Doubting Thomas Wasn’t the Villain — He Was the Mission Field

Scripture Reading: John 20:24-29

Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

St. Thomas and the Power of Gentle Faith: A Sermon on Doubting Thomas

By James Huenink

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God, our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Introduction: Celebrating St. Thomas the Apostle

Today, we are celebrating St. Thomas with one of the most famous and most important readings from the Gospels about his interaction with Jesus. As I said in our introduction, St. Thomas is well known for going all the way out to India. One of my Indian professors at the seminary liked to talk about St. Thomas's importance to the Christians out there.

The Chapel of Saint Paul and Saint Thomas

At that same seminary, they have the big chapel at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis—the giant one where they have their main services and call day that seats hundreds of people. That is the Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus. They called it that because it represents the two kinds of seminarians who come: the ones who come right out of college are Saint Timothy, the young ones, and Saint Titus was an older man, the second career.

But few people know there's another chapel inside Concordia Seminary, and it's about the size of our altar area, and it is the Chapel of Saint Paul and Saint Thomas. This is a missionary chapel because Saint Paul was the farthest west of the apostles—some think he made it all the way out to Spain—and Saint Thomas the farthest east, who made it all the way out to India where he was martyred.

Understanding Thomas's Story: A Lesson in Evangelism

It's this missionary endeavor of St. Thomas that leads us to the themes of our gospel reading today. St. Thomas's story is not a neat story, but I think it teaches us about interacting with people who need to hear the gospel.

Why John Tells This Unusual Story

St. Thomas is actually kind of a weird story. It's odd that John has decided to give us one apostle who needed to hear the message, as opposed to all the others. And I think he tells us this story for a very good reason. He wanted to talk about the moment where Jesus appears with the apostles and tells them to go out the way Jesus was sent and forgive the sins of the world. But we needed this story to help us remember how to interact with unbelievers.

The apostles—the 11 or the 10 who were in the room with Jesus—they were unbelievers when Jesus appeared to them. If they weren't, they would have been waiting outside the tomb, going "anytime now, guys," right? But they were hiding. They did not believe that Jesus was coming.

Thomas the Unbeliever: Demanding Proof

John doesn't give us the story to help us understand their conversion, but to see the powers that God has given His church. It's this story today, the story of Saint Thomas, that emphasizes Christ's missionary endeavor to an unbeliever, and how gently and powerfully he simply speaks the word of God.

Thomas's Famous Declaration

Thomas was an unbeliever when Jesus appeared to him, and we know that because the disciples went to him over and over and over and said, "We've seen Jesus." And it wasn't like you and me, who are like, "I know Jesus is alive because God's word says so." It was, "We saw him yesterday, dude, he was there."

And Thomas goes, "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side, I will never believe." He's like, "I gotta poke him to know that it's true."

Jesus's Response: Peace, Not Anger

How does Jesus interact with this unbeliever, someone who does not know the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gift of His Resurrection and the peace that we all have? When Jesus shows up and speaks to Thomas, the first thing he says is, "Peace be with you."

The Power of Christ's Gentle Approach

I think that is awesome. Jesus comes to the disciple who refused to believe, who heard the message and says, "No way. Never, ever, ever." Jesus, knowing all of this, comes to Thomas and says, "Peace be with you." That's because Jesus loves Thomas as he loves all people who need to hear the gospel.

And it doesn't matter how many times Thomas fought against the Holy Spirit or against the message, or how aggressive Thomas was towards his disciples, who probably told him over and over and over—there were 10 of them after all. Even if Thomas finally waits until he is so upset by all of this messaging that he lashes out and says, "Never," Jesus simply shows up one more time and says, "Peace be with you."

He's not aggressive. He's not angry. He doesn't say, "How dare you, disciple, not believe in me." He doesn't gather the apostles together and say, "You guys believed right away. We got to make sure to punish this guy until he comes back into the church." There's no army. He just wishes peace. Peace be with you.

Sharing the Gospel: Lessons from Jesus's Approach

It's the same peace that we have, the peace of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because Jesus died and rose from the dead, we have peace with God. We know that we have eternal life and we will never have to worry about our fate. We have this sure and true confidence, and the only message that Jesus wanted to give this unbeliever was: believe and have peace, just like the rest of the disciples.

Motivated by Love, Not Fear or Desperation

It's out of love that Jesus comes to him. He's not angry, he's not hostile or aggressive. He just wants to share the gospel because Thomas needs to hear it. And that's the thing that reminds us when we share the gospel as well, that it is not anything but love that should motivate us. We aren't there to be angry when people reject us. We just love as Jesus did.

But I think it's also more important to remember not to share the gospel out of desperation or fear. We don't share the gospel because we have a negative number in our budget, or because the seat next to you is empty. We share the gospel because we want to deliver the peace that we have, the gift that Christ gives us, because we care about the people who need to hear about Jesus. People can tell if you care more about the budget than you do about them or about a missing seat than you do about Christ. We share the gospel because we love, because we want them to have that kind of peace.

Answering Questions Without Fear

The next thing Jesus does is something I love again. He does not come to Thomas with anger. He answers Thomas's question. There really wasn't a question—he was actually kind of giving a demand. "Here's the evidence that I will believe." And Jesus is like, "Shoot. Here it is."

The Church Can Handle Doubt and Questions

I've talked with enough Christians who've had bad experiences in the church with asking questions, whether it was when they were a kid (because kids sometimes ask the craziest questions, right?), or as adults, they go to pastors and pastors don't know the answer and they get mad instead. It's too bad, right? And sometimes people will say that they've had experiences in the church where they ask a question and someone responds with anger: "How dare you ask this question, you just need to believe."

Not even Jesus does that. When an apostle doubts his Word, Jesus doesn't show up and say, "How dare you test me? How dare you say this? You should have believed." Christ offers Thomas the proof he needs, but he does offer us a reminder. He says, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed."

We Have the Truth—We Don't Need to Fear Questions

We in the church, we can handle questions. We can handle fears. When people look at the Bible and they say, "Well, that's kind of weird. What's going on there?" We've got the answers. It's God's word. It's true. We don't have to worry about questions. We don't have to worry about challenges. Even people who look at what we teach and say, "That's crap"—it's an opportunity to show them the truth.

We don't have to be worried or afraid of these things, because God has given us the truth, the word of God and a teaching and doctrine that is based on it. We always have answers. We always have the truth, even if sometimes it's, "Well, that's a really... the Bible doesn't tell us." We don't have to be afraid, just as Jesus wasn't. We can simply express the gospel truth and know that the Holy Spirit does the work.

Come and See: The Gospel of John's Theme

That's what Jesus did. He was confident that his appearance and His presence was enough. He shows up. He says, "Look, here I am," and Thomas believes. Now, of course, when Jesus appears in front of you in a flash in the middle of the room and you thought you saw him die and be buried, it's pretty hard to say, "Nope, that's not the guy."

Experiencing Christ Is the Path to Faith

But this also reflects a theme of the Gospel of John, a theme that John shows to his church for a reason: that experiencing who Christ is is the best way to believe and understand. And it goes all the way through the whole gospel. When in the first chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus goes to the first of his disciples, one of them hears and runs out to his brother and says, "We found the Messiah." And he goes, "No way, nothing can come out of Nazareth." And then he says, "Come and see."

And that's how people learn about Jesus. They come experience who he is. They hear his word, they learn the gospel, and the Holy Spirit fills them. That's all of evangelism. Come and see who Jesus is, hear his word, be filled with the Spirit. We don't have to do anything else. Just show them Jesus.

Simple Evangelism: No Tricks Required

It's not about technique. It's not about packaging it the right way or filling it up with the right ideas. Smoke machines aren't central to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and neither are laser light shows. In fact, the only thing that you need is the word of God and the Savior.

The Word and Sacraments Are Enough

That's what Jesus did with Thomas. He showed up and he said, "Here I am," and we've been given amazing tools to do the same: the word and the sacraments. And it's through this word, the stories of Jesus Christ, the message, the gift of salvation that God has given you to give you the peace that passes all understanding, that we too share the gospel with those around us with love, with peace and with joy, because we have the truth.

We don't have to rely on tricks, we don't have to rely on technique or on salesmanship. We just give the people Jesus and they learn.

Conclusion: Following Christ's Missionary Heart

The story of St. Thomas helps us to see the missionary heart and love of a Savior who goes to an unbeliever and offers him peace, who gives him the proof he needs by sharing His very presence. And Christ calls the same for us. Share the gospel in love to offer the word so that others can hear and trust that Christ Himself will do the rest of the work.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

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Only God Can Save: Kings Fail, Christ Reigns Forever

Scripture Reading: Psalm 146

Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
    I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

Put not your trust in princes,
    in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
    on that very day his plans perish.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
    whose hope is in the Lord his God,
who made heaven and earth,
    the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
    who executes justice for the oppressed,
    who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free;
    the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
    the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the sojourners;
    he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
    but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

The Lord will reign forever,
    your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the Lord!

Blessed Is He Whose Hope Is in the Lord

By James Huenink

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.

Today's Psalm asks a question—not literally, but by implication: Who do you trust to save? Who is your help and protection? What is there for you? We human beings often turn to all sorts of things, whether it's the people around us, political figures, or whatever else: our work, our effort, our money, our family, our lives, whatever it is.

But the psalm answers the question very simply: "Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord, his God." Our King, our God, Jesus Christ, who has ascended into the heavens to sit at the right hand of the Father—only he can truly help us, only he has the power to save. And this is why the Psalm talks about who we should trust.

Put Not Your Trust in Princes

It says, "Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish."

This is kind of a remarkable thing to put into the worship life of ancient Israel, given that it would be said while the king was there—the king of Israel, God's appointed person. You know, I've always thought when I read Psalms like this that it must have been written in a time when there was a bad king, a king like Manasseh, who would run around tearing down the altars of God, or who would put up altars to foreign gods inside the temple itself, and the priests were like, "But..."

I think it applies just as much for the good kings—even the best king, King Josiah. Josiah is the only king in all of ancient Israel where the Bible says nothing bad about him. In fact, what it says is this: "Before him, there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to the law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him."

Josiah—great king, right? Nobody else, not even David, gets that kind of praise.

What did Josiah do? Well, when the temple was falling apart, he rebuilt it. When there were foreign gods inside the temple, he tore them down. He went to all the towns and destroyed their temples to Baal, tore down the Asherah poles. He went to all the high places where people were sacrificing wrongly to the true God, and he not only tore them down but defiled them so they could never be used again. He went into Israel and found Jeroboam's altars, and he destroyed them too. He found the book of the law and renewed the covenant, read it for all the people so they would hear it and understand it. And he restored the celebration of the Passover, which had been lacking.

Josiah, the great king. He did everything the kings were supposed to do. He was the best of all.

And then, you know what he did? He died, and his son took over and messed everything up. Because put not your trust in princes. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth.

Only God Is Truly Faithful

And it's not just guys like Josiah. Even the best king of all, everything that we have that we might trust in, everything around you, whatever it is—it ends up perishing. Only God has the power to save. Only God is truly faithful.

Our great God and King is the one who is faithful to all his promises. As the Psalm says, he is the one who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever, who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. Only God has the power to create, maintain and watch over all of creation. Only he can order all things for the good of those who love him. And only he sent our King, Jesus, to die on a cross and rise for you, and promises that he, as our King, now reigns over all creation for your good, with the power of God reigning for you. And by his death and resurrection, he promises you life that lasts forever.

Nothing else can promise that. Only the King who died and then rose and now lives forever for you. Only God is truly faithful. No person, no thing, can protect us like God can and keeps his promises forever.

God's Faithfulness Through the Ages

We get used to the idea of God being faithful, I think. When we read the story of the Old Testament, when we read all the promises, and it's packed together in just a few books, a couple of hundred pages, and you're like, "Wow, this is a great story," and we forget how long God's promises lasted, from the very beginning to the day Jesus ascended into heaven.

How long was God holding to the promise while the people waited? How many thousands of years was it from that moment when God said to Adam and Eve that he would send them a Savior who would crush Satan's head? How many lifetimes passed when it looked like the kings were going to destroy Israel or God wasn't coming to save his people?

The promise went to Adam and Eve, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and they didn't see the promise that they had gotten. They didn't see the fulfillment of the blessing that would go to all nations of the earth. The promise to the faithful people who were bearing the yoke of evil kings, the promise to the people who went into exile in Assyria and Babylon—they didn't see it. But God kept his faith. Kept his promise.

They had prophets who called them out to say, "The promise is still here. Jesus is still coming. The Savior is on his way. Keep faith. God keeps his promises."

But it's only us, looking back on this history, who get to see that God actually comes through—that generation after generation who hoped for a Savior did not see the Christ, but we do, as we prepare to celebrate his incarnation. It may have seemed slow to them. Christ's return may even seem slow to us, but God is always faithful.

He sent his Son to do all the things that he promised. It may not have happened the way they expected, either. Isaiah talks about the promises of God, just as our Psalms do, talking about someone who will open the eyes of the blind, set the prisoners free, lift up those who are bowed down, watch over the sojourners and the fatherless. And that's what Christ did.

A reading from Matthew points to his miracles, to his healings, to the casting out of demons, and all the great gifts that Jesus did. And he died and rose, and now he promises he will return. Just as God kept his promise to Adam and Eve, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the kings and all the rest, he will keep that promise to you.

Only God Can Heal

Because only he is truly faithful. Only he can arrange all of creation so that you can have life. Only God can heal.

This is the promise the Psalm tells us: when the Lord opens the eyes of the blind, lifts up those who are bowed down, who watches over the sojourner, upholds the widow and the fatherless and brings the wicked to ruin. Only God is the one who can truly give healing.

If you're like me and spend too much time scrolling through reels on the internet, you know there are lots of fitness influencers out there who will tell you that if you just cut out the right chemicals, eat the right things, never drink water from a plastic bottle, only eat the right kind of thing, you will live forever, right? That's basically what they're trying to say.

Guess what? They're wrong.

It doesn't matter how well you eat or what you do or how much exercise you got—only God can heal. And he showed us by raising his Son, Jesus Christ, giving him life that lasts forever, as the firstborn from the dead. Only he has the power, only he has the might to end sin, death and the devil forever. And Jesus—Jesus is the down payment, the firstborn of the resurrection, and he promises that he will come again, that he will raise all of us from the dead and give us eternal life.

Only God can do that. Only God can save.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God.

In Jesus' name, amen.

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What Is a House Blessing—and Why Does the Church Still Do It?

Scripture Reading: Matthew 7

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

The Service of Blessing a Home

Pastor James Huenink

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God, our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Tonight, we're taking a look at the service that I printed out for you—the service for blessing a home. What I'd like to do is go through it first quickly. We won't read everything and pray everything, but we are going to go through some of it, and we'll sing the hymns, because I love to sing. The rest of it, we'll just talk about. Then we'll conclude by asking: Why do we do this? What situations call for it, and why is it important enough to bring up in a service like this tonight?

The Service Begins

The service begins by inviting the pastor to your house to get it started. Now I brought some visual aids to show you what that might be like.

The Processional Cross

The first thing you'll notice is that I bring our big old processional cross into your home—the same processional cross that we would use in worship as the entrance of Christ entering our sanctuary. It leads the way into your own home, carrying the same symbolism as you go from room to room blessing the house. We go room to room, following the cross as it enters into each place. It's a beautifully symbolic way of expressing one of the reasons why we do a house blessing.

The Vestments

Another thing that I do is I come all dressed up. I come in my cassock and surplice. The cassock is the black garment underneath; the surplice is the white on the outside with my stole. You'll notice I have our beautiful pink stole, because that's the Sunday that's coming up this weekend. Very exciting!

This isn't a low-key moment. This isn't a downplayed ritual. This is a big deal. The church is coming to you to hold a house blessing, and so I get all dressed up for it, to make it clear that this is significant.

The Incense

The other thing that will happen most of the time, but not every time depending on what you want, is I come with my censer. This is the censer that I use that holds the incense and burns it. I also brought incense if you want to see what it's like. This particular incense was a gift from my parents from Oman, so it's kind of fun, right?

The reason I have the incense is because it goes with us from room to room. Every time we go into a room, we read a passage of scripture, we do a prayer, and then I or the vicar will go and incense every part of the room. We go all the way around the whole thing and make sure it's really, really stinky and smoky and wonderful.

All of these things are designed to serve a couple of purposes. The processional cross is the symbol of Christ coming from the sanctuary into your home. The Word of God is read, we pray, and then we leave behind the smell of incense to remind you that something significant happened here this day. The whole thing envelops all of the senses—you smell, you move, you hear, you see. It's designed to evoke a high sense that something important has happened. And we do that because something important does happen. We go to your home to bring the Word of God and bless the house.

The Service Structure

You'll notice the service begins with us entering and saying, "Peace be to this home and to all who dwell here." Under most circumstances, we'll then read one of the scripture readings that is on your sheet. Typically, I read the reading from Matthew chapter 7 about the wise man who built his house on a rock, pointing us to how your home is built on the words of Christ. The faith that we share is the foundation of everyone's lives, and that is how a wise man built his house on the rock.

There are other options as well, which you can see. Sometimes I will do a mini sermon—and if you're really excited, I can give you a whole hour! You're laughing, because no, I wouldn't do that. It's always very short.

Opening Hymn: "Oh, Bless the House"

Then we transition to actually blessing the house. To do that, we begin with hymn number 862, "Oh, Bless the House."

Oh, bless the house, whate'er befall,
Where Jesus Christ is all in all!
A home that is not wholly His—
How sad and poor and dark it is!

Oh, blest that house where faith is found
And all in hope and love abound;
They trust their God and serve Him still
And do in all His holy will.

Oh, blest the parents who give heed
Unto their children's foremost need
And weary not of care or cost.
May none to them and heaven be lost.

Oh, blest that house; it prospers well.
In peace and joy the parents dwell,
And in their children's lives is shown
How richly God can bless His own.

Then here will I and mine today
A solemn promise make and say:
Though all the world forsake His Word,
I and my house will serve the Lord.

Appropriate for blessing a house, right?

Going Room to Room

From this point on, what we do is go from room to room, and you don't actually follow the order of the service. You follow the order of the house. So you'll start in perhaps the living room, move to a bedroom, kitchen, wherever it is that fits the flow of the house. If you have four bedrooms, we do the bedroom blessing four times. If you have three living rooms, we do the living room blessing three times. It all just depends on the house.

Whatever your house is like, we go from room to room. I have even done it in a trailer that had one bedroom. It was short, but just as blessed. So whatever your house looks like, we can do it.

Example: The Living Room

Each room has a selected reading. The reading for the living room is:

"And to be renewed in the spirit of your minds. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."

See, a reading that is designed—sometimes wishfully in a big family—to get rid of all clamor and argument! But it calls on us to live peacefully in the house, and then we pray as well at every other part of the house. Each reading is considered for the room and its purpose, with the prayer that fits.

The Final Prayer

You go from room to room until you finally come to the end, when you pray the Lord's Prayer and the final prayer. I want to read this one, because this one is important:

"Lord God Almighty, we implore You to bless and sanctify this home, its occupants and its possessions, enriching them in every way. Drive from here the snares of the evil one, and send Your holy angel to guard, protect, visit and defend all who dwell in this home. Mercifully hear their prayers and when their last hour comes, grant them safe haven in Your heavenly mansions through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen."

This prayer points out two things. One, it asks God to bless the people and the home. Two, it asks God to drive out the evil one and send the angel, the Holy Spirit, to guard and protect all the people who are there. That makes the house blessing more than just a blessing, but also a level of protection from evil spirits.

Closing Hymn: "Now Thank We All Our God"

From there, we move on to the benediction and the blessing at the end, and we close with hymn 895, "Now Thank We All Our God."

Now thank we all our God
With hearts and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done,
In whom His world rejoices,
Who from our mother's arms
Has blest us on our way
With countless gifts of love
And still is ours today.

Oh, may this bounteous God
Through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts
And blessed peace to cheer us
And keep us in His grace
And guide us when perplexed
And free us from all ills
In this world and the next.

All praise and thanks to God
The Father now be given,
The Son, and Him who reigns
With them in highest heaven,
The one eternal God,
Whom earth and heav'n adore;
For thus it was, is now,
And shall be evermore.

So that concludes the house blessing service.

Why Do We Do This?

The first reason is simple: people want the blessing of God in their lives, and the pastor comes out as the person who represents this. I get to wear my collar, do my thing, and all of what we do symbolizes the blessing of God coming into the home through the Word and prayer, blessing the people.

This can happen when people move into a new place. It's pretty common when you move into a new home to do this. Or it can happen anytime you want to do it. It is relatively traditional in the church to do it once a year during the Epiphany season. That's just kind of a thing that people do.

Protection from Evil Spirits

But the last reason is one that I wanted to highlight a little bit because it was hidden in the prayer at the end. The last reason is to cast out evil spirits. Because that happens, and I've done it a couple of times.

That final prayer is actually an exorcism prayer, and it brings the power of God into this place. This is why I read the passage earlier from Matthew chapter 8, which talked about when evening came, many who were demon possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with the word and healed all the sick. Because the power of God still works today to protect us from evil spirits, whether it's demons who are haunting your home or in your body—though that's not going to happen to us Christians, right?

But for many people, these are serious things that require help. I've done house blessings twice where I was pretty sure there were evil spirits in the home.

So I want you to know that if you think your house is haunted, who you gonna call? Because we actually have something for that. The devil is real, and Christ brings His power to your home to do this.

This is why we do house blessings: to be the blessing of Christ coming to your home through His Word and prayer, but especially if you need protection from evil spirits, I can come and help you out.

Now we do change the service a little bit. We change the hymn from "Oh Bless the House" to something like "Oh Little Flock, Fear Not the Foe," which just so happens to be hymn number 666. And we sing about the power of Christ over evil.

Conclusion

This is why we do house blessings, and why I introduce it to you all today. It's an important and interesting piece of bringing the power and Word of God into your home and into your life.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

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Prepare the Way: Why John the Baptist Still Confronts Us Today

Scripture Reading: Matthew 3:1-12

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord;

make his paths straight.’”

Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Prepare the Way of the Lord: An Advent Sermon on John the Baptist

Matthew 3:1-12 | Second Sunday of Advent

Sermon Date: December 7, 2025

Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The lesson for meditation is Saint Matthew chapter three, verses one through twelve, with special focus on the words: "Prepare the way of the Lord."

Meeting John in the Wilderness

Imagine yourself standing in the wilderness across the Jordan River. You hear a voice calling, shouting from a distance: "Prepare the way of the Lord!" And then you see a figure approaching in the distance. He's a wild-haired, bearded man, his skin bronzed by the sun, his eyes ablaze with prophetic fire. He is dressed like a prophet straight out of the pages of the Old Testament—camel's hair, leather around his waist. And if you didn't know better, you'd swear it was Elijah come back from heaven.

And then you realize that you are standing on the very spot where tradition says that Elijah was whisked off to heaven in a chariot a few centuries before. And then the strange figure draws closer to you. A silhouette becomes a shadow, a shadow becomes a face, and you hear these words: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

And make no mistake—he's looking directly at you. Don't worry about your neighbor's sin just yet. He's pointing a long index finger in your direction, saying, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord," or "Repent," which is quite the same thing. And he means you—the religious one, the pious Israelite, the unbaptized, the baptized, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribe, the tax collector, the prostitute, the sinner. Yes, absolutely everybody. Does it matter who or what you are? Repent.

Who Is This Wild Prophet?

Who is the strange man with this funny wilderness diet who suddenly became the main preacher for Advent in the church year? Who sent him? Well, his name is John. And I dare say that any congregation looking to call a pastor, looking at a stack of paperwork, would put John in the "no way, no how" stack. And yet he is the greatest of all the prophets.

As you all know, he is the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth. His parents were old, extraordinarily old when he was born. He was probably raised as an orphan in the wilderness, at least for part of his childhood, and he seems to want nothing to do with the Temple in Jerusalem. So he comes from priestly parents, but he is no priest. His business is at the Jordan River, for he came to baptize.

John's Radical Baptism

Now, to be sure, baptism was not entirely unknown at the time of John. And don't worry about our Trinitarian baptism just yet—that comes a little bit later. Indeed, there's evidence that the wilderness communities with which John was associated already had a form of baptism, or at least an entry rite with water. You were baptized in a way, for instance, when you became a Jew, an honorary Israelite. It was called proselyte or newcomer's baptism.

That made John's baptism something new, something different. The people that came from Jerusalem and all the regions of Judea were not newcomers to Judaism. Indeed, they were Jews, some of them religious leaders—the Pharisees who had their oral law, and the Sadducees, who denied the resurrection and really needed a resurrection through Holy Baptism.

So you can see why John's baptism drew such controversy. It came across to religious leaders of the day as an unauthorized sort of renegade thing. But maybe that was kind of the point, for John was calling Israel to be washed—and yes, implying that they were not washed and they desperately needed this baptism, for they were unclean.

Confronting the Religious Elite

And notice he singles out the religious leaders for the harshest treatment, saying, "You brood of vipers! That is, you bunch of snakes! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And don't start jabbering about how you have Abraham as your father, Abraham on your family tree. You can see it there, for God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones." That is to say, he can take an inanimate, lifeless object and make children of Abraham. No, we want children of God through repentance and faith. And it's all right here in the waters of baptism. Once again: Prepare the way of the Lord. Just prepare his way by repenting of your sins.

Well, you have to wonder what they thought. What do you think when someone says to you, "Repent"? Well, we probably usually think, "Well, repent of what? What did I do?" And then we go through the Ten Commandments, and we brag, at least to ourselves, about how we have supposedly kept all the Ten Commandments. Or we look back at the person calling us to repentance and say, "Hey, you shouldn't talk. You're the one who needs to repent."

But no, again I say, John is speaking ultimately first and foremost to you, to me, individually, first person or third person singular. There's a coming wrath. There is a coming judgment and fire. The time to repent is now.

The Last of the Old Testament Prophets

John's appearing in the Jordan wilderness, then, marks the end of the thundering prophets of the Old Testament in their call to repentance. Indeed, I hope you agree with me that John is basically the walking and talking Old Testament, what Luther called "the ultimate of all prophets and preachers."

The prophet Malachi, about four hundred years earlier, said that Elijah would come before the day of the Lord to prepare the hearts of the people. John, then, is this new and greater Elijah, the one who comes in the spirit of Elijah—no political correctness, no going with the whims and cultural fads of the day, no, just straight talk of the law in order to bring you to the gospel. Yes, the last of the Old Testament prophets who points to the long-expected Messiah and says, "He will soon be standing in this very Jordan River."

The Symbolism of Baptismal Washing

You know, I have this impulse that when something important happens, there's always usually some sort of a bath or a shower involved. You've all been to baby showers and bridal showers—I don't remember there was actually a shower, at least in the water sense of the phrase—or even when you wash your hands. And that's the notion behind Jewish baptism as they knew it in the day: you were leaving your old way of life, your old religious loyalties, everything. You are starting afresh, starting over, reborn as an Israelite, one of God's people.

But what John was doing was calling Israel to be washed and ready for the coming one, the Messiah—calling Israel out of the land, away from Jerusalem, away from the temple and its religious institutions, and back into the wilderness. And kind of an exodus in reverse.

As you all know, the original Exodus was out of Egypt through the wilderness, then crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land, and then built the temple. However, in the past few hundred years leading up to John, they had lost track of the coming suffering Messiah. So John now calls them the other direction—from the temple, out into the wilderness, back to the Jordan, to consider what happened in that great redemptive event in the Old Testament, to be baptized and now to live it out. For the Messiah is coming.

Living Out Your Baptism

And that's what repentance is. It's going back to that baptismal font, seeing how you have sinned against God. And of course, no need to be rebaptized, but to live out your baptism this Advent in daily repentance and faith.

The baptism you receive, of course, is a little different than John's in that it came from Jesus with a fiery Pentecost wind of the Holy Spirit and the full name of the Holy Trinity. John's baptism was fulfilled when Jesus stood in the water before John to be baptized by him, when the heavens were opened and the Spirit descended, and the Father said, "This is my beloved Son." And John said, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world."

That was the purpose of John's baptism—to prepare the way for Jesus' coming in humility, to die and to rise. But the purpose of your baptism is to prepare the way for Jesus' final coming, his final advent in glory, when he will raise the dead and give salvation to you and join you with Jesus now in his death and life, that you might die and rise with him forever. Yes, your baptism is fulfilled the day you die, and on the last day when you rise. It all points ahead to that final advent.

So John's baptism was for that time only. It was a baptism of water with repentance. Jesus' baptism with water in the name of the Trinity lasts until the end of time.

Old Testament Gospel in New Testament Form

I'd like to say that John brought Old Testament Gospel in New Testament form—Old Testament because it looked ahead to the Messiah, but New Testament because this is no circumcision. This is a washing with water. And so John preached Jesus as the promised coming one, the true Advent Lord.

It's striking, the kind of Jesus he preaches. I think you would agree, it's really not the one that shows up. John's Jesus has a winnowing fork in his hand and a fire of judgment kindled, and he's ready to toss the grain into the fiery wind and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire as he gathers up his wheat into the barn. And in this matter, it's important to note that Solomon's temple and the rebuilt temple under Herod was probably built, to our best knowledge, on an actual old grain threshing floor—the place where you throw the crop up into the air, the wind would take away the chaff, and the crop would come back to the floor. And that's exactly what's happening here with John as he calls them to repentance.

John's Jesus, then, has an axe already laid to the root of every fruitless tree. Would you want to meet Jesus on those terms without repentance? I would not, for we would be under the fiery wrath to come.

The Unexpected Messiah

Yet when Jesus actually does appear—and more about that this coming Epiphany—he appears humble and meek. He submits himself willingly to John's baptism of repentance, even though he was the one perfect man who had no need for repentance. Instead of an axe and a winnowing fork, he comes with a cross and death. Instead of judgment, as we think of the word, he comes to be judged by his own Father.

And it's no wonder that John at one point had his doubts and had to ask if he really was the right candidate, or if they needed somebody else for the job. Gentle Jesus hardly seems to fit the bill, but that's precisely the point. Jesus comes as gospel to John's law. Yes, John's law—the prophetic word prepares for the word from Jesus, which is the gospel.

Who would have known that the axe of God's wrath would be laid against the promised shoot from the stump of Jesse when he went to the cross? Who would have known that the fire of God's judgment would be turned against his own Son in his passion to save you and to save me and the world? Who would have known that the way of the kingdom of heaven is for the King to die for his subjects, and then to rise from the dead and say, "Your sins are forgiven"?

So it's not so much that we get to go up to God, per se, but first and foremost that God comes down to us with life and salvation in Christ.

Isaiah's Vision Fulfilled

About seven hundred years before John, the prophet Isaiah saw the coming kingdom and described it as a tiny shoot springing from the stump of King David's family tree, and from that sprout a righteous branch that would bear much fruit. The Spirit of the Lord would rest upon him. As you already heard today, he would judge the world by his righteousness and restore harmony and shalom—peace—to the creation, so that even the wolf and the lamb could lie down in peace.

Isaiah saw a day when the root of Jesse would become a banner lifted high, a signal for all the peoples, whose resting place would be glorious. And from its humble beginnings to his glorious ending, the sprout becomes a branch that becomes a tree from whose fruit you may eat and live, even today, as you receive the Blessed Sacrament and the fruits of salvation itself.

John's Blessed Finger

Martin Luther said of John the Baptist: not because of his austere life, not because of his phenomenal birth, but because of his blessed finger, because of his message and office. "No other man has such fingers as John's, with which he points to the Lamb of God and declares that he is the true Savior who would redeem the world from sin."

Amen to that.

Conclusion: Prepare the Way

So prepare the way of the Lord this Advent, dearly beloved. Yes, prepare his way through daily repentance and faith, as you behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. God grant it unto you for Jesus' sake. Amen.

The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

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Why the Incarnation Changes Everything: St. Andrew, Psalm 139, and Christ With Us

Scripture Reading: Psalm 139:1-12

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
    you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
    and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
    behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
    and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
    it is high; I cannot attain it.

Where shall I go from your Spirit?
    Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
    If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
    and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
    and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
    and the light about me be night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
    the night is bright as the day,
    for darkness is as light with you.

God Knows You and Chooses You Anyway: A Sermon for St. Andrew's Day

Preacher: James Huenink
Feast Day: St. Andrew the Apostle
Scripture: Psalm 139

Opening Prayer

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Introduction: The Call of St. Andrew

Today we're celebrating St. Andrew and hearing all about the different readings that talk about the Word of God going out and coming to people and the presence of Christ in their lives. St. Andrew was called by Christ in the very beginning. He heard John say, "The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." He followed Christ and immediately went to his brother and called him to do the same.

After Jesus ascended into heaven, Andrew and all the apostles went out into the world proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ. Many went as far as France or Spain, others to India. But Andrew didn't get that far. We believe that he ended up being martyred in the city of Patras, which is in Achaia, somewhere around the Greece area, at about 60 AD—not terribly long after Jesus ascended into heaven.

The legend of Andrew is that he was crucified on that X-shaped cross, which they now call the Cross of Saint Andrew, because he refused to be crucified on the same kind of cross as Jesus. And as I tell that legend, I think, "Absolutely, that's the kind of thing that people who are going to execute someone do—they say, 'How would you like to die? We're open to suggestions.'" Doesn't quite happen that way. Still, this is the legend that we have been given: the stories that we have of an apostle going out into the world to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ.

The Psalm and the Incarnation

The psalm that has been chosen for today is what I'd like to look at—what the presence of Christ does in our lives because of Jesus and His incarnation. This is what Andrew proclaimed to the whole world: that God comes to us and gives us these great benefits.

Because of Jesus, the psalmist would have seen this in the context of God's presence being in the temple and His word being the law of Moses. And so it was there that the psalmist would have seen this and made this main point of God being with us and guiding us. But we, on the other side of Christ with His death and resurrection, I think it is even more applicable to us when we see this psalm as an expression of the beauty of the incarnation of Jesus.

Now I'm going to have to explain what I mean by that, aren't I? The Incarnation means that God also became a human being. That's the story of Jesus: the Son of God left His heavenly throne and became a child, grew to become a man who suffered and died for us, which means that we have a Savior who is both God and a human being, all in one person. And the Incarnation helps us to see the amazing gifts expressed in this psalm.

God Knows You Completely

Let's take a look:

"O Lord, you have searched me and know me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether."

Now we know that God, in His almighty power, understands and knows all things. But this psalm is even more beautifully seen when we realize that we have a Savior who does not just know them, but lived through them—through the way of human life.

We certainly understand the difference between, say, reading about something and experiencing it. We can read about how to repair a car or change the oil, but you really don't know how to do it until you've done it. And I know because I watch YouTube tutorials to do all sorts of stuff, and I watch it, and I read it, and I see it, and I think I know what I'm doing. And then I get to doing it, and I go, "How do you do that again?" And I have to go back and watch it over and over again until I get it right.

We can see in Christ that God just doesn't know, but He experiences everything that it means to be a human. The Son of God became one of us. He became a child. He hungered like we hunger. He slept like we sleep. He ate like we eat. His feet got sore and tired just like ours. His body ached when He worked too hard. He felt the pain of loss when loved ones died. Everything that we feel, Jesus felt too. He searched out our path and our lying down. He was acquainted with every single one of our ways. He knows exactly what it means to be a human in a human world, and He did it without sin.

He Chooses You Anyway

And the amazing thing about this is that He knows what it's like, and He chooses us. He knows what you are like, and He chooses you, just as He knew Andrew and chose him.

The message of the Gospels, as we see Jesus coming and choosing disciples, is not a message of Him choosing amazing figures who will go on to be these incredible men. He goes and He chooses sinners. And especially as you read Matthew, Mark, and Luke, these guys don't know what they're doing. They're always misunderstanding Jesus. They make mistakes. They run away when He gets arrested. Judas betrays Him. Peter denies Him. There's all sorts of problems. And Jesus knows this from the start. He knows humans. He knows us. He knows we're sinners, and He chooses us anyway.

He gives us His love, His peace, His grace, despite all the sin that's in our lives. He unites Himself to you because He wants to—in all your sin, in all your sadness, in all your hurt, in everything that you face. He comes to you and says, "You are mine."

Which means He knows the things that you want to hide from the rest of the world, that you might not publish on social media or write in the Christmas letters you may be drafting right now. He knows the pains that you don't tell anyone, the stresses that are just inside your heart. He knows everything about your life and chooses you and saves you. It's the point of becoming a human: to come and be one of us and live among us and be perfect, because we can't. And so He gathers together a people in Himself by His grace and His mercy.

God Guides and Leads Us

The next section of the psalm says:

"You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high; I cannot attain it."

This is about God's guidance in leading us and directing us in our lives. For many of us, we hear these words—"You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me"—and we might think, "Oh wait a second, I really like choice, and God is pressing me and pushing me down, and that doesn't sound like a lot of fun to me."

And that might be true if our goal was to rebel or be evil. But the psalmist isn't talking about oppression, but guiding us in paths of righteousness, leading us in faithfulness, helping us to see what it is to be good and holy and true. And this is what God's hand does for us.

And the most amazing way the Incarnation of Jesus Christ does this is that the divine nature of God comes to be among human beings. That's one of the reasons why God had to become a human being—so that the divinity of God, the divinity of Christ, could join with the human and be connected to all of us.

Human nature becomes elevated in Christ by His holiness and righteousness. And the best way, I think, to show this is to ask the question: What will be different when Jesus returns and creation is made new?

Because God created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and they were perfect, and yet they still ate the apple. They didn't have original sin. They didn't have the temptations that we face and the pains and the problems, and yet they sinned. What will stop that from happening when Jesus returns?

The difference is that God and humanity are now one in Christ, and that divine nature goes out to all His people. The perfection of Christ will confirm us in righteousness, and our unity with the divine nature of Christ will keep us righteous forever. And you have that now. That is what baptism is about. Even as we struggle against our sinful side, the divinity of Christ has come to you and made you alive to guide you and lead you.

And sometimes it feels like hemming and pressing, but it's all for the good of righteousness. It's all pointing us towards the life we truly and really want to lead. Christ comes to us with His righteousness and His power to save us and make us holy and guide and lead us.

You Cannot Escape His Presence

And then the last section helps us to see that we can't escape Him, that He is always with us. It says:

"Where shall I go from your Spirit, or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me; your right hand shall hold me. If I say, 'Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,' even the darkness is not dark to you. The night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you."

Because God has become one with us in Jesus Christ and united His divine and human natures to ours, we cannot get away from God. God is always with us. And it doesn't matter how good your day is or how bad. Doesn't matter how alone you feel or how blessed, whether you have a big community around you or you don't know anybody. Doesn't matter.

Even as we enter into the grave, Christ is there with us, as He says, "If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, the grave, you are there." That's because Christ came down to earth and joined with us and died for us to enter into Sheol so that He could be with us even when our bodies are placed in the ground. And then He ascended into heaven and led the way so that we can have the sure and certain promise that when He returns, we will be with Him, raised from the dead, just as He is.

And if He can be with us in death, He can be with us no matter what. There's nothing that Christ cannot be with you while you go through it. No hospital visit, no pain, no stress, no loss of money, status, or whatever. No matter what you go through, Christ is with you.

Conclusion: The Gift of the Incarnation

That's the point of the Incarnation: that God would become man so that He can be with you in every human experience—good or bad, wonderful or evil. Christ is there with you, and there's nothing that can tear you away from the love of Jesus Christ.

This Incarnation—God becoming man, coming down to be with us—means that His love, His righteousness, His joy, His peace, everything becomes yours as He knows our ways, as He guides us by His holiness, and promises He is with you no matter what.

In Jesus' name, amen.

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Before the Trumpet Sounds: Following the King Who Suffered

Scripture Reading: Luke 21:5-23

And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

The Lowly King: Understanding Christ's Crucifixion at the End of the Church Year

Sermon by James Huenink

Christ the King Sunday: Why We Remember the Cross

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

As I told you before our service began, we are at the end of the church year, looking forward to the return of Christ, the end of time, Judgment Day—when all things come to the final point that God has arranged them to be, when history finally comes to its end, the goal of what God has been doing all this time.

We expect our Savior to come on the clouds with power and might and glory. The voice of the archangel and the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised, and the King will sit on His glorious throne and judge the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end. What a glorious day that will be.

And so with that being our theme for today, I think it's a little weird that our lectionary chose the opposite, right? We're not talking about Jesus's predictions of His coming with power. We're not looking at His parables of His return, where He divides the sheep and the goats, or where there are people knocking at the door and He says, "I didn't know you." None of the casting into the outer darkness, none of those things.

Our lectionary decided to choose the story of His crucifixion. Wonder why?

Well, I actually have a theory. The question was rhetorical. I think it's because our lectionary wants to remind us of who our King is right now, even as we look forward to His glorious return. Which is why Luke just gives us a very simple phrase to describe our Savior that is just as true now as it was then: "This is the King of the Jews."

The Mockery That Became Truth

The soldiers and Pontius Pilate meant that to be a mockery. That is what they did with rebels. They would put a sign up that said, "This is the king of the Germans," or "the king of the Angles." Whenever they conquered someone, they said, "This is what happens when a king stands up to the Roman Empire." They would show how the kings that fought against them were always made lowly and destroyed.

Here, however, it is a reminder of what the King of the church is like—a reminder of the pattern that we follow. Not a symbol of defeat, but the Savior who comes on this side of the resurrection and shows us what it's like to follow Him, what our church is like in a broken and fallen world as we deal with pain and hurt.

A King Who Is Lowly

And so Jesus shows us that He, the King, is lowly—which is difficult for us. To look at a king and say, "This is what it's supposed to be. This is the will of God"—that a king would come and be lowly, that His throne was a cross, that His crown was thorns, and that at His right hand and His left hand were criminals.

His whole life was like that. The Son of God, the King of the world, lowly—an itinerant preacher. And here at the end, we have an image of our King on His throne: no gold, no jewels, no crown that is beautiful. Just someone who is lowly, broken, and bleeding.

And the people around Him, the ones who would normally be fawning over a king, trying to get His favor—instead of giving Him all the compliments and flattery, they cry out with insults. They say things like, "He saved others, let Him save Himself if He is the Christ of God, His Chosen One."

And yet He doesn't. He is nailed there. He dies.

The Beauty of Suffering

What this shows us, though, is the beauty of the suffering of our God and King, the Savior. If He had decided to be glorious, if He had decided to call His angels down and bring about judgment, He would have left us all in our sin. Instead, His suffering and pain is victory over sin and death. His torture, His wounding, His lowliness is our victory in Christ. And because He did this, we have eternal life and forgiveness of sins.

It should then not surprise us that a church that follows a king like this might itself seem lowly—perhaps not as glorious as we would like it to be. That it is filled with human beings who are sinners, in a society that is broken, where not everything is going right. A church that can be filled with sadness and sudden changes and hurt. A church that isn't always going in the directions that we might like, or where our lives are not always the successes that we want them to be.

It should not surprise us that we follow in the footsteps of our Savior—a Savior who came not in glory but in lowliness, a Savior who came not to look victorious but to suffer and die. It should be no surprise that we deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Him, because we are a church with a King who is lowly, who suffers and dies.

The Pattern of Christ: From Lowliness to Glory

And when we do this, when we live in this life, we follow His pattern—which means there's a promise there too. The pattern of Christ leads not just to suffering and death on a cross, but to resurrection and glory. And even better, on the day that He returns, all of the lowliness of the life that we see now will be changed to the glory of the eternal King.

We who walk in His humility, who follow the cross pattern of Christ, will also follow His pattern of the glorious King who comes on the clouds with the trumpet and the voice of the archangel, when He will reign forever and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. This is what we look forward to, why we live through this now as we cling to the promise of His glorious return.

A King Among Criminals

Jesus didn't just live a lowly life. He also lived amongst criminals. Here He was accused. He was falsely judged as evil. That's the reason why they put Him on the cross. To the Gentiles, to Pontius Pilate, He was a rebel rebelling against Caesar. He was someone who claimed to be God, even though He was not, according to the high priests. He was a criminal to be mocked, and that's what the people did.

The leaders, the world, the society—they saw in Jesus someone to be rejected and hurt, someone to be told that He was evil. And it should be no surprise that we who follow in our Savior's footsteps, who have a King who is rejected by the authorities and powers and people of the world, that we might have the same.

In fact, sometimes even our own hearts tell us this. Sometimes even our own hearts tell us that, well, church shouldn't be like this. Life shouldn't be like this if we're on God's side. As we whisper to ourselves the things like they said in Malachi: "And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper, but they put God to the test and they escape."

That stuff out there looks so much better. Aren't we on God's side? Shouldn't things be better? We might even accuse ourselves in our own hearts. But we have a King who suffered through that, a King who took the accusations, went to a cross and died there, a King who lived through all of this and simply received it so you could live.

The Pattern of the Accused King

We have to remember that this accused King is our pattern. And so even when we look at the world and say, "It seems like victory is out there but not in here"—that's what it looked like when Jesus was on the cross. And just as that changed for Jesus, that will change for us.

Three days later, He rose from the dead. The King of all creation stood alive, revealed to the world His power and His might, and ascended the throne on high where He sits at the right hand of the Father. And when He comes again, we too will be vindicated as the King comes and says to us, "Well done, good and faithful servant"—that by His death and resurrection, He has claimed us as His own and made us one with Him.

The Mercy of the Dying King

One of the other things that we see as this great King in His lowly state is His mercy. Jesus, as He is accused, as He is lowly, as He is broken, as He is beaten, as He is nailed to a cross—and yet He is forgiving. How amazing is that?

They lift Him up, they nail Him to the cross, and He says, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do"—even as they cast lots under His feet for the clothing that they took from Him.

Or how about the mercy He shows to a criminal who only moments before may have been insulting Him, but then turns to Jesus and says, "Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom"? And He says to the thief, "Today, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."

How amazing is the mercy of a Savior who is nailed to a cross and dying an excruciating death and still has time for forgiveness. Forgiveness and love comes out to us today as well, who offers the same promise to you: "You will be with Me in Paradise."

The Church of Mercy

And the church who follows the pattern of our Savior—we too extend this kind of mercy in everything we do. The church is a place where forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to all who come to us, even to the kinds of people who might nail someone to a cross and stab them with a spear and whip him and beat him and cause him to die. Even to those who might insult us and hurt us, we are always proclaiming the grace and mercy of God.

And sometimes what that means is we're going to look a lot like Jesus: beat up, hurt, when our forgiveness and love is rejected and our lowliness is exposed. And we who just love and care and serve like a Savior don't get it in return.

The mercy of God is what the church is given today. The gospel of Jesus Christ goes out.

The Coming Judgment

But that's not always the way it's going to be. On the last day, the door of mercy will be closed. The path of grace will end, and Christ will come and bring judgment on this earth. And we who have been given the mercy of God will be chosen to be with Him, to reign with Him forever.

And then the judgment will begin for all those who reject that mercy, all those who turn away, all those who think that Christ is too lowly or broken for them. They will see our God and Savior with His might and power, and He will judge the living and the dead. We will be on the right side with the grace of God given to us, a glorious resurrection to reign with Him forever. Those who are not will be cast into eternal torment, turned away as the door of grace will close when He appears in the sky with power and might.

Conclusion: Clinging to the Lowly King

This is why we cling to that mercy now. Why we proclaim to the world the grace of God and welcome all who come here—because we know the judgment part, that's not for us. Jesus will do it on the last day. He will raise up His lowly church and vindicate us and give us eternal life.

And we cling to a Savior who died on a cross, who shows us the pattern of grace and love, and calls us to cling to the promise of His return.

In Jesus's name. Amen.

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