"Repent!" Isaiah 55:6-9

Grace, Mercy, and Peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ 

Amen

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

In the Name of Jesus

How many of you have ever been lost?  I got lost with my college roommate once.  We had decided to take a day trip to his home town to see family.  It was a couple hour drive, he had lived at that house, in that town, for a long time.  About half way he realizes that things don’t look right.  What we were seeing out the window wasn’t supposed to be there, or at least wasn’t supposed to be see on that side of the car.  His clue was that Lambau Field was out the wrong window.   He didn’t know where we were, I had never been to his house so I didn’t know where were.  We were lost trying to get home. 

Thanks to a phone call to his dad, we got turned around, found the right roads, and were guided safely to his house.  

It is no fun being lost, especially when you have been told the way to where you are numerous times.  Such was the life of the Children of Israel.  They were professional vagabonds.  Both in an earthly sense, look at the desert years and even after.  Look just through the book of Isaiah.  The earthly woes, the earthly struggles which they repeatedly faced.  Yes you can find some joy in the book of Isaiah’s book, but the oppression, the hardships far outweigh the good times. 

No, it is no fun being lost.  And they struggled, they wandered so much in an earthly sense, because they were not only lost in an earthly way, they were lost in a spiritual way.  They had turned on the One who was leading them since the very beginning.  How much easier could it have been for them?  The one who lead them out of slavery, who lead them through the wilderness by the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire, who gave them every provision they would need to survive, who gave their enemies on their hands in battle while they marched towards the Promised Land, told them they way. 

He clearly explained, detailed the way for them.  He told them, these are my commands, these are my expectations of you as MY children.  Sure they would follow, but only for a short time.  Their desire to turn and run after their own desires always ended up being more important than following the one who led to the Promised Land.  And not just the earthly promised land but the heavenly Promised Land, the one who set forth the way that leads to eternal life.

While Moses climbs Mount Sinai to receive the Law of the Lord, the Children of Israel turn to golden images, worshiping false gods, because “Moses took too long”.  They complain to the Lord because they are tired.  Tired of walking around, tired of eating the same food every day, in reality, they were tired of being free.  They longed for the days in slavery when, in their minds, they could eat until they were full, when they had a comfy place to rest, where they could die in peace.

The pattern laid out in the book of Isaiah is the same pattern which the Children of Israel held to since their beginning.  Praise God when it is convenient, curse God all the other times.

Friends this is us.  We are Israel.  We are the ones God has chosen, blessed, washed, called by name.  We are the one whom Go leads through the wilderness of sin and temptation.  We are the one to whom has been shown the kingdom of heaven.  We are the ones who know the one who is the Way the Truth and the Life.  We are the ones who love to wander away, and get lost!   We would rather follow the path which the world lays out than the path which God lays out. 

Even in the midst of our wandering, in the midst of our unfaithfulness to our God, we calls to us.  He ever left the Children of Israel to wander aimlessly.  Even when they left him, when the cursed him, when they completely rebelled, he was with the protecting them and providing for them.  He calls to us just as he did in Isaiah’s time.  These are the words of our Old Testament reading.  Not just our 4 verses heard before, but all of chapter 55 is a call to return.

   

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!  Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.  Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?  Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.  Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples.  Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.   “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;  let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.   “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.  “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.  Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

Our Lord is constantly calling us to return to him!  To return, to repent of our erring ways and return to his way.  For he stands near, ever ready to listen to our confession and to forgive our sins.  That is the beauty.  While we sin, while we turn, while we desert the very one who gives us all we need, he stands ready to give us the things we do not deserve, namely the forgiveness of sin and eternal life.   

It is just as Isaiah writes in the second verse of the chapter.  Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!  Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.  Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?  Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.  Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant. 

Why waste your time?  Let’s be honest, we all have at one time or another sought after an earthly form of satisfaction to try and fill a void in our life.  But that void, that satisfaction that we do desperately yearn for is right here.  Counting on something else, someone else, other than the one True God who call to us to return to save us is simply foolish.

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;  let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.  Return to the Lord.  Return to him at all times.  Return to his ever open arms. 

We must heed that call we just heard.  Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near.  What exactly does this mean?  Aren’t we told that he is always with us?  Yes.  But here is the difficult part to swallow.  He will not always be here.  His arms will not always be open.  His love will not extent to all, his forgiveness will one day stop.  At that point, all chances will be past, people of all times will be separated, forgiveness will not be needed.  This will happen on the last day when our Lord comes for us again.  But we must be ready.  We must be prepared for the day when our Lord comes.        

And so daily we must return to God.  We must repent of our sins and be placed back on the right path.  Through confession and absolution, through the remembering of our baptism, which Martin Luther urged us daily to do, we were continually brought back in the family of God.  We are daily reconciled, made right, with God.     

Weekly we must return here.  Return to the place where the marks of God’s church are clear.  Where the Word is properly preached, where the sacraments are properly administered.  Return and receive from our Lord his compassion, pardon, heavenly food, and great gifts.  We must return and continue to learn. 

Today marks the beginning of a new topic in our Bible Class.  We are going to walk through the Catechism and understand just who our God is, what his blessings are to us, and how we respond going forward. 

But above of all, I hope and pray that through our studying, through the Divine Service, you and I both are called to Return.  Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 

Amen.

"As We Forgive" Genesis 50:15-21

Grace, Mercy, and Peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Amen

 When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.”

In the Name of Jesus

What a horrible sin Joseph’s brothers committed, not only against their brother, but also against their father and against their whole family.  Out of their jealousy, out of their perceived notion that their father loved Joseph more than he did the rest of them, they wiped Joseph from their family.  They sold him to a group of Ishmaelite’s who were wandering through the desert, they took his robe, which he received from their father they tore it, dipped it in goats blood and told their father that Joseph had been killed by wild animals.  They did everything in their power to kill him without actually killing him.   

If they didn’t suffer from horrible guilt right away, I am sure it kicked in after they see the reaction of their father.  Their father, Jacob, upon seeing the robe said a fierce animal has devoured him.  Joseph is without a doubt torn into pieces.  Then Jacob tore his robes and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days.  All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted saying, no, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.

At the point of our Old Testament reading for today then, the brothers found themselves backed into a corner.  Going to Egypt for food during the famine was bad enough.  They knew it was a long shot, but it was also their only shot at surviving the famine.  They needed food to make it through.  They knew where the food was.  They knew where to go. 

Now when his brothers sold him, Joseph was 17 years old.  When he came to power in the land of Egypt he was 30 years of age.  Add on the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine that would put Joseph around 42 years old when his brothers see him.  They did not recognize their brother; he was ruler in a foreign land speaking a foreign language.

Things only got more complicated for them, more of a long shot, when they realized who was in charge of distributing the food during the famine.  None other than their brother Joseph.  The one they ruthlessly sold into slavery, the one whom they had convinced their father died while tending to his sheep.  What was a long shot before now seemingly becomes impossible. 

What would you expect?  Put yourselves in the place of the brothers.  When you are at a seemingly low point in life, suffering, starving for food, in dire need, who might be the last person you want to see?  The one you sold into slavery over, the one you sinned again the one who you betrayed in the past!

Just because we haven’t sold a sibling, or other family member into slavery, doesn’t mean we aren’t free of guild for turning on family, a loved in the same manner.  While we have not sold anyone into slavery, because of the sin we have committed, one man was put to death.  And we have the promise in Scripture that our God will repay each person for what they have done.  I, the Lord, your God and a jealous God visiting the iniquities of the father on the children of the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.  Again he says vengeance is mine I will repay, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.  Yet again, Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who live him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them.  He will not be slack with one who hates him.  He will repay him to his face.       

The hard truth is that every time we sin we have put ourselves in opposition to God and His will.  We set our course to the ways of this world and become distant from our Father.  And when, through the Law, we are shown our sins, we are left to live in fear of our God handing down the just punishment for our actions, just as Joseph’s brothers lived in fear of receiving what they deserved from their brother. 

We admitted in our confession that we are by nature sinful and unclean.  That we have sinned against God by thought, word, and dead, by what we have done and by what we have left undone.  We have not loved Him with our whole heart and we have not loved our neighbors as our selves.  And we admitted that we justly deserve God’s present and eternal punishment.  What hope do we have but to live out our days in fear of God’s wrath and punishment? 

Not only are we no better than Joseph’s brothers, but we are no better than the unforgiving servant from our Gospel parable either.  Who has his large debt erased by his master but refusing to let go of a smaller debt owed to him and even turns violent on his debtor.

Which makes what we were taught to pray in the Lord’s Prayer much more daunting.  And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.  How quick are you to forgive?  Is it easy to say to the one who has wronged you, it’s okay, I will forgive and forget?  I think if we are honest with ourselves, this is a scary thing.  We know how we forgive and we know what we deserve.     

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, fear not.  God’s wrath, his punishment, the eternal condemnation meant for us has indeed been handed down already.  Yes we have sinned against our heavenly father and because of our sins his son was put to death.  His son lived the perfect life, the life which before the fall we were capable of.  And even though his son was perfect in every way, he took our sins upon himself and died on the cross.  God turned his anger away from us sinners and toward his only son.  He despised his son on the cross which leaves him to cry out on the cross the words from Psalm 22, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?  O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.     

In the midst of our tumultuous life, a life full of sin against our neighbor and sin against our heavenly father, our judgment has gone from God condemning us to hell where we suffer for eternity, to him welcoming us into his heavenly kingdom as his perfect children.  While we should be the ones crying out in agony my God my God why have you forsaken me, we cry out in wonder and amazement, my God my God why have you NOT forsaken me?  Why would you spare the life of us sinners yet send your son to his death. 

God took the evil that Joseph’s brothers committed against him and turned it into good.  Because he was sold into slavery and then rose to power in the land of Egypt, many people were saved.  Through God’s power he interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams about the seven good years and the seven years of famine, then stored up food for the region, and saved them in the years of famine.  No longer did his brothers need to live in fear.  Joseph showed mercy on them time after time.   

The same is true for us.  God took the evil Adam and Eve committed, caused his son to die because of that sin, and by doing so brought life to all men because of it.  We no longer need to live in fear because God’s wrath upon us has been diverted.  He now sees us in light of his son.  This is the grace we live in.  This is the peace which we have even in the midst of the most difficult times. 

And yet there are many in this country who live in a state of fear.  This past Thursday we remembers the 13^th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.  Now more than ever people live in fear what will happen if, it might not even be an if but a when, another terrorist attack happens in this country.  They fear what will happen in their lives from day to day.  They fear death because they fear God.  But you and I have the privilege of knowing and living in the love of the one who tells us fear not.  It is our privilege to live in his presence and witness and proclaim his underserved Gospel. 

May God fill you with this undeserved peace as we not only remember such events like 9/11, but as we daily remember and repent of our sins before our God and Father.  May he cause such abundant  faith to be worked in us that we live out our days confident in him when he says as Joseph said, do not fear, I will provide for you and your little ones.

Amen

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"Like Children" Matthew 18:1-6

Grace, Mercy, and Peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

Amen

At that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?  And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them ³and said, Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

In the name of Jesus dear friends in Christ

This statement from our Lord is truly remarkable.  Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Really the last three weeks we have looked at statements from Jesus that has put the disciples in their place.  These statements, which are fundamental to the church and to our faith, build off each other.

 

First we had Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God.  Which Jesus followed with this first remarkable statement, you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.  Through the faith worked by the Holy Spirit, Peter confessed Christ, and the foundation of the Church of God was laid.    On this confession, by our confession of Christ, our faith is founded and built. 

Last week we had two statements vital to our faith.  The first was the prediction of Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection.  From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes and be killed, and on the third day be raised.  Then Jesus went into his discussion on carrying our crosses.  If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever saves his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

 

Now we get a discourse beginning with the disciples asking who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?  This is a favorite topic of the disciples.  Perhaps spending all their time together they began a little competition like sometimes brothers might.  They wanted to brag about themselves, build their cases for superiority above everyone else.   Now this account varies a little between the Gospel.  Mark and Luke both add the detail that this was not a mere conversation between the disciples but they were arguing between themselves about this. 

It is very likely that the disciples were looking at this in an earthly way.  Maybe they were competing to see who would be the greatest in earthly power if they were to rule earthly kingdoms, which is what the arguments in Mark and Luke might be about.  But in all three, Jesus uses the child to explain the kingdom of heaven. 

At that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?  And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in heaven.  What does this mean?  When we think of children is humble the first thing that comes to mind?  Children are great.  It is fun to have been blessed with 4 great children.  To be the ones who provide for them, who take care of them, to be the ones they depend on for everything, is a blessing. 

But therein lies the confusion.  Not just to be considered the greatest but to simply enter the gates of heaven we must become like a child.  But what can a child do for themselves?  They are so dependent, so innocent, and so naive.  We can’t unsee things, undo things, we can’t just give everything up and let someone else take care of us.  Granted, there are ways it would be okay to be a child again.  I tell my kids I wish someone would put me in a room for two hours every afternoon for naptime.    

How can Jesus tell us that we need to be like them and view them as the greatest?  Maybe an even better question is in line with what Nicodemus asked Jesus.  When Jesus told him unless one is born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  Nicodemus says in reply, how can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?  How can we become like a child again?    

We cannot know exactly how the disciples rated themselves as the greatest.  Maybe they bragged about how Jesus sat by the most or who he used as an example the most.   Peter no doubt always wanted to put his name at the top.  But the disciples were anything but humble.

We today like to look around and see who is the greatest.  We use a variety of ways to measure our social status and success.  We look at who is the most successful in their work, in their relationships, in their daily life.  We use things such and money and possessions to gauge these successes.  We also, like the disciples, are anything but humble.  We like to show off our successes and put ourselves up against our friends and colleagues and brag a little bit. 

But when we do, we are about as far from being a little child then anything.  We don’t want to be dependent.  We want to show how well we can do on our own.  Innocence, hardly.  We are completely sinful, sinful from birth.  And in all honesty we are nowhere near naïve.  We question, we are skeptical, we want explanations to everything in order to believe. 

As much as we would like to make everything be about us, it is not.  We are dependent.  Like a child needs to have things done for them, like they cannot feed or clothe themselves, so we cannot do anything spiritually for ourselves.  But this is the greatest news ever.  We can’t do anything on our own and yet everything has been done for us.  Just as a child is completely at the mercy of their parents, so we are at the mercy of our heavenly father.

Our heavenly father out of his divine mercy gives us all we need to support this daily life.  He has given us our body and soul, eyes, ears, and all our members and still take care of them.  Also clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all we have.  He richly and daily provides us with all we need to support this body and life.  The best part, all this he does out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in us.

What amazing grace.  He clothes us in his righteousness in baptism and feeds us here in the Lord’s Supper purely by the merits of his own dear son, Jesus Christ our Lord who won forgiveness life and salvation for us on the cross.  Our Lord, the king of Love, is the Good Shepherd who has laid down his life for us and taken it back up so that we would be with him in paradise forever.  He took on our sinful nature and in return gives us his perfection.  St. Paul said it so beautifully when he wrote, while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.  For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.  More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. 

What a humbling thing it is to come here to this building, hear the words of the absolution spoken to you and receive the forgiveness of sins.  What a humbling thing it is to be invited in our sinful state to come and receive our savior’s precious body and blood.  All this we in no way deserve.  But thanks be to God for sending his son on our behalf.

Like children hang on every word their parents say, so we hold on and cherish all that our Savior utters to us.  Like my dear children will tell anyone who listens about what they are doing or what they get to do, so we share the great news of the gospel with those all around us.  May God bless us as we share this great news, as we share and live out our faith in ways only a child can, with full confidence not doubting for a second but trusting whole heartedly the Gospel message.        

Amen 

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" Follow Me" Matthew 16:21-28

Grace, Mercy, and Peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Amen

Then Jesus told his disciples, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.  For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?  Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

In the Name of Jesus

Jesus was about to enter into the toughest stretch of his earthly ministry.  Remember in the reading last week how our Lord made mention of the war against hell and the church?  He said, while affirming Peter’s confession I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.  The disciples were soon going to witness this.  Jesus explained to the disciples, in clear words, that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes and be killed.  This was not a metaphor Jesus was trying to tell the disciples.  This was not a hypothetical scenario which Jesus was giving the disciples to see how they would respond.  This was not a parable, an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.  This was a real life prediction. 

Peter was not a big fan of this idea.  After hearing the prediction he pulled Jesus aside and rebuked him.  Peter, who all too often spoke from the hip and did not think about what he was saying, tells Jesus, the Son of God who had never been wrong to that point, and of course would never be wrong after that, far be it from you Lord! This shall never happen to you.  Why would anyone subject themselves to that kind of ridicule and torture, especially Jesus?  Didn’t Peter understand anything about Jesus?  He just made the great confession and now he is telling Jesus everything is going to be fine? 

They say that hindsight is 20/20.  It is easy for us to look back at Peter and shake our heads and look down at him for what he did.  Did he not understand that Jesus came just for this reason?  But, think about it this way.  Your best friend, your sibling, your spouse looks at you in all seriousness and says that he is about to go through a lot of ridicule and torment and is going to die.  How easy would be that to swallow?  Instantly, there we are in Peter’s position.  Our thoughts begin to swirl and try to find any way to keep these events from happening.  We become fixated on the moment and can’t focus on anything else.

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.  For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?  We like to fix our eyes, our minds, on earthly things.  Just as when it comes to election time and we support the candidate who will stand for what is important to us, we follow religions that suit our desires.  And following a religion is a big thing.  Look at Jesus’ words.  If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow.  It isn’t a walk in the park.  It is a confession, a dedication, a commitment.  As much as we like to try we can’t sit on the fence.  We can’t serve, praise, worship, confess God in once breath and then curse him and follow the ways of the world the next.  Making the confession we talked about last week means taking up the cross appointed.  This is not a pleasant task, either; it is exactly what it sounds like.  The cross is a means of death. Are you ready to endure death and stand up for your faith?  Or would you rather gain the world all while forfeiting your soul?

If you listen to the Old Testament reading for today, Jeremiah also is very focused on earthly repercussions for following the Lord’s will.  He is upset with God over the crosses he has to bare.  O Lord, you know; remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on my presecuters.  In your forbearance take me not away; know that for your sake I bear reproach.  Your words were found and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.  I did not sit in the company of the revelers, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone, because your hand was upon me, for you had filled me with indignation.  Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?  Will you be to me like a deceitful brook like waters that fall? 

With the words if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow.   Jesus was telling the disciples that they too would have to undergo the same things he would.  They would suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes.  Maybe this was Jesus giving them fair warning and a chance to back out if they wanted.  But this is Jesus we are talking about.  Would he really let these things happen to himself and to those around him?   

If it was our friend, our brother or sister, or our spouse, we might wonder what trouble they would have gotten themselves into that is leading to such a situation.  Or we might wonder what they have up their sleeve.  But with Peter and Jesus, Peter became so fixate on the first half of the prediction Jesus gave, he completely ignored the second half of the promise.  Yes Jesus must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes and be killed.  But what about what follows this statement?  What seems to be the worst statement the Christ could make, that he would die, turns into the most beautiful Gospel by the next seven words he utters, and on the third day be raised.

Jesus rebukes Peter saying Get behind me Satan!  You are a hindrance to me.  For you are not setting your mind on things of God, but on things of Man.  Jesus is clearly stating the purpose for his ministry here.  Through the tender mercy of our Father, he sent his son to endure many things and lose his life.  St Paul writes to the Corinthians For our sake he God made him Jesus to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God in him. 

The disciples were ready when Jesus told them to pick up their cross and follow him, until it meant bearing that cross and suffering the same way Jesus did on the cross then they began to deny him, just as Jesus predicted.  But the Gospel was shown to them, explicitly to Peter whom Jesus asked three times if he loved him.  They repented of their ways and received the forgiveness won for them on the cross.  It is that same forgiveness and grace shown the disciples that is shown to us today.  Even though we have sinned against our Lord and Savior we are continually forgiven and brought back into the fold.  What a blessed hope and assurance we have that our Lord is ready to forgive.

It is this same forgiveness that was shown to Jeremiah.  After he lamented to God about his pain, his persecution in spite of doing what God asked, the Lord said If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me.  If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth.  They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them.  And I will make you to this people a forfeited all of bronze; they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, declares the Lord.  I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.

Because of the confession made in baptism and in the Lord’s Supper, we are urged to take up our cross and follow the path of our Savior, the path of ridicule, suffering, and death.  Yet our confession is made on the promise that was made in the Gospel reading, those who lose their life for my sake will gain it.  God promises us, just as he promised Jeremiah, that he will deliver us out of the hands of the wicked and he will redeem us.  So do not take up your crosses grudgingly or out of fear for what might happen.  For as Martin Luther says in the explanation to the First Article of the Apostles creed “he defends me against all danger guards and protects me against all evil.”  And again in his explanation to the seventh petition of the Lord’s prayers “But deliver us from evil, what does this mean?  We pray in this petition, in summary, that our Father in heaven would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when our last hour comes, give us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrows to himself in heaven.”    

May God grant this to us for His name sake.