Saint Athanasius Lutheran Church

The Easter season and our celebration of our Lord's resurrection is like a seesaw. Seven weeks of joy divided into two parts with a fulcrum in the middle. The first three weeks we hear of Jesus' appearances to His disciples after He rose from the dead. The final three weeks, which we are now entering, we hear Him teaching His disciples what He is about to do and what it means. And the middle, the fulcrum, is Good Shepherd Sunday, for Jesus is our Good Shepherd through it all.

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Yet while it sounds like those early Christians were devoted to four things, in reality, they were devoted to only one: Jesus. For all those things are from Him and lead to Him. Because they knew Jesus not was, but is, their Good Shepherd. The one who came to care for them, to feed them, to fight for them, to protect them, and to die for them. And now risen from the dead, to continue to do this for them -- and for us -- forever.

It had been a Passover unlike any other. The festival-like atmosphere was missing. Crucifixions during the Feast. And this Jesus, who we had hoped was the one to redeem Israel, well... turns out He couldn't even save Himself. And now it was time to go back home. And then a strange week got even stranger when a stranger came up to them and started walking with them. But this man didn't seem to know what had happened. Now, of course, this man hadn't missed anything. So how had they missed it? Well, like this: they missed the greater because they were looking for the smaller.

The disciples were hunkering down for fear of the Jews. It had all happened so fast. They didn't know what to think. Much the same thing is happening today. People are hunkered down in fear. Of a virus. These things go on because sin goes on. But how we respond to them now is most certainly changed. And that's the very gift He gives His disciples that night. The forgiveness of their sins and the promise of life. Yes, there are still trials and struggles -- viruses and troubles -- that we must go through. Peter says that too. But they are sent, he says, not to destroy your faith, but to strengthen it like gold.

About a month ago, we were told that were we to do nothing, were we to go on living our lives as normal, there would be some 2.2 million deaths in the United States from the coronavirus. Yet because of closures and social distancing, the number was reduced to approximately 60 thousand. But there are a few more numbers I want to share with you... 3,000... 620,000... 1.7 million... 8 million... 20 million... 50 million... 56 million... 62 million. That's the number of people who dies on 9/11, in the US Civil War, in the Crusades, in the 30 Years war, in WWI, of the Black Plague, in WWII, and finally, the biggest number: the number of abortions in just the United States since 1973.

Imagine what the day will be like when all these virus restrictions are lifted. When we are able to go back to our lives as usual. Church as usual. Sports. Games. Parks. Libraries. Work. People outside. Social gatherings. Parties. Celebrations. The joy... it'll be like... Palm Sunday! The first one. But by the end of the week, Rome was still Rome, and still in control. Their Messiah was dead. Nothing had changed. But after that first Palm Sunday and the week that ended in bitter disappointment, the Church had a message to proclaim. It simply was not true that nothing had changed -- for everything had changed!

Hope. It's what the prophet Ezekiel and the people of his day needed. It's what the people of Rome needed. it's what a mourning Mary and Martha needed. And it's what we need. And not just now, in this time of pandemic. Even before this. For there was death before this, and there will be after this. Hope is always needed. And the readings we heard today show us where our hope is. Or maybe better to say, WHO our hope is. Paul says, don't set your minds on the things of the flesh. There's more than this. There's greater than this. And it's yours in Christ Jesus. In Him you have life and hope.

God's ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts. What we want we do not always get, and sometimes we get what we do not want. How true that is especially these days. But just as we do not know the day when our Lord is coming again in glory and this world as we know it will end, so too we do not know when this will end. But He does. So until then, we wait and we trust. For our Father in heaven is always doing what is best for us. How long will that be? Something happens every generation to make us think: soon! But none of us knows when the end will come. Or how. But if all these things make us flee to Christ and His promises, that is good. So be wise, be careful, be safe, and be smart, but do not fear.

What a difference a week can make! Last Sunday our children were still going to school. Last Sunday sports were still being played. Last Sunday there was plenty of food on grocery store shelves. And maybe there is a lot we'd like to ask God today, about what is happening -- how long it will last, how bad it will get, and why it is happening. Even if it doesn't seem like it and in things we can't understand. God doesn't cut and run when the going gets tough. For with Christ, in Christ, and with your eyes and faith focused on Christ, you have what the world needs. He is with you in life and in death. So be wise, be careful, be safe, and be smart, but do not fear.

What if you got a sit-down with Jesus? Well Nicodemus got such a sit-down. Just Him and Jesus, one-on-one. And the point is clear: Jesus isn't going to tell Nicodemus what he wants to know, but what he needs to know. And the first step to do that is to teach Nicodemus that he can't do it -- something that no Pharisee would believe on his own. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus didn't get all his questions answered that night. In fact, he may have left with more than he came with! He didn't get what he wanted to know, but he did get what he needed to know.

Sin is not an end in itself for satan, it is a means to an end -- to your death. For that's what he wants. We heard of it in the first reading today, from Genesis, the account of the first sin. And this is why -- and how -- satan tempts you today. He can't make or force you to do anything. What he does is dangle things before you, things you think you want, things he promises will make your life better, and tempts you to jump -- away from God, away from His life, away from His gifts. Jump to your death. And we take the bait. So Jesus came. Into the wilderness into which we jumped. But there would be no jumping out of God's Word and promises for Jesus.

This is a side of you I haven't seen before. We say that sometimes. Well today, in His Transfiguration, Jesus shows Peter, James, and John a side of Him they haven't seen before. Or have they? Peter, James, and John got to see the glory of the Son of God that day. But it really was a side of Jesus that He had been showing them all along by the glorious things His glory did. But the point is clear: this is not how Jesus wants to be seen or known. Not yet. So on Wednesday we enter the season of Lent. The season of Jesus' glory and its culmination on the cross.

It's ugly, isn't it? The epiphany today, of your sin. When Jesus holds up the mirror of His Law, as He did today... it's not a pretty face looking back, is it? We're. Just. Sinners. I don't want to look at me anymore! Take it away, Jesus! Take it away! And He does! Not the Law. But your sin, your death, your failure. He came to take it all away. So we have hope. Because He did take it away. What we don't want to look at. Now the Law, but our sin. To give us life. All that you need, He will see to it, and He will give. Even if you can't see it, believe the Word of God which speaks it to you.

You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. That is your Christian vocation. This is how Jesus uses His Christians. This is not what you have to be, but who you are. His salt and His light. So Jesus sprinkles you where He needs you to preserve a rotting world. For that's what salt does. And so Jesus put you to be His light as well. So God is putting you in the darkness -- and maybe in some really deep, dark places! -- to light them up. Jesus hasn't forgotten you and He's not punishing you. Rather, He needs you there. To be His salt. To be His light.

When you're looking through some old photo albums -- or today, your Instagram feed -- and you come across some pictures that are out of place, out of order, you know they didn't happen in that sequence but for some reason, there they are... they stick out. The Holy Gospel we heard today is kind of that. But perhaps this is a good "sticking out" for us today. That instead of hearing this story as part of the Christmas story, we hear it as part of Jesus Epiphany story. Where really, I think it fits better. For it tells us of Jesus' epiphany to Simeon and Anna.

Most of the people we hear about in the readings today... we don't know who they are. They're nameless men. In the reading from Titus, of course we hear Titus' name, and Paul is writing to him, but we don't know much about this Titus. It's interesting, isn't it? And it teaches us something. That it's not about the preacher, it's about what is preached. Or at least, it should be. When it's not, when the preacher becomes the focus, that's when things go wrong. The pastor is just a mouth, and hands. A mouth and hands put here by God to preach. To speak, to give. That here, everything be about Christ.

God loves you. That's the message of this Sanctity of Life Sunday. It's really the same message as every other Sunday of the year. And yet, on this Sunday, it's a bit different, too. A little more important to say. And to say a bit louder and a bit more boldly. And if others despise us and abhor us for that -- for speaking up for life... well, we're in good company. So was Jesus. But He came for all and stayed for all, is for all and wants all. And so the message of the church on this Sanctity of Life Sunday, and every Sunday, is God loves you.

He looked just like them. Like all the other Tom, Dick, and Harrys going out to be baptized by this John in the Jordan. He walked like them, talked like them, and dressed like them. He was one of them. Like all of them. So they didn't take too much notice of Him. But then His turn came for the baptism. John... he seemed reluctant. Just another baptism.... until it wasn't. It seemed almost like heaven was reaching down to earth, right there, right then, on Him! Because it was. That's exactly what baptism is. The joining of heaven an earth. Heaven reaching down to earth.

Epiphany. Wise Men. The star. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. You know the story. It's part of the Christmas story we all know so well. Doting shepherds and wealthy wise men gazing at the child. The thing about Epiphany, though, is that baby the shepherds and wise men are looking at -- that's God! God in the flesh. Hod here in the world. And for us today, it's not in seeing the pint-sized Jesus in the manger, but in seeing the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God on the cross and in the grave. That you be wise men, wise women, and wise children. By His Word.

God with us. That's how it was meant to be. But something had gone horribly wrong. His children no longer wanted Him there with them. And so God with us... that was no longer good news. Except it still was. They just didn't know it. God with us. There may not be a better phrase that sumes up Christmas than that. And so how it was meant to be, God has made it again. God is with us. In Adam there was a great change. In Jesus, an even greater one. This Christmas, think about that. God with us. God with you. Good news and great joy indeed!