• Home
• Services
• About Augsburg
• About Pastor
• Sermons
• Links

• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004

Judas, not Iscariot (ie: St. Jude also known as Thaddeus Labeus) had a question: "Lord, how is it that you will manifest Yourself to us [the 12] and not to the world?" Good question - - for them and for you. How does the Son of God make His presence known to you and not to everybody? How do you know who is a believer, a follower of Jesus?

Not by nature. The five senses and the incredible brain which synthesizes their information can tell you lots of things about the visible (and even the invisible) but can tell you nothing about the supra-visible, the spiritual. Luther says in the 3rd Article: "I believe that I cannot my by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him..."

Not by Jesus' visible earthly ministry. That's over. He Ascended 40 days after His Resurrection, and save for His extraordinary appearance to St. Paul, He won't be seen again with the human eye until the "end of time; judgment day."

Not by the Cross, or the hill called Calvary, or the Temple. Those things are all gone; can't be found.

The Christ is manifested to you, made known, experienced, grasped, taken in, digested & absorbed: BY THE WORD. The word "Word" means several things - - all complimentary and interpenetrating. Word means Scripture, the Bible. Word means the Gospel message of Jesus Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins. Word means the Words of Institution of the New Testament (the consecration formula spoken by Christ on the night of His betrayal and arrest). Word means Jesus Himself-- the enfleshed 2nd Person of the Trinity; the God/Man. To have one of these variations of the Word is to have them all. How so? By the power, love, Grace and giving goodness of God. By the power of the Holy Ghost.

Jesus tells us that.........in the Word, the words which St. John records for us in this morning's appointed text. Those that love Jesus will keep His word. Love is God; God is love. To love is to be in God and to have God in you. Love of God is perfect communion and fellowship. It's the state of giving and being given to; the eternal conversation of affection. To have that love is to simply have Jesus. It means for you to believe, trust, and hope in that which you can't see with your eyes, but that you nonetheless know in your heart. To keep Christ's word is to obey His commandments, yes. But we know that we can't do that... not perfectly, not all the time, not even most of the time, not daily, not in the way we're expected to. So again, to obey the Law is to trust in Jesus. It is to believe that He kept the commandments on your behalf and that He died for the punishment that you rightly deserved. To keep His word is to rely on Jesus' blood and righteousness.

The Lord was visibly present among His own when He spoke His words. He the Word Incarnate was there with them interacting.

But now, until the final Advent, He has left your eye-sight. You hear His actual physical voice no more.

He now gives you the Word by the Holy Ghost. You have Jesus through the administration, the giving out of Jesus, by the Spirit. Jesus hasn't just left you "peace" as a feeling, an abstract emotion. Jesus has left you the Peace which is Himself. The Holy Ghost gives you the real, the total, the complete Christ... in the Word.

Do you want Jesus? You have Him when you read the Scriptures, or when they are read to you. You have Jesus when you are forgiven all your daily trespasses by His Word of Absolution.... which stokes up the faith your Holy Baptism enkindled. You have Jesus when you receive His actual body and true blood in your mouth in the Eucharist.

Seems too simple, too normal, a bit repetitive and boring? You say you'd rather have the miracle of Pentecost as recorded by St. Luke in the Book of Acts rather than John's account of Jesus' simple words. That's the old adam talking. Drown him. Drown him as you sing the Sanctus louder and with more recognition today than in some times past. Drown him when you drink deeply of the Lord's Love and Life from the chalice. Drown him and chase him away as you sing our closing hymn and believe again all the Words of our Savior which bring Jesus back into you and you into Him.

Yes the Spirit appeared as little tongues of fire over the heads of the apostles. Pretty neat. But the point was not in the "hair sparklers" but in the lips proclaiming. The Holy Ghost gave those 12 men the ability to speak foreign languages for one reason and one reason only - - so that all who had assembled in Jerusalem from distant countries could hear about Jesus' life, death and resurrection. Pentecost is not about the mighty rushing wind and dazzling fire... .Pentecost is about the Word... ..the Word... .the Word. JESUS.

Jesus has gone to the Father. He is at the right hand of God. That means He and the Father are one. That means Jesus is Lord of Lords, Light of Light, True God of True God. That means wherever Jesus is for you...you don't just have a bearded guy who is friendly and sweet, but that you have the Living God Who is your continual Savior. You have the Lord your Shepherd who rescues you, who makes everything right again in His blood, Who is God Almighty, Who gives you Peace with His very Body. You are that Pentecost crowd, who by the way, didn't see Jesus with their eye-balls. You like them receive the joys of Christ Jesus by His Word, in the Spirit, with the Father.

Pentecost is about the Word here right now for you, remitting, restoring, re-energizing.