Sermons
"So, faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ." (Rom 10:17). While it's preferable to hear the sermon in person, those who could not attend, or would like to review the sermon again, can do so here.
Sunday March 2, 2025
JESU JUVA QUINQUAGESIMA Text: St. Luke 18:31-43 IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN. JESUS goes up to Jerusalem, His eyes firmly and resolutely set on His Cross of suffering and death. In Jerusalem “He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will scourge Him and kill Him.” JESUS is going up to Jerusalem to die. If that was all there was to the story then the story of JESUS would be of little, if any worth, to anyone—especially when it comes to our salvation. Our LORD would be just one of many nameless Jews in the history of the world who suffered at the hands of the faceless, and in most cases, nameless oppressors and murderers, who appear in the long dark tale that is the history of mankind. Perhaps the best we could derive from such a story are a few moral imperatives about self-sacrifice for the sake of our neighbors, our friends and loved ones; that we should love one another, storing up real treasures and not worry over things we cannot change or have no power over; that we should do unto others what we would have done to us. In fact, the story of JESUS’ life would not be much different than other morality stories such as Aesop’s Fables or the sayings of Confucius, and the like. Yet, that is not the complete story of the life, mission, and sacrifice of our LORD. You see, JESUS was not simply going up to Jerusalem to fulfill some imaginary self-defined destiny conceived by a sick mind with a God complex, whose sole purpose was to commit suicide by crucifixion. No! He was bound for Jerusalem to accomplish all things written of Him by the prophets. He was going to Jerusalem to fulfill His FATHER’s will. He was going up to Jerusalem to die for the purpose of saving you and me. That, dear ones, is the purpose of CHRIST’s sacrifice and the very purpose of His incarnation. Everything we do as Christians flows from this one great fact: JESUS died for us, to save us from sin, Satan, and the grave. All things that are written by the prophets concerning our salvation have been accomplished in this one great transcendent act. With this act, the FATHER’s will has been fulfilled, His terrible wrath appeased. “It is finished,” and the Foundation for the House of God, the Temple not made by human hands but made alive in divine human flesh, is now complete. With this act, our God and Savior has come as our own High Priest to be the Sin Offering and Sacrifice of Mercy for His creation. This is the message of the Gospel. This is the very center of Christian faith and is, therefore, the message of our redemption. If one gets this wrong then everything else in one’s life and worship is tainted by error. For from the misunderstanding of this one great truth springs all doubt, all fear, all heresy, all false worship, and unbelief. A wrong understanding of this Gospel causes man to strive to achieve salvation by his own works, to acquire the forgiveness of his sins by his own merit and build a ladder to heaven through his own self-righteousness. Yet, does your heart not tell you that such effort is nothing more than fig leaves and foolishness? The Word of God tells us that our own efforts are worthless, that we owe much more than we could ever hope to repay. Holy Scripture is quite clear that we are spiritually bankrupt before God, and even if we could repay our debt of sin, ultimately the price of sin is still death. For through the Apostle, Saint Paul, God tells us, “the wages of sin is death,” and for “him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt.” So it is, that in the end, when we have done all that is commanded of us, all we can say is, “We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.” Therefore, the plea of the blind man in our Gospel text is indeed, the plea of the Church; his prayer is our prayer, and so it must be. For there is no prayer that pleases our God more than when His children turn to Him, seeking from Him His free grace and favor, and thus, His mercy, and His love. Such a prayer is God-pleasing, because such a prayer asks our LORD to do exactly what He took on our flesh and died upon the Cross to do—to save us, to give us His mercy. For this reason, our LORD JESUS sets His face toward Jerusalem. He looks to the city that murders the prophets and stones those sent to her. He goes to fulfill all things that even the blind shall see and the deaf shall be made to hear. He goes up to the City of Peace in order to give peace to all those who will believe. For to fulfill all things means to pay your debt of sin, “not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious Blood and with His innocent suffering and death.” (Luther’s explanation to the Second Article of the Apostle’s Creed, The Small Catechism) JESUS goes up to Jerusalem to die, to contend with Satan in combat stupendous, to wrench free from His hideous grasp those who are slaves to sin and all unrighteousness. JESUS goes to appease the wrath of His FATHER that He may declare the guilty innocent and release them from their chains in which they are bound, to shine the Light of Truth and Hope into the dark recesses of their misery. Consequently, we must see ourselves as blind men. We must see that on our own we have no way out of the darkness and despair. We must recognize and confess that we are powerless to save ourselves. Then, and only then, can we receive what our LORD JESUS so urgently desires for us. Only when we enter the courtroom as condemned criminals with no hope of redemption or escape from eternal punishment, can the hope of redemption be born. Only those who plead guilty before God can receive His mercy. For this is what it means to be justified. It means to be declared innocent when all the evidence weighs against you. It means to be set free when you should be condemned to death. So, heeding our LORD’s words, we walk upon the road to Jerusalem with our SAVIOR and there, enter the City of Peace for our peace. For there, JESUS will be mocked. There, God will be treated with contempt. He will be betrayed by the very people He came to save. The soldiers of Pilate will beat Him nearly to death. There, JESUS will be nailed to the Cross of sorrow and disgrace, deserted by His friends, mourned by His Mother, hated and spat upon by the very people He came to save. JESUS will be blasphemed. The Roman soldiers will offer Him sour wine on that Cross and say, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself.” The religious authorities will mock Him saying, “If You are the SON of God, come down from the cross.” But CHRIST will not save Himself and come down from the Cross, for what His enemies meant for evil, Christ means for good—your good and mine. Thus, was JESUS counted among thieves and murderers, with the most wicked of men, and endured the most shameful, painful, and evil of deaths. For you see, for you to be set free, our LORD had to be bound. When you were given life, He was given your death. When you were declared innocent, He was declared guilty in your place. This is what it means when JESUS tells His disciples “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the SON of Man will be accomplished.” For the sole concern of the SON of Man is to do the will of the One who sent Him—His FATHER, and our FATHER, in heaven. The will of our FATHER, and therefore, the will of His SON, JESUS, is that you be saved, and in saving you, all things written by the prophets must be accomplished. Not one thing must be left undone. For the way of the Cross of JESUS is the way of God’s grace. And if you would know the grace of God and the love of God, then you must stand at the foot of the Cross with Saint Mary, the Mother of God, and with Saint Mary Magdalene and Saint John, the Apostle whom JESUS loved, and look up into the bloody, disfigured face of your SAVIOR, CHRIST JESUS, and know the lengths to which your God would go to save you. Though now we see but dimly, though now our vision is not yet complete, nor is it as clear as it will be, we can be assured of this; our hope has been fulfilled. This is not some distant, vague wish, but a confident and fervent knowledge of a promise fulfilled—a promise fulfilled by our LORD and our God. Our LORD JESUS was crucified and He did die, but He did not stay dead. The grave could not hold Him, for with His death He conquered death, and we who are Baptized into His Name forever share in His victory over the grave. Now we wait for His call to join Him in the Heavenly Jerusalem; there to be given the gift of eternal peace. Until that sacred Day our God has provided the gifts of His true Body and Blood in the blessed Sacrament of the Altar to strengthen us in times of fear and doubt, to strengthen our weak hands and make firm our feeble knees and our weak faith. Thus strengthened, with eyes no longer blind, and with ears unstopped that they can hear, we shall leap like deer, and our sin-parched tongues shall be released to sing with the angels, and archangels, and all the saints of heaven. Behold, JESUS has gone up to Jerusalem for you. There, He has declared His love for you. There, His mercy has been poured out and your cup overflows. Soon, you too, will go up to the heavenly Jerusalem and all things concerning God’s promises for you will be made complete; there your eyes will be opened, for all things concerning JESUS, the SON of Man have been accomplished for you. All things have been accomplished so that JESUS, the SON of God can say to you, “I forgive you all your sins.” IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN. SOLI DEO GLORIA Rev. Raymond D. Parent II Our Savior Evangelical Lutheran Church Crestview, Florida 3/2/25 AD
Ash Wednesday March 5, 2025
JESU JUVA ASH WEDNESDAY Text: Joel 2:12-19; St. Matthew 6:1-6; 16-21 IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN. This evening we have heard our LORD JESUS say, “... when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men” and “... when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men” and again, “... when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting.” In summation, “... you shall not be like the hypocrites.” “You shall not be like the hypocrites.” But does not the wearing of ashes on one’s forehead mark you as a hypocrite? Are we not disregarding our Lord’s warning about wearing our faith on our sleeve, so to speak, for no other purpose than to be seen by men that we may appear to them to be holy? Well... whether you realized it or not, with these ashes you have made a confession. You see, the ashes that are smeared on your forehead symbolize a somewhat dark truth. You heard that truth proclaimed as the ashes were applied: “Remember that you are dust and unto dust you shall return.” The wearing of ashes this day is a somber confession that we are a fallen race, living in a fallen creation. It is a confession that you live under a curse—a curse that by your own reason or strength, you can never hope to escape. No amount of groveling, no tearful promises to do better next time, can negotiate your release from this curse. It is a family curse and has been a part of your ancestry since time beyond imagining, for it is the curse shared by the family of man, and through man it has come on all creation. It is the curse purchased by the sins of your first parents, Adam and Eve, and pronounced by your Creator, and is written in the third chapter of Genesis, “You [will] return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.” Thus, we find ourselves standing and staring into the dark gaping maw of our own graves, our toes hanging over the precipice. Standing there we can hear the words spoken over us and every one of our brothers and sisters committed to that cold dark place, “earth to earth, dust to dust.” The curse I speak of is death, and by wearing the ash of death on your forehead this evening you are confessing that this is what your sin has bought for you. So, the ash you wear is not a sign of hypocrisy, it is a confession. Do these words bother you? I admit that these words are rather grim, but their being grim does not change the truth of them. No amount of hiding or denial can ever change the truth. Sure, it is a bit uncomfortable to contemplate your mortality. And well it should be. It should be uncomfortable because death is not natural; it is not your friend; it is not just a part of the great circle of life. Death is an alien, an interloper, a serpent that came slithering into paradise to steal the life of God’s creation. And so, like the ancients, who put ashes on their heads as a sign of penitence and mourning, we put ashes on our heads this day, confessing and reminding ourselves that one day, we too will die. Ash Wednesday and the ashes of this day in particular, are solemn and sobering reminders that the judgment of God still stands; it has not been revoked. His judgment comes down through history and reaches every people, of every race, and every nation. His judgment leaves no one untouched. No one gets out of this world alive. On your own, you will not escape our LORD’s sentence of death. The ashes, the reminder of God’s curse, the talk about death and the grave, Ash Wednesday and the whole Lenten season, really serve only one purpose: to focus the hearts and minds of God’s holy people on Good Friday and Easter morning. For the events of Good Friday are God’s antidote for the curse of death, and Easter morning is God’s seal of acceptance and approval of the events of Good Friday, and our LORD JESUS’ death for our sake. That is what JESUS means when He tells us, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” For truly, what greater treasure is there than the passion, death, and resurrection of JESUS CHRIST for the life of the world? So we prepare. We “…turn to [our God] with all our heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” But we do not prepare as the hypocrites do. We do not wear long faces and make a great show of things. We are to “rend [our] hearts and not [our] garments.” For Lent is not a matter of self-denial and long faces. It is not a matter of outward holiness for the sake of impressing others, to show how Christian we are. That would only be an empty show of our own self-righteous piety and hypocrisy. Those who make such a great show of things seek only to impress men. JESUS tells us they have already received their reward. Nor is Lent a 40 day self-help program in which we pick ourselves up by our bootstraps, brush ourselves off, and make late New Year resolutions to live a radically changed and more spiritual and holy life. The focus of Lent is not on us, but on the mercy of our LORD and God. And the mercy of our LORD is this: that in spite of our sin, in spite of what we deserve, the curse of death no longer holds sway over His creation. For our God “…is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm.” He loves the unlovable and those who hate Him. He relented from doing harm to you and instead did harm to His SON in order to spare you from the wrath of His judgment, in order to cancel the power of the curse of death through JESUS’ innocent Blood. So we treasure and honor our LORD’s sacrifice. We received it in Baptism and continue to receive it in His Supper and His Word of forgiveness in holy Absolution. This is truly the treasure of Heaven on which we are to rely, for in these we receive the life JESUS gave on Calvary in our place. In these are life, His life, given to us to erase the curse of death and the grave. These treasures are given to be our hearts’ desire. These truly are the treasures that neither moth nor rust destroys. Therefore, the ashes you wear also confess another truth, a greater truth. The ashes placed on your forehead are no longer only a confession of the fall of creation and the curse of death. They confess, even more loudly, the life we have in the innocent suffering, death, and resurrection of JESUS. Placed upon you in the sign of the Cross they symbolize the life now found in what was once an instrument of death. The ashes indicate what you have escaped through our LORD’s grace and mercy—the curse of eternal death and the grave. The ashes then, are also a sign of what will be on the Last Day. For is not our confession that we believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come? And what does this mean other than, “On the Last Day the HOLY SPIRIT will raise me and all the dead and will give to me and all believers in CHRIST eternal life,”? (Luther’s explanation to the Third Article of the Apostle’s Creed) We will be raised from the dust of the grave, our bodies alive with the SPIRIT breathed into them by CHRIST Himself. For JESUS is “…the resurrection and the life. He who believes in [Him,] though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in [Him] shall never die.” So, do not dwell on the curse, but let the ashes of this day remind you of what the LORD JESUS has promised He will do, “…transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.” Easter, then, is the sum total of this day. Easter is coming! JESUS has gained our salvation; death, hell, and sin have been overcome and the grave is left empty, once… for all. Now we come as the prophet Joel bids us: “with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning,” in repentance and quietness. For our God is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness.” Your LORD is zealous for you and has taken pity on you. He has not allowed His SON to die in vain. He has accepted His sacrifice, and plucking you from the dust of your grave speaks these words to you: “Arise, for I have forgiven you all your sins.” IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN. SOLI DEO GLORIA Rev. Raymond D. Parent II Our Savior Evangelical Lutheran Church Crestview, Florida 3/5/25 AD
Sunday March 9, 2025
JESU JUVA INVOCABIT / THE FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT Text: Genesis 3:1-21; St. Matthew 4:1-11 IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN. “Has God indeed said…?” This question may indeed be the most dangerous question in all of human history. This is the question that brought mankind to destruction and caused all creation to be damned. When first heard, this question seems innocent enough. It simply asks, “What is truth?” Yet upon closer examination, one must recognize this question as the very seed of all theological conjecture, skepticism, and religious doubt. Throughout the ages it has been the genesis of all heresy and unbelief. Behind this question lies every disagreement in Christendom. It is the same question that, when answered according to our sinful flesh, allows some in the Church to support abortion, euthanasia, same sex marriage, open communion, female pastors, homosexual and transgender priests, and so-called gender reassignment. It is the same question that would prevent us from claiming the unqualified and absolute truth of the doctrines of the Christian faith, and (dare I say it?), therefore, the Lutheran Church. “Has God indeed said…?” Or to put this question another way: “Is this the real meaning of God’s Word?” But this leads one to another question: “Is it safe for one to interpret the Word of God with flawed human reason or is there a better way?” “Has God indeed said…?” This religious question seeks to drive a wedge between our God, who speaks His Word, and man, who is to live by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God. This religious question is posed to us, and by us, all the time. Therefore, has God indeed said, “Honor your parents,” “Do not murder,” “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not steal, lie, cheat, slander, covet?” Did He really say that to us? And even if He did, perhaps it does not apply to our modern, more enlightened situation; times have changed after all, and we are far more sophisticated than were our ancestors when God handed down these words to Adam and Eve or Moses. Has God indeed said, “This is my Body; this is my Blood… for the forgiveness of sin,” or did He mean something else? Has God indeed said, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” Has God indeed said, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved?” Has God indeed said that He forgives sin unconditionally; that Christ has died and been raised for us; that we are saved by God’s grace through faith alone without any merit or works on the part of a sinner? “Has God indeed said?” With this seemingly innocent question Satan encourages false doctrine under the guise of tolerance. With this question the devil wants you to believe it is respectful and much more charitable, more compassionate, to be accepting of what others believe, rather than holding fast to the Truth of the Word of God. He wants you to believe it is cold and unfriendly to stand firmly on the Words of Holy Scripture and the doctrines of our faith. He wants you to believe that doing so will harm the growth of the Church. He wants you to worry that the absolute truth might offend someone. But if we do not hold to the teachings of our faith, if we do not hold to the truth of God’s Word, what is it then, we are to teach? “Has God indeed said?” In entertaining this question, Satan invites you to take a step back and become a dispassionate and objective critic of God’s Word. You are invited to reach into the gray matter between your ears, to speculate about God, to judge God and His Word, to draw conclusions about God apart from His Word, to use your own experience, your own feelings and emotions, as the standard with which you judge God’s Word. Therefore, if your experience conflicts with God’s Word, if your feelings contradict God’s Truth, well then, perhaps God’s Word is wrong; perhaps God’s Word is a lie; maybe the Church has it all wrong. “To thine own self be true!” After all, how could something that feels so right, be so wrong? Yet, is this not a faith fashioned by little more than one’s personal emotional experience or one’s personal opinion, rather than the Word of God? Does this not lead to a pantheon of false gods created by individuals searching for a so-called “personal relationship” with God? Yet, our LORD, JESUS has plainly said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” Therefore, one is not to pick and choose what he or she will or will not believe from the Word of God, any more than one may pick and choose which Word of God he or she will honor by keeping it. Thus, does our LORD command His Apostles, and even all pastors down to our age, to teach all things which He has commanded, and that, without embellishment or fluff, but simply His pure Word alone. Therefore, man is not to live on the bread of his own wisdom, but on every Word that issues forth from the mouth of our good and gracious God. It is, indeed, by the life sustaining Word of God alone that we are fed on the true Bread which comes down from Heaven that we may have life with God. If anyone, therefore, is not fed on the Word of God, there can be no true life in him; indeed, such is impossible, for as the human body cannot live without earthly food, so the soul withers and dies without this heavenly Bread. Be warned, therefore! Satan is the great deceiver. He wants you to believe that you can choose for yourself what to believe, to decide for yourself what you think is meet, right, and salutary apart from God’s Word; to decide for yourself what is true. Then you would be like, well, you would be like God, would you not? But what the Devil wraps in the shiny paper of tolerance, what he veils with the eye-pleasing bow of friendly accommodation, what he calls compassion, is deadly poison for your soul. Do not eat of that fruit, for in the day you eat of it, you shall surely die. Therefore, do not be fooled. Satan is a predator, and his prey is all mankind. He prowls around like a roaring lion searching for someone to devour. But it is even more personal than that—his prey is you. You see, the Devil knows your weaknesses and He uses them to ensnare you. As the master of deceit, his silken tongue speaks sweet lies and half-truths. He sings the siren song of tolerance, of earthly pleasure and illicit desires. He knows what tempts you because he knows you better than you know yourself. He plays to your vanity and pride, your greed and your selfishness, your secret lusts and every perversion. And as if this is not enough, he also plays to your emotions and opinions. His one desire is to consume your soul by destroying your faith, as he, all the while, separates you from God. Beware, O Christian! Be on your guard, O son and daughter of Adam and Eve! Satan lays in wait for you in the wilderness of sin. Like a lion stalking his next meal, he is patient. He sniffs the air for the scent of sinful cravings and the hint of unbelief. He looks for the ewe who stands separate from the flock, pursuing his own way while trusting in his own feelings and opinions. Like every successful predator Satan has an uncanny ability to spy out the weak and the vulnerable. He looks for the sick and the doubting. In short, He is looking for you. Satan is looking for you because he knows that you are bone of Adam’s bone and flesh of Adam’s flesh. He knows that every son and daughter of Adam and Eve inherited their sin and suffer from their weaknesses. He knows that, in truth, the image of God does not mean all that much to you. Satan knows that you do not truly love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. He knows that rather than worship God, you would rather be a god, making your own rules to live by, than living by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God. But the devil is a liar and the father of all lies. Do not listen to him! Do not eat of the fruit the devil offers. Do not tempt God to leave you to yourself, to the world, and to Satan, but worship the LORD, your God, and serve Him alone. Remember, there is another, a greater, a second Adam. He too, was tempted in the wilderness that is this world. Born into this vale of sin and pain, tears and death, He too, is bone of Adam’s bone and flesh of Adam’s flesh, but Adam is not His FATHER. He suffered every temptation you have suffered, or ever will suffer, but He did not fall. He did not fail. He was not consumed by the beast. Unlike the first Adam when confronted by Satan, He did not hide behind His Bride while the serpent struck his death blows. He did not stand by and watch her die. No, the second Adam, who is JESUS the CHRIST, did not submit to the deceiver; He overcame him. He suffered the blows that should have been yours. He suffered the death that was truly yours to die. He faced down that serpent, Satan, even as He was deserted and forsaken by His closest friends and ultimately was forsaken by God the FATHER Himself. JESUS lived a sinless life and was without blame in the eyes of God. Still, He submitted Himself to the will of His FATHER and allowed Satan to do to Him all the things that every demon desires to do to you. There, on Calvary, while Satan and the hosts of hell danced unseen around the foot of the Cross, JESUS was tempted for the last time. The cries of the people echoed Satan’s question of JESUS in the desert: “Has God indeed said… You are the SON of God?” “If You are the SON of God, come down from the Cross.” But what was our LORD’s reply? “FATHER, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Such is your SAVIOR’s love. Therefore, JESUS accomplished what Adam and Israel could not. He accomplished what you and I cannot. He resisted. He overcame. He triumphed over temptation and did not give in to sin. He is victorious and shares with you the fruits of His victory. There is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood, but the sacrifice is complete. The Blood of the sacrifice shed on God’s holy mountain was that of the SON of God that all righteousness be fulfilled. Therefore, “It is finished!” Completed! The grace of God is yours, free and unmerited. This is the Word of God, this is the Bread of Life, and by it you will live. It is through this very same Word, joined with simple bread and wine, that we may partake of the Body and Blood of JESUS, the Word made flesh. This is the means by which God feeds your soul and strengthens your weak faith, giving you the strength to meet the onslaughts of Satan, to resist his temptations, and find forgiveness when you fail and fall. “For man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Out of the mouth of God comes His Word, and into your mouth He gives it to you in, with, and under His own Body and Blood. So, come now and receive the Bread which only God can give, for here on our altar is the Bread which comes down from heaven, the Word of God made flesh given for you; and here is the Blood JESUS shed for you and the forgiveness of all sin. Eat this Bread. Drink this Drink. For he who eats the Flesh and drinks the Blood of the SON of Man in faith will see heaven. For the Body and Blood of our LORD is the “Bread of God… who comes down from Heaven and gives life to the world.” “If anyone eats of this Bread, he will live forever.” Therefore, “Let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Come to the throne of grace, be fed with the Word of God that declares your sins are forgiven. IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN. SOLI DEO GLORIA Rev. Raymond D. Parent II Our Savior Evangelical Lutheran Church Crestview, Florida 3/1/20 AD
Wednesday March 12, 2025
JESU JUVA MIDWEEK INVOCABIT Text: Revelation 19:6-9; St. Luke 22:1-23 IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN. Our reading from the Gospel of Saint Luke this evening, details the institution of the new Covenant and its celebration with what we call Holy Communion, or the Mass, showing us that the LORD’s Supper is no small thing. Neither is it a last minute afterthought of our LORD JESUS. He says with utmost earnestness, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” JESUS had given this whole matter great thought. It had long been on His heart and on His mind. JESUS was about to give to His disciples, and through them, to His Bride, the Church, a gift that would mystify the brightest and best minds of men. JESUS picked up the Bread and gave thanks. He broke it and handed it over to them. “This is My Body,” He said, “which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” And after they had eaten, in the same manner also, He took the Cup and said: “This Cup is the new covenant in My Blood, which is shed for you.” Now, either JESUS meant exactly what He said that night, or He proposed to His Church a mystery—a mystery which has remained unsolved to this day. The Bride of Christ has always understood Her Husband, JESUS, to have always spoken nothing less than the absolute truth and in that solemn moment which occurred so shortly before His sacrificial death, JESUS was not hiding His teaching in figures of speech or parables. Rather, He was establishing His own everlasting Covenant, informing His heirs what He would bequeath to them with His death. He was telling them that this Inheritance He was leaving them was not just for one moment or one night; it was to last until the end of this age: “Do this,” He said, “in remembrance of Me.” And so His Bride obeys—week after week, year after year, century after century, millennium after millennium, His people have gathered together around His table. His pastors, standing in His stead and by His own command, have done what JESUS directed them to do. They have spoken over the bread His Words of promise. They have spoken over His Cup His Words of life. And devotedly following the will of JESUS, His faithful people have received this consecrated bread and wine, believing it to be nothing less than what the LORD JESUS has declared it to be: His Body, given for them. His Blood, poured out as a new covenant with them. There are three vantage points from which we may ponder the LORD’s Table then. We can view this Holy Supper from the past, that is, from its origin, from its institution by the LORD of the Church on the very night in which He was betrayed, before He went forth giving His Body into death, and shedding His Blood upon the Cross, and thus establishing a new covenant, His covenant of grace and forgiveness. Considering this Gift from this vantage point, it is a Table of remembrance. We can also view the LORD’s Table from our present context, from our own experience, as we approach the LORD’s Table in a land far away and years distant from that first Table. Even so, we find it to be—to our surprise and delight—the very same Table, because it bears the very same gifts, given by our very same LORD. The LORD’s Body and Blood from way back then, He gives to us right here and right now. In this way we may feel ourselves to be much like the Israelites as we journey through this wilderness of sin and despair, looking forward to our arrival in the land promised to our fathers, even as the Manna which is our Lord’s Body feeds us while we are given to drink from the Cup of CHRIST’s grace. Thus, it is a Table that sustains and strengthens us for our pilgrimage as we eat the miraculous nourishment from Heaven afforded to us by CHRIST’s Flesh and Blood. Perhaps most wonderous of all, we can view this Table from the future, which is where our first reading comes in. For the LORD’s Supper, rooted in the past and filling the present, nevertheless mysteriously points towards the future: “Blessed are those who are called to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb!” the angel told John to write. For the Lamb will have His Marriage Supper, when His Bride, the Church, gathered at last from the four corners of the earth and from every age—from the sixth day of creation to the great and final Day when He returns on the clouds of Heaven—will sit down together with Him at a Feast that has no end. It will be Her wedding Banquet! There, and then, CHRIST will rejoice over His Bride with singing and confess before His FATHER, before the angels and all the creation, even before the demons and Satan himself, that She is His beloved Bride for whom He suffered and died and rose again, and for whom He had come again in glory to usher Her into the Day that knows no night. Of that amazing Banquet, that wondrous Supper, we are given a foretaste here, at this Table, as we celebrate in the here and now this glorious Gift as often as we come to it. What CHRIST gives to us at this Table—His precious Body and Blood—the very ransom price He offered for us—assures us that we will have a place at that eternal Table where we will celebrate the never-ending Wedding Feast. Thus, the Table of remembrance, the Table of CHRIST’s presence with us today, the Table of the Church’s future, they are not three Tables, but one Table. All three are wrapped up together by CHRIST and given as a gift to His beloved Bride right in the here and now. Who, then, what man or woman could ever have conceived of such a gift? Who could have dreamt of such a gift? Only our Heavenly Father and His beloved Son, our LORD JESUS CHRIST! Only God, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, could gather into one, His yesterday and our today, in order to give us a share in His forever. All this means, then, that we live our lives oriented toward the age to come and all that shall be. Having already had a teasing foretaste of that new bright future in the Body and Blood of JESUS in His Supper, we must not let that foretaste lie abandoned behind us when we return to our homes from CHRIST’s Table, for in so doing, we betray the very gift of the Table itself! You see, we get to carry God’s future—where all is love, and love is all—out with us into the world around us, to our friends, neighbors, and loved ones. Think of how that renews all of us! Husbands and wives, children and parents, old and young, all of us! As believing Christians, we live in this world looking forward to the world to come; the world that will be when JESUS CHRIST returns. St. Paul tells us, “Therefore, if anyone is in CHRIST, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through JESUS CHRIST, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in CHRIST reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” What a precious gift! Of course, it is true that at times we miserably fail at living in this new life. We forget to live for the age to come and slide back into our old ways. And so we thank our SAVIOR all the more for this wondrous Supper, for beyond all its other gifts, it abundantly graces us with forgiveness! So, as we can see, JESUS thought of everything, and in this amazing Banquet He offers to us everything He is, all He has, and all that will be, as His beloved Bride! Indeed, let us “Hasten as a bride to meet Him, and with loving rev’rence greet Him!” to receive from Him what He suffered, died, and rose again to give us, the forgiveness of our sins. IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN. SOLI DEO GLORIA Rev. Raymond D. Parent II Our Savior Evangelical Lutheran Church Crestview, Florida 3/12/25 AD
Sunday March 16, 2025
JESU JUVA REMINISCERE / THE SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT Text: St. Matthew 15:21-28 IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN. “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” We have all heard it before; there is no greater love among men than the love of a mother for her child. A mother will do anything, sacrifice everything, for the safety and lives of her children. I believe that is where the saying, “Never poke a momma bear!” comes from. A raging momma bear is indeed a formidable and fierce opponent who will give her life in defense of her young. For the sake and love of her child, a mother will even hazard approaching God face to face, begging Him to show her mercy and feed her with the crumbs that fall from His Table. Out of love for her child she will wrestle with God and not release Him until she receives His blessing. Such love, we have before us today. It is the oddest thing though; this Canaanite woman courageously wrestles and seeks a blessing from a Man who, all things being as they were in that day, should hate her; and she Him. They are ancient enemies, these two; or at least their people are. The woman was, as the pericope relates, a Gentile, and not simply a Gentile, but a despised Canaanite. The Gentiles, or non-Jews, were considered dogs, and even stones, by the Jews of Jesus’ day. In most cases, they were considered unclean, as recorded in the Gospel of Saint John, who relates to us that the Chief Priests and the elders of the people, when they brought JESUS before Pilate, would not enter the Praetorium, the governor’s palace, “lest they should be defiled” and therefore, rendered unable to eat the Passover. Therefore, as a Gentile, this woman had no reason to believe she had a right to approach this Man. Nor did she have any reason to believe that in approaching JESUS, He would even acknowledge her, never mind grant her petition. But this mother did not see JESUS as merely a man; she saw Him as her LORD and God. She knew that she was approaching God in human flesh. She called JESUS “LORD” no less than three times, and in approaching Him, she confessed His title, “SON of David,” the title reserved for God’s promised MESSIAH. Yes, she knew who JESUS is, and she knew of the promises to be fulfilled in Him. Thus, this desperate Canaanite mother, a Gentile and not a Jew, kneels before JESUS, worshiping Him, for the specific reason that she knew Him to be her LORD and Israel’s longed for MESSIAH, the promised CHRIST! In this woman, we see a perfect example of humility and strength of faith tested by the love of JESUS, and rewarded with perseverance as the result of that faith tested and strengthened in the crucible of divine suffering. For faith to grow it must be tested. This woman knows she has no claim on the mercy of the man before her. She descends from a long line of heathen idolaters. She knows herself to be unworthy and yet, in a way that may at first seem brazen for her to do so, she asks for grace and mercy, falling down and admitting to JESUS that she stands guilty as charged. She worships her Judge in full agreement with His rebuke. For JESUS came for the descendants of Abraham, “... the lost sheep of the House of Israel.” Thus, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” Still, even as crumbs of food fall to the floor to be devoured by dogs, this mother is sure of one thing, the abundance of mercy meant for the “House of Isreal” is so great that even the crumbs hold the power of salvation. She may be a dog, but she knows that one word from JESUS will save her and her daughter. She will receive her blessing! This is the way of faith. It simply clings to God and His promise. Faith has no demands. It receives, without complaint, disappointment and rebuke, and even seeming indifference and derision. Faith allows nothing, not even the approaching icy hand of death, to deter it from calling upon God in prayer with resolute perseverance, knowing that God hears prayer, and though He may be silent for a season, answers every one. Confronted with the truth of her condition, the Canaanite mother persevered, and just as Jacob received a new name through perseverance, so too, this woman received a blessing, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.’ And her daughter was healed from that very hour.” She wrestled with JESUS and obtained the mercy she sought through the victory that is faith. In the accounts of Jacob and this Canaanite woman, we see faith does not guarantee the life of a Christian will be a life of comfort. Indeed, more often than not, it means just the opposite. JESUS, Himself, tells us, “In the world you will have tribulation…” But He also adds, “… but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Faith clings to JESUS and His Word, accepting and bearing up under the weight of the cross God placed upon it. We are not born with such faith, rather it is forged within us in the heat of God’s Law and the tempering of God’s grace and forgiveness. Faith in CHRIST throws itself on the mercy of God’s righteous judgment and claims the promises of His unchanging Word. It confesses its weaknesses and seeks God’s gracious mercy, love, and forgiveness, not on its own merit, but on the merit of JESUS’ innocent suffering and His bloody death and His triumphant resurrection. Faith trusts God to be who He has promised us He will be—“merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” Thus, faith holds fast to God and claims His promised blessing. Faith does not evaluate itself asking if it is great or small but prays with King David: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your HOLY SPIRIT from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous SPIRIT… O LORD, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise… The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise.” Our LORD is never far from those He loves and calls His own. Just as He did not truly ignore the Canaanite woman and her plea, neither does He ignore you and your prayers. He came down from heaven for dogs such as you and me. He suffered on the Cross for dogs such as you and me. On that Cross, JESUS felt the weight of the suffering of the entire world and was forsaken by all He ever knew or loved. On that Cross, He was truly and completely alone; His darkness was utter and complete. All this He suffered for you. Therefore, He hears your prayers and answers every one of them. His Blood cries out from the ground for you. How could JESUS not answer you? It is for this very purpose that He came—to answer your cries for mercy, to free you from Satan and yourself, to purchase your salvation, and to give you His righteousness, all that you may have eternal life. He paid your ransom and redeemed you from sin, Satan, and the grave. He paid the price for your redemption with His own Body and Blood and His innocent suffering, and death. How, then, could JESUS ignore you? Thus, we are dogs, no longer. In CHRIST, through faith, God has raised up for Himself true sons and daughters of Abraham. In CHRIST, we are forgiven, renewed, and made righteous and holy. JESUS supplies much more for you from His Table than mere crumbs; He gives you Himself, His true Body and Blood, given and shed for the forgiveness of your sins. In these, are His goodness, mercy, and love. In these, are your life and salvation. Already, this very morning you have prayed the Kyrie, “Have mercy on me, O LORD,” and JESUS has heard you. You are healed, your demons cast out, your sins forgiven. In JESUS, you have overcome all that the devil can dish out. Satan calls you a sinner, but JESUS calls you a child of God. Come now, to the Table of the LORD and receive there more than meager crumbs. Receive salvation and eternal life. There you will hear your SAVIOR say, “O [how], great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire…. [For I have forgiven all your sins.”] IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN. SOLI DEO GLORIA Rev. Raymond D. Parent II Our Savior Evangelical Lutheran Church Crestview, Florida 3/16/25 AD
Wednesday March 19, 2025
JESU JUVA MIDWEEK REMINISCERE Text: Revelation 21:9-27; St. Luke 22:24-46 IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” That’s what our LORD said in the Gospel of Saint Matthew. So when we read of the nascent Church in Acts 2, what we see there about where their heart was is not all that surprising. It was not in their earthly treasures; those they gave away freely. They had found another treasure: “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” To be devoted to the apostles’ doctrine or teaching—that we can understand. To be devoted to their prayers—that too is understandable. But what is this being devoted to the fellowship, that is, to the breaking of bread? You see, for those early Christians, the Holy Supper was not some occasional extra that intruded into their worship every other Sunday or once a month, allowing the Baptists and the Methodists to beat them to the local restaurants for Sunday brunch. Those early Christians were not staring at their hourglasses while silently complaining that the service was running over and they would be forced to be on a waiting list before they could be seated at their favorite restaurant. They were not concerned that their children might miss out on snack time because their pastor insisted on celebrating the Holy Eucharist. Those early Christians were as devoted to the Eucharist as they were to the Apostles’ teaching. They were as devoted to the Eucharist as they were to their prayers. They were as convinced as were the apostles, that the Holy Eucharist is the Gospel because it is the very Body and Blood of their SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST. It was as unthinkable for them to miss the Eucharist as it was for them to miss hearing the Word or praying together! “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” So, just what is the treasure, what is the big deal in the LORD’s Supper? I mean, it is just Communion, right? But anyone who believes that of the Holy Supper has failed to realize the priceless treasure CHRIST has given to us. Sure, it does not look very impressive. A small dry wafer, a sip of wine, that is all it appears to be. Nothing more than crumbs, you might say. But appearances can be deceiving! Very deceiving! In our reading tonight from the Revelation of Jesus Christ to Saint John, we get a real eye-opener. St. John is given a vision of the Church as she truly is, and there is no other way to describe Her than as a Treasure Chest full of jewels. She positively glitters as She comes down from Heaven. Words fail to describe Her beauty. But the Church John sees is no different than what you see whenever you gather here at Our Savior. Surely not, you think. Surely, it cannot be the same. Maybe it is what the Church will look like at the Last Day, but not now? But pay close attention to the reading. It spoke of the nations walking by the light of the Church, of kings bringing their glory into it, of gates that are never closed. This is not merely a description of the Church as She will one day be. It is a description of the Church as She is—now! You see, we need to learn to close our eyes and open our ears. We need to learn to see with our ears. The Church is—really and truly is—as God declares Her to be, a priceless Treasure Chest, a veritable jewel box sent down by God from Heaven into the very midst of the earth to give life to the nations! Yes, appearances can be deceiving! Or take the Passion reading tonight. See JESUS sweating great drops of blood in the garden, wrestling with temptation. He is trembling as He considers what lies before Him because it terrifies Him. This Man is God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God. Think of JESUS hanging dead on the Cross as that Light is extinguished, the Light fading from His eyes as they stare fixed and unseeing. This is God? This is victory? It does not look much like God or victory. He looks very much like just another one of us, defeated by death after all. But appearances can be deceiving. For it is God hanging dead upon the Cross, and then and there, it is death and Satan that lost the battle for our souls. Now come back to the Supper. Just bread and wine? No! True enough, that may be all we see, but the treasure that is hidden beneath the external form is far greater, far more wondrous. “This is My Body... This is My Blood...” JESUS said; Words of divine power! “Given for you... shed for you for the forgiveness of sins....” JESUS said; God’s own Words communicating His divine love! In the same way, underneath the very ordinary looking group of people assembled together for this service tonight, or the Mass every LORD’s day and Feast day, one finds the priceless treasure of the Church. Underneath the very ordinary looking Man, heading toward a painful and terrible death, one finds the priceless treasure of God Himself. And underneath the very ordinary looking Bread and Wine, one finds nothing less than the very Body that He offered once on Calvary’s Cross for us, and the very Blood that He spilled to redeem the world. Is it any wonder, then, that those earliest Christians devoted themselves to the Supper? How could they keep away from it, knowing what the broken Bread is? How could they not love every minute of it, knowing the contents of the blessed Chalice? They shut their eyes and opened their ears and then they saw, and their hearts believed. One of our ancient Church Fathers, St. John Chrysostom, tells us of a story once related to him: “An old man had a vision during the celebration of the LORD’s Supper that left him astounded. He saw a host of angels, clad in bright robes. They encircled the altar and they bowed their heads, the way soldiers bow in the presence of their king.” (On the Priesthood, p. 141) For a moment, that old man was privileged to see with his eyes the reality that we know only with our ears. Where we find JESUS, where we find His Body and Blood, there, we find forgiveness, there, we find life, there, we find the Church. Where we find JESUS, we find the angels and all the hosts of Heaven just as we confess in the Proper Preface: “Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the hosts of Heaven....” Yes, there we find the Church—right there in the words we sing and the Words we hear every week. The angels see this treasure! They recognize who is before them and veil their faces to His presence. How we must offend them—not to speak of our LORD—when we treat this blessed Supper as “just Communion.” It is never that! It is never just Communion. It is never less than JESUS’ own Body and Blood, as really and substantially present as when that Body was laid in Bethlehem’s manger or when that Blood stained Golgotha’s wood. A Priceless Treasure, indeed—giving us forgiveness of our sins and a share in God’s own unending life! Christians, then, are such a strange people. They are quite devoted to things they cannot see, but know by faith to be true. They are devoted to a Church that, to all eyes, looks like an irretrievable mess, and yet they know it to be the precious Bride of CHRIST, glittering with His glory. They are devoted to a LORD and Master who conquers by dying on a tree, cursed and damned. And they are devoted to a Meal, where that same LORD continually gives them His Body and Blood; a Meal that opens their eyes, giving them peace through the strengthening of their faith, as it forgives their sins. This Meal opens their eyes to see the treasures all around them. Not the things usually counted as treasures, but the real treasures; Those treasures valued by God: His People! People who were so precious to the SON of God that He gave His life for them! People whose value is attested to by the contents of the Chalice and the broken Bread. JESUS thinks that much of them and He thinks that much of you. Is it any wonder then, that St. Laurence, a deacon during the persecution of Christians in third century Rome, who was charged by the Roman government with bringing to them the treasure of the Church, that he gathered together the poor and the lame, the maimed and the blind, and presented them saying, “Here is the treasure of Christ’s Church!” Yes, appearances can be deceiving, but the LORD’s Supper opens our eyes and our hearts, that we might come to see the glittering jewels that surround us. Indeed, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also! Where true treasure is to be found you will hear JESUS Christ say, “I forgive you all your sins.” IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN. SOLI DEO GLORIA Rev. Raymond D. Parent II Our Savior Evangelical Lutheran Church Crestview, Florida 3/19/25 AD