenty eight people. Just in Chicago this year there has been over four hundred murders, what is one ore?

As naive as it sounds, as God’s children we should always be concerned with the taking of innocent lives. This comes back to the fifth Commandment to not murder. God never intended us to run around killing one another. As God’s children, we should keep the families of the victims always before us in prayer. Of course Pastor, most people would say. We absolutely pray for the families of the victims.

At this point, I would like to suggest something a little bit more radical. In an murder, there is often another murder victim whom we often do not think about.

What about the killer? Might he not be a victim?

While we do not know what is in these people’s hearts, it is very likely that many killers were at one time a part of God’s kingdom, until something happened to murder their faith. Believe me, the murder of the faith of another is a crime even more heinous than just killing the body of another human being. To kill faith, has eternal consequences.

This is exactly why we should pray for those who do the killing, and for those who may have destroyed their faith. But, is this the end? And this is what brings us to our lesson for today.

You see, just as today the murder of faith was going on in Zephaniah’s day. The people had turned away from God, and were worshipping false gods. The words of the prophet do not tell us this directly, but it is entirely reasonable to conclude that parents were teaching their children the ways of the false gods, thus making them guilty of murder. Zephaniah prophesied during the rein of King Josiah, the same as Jeremiah, and God was also using him to proclaim to the people their sin.

I have another question for you.

Consider who you have known, and what you have said and done in your life. Have you been guilty of murdering the faith of another? Has the example you set, or the things you have said had the effect of killing faith in a fellow Child of God?

I can’t answer that question. Only you, with God’s help can give that answer.

That is the bad news, now comes the good news.

Zephaniah did not satisfy himself with just telling the people how bad they were, and that God was going to allow them to be defeated and carried off. God also used Zephaniah to remind the people that through them would come one who would bring them salvation. This salvation was not just for the good little Jews, but for all, including the victims of the Newtown shootings, but also for those who have committed crime which in our human lives are unforgivable.

The salvation pointed to by Zephaniah in today’s lesson was won for everyone, for you and me, for the children who died this week, who even though they were very young, were still sinners; for their parents and teachers, and also for the young man who killed them.

As we move forward, we as God’s children remember and pray for the families of those who suffer from violence in our imperfect world, and we look forward to the coming time when such horrific acts do not happen. However, we also give thanks that such acts are not common in our communities. We have been so successful in making our communities free from murder and other violence that when our children see it, they often do not know how to work through the experience. There are places in the world today where sch violence is so common that people become accustomed to it.

We are truly a blessed people. We are blessed because we do live where we live. We are blessed because God has given us skilled doctors, nurses and mental health professionals to help us get past this horrific event. Most of all, we are blessed to have one who has taken on himself the punishment for sin so that we might enjoy eternity with our Lord.

One last thing. The local LCMS pastor, who has members involved in this shooting, is a young man and was ordained just three months ago. Please include him in your prayers.

May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Amen.