Month: June 2025

I. A Face Set, and What Follows
The Gospel of Luke can be divided into two parts. The first part begins with the announcement and birth of John the Baptist, the forerunner, and then the birth of Jesus. Today’s Gospel lesson starts the second part of Luke’s Gospel. It’s a serious transition, especially considering what’s just happened. Jesus has just come down from the Mount of Transfiguration. He’s been transformed before Peter, James and John so that His robes are as white as lightning. He’s been joined by Moses and Elijah, who have spoken with Him about His exodus, His departure. And His Father has just testified, “This is My Son, My chosen One; listen to Him.” Next thing you know in Luke chapter 9, Jesus comes down from the mountain and heals a boy of an unclean spirit. Then things start to change, because He tells the disciples that He will soon be delivered into the hands of men.

It’s only a couple of verses after that that we arrive at our lesson for today. The days draw near for Him to taken up—the crucifixion is getting close, so He sets His face to go to Jerusalem. He sets His face: once upon a time, Isaiah prophesied about the Savior, “I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. But the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame” (Isaiah 50:6-7 ESV). That prophesied suffering is near, waiting in Jerusalem, and Jesus sets out to meet it for your salvation.

His time to prepare His disciples is growing short, too; so in our text for today, He does much to teach them about being His disciples.

He sends messengers ahead to a Samaritan village, to prepare the way of the Lord so that the people are ready to receive Him when He arrives. But when Jesus draws near, they people don’t want Him there. His face is set toward Jerusalem, and they want nothing to do with that. “Move along, Jesus. Go away.” James and John take exception: these Samaritans have just rudely snubbed the Son of God, so they ask Jesus, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” Jesus says no: in fact, He rebukes James and John. Following Jesus isn’t about destroying anyone who doesn’t fall in behind or making their lives miserable so they regret their mistake—that’s the way of worldly kings. Instead, Jesus leaves the Samaritans be, alive and well and—God willing—ready to hear His Word another day.

From the Samaritans and James and John, we’re reminded that following Jesus isn’t about getting your way. It’s about patiently, faithfully sticking to God’s Word, even when you’re opposed for it. It’s trusting that Jesus is the Lord, even when it seems like He is not Lord to others.

As Jesus and His disciples move along, a man approaches and says, “I will follow you wherever you go.” It’s a rocky start to a quick conversation. “I will follow you?” Students don’t choose their rabbis: rabbis select their students. None of the Twelve disciples chose Jesus, but He chose each one. He called them and said to them, “Follow Me.” Furthermore, from Jesus’ answer it seems that the man has a pretty rosy picture: rather than look at the face set to go to Jerusalem, the man is thinking of miracles and wonders, that following Jesus will mean peace and prosperity, home and property. But the picture Jesus paints isn’t so pretty. In fact, He says, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

Following Jesus isn’t about gathering comfort and wealth on earth. If the man is to follow Jesus wherever He goes, he’s going to follow Him to Gethsemane, to the Praetorium, to Calvary and into the tomb.

A verse later, Jesus invites a man, saying, “Follow Me.” The man is beckoned by the Savior, called to be His disciple; and while he’s not opposed, he has some loose ends to tie up first: “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” Jesus’ answer sounds less than sensitive as He responds, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

This exchange leaves some loose ends: some have pointed out that there’s no proof that the man’s father is anywhere near death, that the man is saying, “I will follow You, but You must take second place to my father.” It might be that he wants to preserve family peace, to follow Jesus only after his unbelieving father is dead and no longer knows. Whatever is true at home, Jesus makes this clear: one is to have no other gods before Him, including those people we hold dear. It is time to move from death to life, and that life is found and given in the proclamation of the kingdom of God. Ironically, that proclamation of life will be about Jesus who sets His face and goes to His death to deliver the world from death to life.

From this we’re reminded that following Jesus isn’t about living the same way as usual with an added bit of joy. It’s about leaving death behind and having life in Christ, even if that life in Christ seems strange to those closest to you, to those whose respect you desire the most. Even if it means you’re a foreign missionary to family and friends.

There’s one more would-be disciple in the text, another one who wants to choose Jesus rather than Jesus choosing Him. He says, “I will follow You, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus responds, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Perhaps the man’s idea of farewell is to spend weeks or months tying up some loose ends, getting the harvest in and whatever else, before he actually follows Jesus. But that’s in stark contrast to the Twelve disciples who have followed Him from the beginning. Remember when Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James and John to be His disciples? “Immediately they left their nets and followed Him” (Matthew 4:20). Remember, after the resurrection, when Jesus said to Peter, “when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go” (John 21:18 ESV). That’s discipleship—following Jesus faithfully even when you are taken where you do not want to go.

From all of this we’re reminded that following Jesus isn’t a casual, “I’ll follow you when there’s nothing else on the schedule” sort of deal. It’s “follow now.” It’s “follow the Son whose face is set on Jerusalem.” It’s “cast aside every idol, take up your cross and follow Him.”

See, this is an urgent matter—and it is a matter of life and death. One is either dead in sin or alive in Christ; and if you are going to cling to other things and be a disciple of convenience, then you are not a follower of the One who sets His face and goes to the cross for your salvation. That’s what Jesus teaches His disciples as the second half of the Gospel of Luke begins.

II. Following Jesus Today
It is not easy to be a follower of Jesus. In fact, it’s beyond you from the start. You could never be a follower of Jesus if He did not say, “Follow Me.” But so He has. He said, “Follow Me” when He said, “I baptize you.” He repeats it whenever He says through a pastor’s mouth, “I forgive you all of your sins.” So that you might be a follower of Jesus, the Holy Spirit has called you by the Gospel, enlightened you with His gifts, sanctified and kept you—and continues to keep you—in the one true faith. It is only because Jesus has called you that you can be His follower in the first place.

And now that you are His disciple, it is hard to remain a follower. Jesus teaches this in the Gospel lesson in a rather radical way: either you follow Him down the road to the cross or you don’t. That call to discipleship remains, but it’s different. Jesus doesn’t call you to leave everything you have and faithfully follow Him to the top of some mountain or some remote commune. Rather, He calls you faithfully to follow Him exactly where you are.

That sounds less intimidating, but it can be just as difficult. The Lord has given to you people and things that you value very highly where you are, and you are set free from sin to be a steward of those things and a servant to those people. In fact, that stewardship and service are part of following Him. However, you will always be tempted to turn these very things into idols that you would follow first, before Jesus. One measure of this is to examine how you spend your time when these gifts of God interfere with worship and prayer, or how you devote spare time and resources when they interfere with your tithes and offerings.

There’s another, more painful measure of all of this: it is the measurement of loss. It is easy to be a follower of Jesus when it is given you to enjoy the gifts that he gives: a job you love, people you love, a home you enjoy, security, family, health. But remember: the things that you treasure most are also the most likely things to become idols. If you are honest with yourself, you’ll honestly admit that there are some things that would make it very hard to follow Jesus if you lost them. If you had to grieve the loss of that person or that thing, it would be difficult to follow Jesus because you would feel betrayed, because you’d feel that Jesus wasn’t all that powerful, or perhaps because you just didn’t see the point in doing anything like following anymore.

There are gifts of God that I hold dear and treasure thankfully, and I know that were I to lose them, I would be upset with God. That is not to my credit: it is simply a recognition of my sinful flesh. The temptation to stop following would be there, and it would only be by His ongoing grace and mercy that I would continue to follow. The same is true for you. We can see people and things. We can’t see Christ and salvation. We usually treasure more the things we’re given to see, not the things we’re given to believe.

So the law lessons of discipleship are given in this text for you and me. Facing loss and hurt, you’ll be like James and John, wanting to call down fire from heaven on your enemies—wanting the Lord to knock some heads together and prove He’s boss right now. You’ll want to make your following Him conditional on Him healing right now, restoring peace right now, returning what was lost right now. But when James and John tried to run discipleship that way, Jesus rebuked them. He kept His face set toward Jerusalem and kept going to the cross. Hard as it is, following Jesus doesn’t mean we get to hold onto things in a world that is passing away. It means that, because Jesus set His face and went to Jerusalem, you’re not going to pass away. Despite your sin and your presence in this world of loss, you’re going to live forever.

Tempted to idolize possessions and people, you’ll be like the three who wanted to follow Jesus in our text. You’ll want to add “as long as” and make discipleship conditional: I will follow “as long as I may keep the conveniences and schedule that I like,” “as long as it does not disturb the family peace,” “as long as the Lord does not permit me to lose what I value most,” “as long as I don’t have to leave where I am,” “as long as it doesn’t conflict with my plans.” Again, the devil doesn’t play fair, and he will take the gifts of God you value most and turn them into false gods to lead you away from Jesus.

The Lord may permit such things to be kept. He may permit them to be lost. But either way, He would bid you to remain His disciple. His follower. His beloved child, redeemed by His blood.

See, Jesus set His face and went to His death for you. Where you are half-hearted in your attempts to follow Him, He wholeheartedly shed His blood and breathed His last on the cross for you. Where you would value people and things over following Him, the sinless Son of God gave up everything—even His own life—in order to redeem you, to save you from idolatry, to make you His follower forever.

This news of His selfless sacrifice is not a guilt trip, a way to beat you up with the news that He’s better at this than you. It’s good news, the good news that your faith is not built upon your commitment to Jesus. It is founded on Jesus’ commitment to you. Let me say that again: your faith is not built upon your commitment to Jesus. It is founded on Jesus’ commitment to you. And where daily, in your weakness, you will falter in your following Him, He does not cease to offer you grace upon grace so that you might be His forever.

Dear friends, give thanks for the Savior you witness in our text as He somberly, purposefully sets His face and sets out for Jerusalem. It is for your salvation, for your eternal deliverance that He does so. He has died, and He is risen for you. The face once set on Jerusalem now shines upon you, to be gracious unto you. He gives you all good things, both people and possessions; and where He permits you to hold onto them, give thanks for His kindness and follow Him. Where there is loss, give thanks that the time of loss will end for His sake—that although all things in this world eventually comes to an end, you will not. Your Savior, Jesus, calls you to follow Him, and gives you forgiveness and life to be His follower forever. So you delight to follow Him, because you are forgiven for all of your sins. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Dear Friends in Christ Jesus,

“I believe that Jesus Christ has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil.” So the catechism’s explanation of the Second Article of the Creed sums up the very heart and centre of the Christian faith. Today’s Gospel reading on Jesus’ healing of a demon-possessed man expounds on the third evil from which we are saved—the power of the devil—in a most dramatic way.

After Jesus had just said to a sinful woman while reclining at the table in the house of a Pharisee by the name of Simon, “Your sins are forgiven”; those who were present said among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” And then, in the verses just previous to our text, we read that after Jesus calms the raging sea by the power of His Word, the disciples are filled with great fear and say to one another, “Who is this, that He commands even winds and water, and they obey Him?” Well, they are about to find out who this Jesus is in, of all places, “the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee.”

“The country of the Gerasenes” was a region of settlements inhabited not by Jews but by Greek-speaking Gentiles. That this Jewish prophet would sail across the Sea of Galilee to this region where unclean, unbelieving Gentiles lived—“a rebellious people who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices,” to use the words from today’s Old Testament Reading—is most significant. For the message that Jesus “has purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil” is not confined to the Jews or to one particular group, region, or country, but is meant for all people in all parts of the world. As St. Paul puts it in today’s Epistle Reading: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

And that is why, when Jesus steps out of the boat, He is immediately confronted by a man possessed by demons who “would break the chains and shackles” with which the people had tried to bind him and who “for a long time had worn no clothes and had not lived in a house but among the tombs.” After all, what was behind the false beliefs and worship practices of those first-century people from “the country of the Gerasenes”? Who is behind the immoral, idolatrous, evil, and wicked ways of twenty-first-century people here in this nation? Is it not the author of sin, the agent of death, “the father of lies, the murderer from the beginning,” as Jesus calls him—that is, the devil?

This is why St. Peter writes in his first epistle these words: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Or, as St. Paul says in Ephesians: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

Although the people who heard Jesus forgive the sins of that sinful woman in Simon the Pharisee’s house questioned among themselves who this Jesus is, and although the disciples wondered the same after He calmed the raging sea, there is someone who knows exactly who He is.

We read: “When the man from the city who had demons saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me. For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man.”

The writer of Hebrews declares, “the children share in flesh and blood, Jesus Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery”. These unclean spirits that possessed this man—more than one, for our text says: “Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Legion,’ for many demons had entered him”—“believe and shudder” to use the words of St. James. They believe that this Jesus is “true God, begotten of the Father from all eternity,” and then shudder—shudder because He is about to destroy them and their wicked works, shudder because they are powerless before Him, shudder because they are about to be cast into the abyss of hell.

“Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged Him to let them enter these. So He gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.” This dramatic account—of unclean spirits entering unclean pigs (“deviled ham,” as it were) and plunging over the cliff into the lake where the unclean pigs drown and the unclean spirits descend into the abyss—must have been especially meaningful to those early Christians who first heard and read of this event. After all, for those believers in Jesus who were being persecuted by the Roman government—oppressed and threatened by the famed and feared Roman legions—and considering that the favourite food ration of those legions was pork, swine’s flesh, and that the insignia on the shields of the Tenth Roman Legion stationed in Judea was a wild boar, what were they to make of Jesus commanding this demon—whose name is Legion—to come out of the man and enter some two thousand pigs, which then plunged into the watery abyss?

Why, just this—as Martin Luther puts it in his famous hymn:

“Though devils all the world should fill,
All eager to devour us,
We tremble not, we fear no ill;
They shall not overpow’r us.
This world’ s prince may still
Scowl fierce as he will,
He can harm us none.
He’ s judged; the deed is done;
One little Word can fell him.”

“And when the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. The people went out to see what had happened and how the demon-possessed man had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear.”

Now, we might well understand why those herdsmen whose pigs were floating around dead in the lake would be rather upset, but why all the people? Well, because they, too—like this demon—“believe and shudder.” They believe that this Jesus is much more than just some Jewish prophet; after all, He did something their soothsayers and incantations, their chains and shackles, could not do—He healed this demon-possessed man.

Moreover, Jesus did all of this not in the land of the Jews, but right here in their own country. And so, they shudder, filled with great fear—fear that this Jesus will cast out of them their own demons, which they rather enjoy and embrace: their wine, women, and song; their love of and preoccupation with money and pleasure; their religious beliefs and practices, to use the words from the Old Testament Reading, “of sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks; of sitting in tombs and spending the night in secret places; of eating pig’ s flesh and broth of tainted meat in their vessels.”

And filled with fear over what the one, holy, almighty God will do to them because of their spiritual uncleanness; shuddering over the possibility that this Jesus will cast them into the abyss along with the demons and pigs; they “ask Jesus to depart from them.”

But there is one individual who is not filled with fear, one person who sees and regards Jesus as a loving Saviour, as the Redeemer from sin, death, and the devil—“the man from whom the demons had gone out and who is sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.” And
that is the change that Jesus also works in the hearts and minds of people like you and me who are oppressed by the devil—what He works in us through the power of His authoritative Word. So St. Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians: “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. But
God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

And in a way very similar to this man, we, too, have been exorcised of our demons. In the Order of Holy Baptism, for instance, we hear these words: “The Word of God teaches that we are all conceived and born sinful and under the power of the devil until Christ claims us as His own.”

As a result, we are now clothed and in our right minds—clothed with the righteousness and holiness of Jesus Himself, which covers the nakedness of our sins and all our uncleanness; in our right minds, made right by sitting at Jesus’ feet and hearing His Word; minds that know the love, grace, and mercy that the one true God has shown us and bestows upon unclean sinners in His own Son; minds that now partake not of the ‘deviled ham sandwiches’ of this world but of the heavenly food of the holy Body and Blood of the Lamb of God, who has overcome sin, death, and the devil by His sacrificial death and resurrection from the dead.

Now, as Jesus gets back into the boat and is about to cross the lake and return to Galilee, this man begs that he might go along with Him—echoing, as it were, the desire of the apostle Paul who said, “I would rather depart and be with Christ Jesus.” But as with Paul who said, “God called me by His grace, and was pleased to reveal His Son to me, in order that I might preach Him among the Gentiles”, so also with this man. For Jesus is not going to leave these people in the country of the Gerasenes to their demons. Instead, He says to him, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And with the result that “he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.”

The Holy Spirit blessed this man’s proclamation of Jesus Christ—this man whom we might call ‘the first apostle to the Gentiles’—for the next time Jesus returns to this neck of the woods, about six months later, we are told that a large crowd came out to sit at His feet and hear His Word.
In fact, from early church history we learn that by the second century a large number of Christians inhabited this “country of the Gerasenes,” and that a representative from the church at Gerasa would participate in that church council in Nicaea where, on the basis of the Scriptures, was formalized the answer to that question concerning who this Jesus is—the Nicene Creed that we confess still today: “I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven.”

In this dramatic event we have, in its simplest form, the commission Jesus has also given to each one of us at our baptism, the task He again gives to us this day: “Now that I have redeemed you from sin, death, and the devil with My holy precious blood and My innocent suffering and death, return to your home and tell others around you how much I have done for you. Go back to that station in life, that vocation into which I have placed you and there, in word and in deed, ‘proclaim the wonderful deeds of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light’.” In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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In the name of the Holy Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

We Pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen

Dear Friends in Christ,

‘It doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you are sincere in what you believe.’ That’s a popular opinion that you hear these days, isn’t it? But when you stop to think about, it makes no sense. ‘I sincerely believe that it doesn’t matter if I were to drive down the highway at 150 kilometers-an-hour after consuming a six-pack of beer.’ I wonder, however, if the RCMP would think that it doesn’t matter?! Or take this popular one: ‘I believe in God . . . as I understand God to be.’ Or this one: ‘I believe that all religions are just different paths to God.’ But is this really so? After all, contrast those popular statements and common ideas with what the Athanasian Creed, that we confess on this Trinity Sunday, says. “Who-ever desires to be saved must believe” . . . this. And then a bunch of things are said: “One God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity. Equal in glory and majesty. Uncreated, infinite, eternal, almighty. The Son not created but begotten. The Holy Spirit neither created nor begotten, but proceeding.” And further: “Jesus Christ at the same time both God and man, who suffered for our salvation, rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, and will come to judge the living and the dead.” that’s what we confess.

That’s what we believe. And do you know what? It matters! But why does it matter? That’s a question many are asking these days. And some would say, ‘It doesn’t matter!’ It doesn’t matter to the millions of people in Ukraine who have lost everything as a result of the devastation caused by the Russian invasion of their country. It doesn’t matter to those who are mourning the loss of a loved one, or to those who lost their job and don’t know how they’re going to make ends meet. It doesn’t matter to those whose marriage has fallen apart, or to those who received the dreaded news of cancer from their doctor after a check-up. It doesn’t matter when inflation and covid continue to dominate not only the news, but our daily lives.

Cold, hard facts like the Athanasian Creed don’t matter when the rubber of faith meets the hard road of life. And the church, therefore, needs to be more loving and accepting, more practical and less doctrinal – so some would say . . . even many within the church.

But these practical matters are precisely why it does matter! Love and doctrine are not opposites . . . or at least they should not be. For since the Scriptures tell us that “God is love,” then to know God is to know love. Conversely, to not know God is to not know love. And when the Athanasian Creed says “whoever desires to be saved must believe”. . . this, and this, and this; it says that not because you have to pass a test and have all the right knowledge in order to get into heaven – although that’s probably how it sounds sometimes. No, it matters because to know God correctly is to know His love for you . . . to know that in love God died for you.

The Christian faith, you see, is not about good people doing good things in good ways in order to have a good life. Instead, it’s about God, who alone is good, dying (on a cross of all things) for no-good sinners. It’s about a loving God doing good things for un-loveable people. More specifically, it’s about God the Father giving His own Son into death as the payment price for the sins of the entire world, and who then gives the Holy Spirit to join us to Himself both now and forever.

That’s who God is and that’s what God does. The two go together. And you either have both, or you have neither. So St. John puts it in his First Epistle: “This is love: not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Whoever, therefore, confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” And that’s why it matters. That’s why “whoever desires to be saved must believe” . . . this. It’s a matter of life and death. And if God only loves us when we are good? . . . well, that matters. If it wasn’t God Himself dying on a cross to pay for your sins . . . that matters. If there are many ways to get to heaven and the Son of God did not really have to become one of us in order to die in our place on a cross . . . that matters.

But, on the other hand, if God in love desires to save us for eternity . . . if He sent His eternal, only-begotten Son into our flesh to accomplish this by dying Himself . . . if He sends His Spirit by means of His Word to give to us personally the blessings of what happened there on the cross and to be with us and comfort us through all the trials and troubles and tragedies of life . . . well, that matters most of all!

Yes, it matters that we know correctly who God is . . . and not just the facts about God – Three in One and One in three and all that; but what God has done for us in a manger and on a cross at a real time and a real place in the course of history. For, there, God shows His great love for us sinners. There, God shows that He will never leave us or forsake us, no matter how bad things get. And that matters!

In fact, that was the plan of God from before the foundation of the world. It’s who God is and what God does. We heard in the Old Testament Reading from the book of Proverbs that Wisdom – the Son – was there with the Father at creation. They delighted in and loved one another, and they delighted in and loved their creation. And then, St. Peter in his Pentecost sermon spells out how God’s plan to redeem His creation from sin and death had been revealed long ago, and then accomplished by Jesus. Yes, Jesus who is before Abraham and also the promised offspring of Abraham . . . Jesus who shows us the Father and His love for us . . . Jesus who sends the Holy Spirit to give to us, to join us to, to unite us in that love so that we might truly know God and His love.

But that’s precisely what the Jews of Jesus’ day, what so many people today, can-not wrap their heads around and, in their hardness of hearts, do not accept – this amazing love of God for sinners. But if God is not this, and if God does not do this for us; then we are the ones who must do it. Bear our own sin. Find our own way to eternal life. Be our own saviour. The Jews here in our text foolishly thought they could do that . . . and so also many people today. To which, how-ever, Jesus would remind us: “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

And do you know what? That matters. It matters, when death is staring you in the face, that you have been baptized into the name of the Holy Trinity who has defeated death and the grave for you. It matters, when the trials and tumults and tribulations of this world come upon you, that you receive the Body and Blood of the only-begotten Son of God and Son of Mary who has endured all this for you, who knows how it is to carry burdens, and who has promised to be with you and never leave you or forsake you. It matters, when the thought of all your sins and failures and shortcomings cause you to be afraid of standing before the judgment seat of the Lord and Creator of all on the Last Day, that here and now He says to you through the Holy Spirit: “I forgive you all your sins. If anyone abides in My Word, he will never see death.”

“The catholic faith” is what the Athanasian Creed calls all this. Yes, ‘catholic’; that is, universal, that which at all times and in all places is to be believed, taught, and confessed because God’s love in His Son is meant for everyone, for all people. . . including, therefore, you and me; and not just for a select few. Yes, God for you . . . God with you . . . God in you. The Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity. That matters! And that is something, as the Athanasian Creed reminds us, to keep, to guard, to treasure, to hold on to, to share with others, to stand firm in. After all, “This is the catholic faith; whoever does not believe it faithfully and firmly cannot be saved.” But whoever does believe it has precisely what the Triune God offers in Christ: forgiveness of sins, life, and eternal salvation. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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I. Introduction

Dear Friends in Christ,

You probably know that I usually arrive at my office around 8:30 on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Last September I noticed a gentle, melodic sound that repeated every morning around 8:40. It sounded like someone’s phone or electronic device, but it only lasted for a couple of seconds. Eventually it dawned on me that it was, in fact, the signal from the school across the street calling students to come to their classes.

Now 70 years ago things were a little different. My teacher, Mrs. Eilers, was sitting at her desk, correcting papers, when she looked up at the clock on the wall and saw it was time for the children to come in from recess. Some were playing behind the school on the swing set. Others were over behind the church next door. Still others were playing hopscotch on the sidewalk in front of the school. She needed to get their attention. She needed to save her voice so she can teach the children, so she uses a bell like this one (ring bell) Did that get your attention?

Today is Pentecost. We remember this day as the special day when God the Holy Spirit got the attention of His people.

II. How did the Holy Spirit get their attention? — not with a gentle chime, not with a bell. But in three different ways the Holy Spirit got the attention of people that day.

A. First, there was wind and fire. Jesus had told his disciples that after he left them they would not go back to their occupations, but would be his witnesses (Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth). But they would need a leader, a Counsellor. He would send them the Counsellor, the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit. They were to go back to Jerusalem and wait for his arrival.

But how would they know when he had arrived? He made himself known through wind and fire. We are told: “When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.”

When God wants to make His presence known, He is loud and bright. When He appeared to the Children of Israel on Mt. Sinai after the Exodus, the Lord came with a loud trumpet sound, and with smoke and fire. God wanted His people both to hear and see what He is about to do!

B. He also gets their attention by giving the Apostles the special ability to speak in different languages. You see, the Holy Spirit also wanted to get the attention of the people in Jerusalem. It was Pentecost. Thousands and thousands had come for the harvest festival. They had come from many different countries and nationalities. As we heard in today’s text, there were “Parthians and Medes, Elamites and Mesopotamians, people from Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia. Some had come from Phrygia and Pamphylia and Egypt and Libya, others from Rome. There were Jews and converts to Judaism, Arabs and people from the Island of Crete.” God the Holy Spirit wanted all these people to hear the Gospel — that good news that Jesus had suffered, died and rose again to make them God’s own people. How would he get their attention? Well, he gave the disciples the special ability to speak in these very languages that they had never learned before.

The great miracle of the Tower of Babel was revisited! There, you will remember, all people spoke the same language. In their pride they determined to build a great tower that would reach the heavens and make a name for themselves. This action was to rivel and displace the need for God. So the Lord took action. “Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech…and from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.”

But now, at Pentecost, the Lord wants all people to hear and understand what He has done. So the Apostles can communicate clearly in each person’s own language. “How is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? …we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God”

C. The third way the Holy Spirit gets their attention is by the Preaching of the Gospel. Now that the Holy Spirit got the attention of their minds, how would he get the attention of their hearts? It is one thing to get people’s attention by doing something flashy, something exciting, something powerful or colorful, but it’s another thing to get the attention of their hearts — or to change their hearts. The Holy Spirit used the words of Peter — Peter’s sermon. They were words that spoke two messages: the message of Law and the message of Gospel. Let’s see what those two messages were.

1. The message of the Law — “You put him to death”!
Peter is probably speaking in the courtyard of the Temple. He knows that among his audience are those people who made up the bloodthirsty mob of Good Friday who demanded Jesus’ crucifixion. Perhaps some were the temple guard who had arrested Jesus in Gethsemane. Perhaps some were the witnesses who gave false testimony against Jesus at his trial. Maybe others were among those bullied by the priests and pharisees to shout for Jesus crucifixion. Peter doesn’t shrink from telling them the truth: they put to death the innocent Son of God.

“Men of Israel”, Peter says, “Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know – this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” Peter’s words are words of judgement, words of law.

2. But Peter used a second message to reach the hearts of the people that day — The message of the Gospel — “But God raised him to life”
You see, the law can only condemn the sinner. But Peter goes on to proclaim the good news, Gospel news. He who was crucified was handed over to them by God’s own set purpose and foreknowledge. And now He has been raised to life just as King David had prophesied — set free from the agony of death because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. Furthermore, He has now been exalted to the right hand of God where he reigns as Lord of all!

3. The Holy Spirit got the attention of their hearts through the preaching of God’s Word. And the people responded to the preached word with hearts that were now turned to God: “Brothers, what shall we do?” they asked.

Peter told them to repent and be baptized so that their sins could be forgiven and they too could receive the Holy Spirit. And that’s what happened that day — 3,000 were baptized. A little while later we are told that the number grew to 5,000… and then we are told that every day more and more were being added because of the preaching of the apostles. God the Holy Spirit continued to actively change hearts through the power of the Gospel.

III. Your heart has already been changed by the preaching of the Law and Gospel. The Holy Spirit got your attention with water and the word. — not a noisy, clanging bell, but the gentle sound of water running off your head and into a basin. There God changed you so you became His person. Are you still his person?

A. Sometimes you might not feel like it. You may feel that God has abandoned you. You worked hard for him, but somehow he has let some hurt or trouble come into your life. You may feel you are walking alone.

B. More likely, it is not you who has abandoned God — disobeying his commandments, breaking faith with God, living for yourself?

C. But the truth is, God has not abandoned you. In your hurt and trouble He is still with you. Even in your disobedience, he does not abandon you. He loves you still. He calls you to return to him in faith. The Holy Spirit continues to work today to restore and renew the faith of God’s people. This morning He is doing it through the preaching of his word (and in a few minutes He will do the same thing through the body and blood of Jesus given and shed for you).

IV. Conclusion

Dear friends in Christ, God the Holy Spirit wants your attention. He has much to teach you. He is the Spirit of Truth who will lead you into the truth about your disobedience. He is the Counsellor who will comfort and guide you when you are lost and alone. He has called you to faith and is working so hard to keep you strong in faith, pointing you again and again to Jesus Christ, your Savior.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Acts 1:26: “And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.”

This is our text. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Dear Friends in Christ,

For some reason it seems that our Lord likes to work in twelves. That’s the number of His people. In the Old Testament, it’s the twelve tribes of Israel—descendants of the twelve sons of Jacob. In the New Testament, it’s the twelve apostles; and the new Israel, the Church, will be descendants of the Word they preach.

Now, the number twelve doesn’t prescribe anything for the Church in terms of practice: we don’t have to meet here in multiples of twelve in order to be pleasing to God or anything like that. But twelve has significance in Scripture: quite often when you hear it, it’s usually there to remind you that the Lord has His people—and the Lord is faithful to His people.

As our text begins, there are eleven apostles, not twelve. Judas is gone, and you’re treated to a rather graphic description of his end in our reading. There’s a reason for this, I think: the language is rich with comparisons between the Savior, just ascended into heaven; and Judas, His betrayer.

Peter points out in our text that there were prophecies of Judas in the Old Testament, just as there were prophecies of Jesus. According to the psalms, the camp of Judas would be desolate and uninhabited—but Jesus would gather the nations. The office of apostle that Judas held would go to another, but Jesus would reign forever.

The contrast continues: Judas, Peter says, was numbered among the apostles—but his position profited nothing because of his unbelief. Jesus, on the other hand, was numbered among the transgressors, says Isaiah—and His office there redeemed the world from sin.

There is similarity in death between Jesus and Judas: both were hanged on a tree, and Deuteronomy 21:23 declares that the one who is hanged on a tree is cursed. Jesus was nailed to the tree of the cross by His enemies and judged by God for the sins of the world—because He bore the curse of sin, He made the sacrifice for all. Judas hanged himself in utter despair—not a sacrifice for others, but an act of selfish loathing. Because he rejected the grace his Savior offered, he kept the curse of sin for himself.

There’s a striking difference to their bodies after death. Jesus was pierced in the side: blood and water flowed to declare salvation and life in His name. Judas’ side opened and “his bowels gushed out” — a testimony of the corruption sin brings.

Jesus was laid in a tomb: friends and followers still honored Him in death. He was given a proper burial in a rich man’s tomb, and the women even returned with spices to complete the work early on that Easter morning. There’s no sign that Judas was buried: instead, he fell headlong into a field, says our text. I can imagine the burial crew cutting him down and heaving him onto the dirt as the sun was near setting. Throughout Scripture, the one who is left unburied is the one who has no friends or family left to bury him. There is no one left willing to associate with him: it is a sign of utter forsakenness.

Laid in a borrowed tomb, Jesus was buried in the creation He came to redeem. Ironically, Judas was cast onto the field purchased with the thirty pieces of silver he received for betraying Jesus.

Finally, remember that this text takes place just after Jesus has ascended into heaven, having gone to prepare a place for His people. When the disciples pray in our text, they note that Judas has gone to “his own place.” He is not with God. Whatever else hell is, the greatest curse of it is to be cut off from God, from His grace and life forever. This is a despair that you and I cannot possibly fathom in this lifetime, because this world is not God-forsaken.

So the lengthy description of Judas’ end preaches the Law to you: the one who rejects the Lord and His grace faces corruption and death, cut off from God. In contrast, the death of Jesus proclaims the Gospel to you, because it is the Gospel: He is crucified and raised so that you might be with God forever.

So as our text begins, Jesus is gone—ascended into heaven. Judas is…just gone. The twelve are down to eleven. They’re incomplete—and God is not one to leave things incomplete. Peter takes the lead and addresses the believers, about 120 of them. He proposes a replacement for Judas. It is to be a man who has followed Jesus since He was baptized by John—a follower from the start who wasn’t one of the twelve. At least two men among the 120 fit the description: Joseph—called Barsabbas but also known as Justus, and Matthias. The plan seems good to the believers, so they pray and cast lots. This doesn’t necessarily mean a blind draw, by the way. Sometimes in Scripture, it’s like a roll of the dice, as when soldiers cast lots for Jesus’ clothing. At other times, though, lots are cast as a voting system. At any rate, what we know is this: the believers cast lots, and Matthias is chosen as the replacement. The Lord has His twelve again.

What happens to Matthias after this? We don’t know. He disappears from Scripture. With other apostles, historical tradition usually sticks to one story about what happened to them; but with Matthias, there are several different traditions which disagree with one another. So this is the story of Matthias: he’s an unknown follower of Jesus from the beginning; he’s chosen as the twelfth apostle, and then we hear nothing more of him. So we don’t know Matthias. That’s all right: we’ll meet him eventually in heaven. In the meantime, we know that that Lord knows Matthias; and for Matthias, that’s what matters.

Furthermore, we rejoice that the Lord has His twelve again: and again, from the Word that they preach, the new Israel—the Church—will be born. The Word will spread to all nations and endure throughout history; and as the Lord did not forget Matthias, He will not forget one of those who believes in Christ and Him crucified. The believers add up over time: in Revelation, they’re described as a multitude no one can number; but, nearly in the same breath, John gives them a number—144,000. It’s not a literal number, but a symbolic one. 144,000 equals 12 x 12 x 1000: it stands for all the believers of the Old Testament (the first 12) and all the believers of the New Testament (the second 12), because 1000 is a number that symbolizes “all.”

So what does all of this mean for you? You are numbered among the people of God. You are among the 144,000 that no one can number. The Lord brought you in by the waters of Holy Baptism and placed His name upon you: He marked you as His own and promised, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” He’s chosen you to be His. Of course, He also chose Judas to be His disciple, and Judas fell from the faith. That is why the Lord graciously visits you in His Word and by His Supper, to strengthen and preserve you in the one true faith unto life everlasting.

So in the end, this story of Jesus, Judas and Matthias is one of comfort for those who are near to despair, who are troubled that they are God-forsaken and left to destruction as Judas was. You are not. Christ has died for all of your sins. He is risen from the dead, and ascended into heaven to rule over all things for your good. He has called you as His own beloved child. He promises, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” He didn’t forget the unknown Matthias, and He will not forget you. The devil will do his best to make you think the Lord has forsaken you, but the Lord’s Word is sure. You are numbered among the 144,000, among the people of God—because you are forgiven for all of your sins.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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