But Jesus, your good shepherd, has come that you may live and that you may live more abundantly. He leads you out into the world to enjoy God’s creation, be free to roam and feed upon the hills and drink from the springs. His fold doesn’t stay in pen, but He opens the gate and leads you out into the wide world. 

Jesus hasn’t stopped breathing the Spirit upon all of selfish, rebellious humanity. He breathed the Spirit upon you in your Baptism. The Spirit continues to breathe on you, the once slain but now alive army of God. The Spirit gives you to listen to Jesus, to hear His Word, and receive the gifts that Word gives. Jesus tells you to touch His flesh in the Holy Sacrament. He gives you to hunger and thirst for His righteousness, drinking deeply from the well of His forgiveness. “Peace be with you” is proclaimed to you in the forgiveness of sins in His body and blood of His Supper.

You either have all of Jesus or you have none of Him at all. The resurrection witnesses knew what they had shared. The accusation that they had made it all up they could endure. And they had to face persecution, they were beaten, crucified, and stoned. Why would they do that for a lie, a hoax, or even under some mass delusion. But they could not be silenced. St. Peter and John themselves confessed before the Sanhedrin, "For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:20) 

We can pray confident that if the Lord gives us a tomorrow, it is good and means fruitful labor for us. And if He gives us to sleep the sleep of death, no matter. He has already transformed our grave into a quiet resting place, a soft bed undefiled. Just as Joseph’s new sepulchre, the stone, the seal, nor the guard could hold Jesus, so also our tomb won’t hold us either. “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.” Even if buried under six feet of earth, our Lord Jesus will awaken us, dragging us out of the earth, breathing life into us, and carrying us into the Resurrection. We will follow the Light that no darkness can overcome.

This Lententide, we have been learning to lament from the Psalms. Our final Psalm is possibly the most difficult to pray. It is arguably the darkest. It even stands among the most somber compositions in all of Holy Scripture, comparable to the overcast pages of Job and Ecclesiastes.It’s hard to imagine how to reconcile such dark tones with evangelical hope. The Gospel must predominate in Christian preaching, even on this night as Christ lay dead in the tomb. Some might even think the sentiments of this psalm too dismal for it to serve as a Christian prayer at all. The hymnal committee saw no place for it in Lutheran worship and left it out.

Moses and the Prophets preached to reform their conscience, call them to repentance, and amend their life. But they refused to listen and double-downed in error and foolishness. That’s why they enlisted the help of Rome and stirred up a mob of people with bad consciences to cry out for Jesus’ death. They “shot the messenger” and crucified Jesus.

God is only present for you where Jesus' body is presented to you. God goes so deep into the flesh that he gives his weight to sinful men and women, boys and girls with such reckless, loving abandon that you're embarrassed for him. His love is so great that He lays down His life for you, offering that divine love and life to even you. He lays His body and blood down on this altar abundantly and without a hint of frugality for you to receive as your manna in the wilderness, or the Passover Lamb roasted over the fire of God’s wrath, giving you escape.

Don’t be afraid to speak directly and clearly to God in prayer. Name your enemies. And if you’re wrong and they will be converted, thanks be to God. Pray God to defeat them and repent them. And if not, pray that He destroy them. Your life and faith depend on Him ending the foul reign of enemies physically and spiritually. 

Well, that escalated quickly! Why had no one diffused the situation? Why didn’t anyone step in long before it got so out of hand? This temple yard spat has devolved into violence. How did we get to the point that Jesus was no longer a curiosity but is now a threat that must be silenced at any cost?

On the mountain, on the other side of the Sea of Tiberias, Jesus has gathered His church. She follows Him where ever He goes. She trusts in Him for everything she needs. Her priority is to receive God’s forgiving Word in Jesus. Her primary care and nurture, handing over the love, mercy, compassion, and long-suffering of Jesus. All who are gathered to Jesus nurse from the Church’s consoling breast. She and her children go with her bridegroom where He leads, knowing He will provide for her.

Life in the Lord’s house, His church, is no different. Everything we think, say, and do in our life together at Beautiful Savior goes in two directions. It all begins when God leads, draws, and gathers us around Jesus’ gifts of life and salvation in Word and Sacraments in Divine Service. And, having received God’s gifts, He calls, sends, and directs us to go out into our daily vocations in life to love and serve others. Every congregation has rituals. A good question to ask ourselves is, “Does the ritual serve the Gospel, proclaim Jesus Crucified, and point us to his saving work, or does it point us to ourselves and our work?”

Is it more reasonable not to believe that there is a devil? Whence then comes all the evil in the world? From whence comes all that really deserves to be called diabolical and satanic? How can people act as they do? And who knows more about these things than Jesus? Jesus says of His cross, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” And, “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”

The entire administration of the Holy Communion occurs within the context of catechesis, that is, with the preaching and teaching of Christ the Crucified. The "remembrance" of Jesus and the proclamation of His death, until He comes are rooted in this preaching and administration. Every Holy Communion is administered with the catechesis of the Word of Christ, and the disciples of Jesus are brought to a worthy reception of that Sacrament (in faith) by that catechesis.

Jesus speaking and you listening is not child’s play. It’s not a game. It’s a matter of life and death. Without Jesus speaking, you are dead already, hurtling toward the grave and hell. By Jesus speaking, you are forgiven, rescued from this world, death, and hell, and delivered into Christ’s eternal kingdom.

But you see and know the flesh, the world, and the devils for what they are. In faith, you arm yourself daily with God’s Word. Through confession and trust in your baptism, God plunges the Old Adam under the water, that he may daily drown and die with all sins and evil desires. You live in this world and yet not of this world, rejecting the world’s charms, enticements and lusts and living dependent on God, humble in faith, and steadfast in prayer. And when tempted and tried by the Liar of Liars and Murderer, you do not speak falsehood but tell the truth. You do not trust your eyes and experience, but believe the Word of Jesus. You do not subject yourself again to the Evil One, but reject all his works and all his ways. 

That which is different about God's word, as over against all human words, is its authority. God’s Word does what it says. And He often gives others to speak with His authority, so He acted also through the prophetic word. He sent his word forth in the mouths of the holy prophets to "pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” (Jeremiah 1:10) It is written that the Lord “has sent a word against Jacob" and that, "it will light upon Israel.” (Isaiah 9:8) When God speaks, His purpose and motive is clear. He tears down whatever is getting in the way of faith in Him. He builds and plants trust in Him which receives forgiveness in Jesus.

It's a demonic distortion to try to flatten the incredible God-given diversity and order of the world or the church. And to try to force an equal outcome on this world is to try to turn it into a flat, dull, and ugly place, a Christ-less “heaven” where you’ll own nothing and never be happy. And yet, Jesus says that our reward can be great in heaven. The fathers used to speak of this reward as the reward of grace, a pure gift since it is just as unearned and undeserved as the whole day's pay that the laborers in the vineyard received, even though they had only worked an hour.