Don't Judge, But Do Remove the Speck from Your Brother's Eye

Fourth Sunday after Trinity

June 19, 2016

Luke 6:37-42

Don't Judge, But Do Remove the Speck from Your Brother's Eye

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. (Luke 6:37 NIV 1984)

To most people this is the only thing that Jesus ever said. Even to many Christians, this is the whole Bible in a nutshell. Ironically, this verse is beloved by those who enjoy judging and condemning faithful Christians who speak the truth in love.

Getting drunk, fornicating, lying, and gossiping are sinful and wicked. Murdering babies is evil. Claiming that Jesus approved of sin of Sodom is a wicked lie.

But Jesus insists that you call

wicked things, wicked,

evil things, evil,

and sins, sinful.

He told you to judge yourself, and then judge others. He insists on this, not hoping humans go down into hell, but to save people from themselves. And this goes for us, too, more than anyone else. He said:

“[First] take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Luke 6:42 NIV 1984)

Removing the speck from your brother's eye is judge them. How do you take a speck out of someone else's eye? Ever try it with a little kid or squeamish friend? Good luck. You rarely get past the telling them that they have a speck-in-their-eye part.

How apropos of telling someone they are sinning! But we take our chances anyway and tell them they shouldn't gossip or murder babies. We bring up these uncomfortable truths because we are their friends.

If you're in a car with a driver who's texting, should you say something? Yes, but why are there still so many accidents where texting is the cause. Often no one cared enough to say something and when someone did, the texting trespasser became angry: “How dare you judge me?!”

Ever hear this one: A vain Emperor who cares about nothing except wearing and displaying clothes hires two weavers who promise him the finest, best suit of clothes from a fabric invisible to anyone who is unfit for his position or "hopelessly stupid". The Emperor's ministers cannot see the clothes themselves, but pretend that they can for fear of appearing unfit for their positions and the Emperor does the same. Finally the weavers report that the suit is finished, they mime dressing him and the Emperor marches in procession before his subjects. The townsfolk play along with the pretense, not wanting to appear unfit for their positions or stupid. Then a child in the crowd, too young to understand the desirability of keeping up the pretense, blurts out that the Emperor is wearing nothing at all and the cry is taken up by others. The Emperor suspects the assertion is true, but continues the procession.

Raising kids to call a thing what it is out of care for others is good for saving lives. Raising people to call a sin a sin will save eternal souls, not because of the judgment, but calling someone to repent of sin brings them to Christ.

Think of how often Christ judged others. He judged not to condemn, but to save sinners from themselves. And unlike the texting driver who does what they want, Christ listened to the command and will of His holy Father and went to die on the cross for all our sins, including our sins of silence in the face of evil, especially evil in our own homes and familes and in our own mirrors.

But for all sin, He did die and paid the price to forgive all of it. And so now His forgiven people do not judge, but we do take the plank out of our own eye, and then we'll see clearly to remove the speck from the eye of fellow sinners, whom we love.

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Alleluia! Amen!

2 Corinthians 5:21

There Are No 99

Third Sunday after Trinity

June 12, 2016

Luke 15:3-7

There Are No 99, But There Is a Shepherd

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

¹Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Him. ²But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” (Luke 15:1-2 NIV 1984)

It is very likely that if you knew a Pharisee, you would like him. You would have admired their spirituality and devotion.

They devoted their time to the study of the Old Testament. They devoted their time to praying and going to synagogue, their local church. And they were devoted to the poor—they gave 10% of their wealth as alms to the poor, so that the poor would have food to eat. They practiced what they preached; “they were anything but hypocrites in the modern sense of the word” (Kleinig, Grace upon Grace, page 36). And the world admired them. And you would have, too.

To put it another way, we have just seen the outpouring of admiration for Cassius Clay. He was admired not just for his boxing, but also for his spirituality and devotion to charity. He used his fame to help people. Here's a transcript from a 60 Minutes profile from 1996.

Much of Ali's time is spent signing his name . . . He does do some autograph shows where he's paid a minimum of $100 for each signature. But for the most part he signs for free, responding to the endless requests from people he sees in his travels.

We watched him at one event signing—it must have been a couple hundred autographs . . . not at a card show, where he was being paid, but for free. . . .

And he—when asked about it afterwards, he said, “I'm just”—he whispered, “I'm just trying to get to heaven.”

[His wife, Lonnie Ali, explained]: That's right. Every deed he performs—he believes every signature he signs is a good deed and will be counted.*

Ali saw his performance of kind deeds as his way of earning paradise. He was a type of Pharisee, because Pharisees viewed the performance of good deeds as their way of punching their own ticket to heaven. And if anyone could earn a trip to heaven, it would be Ali and his fellow Pharisees. Even tax collectors and sinners would say that if anyone was going to heaven, it would have been these Pharisees, these “spiritual highfliers” (Kleinig, Grace upon Grace, page 38).

Yet Jesus was having none of it.

²⁷“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. ²⁸In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. (Matthew 23:27-28 NIV 2011)

Here Jesus told these spiritual hot shots a story about shepherds looking after their flocks. Jesus didn't describe the shepherd in the story as good or heroic; this is a short story about an ordinay shepherd who goes after one straying sheep and leaves the ninety-nine “safe” sheep in the open country.

But are they safe? “Open country” here is really the Greek word for desert wilderness. And they're out there in it without a shepherd.

So who are these 99? Jesus ended the story by describing them as

righteous persons who do not need to repent.

(Luke 15:7)

All of us are sinners and need to repent. This is exactly why we come to church: to repent and receive Christ. In contrast, only someone who considers himself righteous on his own merit would refuse to repent. And since Jesus is telling this story to the Pharisees specifically because they considered themselves righteous in comparison to sinners, we know who the 99 are. By these 99 sheep Jesus meant the Pharisees.

In our day we see the mindset of the ninety-nine in ourselves. We see it in those who go to church as a matter of performance. But we see it just as much in the people whom we know and care about who don't go to church. We see it in our own grown children who are spiritual, but not religious.

So many claim to believe in Jesus, but don't take the words of Jesus seriously. They claim to part of the flock, but don't want a shepherd. They want God on their own terms, and become agitated when their father or their pastor calls them to repent, trust the Gospel, and go to church to receive Jesus. They become defensive because they are Pharisees.

The shepherd didn't after the 99 sheep in this story; he went after the one lost sheep. And when he found this foolish dumb sheep, he lifted it up and put it on His shoulders and went home. Now sheep aren't small—he was carrying a 50 lb. load all the way home. Jesus carrying us echoes the words of the prophet Isaiah:

He tends His flock like a shepherd:

He gathers the lambs in His arms

and carries them close to His heart;

He gently leads those that have young.

(Isaiah 40:11 NIV 2011)

And when he got the sheep home, he rejoiced with his friends and neighbors. This was the only sheep he cared about. It almost seemed like the shepherd had left the rest of the flock out in the wilderness to fend for themselves. It's almost like there aren't the 99 out there.

How true that is! There are no righteous sheep. Every soul is that one straying sheep, and Jesus pursues us all. He pursues us like a Good Shepherd with His baptism, and His absolution, and His preaching, and His supper. He sends shepherds out to find these straying sheep to call them to repent and to carry them home with the flesh and blood of their mutual Savior Jesus.

We admire Pharisees because we are them. And Jesus even went after us, and still today goes after us with His promise: “Take and eat, this is My body, given for you.”

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Alleluia! Amen!

2 Corinthians 5:21

*cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-muhammad-ali-ed-bradley

Come and Eat the Master's Bread!

Second Sunday after Trinity

June 5, 2016

Luke 14:16-24

Come and Eat the Master's Bread!

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Think of the fanciest house where you eaten your fanciest meal. Maybe it was your house, but it was probably someone else's. You were on your best behavior. You ate slowly. You talked carefully. The stories you chose to tell were designed to please your dinner companions.

Jesus ate at fancy places. In Luke 14, He was invited over to supper at the house of a big shot, “a prominent Pharisee.” And He was “being carefully watched.” They wanted to catch Him out when He said something wrong.

So why did He go there and eat with His enemies? Because He loved even them. And He was there to invite them to eat at His banquet.

This dinner party turned into one of the most read-about suppers in the history of the world. The dinner was rolling along, when Jesus grabbed and healed a man suffering from abnormal swelling.

Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way. Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?” And they had nothing to say. (Luke 14:3-6 NIV 2011)

Jesus kept giving them opening to attack Him—just as they had hoped—but they remained silent. Perhaps they were too polite. More on that later.

Then Jesus told a story about people who tried to take the best seats at a banquet and then are humiliated when the host asks them to move to the cheap seats when a real VIP shows up. Jesus' point?

“For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Then Jesus said to his host,

“When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Luke 14:11-14 NIV 2011)

This caused one of the guests at the meal to say:

“The one who will eat bread in the kingdom of God is blessed!” (Luke 14:15 HCSB)

And this brings us to the story that we already heard read. When we read a parable of Jesus, we need to locate ourselves in the parable. Which characters sound like us? Which characters do things that we do? We also need to find Jesus. What is He saying and doing in these stories?

“A man was giving a large banquet and invited many. At the time of the banquet, he sent his slave to tell those who were invited, ‘Come, because everything is now ready.’ (Luke 14:16-17 HCSB)

The man giving the large banquet is the Lord God, and the slave sent out is His Son, Jesus Christ. This is where we find Him, doing the will of His Master, His Father. His Father's will is for all to enjoy this feast of good bread. Since we can't fully grasp the joy of life together with the one true God, He puts it in terms we can understand: delicious food with joyful guests hosted by our dear Lord. His Son went out and invited the guests to come and eat.

But now we quickly find ourselves. The guests politely made excuses to the generous invitation. And they all were quite reasonable. The first needed to inspect his new land. The second chose to take a test drive of his new cattle. The last was on his honeymoon and thought how his absence was so obvious that he didn't even bother making a polite apology, as the first two had.

Too often we are these wretched invitees who make reasonable excuses to avoid the good food that our Father has prepared for us.

To borrow from our Catechism we should fear God because of our sinful excuses. Indeed the Master's reaction was furious anger.

But His anger did not lead to destruction, but to more invitations! The Son is told to invite all those whom are considered undesirable: the poor, maimed, blind, and lame. But this Slave, Jesus, is so in step with His Master's mercy that He has anticipated this request. All these had been invited and brought in. But there's still room for more. And so the Slave is sent to the corners of the earth to invite even more and carry even more of the poor and the lame into life with His Master.

In context the original guests would have collectively been the Jews, many of the very people with whom Jesus was eating supper. And the undesirables would have been the non-Jews. Jesus brought the Gospel to them as well as the Jews. But the Slave's work is brought full circle by the holy apostles and preachers that Jesus has sent out into distant corners of the world.

And in this continuing work of the Master, the poor, maimed, blind, and lame are brought into life together with Him. And we find ourselves again: we are the poor, maimed, blind, and lame whom Christ carries from death to resurrection. And He calls us blessed in His name.

Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for

righteousness, for they will be filled.

(Matthew 5:3-6 NIV 2011)

Share this Bread with those in your life whom you have been called to serve, as the wise servants listen to our dear Master's voice. For those who refuse to come and eat the Body of Christ in Communion, call them to repentance and forgiveness in God's good bread of life. And for yourself as you let God's holy absolution feed you with joy, enjoying the company of His other servants, your sisters and brothers saved by the blood of His Son.

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Alleluia! Amen!

2 Corinthians 5:21

Christ Sent Faithful Lazarus into the Arms of Father Abraham

First Sunday after Trinity

May 29, 2016

Luke 16:19-31

Christ Sent Faithful Lazarus into the Arms of Father Abraham

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was a laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. (Luke 16:19-21 NIV 1984)

Who was better: the rich man or the dirty dogs? The rich man couldn't be bothered to put the tip of his finger into water and give Lazarus a drop to drink, but at least the dogs cared enough to lick his sores and give him some relief. If only some dogs go to heaven, these dogs would make the cut.

Why did Lazarus make the cut? Why was he in heaven in the embrace of Father Abraham, and not in the agony of eternal fire like the rich man?

First of all, we need to be clear that both men were sinners. Each one died because the wages of sin is death. If Lazarus had not been a sinner, he wouldn't have died. He was a sinner, and like the rich man, he sinned as much as he could.

So why did death bring Lazarus into everlasting life? Kindness or callousness didn't cause salvation or damn these men. The rich man never did anything for Lazarus, but Lazarus never did anything for the rich man, either. If kindness was the key to earning life eternal, then the dogs in the gutter would be in heaven before us.

Money isn't the answer, either. For a short time, the rich man had it all; Lazarus had nothing. But being rich or being poor didn't damn or save either of them.

This story can be easily misused to blast those who have much in a judgmental way. But that's not the point Jesus is making by telling this story.

Christ never said why Lazarus and the rich man were different, but using simple logic under the fullness of Holy Scripture, we can deduce the why.

But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. (Romans 10:16-17 NIV 1984)

Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. (Galatians 3:7 NIV 1984)

Lazarus is in heaven in the arms of Father Abraham because through faith in Christ Lazarus is a child of Abraham. And through death Lazarus went to his true home and family. In this life Lazarus had only one thing: the Holy Word, inspired by God and written down by Moses and the other prophets.

We learn this from the dialogue between the nameless rich man and Father Abraham. The rich man did not believe God's Word. He chose to believe in himself.

It's tragic to see the rich man still living for himself as the center of attention, even in hell. Notice how he still somehow thinks of Lazarus as someone who exists to serve him. “Make him get me some water,” he says. Father Abraham says no to this demand.

He also refuses the rich man's second demand: send Lazarus to warn his still living brothers that hell is for real. He says no because there is no good in his demand. Salvation is communicated through the Gospel Sacraments, the Word of God. The messenger does not make the Gospel more credible, whether he is a recently dead man or a even charming pastor.

When God's Word is rejected, then all the most glorious miracles are of no point. Think of how often Jesus' miracles and teaching were followed by unbelief, anger, and even attempted violence toward Him. When Jesus resurrected another Lazarus the village of Bethany, this merciful miracle caused Jesus' enemies to dig in and really get busy with the work of murdering Him!

Miracles don't cause faith in Christ.

“He said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ Abraham said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ” (Luke 16:30-31 NIV 1984)

Today we see something similar to the rich man's demand. There are those who become infatuated with stories of near-death trips into the afterlife. We don't need a heavenly travel tour guide for assurance that heaven is real; we already know this by faith in Christ. Dead men would tell us no new tales.

Our faith clings to the Jesus revealed to us in Scripture, the One who rose from the dead and will never die again. If Lazarus had been sent back to those five brothers, what might he have said? Listen to Moses and the prophets: they will you all you need to know about the Christ who saves.

This is why Lazarus made the cut: because Jesus cut him into everlasting life with His death and resurrection. Lazarus just lay there like a helpless baby and the dogs were the best nurse he had. But because Christ knew him, so did the Father. Not just Father Abraham, but our Father, who art in heaven.

You, too, have already made the cut because Christ has cut you into His death and resurrection. And so until He calls us into everlasting life, you are cared for by others and at other times you are the one doing the caring. As you care for others, be merciful to those both high and low, for each one is a precious soul for whom Christ died.

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Alleluia! Amen!

2 Corinthians 5:21

Firmly Believe These Things of Heaven

Trinity Sunday

May 22, 2016

John 3:1-15

Firmly Believe These Things of Heaven

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

In his discussion with Nicodemus, Jesus told him:

We speak what We know and We testify to what We have seen, but you do not accept Our testimony. (John 3:11)

The “We” who speak and testify is the one holy Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This testimony is put into our mouths when we confess the Athanasian Creed.

We confess that “Whoever does not keep this faith pure in all points will certainly perish forever.” Do you worry about that? Or when we confess that “Whoever does not faithfully and firmly believe this cannot be saved,” do it make you nervous?

These true statements of our faith cause our sinful flesh to crawl, because we are still tempted to think that our effort of believing is what saves us. And we also live in a Christian culture that supports the false teaching that you can accept Christ by your own force of will, your own thinking and choosing.

The Athanasian Creed demolishes this lie. It says to keep this faith pure. It says to firmly believe this. And we get nervous. These are hard things to firmly believe. The Trinity? The three-distinct-Person-yet-one-God God? If I can't imagine the Trinity, how am I supposed to firmly believe it?

We believe and confess this blessed Holy Trinity through the work of the Holy Spirit through Baptism that makes us wet with Christ's forgiveness each and every day of our lives. We firmly believe and keep this faith pure because the Holy Spirit creates and strengthens us in this true faith through the Gospel. If you worry that you don't believe enough or precisely enough or that you haven't done enough good works, repent and trust Jesus.

Is Jesus true God? Yes, and so we confess that He is equal to the Father as to His deity, His being God.

Is Jesus true man? Yes, and so we confess that He is less than the Father as to His humanity. Is God greater than man? Yes, and so we confess that Jesus as to His man-ness is less than the Father.

Can only believers do good works? Yes, and so we confess that those who have done good—believers—will enter eternal life.

Can unbelievers do good works? No, and so we confess that those who have done evil—unbelievers—will go into eternal fire.

If we start to imagine that we can create our own faith in a new God that we imagined up out of thin air, then we are like Nicodemus. If we start to tell the true God that His revealed Word isn't true, then we are like Nicodemus to whom Jesus said:

If I have told you about things that happen on earth and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about things of heaven? (John 3:12)

Don't trust your thin and dry imagination; trust your rich and wet Baptism, when you were born again. Jesus soaked you in His death and resurrection in the name of the Father who always is, and the Son who always is, and the Holy Spirit who always is. Yet not three gods who always are, but One God who always is, and is always for you for the sake of Christ.

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us,

so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Alleluia! Amen!

2 Corinthians 5:21

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in Every Tongue

Feast of Pentecost

May 15, 2016

Acts 2:5-11

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in Every Tongue

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

⁵Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. ⁶When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. ⁷Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these men who are speaking Galileans? ⁸Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? ⁹Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome ¹¹(both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” (Acts 2:5-11 NIV 1984)

If you've visited or worked in a foreign country, you'll have had this experience. You're surrounded by unfamiliar words and people you don't understand, speaking a language that you don't know.

And then you hear it. Words in your own language! Someone is speaking English. And it is wonderful! You understand. You don't have to translate it. You just know it.

Most likely the many pilgrims in Jerusalem on that first Pentecost knew Hebrew. They lived around the world, but their mother tongue had traveled with them. They were God-fearing Jews. So it's fascinating that the Holy Spirit chose to have these first Christians speak to the crowd not in the common language of the Jews, but instead in their many foreign tongues.

This choice to speak in their own native languages reinforced the truth that Christ Jesus and His conception, virgin birth, perfect life, suffering, death, and resurrection was not just for the Jews, but for all people, no matter what language.

The 3,000 baptized souls who heard the polyglot preaching of Pentecost never forgot it. They went home to their homes all over the world and spoke Christ's life and death in their own homes. They didn't have to translate a Hebrew sermon into Latin or Cappadocian, because the Holy Spirit had had His preacher give them the words to confess. And many of those homes heard this Christ in own language and the Holy Spirit created trust in their hearts. They trusted Jesus as their Savior from sin, baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Last year I watched a political drama in Danish. I don't know Danish, so I read the subtitles, but once in a while one of the characters spoke English. And it was such a treat!

Lutherans want to treat others to Christ in their own languages. So our national church body spends part of our offering money to produce and supply good Lutheran books in many languages. The following are languages in which we have materials and books.

Albanian Arabic Bulgarian Burmese Chewa Chinese Haitian Creole Czech Dutch Farsi Finnish French Georgian Hindi Hmong

Hungarian Indonesian Italian Japanese Kazakh Korean Kurdish Laotian Latvian Luvale Mizo Nepali Norwegian Pashtu Polish

Portuguese Punjabi Russian Spanish Swedish Telugu Thai Tibetan Tonga Tumbuka Ukrainian Urdu Vietnamese Turkish

https://wels.net/serving-others/multi-language-publications/publications/

Our synod does things together that we can't do alone as individuals or individual congregations—for example, treating speakers of other languages to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Treating them to the confession of faith that knows the mysterious and wonderful ways in which the Holy Spirit works, to kill us in Baptism and raising us to new life, using words as His way of creating saving faith in Jesus.

And dear baptized-in-English souls, don't forget to treat yourselves. Speaks these English words—In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit—as you pray.

Remember that these same words were spoken in Greek and Latin and German and French and Italian and Norwegian for centuries. These words of Christ connect us to the saints of God who have gone before us.

And remember how these same words are being used right now and throughout the week in those languages listed before and many more. These words of Christ connect us to our fellow baptized souls around the world.

But even than connecting us to our fellow saints through time and space, this forgiveness that puts His name on us binds us to our Savior Jesus.

Was there ever a more beautiful promise spoken to you in your own tongue?

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us,

so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Alleluia! Amen!

2 Corinthians 5:21

The Spirit Testifies about the Son

Seventh Sunday of Easter

May 8, 2016

John 15:26

The Spirit Testifies about the Son

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

When the Counselor comes, the One I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—He will testify about Me. (John 15:26 HCSB)

On this final Sunday of Easter throughout the world the Church hears some of Jesus' final words before His suffering and death. The Counselor that Jesus talked about was God the Holy Spirit, who would be sent into the world to counsel and comfort God's people. Jesus called Him the One who is called to our side. Like an attorney who stands with the accused in court as the judgment is read out, the Holy Spirit stands with us by our side defending us. He does this by testifying about the Jesus who comes to us through Baptism, the Bible, and the Lord's Supper.

You also will testify, because you have been with Me from the beginning. (John 15:27)

Jesus told the apostles, His first preachers, that they would also testify. The word testimony today might have a bad flavor in our culture, but the testimony that Jesus called you to in Baptism is not how Jesus changed your life for the earthly better.

All the faithful and their pastors testify to what Jesus did and does to take away the sins of the world and to save His chosen people.

But Jesus warned them that their truthful testimony would come at a cost.

I have told you these things to keep you from stumbling. They will ban you from the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering service to God. They will do these things because they haven’t known the Father or Me. (John 16:1-3)

We live in one of the most moral times in history. We live in one of the most religious times in history. As proof I offer that if you wish someone to do something in our culture, simply appeal to their gods and their sense of right and wrong. Our culture is deeply devoted to the god of fairness based on the false belief that humans are good. According to their morality they try to live correctly.

They do not know God the Father or the Son, because they refuse to listen to God the Holy Spirit. They do not know the one true God.

God speaks the truth and Jesus' words came true. The apostles were thrown out of the Jewish churches, the synagogues, for testifying to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Men did go out and round up Christians to harm them and even kill some.

We don't face the raised fist of persecution; we face the raised eyebrow. Our own people, young and old, have been corrupted by the gods and morality of this world, and we are afraid to testify to our loved ones that they have been lied to and led astray. We think that our testimony will be rejected by them and will even drive away these souls from Jesus.

Lord, have mercy on us for our weak trust that Your Word will accomplish the task for which You send it.

But I have told you these things so that when their time comes you may remember I told them to you. I didn’t tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you. (John 16:4)

Jesus told us these things so that when they happened, we would not be surprised. We see that Jesus is sitting and ruling from the right hand of God the Father almighty.

When Jesus spoke these words to the apostles, He told them why He never told them these things up to that point. Since His bodily presence was soon be in heaven and not with them, He wanted them to know and trust that they would not be alone, especially with the crosses that they would soon bear for His name. The Holy Spirit would bring them Jesus, just in a different way.

Dear baptized souls, keep the promise of the Spirit-spoken Jesus close to your heart and mind. And as you testify with the Word of God, trust that the Holy Spirit will keep on bringing Jesus to you to the very end of the age, until you die or until Jesus comes back.

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us,

so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Alleluia! Amen!

2 Corinthians 5:21