Third Last Sunday of the Church Year
The several distructions of Jerusalem, and the repeated enslavement of the Israelite people, were shadows of the times in which we live. The great tribulation has begun, but it grows slowly. The peril is real, the enemy is vigilant. But we flee not to mountain, but to the God who appeared to His people on the mountain 0 we flee not to His Law, but to His saving Gospel, where we receive the sure Promise of salvation in the face of ever-worsening horrors of this world. No matter how bad it gets, He is faithful. Marked as His elect, we stand confident of our eternal deliverance by the One who suffered even greater horrors, and died and rose for us.
Surprise! I recorded a Wednesday Chapel-Mass Sermon with my Android. The sound quality is not so great, I apologize.
Second Last Sunday of the Church Year
There are sheep, and there are goats. They are very different. For a while, the sheep and goats are mixed, seemingly one flock. But do not be deceived – they are not one flock. They are two flocks. One will be sent to everlasting condemnation. The other will be given eternal life. The difference between the two flocks is their belief in the Shepherd. The sheep believe. They receive eternal life. That eternal life is not a reward for good works. It is the just reward for righteousness that is not the sheeps’, but freely given to them. From that righteousness flow works pleasing to the Shepherd. But true sheep are not aware even of their own good works. Such works are the fruit of faith, the automatic response of the believer to the love of God. These are the true sheep of the Shepherd, the true Flock, the blessed of the Father.
Last Sunday of the Church Year (Totenfest)
“The door was shut.” They are terrible words. No one else could enter. So it was at Eden. The flaming sword and cherubim were placed at Eden’s door that no one else could enter. But that closing ushered in the time of God’s grace. Even the condemnation of the serpent included a Promise. Now is the time in which the door to heaven is still open. Now is the time that saving faith is still poured out through Word and Sacrament into the lamps of the faithful. Soon, however, the Bridegroom will return, and the door to the wedding will be closed. So too will the gates of hell. Those dark gates keep the tormented in. There is fire aplenty inside for those who could not light their lamps. But the door to heaven keeps the unworthy out. There those found with lamps full dwell for eternity, safe, at peace, in everlasting joy.
11-20-2011 Matthew 25:1-13
Thanksgiving
11-24-2011 Thanksgiving 2001
First Sunday in Advent
The Covenant established, it was sealed in Blood. Blood was sprinkled on the people, on the altar, and Book of the Covenant was read. The people vowed “All that the Lord has said we will do.” God was faithful to His Covenant. But the people were not faithful. They broke the Covenant. In mercy, God did not allow them to perish. He promised a New Testament, the writing of the Law of God in the hearts and minds of the redeemed through the indwelling of the Spirit and faith – that men remember God, but God forget the sins of men. So did the faithful rejoice at the Triumphal entry of the long awaited Christ, crying “Hosanna in the highest!” For the Son of David came to usher in the New Testament, the Testament in His Blood. And so does the same Christ come now, in faithfulness to that Testament, for the forgiveness of your sins.
Download: Matthew 21:1-9
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