Reformation Day Observed

 

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

    What tries to enslave you? In your life, what are the things, the silly, the stupid, the outright wicked things, that try to trap you, that get their claws into you and you just can't get out of them? I'm not expecting an answer right now, and certainly not out loud – but just have this in the back of your mind as we start to enter on into this sermon today – what things control you, or drive you, or push you around? What enslaves you, because there's going to be something that does.

    But more on that later. As we come across Jesus in our Gospel reading for this Reformation Day, He is having a conversation. Jesus had just proclaimed that He was the Light of the World, that He would be lifted up – and people are listening. They are getting interested. Sounds like a lot of neat stuff with this Jesus fellow, maybe this will be a cool crowd to run with. And so Jesus looks at these inquirers, and He says to them something interesting: If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Now, this is a packed, dense sentence – and it sets off a firestorm that seems odd to us on first glance. I mean, Jesus really ticks off people by saying this – so let's take our time pondering it and applying it, and then going through the text.

    So, to start – If you abide in My Word. This is the premise, the set up for the point that Jesus makes – and we can miss the point. We hear that word if, and we think we're getting ready to hear something that is optional, something that is a maybe – if you want you, maybe we could, I don't know, spend some time in the Word or something. It's just a possiblity. It's “iffy” - not really. That's not at all what Jesus is doing here. Jesus uses what I call the Greek Logical If. “If” in Greek was used not to express a possibility but to establish conditions in logical chains – it's the if then statements. If you walk out in the rain without an umbrella, then you will get wet. When I say that, I'm not discussing whether or not you will go outside in the rain or whether or not should – I'm simply discussing the reality of the situation, what logically will happen. If you touch a hot stove, you will burn your hand. You set the situation, and then you describe what will happen in that situation.

    So – here's the set up – If you abide in My Word. You guys have started listening to Me, you're hearing My preaching. Don't think that is just a casual, flippant thing with no impact. No – let's say that you abide in My Word – that you don't just dabble in it, that you don't just let it go in one ear and out the other, but you abide – if you stay in My Word with My Word continually going into your ears – there's going to be an impact you. Jesus' Word is living and active, and if you are in the Word, that Word is going to have an impact upon you – it simply will. And what is that impact?

    … you are truly My disciples. Jesus' Word will turn you into a disciple. Being a disciple of Jesus happens only because of the Power of His Word, only because that Word hits you, and the Holy Spirit comes along, and you are made a disciple. Now, what does that mean, what's the implication of being called a “disciple”? Well, it means that you're a student – that you are going to be made to learn, made to grow, made to understand. And some of those lessons will be hard – and you'll end up learning things about yourself that you might not like to learn. And when one is a disciple, one is also under discipline – disciple and discipline are related words. God's Word will shape your life, establish boundaries, keep you in those boundaries, make you drop and give God 20 when you transgress them. And the Word will whip you into shape, make you a lean, mean love your neighbor machine – you're in the Lord's Army now and called to serve you neighbor. And the Word of Jesus is just going to do that to you whenever you happen to hang around that Word of God.

    And that Word, that disciple-ing and disciplining, will do another thing at the same time – and you will know the Truth. Jesus isn't just talking about truth in an abstract way, like metaphysical truths or some fancy, high faluting gobbledegook. No, Jesus says later in John, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no man comes to the Father but by Me.” By Jesus' Word, you will be brought into relationship with Jesus. You will experience Christ Jesus, you will come into the presence of God, or perhaps more accurately by His Word Jesus will come crashing into your life – and all the cards will be on the table. Jesus will be with you by His Word, and you won't be able to side step Him, or control Him, or pull the wool over His eyes, because Jesus is the Truth, and He knows you and you will be made to know Him by the Word.

    And you know what Jesus comes to you to do, what Jesus is seeking to accomplish by sending you His Word and making you His disciple and barging into your life and establishing this relationship of Truth with you? And the Truth will set you free. Jesus comes to set you free, to rescue you and release you from the power of sin, from bondage to Satan and Evil, from the fear of death.

    And yet, what's the reaction? They answered Him, we are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, “You will become free?” Do you hear how they recoil from this assertion that Jesus makes, this plan and pattern He sets forth? How dare You, Jesus – how dare You even insinuate that we need to be set free from anything. Why, we're good children of Abraham and have never been enslaved! Oh really? Well, our Sunday School classes have been going over the Exodus, which is all about how, oh, how does that go – oh, yeah, when God rescued the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt. And the 10 commandments are prefaced with, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and out of the house of Bondage.” And the Passover is celebrated to commemorate when God rescued you from slavery? How do you people get off saying that you've never been enslaved to anyone? How do you say that when you've got Romans ruling over you instead of your own king?

    Do you see what has happened here? The people grousing against Jesus – they aren't seeing reality. They are denying reality. And why? Well, Jesus spells it out for them. Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. You can't see reality, you fight against the Truth, you recoil from Jesus because of sin. You do sin, you do sinful stuff – and you're stuck in it. You're so stuck in it that you can't see reality in front of your face. Sin warps and twists your perception of reality, of the world, of yourself so that you can't actually see what is real and right and true. And sin keeps you trapped, enslaved, bound in those delusions. Sin binds you to vice like an addict, sin distracts you and never lets you what is good, sin tells you that you can have it all if you just do a bit more bow down and worship sin and all the while sin spreads you thin and grinds you down to nothing. And there are other analogies we could use but Jesus wraps them all up neatly - everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.

    You too, O people of Trinity. All of us here in this room – this applies to all of us. What tries to enslave you? In your life, what are the things, the silly, the stupid, the outright wicked things that try to trap you, that get their claws into you and you just can't get out of them? Because that's the reality of sin – that's what it means to be sinful. That there are things that enslave you; there are vices that call you to, there's wicked emotions that dominate you and how you see things, there are frailties and weights that simply hang on you and wear you down. There are things that enslave you. And on the one hand, they're different for all of us. Each of us have different sinful chains wrapped upon us, and what tempts you might not really tempt me; and something that blinds me you might see right through. There's wide variety. But on the other hand – it's all just the same damn (literally) thing. Satan messing with you, messing with me, and trying to wreck us.

    The slave does not remain in the house forever; the Son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. We don't last, and the things we get tempted towards, they don't last. Sin brings with it death and decay, and the false promises that we are enslaved to, especially the ones we actually enjoy... they all fall apart. Sometimes we'll hit bottom and see it; sometimes we'll stay happily in sinful delusions. “With might of ours can naught be done, soon were our loss effected.” That's what we just sang a few minutes ago describing this reality. But Jesus, Jesus is free from Sin. Jesus has conquered over sin and death. Jesus strides to the Cross and He dies, and then He rises – all those tricks, all those lures, all those chains of Satan that wreck us don't do a thing to Jesus. He remains forever. His Word remains forever. And Jesus does something wondrous, something amazing. Jesus comes to you with His Word, and Jesus Himself sets you free. Jesus sets you from from sin with His forgiveness; He sets you free from temptation by giving you life; He sets you free from death by giving you His resurrection so that you too will rise from the dead.

    And all of this happens whenever Jesus comes to you with His Word and makes you live, abide, remain in His Word. It happens when He baptizes you with water and His Word and the Holy Spirit makes you His temple, a temple of Christ's Truth over and against the power of sin. It happens when the Word abides with you when He places His very Body upon your tongue, His Blood upon your lips. And this is a wondrous thing, a powerful thing – something that wrecks our sinful delusions, even the ones we like. Something that is so far beyond our control, because it is God Himself at work for you and in you, and we don't get to control God.

    This is our text for Reformation Day, because the story of the world, of the church, ever since the fall is people running away from Jesus and choosing slavery to sin. It's people trying to squash and ignore the Word of God and grasp vainly for control. A little over 500 years ago the Scriptures were literally chained up and in a language most people couldn't understand. “But for us fights the Valiant One, whom God Himself elected. Ask ye, who is this? Jesus Christ it is, of Sabaoth Lord, and there's none other God. He holds the field forever.” None of that stops Jesus. He comes in with His Word, because Christ and His Word cannot be contained, and over and over He breaks into the world with His liberating truth – and He even breaks into your life, even when there are times you run away from Him – and He puts you squarely in His Word, and He makes you His disciple, and He makes you know His love, His true love for you, and He frees you now from sin even until you are fully and finally freed from sin eternally in the life of the world to come. Because Jesus finds you, lost, batter, enslaved to sin, and He reforms you, makes you into His new creation, His baptized brother, His baptized sister – and He prepares and pulls you unto life everlasting. Jesus wins – and He frees you. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

Trinity 20 Sermon

 

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

    The end is approaching. We are approaching the Reformation Day and then the End of the Church year, which means our readings will pick up the intensity and begin to shift our focus to the end times, to the Second Coming of Christ – and then on to Advent where we ponder Christ's first coming at Christmas. But the readings for the next few weeks will be... intense. Or even, intensified. Earlier this year we heard a parable about people invited to a feast, and they reject, go get the blind and the lame that my house may be filled. It was strict and blunt – but now, at the end of the Gospel, when Jesus tells a parable with similar themes, but the stakes are all raised. Listen.

    The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. So far, a common, familiar story. You're invited to the feast, please come – oh, you don't want to come. The number of pastors who lament in sermons people not coming to the feast is uncountable – we get the gist. But do you hear the intensification here? It's not just a rich man who throws the feast; it's the king. It's one thing to be rich; it's another to be the ruler who has the power and authority to execute and destroy the ruffians and scoundrels. And all the polite excuses – they are gone. It's just they won't come. But the King is persistent. Again he sent other servants, saying, “Tell those who are invited, 'See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.'” Guys, I'm the king, and I'm doing something good for you. This is a good thing for you – now get here all ready. I told you once, and I've told you twice, get your kiesters moving. But, alas, those who were invited intensify their rejection as well. But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. Think of the insult here. First of all, to not pay attention. The King speaks to you – meh, who cares. The King has sent His Messengers to declare great things for you – yeah, I've got some drawers at work to clean out, I'll just be over here. To treat the word of the King as unimportant – that's vile enough. But it gets worse. While some pay no attention at all, others decide to be openly and outright wicked and batter and bruise and kill the servants. To parade their bodies around in shame; to dance around and jeer at the corpses. You understand the vileness here, right?

    Of course, what Jesus is really doing in this parable is He's giving the history of the Old Testament. Again. Over and over Jesus has pointed out how in her history Israel had repeatedly fallen away from the Word of God, ignored the promises, stayed home instead of coming to the religious feasts, and even stoned and killed the prophets. Over and over disdain arose in the land, and over and over the result was the same. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. This is the story of the Old Testament. The people ignore and reject God, and then the foreign troops come and enact God's vengeance, clearing out the idolaters and disdainers of God's Word. Go leaf through the book of Judges – it happens there again and again. This is why God let the Philistines rage against the Israelites. It's why God sent Assyria against the Northern Kingdom. When the people of Jerusalem brought pagan worship and idolatry into the temple itself, it's no surprise that God sends in the Babylonians. God warned them – but Jeremiah and Daniel and Ezekiel were all treated shamefully and ignored – and then the destruction came.

    This is the pattern. Ignore the Word of God, ignore the invitation of the King at your own peril. Well, they ignored Jesus, and around 40 years after Jesus speaks these Words the Romans destroy Jerusalem again. And, to be uncomfortably to the point, it applies to the history of the New Testament as well. Christian Rome becomes power hungry instead of hungering for the feast of God, and it gets wrecked and ruined. The Middle East and North Africa used to the be heart of Christianity until they grew cold and were laid waste by the Muslims. The letters of Paul were written to churches in towns that all were wrecked centuries later by foreign invaders. Indeed, it's the history of Europe in the 19^th and 20^th Centuries – the collapse of Christian Faith in Europe leading to wars unimaginable – that's all part of why many of our ancestors fled the Old world and came to the New – they were fleeing the wrath that was to come. Ignore God's Word at your own peril.

    Boy Pastor, who put a bee in your bonnet? Well, it's just Scripture and History playing out – and it's what Jesus has told us that we should expect to play out even until He comes again. Hearts growing cold, wars and rumors of war, depravity and injustice, people not recognizing the gifts of God and seeking other wicked things. It's what we see today. Because the temptation that Satan has always leveled in the past and will level against you stays the same – to get you to ignore the Word of God and the invitation of the King. To reject God's blessings.

    Then He said to his servants, “The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you can find.” And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. But the king is still determined to have his feast. And being brought to the feast isn't going to be based upon how good you are, how wise you are, how grateful or pious you are. Both bad and good are gathered – and note that the bad gets mentioned first. And this is where it's refreshing to be a Lutheran today, to start off the service with confession and absolution. None of us here need to try to prove that we're good enough to be here – I know you all sinned a ton this past week; I just heard you say it. And you heard me say it about myself, too. We're not here because of how great we are – we are only here, all of us, because Christ our King is so amazingly persistent at sending out His invitation to His feast. Over and over again, across the generations, after He's been rejected and abandoned and disdained, still Christ's invitation to the Feast – the Feast today here in this House as well at the Eternal, everlasting Feast in the life of the world to come – that invitation still goes forth. And it's come to you! And you're here! Fantastic! Rejoice! But don't slough it off, and don't presume upon it, and don't disdain it – because that's the stuff that leads to destruction.

    And don't forget how and why you're here. But when the king came into to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?” And he was speecheless. And the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” You see, back in the day, at wedding party everyone would be given an outfit to wear – and we'd all dress the same. Everyone would be equal; the party wouldn't turn into some petty fashion contest – we're all just going to be here together and all equally valued. If you rejected that garment, it would be an insult. A vile one. It would almost be like a groomsman today refusing to wear the same outfit as the other groomsmen – it's just utterly jerkish and idiotic.

    So how are you here? Why are you here? Well, Christ's feast is the feast of forgiveness – and we're all here in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit – that's how we started right? We're here as the baptized, as those clothed in the robes, the wedding garments, of Christ's righteousness. We're here as the forgiven, where we are welcomed not only at Christ's invitation but on account of Christ and as those baptized into Christ. We're forgiven people. That's how we're here. And that's why we're here; the Church isn't a way for you to toot your own self-righteous horn or show how great you are or just to keep grandma happy so she leaves you in the will – it's a forgiveness place for the forgiven. And to put it as bluntly as Jesus – if you don't want forgiveness, well, you won't get it. You can have the outer darkness and the wailing and gnashing of teeth if you insist – but that would be quite stupid and dumb.

    For many are called but few are chosen. Alright – how many of you hear that, especially after the sermon so far, and get a little shiver down your spine? You shouldn't. That word for “chosen” in Greek is a word you know – it's eclectoi” - from which we get the word ecletic in English, but more importantly the word “elected”, To be “elected” means you have been “chosen”. And while there is warning in this parable, this word, this wonderful word “chosen” - “elected” - this is to be a great comfort to you. You have been chosen by God, you have been elected, you have been selected. You have been not only called out of darkness, but you have been chosen, elected, placed into His marvelous light. God has claimed you for salvation, He's brought you into His family, He has washed you in Holy Baptism – He's given you the robe of Christ's Righteousness – you've got everything you need for salvation because Christ has done it all for you already. And so yes, the call goes out, yes the Word goes forth – and there will be disdain and ignoring – but you, you've been chosen by God, elected, selected, placed right here. And it's all good – Jesus has it in the bag for you. He's died, and your sin is atoned for. He's risen, so your life is secure. He's got His feast of life and salvation ready to go – the feast of the Victory of our God is here – and you're clothed in Christ's righteousness and ready to go. God grant that more come – but you, you're here, and Christ Jesus is present here for you with His forgiveness, and you receive it. Thanks be to God. That's everything.

    So do you see? You have been given everything by Jesus and in Jesus. You are people of forgiveness and mercy and grace – that's who you are and how you live. You're Christ's feast people. Satan will try to wrest you away from that, sin will try to pull you away from that. And these are serious attacks, and if left on our own, none of us would stand before them. But Christ Jesus has claimed you, and baptized you, and clothed you in His own righteousness and brought to you His feast. And the world outside might bray and howl louder and more devilishly – but that has nothing to do with you, for you are in Christ Jesus. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

Christian Virtue

 The chief Christian Virtue is believing the 6th Petition of the Lord's Prayer.

The Christian life IS forgiveness.  Forgiveness received and forgiveness in Christ's name proclaimed.

Only where Christ's forgiveness is central can there be any Christian virtue, for where there is forgiveness, there is also life and salvation.

Any discussion of "virtue" detached from receiving and proclaiming forgiveness is nothing but the virtue of a well whitewashed tomb.

Trinity 19 Sermon

 

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

    Growing up, I remember always being struck at how it seemed odd that Jesus would deal with forgiving the paralyzed guy before He healed Him. That was the thing that struck me as strange in the text – surely the guy needs healing. Of course, behind that reaction, behind that assumption that the healing was the big thing, the miracle, was a faulty assumption on my part. See, I grew up in the Church, and so I was simply used to forgiveness being everywhere. Every service, there would be confession and absolution. Every service, calls for mercy. Every service, Christ and Him Crucified preached. Every hymn, revolving around forgiveness. Yes, forgiveness is everywhere in the Church. In fact, it is my job to make sure that forgiveness permeates this place – as a Pastor I am, if you will, a professional forgiver. But my friends, that's the reality of life in the Church. Christ's Church is a forgiveness place – as Luther says in the Catechism, “In this Christian Church [the Holy Spirit] daily and richly forgives my sins and the sins of all believers.” In the church.

    But what of outside the church? What about beyond these walls? Out there forgiveness becomes, well, I wanted to say a bit less common, but frankly, it becomes down right scarce or absent. More and more so every day. I grew up in a Christian family, I went to a Lutheran school, so there was plenty of forgiveness there. Many of you who are my age or older grew up in a time when the Church was more prevalent, more impactful on society. You'd expect to find some forgiveness, some grace, some mercy out there. It's just what was typical. But those days are going and almost gone. Forgiveness is rarer and rarer to find out there, in part because the Church, because we as a group, as a body aren't as big a part of out there as we used to be. And the world becomes much more crass, and now forgiveness is viewed as not just an odd Christian thing, but an insult, a wretched thing worth of indignation.

    And when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Take heart, My son; your sins are forgiven.” And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” Do you hear it? The indignation? The umbrage? How dare He? How dare Jesus just waltz on in here and forgive someone. We get distracted by the fact that the guy is paralyzed, so we don't pay attention to the scribes, to the smart people and their evil thoughts. But those evil thoughts are there, and they are brazen. Forgiveness being simply given, simply scattered out, something simply received by faith rather than being something that you work and labor and grovel and beg for – these scribes hated that idea. And frankly, my friends, we today hear more and more people speak the same way as the scribes think. Think of the rage, the indignation that permeates the world. It's always been there, really. It's just more open, and bold, and we run into it more and more as we see more and more clearly that we in the church are but strangers here.

    And I suppose we could consider why this anti-forgiveness rage is so popular today. Whether it's just being judgmental, whether it's cancel culture, whether it's oppression power dynamics, they all let me feel better because of someone else' sin. They all let me do whatever I want because of another person's sin. They all “let” me not love my nieghbor because of their sin. They did that, and I am so much better than them because I never would. They need to be fired, removed, canceled – because they don't meet my standards (see how good I am). They are just a villain and an oppressor, so I don't have to love them as a neighbor – I can rebel and topple and throw them down and be a hero no matter how vile my own actions are. And all these sorts of reactions are addictive. The endorphin hit our sinful flesh gets in smugness, in playing the victim card, in spinning up tales of self-justification is a drug as bad and as deadly (spiritually deadly, especially) as anything out there. And that anti-forgiveness world view is always there, calling, calling, calling to you to ignore and forget this Church stuff and just jump on in wholeheartedly into the hatred games of the world. And if and when you do, you'll probably feel really good about it... at least until that judgment gets centered on you, until you get canceled, until someone casts you as the villain in their own petty drama.

    Take heart, My son; your sins are forgiven. Jesus looks around that room, and He sees the problem. There's a paralyzed guy there. Yeah, being paralyzed is a problem, but it's a secondary problem, like all the problems we see and out and about in the world. It's all a side effect of sin. Sin wrecks the world. Sometimes we see this in the consequences of our actions. We see sin destroying relationships – whether it's anger, greed, lust, disdain – sin blows relationships out of the water. We see anger, greed, lust, hatred leading to violence and war. But it's more than that. The wages of sin is death – sin means our bodies are all doomed to fall apart – that we all are going to return to the dust of the ground from whence we came. And out in the world there's no real understanding of sin and its wages. There's just heroes and villains, and of course I'm the hero you see, and you're the villain, There's excuses for why what I did wasn't really that bad, at least not as bad as what they did. But that's not understanding sin. That's side stepping it. You know what sin really is? I have sinned. I am corrupted. And this sin manifests in my thoughts, words, and deeds, all of which are infested. Even my righteous deeds are as filthy rags, as the prophet Jeremiah says. And I will be wrestling with sin, and sin will be calling out to me until sin drags me into death and the grave. Sin is always there driving you and I to death. That's what sin is.

    And when He saw their faith... and when Jesus sees this paralyzed man and his friends who brought him to Jesus, Jesus realizes that they aren't just seeing things shallowly – they see sin and its impact. This paralyzed man has faith; and that means he sees his own sin. You cannot see or understand your own sin apart from faith. It is the Holy Spirit who reveals your sin to you by the Word of God – the Spirit convicts the world of sin, that's what Jesus says in John. Because apart from the Spirit making you understand sin, there's just power dynamics and blame games and you'll just have to accept me the way I am, and in fact you better praise me for whatever stupid, evil thing I do otherwise you're an oppressive jerk. By faith, this man knew sin, his own sin. And Jesus – Jesus came to take care of sin. Jesus came to take that man's sin away and to carry it to the cross. Jesus came to die, because that's what sin does – it kills. And if sin is going to kill anything in His own creation, it's going to kill Jesus because Jesus won't abandon His creation. And Jesus came to rise – to stand up again having defeated sin, and to make you all rise again even after death, freed from sin. For which is easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Rise and walk?” Oh my friends, Jesus shows us that the two are utterly tied together. To be forgiven means that you will live, that you will rise from the dead, for where there is forgiveness there is also life and salvation! Forgiveness always moves, always flows into life, real life – because sin is death and forgiveness gets rid of sin and death.

    But, I get ahead of myself. Jesus is just setting the stage here, setting the stage for Good Friday and Easter, setting the stage for the day of your death and last day where you will rise like Jesus because Jesus is always focused on forgiveness. “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins – He then said to the paralytic - “Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” Oh you blind scribes, whether you like it or not God forgives. God Almighty isn't about being your secret weapon in your sinful power games; God shows His might and strength in His forgiveness, by which He restores His creation – in part now but in full in the life of the world to come. And the Messiah will come and He will with His death and resurrection establish forgiveness for all time, and with His Word and Spirit He will have His forgiveness proclaimed in all times and in all places, even to this day and to this place, even though we are surrounded by people who hate Jesus and who hate forgiveness and are finally becoming bold enough to say so openly. Doesn't matter – Jesus forgives, because He loves you. Period

    And the kicker? When the crowds saw it, they were afraid – they were afraid because they saw something powerful. Something literally earth shaking – earth shaking when Christ died, earth shaking come the last day and all the graves on earth are opened. Because the power wasn't just the guy walking, oh no. And they glorified God, Who had given such authority to men. The authority, the power at play here is simply this – I forgive you in Jesus' name. Forgiveness has been unleashed upon this sinful world. It has been unleashed upon you. Jesus has seen you drenched in forgiveness – forgiveness that drowns your sinful nature and pulls you clean to new life now and eternally. Jesus has forgiveness proclaimed to you, over and over again; over and against your own sin, over and against the calls for you to join in the frays of the world. In the stead and by the command of Christ Jesus I forgive you all your sin. And the wildest part. These friends brought the man trapped on his bed to Jesus; but you, oh child of God, you get to top that. You are an heir of eternal life, and Christ your brother has given you the authority of His forgiveness and life – you are authorized to forgive – to make wherever you go be a place of Christ's forgiveness, because this world is His, and He died for all. You get to forgive people. Forgive us our trespasses as... we forgive. Do you understand the authority God has invested you with at your baptism? The life changing power of forgiveness is yours to proclaim; the Cross of Christ Jesus doesn't just have to stay up there on that wall but it goes with you wherever you go, wherever the Holy Spirit puts you, whenever He opens your lips and the Words of Eternal life flow out. What has been given to you is yours to give to others, for you will never run out of Christ's forgiveness. That lavish washing away of sin will never run dry.

Oh my friends, you live awash in Christ's forgiveness. And sometimes, that forgiveness is easy to forget, to ignore, to simply assume that everyone knows it. Sometimes it something that Satan tries to make you forget, where you forget who you are. Remember – you are a forgiven and forgiving child of God, because Christ Jesus has died and risen for you, and the day is going to come when He will look at your corpse, and laughing at Satan's feeble attempts to wreck His creation, Jesus will say to you, “Rise and walk” - and you will. Nothing can stop that; and you get to hear that good news and proclaim that good news over and over in the meantime in the face of Sin, death, and hell. Christ Jesus has won, and you are forgiven. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +