+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Luke 15:20
Theme: Exuberant Love
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God’s love is not passive. He enthusiastically attends to us; vigorously defending us, firmly prodding us, gently embracing us, as needed. Today’s parable is a supreme illustration. Commonly known as the parable of the Prodigal Son it actually involves three key figures; The father, who is an image of God, the prodigal, representing wayward sinners, and the older son, symbolizing self-righteous sinners. The parable pivots on the father’s response to the return of the younger son. God always rushes to embrace someone with a repentant heart.
The reckless actions of the younger son are easy to resonate with. He wanted to do things his way. We’re not being honest sinners if we say we can’t relate. But his way was not God’s way. A fool and his money are soon parted. So are a fool and his credibility. Some lessons have to be learned the hard way. That was the case today. The prodigal found himself in serious want. While feeding the pigs the hunger in his stomach triggered a stirring in his conscience. He began to see the foolishness of his choices.
When the word of God ruminates in our hearts the Holy Spirit is on the scene. More than simple introspection is at work here. The Holy Spirit made a breakthrough. Now, in one sense it was only common sense; the prodigal was in desperate need but the family estate had ample provision. How rash and foolish he had been to leave in the first place! In a deeper sense, we see true repentance at work. The hole in his stomach triggered recognition of emptiness in his heart. The apology was quickly formulated in his mind. The confession was waiting on his lips. We can picture him rehearsing it again and again as he hurried back to approach his father.
But, surprisingly, the father makes a preemptive strike. This is the crux of the story. Here the colours of Christ come blazing through. The preeminence of love comes to the fore. Compassion makes haste; running with adrenaline-fueled joy- ignoring custom, transgressing etiquette, foregoing dignity-the father embraces the son who was lost. The curator of the inheritance rushes to accept the undeserving heir. What matters to the father is not his legacy when he departs but the presence of his son while he lives.
Forgiveness came before the apology was spoken. What a blessed thing it is when the angst of a pending confession is slain by preemptive absolution! It is a blessed crucifixion. The bitterness of remorse is drowned in a sudden immersion of forgiveness. It doesn’t mean the act of repentance is incomplete, inadequate, or somehow unnecessary. It just means the foresight of grace has treated the intention as a completed action. This brings immediate resurrection to the penitent soul. Reconciliation is achieved. The angels rejoice. The lost is found. The love of the father is exuberant, an image of Christ’s love for us.
The pattern is there throughout the Scriptures. God says to His people, “Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear.”1 Before the brothers were capable of uttering one word of remorse Joseph said, “Do not be dismayed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.”2 Before Jacob could articulate his humility to Esau, “Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his necked and kissed him, and they wept.”3 Before the cowering disciples offered a word of regret on the evening of Easter Sunday, Jesus stood among them and said, “Peace, be with you!”4 Before we can really reach God with our repentance He has already arrived with the pardon. It’s not just because He can read our minds and knows our hearts. His love is always proactive. It pursues us.
Love has definition. It has concrete expression both in the orderly way in which God has created and in the compassionate way in which He has redeemed. Let us not forget that God’s law is also an expression of love. God defines the parameters of obedience to Him for our well-being. The Ten Commandments define God’s will for proper relationships. In a culture (even a religious culture) that is increasingly insistent on equating love with tolerance and allowing a self-definition within the bounds of political correctness, believers must be clear that the reality of God’s love is not open to unlimited interpretation. When He says, “Do not commit adultery,”5 for example, He’s not offering a principle or guideline. He actually means that it’s best for everyone involved to practice sexual purity within marriage. But the law can never bring comfort to our troubled consciences. Thanks be to God that in His redeeming love Christ has been perfectly obedient to the will of the Father! The crucifixion is the crowning example. The cross is greatest reminder of our sins and our greatest source of joy.
Sometimes Lent is misunderstood. It’s not a matter of self-imposed dreariness. It’s a transparent reality check. Like the profligate spender who keeps living beyond his means until outside intervention stops him, the sinner always wants to live beyond his spiritual means and keeps going until God’s divine intervention stops him. We can’t keep going on under our own steam, making our own way. Only Christ can take us past the finish line.
But it’s a marathon, not a sprint. The entire Christian life is really like an extended season of Lent. We have glimpses of the resurrection. But like the three disciples on the mount of transfiguration we can’t grasp it. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus we can’t recognize Him. That doesn’t make our spiritual resurrection in baptism any less real. We have already been raised from spiritual death. But it does mean the prosaic of Lenten realities attends us to our dying breath.
Still, even in Lent we are reminded that we worship the risen and living Lord Jesus. The father’s celebration of the son’s return is a preview of Easter. We celebrate each day not just because it’s a gift of God’s providence but because we possess the promise of eternity. We can be stripped of every creaturely comfort and even our credibility, as the prodigal was, and yet the future is still filled with hope. For his son’s return the father killed the fattened calf. For us He has spread the table with the food of His own life-giving body and blood. Holy Communion sustains us in that relationship first restored in our baptisms. From start to finish God plans and executes all that is required for our salvation. The Spirit says, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”6 Both the prodigal and the older brother are reconciled through Him. And so are we. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Fourth Sunday in Lent
6 March, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Isaiah 65:24
2 Genesis 45:5
3 Genesis 33:4
4 John 20:21
5 See Exodus 20:14
62 Corinthians 5:21
Sunday, March 6, 2016
Monday, February 29, 2016
Third Sunday In Lent (C) 2016
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Luke 13:3
Theme: Seriousness of Sin
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Strong words; very strong words from Jesus! He can read the heart. He knew exactly what they were asking. He had just been teaching them about making right judgments and approaching conflict with an attitude of reconciliation. Now He must be unmistakably clear that there is no bargaining with God. The notion of when, and in what measure repentance is necessary simply cannot be entertained. Faith is always seeking the forgiveness of God. Christians never believe the need for mercy is obsolete.
On this third Sunday in Lent our appointed Scriptures address one concern above all others. It is the concern of true reverence for who God is and what He wills. It is the concern of true repentance. The Israelites were delivered through the Red Sea and yet set their hearts on evil. The Galileans were trying to measure the sins of others, but Jesus told them bluntly, “Unless you repent, you too will all perish.”1 Dear friends, God wishes us to have no confusion over the zeal of His justice or the certainty of consequences for transgressing His will. God is serious about His intentions and resolute in His judgments. We deserve His temporal and eternal punishment. God does not tolerate sin; this state of existence must be resolved.
The questioning of Jesus in today’s gospel about the Galileans who fell victim to Herod’s despotism typifies human nature. They wanted to know what great sins these other people had committed to receive such a harsh judgment. What about those who were crushed by the Tower of Siloam? People were wanting to know just what measure of punishment would be doled out for a corresponding level of sin. People always want to test the limit of what they can get away with. Can we lie and deceive? Can we gossip and slander? Can we covet and steal? Can we participate in sexual immorality? Can we sin intentionally, in a “controlled” way, and not be punished? When people believe they can they are emboldened to sin all the more.
Why did those particular people board Malaysian airline flight 370 which subsequently disappeared? Why were these certain people in the path of a cyclone or in the way of a tornado? Why did those people contract the Zika virus? Why did those people get Bird flu? Why do people suddenly die of heart attacks, strokes, and traffic accidents? What does the Scripture say? God is “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”2 He says, “I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live”3
True repentance does not ask which sins of commission or omission may be tolerated by God. True repentance laments the totality of our condition as poor, miserable sinners. True repentance eagerly trusts in the offer of complete and full forgiveness. Christians live God-pleasing lives always and only vicariously, that is, not of our own accord but through Christ and the Holy Spirit. The Bible says, “If Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.”4 The Christian life of humility is characterized by the example of Jesus in Luke 17, “Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty,’”5
We do not live before God in fear and trepidation, but in reverence and with joy. The cross has turned wrath into favor. The crucifixion has wrought the exchange of bondage for freedom, of exile for rapprochement, of division for reconciliation. The cross has turned darkness into light and time into eternity for all who believe. Jesus Christ rose from the grave and has turned death into life. He lives and He dispenses to us that life.
Nothing we face, even the “new” evils of the world today, is novel to Him. Christ has always attended to His people and nothing can frighten Him. Consider what we heard earlier. “I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.”6 Yes, the Messiah who had not yet taken on human flesh accompanied His people through the desert. How much more so we who have Him who has been crucified, raised from death, and now intercedes before the throne of grace! They were baptized figuratively as they were delivered from physical bondage across the Red Sea. We are baptized literally and freed from the grip of sin for all eternity. They were nourished with spiritual food in anticipation of the sacred feast to come. We have the substance, the body and blood of Christ, a holy banquet overflowing with forgiveness, life and salvation.
Dear friends, we are drawing near to Holy Week and one concern must be held above all others. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”7 Imprint this on your minds, etch it on your hearts, teach it to your children, discuss it with your friends, pray it for your enemies, share it with strangers, think it in your thoughts and live it in your actions. Be faithful and diligent in handling this truth and the Holy Spirit will do the rest. Christianity is not complicated, but it is all-encompassing.
What are we to make of the concerns voiced to our Lord today? The “Why do bad things happen?” script can easily be flipped. Why should we expect care-free, smooth-sailing through life? Why does anything good happen at all? On what basis should we assume that life should generally be safe and enjoyable? There is none! Yet, the lavish generosity of God attends us every day. Good does happen and it will prevail because the conquering love of Christ overcomes all the forces of evil. The apostle says, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”8 Is it so bad if we suffer trials and tribulations, frailty of body and mind, injury to heart and will if we know a resurrection awaits us? Is it so bad if we close our eyes this very night and wake up in heaven? On the cross the eyes of Christ closed in death. But He opened them again and in His light we see light9. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Third Sunday in Lent
28 February, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Luke 13:3
2 2 Peter 3:9
3 Ezekiel 18:32
4 Romans 8:10
5 Luke 17:7-10
61 Corinthians 10:1-4
7 John 14:6
8 1 John 3:1
9 See Psalm 36:9
Text: Luke 13:3
Theme: Seriousness of Sin
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Strong words; very strong words from Jesus! He can read the heart. He knew exactly what they were asking. He had just been teaching them about making right judgments and approaching conflict with an attitude of reconciliation. Now He must be unmistakably clear that there is no bargaining with God. The notion of when, and in what measure repentance is necessary simply cannot be entertained. Faith is always seeking the forgiveness of God. Christians never believe the need for mercy is obsolete.
On this third Sunday in Lent our appointed Scriptures address one concern above all others. It is the concern of true reverence for who God is and what He wills. It is the concern of true repentance. The Israelites were delivered through the Red Sea and yet set their hearts on evil. The Galileans were trying to measure the sins of others, but Jesus told them bluntly, “Unless you repent, you too will all perish.”1 Dear friends, God wishes us to have no confusion over the zeal of His justice or the certainty of consequences for transgressing His will. God is serious about His intentions and resolute in His judgments. We deserve His temporal and eternal punishment. God does not tolerate sin; this state of existence must be resolved.
The questioning of Jesus in today’s gospel about the Galileans who fell victim to Herod’s despotism typifies human nature. They wanted to know what great sins these other people had committed to receive such a harsh judgment. What about those who were crushed by the Tower of Siloam? People were wanting to know just what measure of punishment would be doled out for a corresponding level of sin. People always want to test the limit of what they can get away with. Can we lie and deceive? Can we gossip and slander? Can we covet and steal? Can we participate in sexual immorality? Can we sin intentionally, in a “controlled” way, and not be punished? When people believe they can they are emboldened to sin all the more.
Why did those particular people board Malaysian airline flight 370 which subsequently disappeared? Why were these certain people in the path of a cyclone or in the way of a tornado? Why did those people contract the Zika virus? Why did those people get Bird flu? Why do people suddenly die of heart attacks, strokes, and traffic accidents? What does the Scripture say? God is “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”2 He says, “I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live”3
True repentance does not ask which sins of commission or omission may be tolerated by God. True repentance laments the totality of our condition as poor, miserable sinners. True repentance eagerly trusts in the offer of complete and full forgiveness. Christians live God-pleasing lives always and only vicariously, that is, not of our own accord but through Christ and the Holy Spirit. The Bible says, “If Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.”4 The Christian life of humility is characterized by the example of Jesus in Luke 17, “Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty,’”5
We do not live before God in fear and trepidation, but in reverence and with joy. The cross has turned wrath into favor. The crucifixion has wrought the exchange of bondage for freedom, of exile for rapprochement, of division for reconciliation. The cross has turned darkness into light and time into eternity for all who believe. Jesus Christ rose from the grave and has turned death into life. He lives and He dispenses to us that life.
Nothing we face, even the “new” evils of the world today, is novel to Him. Christ has always attended to His people and nothing can frighten Him. Consider what we heard earlier. “I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.”6 Yes, the Messiah who had not yet taken on human flesh accompanied His people through the desert. How much more so we who have Him who has been crucified, raised from death, and now intercedes before the throne of grace! They were baptized figuratively as they were delivered from physical bondage across the Red Sea. We are baptized literally and freed from the grip of sin for all eternity. They were nourished with spiritual food in anticipation of the sacred feast to come. We have the substance, the body and blood of Christ, a holy banquet overflowing with forgiveness, life and salvation.
Dear friends, we are drawing near to Holy Week and one concern must be held above all others. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”7 Imprint this on your minds, etch it on your hearts, teach it to your children, discuss it with your friends, pray it for your enemies, share it with strangers, think it in your thoughts and live it in your actions. Be faithful and diligent in handling this truth and the Holy Spirit will do the rest. Christianity is not complicated, but it is all-encompassing.
What are we to make of the concerns voiced to our Lord today? The “Why do bad things happen?” script can easily be flipped. Why should we expect care-free, smooth-sailing through life? Why does anything good happen at all? On what basis should we assume that life should generally be safe and enjoyable? There is none! Yet, the lavish generosity of God attends us every day. Good does happen and it will prevail because the conquering love of Christ overcomes all the forces of evil. The apostle says, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”8 Is it so bad if we suffer trials and tribulations, frailty of body and mind, injury to heart and will if we know a resurrection awaits us? Is it so bad if we close our eyes this very night and wake up in heaven? On the cross the eyes of Christ closed in death. But He opened them again and in His light we see light9. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Third Sunday in Lent
28 February, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Luke 13:3
2 2 Peter 3:9
3 Ezekiel 18:32
4 Romans 8:10
5 Luke 17:7-10
61 Corinthians 10:1-4
7 John 14:6
8 1 John 3:1
9 See Psalm 36:9
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Harvest Thanksgiving (Second Sunday In Lent, C) 2016
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Deuteronomy 26:9
Theme: Provision from God
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God has designed us to be contingent, that is, dependent upon powers greater than ourselves. At the most basic level two outcomes from this truth become evident. Firstly, we need to be loved or our lives will be bereft of significant meaning. Secondly, our basic bodily needs have to be met. Nourishment and protection are essential. The heart must have hope. The stomach must have stable supply. When either category is deprived life quickly becomes distorted. God tends to all of these needs but through different means. The body He cares for with resources from the earth; the soul with resources from heaven.
Through God’s providence and grace, this fallen creation continues to meet our temporal needs. Harvest Thanksgiving is recognition of this truth. Grain from the paddock, grapes from the vine, fruit from the orchard, vegetables from the garden, lambs from the fold, birds from the flock are all acquired through the participation of human labor. Yet, none would exist if not for the pure generosity of God. The seed does not germinate apart from Him. Conception does not occur without Him.
Literally, since the beginning, people have depended on the produce of the earth. And immediately after the fall they began to be ungrateful for it. Thanklessness reached its pinnacle in the Sinai desert. The (freed) Israelites murmured against God and against Moses longing to return to captivity in Egypt where they sat around pots of meat and enjoyed the produce of the well-watered Nile valley. Their sense of priority wasn’t elevated above the satisfaction of their stomachs. At least in Egypt food was available. There’s more than a bit of irony in the complaint of Numbers 11, “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost- also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”1God promised them a land flowing with milk and honey but that seemed like a distant and unattainable mirage as they wandered the parched desert.
Manna was the answer. It was more than a practical solution. It was a divine blessing pregnant with Messianic promise. The Bread-giver to come would silence all clamoring. Of Him the prophet says, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”2Quail were provided too. Their cries did not fall on deaf ears. But God was eager to hear cries from their hearts not from their stomachs.
How deliberately forgetful and ungrateful to claim they ate well in Egypt at no cost. The cost was their own enslavement. They weren’t free to worship the true and living God and so they forgot about Him. At least their stomachs were filled! Dear friends, there are no free lunches. Somebody pays the price. Food security is naturally a high priority for modern governments. Orderly and honest government is God’s means for stable society. Seed, sun, soil, and water are God’s means of providing. A modern society becomes more estranged from its agricultural roots; these lessons will have to be re-learned.
Spiritually, God does provide without cost to us but the price was paid by His Son. There are no spiritual free lunches either. It’s hardly disputable that in the West the appetite for God’s forgiveness is being lost. Spiritual taste buds are becoming dulled. Hearts, and minds, and souls are being filled with humanistic or demonic ideas which centre not on the power and mercy of God in Christ, but in human wisdom and achievement or supernatural or psychic entities. Our sin of ungratefulness is driven by the greater sin of unbelief.
“Christ died for me,” is the crux of the Christian confession. Christ died for you because Christ died for all. In this season of Lent it is incumbent upon us to identify and combat the temptations of Satan, the enticements of the world and the desires of our own sinful nature that seek to weaken our relationship with Christ. We should not be surprised that Satan strews our path with temptations. He works constantly to drain our hope and drive us to despair. He is an opportunist. We gather in the strong name of God, the truth of Christ’s word and the Holy Spirit’s power to gird ourselves with spiritual armor against his attacks. We gather here in remembrance of our baptisms. We gather here to be nourished by His own body and blood. We gather here to rejoice in His blessings. Then we go out to be leaven in the world.
Christ asserts a worldview of reality which is constituted by Him. It’s an enormous claim and that’s why it has been and will continue to be contested. Defending the assertions of Christian truth necessarily involves the refutation of error. Opposing claims cannot both be true. Either God created the universe and ordered it. Or random chaos has cleverly disguised itself in an organized fashion. Either sin has estranged us from God, or sin is just a projection of human brokenness that has no permanent consequences. Either Jesus, the Christ, has made sacrifice for our sins or human effort has impressed Him enough to cancel the debt. And on it goes! Either we recognize these fruits of the harvest as gifts of God or we further demonstrate the power of unbelief through thankless denial.
Jesus, the Bread of Life, does not serve us with poor nutrition. He fills us with love. He fortifies us with truth. He enriches us with grace. He suffered to a degree beyond human understanding. Death took Him but death could not hold Him. We are His baptized. We are fed from His holy table. We are heirs of His kingdom. We are witnesses to His promises. These promises are fulfilled in the temporal sphere as Jesus, the Good Shepherd, ensures that we never lack what we really need. They are fulfilled spiritually every time His own words come true which say, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”3 We pray that God would cultivate in us a deep thankfulness for our daily bread and all the provision that comes from His bounty.
On the Mount of Transfiguration Jesus was changed in an instant. It was a stunning display of His glory. We are, in this life, transfigured gradually. Every act of refinement the Holy Spirit performs upon us draws us steadily closer to His image. Our sins are confessed. Our sins are forgiven. Our will is exerted. Our will is broken. Our plans are mislaid. Our plans are corrected. Constant contact with His truth begins to polish our rougher edges. Still, we are broken. We are works in progress. But our moment of drama will come. The scripture says, “In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet…the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”4 May God grant us great anticipation for that Day even as we give thanks for the blessings of the present. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
The Second Sunday in Lent
Harvest Thanksgiving
21 February, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Number 11:5-6
2 Isaiah 55:1
3 Matthew 4:4
4 1 Corinthians 15:51-52
Text: Deuteronomy 26:9
Theme: Provision from God
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God has designed us to be contingent, that is, dependent upon powers greater than ourselves. At the most basic level two outcomes from this truth become evident. Firstly, we need to be loved or our lives will be bereft of significant meaning. Secondly, our basic bodily needs have to be met. Nourishment and protection are essential. The heart must have hope. The stomach must have stable supply. When either category is deprived life quickly becomes distorted. God tends to all of these needs but through different means. The body He cares for with resources from the earth; the soul with resources from heaven.
Through God’s providence and grace, this fallen creation continues to meet our temporal needs. Harvest Thanksgiving is recognition of this truth. Grain from the paddock, grapes from the vine, fruit from the orchard, vegetables from the garden, lambs from the fold, birds from the flock are all acquired through the participation of human labor. Yet, none would exist if not for the pure generosity of God. The seed does not germinate apart from Him. Conception does not occur without Him.
Literally, since the beginning, people have depended on the produce of the earth. And immediately after the fall they began to be ungrateful for it. Thanklessness reached its pinnacle in the Sinai desert. The (freed) Israelites murmured against God and against Moses longing to return to captivity in Egypt where they sat around pots of meat and enjoyed the produce of the well-watered Nile valley. Their sense of priority wasn’t elevated above the satisfaction of their stomachs. At least in Egypt food was available. There’s more than a bit of irony in the complaint of Numbers 11, “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost- also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”1God promised them a land flowing with milk and honey but that seemed like a distant and unattainable mirage as they wandered the parched desert.
Manna was the answer. It was more than a practical solution. It was a divine blessing pregnant with Messianic promise. The Bread-giver to come would silence all clamoring. Of Him the prophet says, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”2Quail were provided too. Their cries did not fall on deaf ears. But God was eager to hear cries from their hearts not from their stomachs.
How deliberately forgetful and ungrateful to claim they ate well in Egypt at no cost. The cost was their own enslavement. They weren’t free to worship the true and living God and so they forgot about Him. At least their stomachs were filled! Dear friends, there are no free lunches. Somebody pays the price. Food security is naturally a high priority for modern governments. Orderly and honest government is God’s means for stable society. Seed, sun, soil, and water are God’s means of providing. A modern society becomes more estranged from its agricultural roots; these lessons will have to be re-learned.
Spiritually, God does provide without cost to us but the price was paid by His Son. There are no spiritual free lunches either. It’s hardly disputable that in the West the appetite for God’s forgiveness is being lost. Spiritual taste buds are becoming dulled. Hearts, and minds, and souls are being filled with humanistic or demonic ideas which centre not on the power and mercy of God in Christ, but in human wisdom and achievement or supernatural or psychic entities. Our sin of ungratefulness is driven by the greater sin of unbelief.
“Christ died for me,” is the crux of the Christian confession. Christ died for you because Christ died for all. In this season of Lent it is incumbent upon us to identify and combat the temptations of Satan, the enticements of the world and the desires of our own sinful nature that seek to weaken our relationship with Christ. We should not be surprised that Satan strews our path with temptations. He works constantly to drain our hope and drive us to despair. He is an opportunist. We gather in the strong name of God, the truth of Christ’s word and the Holy Spirit’s power to gird ourselves with spiritual armor against his attacks. We gather here in remembrance of our baptisms. We gather here to be nourished by His own body and blood. We gather here to rejoice in His blessings. Then we go out to be leaven in the world.
Christ asserts a worldview of reality which is constituted by Him. It’s an enormous claim and that’s why it has been and will continue to be contested. Defending the assertions of Christian truth necessarily involves the refutation of error. Opposing claims cannot both be true. Either God created the universe and ordered it. Or random chaos has cleverly disguised itself in an organized fashion. Either sin has estranged us from God, or sin is just a projection of human brokenness that has no permanent consequences. Either Jesus, the Christ, has made sacrifice for our sins or human effort has impressed Him enough to cancel the debt. And on it goes! Either we recognize these fruits of the harvest as gifts of God or we further demonstrate the power of unbelief through thankless denial.
Jesus, the Bread of Life, does not serve us with poor nutrition. He fills us with love. He fortifies us with truth. He enriches us with grace. He suffered to a degree beyond human understanding. Death took Him but death could not hold Him. We are His baptized. We are fed from His holy table. We are heirs of His kingdom. We are witnesses to His promises. These promises are fulfilled in the temporal sphere as Jesus, the Good Shepherd, ensures that we never lack what we really need. They are fulfilled spiritually every time His own words come true which say, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”3 We pray that God would cultivate in us a deep thankfulness for our daily bread and all the provision that comes from His bounty.
On the Mount of Transfiguration Jesus was changed in an instant. It was a stunning display of His glory. We are, in this life, transfigured gradually. Every act of refinement the Holy Spirit performs upon us draws us steadily closer to His image. Our sins are confessed. Our sins are forgiven. Our will is exerted. Our will is broken. Our plans are mislaid. Our plans are corrected. Constant contact with His truth begins to polish our rougher edges. Still, we are broken. We are works in progress. But our moment of drama will come. The scripture says, “In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet…the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”4 May God grant us great anticipation for that Day even as we give thanks for the blessings of the present. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
The Second Sunday in Lent
Harvest Thanksgiving
21 February, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Number 11:5-6
2 Isaiah 55:1
3 Matthew 4:4
4 1 Corinthians 15:51-52
Monday, February 15, 2016
First Sunday In Lent (C) 2016
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Luke 4:12
Theme: The Battle-Hardened Saviour
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Every year for a six week period of time the Christian Church gives emphasis to a decidedly counter-cultural event. The emphasis is called the season of Lent. In Lent believers especially focus on repentance, humility, self-denial and sacrifice. The word Lent actually means springtime, but spiritual renewal and cleansing is the point. What could be more out of touch with a culture that stresses self-indulgence, satisfaction, greed, arrogance and unmitigated pursuit of all of one’s desires! Christmas and even Easter are marketer’s dreams, but Lent is a very tough sell. It is difficult to take Lenten themes and twist them to acquire the consumer dollar. Hats off to IGA for using the term Lent in advertising their fish sales. Lent must be a reality check in a culture largely defined by what sells.
In regards to the chronology of Christ’s life, the Lenten season commences with the temptation in the wilderness. St. Luke tells us that after His baptism, “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days He was tempted by the devil.”1 Each temptation involved an enticement intended to derail the divine plan of redemption. As He begins His public ministry the fate of the world hinges on Jesus’ every move. The location of the final temptation is in Jerusalem. It was a preview of even greater temptations to come, but also the place of fulfillment.
Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness involves a dialogue with Satan. It is a war of words that cut to the heart. The ONLY words Jesus speaks are quotations of Scripture. Though Jesus could speak on His own authority, He speaks on the authority of the Father by the inspiration of the Spirit. He quotes from sections of Deuteronomy regarding the disobedience of the Israelites in their own desert wanderings and temptations. Satan too, resorts to quoting Scripture, but only subversively. Satan challenges the Sonship of Christ, not acknowledging Him to be God’s Son, but casting doubt on whether He is.
Christ does not waver. Hebrews describes the importance His steadfastness this way, “We do not have a high priest that who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are- yet was without sin.”2 Anything less than His perfect obedience would have shipwrecked our salvation. The Bible says, “Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”3 This He did not do.
We should be clear in understanding exactly what sin the devil was trying to get Christ to commit and the nature of sin in general. Satan offered Christ all the kingdoms of the world if only He would worship him. Had Christ succumbed it would have been in direct violation of the First Commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me.”4 But were the kingdoms of the world even Satan’s to give? Certainly not in the absolute sense. Yet we must not overlook His power. The devil has a certain qualified authority. He is referred to in the Bible as the prince of this world. He is not to be trifled with. Satan offered Christ an easier way to restore humanity. If Jesus would bow the knee, Satan would (ostensibly) relinquish his control. His suffering and crucifixion could be averted. Jesus could become the prince of His people with less struggle. All of the devil’s efforts tempted Jesus to reach for glory NOW at the expense of the future.
Sin always involves such false promises and deceptions. Some benefit is always guaranteed or at least proposed. But there can be no true benefit from any desire, thought, word or deed that is against the will of God. If we would only trust that engaging in sin is never beneficial to us. Of course that is the key to the deception. Satan enquired of Eve, “Did God really say?”5 Every doubt that all of God’s parameters for our lives are always for our well-being is always a sin. From this doubt none of us exempt. From the guilt of sin none of us is excused. “If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand.”6 Recognition of sin is a tough sell because it is diametrically opposed to the disposition of our human nature.
During Lent we focus on the disposition of God towards us. Faith is that medium by which a person is confident that he sees things from God’s perspective. Faith is trust that things are as God says they are. Christ responded to Satan with “It is written.”7 This is the only sure and infallible foundation for us. We must spend our entire lives learning to say, “It is written.” It is written, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”8 But it is also written, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”9 “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness.”10 “In his great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”11 “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”12
Only the power of God’s Word can bring down rulers from their thrones, give strength to weak, rest to the weary, comfort to the sorrowful, hope to the depressed, justice to the downtrodden, release to the oppressed, joy to those who are sad, assurance to those who doubt, and most of all faith to unbelievers. It is written, “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”13
Eternal death is locked away the moment the Holy Spirit kindles spiritual life. Baptism is the means Christ has appointed for this. The church baptized because it is the command of Christ. We trust that the Holy Spirit grants faith through the gospel. We rejoice that forgiveness is not limited by anyone’s age, or knowledge; is not dependent upon the strength of their will or their piety. The pledge of your baptism is that sin cannot win the victory. The Holy Spirit does battle for you and within you. As we face the challenge of our sins, we also size up the volume of God’s love. There was no relief for Christ until the cross. There is no relief for us except for the cross.
Christ lived for us and the vocation of all Christians is to live for others. Christ sacrificed His life. He only asks that we sacrifice our resources so that others may know of His ultimate sacrifice for them. Yet these are not easy challenges. God charges us to best meet the needs of His kingdom. But we remember too, that nothing is really ours to give. All that we have and own and are is a trust from His gracious hand. The totality of our being is given by Him and is to be received back by Him. That is the Biblical perspective for the Christian life. It is written, “Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.”14 Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
First Sunday In Lent
14 February, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Luke 4:1-2 9 John1:29
2 Hebrews 4:15 10 1 Peter 2:24
3 James 2:10 11 1 Peter 1:3
4 Deuteronomy 5:7 12 Matthew 26:28
5 Genesis 3:1 13 Romans 10:8-9
6 Psalm 130:3 14 Ephesians 5:25
7 Luke 4:4
8 Romans 3:23
Text: Luke 4:12
Theme: The Battle-Hardened Saviour
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Every year for a six week period of time the Christian Church gives emphasis to a decidedly counter-cultural event. The emphasis is called the season of Lent. In Lent believers especially focus on repentance, humility, self-denial and sacrifice. The word Lent actually means springtime, but spiritual renewal and cleansing is the point. What could be more out of touch with a culture that stresses self-indulgence, satisfaction, greed, arrogance and unmitigated pursuit of all of one’s desires! Christmas and even Easter are marketer’s dreams, but Lent is a very tough sell. It is difficult to take Lenten themes and twist them to acquire the consumer dollar. Hats off to IGA for using the term Lent in advertising their fish sales. Lent must be a reality check in a culture largely defined by what sells.
In regards to the chronology of Christ’s life, the Lenten season commences with the temptation in the wilderness. St. Luke tells us that after His baptism, “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days He was tempted by the devil.”1 Each temptation involved an enticement intended to derail the divine plan of redemption. As He begins His public ministry the fate of the world hinges on Jesus’ every move. The location of the final temptation is in Jerusalem. It was a preview of even greater temptations to come, but also the place of fulfillment.
Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness involves a dialogue with Satan. It is a war of words that cut to the heart. The ONLY words Jesus speaks are quotations of Scripture. Though Jesus could speak on His own authority, He speaks on the authority of the Father by the inspiration of the Spirit. He quotes from sections of Deuteronomy regarding the disobedience of the Israelites in their own desert wanderings and temptations. Satan too, resorts to quoting Scripture, but only subversively. Satan challenges the Sonship of Christ, not acknowledging Him to be God’s Son, but casting doubt on whether He is.
Christ does not waver. Hebrews describes the importance His steadfastness this way, “We do not have a high priest that who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are- yet was without sin.”2 Anything less than His perfect obedience would have shipwrecked our salvation. The Bible says, “Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”3 This He did not do.
We should be clear in understanding exactly what sin the devil was trying to get Christ to commit and the nature of sin in general. Satan offered Christ all the kingdoms of the world if only He would worship him. Had Christ succumbed it would have been in direct violation of the First Commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me.”4 But were the kingdoms of the world even Satan’s to give? Certainly not in the absolute sense. Yet we must not overlook His power. The devil has a certain qualified authority. He is referred to in the Bible as the prince of this world. He is not to be trifled with. Satan offered Christ an easier way to restore humanity. If Jesus would bow the knee, Satan would (ostensibly) relinquish his control. His suffering and crucifixion could be averted. Jesus could become the prince of His people with less struggle. All of the devil’s efforts tempted Jesus to reach for glory NOW at the expense of the future.
Sin always involves such false promises and deceptions. Some benefit is always guaranteed or at least proposed. But there can be no true benefit from any desire, thought, word or deed that is against the will of God. If we would only trust that engaging in sin is never beneficial to us. Of course that is the key to the deception. Satan enquired of Eve, “Did God really say?”5 Every doubt that all of God’s parameters for our lives are always for our well-being is always a sin. From this doubt none of us exempt. From the guilt of sin none of us is excused. “If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand.”6 Recognition of sin is a tough sell because it is diametrically opposed to the disposition of our human nature.
During Lent we focus on the disposition of God towards us. Faith is that medium by which a person is confident that he sees things from God’s perspective. Faith is trust that things are as God says they are. Christ responded to Satan with “It is written.”7 This is the only sure and infallible foundation for us. We must spend our entire lives learning to say, “It is written.” It is written, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”8 But it is also written, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”9 “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness.”10 “In his great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”11 “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”12
Only the power of God’s Word can bring down rulers from their thrones, give strength to weak, rest to the weary, comfort to the sorrowful, hope to the depressed, justice to the downtrodden, release to the oppressed, joy to those who are sad, assurance to those who doubt, and most of all faith to unbelievers. It is written, “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”13
Eternal death is locked away the moment the Holy Spirit kindles spiritual life. Baptism is the means Christ has appointed for this. The church baptized because it is the command of Christ. We trust that the Holy Spirit grants faith through the gospel. We rejoice that forgiveness is not limited by anyone’s age, or knowledge; is not dependent upon the strength of their will or their piety. The pledge of your baptism is that sin cannot win the victory. The Holy Spirit does battle for you and within you. As we face the challenge of our sins, we also size up the volume of God’s love. There was no relief for Christ until the cross. There is no relief for us except for the cross.
Christ lived for us and the vocation of all Christians is to live for others. Christ sacrificed His life. He only asks that we sacrifice our resources so that others may know of His ultimate sacrifice for them. Yet these are not easy challenges. God charges us to best meet the needs of His kingdom. But we remember too, that nothing is really ours to give. All that we have and own and are is a trust from His gracious hand. The totality of our being is given by Him and is to be received back by Him. That is the Biblical perspective for the Christian life. It is written, “Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.”14 Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
First Sunday In Lent
14 February, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Luke 4:1-2 9 John1:29
2 Hebrews 4:15 10 1 Peter 2:24
3 James 2:10 11 1 Peter 1:3
4 Deuteronomy 5:7 12 Matthew 26:28
5 Genesis 3:1 13 Romans 10:8-9
6 Psalm 130:3 14 Ephesians 5:25
7 Luke 4:4
8 Romans 3:23
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Ash Wednesday 2016
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Matthew 6:21
Theme: The Renovated Heart
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”1 So says Jeremiah! “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,”2so says our Lord. That upon which the heart dwells, that with which it steadfastly resides to the end, that in which it finds its final hope and joy- that is one’s god. There are numberless idols to suit numberless passions but there is one God of passion. He seeks the devotion of the heart to the exclusion of all others. He is the God of our Lenten journey- the Crucified One.
Our midweek series for this Season of Lent is called ‘Places of the Passion”. Each week we will consider the events that took place at key locations in the passion narrative. These are road markers on the journey to the cross. Lent is an ancient tradition. Countless Christians over the centuries have benefitted from the focused reminder that it offers. The decisive events of the Christian faith, of world history, and of eternal destiny are the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Everyone must come to terms with the truth that He represents. His message is universal. His place is central.
Ash Wednesday kicks off the season of Lent. The vivid image of ashes is confronting; a palpable reminder of our mortality. Our time here is fleeting and it’s fraught with many struggles. As we consider the places of the passion we’ll be looking at our place in relation to God and others. Sin has the power to rob people of their identity. When lives become fractured beyond the limits of normal functioning people become displaced within families and society. At a deeper level they become estranged from God. People may float along as if they have been cut adrift on the open ocean. People are searching for a sense of belonging. In Lent the Holy Spirit points us to the ‘place’ where God meets us: the flesh and blood of His Son, Jesus.
So, above all, Lent is a season for listening. God’s truth has power. When God’s word is proclaimed the Holy Spirit has a way of making sure people hear what they need to hear. It’s not necessarily what they want to hear. They may be wanting to justify themselves but hear condemnation. They may be wanting to hear castigation- proof they are no good and without hope, subjects for self-pity-instead they hear words of liberation. The self-righteous always want to hear more law because they believe they are exempt from condemnation (because of their piety.) They get satisfaction from having other people (the real sinners) called to account. For them the gospel is superfluous; perhaps amusing, but irrelevant. The absolved penitent always wants to hear more gospel. They are filled with joy from the overwhelming freedom Christ’s mercy gives. The unremorseful sinner always needs to hear more law. The repentant sinner always needs the comfort of the gospel. Lent certainly involves a call to repentance but fore mostly, accentuates the profound love of God in Christ.
A worthy goal of Lenten reflection is to bring these truths into sharper focus. Clarity is important. God does not wish to be misunderstood. The best of intentions can have disastrous results when misconstrued. Consider these classified ads actually listed in the newspaper: “For sale: dog, eats anything and is fond of children.” “For sale: an antique desk suitable for lady with thick legs and large drawers.” “Lost: small poodle. Reward: neutered like one of the family.”
The Scriptures do not misrepresent God when they tell us He judges sin but longs to shower sinners with His grace. Jesus says today, “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who is unseen.”3There is a very practical danger here. A danger that this text could be misunderstood and thus reinforce the particularly Western phenomenon of religious individualism. That which is almost second-nature to us was completely foreign to First Century believers. We have been immersed, for some time now, in a cultural climate that encourages the privatization of faith. Our Lord was not advocating private practice of the faith to the exclusion of public worship. Jesus was condemning ostentatious displays of piety. Do we seek praise from others or to be faithful to God?
We all have our personal battles. We have weaknesses, propensities, and addictions. We struggle with the world’s opinions, our own limitations, and Satan’s temptations. But they should never, ever be isolated struggles. Isolation is a triumph for the devil. He easily outwits the solitary soul. We are privileged to be part of a mystical fellowship, the “one holy, Christian and apostolic church.” It is spiritual but it is also very concrete. Living within the body of Christ can be a real challenge. But it also has many rewards. All believers are responsible to one another. Mutual support and sensitivity are offered in Christ’s name.
What does this mean for those moments of stress? Anxiety over pending results of medical tests; pressure to perform at work, angst over strained relationships between spouses, children, and parents, just the struggle to make ends meet? What does it mean for those despairing of deeper meaning in life? It means hope in the midst of darkness. It means permanence in the midst of change. It anchors us to truth in a world of deceit. It means companionship in an often lonely world.
Dear friends, world history is a chronicle of structures, achievements, and whole civilizations that flourished, were destroyed and then were rebuilt. The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in days. It was rebuilt in greater grandeur. The Twin Towers were destroyed in hours. The Freedom Tower has risen in their place. Dynasties have been destroyed over decades and even centuries. New ones advance to supersede them. The whole scheme and scaffolding of this world is decaying under the weight of sin. But all of God’s good creation will be reconstituted in Christ.
He wore your crown of thorns. He was pierced by your nails. He embraced the harrowing horrors of hell that you may be spared from its fury. He was on the spot every place necessary for your salvation. He first offered His body and blood for you in the Upper Room. He sweat drops of blood for you in the Garden of Gethsemane. He endured the slander of the High Priest and the defeatist skepticism of Pontius Pilate for you. He ascended the Hill of the Skull for you. He is risen! He stands as your intercessor, your High Priest, your Redeemer before the throne of grace.
The baptismal water that washed over you was vested with the Spirit’s promise and His power. Death lasts for a moment; the resurrection for eternity. The very structure of your body and all that constitutes it will be destroyed. Nothing can prevent it. But your ashes will rise to experience immortality. The heart is always under renovation. But it already possesses the promise of complete restoration. This promise is no pious wish. It was decreed by Christ. He is the firstborn from the dead. He has sovereignty over your ashes. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Ash Wednesday
10 February, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Jeremiah 17:9
2 Matthew 6:21
3 Matthew 6:6
Text: Matthew 6:21
Theme: The Renovated Heart
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”1 So says Jeremiah! “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,”2so says our Lord. That upon which the heart dwells, that with which it steadfastly resides to the end, that in which it finds its final hope and joy- that is one’s god. There are numberless idols to suit numberless passions but there is one God of passion. He seeks the devotion of the heart to the exclusion of all others. He is the God of our Lenten journey- the Crucified One.
Our midweek series for this Season of Lent is called ‘Places of the Passion”. Each week we will consider the events that took place at key locations in the passion narrative. These are road markers on the journey to the cross. Lent is an ancient tradition. Countless Christians over the centuries have benefitted from the focused reminder that it offers. The decisive events of the Christian faith, of world history, and of eternal destiny are the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Everyone must come to terms with the truth that He represents. His message is universal. His place is central.
Ash Wednesday kicks off the season of Lent. The vivid image of ashes is confronting; a palpable reminder of our mortality. Our time here is fleeting and it’s fraught with many struggles. As we consider the places of the passion we’ll be looking at our place in relation to God and others. Sin has the power to rob people of their identity. When lives become fractured beyond the limits of normal functioning people become displaced within families and society. At a deeper level they become estranged from God. People may float along as if they have been cut adrift on the open ocean. People are searching for a sense of belonging. In Lent the Holy Spirit points us to the ‘place’ where God meets us: the flesh and blood of His Son, Jesus.
So, above all, Lent is a season for listening. God’s truth has power. When God’s word is proclaimed the Holy Spirit has a way of making sure people hear what they need to hear. It’s not necessarily what they want to hear. They may be wanting to justify themselves but hear condemnation. They may be wanting to hear castigation- proof they are no good and without hope, subjects for self-pity-instead they hear words of liberation. The self-righteous always want to hear more law because they believe they are exempt from condemnation (because of their piety.) They get satisfaction from having other people (the real sinners) called to account. For them the gospel is superfluous; perhaps amusing, but irrelevant. The absolved penitent always wants to hear more gospel. They are filled with joy from the overwhelming freedom Christ’s mercy gives. The unremorseful sinner always needs to hear more law. The repentant sinner always needs the comfort of the gospel. Lent certainly involves a call to repentance but fore mostly, accentuates the profound love of God in Christ.
A worthy goal of Lenten reflection is to bring these truths into sharper focus. Clarity is important. God does not wish to be misunderstood. The best of intentions can have disastrous results when misconstrued. Consider these classified ads actually listed in the newspaper: “For sale: dog, eats anything and is fond of children.” “For sale: an antique desk suitable for lady with thick legs and large drawers.” “Lost: small poodle. Reward: neutered like one of the family.”
The Scriptures do not misrepresent God when they tell us He judges sin but longs to shower sinners with His grace. Jesus says today, “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who is unseen.”3There is a very practical danger here. A danger that this text could be misunderstood and thus reinforce the particularly Western phenomenon of religious individualism. That which is almost second-nature to us was completely foreign to First Century believers. We have been immersed, for some time now, in a cultural climate that encourages the privatization of faith. Our Lord was not advocating private practice of the faith to the exclusion of public worship. Jesus was condemning ostentatious displays of piety. Do we seek praise from others or to be faithful to God?
We all have our personal battles. We have weaknesses, propensities, and addictions. We struggle with the world’s opinions, our own limitations, and Satan’s temptations. But they should never, ever be isolated struggles. Isolation is a triumph for the devil. He easily outwits the solitary soul. We are privileged to be part of a mystical fellowship, the “one holy, Christian and apostolic church.” It is spiritual but it is also very concrete. Living within the body of Christ can be a real challenge. But it also has many rewards. All believers are responsible to one another. Mutual support and sensitivity are offered in Christ’s name.
What does this mean for those moments of stress? Anxiety over pending results of medical tests; pressure to perform at work, angst over strained relationships between spouses, children, and parents, just the struggle to make ends meet? What does it mean for those despairing of deeper meaning in life? It means hope in the midst of darkness. It means permanence in the midst of change. It anchors us to truth in a world of deceit. It means companionship in an often lonely world.
Dear friends, world history is a chronicle of structures, achievements, and whole civilizations that flourished, were destroyed and then were rebuilt. The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in days. It was rebuilt in greater grandeur. The Twin Towers were destroyed in hours. The Freedom Tower has risen in their place. Dynasties have been destroyed over decades and even centuries. New ones advance to supersede them. The whole scheme and scaffolding of this world is decaying under the weight of sin. But all of God’s good creation will be reconstituted in Christ.
He wore your crown of thorns. He was pierced by your nails. He embraced the harrowing horrors of hell that you may be spared from its fury. He was on the spot every place necessary for your salvation. He first offered His body and blood for you in the Upper Room. He sweat drops of blood for you in the Garden of Gethsemane. He endured the slander of the High Priest and the defeatist skepticism of Pontius Pilate for you. He ascended the Hill of the Skull for you. He is risen! He stands as your intercessor, your High Priest, your Redeemer before the throne of grace.
The baptismal water that washed over you was vested with the Spirit’s promise and His power. Death lasts for a moment; the resurrection for eternity. The very structure of your body and all that constitutes it will be destroyed. Nothing can prevent it. But your ashes will rise to experience immortality. The heart is always under renovation. But it already possesses the promise of complete restoration. This promise is no pious wish. It was decreed by Christ. He is the firstborn from the dead. He has sovereignty over your ashes. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Ash Wednesday
10 February, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Jeremiah 17:9
2 Matthew 6:21
3 Matthew 6:6
Sunday, February 7, 2016
Transfiguration/Harvest Thanksgiving (C) 2016
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Luke 9:35
Theme: All Things Provided
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God has designed us to be contingent, that is, dependent upon powers greater than ourselves. At the most basic level two outcomes from this truth become evident. Firstly, we need to be loved or our lives will be bereft of significant meaning. Secondly, our basic bodily needs have to be met. Nourishment and protection are essential. The heart must have hope. The stomach must have stable supply. When either category is deprived life quickly becomes distorted. God tends to all of these needs but through different means. The body He cares for with resources from the earth; the soul with resources from heaven.
The transfiguration of Christ might appear to favour the heavenly display of God’s blessings. But remember, it’s in His earthly, human flesh that Jesus reveals His divinity. The incarnation of Jesus is the definitive proof that God does not despise His fallen creation but intends to redeem it. Meanwhile, through God’s providence and grace, this fallen creation continues to meet our temporal needs. Harvest Thanksgiving is recognition of this truth. Grain from the paddock, grapes from the vine, fruit from the orchard, vegetables from the garden, lambs from the fold, birds from the flock are all acquired through the participation of human labor. Yet, none would exist if not for the pure generosity of God. The seed does not germinate apart from Him. Conception does not occur without Him.
Literally, since the beginning, people have depended on the produce of the earth. And immediately after the fall they began to be ungrateful for it. Thanklessness reached its pinnacle in the Sinai desert. The (freed) Israelites murmured against God and against Moses longing to return to captivity in Egypt where they sat around pots of meat and enjoyed the produce of the well-watered Nile valley. Their sense of priority wasn’t elevated above the satisfaction of their stomachs. At least in Egypt food was available. There’s more than a bit of irony in the complaint of Numbers 11, “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost- also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”1God promised them a land flowing with milk and honey but that seemed like a distant and unattainable mirage as they wandered the parched desert.
Manna was the answer. It was more than a practical solution. It was a divine blessing pregnant with Messianic promise. The Bread-giver to come would silence all clamoring. Of Him the prophet says, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”2Quail were provided too. Their cries did not fall on deaf ears. But God was eager to hear cries from their hearts not from their stomachs.
How d eliberately forgetful and ungrateful to claim they ate well in Egypt at no cost. The cost was their own enslavement. They weren’t free to worship the true and living God and so they forgot about Him. At least their stomachs were filled! Dear friends, there are no free lunches. Somebody pays the price. Food security is naturally a high priority for modern governments. Orderly and honest government is God’s means for stable society. Seed, sun, soil, and water are God’s means of providing. As modern society becomes more estranged from its agricultural roots; these lessons will have to be re-learned.
Spiritually, God does provide without cost to us but the price was paid by His Son. There are no spiritual free lunches either. It’s hardly disputable that in the West the appetite for God’s forgiveness is being lost. Spiritual taste buds are becoming dulled. Hearts, and minds, and souls are being filled with humanistic or demonic ideas which centre not on the power and mercy of God in Christ, but in human wisdom and achievement or supernatural or psychic entities. Our sin of ungratefulness is driven by the greater sin of unbelief.
We’re both arrogant and naïve if we think the early followers of Jesus were just simpletons who were duped into putting their hope in a charlatan. Christianity involves assertion. Peter says, “We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received honour and glory from God the Father when the voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.’ We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with Him on the sacred mountain.”3That mountain was the mount of transfiguration. It’s notable that Peter wanted to prolong the experience.
Christ asserts a worldview of reality which is constituted by Him. It’s an enormous claim and that’s why it has been and will continue to be contested. Defending the assertions of Christian truth necessarily involves the refutation of error. Opposing claims cannot both be true. Either God created the universe and ordered it. Or random chaos has cleverly disguised itself in an organized fashion. Either sin has estranged us from God, or sin is just a projection of human brokenness that has no permanent consequences. Either Jesus, the Christ, has made sacrifice for our sins or human effort has impressed Him enough to cancel the debt. And on it goes! Either we recognize these fruits of the harvest as gifts of God or we further demonstrate the power of unbelief through thankless denial.
Jesus, the Bread of Life, does not serve us with poor nutrition. He fills us with love. He fortifies us with truth. He enriches us with grace. He suffered to a degree beyond human understanding. Death took Him but death could not hold Him. We are His baptized. We are fed from His holy table. We are heirs of His kingdom. We are witnesses to His promises. These promises are fulfilled in the temporal sphere as Jesus, the Good Shepherd, ensures that we never lack what we really need. They are fulfilled spiritually every time His own words come true which say, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”4 We pray that God would cultivate in us a deep thankfulness for our daily bread and all the provision that comes from His bounty.
Today, Jesus was transfigured in an instant. It was a stunning display of His glory. We are, in this life, transfigured gradually. Every act of refinement the Holy Spirit performs upon us draws us steadily closer to His image. Our sins are confessed. Our sins are forgiven. Our will is exerted. Our will is broken. Our plans are mislaid. Our plans are corrected. Constant contact with His truth begins to polish our rougher edges. Still, we are broken. We are works in progress. But our moment of drama will come. The scripture says, “In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet…the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”5 May God grant us great anticipation for that Day even as we give thanks for the blessings of the present. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
The Transfiguration of Our Lord
7 February, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Number 11:5-6
2 Isaiah 55:1
3 2 Peter 1:16-18
4 Matthew 4:4
5 1 Corinthians 15:51-52
Text: Luke 9:35
Theme: All Things Provided
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God has designed us to be contingent, that is, dependent upon powers greater than ourselves. At the most basic level two outcomes from this truth become evident. Firstly, we need to be loved or our lives will be bereft of significant meaning. Secondly, our basic bodily needs have to be met. Nourishment and protection are essential. The heart must have hope. The stomach must have stable supply. When either category is deprived life quickly becomes distorted. God tends to all of these needs but through different means. The body He cares for with resources from the earth; the soul with resources from heaven.
The transfiguration of Christ might appear to favour the heavenly display of God’s blessings. But remember, it’s in His earthly, human flesh that Jesus reveals His divinity. The incarnation of Jesus is the definitive proof that God does not despise His fallen creation but intends to redeem it. Meanwhile, through God’s providence and grace, this fallen creation continues to meet our temporal needs. Harvest Thanksgiving is recognition of this truth. Grain from the paddock, grapes from the vine, fruit from the orchard, vegetables from the garden, lambs from the fold, birds from the flock are all acquired through the participation of human labor. Yet, none would exist if not for the pure generosity of God. The seed does not germinate apart from Him. Conception does not occur without Him.
Literally, since the beginning, people have depended on the produce of the earth. And immediately after the fall they began to be ungrateful for it. Thanklessness reached its pinnacle in the Sinai desert. The (freed) Israelites murmured against God and against Moses longing to return to captivity in Egypt where they sat around pots of meat and enjoyed the produce of the well-watered Nile valley. Their sense of priority wasn’t elevated above the satisfaction of their stomachs. At least in Egypt food was available. There’s more than a bit of irony in the complaint of Numbers 11, “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost- also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”1God promised them a land flowing with milk and honey but that seemed like a distant and unattainable mirage as they wandered the parched desert.
Manna was the answer. It was more than a practical solution. It was a divine blessing pregnant with Messianic promise. The Bread-giver to come would silence all clamoring. Of Him the prophet says, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”2Quail were provided too. Their cries did not fall on deaf ears. But God was eager to hear cries from their hearts not from their stomachs.
How d eliberately forgetful and ungrateful to claim they ate well in Egypt at no cost. The cost was their own enslavement. They weren’t free to worship the true and living God and so they forgot about Him. At least their stomachs were filled! Dear friends, there are no free lunches. Somebody pays the price. Food security is naturally a high priority for modern governments. Orderly and honest government is God’s means for stable society. Seed, sun, soil, and water are God’s means of providing. As modern society becomes more estranged from its agricultural roots; these lessons will have to be re-learned.
Spiritually, God does provide without cost to us but the price was paid by His Son. There are no spiritual free lunches either. It’s hardly disputable that in the West the appetite for God’s forgiveness is being lost. Spiritual taste buds are becoming dulled. Hearts, and minds, and souls are being filled with humanistic or demonic ideas which centre not on the power and mercy of God in Christ, but in human wisdom and achievement or supernatural or psychic entities. Our sin of ungratefulness is driven by the greater sin of unbelief.
We’re both arrogant and naïve if we think the early followers of Jesus were just simpletons who were duped into putting their hope in a charlatan. Christianity involves assertion. Peter says, “We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received honour and glory from God the Father when the voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.’ We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with Him on the sacred mountain.”3That mountain was the mount of transfiguration. It’s notable that Peter wanted to prolong the experience.
Christ asserts a worldview of reality which is constituted by Him. It’s an enormous claim and that’s why it has been and will continue to be contested. Defending the assertions of Christian truth necessarily involves the refutation of error. Opposing claims cannot both be true. Either God created the universe and ordered it. Or random chaos has cleverly disguised itself in an organized fashion. Either sin has estranged us from God, or sin is just a projection of human brokenness that has no permanent consequences. Either Jesus, the Christ, has made sacrifice for our sins or human effort has impressed Him enough to cancel the debt. And on it goes! Either we recognize these fruits of the harvest as gifts of God or we further demonstrate the power of unbelief through thankless denial.
Jesus, the Bread of Life, does not serve us with poor nutrition. He fills us with love. He fortifies us with truth. He enriches us with grace. He suffered to a degree beyond human understanding. Death took Him but death could not hold Him. We are His baptized. We are fed from His holy table. We are heirs of His kingdom. We are witnesses to His promises. These promises are fulfilled in the temporal sphere as Jesus, the Good Shepherd, ensures that we never lack what we really need. They are fulfilled spiritually every time His own words come true which say, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”4 We pray that God would cultivate in us a deep thankfulness for our daily bread and all the provision that comes from His bounty.
Today, Jesus was transfigured in an instant. It was a stunning display of His glory. We are, in this life, transfigured gradually. Every act of refinement the Holy Spirit performs upon us draws us steadily closer to His image. Our sins are confessed. Our sins are forgiven. Our will is exerted. Our will is broken. Our plans are mislaid. Our plans are corrected. Constant contact with His truth begins to polish our rougher edges. Still, we are broken. We are works in progress. But our moment of drama will come. The scripture says, “In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet…the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”5 May God grant us great anticipation for that Day even as we give thanks for the blessings of the present. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
The Transfiguration of Our Lord
7 February, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Number 11:5-6
2 Isaiah 55:1
3 2 Peter 1:16-18
4 Matthew 4:4
5 1 Corinthians 15:51-52
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Fourth Sunday After Epiphany (C) 2016
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Luke 4:30
Theme: Christ’s Forbearance
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Attempted homicide! It’s not the way we expect most gospel accounts to end. Sometimes the biblical narrative takes surprising twists. How quickly admiration can turn to rage! The hometown lynch mob was after Jesus. They sought to silence Him by casting Him down the cliff. Perhaps stoning was also on the agenda? But His time had not yet come so He passed through their midst and went on His way. And so we are privy to one episode in this divine saga, this Messianic struggle to renovate humanity. The nexus of refusal and persuasion, of offence and grace, of apprehension and peace is a preview of things to come. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem…how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”1
But the Redeemer is not so easily deterred. His focus is more resolute than all the apathy and chaos of the human race. He will not be derailed from His destiny at the cross. But the suffering, agony, and sacrificial death of Jesus cannot be appreciated for what it is until the need becomes apparent. A personal encounter of opposing beliefs is required. Sinful humans face a holy God. The encounter is not personal until, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the abstraction is removed.
Think of church in the synagogue today. The Sabbath quickly turned sour. Apparently the people of Nazareth were expecting commendation from Jesus. Instead they received rebuke. He made it personal. All people are under the wrath of God. God’s wrath is just. That is, it is justified and justifiable. No one can cry foul for being punished for their sins. No one can say they do not deserve the threat of eternal damnation. But the prospect, when taken seriously, is more than we can bear. The condemnation appears too harsh. “Since our nature is corrupted by sin and is worthy and deserving of God’s wrath and damnation, God owes us neither His Word, nor his Spirit, nor his grace.”2 In short, God owes us nothing. Yet our expectations are often huge. We often expect God’s leniency.
God is not lenient. He is forgiving. God is not indulgent. He is absolving. Never do the Scriptures give us the impression that He lowers His standards or bends His own rules when He sees how thoroughly we fail to remain obedient to Him. Ignorance is no excuse before Him. Wicked intentions elicit harsh condemnation. A holy God does not tolerate sinful humans. But the concept is too abstract when disconnected from the person of Christ.
Guilt and shame are words that relate to our sinfulness. Carefully defining the meaning of words is important. Guilt is a more abstract concept than shame. If I am accused of guilt, or guilt is attributed to me, it may have little effect on me if I don’t believe the allegation is valid. My heart may become hardened even more. But if I am ashamed that means my heart has been reached. The first stage of repentance is happening. Of course, if I feel guilty than I am also experiencing remorse and the words are used synonymously. The words are not as important as the realities they describe. God’s words actually create their own reality.
In Christ, the holiness of God takes on tangible dimensions; and so does forgiveness. What was an abstract idea, a holy God who doesn’t tolerate sinners- but a God easily thought of as distant and aloof- now becomes very concrete as the life of Jesus is portrayed before our very eyes. The Bible says, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being.”2 St. John gives this witness of the incarnation, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched- this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it”4
You see, God does not abandon His creation. He does not stand aloof from it. He redeems it through Jesus. He dies for it, covering the price for our transgressions. He rises again that He might guarantee us incorruptible life. These truths are measures of His love. Jeremiah reminds us that the heavenly Father knew him before his conception and set him apart. It’s no different for you. That’s the mystery of His love.
The thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians is the superlative biblical chapter on love. In the triumvirate of faith, hope, and love, the supremacy of love is singled out by the apostle. When love prevails all things are possible. Offences are forgotten, hatred is dissolved, long-held grudges are even laid to rest. When love triumphs fractured relationships are restored, bitter rivals become companions, despair is transformed to hope. If this were not so and if it were not possible then the entire substance of biblical truth would be found to be hollow. But it was the grave that was found to be empty not the promises of the crucified Lord who greeted His followers alive with scars in His flesh to steady their incredulous faith.
Love has prevailed. The evidence often appears dark and distant; a shadow of hope, a glimmer of optimism. We yearn to be fully embraced by its power. The devil still has his little day in the sun. The power of sin is broken, but like a mighty river whose source has dried up, its consequences keep flowing through the channels human lives. If the headwaters of the Mississippi River were suspended it would still take more than three months for the last drop of water to reach the end. A person walking at a leisurely pace could walk across the Australian continent in that time. Sin remains a scourge, the effects of which we cannot avoid in this mortal life.
Yet, love prevails. Love prevailed for the people of Nazareth that day. They just couldn’t see the cross in the distance. They couldn’t yet understand that they, too, needed this Saviour. They may have been looking for a hometown hero they could brag about but not one who would supply their greatest need. We’re no different until the Holy Spirit transforms our perspective. It’s something He has to keep doing again, and again, and again. Baptism is underpinned by the promise that love has conquered. Baptismal water washes the punishment for sin from all the tributaries and rivulets of our lives. Holy Communion send, peace, and forgiveness coursing through our veins.
Love triumphs every time a repentant soul cherishes God’s decree of absolution. Love triumphs every time those who are wise in the ways of the world are made weak by the foolishness of the cross. Love triumphs every time those who feel weak in their inner spiritual life are made strong by the truth of Christ’s life lived on our behalf. Love triumphs every time a believer closes his eyes in death and opens those eyelids in eternity. Many times attempts were made to end the Messiah’s life. He patiently and humbly endured them all until the appointed time. Then what seemed to be the end was only the beginning. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Fourth Sunday After Epiphany
31 January, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Luke 13:34
2 Formula of Concord XI
3 Hebrews 1:3
4 1 John 1:1-2
5 See Isaiah 53:3
Text: Luke 4:30
Theme: Christ’s Forbearance
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Attempted homicide! It’s not the way we expect most gospel accounts to end. Sometimes the biblical narrative takes surprising twists. How quickly admiration can turn to rage! The hometown lynch mob was after Jesus. They sought to silence Him by casting Him down the cliff. Perhaps stoning was also on the agenda? But His time had not yet come so He passed through their midst and went on His way. And so we are privy to one episode in this divine saga, this Messianic struggle to renovate humanity. The nexus of refusal and persuasion, of offence and grace, of apprehension and peace is a preview of things to come. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem…how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”1
But the Redeemer is not so easily deterred. His focus is more resolute than all the apathy and chaos of the human race. He will not be derailed from His destiny at the cross. But the suffering, agony, and sacrificial death of Jesus cannot be appreciated for what it is until the need becomes apparent. A personal encounter of opposing beliefs is required. Sinful humans face a holy God. The encounter is not personal until, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the abstraction is removed.
Think of church in the synagogue today. The Sabbath quickly turned sour. Apparently the people of Nazareth were expecting commendation from Jesus. Instead they received rebuke. He made it personal. All people are under the wrath of God. God’s wrath is just. That is, it is justified and justifiable. No one can cry foul for being punished for their sins. No one can say they do not deserve the threat of eternal damnation. But the prospect, when taken seriously, is more than we can bear. The condemnation appears too harsh. “Since our nature is corrupted by sin and is worthy and deserving of God’s wrath and damnation, God owes us neither His Word, nor his Spirit, nor his grace.”2 In short, God owes us nothing. Yet our expectations are often huge. We often expect God’s leniency.
God is not lenient. He is forgiving. God is not indulgent. He is absolving. Never do the Scriptures give us the impression that He lowers His standards or bends His own rules when He sees how thoroughly we fail to remain obedient to Him. Ignorance is no excuse before Him. Wicked intentions elicit harsh condemnation. A holy God does not tolerate sinful humans. But the concept is too abstract when disconnected from the person of Christ.
Guilt and shame are words that relate to our sinfulness. Carefully defining the meaning of words is important. Guilt is a more abstract concept than shame. If I am accused of guilt, or guilt is attributed to me, it may have little effect on me if I don’t believe the allegation is valid. My heart may become hardened even more. But if I am ashamed that means my heart has been reached. The first stage of repentance is happening. Of course, if I feel guilty than I am also experiencing remorse and the words are used synonymously. The words are not as important as the realities they describe. God’s words actually create their own reality.
In Christ, the holiness of God takes on tangible dimensions; and so does forgiveness. What was an abstract idea, a holy God who doesn’t tolerate sinners- but a God easily thought of as distant and aloof- now becomes very concrete as the life of Jesus is portrayed before our very eyes. The Bible says, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being.”2 St. John gives this witness of the incarnation, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched- this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it”4
You see, God does not abandon His creation. He does not stand aloof from it. He redeems it through Jesus. He dies for it, covering the price for our transgressions. He rises again that He might guarantee us incorruptible life. These truths are measures of His love. Jeremiah reminds us that the heavenly Father knew him before his conception and set him apart. It’s no different for you. That’s the mystery of His love.
The thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians is the superlative biblical chapter on love. In the triumvirate of faith, hope, and love, the supremacy of love is singled out by the apostle. When love prevails all things are possible. Offences are forgotten, hatred is dissolved, long-held grudges are even laid to rest. When love triumphs fractured relationships are restored, bitter rivals become companions, despair is transformed to hope. If this were not so and if it were not possible then the entire substance of biblical truth would be found to be hollow. But it was the grave that was found to be empty not the promises of the crucified Lord who greeted His followers alive with scars in His flesh to steady their incredulous faith.
Love has prevailed. The evidence often appears dark and distant; a shadow of hope, a glimmer of optimism. We yearn to be fully embraced by its power. The devil still has his little day in the sun. The power of sin is broken, but like a mighty river whose source has dried up, its consequences keep flowing through the channels human lives. If the headwaters of the Mississippi River were suspended it would still take more than three months for the last drop of water to reach the end. A person walking at a leisurely pace could walk across the Australian continent in that time. Sin remains a scourge, the effects of which we cannot avoid in this mortal life.
Yet, love prevails. Love prevailed for the people of Nazareth that day. They just couldn’t see the cross in the distance. They couldn’t yet understand that they, too, needed this Saviour. They may have been looking for a hometown hero they could brag about but not one who would supply their greatest need. We’re no different until the Holy Spirit transforms our perspective. It’s something He has to keep doing again, and again, and again. Baptism is underpinned by the promise that love has conquered. Baptismal water washes the punishment for sin from all the tributaries and rivulets of our lives. Holy Communion send, peace, and forgiveness coursing through our veins.
Love triumphs every time a repentant soul cherishes God’s decree of absolution. Love triumphs every time those who are wise in the ways of the world are made weak by the foolishness of the cross. Love triumphs every time those who feel weak in their inner spiritual life are made strong by the truth of Christ’s life lived on our behalf. Love triumphs every time a believer closes his eyes in death and opens those eyelids in eternity. Many times attempts were made to end the Messiah’s life. He patiently and humbly endured them all until the appointed time. Then what seemed to be the end was only the beginning. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Fourth Sunday After Epiphany
31 January, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Luke 13:34
2 Formula of Concord XI
3 Hebrews 1:3
4 1 John 1:1-2
5 See Isaiah 53:3
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