Balaam, Divination, and the Serpent

Attention to detail is key in diving into the depths of the Holy Scriptures. As I study the scriptures, I am constantly struck by how much I missed the previous times I read any certain pericope.

For example, I did not recall, in my previous readings of Balaam and the donkey, that when Balak sends messengers to Balaam, they take with them a "diviner's fee" (Numbers 22:7). This is absolutely integral to the story of Balaam, the donkey, Israel and Moab. To miss this one detail, means that you miss the whole point of the account.

To really appreciate the importance of this, one must even forsake the Greek and go to the Hebrew. The Hebrew for "diviner's fee" is QeSem. It is synonymous with another Hebrew word, NaHaSH. NaHaSH, also meaning, "divination" carries with it something of great import for the story of Balaam and the Donkey. As the story unfolds, Balaam is told by God that he is not to bless Moab and curse Israel. Balaam, as God's prophet, is to bless Israel and curse Moab, the very opposite of Balak's request.

There is much to the story, what with the Angel of the Lord and the donkey, etc. These things are worth pondering and ruminating. For the purposes of this particular musing, however, I want to focus on another detail. Balaam goes with the messengers and Balak takes Balaam up to a couple of high spots to look at the situation between Moab and Israel. Balaam goes to speak to God while Balak makes sacrifice on seven altars. God gives reply and Balaam utters the words of God to Balak. The third time is different, however.

Numbers 24:1 says, "Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go as at other times, to seek to use sorcery, but he set his face toward the wilderness." A careful observation would note that the first two times that Balaam sought a word from God, he used sorcery. In fact, the Hebrew word is NaHaSH. For the first time with Balaam we read that Balaam raised his eyes, and saw Israel camped according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came upon him."

Indeed, we see a change in Balaam, for he takes up this oracle and says, "The utterance of Balaam the son of Beor, and the utterance of the man whose eyes are opened; the utterance of him who hears the words of God, and has the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the almighty, who falls down with eyes wide open"(Numbers 24:15-16). A change took place with Balaam. We see that Balaam, a prophet of God, in doing God's work for the sake of another, for Israel, Balaam, too, is changed and blessed.

Balaam's shift from seeking answers through divination to the Spirit of God coming upon him, has enormous consequence and cannot be overlooked or treated with superfluousness. What is so revealing about the Hebrew word for "divination," NaHaSH? To understand, we must go back to Genesis 3:1. "Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made." The word for serpent is NaHaSH. The second vowel is different in "serpent" as opposed to "divination," but they are related.

The serpent is deceitful and cunning. This is Satan and He is a liar, a distorter, and a perverter of truth. He is a deceiver. To seek things by "divination" or "sorcery" is on par with Satan and the serpent. This is even more shocking to me, when we are told in the account of Jacob and his father, Laban, that Laban declares to Jacob, "I have learned by 'divination' [NaHaSH] that the Lord has blessed me for your sake"(Genesis 30:27).

Did Jacob not know or realize the fourteen years that he lived with Laban, that his father-in-law was such a pagan? Yet, we see how Jacob's love consumed him and even clouded his faithfulness to Yhwh.

I think that there is something to be learned by Balaam's exchange with Balak and the ensuing "revelation" that Balaam has. God's word is concrete and it is DaBar, it is a word, or a thing: it is something concrete. Prophecy comes from God alone. His word is sure. Balaam told Balak on each of the first two occasions what was going to happen and he pronounced blessing upon Israel and curses upon Moab, as God had directed. But once we are told in Numbers 24:1-2 that Balaam did not use sorcery on the third occasion but the Spirit of God came upon him, then we hear a blessing that goes beyond Israel and unto all the world.

"I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and batter the brow of Moab, and destroy all the sons of tumult"(Numbers 24:17).

Balaam speaks here of Jesus. Beyond the current situation, God blesses His prophet with seeing something that not many prophets were able to see--beholding the Messiah, the Star and Scepter of Israel. What can we learn? Holiness and righteousness comes from God's revelation alone. Brought to the prophets and apostles, we now behold this blessing in their words put down for the church to hear, to know that the Star come out of Jacob is in our midst and ransomed us on the tree as all the sons of tumult have been destroyed, yea, even the serpent with his forked tongue and poisonous bite.

+Fr. Chadius

9th Sunday after Pentecost

St. Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”(Romans 10:17). St. Paul said that. Those words are the spotlight on the parable of Jesus in today’s gospel. We heard the reading of the parable of the sower. There is much to glean from this text. First, Jesus mentions that the sower goes out to sow. What does this tell us about the one who sows the seed? The one who sows is called a sower, meaning that this is not just a one time occurrence.

This is what the man does; He sows. He knows what he is doing, and when he sows seed it tends to go all over. We hear in the parable that some of the seed fell by the wayside, some fell on rocky places, some fell among thorns, and some fell on good, dark, rich soil. Notice that it’s the same seed, the same sower sowing, but different ground. So, what do the different types of ground signify? The hearts of the hearers.

The seed that falls by the wayside is quickly devoured by the birds. The seed that falls on rocky ground springs up quickly but is scorched by the sun. The seed that falls among thorns is choked out by the thorns, as they compete for the soil’s nourishment. What is important for you to know is what these different variables are and why they arise.

Why do the birds devour the seed on the wayside? Why does the sun scorch the quick-growing seed on rocky ground? Why do the thorns choke the seeds? Can’t they live side by side? Even the disciples needed this parable explained. Jesus explains that the birds who snatch away the seed happen to be the devil. But notice that Satan snatches away the seed sown because the people who hear the word of God are not understanding it. In other words, they are not cognitively listening to God’s word.

This is for all of us. You can come to church every Sunday, but if you are not actively trying to understand the scriptures, if you are not pondering the Holy Scriptures, then it is violently snatched away by Satan. If during the readings and the sermon you are daydreaming or thinking about all those things you are going to do for the coming week, Satan is snatching God’s word, His seed, right out of your heart.

We need to seriously consider and ponder God’s word, listening to the Majesty from on high speak words of life to us. But there’s more! He who receives seed on rocky ground is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, but there is no root and when the world creeps into your life, then you quickly fall away. The seed is scorched.

This is what happens in much of our culture today. When churches try to bait and hook people through emotionally driven services, people respond quickly and find joy in what they have found. But once the emotional high is gone, then there is nothing left.

Because these same kinds of church are usually low on substance, ie., they don’t teach doctrine or the scriptures, then people fall away quickly due to the pressures of the world, family, work, etc. The churches that often try to get people in through emotional services tend to see a high rate of turnover.

The seed among thorns, we are told, grows for a while, but when the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, then the seed dies. We see this today, particularly in young families. They go to church if there are no schedule conflicts, but when a schedule conflict exists, then the world’s agenda takes precedence. The world’s ways get in the way of the gospel. This world and church are difficult things to balance today, no doubt.

The world presses in like thorns, and it forces people to make decisions. Which shall I do? Shall I tend to the things of this world or shall I tend to God’s word? If we looked at things a little differently, it might help us in some of our struggles. If I went one day without eating food, I would be hungry. If I went very many days without food, I would start to lose weight. You would see a physical change in me after some time. We must look at God’s seed in much the same way.

If we are going to church to hear God’s word and gather for the Lord’s Supper, we are feeding ourselves spiritually. If we “fast” from God’s spiritual food, it begins to have an effect on our souls. We would do well to take heed to Christ’s warnings in this parable, but there is more. Seed is sown on good soil and Jesus says that he who hears the word and understands it will bear and produce fruit.

Did you notice an interesting point Jesus makes? Those who hear the word and understand it will produce fruit. Do you remember what Jesus said about the seed sown by the wayside that the birds violently devoured? By the wayside, they did not understand the word. In order to make this point clear, we have to understand what the Greek says.

The Greek word that St. Matthew uses for “understanding” means to comprehend and to put together ideas for better comprehension. In other words, this is an active endeavor, having received this seed to, then, take it to heart. Those who don’t try to comprehend and put together in their hearts and minds the scriptures, will not gain much but will lose what is sown.

But, those who do comprehend and put together God’s word in their hearts and really wrestle with the word will bear fruit, but did you hear what Jesus said about the fruit? Those who do actively work to understand God’s word will produce fruit in different measure: some will produce a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. In other words, God the Holy Spirit works different things in different people at different paces.

Not everyone is a St. Paul. What it does mean is that Jesus works His salvation and sows that seed according to His good pleasure. The church is full of saints and you are all at different points on the path of Christ, but what is great is that you are on His path.

What I, your undershepherd, am concerned about is that you take to heart God’s word. May your hearts be the good soil. God plants His seed in your heart through the hearing of scripture and through the preaching of God’s word.

The gospel and the blessing in all of this is that Jesus knows each of you and understands you as His beloved creation. He gives to you as He sees fit and when Jesus gives, it is good. Through His Holy word, God leads us to muse on the mysteries: We cannot help but ponder the mystery of the cross;

We cannot help but ponder the resurrection from the dead; We cannot help but ruminate on the incarnation of God in the womb of a virgin and His birth; We are awed by the whole notion that God walked on this earth with footsteps—feet of a man who also breathed like we do and felt pain as we do.

We are further awed by God who promises to come to us under bread and wine, thereby giving us His body and blood to eat and drink. And to think that we become one with Christ through water and the word in Holy Baptism. Jesus means for you to ponder these things and take them to heart, because these things mean eternal life for you.

You are blessed, because Jesus knows what it is like to be tempted by the world. He knows what you are up against. The peace of Christ is yours freely. The seed that is sown in your heart is likewise free. It comes as a gift from the cross. Jesus, knowing what this world is like gave the apostles this seed to sow so that you may be continually strengthened and protected. The love of Jesus is here for you, now and always. Amen.

Drawn to Antiquity

I must admit it. I am drawn to the things of old. I have always been a lover of history. As a child I would go to historic sites such as the site of the battle of Vicksburg in the Civil War and I would see the indentions of the fox holes still intact. I would try to picture soldiers in those fox holes, people scurrying around. The wounded lying on the ground with the many dead. I always yearned to get a piece of history embedded in my mind.

I am still the same today, though it comes out in different ways. I have been reading Egeria's Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and I am just fascinated by what she describes. The second half of her memoirs describe in detail the liturgical practices of the church there. One of the things that amazes me the most is the dedication of the Christians. When the church was to gather for the different prayer offices, the people would assemble hours before the appointed time. They would spend their time singing the hymns and the antiphons. The singing of the antiphons in those services were very important and the people knew them by heart. This hints at ritual.

These antiphons, whatever they were, had to have been repeated over and over again, depending upon the time and the season of the church. There is something to be said about ritual. I heard an elderly pastor say not too long ago that if you don't have it in your heart, then you don't have it. True. If we don't know things by heart, then how important are they to us?

American culture today seems to make light of the aspect of ritual, but it has historically been an important part of the church, as Egeria points out for her readers. I was also favorably impressed by the ritual aspect in holy week. On Palm Sunday the Christians in Jerusalem would gather at the main church. Scripture would be read, the Eucharist celebrated, and the bishop would then lead a procession to the Mount of Olives where it was thought that Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. The bishop would read the particular lection from the Armenian Lectionary which was the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. Then after more antiphons were sung, the bishop would continue the procession up the mountain to the place where it was thought that Jesus ascended into heaven. Again went the proclamation of the Gospel, the singing of more antiphons, and the bishop would then lead the procession down the mountain with all the faithful and catechumens carrying palm and olive branches chanting "blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord." This procession would lead back to the main church for the office of Vespers.

All this took hours. Many antiphons, many scripture readings, much walking and, all the while, a good number of these people had been fasting through the Lenten season.

Today, people don't have the stamina for a church service that lasts longer than an hour. People seem to abhor repetition and ritual (although the lives they live in their homes are so covered in ritual and repetition).

Now, I like to read the writings of the blessed Martin Luther as well, and I have always been interested in what his life was like, but I am of the opinion that our culture today is resembling more and more the life and times of the "early church," the first 3 or 4 centuries in the church. This is why I am so interested in Patristics. We live in an age where people have little or no knowledge of the mysteries of God. They have no understanding of what the church even is, and churches that promote great variety actually do more harm to these people who are brought into the church from paganism.

If our worship is full of constant variety so the "worship experience" doesn't get boring, then the people are being duped. They will not learn what the church is and, as a result, they will end up fashioning their own understanding of what Christianity is "to them," thereby separating the body of Christ and fragmenting it. St. Paul tells us that we are the body of Christ and, therefore, one. Ritual, teaching, and just having the Divine Service with the sacraments will solidify and unify.

Ritual is important precisely because of what Jesus says about the seed sown on good soil--it bears fruit and produces in some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirty"(St. Matthew 13:23). In other words, for those who take the word sown to heart in order to understand, they will grow in the faith at different speeds, and in different measure. This is OK. It is God's way. It is meant to be this way.

This variance along with St. Paul's reminder of the oneness and unity of the church, teaches us something. People gathered in the Divine Service are all at different points on the road with Jesus. This sounds complex. How does the pastor work with this situation? Such a community is brought together by ritual. A common way unites and then God through the preaching of the gospel and the giving of Himself in the sacraments then takes care of the task of caring for His people who are at different points on the road of Christ.

Variety and constant change, along with emotion-driven services attempts to make up for the disparity and unevenness of the faithful and wrestles the work of the Holy Spirit away from the gospel and sacraments, as the minister attempts to "grow everyone" through human means.

But there is nothing new under the sun, as history has shown by the many and various heresies that existed. In the midst of it all, we see from people such as Egeria that the church simply relied on the gospel and sacraments. It continued to teach through the ritual of antiphons and psalms, and a common liturgy that was considered home.

I continually yearn for a rich and distinct Christian piety that is sacramental and catholic. I love the ancient expressions of the church because they are distinct from the world, and why shouldn't I? After all, St. Paul reminds us that we are only sojourners here on this earth and heaven is our home. How distinct and wonderful must the worship of Jesus Christ in heavenly glory be?!!

+Fr. Chadius

Between God and Mammon

St. Matthew 6:24-34

St. Paul tells the Romans, “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God”(Romans 12:2). What we have received from St. Paul in the New Testament is not only responsible for elaborating the Trinity and the doctrine of the sacraments. St. Paul’s writings are also an elaboration of what the Christian life looks like.

St. Paul writes to the various churches in an effort to help them grow in the faith. He wants them to be on guard because being a Christian in this world encompasses a unique vantage point. You may look at yourself as not being any different from the other people that you work with or who live in your neighborhood. On the outside we are flesh and blood just like everyone else. We put on our shoes the same way—we may even share similar interests with the heathen.

They might even see the world in a similar fashion as we do. They might see the political and social disparity that seems to be growing in our country. They may even observe the moral decay in our society, but you still have a different vantage point because you are baptized. St. Paul, in telling the Romans not to be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, is stressing that the Christians had been given something that was precious and needed constant renewing.

St. Paul was warning them that this world has the capability of changing who you are. It can change you. Raising children is proof enough that the world always threatens to change people. The young, especially, are influenced greatly by what they experience in this world. St. Paul is saying to watch that closely, not just for children but for all people.

St. Paul’s words run parallel to the words of our gospel, which record Jesus saying that no one can serve two masters…You cannot serve God and mammon. What is mammon? Riches and worldly treasures. Just before our text Jesus says “the lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. If your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. Jesus is talking about our spiritual eye which either sees things clearly or is easily misled by this world.

As I was saying a moment ago, you are different from the unbeliever because you have been given something that the unbeliever has not received. It is the Holy Spirit through Holy Baptism. St. Paul tells the Corinthians that “the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.”(1 Corinthians 2:14-15).

The spiritual eye of the soul that is healthy will discern the difference between serving God and mammon. Because you are baptized you know that it is wrong for you to serve the flesh, whether it be serving sexual lust, giving in to your appetite for money, or your desire to serve and improve your reputation or position by worldly standards.

Martin Luther makes a good point when he compares money to the Holy Scriptures. A person can miss several weeks of church, not receiving the sacrament or hearing God’s word and that isn’t considered robbery to the soul, but cut the same man’s wages ever so slightly and watch him come unglued. The truth is the world causes us to worry about what we will eat, what we will wear, how we can plan for our own future. Yet, Jesus is reminding us that we have no control over what happens tomorrow.

Faith is supposed to be such that we trust in God for everything. What will our financial status be next year? What will it be when we retire? Society has flung that worry into every home. Today, the world tries to get us to shift our focus to worldly riches and worldly comfort, when we need to be more concerned about investing in the future of our souls through God’s holy and precious word.

The psalmist says it well: “Do not trust in oppression, nor vainly hope in robbery; if riches increase, do not set your heart on them. God has spoken once, twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God”(Psalm 62:10-11). King David knows and communicates to us his own understanding that the riches and treasures of this world threaten to drag our souls away from God, and he is warning us not to set our hearts on them.

We are to set our hearts and minds on the scriptures which reveal to us our Lord and God. We are to do this through prayer and prayerful study of God’s word. We are to train our children in like manner, and then look to God for all things, knowing that each day is a new day, bringing blessings and challenges along the way.

So where do you fit into all this? Well, you may find yourself worrying too much about the things of this world at the expense of our spiritual growth and well-being. This is due to our sin. How do we rectify this problem? Jesus gives us the answer at the end of the gospel—“seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

The baptized Christian confesses his or her sins to God, and seeks God’s forgiveness and His guiding hand to lead us in the right direction—to Him. This, to use St. Paul’s language that I quoted at the start, is the baptized Christian’s “being transformed through the renewing of the mind.” This is that cyclical pattern of confessing sins and receiving God’s holy absolution. The fact that we are able to make a distinction between the world’s ways and God’s ways is due to our new life in Christ through holy baptism.

I proclaim to you the forgiveness of sins that Jesus won for you on the cross, and through it all the Holy Spirit makes you wiser as you live our your life of faith in this world. It is the Holy Spirit’s purpose to make you wiser through the Holy Scriptures and the blessed sacrament.

Regardless of what you face, Jesus is with you. The gospel ends interestingly enough: “Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” No matter what your today or tomorrow looks like, you are amazingly special and like a star that shines in the darkness because the spiritually eye of your soul is illumined through the Holy Spirit and by the merits of Christ. Amen.

+Fr. Chadius

St. Mark 16:14-20 The Ascension of Our Lord

Today the church gathers on this great festival, the Ascension of our Lord, with the benefit of pondering one statement in its beloved creeds, “And he ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father.” It is a statement in the Creed which is straightforward enough that we often simply leave it at face value without pondering the magnitude of this action in the life of Jesus.

It is a confession of faith and an inclusion in the narrative of Christ’s way of salvation for reasons which ultimately retreat back to the creation account and God’s plan of having a fellowship with His creation. This article of the creed turns our gaze, ironically, to the depths of the human existence, which reaches down into the valley of death, into the zone of untouchable loneliness and rejected love. While hell is an illocal place for unbelief, this loneliness and some of the attributes of hell touch the lives of the inhabitants of this earth as well.

St. Paul, using psalm 68, makes an important remark to the Ephesians regarding the descent and ascension of Christ. St. Paul says, “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive; and gave gifts to men. Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.”

What St. Paul is pointing out for us concerning Christ’s ascension is that a gift is given in the ascension that is unique to this world. While hell is characterized as a place of torment, it has a fundamental characteristic that we overlook. This unfortunate characteristic is now a part of this world. The gifts which Jesus gives to men in His ascension is the very opposite of the characteristic of hell, and I want to recall to your minds the account of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man is in hell and he is unnamed.

From what the account gives us, this rich man is utterly alone. He is individualized, singled out. He is “self-sufficient” as he was on the earth. In hell he can see heaven, though he cannot participate in its blessings. Lazarus, on the other hand, is in heaven and he is not alone. He rests in the arms of father Abraham. If you’ve ever wondered why it is Abraham rather than Jesus who is situated with Lazarus, the reason has everything to do with the gift given in Christ’s ascension.

The ascension of Christ points to the opposite end of human existence. This existence wrought by the bodily ascension of Christ embraces, as the opposite pole of utter solitude and loneliness, the possibility of contact with all other men through the fellowship of divine love and connectedness. We see this with Adam and Eve. Before sin there was a unity between Adam and Eve and oneness with God. Sin brought individuality to Adam and Eve. Each saw their own nakedness. The curses, too, were individualized. Oneness with God, unity with one another was lost.

This individuality is a fundamental characteristic of separation with God. Man’s unwillingness to receive from God, man’s desire to be self-sufficient, man’s being alone is the character of Satan and hell. We see this today in our world very clearly. The women’s liberation movement, the world’s attempt to divide races, war between different nationalities and more. These are individualized and the very evidence of Adam and Eve in sin and the rich man in the solitude of hell. This also is seen in man’s desire to avoid fellowship with Christ and His church.

What makes Christ’s ascension so important? Don’t we say that our salvation is because of Christ’s crucifixion? Indeed. But the reason our creeds include the ascension of Christ along with the confession of Christ’s crucifixion, death and resurrection is due to the fact that Christ ascends bodily to heaven. Jesus, who is God and Man, ascending into heaven, therefore, unites God and man. By Christ ascending into heaven, he re-establishes the fellowship between God the Father and mankind. His incarnation is this very reality within Himself and His ascension makes it real for us also.

Jesus unravels Satan’s quest for the world’s loneliness, individualization, and separation. Heaven is the contact and the home of the “human beings in the flesh” with “God in the flesh.” This coming together of God and man took place once and for all in Christ with his stride over life through death to new life. The resurrection and ascension of Christ is the final merging of man and God into oneness and a unity that carries with it an everlasting blessing.

Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension, together, have enormous implications for the church today. It is true that Jesus is the Second Adam who came to restore man’s relationship with God. It is true that we become one with Christ through baptism and faith, thereby confirming Christ’s words that “he who believes and is baptized shall be saved.”

The bodily ascension of Christ therefore adds substance and concreteness to the church’s life around the altar. “One faith, One Lord, One baptism,” as St. Paul says, is significant. This Christian faith and life, which centers around the altar adorned with Christ’s body and blood, is the very opposite of the rich man’s conclusion in hell—nameless and alone. The Christian is no longer simply about himself. When the church gathers around the altar, we cast off the solitude of hell, along with the namelessness of the rich man. We become one with Jesus and unified with one another and Christ knows us intimately and by name.

This is Christ’s way. He came to take us from Satan, pull us out of what the world has become, and places us in a new paradise. Today, we participate in this otherworldly blessing as we eat and drink Christ. For it is in the eating and drinking of Christ’s body and blood that we are no longer simply left to ourselves, but we are one with Christ, one with St. Paul, one with father Abraham. In this sacrament you participate in heaven now, as you are made holy, set apart to be God’s true creation, at peace, not forsaken and lost, but loved having the forgiveness of sins that Jesus so graciously atoned for on the cross.

All is complete and we simply await the day when we, like Lazarus, shall be gathered together with Abraham and all the saints, centered around the true throne with Jesus Christ in the center—the true individual, God and man, with us unified to him forever. So let us confess with the creed and the church of all ages that Jesus ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father, thereby uniting God and man, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

+Fr. Chadius

The Sending of the "Helper," the Holy Spirit

A Sermon on St. John 14:15-21
6th Sunday of Easter


Today we gather to receive the holy sacrament and to listen to the words of Jesus as it is recorded in St. John’s gospel. Today we hear a bit more of Christ’s last sermon before He is arrested and crucified. It is on the eve of Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus is in the upper room in the context of the Last Supper with the twelve disciples. Judas Iscariot has already been sent out. Judas is on his way to betray Jesus for money.

The words of Jesus in this last sermon of His are rather difficult to understand. They are abstract in a sense. Jesus communicates truth to the eleven disciples but His words are difficult to understand fully, even for us. Our goal for this meditation today is to understand that we are to love God and our neighbor. We are also going to ponder how it is that the Holy Spirit works in the church.

Jesus says, “if you love me, keep my commandments.” Of course, Jesus tells the disciples elsewhere that love is the fulfillment of the commandments. Love covers all things. Love covers a multitude of sins. The love of which He speaks is the love of God—faith in the Triune God. Jesus tells the eleven disciples that He will pray to the heavenly Father and the Father will send to them a helper—the Spirit of Truth.

This helper in Greek is Paraclete, another name for the Holy Spirit. Paraclete in Greek means “comforter” or one who “urges.” This divine helper will be the driving force behind the apostolic ministry of these eleven disciples. They will speak at the Holy Spirit’s bidding and “urging.” They will even give up their lives in martyrdom at the Holy Spirit’s divine “urging.”

But ponder this—Jesus says “if you love me, keep my commandments.” Jesus is telling them to love Him, then He will send the divine “helper.” But one can only truly exhibit a selfless love by the Holy Spirit’s doing. So, what is Jesus implying? Well, to believe in Jesus and to love Him, to believe in God the Father and love Him, means the disciples already have the Holy Spirit. So, what of this sending of this divine “helper?”

If you have the Holy Spirit, then you have the Holy Spirit, right? So, what is going on here? Jesus is hinting to the disciples that He is going to send the Holy Spirit to attend to the public ministry of the apostles. These disciples, because of the death of Jesus Christ, will have their public ministry bathed in the Holy Spirit. They will go forth preaching, teaching, baptizing, and celebrating the Lord’s Supper and because they have been authorized to publically preach and teach, the Holy Spirit will be in the midst of it all sanctifying the church and building the church on earth.

Jesus even says that this “Helper” will be with these eleven forever. Well, certainly the Holy Spirit will be with us all and shall be with us forever in heaven, but Jesus is referring to the church and the public testimony of the apostles when He tells them that the Holy Spirit will abide with them forever. When St. Paul tells St. Timothy to give attention to reading, to exhortation, and to doctrine, St. Paul understands what Jesus was telling the eleven.

When the holy scriptures are read in the public assembly, when a pastor expounds and gives an exhortation or sermon on a scriptural text and as doctrine is taught, the Holy Spirit is there abiding with the apostles forever through their words, actions, and martyrdoms. Put more specifically to our occasion, when you hear the lectionary being read in church and when you hear preaching based on the scriptures, the Holy Spirit is also abiding with you.

This Helper is abiding with the church forever. What establishes this eternal gift and blessing to the church is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. What a shame when people have opportunity to go to church but repeatedly neglect coming. One can see why, then, that those who fail to come to church blaspheme the death and resurrection of Christ in God’s eyes. But, since the teaching of doctrine also brings with it the Holy Spirit, it is also blasphemous to the Lord when we fail to live by the doctrine and teachings of Jesus Christ.

Living in sin, and even failing to love but hating instead, also beckons God’s condemnation. Therefore, let us all come humbly to the throne of grace, confessing our wrongdoings, seeking the love of Christ to be showered upon us…There is something else that can be said about this giving of the Holy Spirit that is important for us. The Holy Spirit cannot be quantified. We could say that the Holy Spirit is “qualitative” not “quantitative.” It is not the case that we receive a small portion of the Holy Spirit at holy baptism, and then a little more of Him when we go to the Lord’s Supper.

Every time we receive the word and sacraments we receive the Holy Spirit completely. He dwells within each of us. The reason we go to the Lord’s Supper and come to hear God’s word in church is because we grow in the faith through His coming to us. As we walk this Christian road in this world we grow in wisdom as we go. The more we hear the scriptures and meditate upon the life and words of Christ, the more the Holy Spirit opens up to us the divine mysteries. The Holy Spirit imparts wisdom to us.

The more we eat and drink Christ’s body and blood, the more we are at one with Jesus and the more we begin to think like the church—Christ’s body. This growing in sanctification takes place over the span of a Christian’s life, but the Christian must tend diligently to the word and sacraments, the means that Jesus has appointed as vehicles for the Holy Spirit to use.

We would not be able to receive, at the start of the Christian road, the depth and awe-inspiring wisdom of God’s holy mysteries in its fullness. We must grow over time and in the proportions that God sees as good for us. This is why St. Paul talks about some who are ready for the meat, while others are still at the milk stage of the Christian faith and life. Wherever you are in this walk we call the Christian road, you can be sure of this—Jesus loves you as He loved the apostles.

The church is here with her gospel fruits because of this love, and Jesus bids you to receive them with the confidence that your sins are forgiven. He will never leave you alone. He will never abandon you. No matter what your life is like, Jesus will be with you in Word and Sacrament. Through baptism Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to you and He dwells in you to this day. The Holy Spirit, as St. Paul says, is a deposit and a guarantee of our salvation (2 Cor. 5:5).

So, go in peace my brethren in the sure and certain confidence that it is the very promise that Jesus made to the disciples that night which has the church standing to this day—the reality that because Jesus was “going away to the Father” through crucifixion, death and burial, likewise the Holy Spirit has been present in the apostolic ministry, keeping you secure, protected, forgiven, loved, and sanctified in the one, Holy Christian and apostolic church.

Because of this promise and fulfillment of our Lord Jesus Christ, you have an inheritance waiting for you and, until then, you are kept near to Jesus through the holy sacrament and the Holy gospel. In the holy name of Jesus. Amen.

+Fr. Chadius

On to Emmaus

What is happening on the road to Emmaus? It is a question that puzzles many a Christian. It is curious because the two Emmaus disciples seem to have lost hope. Their words to the "stranger" on the road seem to be words of despair, despondence, and finality. "But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. "

In addition, the two disciples do point out to the "stranger" on the road that even the women at the tomb had reported that they had seen a vision of angels at the tomb who testified that Jesus was alive (St. Luke 24:23). If that wasn't enough they even add that a couple of the disciples went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said (verse 24). It should add credence to these disciples that the disciples who went to the tomb to check it out were even "those were with us," part of the "twelve disciples," meaning St. Peter.

St. Luke even reminds the church that Jesus had prophesied of His death. The angels remind the women at the tomb (St. Luke 24:6-7) [see St. Luke 9:22]. Again, in St. Luke 24:44 [see St. Luke 17:22]. And, the most obvious of all is that this stranger, who was supposedly ignorant of who Jesus was, begins to preach the Old Testament in a Christological way.

Back to the question--"What is happening on the road to Emmaus?" More to the point, what is wrong with the Emmaus disciples? Why does it say in St. Luke 24:16 that "their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him"? The eyes could be their physical eyes so that they do not recognize the appearance of Jesus. But what about His teaching? A Rabbi has a distinct way of teaching and a Rabbi's disciples know him well. After all, disciples not only learned the information from their Rabbi, but they learned how to speak like their Rabbi. They should have known Jesus.

So, are the eyes that cannot see considered to be their eyes of faith? And, more to the point, is it their own sin that prevents them from recognizing their Lord? Critical to the proper meaning of this account, is verse 16. The Greek verb for the "restraining" of the eyes is krateo, which means "to seize." What is important about this verb is that it is in the imperfect tense and the voice is passive voice. This "seizing of the eyes" is being done *to them.* It is not their own doing. The action is coming from someone else, in this case, Jesus. Jesus "seizes" their eyes of faith and understanding in order that the church catholic may be taught something valuable. Ironically, the disciples even hint at this, unbeknownst to them. In describing Jesus to the "stranger" they say of Jesus that He was "a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people." St. Luke likes this emphasis on Jesus' "deeds" and "words."

Its catechetical. We are not just a church that studies words. We live and breathe in a distinct way and Jesus taught the church how to live as well as how to confess--orthodoxy and orthopraxis (right confession and right practice). (Incidentally, we see this in Acts 1:1 as St. Luke points out to Theophilus, "The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach.") St. Luke is telling us that his gospel is an accounting of Christ's teaching and practice. This informs us as to what is happening in the Emmaus account.

Jesus has seized the eyes of the disciples on the road in order to encourage them as He teaches them how to practice the faith in the midst of the realities of His resurrection. The very fact that Jesus sits at table with the Emmaus disciples and we are told that "He sat at the table with them, took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them" is the example of "orthopraxis." The disciples are losing their grip and Jesus needs to redirect them into what is the new practice of the church--the Eucharist.

It is during the Eucharist that Jesus serves them and their eyes are opened up and they see Him. He is reminding them of the institution of the Eucharist in the upper room just before His arrest. There was a reason that He instituted the Eucharist. It was to be the way that the church would come face to face with Jesus in the post-resurrection, New Testament church. Jesus, the teacher, teaches the church how to practice.

They caught on because we hear in Acts 20:7 that "on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight." Again, the verb for gathering together is important. It is a participle, denoting continued action and emphasizing the customary nature of breaking bread on the first day of the week.

What does the first day of the week symbolize in the church? If you guessed the day of the resurrection, then you are correct. All of these things come together. The promise of the resurrection, the distinct way that Christians behave, and the Holy Eucharist are all connected.

It makes sense, then, that if we were asked what does it mean to be a Christian, then in Emmaus fashion, we would reply simply--"What does it mean to be a Christian? To go to the Holy Eucharist."

+Fr. Chadius

Calls and Changes

I have not had much time lately to to write on this blog because I recently accepted a call to a new church. I have been in transition and, consequently, have not had much time to think about writing.

One thing that is on my mind right now, though, is the process of change. It is a strange feeling. Completely uprooting and leaving a people that God has placed me in charge of is strange. Being in a church, serving the people in a particular place with Christ's holy gifts, and getting to know them is a natural part of the landscape of being a pastor. You dig roots that way, and you grow to love those people as you get into their lives and as you let them into your own life.

Leaving them behind is strange. It is a feeling and experience that I don't want to experience too many times. It is painful to leave God's beloved people behind.

It is a blessing, though, to be received by another flock of Christ's. Now, I am a bishop. While I grieved at my leaving one beloved flock, another of God's beloved flock has graciously embraced me. They have shown me how widespread the aroma of Christ really is.

I am thankful to be in my new parish. The reason I write this tonight is because this process of longing, grieving, and being rejuvenated by Christ's people here brought to mind a few things I have read in the past. (As usual I am keeping my theme for this blog centered around Early Church studies and thought). The Venerable Bede in his ecclesiastical history recounts the call of St. Gregory the Great to the position of Pope. In it Bede tells us that Gregory, when he reluctantly accepted the call, brought with him to his new post a few of his fellow monks who had been with him in the monastery.

My copy of Bede's history is still in Iowa, so I must go off of memory. I seem to recall that these monks came with Gregory specifically to aid him in his transition. They came in order to urge Gregory to continue to pray the liturgy and encourage him in the midst of the struggles of change. This is very important for a couple of reasons.

First, we need our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ during times of change. We leave the familiar which we call home for a new landscape. Often, in times of longing, distress, and sadness, the one thing we struggle with is prayer. We need gentle urgings from other Christians to lead us into the liturgy. The liturgy (if it is uniform throughout the church) is home and no matter where we are, we know we are home when we are in the midst of the liturgy. In addition, it is synoymous with the thinking of the church to want to be in the midst of things familiar. A foreign concept to the church is that of continual and constant change (this is something you church growthers and lovers of great variety should ponder--think of what you are doing to your people).

St. Augustine wasn't all that different from Gregory in terms of wanting to be home, in the midst of things familiar. St. Augustine, it is said by Van Der Meer, did not like to venture too far from home. He always grew nervous when he had to sail the Mediterranean Sea for Rome. He was more content to stay in Hippo where he was bishop.

A bishop likes to stay at home with his own kind. It should be that way, but when we go forth at the Lord's calling, it is good and God will take care of His people--both the flock of Christ and the bishop. God uses one another to do just that. The bishop enters the pulpit with his mouth full of the gospel, absolving and comforting God's people. Instantly, the people are at home with their new bishop. The people care for the bishop and show him the love of Christ just as he does them and suddenly it is Christ Who is seen in the midst of them all.

I see the love of Christ in the midst of God's people, in the midst of His church and I rejoice. You know, I am glad to be where God has placed me. I miss the Christians I left behind, but I haven't really left them behind. I have simply embraced a new sheepfold and they have embraced me and we are all together as we sing Te Deums and Alleluias, gathering around the throne of grace to take Christ onto our lips as we await the heavenly reunion. For it is there in heaven where we will partake of the love of Christ in its richest measure, which we have only begun to taste here.

+Fr. Chadius

The Bride of Christ Revisited

For several years I was a student of the theological journal The Bride of Christ http://www.bocjournal.org/ I was saddened when I received its final issue last year which stated that the journal was coming to its conclusion and end. I just found out that a great, faithful pastor and friend, Fr. Timothy May, has begun to take steps to give this journal new life. This is a great new and fresh step. Deacon David Muehlenbruch, who is very well-informed on things liturgical is working with Fr. May. Deacon David has much to offer in the way of liturgical scholarship, as well.

Lutheranism confesses clearly the doctrines of the church catholic as confessed in the Book of Concord. One thing we have lacked in American Lutheranism is a clear understanding of how we should practice and breathe the faith through the liturgy. I don't need to explain how bad American Lutheranism has erred in terms of liturgy and practice. Most Lutheran pastors have little or no understanding of liturgics. It is a large-scale problem that needs fixing. I only fault pastors individually when they fail to seek to recover that which has been lost.

Perhaps this will be a fresh start to a new generation of Lutheranism that will bring congruence to what we preach, teach, and practice as we breathe out our faith through the historic liturgy of the church which surpasses time, cultures, and language. Visit their website and contact Fr. May and Deacon David, thanking them as well as offering your support.

+Fr. Chadius

The Chief Example of Pastoral Care

Maybe you have that one parishioner who is always breathing down your neck, looking for you to slip up and make a mistake. Maybe he or she constantly reminds you of your mistakes. Maybe you are even told that you just don't make for a good pastor. Or, maybe there are those people who tend to lead you into vice and sin. They tempt you in ways that are contrary to the Christian life. If this is you, remember you are not alone. Not only does each one of us struggle with sin, temptation, and the constant nudges from Satan and his own, but we constantly need a way out from the snares of Satan. How can we best deal with the snares of Satan?

Jesus went through it. St. Matthew 4:1-11 is one account of Christ's temptation in the desert. I will just touch on it briefly. As we know, Jesus had been fasting for 40 days and nights. It is important to remember that it was the pneumatos, the Spirit, Who led Jesus into the desert. This was none other than the Holy Spirit. We are told in the narrative that Jesus was lead (anaxtha) up into the desert by the Spirit. St. Luke uses agw in another form. This is contrasted to St. Mark's verb, which is ekballo, a violent sort of driving, denoting a violent movement. The picture we get in St. Matthew's account is one that is more gentle, not quite so crass.

In some ways, St. Matthew's verb choice seems more appropriate for the situation. Jesus has just been baptized by John and the Holy Spirit descends and Christ begins His trek to the cross. What is worth pondering for tonight is what Jesus demonstrates for the pastor who stands in the stead of Christ in the parish. Satan tempts Jesus three times and even quotes scripture against Jesus in one of the temptations.

How dare Satan that he would tempt the Lord and belittle Him so. Why, the devil was so clearly wrong, certainly Jesus, Who is the very Word Himself, would have been justified in becoming angry and casting Satan down from the heights of the temple. "Destroy the wretch now," we would shout. Jesus did not reveal the power of His might, however. He only brought forth the precepts of scripture.

Jesus was giving all spiritual fathers an example of godly wisdom. Jesus, while being God, was also showing us how the flesh of His holy ones should behave. Though it may not be readily apparent, Jesus is showing us the book of Proverbs in action. Proverbs is full of very important instruction. It is our teacher in the classroom of study, but Jesus shows it to us in the world, in demonstration. Jesus is living out Proverbs 15:1-2: "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, but the mouth of fools pours forth foolishly."

What is more? Jesus is hungry. He is in need, He is weak. In the midst of the tempter, Jesus simply speaking the words of Scripture to refute Satan, we learn that we too must suffer for a time against our tempters with scripture on our side and nothing else. The spiritual father must be ready to answer with meekness the words of our Lord and God. Whether it be a penitent coming to make confession to their pastor or whether it is your greatest antagonist coming to tempt you into really casting him or her down with Satan, you are to go forth in meekness and humility, breathing the scriptures because they are your own.

Why do this? How miserable we sometimes become in the midst of adversity and temptation. What is to be gained? Jesus overcame His enemy not be destroying him but by suffering him for a time. What we find in this narrative is Jesus is led somewhat gently into the desert being attended by the Holy Spirit, and it ends by the angels attending to Jesus.

Much can be gained by this text. Just to make the clarification for all the knee-jerk Lutherans who try to "out-orthodox" each other, I will say that the first thing to be learned by the text is that this encounter is the foretaste of Christ's victory over Satan on the cross. Having said that, the scriptures are so deep and teach us so much, that we can gain a great understanding not only of Christ but also of the character and nature of the church.

The Spiritual father teaches in so many ways and being in the stead of Christ he somtimes teaches the most when his humility and meekness go hand in hand with what he teaches.

Truly, it is not easy suffering for a length of time, but we stand to learn much as the fiery darts of the tempter are thrown our way if we breathe Christ through the scriptures and from the Eucharist. When those times of suffering have ended, not only will the angels come to diakonoun us, but Jesus Himself is tending to us continually and giving us His peace and strength.

The Lord grant all of you spiritual fathers that peace now and always,

+Fr. Chadius

The Holy Oath

If you want to understand the Bible, then you have to get to the correct starting point. If you start wrong, then your hermeneutics will be a disaster. This is a big part of the problem with 20th Century Lutheran exegesis. Some may have read Fuehrbringers "Hermeneutical rules." If you have read them, then you know that you could assign that as your penance for Lent.

It is not that Fuehrbringer wasn't sincere. He may have had good motives for writing the hermeneutical rules. The problem is that he started in the wrong spot. Fuehrbringer was trying to give us rules so we knew where we could *not* go in hermeneutics. In other words, among other things, he is telling us what in the Old Testament is a prophecy of Christ and what isn't. Well, I am sorry Dr. Fuehrbringer, but I recall Jesus saying that "Moses and the Prophets speak concerning me." I don't think He said that only some of it prophecies of Jesus. Good intentions, wrong starting place. Where should we start in hermeneutics? We start with Jesus and His cross. That is the interpretive lens which then examines the whole of scripture.

One place that may not seem Christological at first is the oath that Abraham's servant takes. Genesis 24 tells us that Abraham was old, well advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things--a statement of God's love and mercy to His people. We are then told, "So Abraham said to the oldest servant of his house, who ruled over all that he had, 'Please put your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear byh the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell; but you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac.'"

It is rather comical to think of German Lutherans ever being comfortable with this practice. Why? It is up close and personal. The servant is placing his hand on the inner thigh just under Abraham's groin. The Hebrew is "Yarek" and the Greek is "maron." This is the seat of the fruit of Abraham's offspring. Why would this action be a part of the oath (and the action itself is a part of the oath! )? It goes back to Genesis 12:1-3 where God promises to Abraham that he will become a great nation. The descendants as much as the sand on the seashore are situated right there inside that inner thigh where the servant places his hand. There's a twist, of course. What makes his "yarek" so significant isn't that there will be countless "sons of Abraham." What makes this "yarek" so important is the one, singular Divine seed who is the Messiah who shall come from the inner thigh of Abraham.

There is more to it than that, of course. Jacob seeks a similar oath just before his death. Moses records for us, "When the time for Israel (Jacob) to die drew near, he called his son Joseph an said to him, 'Please, if I have found favor in your sight, place now your hand under my thigh(yarek) and deal with me in kindness and faithfulness. Please do not bury me in Egypt, but when I lie down with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.' And he said, 'I will do as you have said.' He said, 'swear to me.' So he swore to him. Then Israel bowed in worship at the head of the bed"(Genesis 47:29-31).

This time it is Jacob's "yarek" and it is in reference to Jacob's being buried with his fathers, ie. Abraham and Isaac. It is important that Jacob says, "do not bury me in Egypt." Egypt, like all other pagan lands, is the haunt of Satan. The land of the fathers is the closest thing to the Garden of Eden. God, in the Old Testament, localized salvation. He attached the promise of the seed to the land of Canaan. "And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared to him"(Genesis 12:7). Abraham was later buried in the land of Canaan by Mamre, which would later be the land which God would bring His people Israel into. Joseph promised on oath to bury his father there as well (Genesis 49:29-33).

Joseph's placing of his hand on Jacob's inner thigh was another recognition of the Messianic seed, which now dwelt within Jacob's loins. Jacob, wanting to be buried with his fathers was the recognition of the connection between God's promise that Abraham would have descendants like the sand on the shore and the holy land which God would give. (Why this land is connected with the promise cannot be dealt with here.)

The question then arises as to how we can know that this hand on the thigh is Messianic and not just some cultural practice. How do we know this is Messianic? Well, if we start at the correct place, hermeneutically speaking, then we start with Jesus and work backwards. The book of Revelation gives us the clue as to the hand on the inner thigh. What is the significance? Revelation 19 records for us a vision that St. John has of Jesus: And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. He eyes were asa a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God"(Revelation 19:11-13).

What a picture, but it is what comes next that is definitive in our study of this topic. "And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS"(Revelation 19:16). If one reads that section too quickly or without the hermeneutical lens pointed toward the Old Testament, then it will be missed. The same word is used for thigh that is used in the Septuagint for "yarek," "maron." St. John sees the answer. He gives us the interpretive lens for the Old Testament. On the inner thigh of Jesus in glory, on the same place that Abraham's servant and Joseph place their hands on the Patriarchs, rest the words "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. There, in the loins of the partiarchs, where the future and offspring of promise rested was the KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. The humanity, the flesh of the Son of God was resting until the appointed time of His coming through the womb of a virgin, so that God would save mankind and truly bring forth the sons of Abraham through faith and a new rest with the fathers would be found within Jesus Himself.

For, all of Abraham's descendants by faith rest within the "yarek" the divine thigh of Jesus, the church which is fruitful and produces offspring through the blood of Christ and through His Holy and precious preachment--the hermeneutical lens that brings life to the Scriptures and to the souls of the faithful.

Sorry to disappoint, Ludwig, but all I need is to look at Christ and His cross and then His divine scriptures come to life and point me to the way of salvation.

+Fr. Chadius

A Sermon on St. John 1:29-42

St. John 1:29-42

I think it is always a good idea that we challenge ourselves. It is healthy to ask ourselves questions we would not normally ask. For example, I think it is healthy for us to ask ourselves this question–"Why do we come to church like we do?" Why is it a regular part of our week? I suppose we could cite several reasons such as, "we did it when we were kids. We watched our parents come to church regularly. Coming to church may help shape our children's morals. We have friends here at church–it's a place to be social."

But as society continues to shift and become more ungodly, there will be less and less people who can say that they watched their parents go to church week in and week out. Fewer people can boast that they went to church as children. There are also plenty of atheists who have good morals and teach their children proper behavior. Church is also diminishing as a place to find social activity.

How does the church respond to an increasingly ignorant and independent populace? The church has not always enjoyed praise and honor from society. The church catholic has not always been looked upon with favor. We have plenty of examples from church history that demonstrate outright hostility toward Christ, the church, and its message for the world.

In those times of persecution amidst the world's denial of the holy things, the church still carried on, it still had a message, and there were people who gathered around altars to hear an ordained man adorned in robes preach a message and celebrate the Holy Eucharist. What was the dynamic that kept a people coming to church even when the world mocked the faith? I am going to suggest that the reasons the saints gathered around an altar amidst persecution is much the same as the reason that you gather around the altar on a regular basis.

In other words, there is one, fundamental reason that is at the root of it all. You may be able to cite several reasons you come to church, but there is one predominant force. This reason can be found in the Bible, in the Old Testament and the New Testament. John the Baptist tells us what it is in our gospel text. John says, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit'"(St. John 1:32-33).

Then John says, "And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God." The reason is simple--revelation. John said, "I did not know him," but this is hard to believe considering John's mother and the virgin Mary were relatives. So, what does John mean when he says, "I did not know Him?" It must mean that John did not know that Jesus was God beyond a reasonable doubt apart from revelation. In other words, John's faith that Jesus was God came not from his reason or his human speculation. He didn't "put the pieces together."

John came to believe that Jesus was God because of revelation. Faith in Jesus was revealed to John through something holy and divine. It came through a verbal word, which John received from God: "Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit." John, being a prophet, received this divine revelation from God and then he saw it come to pass before his very eyes.

The prophetic and apostolic apprehending of the faith is not the result of speculation or careful investigation like the world thinks. Secularists write books and movies to try to paint Christianity as a myth. By doing so, they demonstrate to the church that they have no idea what all of this is about. Prophetic apprehending of the faith comes through revelation(that is Old Testament). New Testament apprehending of the faith comes upon the gift of the Holy Spirit of truth.

John is telling us in our gospel that this comes from something heavenly and holy. Faith comes by God entering our world and landing upon us. John is telling us that his faith in Jesus being God comes from divine revelation. "I did not know him but I saw the dove descend and land upon Him." St. Paul can't help but come off the same way when he writes to the church at Corinth. You should go home and read 1 Corinthians 2 in its entirety.

At one point St. Paul says, "we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written: eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. ...no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

This is what the world doesn't understand. Belief in Jesus Christ as our God and Savior comes not through worldly speculation. This salvation and faith comes to us through the power of the Holy Spirit. This faith to which we all hold comes today through preaching. So, to get back to my question at the start–"Why do we come to church like we do?"

What is this that we are doing? If you said that you have something in common with John the Baptist and St. Paul, then you are on to something. Holiness comes through God's revelation to the world. Today that revelation comes to us through the message that Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead on the third day. He did this bearing your sins. He died for you. You won't have the voice of God thundering to you from the sky like it did for the prophets. You will not have a road to Damascus moment like St. Paul did.

For you and me, God's revelation comes through the Holy Scriptures and this holy preachment. This is why St. Paul says "I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." You come to church to hear the divine message. The Holy Spirit comes to you through this preaching and it changes your heart and cultivates your soul. We gather to hear God's revelation through the scriptures that we are set free from our sins and we are holy.

This is what Epiphany means–it means that God is made known to us through divine revelation. It means that God is revealed to us. It happened to John, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Moses, Abraham, Zechariah and all the prophets. It happened to St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Luke, St. Mark, St. John and all the apostles. It has happened to the saints who have gone before us in the faith, and it happens to people who hear the Gospel, finding peace in Christ's love and forgiveness and salvation.

You have heard it today through John's message that Jesus is the Christ, the Lamb of God and the message will continue to ring through the air, and where that message is heard the Holy Spirit will bring life to a dying people and make them saints, just as He has done with you. In the holy name of Jesus. Amen.

+Fr. Chadius
2nd Sunday after Epiphany

Bells and Pomegranates

I am fascinated by the elaborate nature of the tabernacle, the holiest of holies, the temple furnishings and Aaron's robe. Moses gives us explicit detail as to the character of Aaron's priestly robe.

We are told, "You shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. There shall be an opening for his head in the middle of it; it shall have a woven binding all around its opening, like the opening in a coat of mail, so that it does not tear. And upon its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet, all around its hem, and bells of gold between them all around: a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe all around."

I suppose if one were to poll Missouri Synod Lutherans as to the meaning of this, one would get many answers. The most "bronze" among us would sound much like the Reformed and Evangelical exegetes who would probably tell us that this was a cultural thing, or a mere historical occurrence with little meaning for us today. I beg to differ.

In terms of Biblical interpretation, there are the two schools of thought in the early church--the Alexandrian school and the Antiochian school. Though many scholars today may squabble over the differences between these two schools, I would like to point out an area where they would find common ground. Both schools of the early church saw the Old Testament in terms of Christ, and both would look at Aaron's robe and find deeply spiritual interpretations of it. I echo that hermeneutic, or, interpretation.

I find it very interesting that God would prescribe woven pomegranates alternated with bells on the bottom of this beautiful robe. First, what of pomegranates? Pomegranates are referred to only a couple of times in the Bible. When Israel sends spies into to scout out Canaan, the land they were to enter, they grabbed pomegranates and figs to show the people what they had found. Here is what the spies said upon returning, "We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit"(Numbers 13:27).

The figs and pomegranates are the sign and evidence that what God said was true--it was a land flowing with milk and honey. Pomegranates and figs were the signs of fruitfulness and growth, prosperity and God's favor. It was the symbol of the growth and fertility of God's people, Israel--a symbol of God's promise to make for Abraham a great multitude of descendants.

The question, of course, is still this--why does God command that pomegranates line the hem of the priestly robe. To answer this question, we really need to think about the use of the robe. Aaron is to wear this robe when he goes into the holy place before the Lord when he ministers. Aaron wears the robe when he goes in to make sacrifice for his sins and the sins of the people. Blood is shed to cover the people's sins. It is in these atoning sacrifices that the people live on in God's favor. Hence, they are fruitful and fertile through the blood of a sacrifice. More on this in a minute.

Now to the question of the golden bells. Why would God command that the hem of Aaron's robe alternate the pomegranates with these golden bells? It says in Exodus 28:35, "And it shall be upon Aaron when he ministers, and its sound will be heard when he goes into the holy place before the Lord and when he comes out, that he may not die."

Interesting. Its sound is to be heard when he goes before the Lord. What is the problem? Is God afraid that He may not know that it is Aaron coming in to the holy place? Being that God is ominscient, "all-knowing," it is hardly possible that God needs to know who it is. It is also hardly possible that the bells would be used to arouse God from an occasional nap. There is something more to these bells than we may first realize.

When Aaron enters the holy place, he will by his very actions "sound forth" when he is ministering. He shall sound forth or he will die. He is not to enter the holy place without this robe. He is to be properly dressed while sacrificing. Why must he be properly dressed? Aaron comes face to face with God. He must have on the proper clothing when meeting God. After all, God and man coming face to face in the holy place is the prefigurement of heaven. Those in heaven must have on the proper clothing as well.

This parallels the parable of the wedding feast. Jesus tells us that when theh king came in to see the guests, he saw a man who did not have on a wedding garment. The king asks the man, "Friend how did you come in here without a wedding garment?" We are told the man was speechless.
Not properly clothed for heaven and speechless. Hmm. Sounds similar. The man was to be bound and cast into outer darkness. Likewise, Aaron would die if he were not properly dressed and in his case, if not properly dressed, then Aaron would be speechless or without sound.

One can only imagine what it must have been like to be Aaron going into the holy place. Aaron would hear the groans of the animal and the sound of his bells as he walked and nothing else.

The pomegranates and the bells point us to the spiritual aspect. The all-atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ covers the sins of all. Jesus is the good fruit. He is the land flowing with milk and honey. He is the very substance of life, but the lives of many will only be spared eternal death if those cleansed by the blood of the Lamb are properly clothed. We cannot enter heaven if we are not properly clothed. We will be cast out. How shall you be clothed and ready for the wedding banquet of heaven? Holy baptism now saves you. This is the white robe of righteousness that Revelation 6 tells us the saints are wearing in heaven. This is baptism. This is what it means to be clothed with Christ.

With baptism comes a sounding forth. The movements of the Holy Spirit through baptism bring forth the confession of faith in the Apostles Creed. Where there is no confession of faith, there is no life. Where there is silence, there is only judgment.

Perhaps this is why we see what we see in the story of the rich man and Lazarus. Both departed this life, Lazarus to the bosom of Father Abraham and the rich man to the torments of hell. What part of the rich man's body burns the most? What does he want quenched? It is his tongue which burns. Where there is silence, there is judgment.

But when one sounds forth, there is life, there is mercy. It comes in the quiet ritual of doing what God bids us to do: meeting Him in the Divine Service and letting the atonement of Christ cover us thereby making His people a fertile land, flowing with milk and honey. And how does God do it? Through preaching Christ crucified, forgiving sins, baptizing, and giving the body and blood of Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

My dear Christians....sound forth.

+Fr. Chadius

John the Baptist's Inquiry

There has been some friendly debate as of late regarding the nature of John the Baptist's inquiry. It is recorded for us in St. Matthew 11 and in St. Luke 7. The debate concerns the nature of John's question to Jesus.

It is a healthy discussion. The reason is simple. The image that the church has of John the Baptist is one of a great man who is bold and absolutely staunch in his faith. He lives in the desert and he alone seems to understand the times. All the world is dying and going astray. The Jewish people were embroiled in battles with the Romans as each carefully jockeyed for control. Zealots were gaining strength. John the lone prophet cries out to the people to repent and be baptized for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. To come to an understanding of John's inquiry, it is necessary that we look at the gospel narratives to get a fuller picture.

To begin, the gospel of St. John (that is, John of Zebedee) makes a comparison of John the Baptist and Jesus. The Jews asked John, "Who are you?", and he answered. John answered in St. John 1:26-27 "I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose."

mmediately after this in St. John's narrative the evangelist tells us, "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, 'behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!' This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.' I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water."

And then comes the statement which is evidence to the church that John is a prophet-- "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'" Then John makes the confession, "And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."

There is more in St. John 1. The very next day John the Baptist stood with two of his disciples and Jesus walked by. John says to his disciples, "Behold, the Lamb of God." We are told that those two disciples left John to follow Jesus. John didn't put up a fight. He knew this is the way it was supposed to be.

There is more to the story that may have an influence on the interpretation for the reason of John's inquiry to Jesus. In St. John 3:22ff we are told that there arose a dispute between some of John's disciples and the Jews. John's disciples came to him and said, "Rabbi, He[Jesus] who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified--behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!" John's disciples were upset at the lack of loyalty that people had for John. They thought that John should have the "following" that he had at the start.

John didn't agree with them. He took the occasion to preach a great Christological homily and makes the well-known statement, "He must increase, I must decrease." John says at the end of chapter 3, "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." In other words, these disciples need to believe that Jesus is the Lamb of God.

St. Matthew 9:14ff we see John's disciples re-enter the scene. They come to Jesus this time to question Him. "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?" Jesus answers them and moves on. John's disciples are critically judging Jesus and John the Baptist is the "measuring rod." Jesus doesn't measure up.

The inquiry in question takes place when John the Baptist is in prison just before he is beheaded at Herod's orders. St. Matthew 11:2 reports, "when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to Him [Jesus] 'Are you the coming One, or do we look for another.'

The question of good debate is: Is John suffering under the trials of being in prison? Is the flesh of John the Baptist getting the better of him? Does he need to hear it again that Jesus is the Christ? Certainly, it would be in line with the church's doctrine and all of scripture to say YES, John needs to hear the gospel. After all, don't we all need to hear the gospel over and over for the forgiveness of our sins and the strengthening of our faith? Absolutely.

It is my position, however, that this is not primary reason for John's sending his disciples to Jesus. It is my belief that when St. Matthew tells us that "when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He [Jesus] departed to Galilee"(St. Matthew 4:12) this is a programmatic statement--a major shift. It is an official announcement declaring the move from the Old Testament prophetic period to the New Testament fulfillment. St. Mark likewise, "Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the Gospel of the kingdom of God..."(St. Mark 1:14).

This statement in the gospels is an announcement. It is signaling a shift in things. This is the very demonstration of John's words to his disciples in St. John 3:30 that John must decrease and Jesus increase. John's being put in prison to die is a necessary thing and John knows this.

One other thing should be mentioned. In St. John 3:29, John the Baptist responds to his disciples by talking about the bridegroom and using the imagery. In St. Matthew 9:15 when Jesus responds to John's disciples, Jesus, too, makes reference to the bridegroom and uses the same imagery. John the Baptist and Jesus are teaching the same thing. They are on the same page. John's disciples are hearing the same thing from Jesus as they have heard from their own Rabbi.

So, when John sends his two disciples to ask Jesus if He is the coming One, Jesus responds, "Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, theh deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them." And then here is the clincher: "And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me"(St. Luke 7:22:23).

John the Baptist has not been offended. The Greek word for "offended" is skandalizein. This word means "to cause to fall or sin." John's disciples have been sinning by following John more than Jesus. John has not fallen or sinned because of the works of Jesus. On the contrary, as I have demonstrated above, John and Jesus have been saying the same thing, exhibiting "omologein" the same confession.

As further proof that John's question is meant for his disciples is seen in Christ's explanation to the crowd who had witnessed the exchange . Jesus says to the crowd, "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? In other words, the reed is faith, the wind is the world, the flesh, and temptation. This is not to say that John wasn't a sinner. He was, indeed. But Jesus says that John was more than a prophet. "For I say to you, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist..."

This is Jesus explaining to the crowd that John's faith wasn't a reed shaken by the wind. This greatest of all prophets knew his Lord and Savior and he knew that he was getting ready to die at the hand of Herod.

This points to the reality that John was a loving and masterful Rabbi and prophet. John had a deep concern for his faithful disciples and he was going to teach them one more thing in hopes that they may see Jesus as He is--The coming One who ransoms the world from sin.

The thing that we should all keep in mind about prophets is this: Nowhere do we see a prophet in the Bible questioning whether God is in their midst. They always know when God is speaking to them and they know when they see him. This is the mark of a prophet--to know the divine oracle. The prophets often show their sin by either fearing for their lives or in their not wanting to communicate the divine oracle (Jonah). This careful distinction must be kept in mind in interpreting John the Baptist's inquiry.

After all, John the Baptist was, according to Christ's own testimony, a prophet, yea and more than a prophet.

+Fr.Chadius

A New Book Hot Off the Press

I received in the mail today the newest member of my library. The Fathers of the Church series has just published volume 115 of the series, titled, "Commentary on the Twelve Prophets" volume 1 by Cyril of Alexandria, translated and introduced by Greek and Early Church scholar Robert C. Hill.

This is an important book because Cyril was known for his Old Testament exegesis, though this was overshadowed by his brilliance during the Christological controversy. There simply aren't enough of Cyril's writings in English. This was a much needed publication. Volume 2 is set to come out at a later time.

+Fr. Chadius

Gregory the Great and Patience

Gregory had a "lock" on patience and struggling. He was a brilliant, pious, and humble catholic. Gregory the Great isn't a part of the "Early Church." He is really Medeival, but sometimes he reminds me of the early Patristic scholars because of his method and the content of his sermons.

This may be due, in part, to Gregory's love for his brethren in the church catholic in the Eastern part of the world. Early on in his life, Gregory spent Seven years living in Constantinople. He lived in a Latin district of the city with other Italian monks. Gregory served as Abbot of the monastery there. It was there that he learned pastoral supervision. He also spent a great deal of time in personal study.

Gregory had made a lot of friends with those theologians of the East. He learned their culture, he grew to understand ritual and piety of the Eastern church. The Eastern churches did not "evolve" like the Western churches, so it had more the aire of the Early Church. Perhaps this is why the sermons of Gregory remind me of Early Patristic preaching.

Gregory had strengths in Exegetical treatments of the scriptures, but his greatest contribution would be in his pastoral theology. Pastoral theology is not simply trying to help somebody with their immediate issue. A pastoral theologian understands the soul and how it behaves. A pastoral theologian is not a "counselor" but a man who understands sin, grace and how the soul "banters" back and forth in between sin and grace.

Gregory was such a man. He is best known for his book "The Pastoral Rule," which was the only book written by a Latin theologian in the medeival period to be translated into Greek during his own lifetime by the Eastern church. Gregory knew how to get to the heart of the issue. When we think we are being pious or humble or forgiving in the midst of difficulties, he takes it one more step and exposes our hidden "agendas" our political maneuverings, our quiet submission which is only used for revenge later.

Perhaps this is why I was struck by a sermon of his last night. I quote Gregory at length:

"True patience consists in bearing calmly the evils done us by another, and in not being consumed by resentments against the person who inflicts them. A person who bears the evils done him by his neighbor, so that he suffers them in silence, while looking for a time for suitable revenge, is not practicing patience but only displaying it."

A few lines later, Gregory adds:

"But we should know that often we appear patient because we are unable to repay evils. A person who does not repay an evil becauses he can't is not patient, as I have said. We are not looking for a patience on the surface but in the heart. The vice of impatience destroys teaching, which is the nurse of virtues. It is written: 'The teaching of a man is known by his patience'[Prov. 19:11]. Each person shows himself to be less learned the more he proves to be less patient. He cannot truly impart good by his teaching if he does not know how to bear calmly with the evils done him by another. It is Solomon again who discloses how high patience is ont he scale of virtues: 'Better a patient man than a brave one, a man master of himself than one who takes cities'[Prov. 16:32]. Taking cities is a smaller victory because the places we conquer are outside of ourselves; a greater one is won by patience, because a person overcomes himself, and subjects himself to himself, when patience brings him low in bearing with others in humility."

Then, Gregory nails all hidden hearts, including my own at times.

"But we must be aware that it often happens to the patient that at the time they suffer opposition or hear insults they feel no distress and they practice patience, taking care also to guard their innocence of heart. But after a little while they call to mind the things they have endured, and blaze up in violent resentment. They seek ways of revenge, and lose the gentleness they had when they were willing to bear with others. They pass judgment on themselves by their change of heart."

The wisdom of Gregory regarding the soul's ways is quite profound. Perhaps this is why Jesus tells us to give our enemies the other cheek when they strike the first. Perhaps this is also the reason that Jesus stresses to us to love our enemies, because if we cannot love our enemies then we cannot live in this world in godly wisdom, humility, and in pious devotion.

The problem? None of us are able to love our enemies on our own. The scenario that Gregory describes in his sermon is a picture of us all. "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"(Romans 7:24-25)

If we want to be wise in the godly way, if we want to be humble and loving our enemies, then we must reside in Christ and learn from Him. We are to rest in His merits, for in His cross alone are we to be saved. Then, as God uses us, we will face our own struggles and hardships which will require prayer to our Lord seeking His mercy--and His mercy in the long run may be that you learn to love those who persecute you without the inner need to get revenge.

Above all things, remain at the cross and covered with the blood of Jesus. He paid for your sins and will guide you on this this Christian road. Thanks be to God for the wisdom given to Gregory through his own struggles in this life.

+Fr. Chadius
Citations are from "Forty Gospel Homilies" by Gregory the Great
Translated by Dom David Hurst, Cistercian Publications
Kalamazoo, MI, 1990

Apology

I want to apologize for my lack of posting this Autumn. I have been swamped. My Didache (Catechesis) class started up at the start of September and everything that was not an essential went by the wayside.

It is my intention and hope to be more regular in my posting again.

Peace to all through Christ Jesus,

+Fr. Chadius