Saint Athanasius Lutheran Church

Israel was again at the border of the Promised Land. They could see it. They could almost touch it. They would, soon. The last time they were here, 40 years before this, they didn't. They didn't trust the Lord, didn't believe Him. But Moses had another concern as well. For he was about to die. And so he asked the Lord to appoint a man over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.

Well done, good and faithful servant. Welcome home! He heard the words. He opened his eyes. It was light. And warm. There were the prophets he'd just been thinking about -- Jeremiah, Isaiah, Moses, and Amos. The life he preached he was now in. What had happened? And one day, just as John's headless body will rise, so will yours. Whole, complete, perfect, and glorious. Because Jesus rose. And baptized into His death, you are also baptized into His resurrection. So come and receive His body, and His life. Come receive the forgiveness of your sins. Come receive and know that -- like John -- there is nothing in all creation that can now separate you from His love.

It was time to give the apostle Paul a gift. So Paul was caught up into the third heaven. Next, he says, this man was caught up into paradise. And then, Paul says, because he had seen and heard these things, the Lord gives him his gift -- a thorn in the flesh. Not much of a gift! So, uh... no thank you, God. Please take it away, take it back. The point is what the Lord tells Paul next: My gift to you wasn't a mistake and I'm not taking it back. My grace, My gift, is sufficient for you. That is, it is of service to you. It is good for you. Your weakness is My power.

The first time I heard the word triage was when I was young and watching the TV show M*A*S*H -- a show about doctors and nurses during the Korean War. Ambulances full of wounded soldiers would come into the hospital compound and the doctors had to triage them -- determine who got treated first. Doctors and nurses still do this today, which you know if you've ever been to the Emergency Room at the hospital. If your problem isn't acute or life-threatening, you'll probably have to wait your turn. Well, Jesus seemed to get His triage wrong today. And people were frequently telling Jesus He wasn't doing it right. Well, turns out, both on the cross and in this account, Jesus knew exactly what He was doing.

Disciples are learners. So it was with the twelve. So it is with us. They were not disciples, and we are not disciples, because of what we know, but rather because we need to learn. And grow. And we have much to learn. The disciples were learning, who Jesus was. Teacher, healer, cleanser. And next: forgiver! Did they have faith? Of course they had faith! They had faith in God, and they had faith in Jesus. But they were learning to bring those two together. To have faith in Jesus as God. God in the flesh, come into His creation, to save it. To save them. To save us. To save all. Which we, too, are still learning.

Have you ever planted a seed and hoped it didn't grow? That's ridiculous, right? So it is with God and His Word. He wants those seeds that are planted by His pastors preaching His Word and by His people speaking His Word to grow and to bear fruit in the hearts and lives of those who hear. But how that happens, and when, and where, and how much, and how big, that is out of our control. And out of our understanding. So we are called to TRUST, to HUMILITY, and to PATIENCE. That it's God's seed, God's kingdom, and God's growth, not ours. That Word is living, active, and powerful. And working. We may not know how. We may not understand. But your Father in heaven does.

Divide and conquer is the devil's strategy. Unite and conquer is God's way. Divide and conquer. It's what satan has been doing from the beginning. It is said that our nation is more divided than it ever has been before. Perhaps. But it actually goes even further than that, as satan is not satisfied with dividing us from one another, but even within ourselves, as people now divide their minds from their bodies. So we heard today from some scribes who accused Jesus of being possessed by Beelzebub. But there, in that water combined with the Word of God, the Word of God made flesh is casting out unclean spirits and making children of God. Uniting us to God.

We worship the trinity in unity and the unity in trinity. That's what we just confessed in the Athanasian Creed. We worship this God. This God that cannot be explained, only proclaimed. All attempts to explain the mystery of God the Holy Trinity have failed. How God can be one yet three, three yet one. So we are left with a God we cannot fully understand, because He is so different and above us, but one we can trust, because He is good. And that is far better. And so it is with us. The Spirit, who like the wind, works when and where God wills, has worked in you. So this we proclaim. This we trust and believe. This we live. And this is our joy!

You want me to preach to bones. Lord, Ezekiel must have thought, you've asked me to do a lot of weird and unusual things in my prophetic career, but this! But at least bones won't hurt you or strike back at you. But for Peter and the other apostles, their congregation was dangerous. The Jews in Jerusalem, just 50-some days ago, had turned their frustration and anger against Jesus. And so the Old Testament festival of Pentecost was being fulfilled. Pentecost, the beginning of the harvest; and now God was beginning His harvest of souls. And where better to begin than in the shadow of the cross. The cross that made it all possible.

I wonder how Joseph felt. Yes, you heard me right -- Joseph, not Matthias. We often focus on Matthias, 'cause he won. He's the one who replaced Judas. But I wonder how Joseph, called Barsabbas, also called Justus, felt. You know, the loser. Was he sad? Or was he relieved? Was he happy for Matthias, or jealous? Was he really hoping to be chosen -- and get his own verse in the hymn By All Your Saints in Warfare that we're going to sing again today for Matthias -- or was he waiting for the result with much fear and trembling?

Jesus calls His disciples friends. Marvel at that, please. The government does not call you friend. You are a taxpayer, citizen, subject, voter, but not friend. You may be friends with your boss, but at work, he is the boss and you are the employee. Pontius Pilate, you may remember, wanted to be in the exclusive "friend of Caesar" club, but that was not easy, or cheap. And some of you may remember when Bill Clinton was in the White House, there was a group of people called FOBs -- for "friends of Bill." Friends today aren't what they used to be. In this world there are the haves and the have nots. Those above and those below. And Jesus has turned all that completely upside-down!

The Ethiopian man was lost. He didn't know how to read the map. He didn't know how to get home. He wasn't dumb. He was anything but. So being an educated man, an official of some calibre, why not read this scroll on the journey home? And so it was that Isaiah confused him. And then he heard a voice... someone to lead him home. Philip began with what Isaiah said here, but said so much more. And like Peter and the other Apostles, Philip must have also told this man than in baptism, by water and the Word, a person receives this new life and new home. That day was Easter Day for this Ethiopian man. That was the day he was raised from being dead in sin to a new life in Christ.

Often times, when Jesus taught and preached, the people did not understand Him. Sometimes it was because He often spoke in parables, but even when He didn't, what He said was so different than their teachers and what they were saying that the people didn't understand. Not at first. And what Jesus said today is one of those times. Now, that may surprise you to hear me say that. You want to hear about the Good Shepherd. You want, you need, that comfort and assurance. But in first century Israel, a shepherd who died for his sheep was not a good shepherd, but a stupid one! Sheep were a commodity. A valuable one, perhaps. But still, a commodity.

Here I stand. Those words were not first uttered 500 years ago today, but they were most famously uttered 500 years ago today. This year, we remember another 500th anniversary, and that is, the Diet of Worms. Now while that's one of the best known things Luther ever said, he probably wasn't the first to say it, and he certainly wasn't the first to do it. That honor I would give to the Apostles. Now if you're like me, you admire Luther and Peter and John and all the rest of the Apostles and all the early Christian martyrs for doing that -- for standing firm in the face of danger and death and saying here I stand! But the reason they could is the same reason we can: because Christ is risen!

The reading from Acts today was remarkable. All who believed were of one heart and soul. They had everything in common. There was not a needy person among them. They sold and gave away what they had. I think we see glimpses of this in the church today. There is a certain unity we have here. All of you are very generous people. But still... there's something different, isn't there? About that early Christian church... For in all three of the readings we heard today, there are two truths that hold them all together; two truths that were life-changing for them then, and for us today: Jesus' resurrection from the dead, and the forgiveness of sins.

I have to tell you that I plan on doing a lot of swallowing later today! Swallowing a lot of Easter goodies, swallowing the Easter feast my wife is making, and swallowing some good wine. A day of great joy and feasting after the fasting of Lent. But as great as our joy, and as much as we might swallow today, our feasting is nothing compared to our Lord's. For on this day, Isaiah says, he swallowed up death forever. God had promised it. Isaiah prophesied it. Now Jesus had done it. So when you're feasting today, swallowing down lots of good and rich food, remembering who feasted first on this day, and what He feasted on! For Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Tonight we are the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Tonight we are the eleven gathered together on Easter evening. We are not sad and frightened, not confused and uncertain, as they were. For we know what is coming tomorrow. We anticipate it already tonight. But Jesus is doing for us, tonight, what He did for them, then -- we are learning of Him from the Scriptures. That is, the Old Testament. So let us hear their story. Let us hear our story. Let us hear Jesus' story.

I think Jesus smiled on the cross. Not the whole time, of course. There was much pain and agony. Agony of body with the nails. Agony of soul, being forsaken by His Father and being forsaken and mocked by His people. You heard the reproaches tonight. No smiling there. Bot other times, I think He did. I think He did when the thief on the cross next to Him asked for Jesus to remember him in His kingdon. And then, I think, there was another time. When it was dark and still and everyone there was just waiting for death, and Jesus said, It is finished.

For some Christians, tonight is really no big deal. It is simply the night of our Lord's final meal, His Last Supper, with His disciples. For Rome, tonight is a big deal for them partly because it is the institution of the priesthood -- Jesus ordering, or ordaining, His disciples-soon-to-be-apostles to continue offering the sacrifice of the mass. But for us, it is neither of those things. Tonight is the night of for you. Jesus' Body given for you to eat. Jesus' Blood given for you to drink. Your Passover Lamb, but even more. That though you die, yet you will live.

Even one death is too many. You've heard that phrase. It sounds very pious. It's a good sound bite in our sound bite world. Truth is, though, not all deaths are equal. Some get more press than others. So the truth is: we're confused, aren't we? About death. Is it good or bad? Because for Him, for Jesus, for God, it really is true: even one death is too many. No one was meant to die. No one. But we thought -- and sinfully often still think -- we can do life better than God. Yeah, really! But all we did in the end, was death. But this one death is exactly what was needed. For the death He dies was yours.