Thanks be to God for the blessings of the book: TREASURY OF DAILY PRAYER by CPH.
I commend this glorious selection from the July 11th reading:
HYMN TO GOD THE FATHER
Wilt Thou forgive that sin where I begun,
Which was my sin, though it were done before? .
Wilt Thou forgive that sin through which I run,
And do run still, though still I do deplore?
When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done;
For I have more.
Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I have won others to sin,
and made my sin their door?
Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I did shun a year or two,
but wallowed in, a score? .
When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done;
For I have more.
I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun my last thread,
I shall perish on the shore;
But swear by Thyself, that at my death Thy Son
Shall shine as He shines now, and heretofore:
And, having done that, Thou hast done;
I fear no more.
–John Donne
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
THE CHURCH'S PURPOSE
Being a lover and reader of old sermons, I came across this one that is as timely today as it was when it was written almost 70 years ago. It is timely because the truths in it are TIMELESS!
Please enjoy !!!
THE CHURCH'S PURPOSE
It happened so many years ago that to us it seems shrouded in the dim mist of an unreal antiquity. You all know the story well. Two figures are toiling up the side of a mountain. One is the figure of age, and he fingers a sacrificial knife and shields a bit of fire. The other is the figure of youth, and on his back he carries a load of firewood. Their purpose is to build on the mountain-top a rude altar of stones and to offer on it a burnt offering. And there, on the mountainside, the son asks of his father a question. And the question which young Isaac asked that day of Abraham on the mountainside of Moriah suddenly puts into a sentence the theme of the entire Old Testament, the need of the children of Adam, the continuing question of all the unenlightened and bewildered ages. He says: "But, Father, where is the lamb?"
"Father, where is the Lamb?" Up from the valley of the Nile the children of Israel, making bricks under the lashing whips of Egyptian taskmasters in slavery, to a Pharaoh who knew not Joseph, send this wondering prayer for deliverance: "Father, where is the Lamb?"
In the wilderness for forty years the despairing wail ascends like incense to the throne of a seemingly silent grace: "Father, where is the Lamb?"
Even in the golden age of the kings, the burden of the songs of the sweet singer of Israel is: "Where is the Lamb?"
And when they hanged their harps on the willows by the waters of Babylon and wept, the undercurrent of their songless tears was this constant refrain: "Father, where is the Lamb?"
And so the days melt into years and the years into centuries, and in the fullness of time two other figures confront each other by the waters of the Jordan: the one dressed in the rough camel's hair coat of the perpetual Nazarite, the other with hands hardened by the carpenter's tools so recently laid aside and in His eyes a vision of eternity.
The Nazarite lifts an unwavering arm and points an undoubting finger at the Nazarene, and he answers the question of the centuries: "Behold the Lamb - the Lamb that is to be the final and complete sacrifice to conquer the sins of the past and the sins that rise threateningly on the horizon, the last Lamb, the perfect Lamb, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world!"
We are the Christian Church. We are the representatives, the witnesses, of that same Christ in our little circles, in our communities, in our world.
Into our hands has been placed the tremendously important, the all-surpassing task of doing the work which must be done before the heavens are rolled up like a scroll that is read.
That work, that purpose in our life, is definite, single and distinct, - a purpose given to us by the God who created, redeemed, and sanctified us. And that purpose is to answer, even as John the Baptist answered, the first and final question of the ages.
For man has always sought a lamb to atone for his sin, but in vain.
To the neighbor who, in ignorance, is seeking after the Unknown God by the road of personal merit, while his soul cries out in mortal terror, "Where is the lamb?" your Church, you, must show the Christ and say without reservation: "Behold the Lamb! No man comes to the Father but by Him."
To an age that has displaced Father, Son, and Holy Ghost with the terrific trio of Moloch, Mars, and Mammon and finds at the end of the road ashes and bitterness and defeat, your Church, you, must show the Christ, at whose name every knee must bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth.
To the Hindu who has drenched his idol in milk to appease it and comes away still unsatisfied;
to the Chinese burning ineffectual incense before long dead ancestors; to the Buddhist at his prayer-wheel;
to the African at his witch-dance;
yea, to all men crying out from the spiritual night that covers them:
"Where is the lamb?"
"How can I appease the wrath of God?" your Church, you, must show - this is your supreme duty – “the Lamb of God”, in whom alone is salvation.
Obviously this is the one purpose of the Church?
Yes, but the obvious truth is the first forgotten. Other purposes will intrude themselves.
Perhaps the temptation lies in the direction of seeking members for an organization rather than followers of the Savior.
Perhaps in the direction of merely flattering or entertaining the masses.
Perhaps in the direction of substituting the Law for the Gospel.
Perhaps to conduct the business of the King as though it were 'just another business of man among many others.
Lest any or all of these cross-purposes blot out the supreme purpose, listen again to the mandate of your Master, who has charted your course and promised success only when His way is followed. St. Matthew has recorded it in the 16th chapter of his gospel account, it reads as follows:
“Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matt 16:13-18 (ESV)
Prayer
Lord, Holy Spirit, as we seek a clear light to guide us through the deepening shadows of the world's twilight hour, we come, of necessity, to You, the only Source of Light. Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom, Lead us on, O blessed Spirit. Pierce the natural darkness of our minds with the knowledge of the justice of the Father, which demands holiness of His creatures. Enlighten the night of our souls with the glorious revelation of the mercy of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Propitiation for our sins. And do rescue us from the burdens of our fears, the faltering of our steps, the hesitancy of our cowardice. Help us to do the work of the Father as true soldiers of the Cross - running not as uncertainly; fighting not as one that beats the air; warring not entangled with the affairs of this life; striving for the mastery, but striving lawfully, that we may please Him who hath chosen us to be soldiers. For Jesus' sake we ask it. Amen.
By Walter Kraemer MEDITATIONS ON THE CHURCH pp. 412-414 The Concordia Pulpit 1940 MCMXL
Please enjoy !!!
THE CHURCH'S PURPOSE
It happened so many years ago that to us it seems shrouded in the dim mist of an unreal antiquity. You all know the story well. Two figures are toiling up the side of a mountain. One is the figure of age, and he fingers a sacrificial knife and shields a bit of fire. The other is the figure of youth, and on his back he carries a load of firewood. Their purpose is to build on the mountain-top a rude altar of stones and to offer on it a burnt offering. And there, on the mountainside, the son asks of his father a question. And the question which young Isaac asked that day of Abraham on the mountainside of Moriah suddenly puts into a sentence the theme of the entire Old Testament, the need of the children of Adam, the continuing question of all the unenlightened and bewildered ages. He says: "But, Father, where is the lamb?"
"Father, where is the Lamb?" Up from the valley of the Nile the children of Israel, making bricks under the lashing whips of Egyptian taskmasters in slavery, to a Pharaoh who knew not Joseph, send this wondering prayer for deliverance: "Father, where is the Lamb?"
In the wilderness for forty years the despairing wail ascends like incense to the throne of a seemingly silent grace: "Father, where is the Lamb?"
Even in the golden age of the kings, the burden of the songs of the sweet singer of Israel is: "Where is the Lamb?"
And when they hanged their harps on the willows by the waters of Babylon and wept, the undercurrent of their songless tears was this constant refrain: "Father, where is the Lamb?"
And so the days melt into years and the years into centuries, and in the fullness of time two other figures confront each other by the waters of the Jordan: the one dressed in the rough camel's hair coat of the perpetual Nazarite, the other with hands hardened by the carpenter's tools so recently laid aside and in His eyes a vision of eternity.
The Nazarite lifts an unwavering arm and points an undoubting finger at the Nazarene, and he answers the question of the centuries: "Behold the Lamb - the Lamb that is to be the final and complete sacrifice to conquer the sins of the past and the sins that rise threateningly on the horizon, the last Lamb, the perfect Lamb, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world!"
We are the Christian Church. We are the representatives, the witnesses, of that same Christ in our little circles, in our communities, in our world.
Into our hands has been placed the tremendously important, the all-surpassing task of doing the work which must be done before the heavens are rolled up like a scroll that is read.
That work, that purpose in our life, is definite, single and distinct, - a purpose given to us by the God who created, redeemed, and sanctified us. And that purpose is to answer, even as John the Baptist answered, the first and final question of the ages.
For man has always sought a lamb to atone for his sin, but in vain.
To the neighbor who, in ignorance, is seeking after the Unknown God by the road of personal merit, while his soul cries out in mortal terror, "Where is the lamb?" your Church, you, must show the Christ and say without reservation: "Behold the Lamb! No man comes to the Father but by Him."
To an age that has displaced Father, Son, and Holy Ghost with the terrific trio of Moloch, Mars, and Mammon and finds at the end of the road ashes and bitterness and defeat, your Church, you, must show the Christ, at whose name every knee must bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth.
To the Hindu who has drenched his idol in milk to appease it and comes away still unsatisfied;
to the Chinese burning ineffectual incense before long dead ancestors; to the Buddhist at his prayer-wheel;
to the African at his witch-dance;
yea, to all men crying out from the spiritual night that covers them:
"Where is the lamb?"
"How can I appease the wrath of God?" your Church, you, must show - this is your supreme duty – “the Lamb of God”, in whom alone is salvation.
Obviously this is the one purpose of the Church?
Yes, but the obvious truth is the first forgotten. Other purposes will intrude themselves.
Perhaps the temptation lies in the direction of seeking members for an organization rather than followers of the Savior.
Perhaps in the direction of merely flattering or entertaining the masses.
Perhaps in the direction of substituting the Law for the Gospel.
Perhaps to conduct the business of the King as though it were 'just another business of man among many others.
Lest any or all of these cross-purposes blot out the supreme purpose, listen again to the mandate of your Master, who has charted your course and promised success only when His way is followed. St. Matthew has recorded it in the 16th chapter of his gospel account, it reads as follows:
“Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matt 16:13-18 (ESV)
Prayer
Lord, Holy Spirit, as we seek a clear light to guide us through the deepening shadows of the world's twilight hour, we come, of necessity, to You, the only Source of Light. Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom, Lead us on, O blessed Spirit. Pierce the natural darkness of our minds with the knowledge of the justice of the Father, which demands holiness of His creatures. Enlighten the night of our souls with the glorious revelation of the mercy of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Propitiation for our sins. And do rescue us from the burdens of our fears, the faltering of our steps, the hesitancy of our cowardice. Help us to do the work of the Father as true soldiers of the Cross - running not as uncertainly; fighting not as one that beats the air; warring not entangled with the affairs of this life; striving for the mastery, but striving lawfully, that we may please Him who hath chosen us to be soldiers. For Jesus' sake we ask it. Amen.
By Walter Kraemer MEDITATIONS ON THE CHURCH pp. 412-414 The Concordia Pulpit 1940 MCMXL
Thursday, June 11, 2009
WHAT THE CHURCH CAN LEARN FROM DUNKIN' DONUTS
Being a great lover of coffee, I love this post.
It's a great article Paul McCain linked to on Cyberbrethen by Michael Kelly, a young adult resource specialist for Lifeway Publishing, the publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, so, again, he can't be accused of being a stick-in-the-mud, doctrinal, unloving, too Lutheran or close minded type of person. If these folks are saying things like this, maybe we folks need to listen, carefully.
“Dunkin Donuts is creaming Starbucks right now. Dunkin won the taste test, it’s 3 times cheaper, and the company is actually expanding whereas Starbucks is closing stores every day. Dunkin is about to roll out a $100 million marketing campaign to trumpet the results of the taste test and try and put the dagger into the heart of Seattle. Some people are saying that Starbucks has seen its better days, and that this is just the beginning of the downhill slide.
I would propose that the church has something to learn from Dunkin Donuts.
The reason we have something to learn is that we too often try to be like Starbucks. We try to be slick, trendy, and hip. We try to be a place that is non-threatening and easy to come to. And when you walk in, you see beautiful people in holy jeans and black glasses, all looking very intellectual and hair-frosty. Additionally, we try to make church a low-demand environment, much in the same way Starbuck’s is. It’s low demand in that even though the basic premise of the store is selling coffee, some people don’t even go there for coffee at all. And nobody’s going to pressure them about the coffee. That sounds familiar, too.
But guess what?
People like Dunkin Donuts. They like that it’s not trendy. They like that it’s not hip. They like that it’s not cool. You know why they like it?
Because it’s simple: It’s good coffee at a reasonable price.
It’s not fru-fru, latte, grande, frappa-whatchamacallit. IT’S COFFEE. And at Dunkin Donuts, they call it what it is. COFFEE.
Seems like there’s a lesson in there for us as Christ-followers somewhere. Now hear me say this - I’m all for contextualizing the gospel. But I’m also for simply proclaiming what we have to “offer” rather than trying to make it about something other than what we have to offer.
And you know what else? The thing that we have? It tastes good.
Maybe the problem is that we don’t really believe the gospel tastes good.
We don’t believe it tastes good, so we feel the need to pile alot of stuff on top of it to make it more palpable.
Maybe if we really believed in what we claim to believe, we’d find that it does taste good, we’d have the courage to speak it and let it speak for itself, like Dunkin did, rather than trying to help out the product so much.”
Source March 24, 2009 in Pop-Christianity Evangelicalism American Christianity
It's a great article Paul McCain linked to on Cyberbrethen by Michael Kelly, a young adult resource specialist for Lifeway Publishing, the publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, so, again, he can't be accused of being a stick-in-the-mud, doctrinal, unloving, too Lutheran or close minded type of person. If these folks are saying things like this, maybe we folks need to listen, carefully.
“Dunkin Donuts is creaming Starbucks right now. Dunkin won the taste test, it’s 3 times cheaper, and the company is actually expanding whereas Starbucks is closing stores every day. Dunkin is about to roll out a $100 million marketing campaign to trumpet the results of the taste test and try and put the dagger into the heart of Seattle. Some people are saying that Starbucks has seen its better days, and that this is just the beginning of the downhill slide.
I would propose that the church has something to learn from Dunkin Donuts.
The reason we have something to learn is that we too often try to be like Starbucks. We try to be slick, trendy, and hip. We try to be a place that is non-threatening and easy to come to. And when you walk in, you see beautiful people in holy jeans and black glasses, all looking very intellectual and hair-frosty. Additionally, we try to make church a low-demand environment, much in the same way Starbuck’s is. It’s low demand in that even though the basic premise of the store is selling coffee, some people don’t even go there for coffee at all. And nobody’s going to pressure them about the coffee. That sounds familiar, too.
But guess what?
People like Dunkin Donuts. They like that it’s not trendy. They like that it’s not hip. They like that it’s not cool. You know why they like it?
Because it’s simple: It’s good coffee at a reasonable price.
It’s not fru-fru, latte, grande, frappa-whatchamacallit. IT’S COFFEE. And at Dunkin Donuts, they call it what it is. COFFEE.
Seems like there’s a lesson in there for us as Christ-followers somewhere. Now hear me say this - I’m all for contextualizing the gospel. But I’m also for simply proclaiming what we have to “offer” rather than trying to make it about something other than what we have to offer.
And you know what else? The thing that we have? It tastes good.
Maybe the problem is that we don’t really believe the gospel tastes good.
We don’t believe it tastes good, so we feel the need to pile alot of stuff on top of it to make it more palpable.
Maybe if we really believed in what we claim to believe, we’d find that it does taste good, we’d have the courage to speak it and let it speak for itself, like Dunkin did, rather than trying to help out the product so much.”
Source March 24, 2009 in Pop-Christianity Evangelicalism American Christianity
Friday, June 5, 2009
BEING DECEIVED ABOUT FORGIVENESS - A PRAYER
Gracious God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
I come before you knowing my sin.
I come knowing what I have sinfully thought, what I have sinfully desired, what I have sinfully said, and what I have sinfully done.
I come desiring and wanting Your forgiveness.
In asking for Your forgiveness, I confess that I find this nagging sense that my request for Your forgiveness somehow lacking.
A great struggle rose up within me over this naggings sense and I was deceived.
As You know, I had allowed myself to be fooled into believing that for me to receive Your forgiveness and have peace with Your granting me that forgiveness,
I must have some equally great sense, whether it is my own contrition, my own sense of moral bankruptcy, my utter disgust and contempt with myself, or some other equally great sense of guilt and unworthiness.
I had foolishly come to believe that my sensation of self-condemnation must be equal to the greatness of Your gracious act of forgiveness.
In simple terms, my gracious and loving Lord,
I had been fooled into believing that I must merit, by my sensations, You and Your loving forgiveness in Jesus Christ.
In simpler terms, my God and my Lord,
I had been fooled into believing and praying, as I was equal to You.
Surely, You are a God who “opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." 1 Peter 5:5 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…” Ephesians 2:8
Have mercy upon me, my God and my Lord, and save me.
Forgive me, forgive my sin, forgive me my all, not for the sake of my contrition or any sensation of it, but for the sake of Jesus Christ Your Son.
In Him let my sensations die with me and my sin that I may live through faith in Him and His blessed Word alone.
In Christ, and in His name, I pray. Amen.
I come before you knowing my sin.
I come knowing what I have sinfully thought, what I have sinfully desired, what I have sinfully said, and what I have sinfully done.
I come desiring and wanting Your forgiveness.
In asking for Your forgiveness, I confess that I find this nagging sense that my request for Your forgiveness somehow lacking.
A great struggle rose up within me over this naggings sense and I was deceived.
As You know, I had allowed myself to be fooled into believing that for me to receive Your forgiveness and have peace with Your granting me that forgiveness,
I must have some equally great sense, whether it is my own contrition, my own sense of moral bankruptcy, my utter disgust and contempt with myself, or some other equally great sense of guilt and unworthiness.
I had foolishly come to believe that my sensation of self-condemnation must be equal to the greatness of Your gracious act of forgiveness.
In simple terms, my gracious and loving Lord,
I had been fooled into believing that I must merit, by my sensations, You and Your loving forgiveness in Jesus Christ.
In simpler terms, my God and my Lord,
I had been fooled into believing and praying, as I was equal to You.
Surely, You are a God who “opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." 1 Peter 5:5 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…” Ephesians 2:8
Have mercy upon me, my God and my Lord, and save me.
Forgive me, forgive my sin, forgive me my all, not for the sake of my contrition or any sensation of it, but for the sake of Jesus Christ Your Son.
In Him let my sensations die with me and my sin that I may live through faith in Him and His blessed Word alone.
In Christ, and in His name, I pray. Amen.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The Omnipotent Vulnerability of God
“Christ helps us,” Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote from his prison cell, “ not by virtue of his omnipotence, but by virtue of his weakness and suffering … Only the suffering God can help.”
Letters and Papers from Prison. pp. 360-61
Trans. R.H. Fuller – Macmillan New York 1972
When it comes to loving mankind, God does not need to be pushed into the full consequences of living out His love. It is in living out the fullness of His love that God is being who God is. Such love, in its willingness to suffer the full consequences of that love, is judged by fallen human reason to make God too weak and too vulnerable. Such love would seem to deny His omnipotence.
Yet it is in such weakness and vulnerability that God’s demonstrates the true omnipotence of His love in that He freely empties Himself and suffers for the sake of those He loves. Such love does not consider, and never regrets, the price it willing pays for being so vulnerable. Such love sees only the need for such weakness and vulnerability and the blessed benefit of it. It is through such vulnerability that the Son of God willing comes to meet mankind and save him. Such vulnerability for the sake of another is the perfection of love.
Inasmuch as we have been united with Christ in baptism, Christ is with us in all circumstances and conditions of life. In all these conditions, the love of Christ sustains and upholds us so that we can in faith, dare to love and live with the risks of being so vulnerable that others might be touched by the love of Christ – through us.
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Psalm 100:1-5 (ESV)
Letters and Papers from Prison. pp. 360-61
Trans. R.H. Fuller – Macmillan New York 1972
When it comes to loving mankind, God does not need to be pushed into the full consequences of living out His love. It is in living out the fullness of His love that God is being who God is. Such love, in its willingness to suffer the full consequences of that love, is judged by fallen human reason to make God too weak and too vulnerable. Such love would seem to deny His omnipotence.
Yet it is in such weakness and vulnerability that God’s demonstrates the true omnipotence of His love in that He freely empties Himself and suffers for the sake of those He loves. Such love does not consider, and never regrets, the price it willing pays for being so vulnerable. Such love sees only the need for such weakness and vulnerability and the blessed benefit of it. It is through such vulnerability that the Son of God willing comes to meet mankind and save him. Such vulnerability for the sake of another is the perfection of love.
Inasmuch as we have been united with Christ in baptism, Christ is with us in all circumstances and conditions of life. In all these conditions, the love of Christ sustains and upholds us so that we can in faith, dare to love and live with the risks of being so vulnerable that others might be touched by the love of Christ – through us.
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Psalm 100:1-5 (ESV)
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Though the heart is prevented - it is not yet healed
“The remission of sins has not been instituted in order that we may have permission to sin or that we may sin; it has been instituted in order that we may recognize sin and know that we are in sin, that we may fight against sin. A physician reveals an illness, not because he takes delight in the illness, but rather that the person who is sick may sigh and ask to be delivered from the illness. Indeed, the patient gets hope of health from his faith in the physician who gives him a promise. Thus in Baptism we, too, are translated from darkness into light and into the place where there is remission of sins.” Martin Luther - LW 30 - Catholic Epistles p. 245 CPH
Countless works are both self-prescribed and professionally prescribed, by which a person might be delievered from this particular sin illness or that. Many are successful in preventing this illness from manifesting itself in their lives, but not one of them is healed. As Luther says:
“Although such castigation's have their use, yet sins are not purged away in this manner. Although the heart is prevented from bursting forth, yet it is not healed. Sins are not forgiven because of application to works; they are forgiven when I call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ because I believe that He is the expiation for our sins. This is the truth. But the devil does not let us remain on this road. He immediately brings up our works. Therefore let no one cleave to his own works. It is our nature to say: "I have sinned with a deed. Therefore I shall make expiation with a deed." The devil, who strengthens our error, is present. One must attack this sin with the promise that sins are remitted for His name's sake, as Ps. 25:11 ‘For your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great.’” Martin Luther - LW 30 - Catholic Epistles p. 245 CPH
Countless works are both self-prescribed and professionally prescribed, by which a person might be delievered from this particular sin illness or that. Many are successful in preventing this illness from manifesting itself in their lives, but not one of them is healed. As Luther says:
“Although such castigation's have their use, yet sins are not purged away in this manner. Although the heart is prevented from bursting forth, yet it is not healed. Sins are not forgiven because of application to works; they are forgiven when I call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ because I believe that He is the expiation for our sins. This is the truth. But the devil does not let us remain on this road. He immediately brings up our works. Therefore let no one cleave to his own works. It is our nature to say: "I have sinned with a deed. Therefore I shall make expiation with a deed." The devil, who strengthens our error, is present. One must attack this sin with the promise that sins are remitted for His name's sake, as Ps. 25:11 ‘For your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great.’” Martin Luther - LW 30 - Catholic Epistles p. 245 CPH
Saturday, May 9, 2009
A PRAYER FOR THE DAY
Blessed Father in heaven, by Your Word alone, light came forth in the midst of darkness at creation.
Then You spoke again and a greater light entered our sin darkened world in the Person of Your Only-begotten Son.
Oh, how I, and those I love and serve, need this greater light to shine within all our hearts this day.
As it is a day which You have made, make also Your Spirit to shine in me and all those who lay upon my heart.
Prepare my heart and mind for the callings You have given me this day, that Your will may be honored above all and in all.
Give me joy in all that I may do, for in each thing I do, I do as Your chosen means of being and bringing good to bear in the lives of those around me.
Be King over my thoughts and desires so that they are nothing more or less than Your thoughts and desires.
Where I have been apathetic, slow, and inattentive to Your will for me, I pray that You would forgive me
and increase my dedication and diligence to You and Your will alone.
In all that my eyes may see, enable me to see only the holy things.
Where I see those things holy that need to be done, make me holy for the doing of them.
Where I see those things holy that have been done, make my lips holy for the praising of them.
Where I see things holy that are too great for me, make my prayers holy for petitioning of them.
Be with each member of my parish this day, and protect them from the devil and his host.
Cleanse their thoughts and desires of all things sinful and wicked.
Let Your Word, heard recently, or heard long ago, be upon their hearts; and by Your Spirit, increase their faith through that Word.
For those caught in the struggle with temptation, make clear to them and guide them to the way of escape that You provide.
For those who succumb daily to the same recurring temptations, work repentance in their hearts and grant them an increase of Your Spirit and grace that they may overcome such temptations and live by a more faithful walk in You.
For those suffering in any form, ease their pain of heart, mind, and body.
For those alone and in despair, let Your companionship with them from the day of their Baptism, fill their hearts and comfort them that they may have the joy of Your attending angels.
Be with all servants of Your Word, and allow them to be only what You’ve called them to be: servants of Your Word.
Wherever Your Word is heard this day, let the hearing thereof, work faith, hope, and confidence in the hearts of all who hear it.
These things I ask do not exhaust the list of all that is needed, nor can they ever exhaust Your ability to answer.
For the sake of Christ, I ask, I pray, and I praise You. Amen.
Day 1 - Prayer of the Day
31 DAYS OF DEVOTIONAL PRAYER - 2008
by Rev. Mark W. Love
Then You spoke again and a greater light entered our sin darkened world in the Person of Your Only-begotten Son.
Oh, how I, and those I love and serve, need this greater light to shine within all our hearts this day.
As it is a day which You have made, make also Your Spirit to shine in me and all those who lay upon my heart.
Prepare my heart and mind for the callings You have given me this day, that Your will may be honored above all and in all.
Give me joy in all that I may do, for in each thing I do, I do as Your chosen means of being and bringing good to bear in the lives of those around me.
Be King over my thoughts and desires so that they are nothing more or less than Your thoughts and desires.
Where I have been apathetic, slow, and inattentive to Your will for me, I pray that You would forgive me
and increase my dedication and diligence to You and Your will alone.
In all that my eyes may see, enable me to see only the holy things.
Where I see those things holy that need to be done, make me holy for the doing of them.
Where I see those things holy that have been done, make my lips holy for the praising of them.
Where I see things holy that are too great for me, make my prayers holy for petitioning of them.
Be with each member of my parish this day, and protect them from the devil and his host.
Cleanse their thoughts and desires of all things sinful and wicked.
Let Your Word, heard recently, or heard long ago, be upon their hearts; and by Your Spirit, increase their faith through that Word.
For those caught in the struggle with temptation, make clear to them and guide them to the way of escape that You provide.
For those who succumb daily to the same recurring temptations, work repentance in their hearts and grant them an increase of Your Spirit and grace that they may overcome such temptations and live by a more faithful walk in You.
For those suffering in any form, ease their pain of heart, mind, and body.
For those alone and in despair, let Your companionship with them from the day of their Baptism, fill their hearts and comfort them that they may have the joy of Your attending angels.
Be with all servants of Your Word, and allow them to be only what You’ve called them to be: servants of Your Word.
Wherever Your Word is heard this day, let the hearing thereof, work faith, hope, and confidence in the hearts of all who hear it.
These things I ask do not exhaust the list of all that is needed, nor can they ever exhaust Your ability to answer.
For the sake of Christ, I ask, I pray, and I praise You. Amen.
Day 1 - Prayer of the Day
31 DAYS OF DEVOTIONAL PRAYER - 2008
by Rev. Mark W. Love
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Jesus is the One in Whom God Does God to us.
Jesus is the One in whom God does God to us, the true human in whom God does God to us.
The point is that we can move forward here only if we realize that in and through the human, suffering, dying, and resurrected Jesus we come up against God.
God does himself to us in Jesus.
The PROCLAMATION is the concrete event in which that occurs for us…
It is in and through the humanity, the suffering and the dying of Christ, that we come up against what his divinity means.
He does not come to protect us from death, he comes to do it to us.
He brings death home to us.
He does old beings to death.
The suffering and dying Jesus is therefore the one in whom we meet our end, the eschatological end of our existence in bondage to sin and death.
He is the end of the old being who vainly constructs death-denying projects, who thinks that abstractions such as divinity and immortality can save.
He puts an end to our story negatively and positively.
He is the end (finis) of the old, and the goal (telos) of the new.
The old is put to death so that the new can be resurrected in faith and hope to look to the last day in confidence.
In the proclamation language of act, the divinity of Jesus consists in the fact that precisely through his suffering, death, and resurrection, HE DOES GOD TO US.
As John's Gospel has it, in the instance where Jesus gets into trouble for breaking the old order by healing on the Sabbath, the Son does what he sees the Father doing. Their unity is a unity of doing. "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the Son does likewise" (John 5:19).
He was, of course, killed for that, killed by the likes of us who did not want the old to end because we thought we could bring it to a better end ourselves.
But even in his dying, he does only what "he sees the Father doing" to the end.
As the one who actually dies, unprotected, rejected, forsaken, even by God, Jesus is "the end of us" as beings who thought divinity was a protection.
The crucifixion of Jesus is the end of us.
We cannot see through it.
There is nothing "godlike" here for old beings to recognize.
It is simply the end.
God is through with us as old beings.
There can be no survivors, no spectators.
The only way forward is through faith in the resurrection.
Thus Jesus is the repetition of God to us, because in the first place he is the absolute end of the old, the chaos of darkness, bondage, and sin.
He is the end of all the old being's hopes, dreams, and fantasies.
He shatters our godlike pretensions, even the possibility of finding them reinforced in his divinity.
And Jesus finally exposes why it is we have such difficulty surrendering the language of being and its surrogates.
Like the law, it is our last hope as old beings, our final defense as gods, against having to die.
Like Peter's "confession," it is our last line of defense against God.
If we could align Jesus on our side as the warranty for our divinity, then we would not have to say with Paul those shocking words, "For [Christ's] sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse (skubala), in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ.... that I may know him and the power of his resurrection (Phil. 3: 8-10).
Theology Is For Proclamation – G.O. Forde
The Preached God - Jesus: The Man in Whom God Does God – pp. 100-103
The point is that we can move forward here only if we realize that in and through the human, suffering, dying, and resurrected Jesus we come up against God.
God does himself to us in Jesus.
The PROCLAMATION is the concrete event in which that occurs for us…
It is in and through the humanity, the suffering and the dying of Christ, that we come up against what his divinity means.
He does not come to protect us from death, he comes to do it to us.
He brings death home to us.
He does old beings to death.
The suffering and dying Jesus is therefore the one in whom we meet our end, the eschatological end of our existence in bondage to sin and death.
He is the end of the old being who vainly constructs death-denying projects, who thinks that abstractions such as divinity and immortality can save.
He puts an end to our story negatively and positively.
He is the end (finis) of the old, and the goal (telos) of the new.
The old is put to death so that the new can be resurrected in faith and hope to look to the last day in confidence.
In the proclamation language of act, the divinity of Jesus consists in the fact that precisely through his suffering, death, and resurrection, HE DOES GOD TO US.
As John's Gospel has it, in the instance where Jesus gets into trouble for breaking the old order by healing on the Sabbath, the Son does what he sees the Father doing. Their unity is a unity of doing. "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the Son does likewise" (John 5:19).
He was, of course, killed for that, killed by the likes of us who did not want the old to end because we thought we could bring it to a better end ourselves.
But even in his dying, he does only what "he sees the Father doing" to the end.
As the one who actually dies, unprotected, rejected, forsaken, even by God, Jesus is "the end of us" as beings who thought divinity was a protection.
The crucifixion of Jesus is the end of us.
We cannot see through it.
There is nothing "godlike" here for old beings to recognize.
It is simply the end.
God is through with us as old beings.
There can be no survivors, no spectators.
The only way forward is through faith in the resurrection.
Thus Jesus is the repetition of God to us, because in the first place he is the absolute end of the old, the chaos of darkness, bondage, and sin.
He is the end of all the old being's hopes, dreams, and fantasies.
He shatters our godlike pretensions, even the possibility of finding them reinforced in his divinity.
And Jesus finally exposes why it is we have such difficulty surrendering the language of being and its surrogates.
Like the law, it is our last hope as old beings, our final defense as gods, against having to die.
Like Peter's "confession," it is our last line of defense against God.
If we could align Jesus on our side as the warranty for our divinity, then we would not have to say with Paul those shocking words, "For [Christ's] sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse (skubala), in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ.... that I may know him and the power of his resurrection (Phil. 3: 8-10).
Theology Is For Proclamation – G.O. Forde
The Preached God - Jesus: The Man in Whom God Does God – pp. 100-103
Monday, May 4, 2009
GOD WILL LOVE HIS CREATION
“God forbid that He should abandon to everlasting destruction
the labor of His own hands,
the care of His own thoughts,
the receptacle of His own Spirit,
the queen of His creation,
the inheritor of His freedom,
the priestess of His religion,
the champion of His testimony,
the sister of His Christ! ...
Now as He requires from us love to our neighbor,
after love of Himself,
so He will do what He has commanded.
He will love the flesh [mankind] which is His neighbor.
He will love it, though it is infirm,
since His ‘strength is made perfect in weakness.’
He will love it, though it is disordered,
since ‘those who are whole do not need a physician, but those who are sick.’
He will love it, though it is dishonorable,
since ‘we bestow more abundant honor on the less honorable members.’
He will love it, though it is ruined,
since He says, ‘I am come to save that which was lost.’
He will love it, though it is sinful,
since He says, ‘I desire the salvation of the sinner.’
He will love it, though it is condemned,
for He says ‘I shall wound and also heal.’
-Tertullian”
Tuesday – Easter 3
TREASURY OF DAILY PRAYER – 2008 - CPH
A PRAYER –
Bless all your people, the flocks of your fold.
Send down into our hearts the peace of heaven,
and grant us also the peace of this life.
Give life to the souls of all of us,
and let no deadly sin prevail against us, or any of your people.
Deliver all who are in trouble,
for you are our God,
who sets the captives free;
who gives hope to the hopeless,
and help to the helpless;
who lifts up the fallen;
and who is the haven of the shipwrecked.
Give your pity, pardon, and refreshment
to every Christian soul,
whether in affliction or error.
Preserve us, in our pilgrimage through this life,
from hurt and danger,
and grant that we may end our lives as Christians,
well-pleasing to you, and free from sin,
and that we may have our portion and lot
with all your saints;
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
Liturgy of St. Mark, 2nd-5th centuries
Prayers Across The Centuries – 1993 Harold Shaw Publishers
the labor of His own hands,
the care of His own thoughts,
the receptacle of His own Spirit,
the queen of His creation,
the inheritor of His freedom,
the priestess of His religion,
the champion of His testimony,
the sister of His Christ! ...
Now as He requires from us love to our neighbor,
after love of Himself,
so He will do what He has commanded.
He will love the flesh [mankind] which is His neighbor.
He will love it, though it is infirm,
since His ‘strength is made perfect in weakness.’
He will love it, though it is disordered,
since ‘those who are whole do not need a physician, but those who are sick.’
He will love it, though it is dishonorable,
since ‘we bestow more abundant honor on the less honorable members.’
He will love it, though it is ruined,
since He says, ‘I am come to save that which was lost.’
He will love it, though it is sinful,
since He says, ‘I desire the salvation of the sinner.’
He will love it, though it is condemned,
for He says ‘I shall wound and also heal.’
-Tertullian”
Tuesday – Easter 3
TREASURY OF DAILY PRAYER – 2008 - CPH
A PRAYER –
Bless all your people, the flocks of your fold.
Send down into our hearts the peace of heaven,
and grant us also the peace of this life.
Give life to the souls of all of us,
and let no deadly sin prevail against us, or any of your people.
Deliver all who are in trouble,
for you are our God,
who sets the captives free;
who gives hope to the hopeless,
and help to the helpless;
who lifts up the fallen;
and who is the haven of the shipwrecked.
Give your pity, pardon, and refreshment
to every Christian soul,
whether in affliction or error.
Preserve us, in our pilgrimage through this life,
from hurt and danger,
and grant that we may end our lives as Christians,
well-pleasing to you, and free from sin,
and that we may have our portion and lot
with all your saints;
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
Liturgy of St. Mark, 2nd-5th centuries
Prayers Across The Centuries – 1993 Harold Shaw Publishers
Monday, April 20, 2009
WOUNDS THAT REMAIN TO HEAL - JOHN 20:19-31
We come again to the text from which comes the account of DOUBTING THOMAS.
Why is Thomas the only one to received a nickname and a negative one at that?
I’m if you think about it, what don’t we refer to Peter as – DENYING PETER, or Judas as BETRAYING JUDAS?
Why this particular nickname?
Many different reason are given for this.
And while this does refers to what Thomas did, i.e. DOUBTING THE MESSAGE OF THE APOSTLES THAT THE LORD HAD ARISEN,
The title of DOUBTING THOMAS identifies a particular wound that Thomas suffered with.
Like Lou Gehrig’s Disease refers to the illness that took a young vibrant baseball player’s life. The medical term for Lou Gehrig’s disease is AMY-OTRO-PHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS, or ALS – a disease the destroys the nervous system.
The title DOUBTING THOMAS refers to a particular kind of wound that Thomas had.
It is a wound that all have – a wound within.
DOUBTING THOMAS refers to the deadly wound of DOUBTING, to that deadly activity of SHIFTING ONE’S FAITH TO SOMETHING OTHER THAN THE LORD.
DOUBT is the wound that sin works upon the heart and life of every human being. We are born with this wound, as David diagnosis his condition in Psalm 51:5 I WAS BROUGHT FORTH IN INIQUITY, AND IN SIN DID MY MOTHER CONCEIVE ME.
Yet in truth, Thomas wasn’t the only apostle afflicted with this wound of doubt. In the details of Luke’s account of that first Easter, we find Jesus chastising the other Apostles for their slowness to believe or doubt: Luke 24:25
AND JESUS SAID TO THEM, "O FOOLISH ONES, AND SLOW OF HEART TO BELIEVE ALL THAT THE PROPHETS HAVE SPOKEN!
Yes, doubting was Thomas’ wound and while many belittle and malign Thomas for his doubt, this day – we thank God for Thomas sharing his wound with the apostles and the Lord.
We thank God that He inspired John to include this account of Thomas.
For you see, Thomas’ wound is our wound.
You see – Thomas lived in the real world just like you and me.
Thomas was dealing with very real events, very real actions or inactions on his part.
He has seen Jesus’ betrayal.
He had abandoned the one He called Lord.
He witnessed the lies and false accusations raised against Jesus
He had seen Jesus wrongly condemned.
He had seen Jesus die.
AND IN ALL THESE EVENTS –
HE WHO LOVED THE LORD –
HE WHO SAID WITH PETER, THAT HE WOULD DIE RATHER THAN FALL AWAY FROM JESUS –
THIS THOMAS – DID – NOTHING.
And where was Thomas on that first Easter night? NOT WITH THE REST OF THE APOSTLES.
HE WAS SOMEWHERE ELSE – WE KNOW NOT WHERE BUT HE WASN’T WITH – THOSE HE LIVED WITH, ATE WITH, STUDIED WITH, WALKED WITH AS THEY TOGETHER FOLLOWED THE LORD.
Yes, Thomas was a man with a wound – a deep wound.
And this was a wound that filled Thomas with pain. The pain of a wounded heart that one suffers at the loss of a loved one, the pain one has from a conscience torn and tattered by guilt, because they’d done a loved one some wrong, and while they certainly regretted it, the one loved died before that he could apologize, he could make amends.
Yes, Thomas was a man of great pain.
The pain of having his life and the future he saw and planned for with the Lord, completely destroyed.
Nothing remained for Thomas – but his wound and the pain it brought.
Yes, Thomas was a man filled with doubt – AND WE NEED TO BE GRATEFUL THAT HE SHARED HIS DOUBT.
You see Thomas is a man who lives in the real world. Thomas needed real things he could count on. For Thomas was a man who had to deal with very real things that yet remained.
We too, like Thomas, live in the real world and have to deal with very real things.
Like the notice that our job has been eliminated.
Like the check that bounced.
Like the child who just won’t listen.
Like the supposed friends who talk behind your back.
Like the spouse who doesn’t seem to care.
Like the conscience, the mind, filled with the voice of echoing and accusing guilt, that will not shut up.
Like the sickness, the cancer, the illness that won’t go away.
Like the desire for something that is wrong. A desire only seems to grow stronger rather than weaker.
Like the moist clotted dirt laying alongside a freshly dug grave.
Yes, like Thomas we must live in a real world with very real things we have to live and deal with every day.
Real things that our eyes and limited reason seem to tell us that God isn’t greater than, God isn’t more than, God isn’t able to deal with these all too real things for us.
Things so real that they seem to prove that God loves other people more than us.
All these very real and very painful things – are nothing other than the CRUSTIES, OF THE HIGHLY FEVERED, AND DEEPLY SENSITIVE SCAB.
A scab that has dried over the deadly wound that sin has made upon our hearts, upon our minds, and upon our lives.
And so we find ourselves standing with Thomas declaring all to boldly with Thomas:
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.”
Thanks be to Thomas for sharing wound.
Thanks be to Thomas for offering his wound up for all to see.
For this is our wound. And it is to Thomas, to Thomas and his wound heart of DOUBT that Jesus comes.
And what are Jesus first words – to Thomas and to all? NOT – WHY DID YOU DOUBT.
No – Jesus says: PEACE TO YOU.
Jesus says there is now no hostility, no war, no division between me and you – we are one.
And what does Jesus do?
Does Jesus shun this DOUBTING THOMAS?
No, he comes to him – and offers Thomas His wounds.
THEN JESUS 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.”
Now this is such a critical thing. A very real thing that Thomas and the rest of the world needs so desperately to note.
Jesus has Thomas – PUT HIS FINGER INTO THE NAIL HOLES IN HIS HANDS. PUT YOUR FINGER HERE.
HE HAS THOMAS PUT HIS HAND INTO HIS SIDE. AND PUT OUT YOUR HAND, AND PLACE IT IN MY SIDE
Now I want you to think about a fleshly wounds you had. Wounds that you and I have suffered: Whenever we get cut or scraped or the like.
Within a few minutes to an hour the wound has dried over. It has scabbed over. God’s way of having the body protect itself.
Now in this room Jesus comes with His wounds, wounds he has had for now 10 DAYS.
Remember it is a week after Easter that Jesus comes to the apostles in their locked room.
If Jesus wounds are like ours – wouldn’t they’d be dried over? Wound they’d be sealed over.
Yet Jesus has Thomas put his finger into the nail hole. He has Thomas put his hand in his side.
NOW HERE’S QUESTION – HERE’S THE GOSPEL.
WHAT KIND OF WOUND – REMAINS OPEN?
WHAT KIND OF WOUND REMAINS UNSEALED?
WHAT KIND OF WOUND IS ANYONE ABLE TO PUT THEIR FINGER AND HAND INTO?
ONLY A RESURRECTED WOUND? –
ONLY A WOUND THAT FOREVER REMAINS AN OPEN LIVING WOUND.
A RESURRECTED WOUND THAT LIVES – NOT TO BE HEALED – BUT A WOUND THAT LIVES TO HEAL THE MORTAL WOUNDS OF OTHERS.
This resurrected Christ, this Christ who would not remain dead, this Christ who is resurrected to remain and reign as our Lord and Savior, forever bears in His body – living resurrected wounds.
Resurrected wounds that Jesus brings and invites Thomas to touch, so that sin’s wound of doubt might be healed and he believe.
Living wounds that remain to heal us of our wounds.
Now do we understand the prophesy of God through Isaiah the Prophet: 53:5
HE WAS WOUNDED FOR OUR TRANSGRESSIONS; HE WAS CRUSHED FOR OUR INIQUITIES; UPON HIM WAS THE CHASTISEMENT THAT BROUGHT US PEACE, AND WITH HIS STRIPES, WITH HIS WOUNDS WE ARE HEALED.
What does Jesus touch us with in baptism - his holy life and death, his holy flesh – his holy wounds that yet remain to heal us of sin’s wound.
What is wanting forgiveness, but a cry that we might touch those resurrected wounds that they might rule over our all too real wounds, that we might be healed.
What is confession of our sins – but offering up, as Thomas did – our wounded hearts and actions that Jesus might come and touch us with His wounds and we be healed in forgiveness.
What is the absolution that a proclaimed, but Jesus touching us through the Pastor’s flesh, with His fleshly wounds that remain to heal and make us whole.
Every time we come to the Lord’s Supper, what is it but Jesus’ words on in the locked room: PEACE TO YOU –
COME – TOUCH ME AND BE HEALED.
COME – TOUCH ME, RECEIVE MY WOUNDS THAT I OFFER.
COME TOUCH MY WOUNDS THAT WILL REMAIN TO FOREVER HEAL YOU SO THAT YOU MIGHT BELIEVE.
PEACE TO YOU.
Wounds that once touched by them, we say boldly with Thomas:
MY LORD AND MY GOD!
THANK GOD FOR THOMAS SHARING HIS WOUND, BECAUSE IT IS YOUR WOUND AND MINE.
THANKS BE TO JESUS WAS WOUNDED FOR OUR TRANSGRESSIONS.
THANKS BE TO JESUS WHO IS RESURRECTED AND EVER REMAINS – TO COME, TO OFFER, AND TO WORK HIS RESURRECTED LIVING WOUNDS UPON US AND OUR WOUNDS – THAT WE MIGHT BE HEALED.
CHRIST IS RISEN – HE IS RISEN INDEED.
CHRIST IS RISEN – HE IS RISEN INDEED.
ALLELUIA!
Why is Thomas the only one to received a nickname and a negative one at that?
I’m if you think about it, what don’t we refer to Peter as – DENYING PETER, or Judas as BETRAYING JUDAS?
Why this particular nickname?
Many different reason are given for this.
And while this does refers to what Thomas did, i.e. DOUBTING THE MESSAGE OF THE APOSTLES THAT THE LORD HAD ARISEN,
The title of DOUBTING THOMAS identifies a particular wound that Thomas suffered with.
Like Lou Gehrig’s Disease refers to the illness that took a young vibrant baseball player’s life. The medical term for Lou Gehrig’s disease is AMY-OTRO-PHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS, or ALS – a disease the destroys the nervous system.
The title DOUBTING THOMAS refers to a particular kind of wound that Thomas had.
It is a wound that all have – a wound within.
DOUBTING THOMAS refers to the deadly wound of DOUBTING, to that deadly activity of SHIFTING ONE’S FAITH TO SOMETHING OTHER THAN THE LORD.
DOUBT is the wound that sin works upon the heart and life of every human being. We are born with this wound, as David diagnosis his condition in Psalm 51:5 I WAS BROUGHT FORTH IN INIQUITY, AND IN SIN DID MY MOTHER CONCEIVE ME.
Yet in truth, Thomas wasn’t the only apostle afflicted with this wound of doubt. In the details of Luke’s account of that first Easter, we find Jesus chastising the other Apostles for their slowness to believe or doubt: Luke 24:25
AND JESUS SAID TO THEM, "O FOOLISH ONES, AND SLOW OF HEART TO BELIEVE ALL THAT THE PROPHETS HAVE SPOKEN!
Yes, doubting was Thomas’ wound and while many belittle and malign Thomas for his doubt, this day – we thank God for Thomas sharing his wound with the apostles and the Lord.
We thank God that He inspired John to include this account of Thomas.
For you see, Thomas’ wound is our wound.
You see – Thomas lived in the real world just like you and me.
Thomas was dealing with very real events, very real actions or inactions on his part.
He has seen Jesus’ betrayal.
He had abandoned the one He called Lord.
He witnessed the lies and false accusations raised against Jesus
He had seen Jesus wrongly condemned.
He had seen Jesus die.
AND IN ALL THESE EVENTS –
HE WHO LOVED THE LORD –
HE WHO SAID WITH PETER, THAT HE WOULD DIE RATHER THAN FALL AWAY FROM JESUS –
THIS THOMAS – DID – NOTHING.
And where was Thomas on that first Easter night? NOT WITH THE REST OF THE APOSTLES.
HE WAS SOMEWHERE ELSE – WE KNOW NOT WHERE BUT HE WASN’T WITH – THOSE HE LIVED WITH, ATE WITH, STUDIED WITH, WALKED WITH AS THEY TOGETHER FOLLOWED THE LORD.
Yes, Thomas was a man with a wound – a deep wound.
And this was a wound that filled Thomas with pain. The pain of a wounded heart that one suffers at the loss of a loved one, the pain one has from a conscience torn and tattered by guilt, because they’d done a loved one some wrong, and while they certainly regretted it, the one loved died before that he could apologize, he could make amends.
Yes, Thomas was a man of great pain.
The pain of having his life and the future he saw and planned for with the Lord, completely destroyed.
Nothing remained for Thomas – but his wound and the pain it brought.
Yes, Thomas was a man filled with doubt – AND WE NEED TO BE GRATEFUL THAT HE SHARED HIS DOUBT.
You see Thomas is a man who lives in the real world. Thomas needed real things he could count on. For Thomas was a man who had to deal with very real things that yet remained.
We too, like Thomas, live in the real world and have to deal with very real things.
Like the notice that our job has been eliminated.
Like the check that bounced.
Like the child who just won’t listen.
Like the supposed friends who talk behind your back.
Like the spouse who doesn’t seem to care.
Like the conscience, the mind, filled with the voice of echoing and accusing guilt, that will not shut up.
Like the sickness, the cancer, the illness that won’t go away.
Like the desire for something that is wrong. A desire only seems to grow stronger rather than weaker.
Like the moist clotted dirt laying alongside a freshly dug grave.
Yes, like Thomas we must live in a real world with very real things we have to live and deal with every day.
Real things that our eyes and limited reason seem to tell us that God isn’t greater than, God isn’t more than, God isn’t able to deal with these all too real things for us.
Things so real that they seem to prove that God loves other people more than us.
All these very real and very painful things – are nothing other than the CRUSTIES, OF THE HIGHLY FEVERED, AND DEEPLY SENSITIVE SCAB.
A scab that has dried over the deadly wound that sin has made upon our hearts, upon our minds, and upon our lives.
And so we find ourselves standing with Thomas declaring all to boldly with Thomas:
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.”
Thanks be to Thomas for sharing wound.
Thanks be to Thomas for offering his wound up for all to see.
For this is our wound. And it is to Thomas, to Thomas and his wound heart of DOUBT that Jesus comes.
And what are Jesus first words – to Thomas and to all? NOT – WHY DID YOU DOUBT.
No – Jesus says: PEACE TO YOU.
Jesus says there is now no hostility, no war, no division between me and you – we are one.
And what does Jesus do?
Does Jesus shun this DOUBTING THOMAS?
No, he comes to him – and offers Thomas His wounds.
THEN JESUS 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.”
Now this is such a critical thing. A very real thing that Thomas and the rest of the world needs so desperately to note.
Jesus has Thomas – PUT HIS FINGER INTO THE NAIL HOLES IN HIS HANDS. PUT YOUR FINGER HERE.
HE HAS THOMAS PUT HIS HAND INTO HIS SIDE. AND PUT OUT YOUR HAND, AND PLACE IT IN MY SIDE
Now I want you to think about a fleshly wounds you had. Wounds that you and I have suffered: Whenever we get cut or scraped or the like.
Within a few minutes to an hour the wound has dried over. It has scabbed over. God’s way of having the body protect itself.
Now in this room Jesus comes with His wounds, wounds he has had for now 10 DAYS.
Remember it is a week after Easter that Jesus comes to the apostles in their locked room.
If Jesus wounds are like ours – wouldn’t they’d be dried over? Wound they’d be sealed over.
Yet Jesus has Thomas put his finger into the nail hole. He has Thomas put his hand in his side.
NOW HERE’S QUESTION – HERE’S THE GOSPEL.
WHAT KIND OF WOUND – REMAINS OPEN?
WHAT KIND OF WOUND REMAINS UNSEALED?
WHAT KIND OF WOUND IS ANYONE ABLE TO PUT THEIR FINGER AND HAND INTO?
ONLY A RESURRECTED WOUND? –
ONLY A WOUND THAT FOREVER REMAINS AN OPEN LIVING WOUND.
A RESURRECTED WOUND THAT LIVES – NOT TO BE HEALED – BUT A WOUND THAT LIVES TO HEAL THE MORTAL WOUNDS OF OTHERS.
This resurrected Christ, this Christ who would not remain dead, this Christ who is resurrected to remain and reign as our Lord and Savior, forever bears in His body – living resurrected wounds.
Resurrected wounds that Jesus brings and invites Thomas to touch, so that sin’s wound of doubt might be healed and he believe.
Living wounds that remain to heal us of our wounds.
Now do we understand the prophesy of God through Isaiah the Prophet: 53:5
HE WAS WOUNDED FOR OUR TRANSGRESSIONS; HE WAS CRUSHED FOR OUR INIQUITIES; UPON HIM WAS THE CHASTISEMENT THAT BROUGHT US PEACE, AND WITH HIS STRIPES, WITH HIS WOUNDS WE ARE HEALED.
What does Jesus touch us with in baptism - his holy life and death, his holy flesh – his holy wounds that yet remain to heal us of sin’s wound.
What is wanting forgiveness, but a cry that we might touch those resurrected wounds that they might rule over our all too real wounds, that we might be healed.
What is confession of our sins – but offering up, as Thomas did – our wounded hearts and actions that Jesus might come and touch us with His wounds and we be healed in forgiveness.
What is the absolution that a proclaimed, but Jesus touching us through the Pastor’s flesh, with His fleshly wounds that remain to heal and make us whole.
Every time we come to the Lord’s Supper, what is it but Jesus’ words on in the locked room: PEACE TO YOU –
COME – TOUCH ME AND BE HEALED.
COME – TOUCH ME, RECEIVE MY WOUNDS THAT I OFFER.
COME TOUCH MY WOUNDS THAT WILL REMAIN TO FOREVER HEAL YOU SO THAT YOU MIGHT BELIEVE.
PEACE TO YOU.
Wounds that once touched by them, we say boldly with Thomas:
MY LORD AND MY GOD!
THANK GOD FOR THOMAS SHARING HIS WOUND, BECAUSE IT IS YOUR WOUND AND MINE.
THANKS BE TO JESUS WAS WOUNDED FOR OUR TRANSGRESSIONS.
THANKS BE TO JESUS WHO IS RESURRECTED AND EVER REMAINS – TO COME, TO OFFER, AND TO WORK HIS RESURRECTED LIVING WOUNDS UPON US AND OUR WOUNDS – THAT WE MIGHT BE HEALED.
CHRIST IS RISEN – HE IS RISEN INDEED.
CHRIST IS RISEN – HE IS RISEN INDEED.
ALLELUIA!
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