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Transfiguration Sunday

1/29/2023

"The Transfiguration of Christ," Carl Bloch, 1800s, Public Domain.

Matthew 17:1-9
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
January 29, 2023

When we consider the transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ, that magnificent moment when His divine nature was not hidden and His three closest disciples witnessed Him in all His splendor as He spoke with Moses and Elijah, and God the Father declared Him to be His beloved Son, we can learn three main lessons.

The first lesson is taught by St. Peter, one of the eye witnesses of the transfiguration. St. Peter teaches us that the Bible is the very Word of God. He says, “And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention to as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” (2 Peter 1:19) This should remind you of Psalm 119:105, where David says to God, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” The Holy Scriptures are the Bible. The Bible is the Word of God. It doesn’t simply contain the Word of God. It is not some men’s opinion about God’s Word. St. Peter tells us that the Holy Scriptures are God’s Word. What the Bible says is what God says.

Yet, how does St. Peter conclude that the Holy Scriptures are the Word of God from the Transfiguration of Christ? When Jesus was transfigured, Moses and Elijah spoke to Him. Moses is the author of the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, also known as the Torah or Pentateuch. Elijah represents the other prophets, who wrote the rest of the Old Testament. Peter, James, and John are the three Apostles, who witnessed the transfiguration. They represent the authors of the New Testament. These two and three witnesses from the Old and New Testaments represent the entire Bible, which bears witness of Christ. This is why St. Paul writes in Ephesians 2 that the household of God is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, because the prophetic and apostolic books of the Bible are God’s Word.

The Holy Scriptures are not God’s Word simply because they were written by Prophets and Apostles. No human being can make his own writing God’s Word. The Holy Scriptures are God’s Word, because God caused them to be written. St. Peter continues, “Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” Moses spoke God’s Word. So did Elijah. And so did the Apostles. Their writings are not their own; they are the words of our God!

God the Father commanded Peter, James, and John to listen to Jesus. That command is directed at us as well. Yet, we can’t listen to Jesus’ voice as these Apostles did as they walked down the mountain. So, we listen to Jesus by paying attention to Holy Scripture like a light shining in our path, until Christ appears in His glory. Jesus Himself says, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.” (John 5:39)

This means that pastors are not at liberty to preach whatever they want, but are bound to proclaim what Scripture teaches. And Christians are not at liberty to ignore God’s Word and pick and choose what they want to believe from it. Your opinions about God do not make the truth. God’s Word is truth. Holy Scripture tells us who our God is and what He says. Therefore, we should pay attention to it.

The second lesson we learn from the transfiguration is that Jesus is true God and true man. The description of Jesus’ transfiguration certainly sounds divine! His face shone like the sun! His clothes became white as light! Yet, if anyone is still left in doubt, we have the authoritative voice of God the Father declare, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.” There can be no doubt in anyone’s mind. Jesus is God, the eternal Son of God the Father.

Yet, both before and after the transfiguration, Jesus speaks to His disciples about His humiliating suffering, death, and resurrection. Now, this is strange. On the mountain we see Jesus’ shining gloriously with divine light. His divinity is proclaimed by God the Father Himself. Yet, when Jesus speaks to His disciples, He tells them of His suffering and death.

And here is an important lesson for us all. Jesus did not change when He went up on that mountain. He didn’t become God’s Son on that mountain, nor did He begin to please God there or cease to be God or to please His Father when He left. Rather, on that mountain Jesus revealed to His disciples what had been hidden in His humiliation.

This means that when Jesus is spit upon by scoffers, blindfolded, punched, and blasphemed; when He is scourged until the skin rips off His back; when the crown of thorns is pressed into His scalp, so that the blood runs into His eyes; when the nails pierce through His hands and feet, and He hangs dying on the cross; when He fulfills what His disciples recoiled at, Jesus remained the same Son of God as He was on that holy mountain. Everything Jesus does from the womb to the tomb and up to the Father’s right hand, He does as both God and man!

What’s more, the words the Father declared about Jesus remained true. “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased!” How is it that God is well pleased with Jesus, yet Jesus suffers such an ignoble death? If God is well please with His Son, why does His Son suffer and die? He doesn’t suffer and die for His own sake! He doesn’t suffer and die for His own sins! He suffers and dies for the sins of another. “Although He had done no violence and there was no deceit in His mouth, it was the will of the LORD to crush Him” (Isaiah 53:9-10) “The LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6)

This gives us great confidence in our salvation for several reasons. First, someone else has been punished in our place for our sins, and God has accepted this payment to our credit. Jesus did not die for His own sins. The Father is pleased with Him. Yet, He carries the sins of the whole world and dies for them. Second, this Someone who is punished in our place is God! This means that His death is a sufficient price to pay for the sins of the whole world.

For this reason, our Lutheran Confessions write in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, article IV, “In the first place, it is certain that we receive remission of sins, neither through our love nor for the sake of our love, but for Christ’s sake, by faith alone. Faith alone, which looks upon the promise, and knows that for this reason it must be regarded as certain that God forgives, because Christ has not died in vain, etc., overcome the terrors of sin and death. If anyone doubts whether sins are remitted him, he dishonors Christ, since he judges that his sin is greater or more efficacious than the death and promise of Christ; although Paul says in Rom. 5:20: Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”

That is to say that Christ’s mercy is more powerful, richer, and stronger than our sin! To claim that Christ’s death has not taken away your sins or that you must earn God’s grace, is to say that your sin is greater than God Himself, which is blasphemy. Jesus is God. Everything He does, He does as God and man. He is God on the cross as He pays for your sins. To doubt the forgiveness Jesus declares to you is to blaspheme Christ and deny that He is God.

Finally, we learn from Jesus’ transfiguration that we cannot see God’s glory without the cross. Peter blabbered to Jesus about building tents. Peter didn’t even know what he was saying. All we can tell is that he wanted to hold onto the moment. But that wasn’t the point of this vision. Jesus must leave the mountain of transfiguration and go Mount Calvary to die His humiliating death for our sins. Jesus knows the effect this will have on His disciples. Jesus also said to His disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24) Peter and the other apostles would follow in Jesus’ bloody train. They needed encouragement. They needed a boost. And so do we.

Jesus is transfigured to show us who He really is as He suffers on the cross and His form becomes so marred beyond human semblance (Isaiah 52:14). Yet, we cannot reach that glory unless Jesus goes to the cross. If Jesus does not go to the cross to die for our sins, then we are forever like the children of Israel, hiding from Moses’ shining face. But since Jesus has gone to the cross, we have certainty of our salvation.

Yet, we don’t look at Jesus’ suffering in ignorance. We don’t even look at our own suffering in ignorance. It is as St. Paul writes, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” In Christ’s transfiguration, we see the truth that is hidden by the outer shell of this world. As Jesus bore the form of our sinful flesh, while remaining sinless Himself, yet shed that form forever and now lives in His transfigured form forever, so we have the hope that we will share in His glory. As Jesus took on our sin and died for it, so He gives us His glory, that we may live in it forever!

We’re approaching the Lenten season, as we focus on the suffering and death of Christ and the mortification of our own flesh, that is, as we focus on repentance. Transfiguration gives us a view of reality. Christ’s suffering is over. He has done away with our sins. And our journey’s end is not in the grave, but with Christ in splendor. This is the true message of Holy Scripture, which is God’s very Word. And God does not lie. Amen.

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Christ Conquers Hearts with His Gracious Word and Sacraments

1/29/2023

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Epiphany 3
2 Kings 5:1-14
Matthew 8:1-13
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
January 22, 2023

Throughout the Bible, God’s people are engaged in military conflicts with other nations. The land given to them by God is frequently invaded by pagan nations. Scripture is filled with tales of heroes of the faith conquering enemies much greater than themselves by the power of God. Yet, Scripture also records how Israel suffered greatly on account of their unfaithfulness. In our Old Testament lesson from 2 Kings 5, Syria is invading Israel with its army. Yet, the commander of Syria’s army, Naaman, is a leper. He comes to Israel to be healed of his leprosy there by the man of God, Elisha. Yet, he leaves confessing that there is no God in all the earth except the God of Israel. In our Gospel Lesson, Israel is under the control of the Roman Empire. Yet, Jesus conquers the heart of the centurion, the Roman military commander. Without swords or chariots or any weapons at all, God conquers his enemies.

What is the more precious territory to conquer, the dust of Israel or the hearts of men? Indeed, God wins a much greater victory by converting the hearts of the unbelieving nations than He does by killing their soldiers by the thousands. And the greatest enemy of Israel and of every human being is not the armies of hostile nations, but sin, which enslaves the heart and sends people to hell. In our Old Testament and Gospel lessons for today, God does what St. Paul exhorts us to do in Romans 12, “Overcome evil with good!”

The leprosy which inflicted Naaman and the man in Matthew 8 represents the leprosy of sin, which inflicts all mankind. Leprosy was not only painfully unpleasant, but it made you unclean and separated you from God’s people. So does our sin separate us from God. And the mention of the gentiles Naaman and the centurion whom God helps in these passages show us that Christ Jesus has come to rescue all people of all nations from their leprosy of sin, which makes these lessons so perfect for the Epiphany season, which celebrates the revealing of the Gospel to the nations.

When Christ Jesus came to earth, He came to take on the sin of all people. St. John the Baptist called Jesus the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, not the sin of Israel only, the sin of the whole world. Jesus became the only leper, the only sinner, and died for sins He did not commit, so that people from east and west, from every land would come and sit at the table of salvation with Abraham in whose seed all nations of the earth are blessed. When God cleansed Naaman and healed the centurion’s servant, He demonstrated His intention to save all peoples.

Yet, these lessons teach us more than that God desires to save all people, but how He saves people. God saves people through faith by the ministry of His Word. Jesus died for the sins of all people. Every sin of every person was credited to Jesus when He made perfect satisfaction for them all by His death on the cross, winning forgiveness of sins for all people. Yet, this forgiveness and salvation cannot be received without faith. A person has faith when his heart has been conquered by God’s love and he believes that Jesus is his Savior. Yet, how can a sinner believe that his sins are forgiven unless God speaks this message to him?

And what we learn in theses lessons is that God’s Word is not only powerful to create faith and forgive sins, because it relates a message, but God’s Word has divine power to heal, to save, and even make a person’s heart new! “Is it not a great word the prophet has spoken to you?”, Naaman’s servant asked him. “But only say the word, and my servant will be healed.”, confessed the centurion. God’s Word is all powerful. By His Word, God created the heavens and the earth. God’s Word does not return to Him empty, but accomplishes that which He purposes for it (Isaiah 55:11). So, we learn in these lessons of Holy Scripture the benefits of hearing God’s Word and the power in God’s preaching and Sacraments.

No one can deny the connection between Naaman’s washing and the Sacrament of Baptism. Elisha’s messenger told Naaman to wash seven times in the Jordan River and he would be cleansed. So also, God promises that whoever is washed in the waters of Baptism will be cleansed of all his sins and be given a good conscience, having been clothed in Christ Jesus (Mark 16:16; Galatians 3:27; Acts 2:38; 1 Peter 3:21). At first Naaman was angry and refused to dip himself in the Jordan, arguing that the rivers of Damascus the Abana and the Pharpar were superior to the Jordan. This demonstrates that man’s natural reason chooses free will and his own works over the grace of God. But it wasn’t the Jordan in and of itself that gave it power to heal leprosy, but as Naaman’s servant reminded him, the Word of God from the prophet, which promised that he would wash and be clean. So also, in Baptism we don’t consider the water alone, but the Word of God in and with the water, which promises grace and forgiveness. Those who despise Baptism and doubt that it can forgive sins or save a person are not despising plain water, but the very Word of God.

Elisha sent the gentile Naaman to the Jordan River, where Jesus Himself was baptized and where He first began to baptize. This foreshadows that Jesus would send His disciples out to all nations, making disciples by baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). It is through Baptism that a sinner is joined to God’s family, being adopted by grace. When Naaman rose out of those waters, he not only found himself clean of his leprosy, but he was born again as a child of Israel in his heart, a servant of Israel’s God.

You’ll notice that Elisha, much to Naaman’s displeasure, did not come out to meet Naaman, but sent a servant, who himself sent Naaman to the Jordan. Naaman wanted Elisha to wave his hand over him, perhaps even touch him. Yet, in our Gospel lesson, Jesus does not hesitate to touch the leper and cleanse him of his leprosy. This shows us that all who have been baptized into Christ have been touched with His healing hand. When the water, which has been joined to God’s Word touches the skin of the baptized, we should believe that Jesus Himself is laying His healing hands on the sinner and cleansing him of his leprosy of sin.

This further demonstrates that children too are to be baptized. Jesus commands that all nations should be baptized. Therefore, the burden of proof is on those who would deny Baptism to children. We must not prove that children are included in all nations, but they must find a command in Scripture that forbids Baptism to children. Of course, there is no such command. Furthermore, Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” And he laid his hands on them, blessing them (Matthew 19:14-15). If Jesus would lay His hands on little children to bless them, He certainly desires that the water of Baptism would touch their skin.

Furthermore, Jesus tells us that unless we become like children, we will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3). This is reinforced by the fact that it was a little servant girl who first told Naaman’s wife that he could be healed of his leprosy by the prophet in Israel. And again, when Naaman came out of water, his flesh was like that of a little child. These things indicate to us that Baptism is for little children as well that Baptism grants a new birth both to babies and to adults.

And this is the greatest reason why babies should be baptized. Babies are sinners! They are born under the curse of sin, unclean by spiritual leprosy. Babies need to be baptized in order to be saved. Jesus says, “That which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of Spirit is spirit.”, when He explains why one must be born again of water and the Spirit in order to enter the kingdom of God (John 3). Your baby may look cute, but cuteness does not save. We are all born sinners. Sinners die and go to hell. Babies must be saved! God promises salvation in Baptism. Baptism joins a sinner to Christ’s death and resurrection, grants the Holy Spirit, forgives sins and causes new birth. This is the promise of Holy Scripture. So, we bring our babies to be baptized with the confidence in God’s promise to save them by it.

Elisha told Naaman to dip seven times in the Jordan River. The number seven carries spiritual significance. It is a perfect number, because God created the world in six day and rested on the seventh. Jesus also taught His disciples that if their brother sinned against them seven times in a day and repented seven times, that they must forgive him (Luke 17:4). Yet, later Jesus proved that this number should not be taken literally when Peter asked how often should he forgive his brother, “up to seven times?”, and Jesus responded, “Not seven times, but seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18:21-22) So, this number seven signifies the bountiful grace of God. When you are Baptized, your sins are not forgiven once, but you receive a daily source of forgiveness your entire life. As often as you repent of your sins, you return to the waters of your Baptism and are made new. This is the great blessing given to you in your Baptism.

This also shows that Baptism does you no good without faith. This does not mean that faith makes Baptism a Baptism. God’s Word makes Baptism a Baptism when it is joined to the water. Just as Jesus’ death on the cross paid for the sins of the whole world whether you believe it or not, so Baptism is a washing of rebirth and source of endless forgiveness of sins by the power of God’s Word alone. Yet, if you do not have faith, neither Jesus’ crucifixion nor your Baptism can save you. It is faith which clings to God’s promise of forgiveness and salvation in Baptism and receives its benefits. But if you do not have faith, then you squander your Baptism.

That is the difference between those who will come from east and west and sit at the feast of salvation with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the blessed and those of the kingdom who will be cast out into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Those who come to sit at the feast of salvation have faith. They have received every promise given in Baptism by believing and trusting in the promise. That is why it is called the priesthood of all believers, not the priesthood of the baptized.

Jesus’ declaration that many shall come from east and west and recline at table with the patriarchs is an invitation and a promise. It is an invitation to all nations to come and join Him in fellowship. We do this by coming to church, hearing the Gospel, and of course eating and drinking Christ’s body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins. And it is a promise that all who do this in faith will indeed join that endless celebration in heaven. This lesson does not pit the Sacraments against faith, but rather demonstrates that the faithful receive God’s grace through faith when they believe the promises attached to Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and wherever else God attaches His promise. In Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, we see promises to which our faith may hold onto until we finally sit at that heavenly feast. Amen.

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Christmas Again

1/11/2023

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Adoration of the Magi (1660) by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo - Public Domain

Epiphany 2023 (Observed)
Matthew 2:1-12
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
January 8, 2023

The Epiphany story of the wise men, or literally translated magi visiting Jesus is filled with the unexpected. It is unexpected that Gentiles, foreigners from the east would come to Jerusalem seeking to worship the “King of the Jews.” It is unexpected that the King of the Jews would not be born in the palace in Jerusalem, but rather in poverty in the small town of Bethlehem. These events are so unexpected that they cause all Jerusalem to be unsettled and most people do not believe it.
Yet, if you look at Holy Scripture and consider it God’s Word, which has the power to predict the future, these events are not surprising at all. The prophet Isaiah prophesied in chapter 60 that foreigners would come on camels bringing gold and frankincense. Again, Isaiah prophesies in chapter 11, “In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire.” The Psalmist declares in the 117th Psalm, “Praise the LORD, all nations! Extol him, all peoples!” And of course, God promised Abraham, “in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” So, it should not surprise anyone that foreigners from other nations should come and worship the promised Christ. And the prophet Micah explicitly declares that the Christ would be born in Bethlehem, as the scribes and chief priests told King Herod, so that also is no surprise.
And so, Epiphany for us is a second Christmas! As God long foretold the birth of His Son to be the Messiah and Redeemer of His people Israel, so He long foretold by His prophets that this Messiah shall be the Redeemer of all the nations. When the angel instructed Joseph to name the child Jesus, because He would save His people from their sins, by His people he did not mean the people of Israel alone, but all who would come to faith in Jesus as their Savior. When the magi followed that star to Bethlehem where they worshiped the Christ child as Matthew records, God broadcasted to all the nations the message, which the angel gave to those Bethlehemite shepherds, “Unto you is born … a Savior!” Epiphany is a second Christmas, because it proclaims to the nations that Christ is born for them as well.
Today, it is popular for biblical scholars to claim that the wise men did not worship the baby Jesus as their God, but merely revered Him as they would any other earthly king, because the word for worship can mean either to worship a deity or simply to revere a king. Unfortunately, even the Lutheran Study Bible has a footnote, which states, “Unclear whether the Magi worshiped Jesus as true God or revered Him only as an earthly king.” However, the idea that the magi did not worship Jesus, but merely revered Him as any other king is absurd. Let us review the facts recorded by Holy Scripture, which show for certain that the magi worshiped Jesus as their God.
First, who are the so-called wise men? The text actually calls them magi, which is where we get the word magician. The Greek translation of the Old Testament includes the title magi among the enchanters, sorcerers, and Chaldeans, who served King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. Ironically, these wise men didn’t prove to be very wise when they couldn’t tell King Nebuchadnezzar his dream and interpretation. In Daniel chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar is so enraged at the magi and other wise men for failing to tell him his dream, that he orders them all to be killed. Included with the wise men was a certain Judean captive named Daniel and his three friends. Daniel saved the lives of the magi and other wise men by telling Nebuchadnezzar his dream and its interpretation.
So, how is it that these Gentile magi, descendants of pagans who were at best scam artists and at worst sorcerers of demonic arts, how is it that they came to Jerusalem asking for Him who had been born King of the Jews? How did they know that that was His star? Why have they come to bow down before Him? There are two possible explanations.
The first is that God revealed it to them directly that this strange star in the sky was a sign that the King of Jews had been born and that they should follow it. The Bible does not say that God revealed that information to them directly, but it is possible. God did reveal to them in a dream not to return to Herod. And somehow the magi got the information that that star signified the birth of the King of the Jews. If God revealed to them directly that the star signified the birth of the King of the Jews and that they should go and pay homage to Him, it is hard to believe that they thought this child to be just another earthly king.
The second possibility is that these magi had learned something from the Holy Bible. As I mentioned before, Daniel the Judean rescued the magi and other wise men from Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel certainly taught those in Babylon the teachings the Old Testament. It is probable that these magi hundreds of years later had learned the prophecy of Numbers 24, “a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.”, as well as the prophecy of Jacob to Judah from Genesis 49, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” If the magi believed the star was the fulfillment of Scripture that the Christ had been born from Judah, they certainly did not think this baby to be merely an earthly king. They came to worship him.
So, whichever way the magi discovered that this star was the sign of the birth of the King of the Jews, that information would tell them that this was not just some earthly king worthy of a polite bow.
Next, we have the star. This star was not some regular astronomical event, and the magi knew this. It guided them for up to two years! And then, when they got to Jerusalem, it disappeared. We know that it disappeared for two reasons. First, they told Herod that they saw the star in the past tense. Second, after they left Herod’s palace, the star appeared to them again. And it led them until they arrived at the boy’s house in Bethlehem. So, this is a moving star that can direct them to an exact house. This is a supernatural star, a divine message. The magi know they are not visiting an earthly king.
Next, we have the fact that the chief priests and scribes read from Micah chapter 5 that the Christ would be born in Bethlehem. Matthew presents us with a condensed paraphrase, but certainly the scribes read the full account which declares that from Bethlehem would come forth a ruler of Israel, “whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.” From ancient days means from eternity. Before the magi left Herod’s palace, they heard from Holy Scripture that this King of the Jews they are going to meet comes forth from eternity. That baby in a manger to whom they will give gold, frankincense, and myrrh is the eternal God!
Next, we have the fact that the magi left the king’s palace and left the king’s city to go to a humble little town, to a poor shelter, to bow down before a baby, who sleeps in a manger. The idea that these men think they are visiting an ordinary monarch is ridiculous. These men are coming to worship their God!
The magi’s visit to baby Jesus was prophesied in holy Scripture hundreds of years before they visited Bethlehem. The Holy Spirit planned this visit from eternity. These sages traveled hundreds, perhaps thousands of miles, journeying for up to two years to lay their gifts before the king of the Jews. And they left the palace to pay homage to a boy in a shed. The Holy Spirit didn’t plan from eternity, prophecy from hundreds of years, and have magi travel over a thousand miles so that they could be mistaken as to what they were doing and whom they were honoring! They knew they were worshiping the Christ.
Why is it so important that the magi knew they were worshiping the Son of God in Bethlehem? Because these magi foreshadow our worship of this King. As the shepherds knew that the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes was their God, so knew the magi. As Simeon and Anna in Jerusalem knew that baby Jesus was Christ and God, so knew the magi. And so do we know. We’re not showing respect to an earthly dignitary. We have come here today to worship our God! Epiphany is for us a second Christmas, because today we remember that the King of the Jews came to save all nations.
The gifts the magi give foreshadow Christ’s death and our worship of Jesus. Gold foreshadows the tomb purchased by a rich man in which Jesus was laid dead. Frankincense foreshadows that Christ would offer Himself up as a sacrifice, a pleasing aroma acceptable to God (Ephesians 5:2). The myrrh foreshadows the spices, which would be rubbed on Jesus’ dead flesh as he was wrapped in burial cloths and laid dead in the tomb. So, as the Holy Spirit orchestrated this meeting between the Gentile magi and Christ Jesus, so he orchestrated these gifts to foreshadow that the King of the Jews would make atonement for all our sins and the sins of all nations.
The gifts the magi give foreshadow our worship of Christ today. The gold given represents not only our tithes and offerings, but our treasuring of Jesus in our hearts above all riches of the world. The frankincense foreshadows our prayers and praises to God and our confession of Christ before men, which rise up to God in heaven like incense. The myrrh, which foreshadows Christ’s burial in the tomb also foreshadows the mortification of our flesh. The myrrh reminds us that we should repent of our sins each day and put to death the old Adam in us, so that we might rise to new life in Christ Jesus our King.
After the magi had worshiped the baby Jesus as their God and offered them their gifts, God warned them in a dream not to return to Herod. Herod claimed that he too wanted to worship the Christ, and the magi believed him (further proof that they believed Jesus to be God. Why would a king leave his palace to worship a boy in a stable?). But the magi did not return to Herod. They went home another way. Herod represents Satan. He is at war against Christ. The magi here teach us that we too after worshiping Jesus must not return to Satan, but we must go back home another way. You aren’t the same after worshiping Jesus. Jesus has rescued us from Satan’s clutches. He has granted us an inheritance in heaven. Those magi went home children of Abraham, co-heirs with Israel of the promise of Christ. So, we, heirs of God’s kingdom must not go back to Satan’s kingdom. We have seen the light. We have laid our gifts at our King’s feet. Our course leads us to Christ’s kingdom. So, as we mortify our sinful flesh and offer our praise to God, we flee from Satan lest he tempt us into shameful sin and unbelief.
As the Holy Spirit planned from eternity and by means of His holy Word and Star guided the magi to worship their God in the manger, so the Holy Spirit has planned from eternity and by the means of His holy Word and Sacraments has guided you to worship your God in the Holy Christian Church. Today, we celebrate Christmas again, because the Holy Spirit has caused Christ to appear to us. Amen.

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Infant Jesus Sheds His Blood for Us

1/2/2023

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Arent de Gelder, Beschneidung Christi, circa 1710. Public Domain.

Luke 2:21
Circumcision and Naming of Jesus
Pastor James Preus
January 1, 2023

Before the twelve days of Christmas are up, the sweet baby Lord Jesus sheds His blood for us. On the eighth day, Jesus was circumcised, having a piece of His skin cut off, as He was named Jesus. But what is the significance of Jesus’ circumcision and His name?
God gave circumcision to Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation and of all the faithful, as a sign of the covenant, which God made with Him. God promised Abraham, that He would make Him into a great nation and that in him and in his offspring, all nations of the earth would be blessed. The offspring God spoke of was the Christ, who would be born from among Abraham’s descendants, specifically, from the children of Israel. The great multitude God would make out of Abraham meant two things. First, God would make a great nation from Abraham, the nation of Israel, who would be His special people so long as they were obedient to Him. The second and greater referent is the Holy Christian Church, who are Abraham’s children through faith, although they come from many different nations.
As a sign of this covenant, which God made to Abraham, God instituted circumcision, which is the cutting off of the foreskin of the man. When Abraham was ninety-nine years old, God had Abraham circumcised, changing his name from Abram, which means exalted father, to Abraham, which means father of a multitude. This is why boys would be named at their circumcision. And God commanded that all boys in his household and in future generations would be circumcised at eight-days-old.
So, circumcision is a sign of the Gospel. God promised that He would make Abraham into a multitude of nations, literally changing his name to Father-of-a-Multitude at the circumcision. So, every Hebrew boy would have as a mark on his body the sign of the promise to make him a great nation. God promised that in Abraham’s seed all nations of the world would be blessed. So, on Abraham’s body and on the body of every Hebrew boy after him, was the sign on the reproductive organ that God would send the Redeemer from one of their seed.
And the circumcision shed blood. This was fitting for a covenant. Every covenant was ratified by the shedding of blood. In fact, the idiom in Hebrew is not to make a covenant, but to cut a covenant. Yet, the shedding of this blood meant even more. It meant that the promised seed would shed His blood to make atonement for sins. This is why the Christ was named Jesus. He saves His people from their sins by making atonement for them. So, circumcision from the beginning was a sign of the Gospel, a sign that God would send a Redeemer, who would make atonement for sins and so bless every nation of the earth.
Yet, circumcision became a sign of the Law. St. Paul writes, “I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.” (Galatians 5:3) Because God had added the Law because of transgressions, circumcision became a sign of the whole law. St. Paul tells us that the Law was our guardian until the coming faith would be revealed. Now, this sounds strange. Was there no faith under the Law? Doesn’t Paul himself say that Abraham was justified by faith before the Law was given? Indeed, Abraham was justified by faith and no one has ever been justified except through faith. Yet, what Paul means by “until the coming faith would be revealed” is “until the full knowledge of Christ is revealed.” Here, by faith, he means the faith which is believed, not your act of believing it. Before Christ came, the faithful were under the guardianship of the Law, because Jesus had not yet been fully revealed to them.
Yet, even before Christ came, the Law did a person no good, unless he had faith. Circumcision did a Hebrew no good, if he did not believe in the promise attached to it. Same with the sacrifices, feasts, and sabbaths: if an Israelite did not believe in the promise of Christ attached to these ordinances of the Law, then the ordinances did them no good.
This is why St. Paul says in Galatians chapter 5, “If you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace!” Circumcision represents every outward ordinance of the Law. But the Law cannot justify, because it depends on our works. So, for someone to accept circumcision as necessary to be justified before God, he would be rejecting faith in Christ.
When Christ Jesus was circumcised at eight-days-old, when His sacred flesh was cut and His blood first flowed for us, He embarked to fulfill the promise of which circumcision was a sign, the promise of God to bless all nations with a Redeemer. And when Jesus submitted Himself to the humiliation of circumcision, He submitted Himself to the whole Law for our sake, as St. Paul again writes in Galatians chapter 4, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive the adoption as sons.”
To accept circumcision, that is, to believe that circumcision is necessary to be justified before God means to deny the work that Jesus did in His circumcision, in His fulfilling of the Law, and in His passion and death for our sins. The Law depends on our works. It is the doers of the Law who are justified before God, not the hearers. Yet, no one has ever been justified before God by works of the Law. Rather, the Law has exposed each and every human being as a sinner, except Jesus Christ. Jesus alone fulfilled the whole Law, so that He might suffer and die to take away all our sins.
That is the message of Jesus’ circumcision. That is why He was named Jesus. Jesus comes from the Hebrew for the LORD Saves (or Yahweh Saves). Jesus is the LORD God, yet He is also the seed of Abraham. In shedding His blood in His circumcision, He submitted to the Law under which we are born and He foreshadowed the shedding of His blood on the cross for the atonement of our sins. This is why we should not misuse Jesus’ name, but hold it in highest honor. Jesus is our Savior.
The Law is good. The Law commands us to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind and to love our neighbor as ourself. Have you done that? Do you put God first? Do you call upon His name, pray, praise, and give thanks? Do you gladly hear and learn His word, or do you despise it and neglect it? Do you honor all those whom God has placed in authority over you: your father, mother, boss, government, pastor? Do you care for your neighbor’s body and well being as you do your own? Do you keep yourself pure, or do you become captivated by lust? Are you lazy or dishonest? Do you protect your neighbor’s reputation and speak well of him? Are you content with what God has given you?
The Law is good, but it smacks you in the face every time you look at it. The Law cannot justify you, because it depends on your works. And even if you can perform the outward ordinances, as many Jews did with circumcision, sacrifices, and sabbaths, it does you no good if you do not have a pure heart. Yes, the Law condemns every one of you as a sinner. There is not comfort in that.
This is why we rejoice at Jesus’ circumcision. This little baby took on Himself the burden of the entire Law and He fulfilled it. He loved God fully as the Law required. He loved His neighbor as Himself, to the extent that He shed His blood for all mankind, making them all His neighbor. And this means that we are freed from the burden of the Law. Christ Jesus has set us free. We are not made God’s children by how well we fulfill God’s commands. We are made God’s children through faith in Christ, who has fulfilled God’s commands for us.
Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day, as the Law required. The eighth day symbolizes a new creation. God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. The eighth day is the first day of a new week. Jesus rose from the dead on the eighth day, signifying a new creation. Likewise, the cutting off of flesh on the eighth day symbolized the cutting away of the sinful flesh, so that a new creation may come forth.
For this reason, Baptismal fonts will often have eight sides to symbolize the new creation in Baptism. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything anymore, but only faith working through love. Yet, Christ has joined faith to Baptism, so that we might have a seal of the new-birth and forgiveness of sins which Christ won for us. St. Paul writes in Colossians chapter 2, “For in Christ the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in Him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with Him in Baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”
Through Baptism, you have been joined to Christ’s circumcision, to Christ’s obedience under the Law, and to Christ’s death and resurrection. Through Baptism, you receive a new creation, where you live by faith in the Spirit, in love, joy, peace, and long-suffering. Scripture clearly says that those who continue in sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, strife, jealousy, drunkenness, and other works of the flesh will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:21). So, in Baptism we cut off not a small piece of flesh, but we cut off the whole body of flesh. And we don’t do this but once, when we are baptized, but we do it every day of our lives! Everyday, we rise up as a new creation! Everyday, we wake up on the Eighth Day!
This also makes the circumcision of Jesus a fitting text for a new year. Did you keep your resolutions for 2022? Your resolutions should have been to stop sinning. Did you stop sinning? Then make the same resolution again this year, and make it every day. Rise each day with a clean slate, having your sins washed away in Jesus’ blood, and embark as a new creation. In Jesus you are a new creation. Your old body of flesh has been cut away and drowned. Having repented of your sins, you have the freedom to live with a clean conscience, because Jesus has made atonement for them.
Jesus’ circumcision is a reminder to us this Christmas that unto us is born a Savior from sin and the condemnation the Law. He was born, so that we might be born again to a new creation, having our sins cut away from us. Now in Jesus’ name may each of us live in this new creation in 2023 and into eternity. Amen.

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BORN OF FLESH; BORN OF GOD

1/2/2023

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Christmas Day 2022| John 1:1-18| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church

But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:12-14)
There are two Christmas miracles of which St. John writes. The first you know well: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. What does this mean? Why is this a miracle? Who is this Word? The Word was in the beginning with God and the Word was God, St. John tells us. This is the greatest miracle. We confess it as our faith, yet no one can understand it. Jesus is true God and true man! He is God, begotten of the Father from eternity, yet He is true man, born of the Virgin Mary. He is younger than His mother, who in turn is infinitely and eternally younger than His Father. Yet, He is the same age as His Father. Had one of those teachers asked the boy Jesus in the temple how old He was, He could have responded, “On my mother’s side, I’m twelve years old, but on my Father’s side, I’m from everlasting to everlasting.”
But how can that be? How can the Son be the same age as His Father? If the Father begets the Son, mustn’t the Son necessarily be younger than the Father? Mustn’t he necessarily come after the Father? Only if you think merely in a human way. For us humans, a son must be younger than his father, because we live in time and space and are made of flesh and blood. Yet, God lives outside of time and space. He sees creation and time laterally, not linearly, transcending space and time. The Son, or the Word was with God from the beginning and He Is God from the beginning. He was begotten of the Father, yet He does not come after the Father.
In the beginning was the Word. The beginning was when time began. Before the beginning there is no time, there is no before. Before the beginning you cannot speak of before or after. In the beginning was the Word, not became the Word, was. He already exists before time begins. God declares in Isaiah 43, “Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.” So, the accusation of the Jehovah Witnesses that the Word was a god, who became after God is against Scripture. There was no god before God and there became no god after God. Yet, the Word is God and He was God at the beginning. The Son of God is eternal.
God continues in Isaiah 43, “I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no savior.” Yet, we heard the angel speak last night, “Unto you is born this day, a Savior.” But there is no Savior besides the LORD God! This child born today is Christ, the LORD God.
This Word, this Son of God is uncreated, because He is the Creator of all creation. All things were made through Him and without Him was not one thing made that was made. The Word, the eternal Son of the Father is God. He is eternal. He is the uncreated Creator. He is the Savior.
And He became flesh, that is, He became a human being. The word for begotten in Greek is the same word for born. We use context to determine which English word to use. So, a boy is begotten of his father, but born of his mother, yet the same word is often used for both begotten and born. The Son of God was first born of the Father from all eternity. He was born again of flesh in time and place, in the year of the census of Caesar Augustus, in the town of Bethlehem, to the Virgin Mary. He was born of a virgin, which is a scientific impossibility. Yet, it is also a scientific impossibility for God to become man. Being born of a virgin means that Jesus was born without original sin. He had a clean slate and He kept His slate clean by living a perfectly obedient life for us.
It is as St. Paul writes in Galatians chapter 4, “But when the fulness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive the adoption as sons.” (vss. 4-5) God became a man. He adopted a human body, a human soul, a human spirit, a human will. Everything that you are, that makes you human, Jesus assumed to be His own nature. God is man, man is God. That is what Christ is. And He is both God and man in order to rescue you. What He did not become, He did not redeem. Yet, He did redeem your body, soul, spirit, and will through His perfect obedience and innocent sufferings and death. God became man in order to save all men. The Son of God born eternally from heaven was born again here on earth, so that we might be born again from above.
And here we meet our second Christmas miracle. “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him.” As wonderous as it is that God was born a man, so impossible it is to believe that men could be born of God. In our first birth, we are born in sin (Psalm 51:5). We are incapable of choosing God. Out of our hearts come only evil desires. The world, which was created by Christ did not know Christ when He came to them. His own people, the people of Israel, whom He chose out of all the nations of the world, and led by prophets and Scripture, and established as His own nation, did not receive Him. As they rejected the prophets sent before Him, so they rejected Christ Jesus, their Messiah.
Those who receive Jesus, who believe on His name did not do this of their own power. St. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, “The natural person cannot accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” The natural person, that is, the person born of the flesh cannot accept the things of the Spirit of God. Jesus said in John chapter 3, “That which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of Spirit is spirit.” So, in order for us to accept the things of the Spirit of God, in order for us to receive the Word made flesh and believe on His name, we must be born again, not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God!
You are not born a child of God by natural birth. The union of man and woman does not produce a child of God, but a sinner, an enemy of God, dead in sin. And no will of flesh or of man can make a naturally born child of man a child of God. No cutting off of flesh or mutilating of the body, no man-made ritual or custom, no adoption, no free choice, no effort at all on man’s part can make you God’s child. This must be done by God alone through grace alone. And so, again, St. Paul writes to Titus in chapter three, “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.” Here, St. Paul clearly alludes to Baptism, just as Jesus does when He says that in order for one to enter the kingdom of God, he must be born again of water and the Spirit (John 3:3-6). This demonstrates that Baptism is God’s work, not ours.
We butt our heads against this. We cannot understand it. But you are not asked to understand it, but to believe it. Just as you cannot understand how a virgin conceives and bears a child, who is God, so you cannot understand how the Holy Spirit can grant you a heavenly second birth by means of water and the Word. But He does. God says so.
Yet, Baptism is not a magic ritual that saves on its own apart from faith. Baptism is a work of God, which must not be separated from the proclamation of the Gospel. John was sent to bear witness of the light by preaching. The only begotten God has made God known to us, who cannot see Him with our eyes. How did he do this? By words. Jesus, who has already been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, who has already suffered and died for our sins and rose again and ascended to the Father’s right hand comes to us today through words. The light of Christ continues to shine into the darkness by means of the preaching of the Gospel.
And so, you must know the miracle that is taking place still on this Christmas Day two thousand twenty odd years after that first Christmas. There is a Christmas miracle taking place in your heart! Your heart, which was born black with sin, stained worse than tar, infected worse than cancer, has been made into a dwelling place of God! You, who were born in utter sin, who could only and ever resist God now choose God. You call Him your Savior. You accept Jesus as your Redeemer! How can this be? How can you have been brought from death to life? How can that which is born of the flesh embrace the great things of the Spirit?
Make no mistake, God has done this for you. God has caused you to be born again, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of His own will. He who granted the eternal Word a second birth here on earth has granted you a second birth from heaven, so that you are indeed God’s own child. And through this faith given to you, you receive every benefit Christ gained for you by becoming a man and dying for your sins. Through faith you receive the forgiveness of sins, adoption as God’s child, and eternal life. This is a miracle accomplished by God even today.
Thou Christian heart, Who’e’er thou art,
Be of good cheer and let no sorrow move thee!
For God’s own Child, In mercy mild,
Joins Thee to Him; how greatly God must love thee!
Amen.

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"For faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." ~ Romans 10:17

Transfiguration Sunday

Christ Conquers Hearts with His Gracious Word and Sacraments

Christmas Again

Infant Jesus Sheds His Blood for Us

BORN OF FLESH; BORN OF GOD

Rev. James Preus

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