Palm Sunday - G - 2014 - Ride on in Weakness Jesus

Palm Sunday

April 13, 2014- Pastor Adam Moline

Isaiah 50:4-9a, Philippians 2:5-11, John 12:12-19 (Processional); Matthew 27:11-66

LSB 442, 438, 441   Communion – LSB 443, 440, 634, 543

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is the Gospel processional lesson read earlier, along with the Old Testament Lesson, especially these words, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”.  Thus far our text.

Hosanna, for your king is coming.  Rejoice, your salvation is riding boldly into Jerusalem today.  He goes to be lifted up.  Ride on, ride on in majesty, in lowly pomp ride on to die!  He who prepared the world for you and me, he who has given us all we have and know, even the very breath of our lives heads into Jerusalem to what we have prepared for him.  Death on a cross. 

And yet, those people cheered him on as he entered.  A large crowd, who had entered for the Passover feast, shouts to Jesus, “Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”   With those words, the Son of God rides towards his suffering and death.  He boldly rides on the back of a donkey.  The crowd watches, smiling and rejoicing. 

How can it be?  The people who today shout “Hosanna” will shortly shout “Crucify him, crucify him.”  The people will force the hand of their Roman governor to kill their Jewish King.  It doesn’t make sense, how could they turn so quickly?  We judge them, we criticize them for their change of tone. 

And yet, our faces are in that crowd.  We too, today shout hosannas as Jesus rides into Jerusalem.  We too stand as Jesus rides by.  Jesus, who knows all your sin, who knows all the things you’ve done wrong.  After all he is God.  As he rides by, we know that he knows, and we wonder if he will tell.  Will he share my deepest darkest secrets with those I don’t want to know them?  He’s got to die!  It’s either him or me, and I would rather it be him, wouldn’t I?  We turn on a dime, just as those people so long ago did. 

Hosanna Jesus!  Get on to that cross, before you reveal that I struggle with alcohol!  For you know, that I always have a slight buzz, that I can’t quit drinking.  You know that it has affected my entire life, my job, my family, my friends.  Go to the cross Jesus!  Go to the cross and die!

Hosanna Jesus!  You know that my family life is falling apart.  You know that there are difficulties between my wife and I, you know that my brother won’t talk to me.  You know that I have mistreated my children, you know that I despise my mother and father every day for what they told me what right and wrong.  Go die Jesus, for I have no place for you here in my life.

Blessed be he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Blessed is he, even as I am not, as I have despised God’s word.  I don’t really care for Bible Study.  I don’t really spend time in God’s Word.  I have more important things to do.  I don’t really believe in all this Christianity stuff anyways, but I have to be seen in church.  I preach sermons to myself, sermons that say I am not good enough, that I am not forgiven, that I cannot be forgiven.  Sermons that do not actually match what God’s word said.  I create my own religion on my own terms, so die Jesus for being all “holier than me”. 

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel!  Or so shout our lips, the same lips that just moments ago were putting down John Doe because of the situation in his life.  So shout the same lips that curse, swear, that lie and deceive.  Blessed be God is our shout one moment, and the foulest language imaginable is on our lips the next.  Sinful dogs that we are – so die Jesus!

We murder!  We steal!  We lie!  We covet!  And Jesus does none of it!  So go on Jesus and die!  Go to the cross, for you think you are better than we are!  You think you can control our lives here and now.  You aren’t the God I want, you aren’t the God I create for myself.  So go and die!  Suffer!  Bleed!  Thirst!  Go and do it, for I do not want to, and it is really what I deserve.  For it is I lord that am guilty, not you.  It is I who deserve punishment by my fault, my own fault, my own most grievous fault.  And you Lord Jesus go where I dare not, to die for my sin.  Ride on, ride on to die.

And Jesus does.  Today, dear friends, he rides past us, knowing our sin and guilt.  Today he rides on, knowing our pain and suffering, and still he rides boldly on.  He carries the sin of those who rides past.  He carries the sin of those who in a few days will not shout, “Hosanna!” but “Crucify him!”  He carries the sin of you, of me, even as he knows you will turn on him.  He knows it, and he will not turn aside from it.  He won’t forget it, but he will die for it.  And he does all of this in your place, for you, for your forgiveness.  The death you deserve, today Jesus rides into Jerusalem to deal with. 

This most holy week, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,  who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,  but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.   And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  And all of this is for you. 

Dear friends, now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.  No longer will you be slave to sin.  No longer can you give into the horrible way of the world.  Satan does not rule you today, nor will he ever again.  He is weak, he is destroyed, he is defeated forever.  For Christ has shed his blood on the cross.  And so we rightly shout, “Hosanna Jesus!  Hosanna to the king, he rides on to die for the sins of the world.  To be lifted up. To take away my sin!  Hosanna!  Blessed are you Jesus” 

Christ goes to die, and he does it for you.  He goes to forgive your sin, to take it away as far as the east is from the west.  On Friday, it is finished.  On the cross, you are forgiven.  Jesus rides in to shout, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  Ride on, Ride on in majesty, in lowly pomp ride on to die.  O Christ, they triumphs now begin, o’er captive death and conquered sin.  Amen.  

Lent 5 - G - 2014 - Alive

The Fifth Sunday of Lent

April 6, 2014- Pastor Adam Moline

Ezekiel 37:1-14           Romans 8:1-11            John 11:1-53

Hymns - LSB 420:1-3, 430, 420:4-7    Communion – LSB 724, 725, 421, 428

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is from the Gospel lesson just read,  Thus far our text.

Dear friends, in a few weeks, we will gather together and meditate on the death and torture that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will suffer on Good Friday. He will be beaten, spit on, mocked tortured and crucified.  He will cry out, “It is finished, Tetelestai,” and have earned us salvation and life.  we know with certainty Christ has suffered in our place, and that in that, we now have life eternal.  We have certainty of life. 

But do we truly have certainty? Do we really believe that Christ was raised from the dead? I have never seen anyone rise from the dead. I have never seen someone whose heart has ceased beating for more than a few minutes, who has come back to life. It doesn’t make sense.  How can it really be true that someone could rise from the dead?

That is exactly what happens in our text today.  If we look at the story of Lazarus, we see it is quite the interesting story. It takes place about a week before Good Friday. We see a friend of Jesus is sick, and dies. They bury him in a tomb, and by the time Jesus arrives, he has been laying there for four days. He isn’t just sitting in the tomb, there is no doubt at this point that Lazarus is dead. He has passed into eternal rest, and nothing can bring him back.

The family, certain of this has begun to mourn and wail. All of Lazarus’s friends come and weep for the loss of their friend Lazarus. But he is gone, nothing can bring him back. Even Jesus mourns at the loss of Lazarus. He mourns that because of sin, mankind must die. He mourns that in our sin we must deal with death. Lazarus too was a sinner, and in that sin, he has now died. The loss associated with death overcomes all those around.  Death hurts. 

But Jesus tells that mourning family, “I am the resurrection and the life.” And here he proves it. Jesus has the tomb opened, and standing outside calls forth Lazarus alive. The one who is dead returns to life. The one who was dead is returned to his family. The mourning of loss turns into joyful shouts, and celebration. By the mere speaking of His words, Jesus brings one of his believers back to life. By His word, Christ can make death run backwards.

It’s a miracle!  It really happened!  Today, you can go and see this, Lazarus’s first tomb.  There are even members here who have been there. You can walk down inside of it, and see where Jesus called Lazarus forth from death. You can walk the same steps Lazarus walked out of the tomb. It is a miracle that God used to show that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life (John 10) That He is the Lord of life.

This miracle happened, because Christ is true God. Jesus could raise Lazarus because he was headed to his own suffering and death. But unlike Lazarus, Jesus would not die for his own sin, but for your sin. Jesus would suffer and die, and be laid in a tomb, just like Lazarus.

But Christ has power over death and life. Even as Jesus is killed, the grave cannot hold him in. Even though He is executed, His life cannot be permanently ended by human means. Instead, Christ is the Resurrection and the Life. He is Lord over life and death.

And He has earned that right. He earned it by obeying God’s law completely and totally. He earned it by passively submitting to the will of the Father and drinking the cup of wrath prepared for sinners. Christ took our place and He suffered for us. And when our salvation was assured to us by the spilling of his holy precious blood, He announced to the world that sin and Satan were defeated by His rising again on the third day from the tomb.

Friends, almost 2000 years ago, the tomb of Jesus was found empty, just like the tomb of Lazarus was found empty. Just as Jesus called Lazarus back into life, God the Father raised Jesus back to life through His glory and power.

But Jesus’ resurrection was even more wonderful than Lazarus’. Lazarus would die again. Lazarus had two tombs, one in Bethany and one that church tradition holds was in the city of Larnaca on the island of Cyprus. Lazarus served as a pastor there until again he died and was reburied.

But Jesus will not die again. As the prophet Isaiah says, “He has swallowed up death forever.” (Isaiah 25:8) Where O death is thy victory, Where O death is they sting? (1 Corinthians. 15:55, Hosea 13:14) It is gone forever. Death cannot defeat Jesus Christ, because by his own death, he defeated death. When the tomb was found empty, that message has resounded throughout all the world. “Through Christ, death is defeated. Through Christ you have life.”

This is the message of the church. This message is important to the whole world, especially to you and me. God’s word tell us we are in the same boat. We hear that we have not kept God’s law. Scripture even says that “If we say we are without sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” We are poor miserable sinners, and as sinners we too must die. Just as Lazarus died from his illness of sin, we too will die unless we live to see that last day. Just as Jesus laid in a tomb, we too will lay in a grave of some kind.  It is the price that we must pay for our sin. It is the consequence of our disobedience to our heavenly Father.

And we see that in our daily lives. Even when we try to obey God, we fail. And in our failure we are trapped. We are uncertain which way we should turn. We are uncertain if there is a way out at all! All we can do is flounder around in our sin.

Being trapped in our sin is very much like being trapped in a grave. In our sin we are dead. In our sin we cannot climb or dig our way out. There is nothing that we can do. We are stuck, permanently. Just as a dead Lazarus could not remove himself from his own tomb, neither can we rescue ourselves. We are lost in our sin. We are dead in sin.

But Christ is risen. His tomb has been opened and the message of His victory has been spread over the entire Earth. It has come to our ears as we hear that beautiful message both in song and word. Even as this Lenten season we look forward to the death of Christ, we know that is not the end.  The tomb will be opened with angel proclaiming the victory of the Lamb.

Because Christ is risen, so too are you risen. We have the promise of eternal life. In Christ, you have life. In Christ you no longer need fear death or the power or the power of the devil. You are set free, to live and reign with hi for all eternity. In Christ’s life, you too receive life, life to the full.

Death has no power over you. Even if you shall die, yet shall you live. In Christ there is victory. In Christ you triumph, the enemy is destroyed. Today, you have eternal life. You are risen with Christ.

Lent 3 - G - 2014 - Bridegroom and Bride at the Well

The Third Sunday of Lent

March 23, 2014- Pastor Adam Moline

Exodus 17:1-7             Romans 5:1-8              John 4:5-30, 39-42

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.  Our text today is from the Gospel lesson, especially these words, “Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  In today’s world, there are all sorts of place where spouses meet.  Perhaps at a dance hall, or in college.  Maybe on Eharmony.com or Christian Mingle, or one of the other of dozens places advertised on Radio and T.V.  But thousands of years ago, things were a bit different.  In the Old Testament times, wells were the gathering place for people to talk, to gossip, to visit, and most importantly, to meet your future spouse.  Yes, wells in ancient Israel were the hot spots for dating.  Abraham sent a servant to Haran to find a wife for his Son Isaac, and it was there at a well, in the late evening, that the servant first met Rebekah, the future Mrs. Isaac, the very literal answer to the prayer he had just prayed. 

It was not many years later, that Isaacs and Rebekah’s son Jacob too, having run away from his brother Esau who sought to kill him for stealing the birthright, fell down at the same well, and met for the first time his future wife Rachel.  Jacob worked 14 years for Rachel’s father Laban, so that he might marry Rachel. 

Moses, some 400 years later, also fled Egypt, having murdered a slave master.  He too, after wandering in the desert sat down next to a well, and met the seven daughters of Jethro, including one named Zipporah.  Moses helped them water their flocks at the well, and soon he too married Zipporah as his wife. 

And so it is in our Gospel lesson today, that Jesus too, the fulfillment of the nation of Israel sits down at the edge of a well dug by his Father Jacob many years earlier.  And who should come, but a woman, who is not married.  But unlike the virginal young madiens of the Old Testament, the woman who comes to see Jesus is not so seemingly righteous.  She’s been married before, not just once, not just twice, but five times before.  And now, she lives outside of marriage with a man who is in fact not her husband, but instead a live in boyfriends if you will.  And what’s worse, this woman is a Samaritan, a people who were despised by the Israelites. 

The woman comes not in the evening when the sun was setting and it was cool and crisp to draw water, but instead she comes in the middle of the day, when no one will be there to judge her and the life of sin that she has chosen.  After all, we are embarrassed by our sin, just as she was.  But as she quietly and quickly seeks to draw her water for the day, Jesus speaks to her, asking her to draw some water up for him to drink. 

The woman is taken aback.  How can a Jew talk to a Samaritan woman?  Especially one who is outcast of her own society because of her sin?  Jesus goes on, “If you knew who I was, the bridegroom of all Israel, you would ask me, and I would give you living water to drink, and you would never thirst again!”  This sounds good to the woman, no more drawing water in the heat of the day, no more walks out of town to the well.  Instead no more thirst.  So she asks for this water from Jesus.

And its then that Jesus cuts to the chase, “Go get your husband so that I can give it to you both,” confronting the woman with her sin.  She sheepishly looks to the ground and tells Jesus a half truth, “I have no husband.”  “You’re right,” Jesus responds, “you’ve had five, and the man you’re with now is not your husband.” 

There’s no going around it, the woman’s sin has been called out.  She knows that God knows the truth about her life, and her lack of holiness.  She knows that He knows.  And she’s terrified.  The Bridegroom Jesus has arrived at the well, and the bride has been found wanting.  The Groom has arrived, and the Bride has fallen short of her end of the bargain. 

No dear friends, I’m not talking about Jesus being married in the way that we think about it.  I mean in the eternal, heavenly way, the way in which you and I and all people of the world are supposed to be the Holy Precious Bride of Christ.  We are supposed to be united with Jesus forever.  We’re supposed to be taken care of by Him, to live in the home he’s prepared in heaven.  And in return, we’re supposed to be Holy and pure, beautiful and radiant for him.  But the problem is, we’re not.  We’re sinful.  We’ve whored ourselves out to false Gods and sinful desires.  We’re all adulterers, not just once or twice, not even just five times like the woman at the well, but over and over again, each and every day. 

Yes, dear friends, you as a sinner are that bride whose found wanting.  You’ve sinned.  Not just in adultery as the woman in our text, but also by all the other commandments as well.  When Christ the bridegroom looks at you, he shouldn’t want you because of your sin.  He shouldn’t want you because you’ve done evil in thought word and deed.  He shouldn’t want you. 

But he does.  He cares about you, just as he cares about this poor Samaritan woman in our text.  He loves you enough that he will point out to you where you’ve fallen short, telling you of your sin, whether it be five husbands, or swearing once.  Not only that but he also will still promise to give you the water of life from the well of God.  He meets you at a well, no not a water well for watering animals, but a shallow well sitting right here in the church.  The well of the baptismal font.  There, in baptismal waters, you are washed in the water of life, made clean, made sparkling, and where Christ makes you his sinful dirty bride, holy and sparkling.  He assigns his own righteousness upon you. 

And then, having washed you and made you clean in baptismal waters, he robes you in the white robe of his righteousness, and brings you to the wedding feast, here at this altar.  There you eat his body and blood, why?  To forgive your sins.  To make you holy.  So that by eating the foretaste of that wedding feast you might receive the life of Christ, and salvation in his name. 

And Jesus loves you so much, that he’s willing to give up all he has to make you into his beautiful bride.  He fulfills Ephesians chapter 5, promising to love you his bride so much that he’s willing to give up his life to care for you.  He’s willing to bleed, he’s willing die, he’s willing to give up all that he has to make you well again.  And he does, on the cross, giving up all to make you his bride holy.  He gives his life, so that it might be your life.  He gives his blood that it might wash you.  He gives his body into suffering, so that you might not.  He forgives you sins on the cross. 

Dear friends, today’s story is a wedding story – and you're the bride.  You're the one Christ wants, and loves.  You're the one he meets and washes at the well.  You're the one he brings to the wedding feast.  You’re the one he gives up all he has to care for.  And so thus, your sin is forgiven forever, and you are the beautiful, holy, precious bride of Christ.  Even forever more.  Amen.  

2013 - Funeral - Donald Milton Bellin

Job 30 - “And now my soul is poured out within me;

    days of affliction have taken hold of me.
¹⁷ The night racks my bones,
    and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.
¹⁸ With great force my garment is disfigured;
    it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.
¹⁹ God^[c] has cast me into the mire,
    and I have become like dust and ashes.
²⁰ I cry to you for help and you do not answer me;
    I stand, and you only look at me.
²¹ You have turned cruel to me;
    with the might of your hand you persecute me.
²² You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it,
    and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.
²³ For I know that you will bring me to death
    and to the house appointed for all living.

Isaiah 41 - But you, Israel, my servant,

    Jacob, whom I have chosen,
    the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
⁹ you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
    and called from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are my servant,
    I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
¹⁰ fear not, for I am with you;
    be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

John 8 - Donald's Confirmation Verse - So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is the Gospel lesson read, also Donald’s Confirmation Verse, especially these words, “the truth will set you free.”.  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ, especially Helen and other family.  Some sixty three years ago, right here, in this font, Donald Milton Bellin became God’s Child in the waters of Holy Baptism.  On that day he received forgiveness of all his sins, rescue from death and the devil, and the promise of eternal salvation through the washing of rebirth and renewal in water and the word.  Just three weeks later, he was confirmed in that faith, as he confessed here that would rather die than fall away from the faith.  And as he made that promise, Pastor Micheal spoke the words of our text to him.  “The Truth will set you free,” and then you will be free indeed. 

Throughout many years of his life, these words stuck with Donald.  These words belonged to Donald as he entered the armed services, “the truth will set you free.”  They were with Donald as he moved to St. Paul and worked for many years as an electrician.  They were with Donald as he married his lovely wife Helen.  They were with Donald as he retired and moved back here to Hankinson.  The words were with Donald up until the last few days, when finally he was set free from this world indeed. 

As we talked about last night, the last few months and weeks for Donald were difficult.  His health declined quickly and steadily.  The man who liked to tell jokes and chat was nothing more than skin and bones.  The last week or so of his life, he struggled greatly.  The day before he passed, with every breath he cried out for help, “Help me” he said, “Help me to get out of the bed, help me to leave.  Help me to finally enter eternal rest.”  His cry matched that of Job in our first lesson, “And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me.  The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.”  And so he prayed for help.

And where does that help come from?  It comes from the promise of Donald’s Confirmation verse, “The Truth will set you free.”  Free from pain.  Free from sorrow, free from suffering, free from all the sin of the world.  Christ’s response to the shout of help is nothing else than freedom in these words, “fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”  And so on Tuesday afternoon, Donald was set free from this world, and entered eternity with God.

The price for his freedom from the pain and sorrow of this world is the very precious blood, and innocent suffering and death of God’s own Holy Son Jesus in place of Donald.  God loved Donald so much He let His Son Jesus come to this world.  He let his Son suffer, even more than Donald suffered.  He let his Son be beaten, and nailed to a cross.  He let his son’s blood pour out as a sin sacrifice and offering.  He let his Son die, to set all of us free from sin, even Donald. 

Yes, that’s right, you too are freed from the confines of this world by the Way the Truth and the Life Jesus Christ.  You too are rescued from sin death and the power of the devil, and you too have life in the blood of Jesus.  You too, just like Donald our dear departed brother, will be set free by the Truth, and if he sets you free, you will be free indeed. 

Dear friends, Today Donald has life.  And we have the promise that one day we too will have life, and be with him even forever more.  Listen to His word, and believe the truth, and the truth will set you free.  Amen.