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 May 18, 2025
JESU JUVA CANTATE / THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER Text: St. John 16:5-15 ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA! IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN. I have a little bit of news for you that I hope serves to bring you great joy: you are not of this world! That is correct, you are not of this world; by the grace of God the FATHER, through faith in the sacrificial death and triumphant resurrection of God the SON for the forgiveness of your sins, you have been taken out of this world and made members of the family of God. You are the chosen, that is, you have been called by CHRIST to do things the world will not do, indeed, things the world is incapable of doing. You have been called by our LORD to glorify God through love and service to your neighbor. Thus, you are salt and light, a gleaming city on a hill, your light, the light of CHRIST JESUS, shining into the darkness as a beacon of hope to the suffering of this world. Your light shines into the darkness singing a “new song,” a song which speaks of the “marvelous things” our LORD has done. For “His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory. He has made know His salvation; His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations. He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.” Our LORD’s “victory” is made known to us through the work of the HOLY SPIRIT. It is through the work of the HOLY SPIRIT that we are made to see JESUS. Through His work, and His work alone, we come to understand the Words of our LORD, for the HOLY SPIRIT, the COMFORTER, who proceeds from the FATHER and the SON, opens our eyes to clearly see our LORD, opens our ears that we clearly hear our LORD, and opens our hearts that we believe what we see and hear of Him. There is no alternate way in this life to see and know JESUS. It is the HOLY SPIRIT alone that makes known His salvation. Thus, the true work of the HOLY SPIRIT is that of sanctification, or more simply put, to make us holy by bringing us to faith; thus His Name, “HOLY SPIRIT.” For He is the One that has made us holy and keeps us in the blessed state of sanctification, or holiness. It is for this reason we confess with the whole Christian Church on earth, “I believe in the HOLY SPIRIT, the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, forgiveness of sins, resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.” But what does this confession mean? I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in JESUS CHRIST, my LORD, or come to Him; but the HOLY SPIRIT has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; even as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with JESUS CHRIST in the true faith; in which Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all sins to me and all believers, and will at the Last Day raise me and all the dead, and give unto me and all believers in CHRIST eternal life. This is most certainly true. (Martin Luther’s explanation to the Third Article of the Apostle’s Creed) That is what we confess and that is what our confession means, but when you hear the words, “HOLY SPIRIT,” what is it that comes to your mind? What is the picture that takes shape in your mind’s “eye”? Sadly, the picture one sees when talk of the HOLY SPIRIT pops up in casual conversation is often distorted. What often comes to mind is the all holy televangelist or radio evangelist, faith healers, speaking in tongues, special revelation, worship that gives you that entertained and feel good feeling, and that ever so popular personal revelation, of the “God spoke to me,” or “God laid it on my heart,” or even “God revealed to me that He wants me to…” kind of talk. But this distorted image of the Third Person of the Godhead sadly misses the mark by a wide margin and, therefore, misses the real work of the HOLY SPIRIT and lays waste to the Gospel of CHRIST. You see, the real work of the HOLY SPIRIT is the revelation of the redemption our LORD JESUS CHRIST won for us through His life, death, and resurrection. It is really that simple! The HOLY SPIRIT preaches CHRIST into us giving to us the benefits of His saving work by preaching God’s Word through our ears and into our hearts that we believe and be made holy. As it is written, and you have so often heard, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Therefore, without the preaching of the Gospel by the HOLY SPIRIT, you could know nothing about JESUS and what He has done for you. Without the preaching of the Gospel by the HOLY SPIRIT, you could not believe in CHRIST and therefore receive the benefits of His work. All JESUS’ work would have been in vain and we would still be lost in our sins because His work would remain hidden from us and lost forever. Where the HOLY SPIRIT does not cause the Gospel to be preached and does not awaken the understanding of it in the heart, all is lost. (Luther) In order to give us the treasures won for us by JESUS, God has caused His Word to be written down in the pages of Holy Scripture by His faithful prophets, apostles, and disciples, in order to be preached and taught to us by faithful men in the Office of the Holy Ministry, and administered to us in the blessed Sacraments which CHRIST Himself has ordained. These are the means, or vehicles, by which we are called, gathered, and enlightened; these are the means by which we are made holy and kept in the one true faith. Therefore, being made holy is nothing other than being brought to the LORD CHRIST in faith to receive the treasures of His blessed work to which we could not have come by our own reason or strength. Let this, then, stand as a warning to you, for where CHRIST is not preached, there is no HOLY SPIRIT to create, call, and gather the Christian Church, apart from which no one can come to the LORD CHRIST. Where there is no HOLY SPIRIT, there is no CHRIST; there is no God, and therefore, no Christian Church. As Saint Paul writes to the Christian congregation in Corinth, “No one knows the things of God but the SPIRIT of God.” These vehicles, or marks of the true Christian Church, are the things through which the HOLY SPIRIT works—preaching, absolution, Baptism, and the LORD’s Supper. Everything else in the Church is secondary at best or meaningless at worst. In Baptism, sinners die with CHRIST and are buried with Him into judgment, that just as He was raised from the dead by the glory of the FATHER, they are also raised with Him to walk in newness of life—real and abundant life, everlasting life. It is there, in Holy Baptism, where water and Word are poured over you, that you were separated from the world and made a child of God, because it is there that you received the HOLY SPIRIT who comes to you with all of gifts of JESUS’ Gospel: victory over death and devil, forgiveness of sin, God’s grace; literally the entire Gospel in CHRIST. God makes Christians by water and Word, as a gift, such that faith and life do not come by the ears of God being filled with our words of promise, for those words are untrue, unsure, uncertain, and even empty. Nor does faith and life come by any work or merit on our part. Faith and life come by hearing the Word and promises of God and believing them. The Word and promises of God are most certainly true and unbreakable, for God does not lie. How does the HOLY SPIRIT use the Word of God to create faith and life? He creates faith and life by convicting you with respect to sin, because of your unbelief; convicting you of righteousness, because even the holiest of your good works are but filthy rags; convicting you of judgment because Satan has already been condemned. In all of this the HOLY SPIRIT preaches the Word of God into the ears of the unbelieving and the half-believing that they might receive the life and righteousness of CHRIST. This Gospel the HOLY SPIRIT preaches into your ears: JESUS CHRIST, true God, begotten of the FATHER in eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is your LORD. He has redeemed you, a lost and condemned creature. He has purchased and freed you from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver but with His holy, precious Blood and with His innocent suffering and death. (Martin Luther’s explanation to the Second Article of the Apostle’s Creed) The HOLY SPIRIT declares it is by the Blood of CHRIST that you are made holy. The HOLY SPIRIT tells you, your “goodness” will not get you into heaven. He tells you, you could never be “good” enough. In fact, on your own, you cannot be “good” at all. But, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” The HOLY SPIRIT tells you, that loving the world is the opposite of loving God. He tells you that there is a great difference between believing in CHRIST and believing that JESUS is the CHRIST. You have heard JESUS say that He came to seek and save the lost and the condemned of this world. He said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick… For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” Through the goodness and mercy of God the FATHER, for the sake of His suffering, dying, and rising SON, you need not lift a finger to inherit eternal life. It is yours, as a free gift of God the FATHER for the sake of God the SON, delivered into your ears by the preaching and work of God the HOLY SPIRIT. Therefore, the Church lives and has Her being by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Brothers and sisters in CHRIST, not one of us walked the earth with our LORD JESUS. Therefore, if you wish to see JESUS do not strain your eyes looking for Him, Rather, listen with your ears. For as Saint Mary, the very Mother of God, received CHRIST into her womb by the preaching of the HOLY SPIRIT in her ear, so CHRIST, too, dwells in the depth of your being by the work of the HOLY SPIRIT, who preaches Him into your heart through your ears. The HOLY SPIRIT’s sole message is JESUS CHRIST, and Him crucified for the life of the world. He holds JESUS before us so that we may look upon Him who died for us with the eyes of faith. The HOLY SPIRIT brings JESUS to us in the Words of Holy Scripture read to us from the lectern, preached to us from the pulpit, and given to us with His true Body and Blood in the Sacrament of the Altar. The HOLY SPIRIT comforts, sustains, and satisfies our hunger for righteousness by placing a bit of bread on our tongue with the words, “Take, eat, the Body of CHRIST given for you.” The HOLY SPIRIT comforts, sustains, and satisfies our thirst for righteousness saying, “Take, drink, the Blood of CHRIST, shed for you.” The HOLY SPIRIT speaks JESUS’ Words of comfort to us in Holy Absolution. He gives JESUS to us in our loneliness and isolation and despair. He reaches down to each of us with the right hand of God and pours the Waters of Holy Baptism over you in the Name of God, the FATHER, God the SON, and God the HOLY SPIRIT. All this, and only this is the work of the HOLY SPIRIT. He does not speak of Himself; “He does not speak with His own authority.” The HOLY SPIRIT speaks of only that which He hears from the FATHER and the SON and He tells us of things to come. The HOLY SPIRIT speaks words of conviction. Those who reject it are condemned. Those who hear and believe are saved, for the speaking of the HOLY SPIRIT is for the purpose of glorifying CHRIST in order that you be made holy. The HOLY SPIRIT takes of what belongs to JESUS and declares it to you with the words, “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 5/18/25 AD
Sunday May 11, 2025
JESU JUVA JUBILATE / THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER Text: St. John 16:16-22 ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA! IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN. In our Gospel text appointed for Jubilate Sunday, our LORD speaks words of comfort to His disciples. In only a few short hours, JESUS will be arrested and dragged before a kangaroo court where He will be tried for telling the truth; though his accusers will call the truth a lie. JESUS’ own people will hand Him over to the Roman authorities to be put to death by crucifixion. He was quite aware that the hour had come for Him to give His life for the life of the world. By this time the next day He will be “crucified, dead, and buried,” so He said to them, “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.” These words caused no small amount of confusion for our LORD’s disciples. What could He possibly mean, “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.” JESUS clears up their confusion with parabolic language, that is, an allegory, as He explains to them what true joy is and that, despite their sorrow, their greatest joy is still to come. As the hymnologist writes, “I’m but a stranger here, Heav’n is my home; Earth is a desert drear, Heav’n is my home” (LSB 748). He is correct; this earth is not our home. This life, as we now experience it, was not meant to be. God’s will and desire was and always has been, that His creation would have a much richer and far deeper relationship with its Creator than we now know. Did He not walk with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day and did He not give mankind dominion over the earth? God intended that He would be our God and we would be His children. That is the way it was meant to be, but sin got in the way, coming between man and God. Sin laid waste to man’s relationship with God, and even while God continued to love and provide for us, we began to hate Him. Since the day of Adam’s sin and mankind’s eviction from the paradise of the Garden of Eden, we have been continuously on a pilgrimage of sorts. We have become strangers in an ever stranger land. We perceive something is not quite right. Our hearts and minds, indeed, our very spirits and souls, sense that something has gone terribly wrong. We look around ourselves and despair because we know that nothing here is truly as it should be, and though we struggle to repair the hurt and heal the wounds brought about by sin, (ours and the sins of others), if we are truthful with ourselves, we know that our every effort to do so has ultimately resulted in abject failure. So, in a futile effort, we attempt to convince ourselves everything is right with the world, or at the very least, we attempt to ignore everything that we know is very wrong. Sure, there is the occasional war with its attendant devastation and death, and from time to time our world is subject to natural disasters which bring with them death, destruction, and ruin, but as long as it does not touch us here at home, as long as such events do not touch us personally, we can go on living our shallow little lives with little care for those who truly suffer. However, imagine if you will, what life is like in Ukraine at this very moment. We watch the terrible events taking place in Ukraine on our TVs and shake our heads, then we pull ourselves up to the dinner table to enjoy our evening meal or turn out the lights at the end of our day and peacefully go to sleep. Or put yourself in the place of those mothers and fathers, husbands, wives, and children who have lost those they love to the cruelty of war or the arbitrary unpredictability of nature. God’s creation suffers and groans. It is subject to war, hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes, to tsunamis, floods, and drought that destroy property and take countless lives. There are epidemics and pandemics caused by terrible diseases that result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands, even millions of people. Yet, even while the world shakes its head in disingenuous sympathy, life goes on for most of us as though nothing has happened at all. We may read about these events on the internet or watch them on TV, but when we push away from our computers, when we put away our phones, when we turn off the TV, we hardly give such things another thought because they have not affected us personally. Is it not, after all, the rule of nature that the fit and the strong survive while the weak perish and fall by the wayside. Yet, are we not meant to do more than merely survive? Is there no more meaning to life than mere survival? We were meant to live, to be abundant and multiply, to live in joyful communion with our God and the creation in which He placed us, giving us life. In this life, we are meant to love and serve God by loving and serving those who are incapable of or unable to help themselves. We are meant to love our neighbor and care for God’s creation. We certainly were not meant to walk on past those who suffer as though they do not exist, nor were we meant to abuse this world in which we live. Yet, that is the condition of our world and every one of us is guilty to a greater or lesser extent of such sinful shallowness, carelessness, and negligence. So no, this earth is not our home, and this life is not the life to which we should cling. At least it is not our home in the sense that we should not look forward to another home and a better life, a home and life where things are truly what God intends them to be—as He has promised us they will be. Yet, why do we hold so tightly onto this life? Repent! Let go of this world with all its hatred, pain, suffering, sin, and death. Stop trying to make this world out to be something it is not. Your efforts to fool yourself and others may work for a time but fooling yourself changes nothing. The world and those who cling to it are spinning into chaos and darkness where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. That, my friends, is the point of our Gospel text. Our focus is not to be on this life or this world. We are not to place our hope in worldly princes or temporal earthly kingdoms but on the returning CHRIST and His eternal Kingdom. Our desire is to be for JESUS, our LORD, and SAVIOR. No other end can possibly satisfy a Christian save that which is found in CHRIST JESUS, the Eternal One. Our one and only hope is to be under His loving and gracious rule forever. Such is to be the joy sought out by God’s children; a joy that no one can take from us. This should not be taken to mean that we are to disengage from life and the world around us, to join a monastery or convent or some other religious or spiritual community and limit ourselves to a strict diet of so-called Christian music and Christian books, television, and movies. And certainly, we are not to seek out death. No! We are not to hide our light under a basket; we are to be the light of the world! Indeed, our LORD has commanded that we go into all the world baptizing in God’s Name and teaching all He has taught us, rejoicing in hope, with patience in tribulation, even as we continue steadfastly in prayer, waiting patiently for the day when we will see Him again. How is this to be done if we should remove ourselves from the world? How then, do we love and serve our neighbor? Yet, there is a problem: we tend to be theologians of glory even when we know we should be theologians of the Cross. By this, I mean that we would gladly follow our LORD, even to the gates of Hell as long as everything in our lives is pleasing, comfortable, and safe. In this, we are especially adept at imitating Saint Peter who, promising to follow JESUS, even if it meant death, denied our LORD three times for fear he might be the next to be nailed to a cross. Theologians of glory tend to call evil good and good evil. Comfort and safety are good, and suffering is evil. Not that comfort and safety are necessarily bad in and of themselves, but the theologian of glory will avoid any kind of pain and suffering at all costs because for the theologian of glory, pain and suffering for any reason means God does not love you because you have somehow displeased Him, or He just does not love you because you are not pleasing enough to Him. This is a simplistic, even an ignorant understanding of God and His mercy. This understanding of God sees God, not as the cause of all things, but only those things which we define as “good.” But friends, that kind of a god is not the Christian God. That kind of a god is only able to react as forces beyond his control act on him. In fact, it is hard to see how that kind of god could be a god at all, and he certainly could not be the God of the Cross and therefore, the God of Holy Scripture. Such glory loses sight of the One True God and His grace and mercy. Eventually, it loses sight of God altogether. Having lost God, it is no longer possible to hope for or even receive relief from God; for when God is lost, all is lost. For there is no other god or savior in whom one may hope. There is only one God, FATHER, SON, and HOLY GHOST, and He is eternal. To lose God one must be eternally bereft of all hope. For such a person, sorrow and suffering know no end. It is, then, as JESUS said, “A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come….” In this world, you will have trouble. The Christian life, the life we live, is lived out in the “little while” of heartache and pain, sickness, suffering, and death, however, our focus is not to be on the “little while” of suffering in this life, but on the eternal joys which we have in CHRIST JESUS, which we will have to the full at His second coming. It is for this reason that JESUS suffered the pain and death of crucifixion giving birth to His Church in Water and Blood that the sorrows and sufferings of this life would last for no more than a season and our joy in CHRIST and the promised life to come, would be everlasting. Therefore, our LORD tells us that the pains and sufferings of this life are fleeting and transitory, they last no more than a moment and then are gone, and in their place will be joy, complete and unending joy; joy no one can take away from you. So now, as you live through this “little while” of suffering, keep your eye on the prize—the long while, the never-ending moment in the unending Day of our LORD. For while the cursed sorrow and the devilish despair last only a little while, then comes the joy which knows no end and the peace which surpasses all human understanding. Is this not a blessing that far exceeds any temporal heartache? Behold, this little while of suffering that we now know, even death itself, is nothing more than birth pangs—the travails of passing from the baptismal womb of the Church into the eternal light of CHRIST where we are released from the pains and sufferings of death and raised up a new life in CHRIST JESUS. How long must you wait? How long is this little while? Does it really matter? It is but a little while after all. And when the time of this little while is fulfilled and JESUS returns for you on the clouds of heaven, all your suffering will be forgotten, and your unending joy will begin. Until that time, turn with joy to the gifts our LORD gives to you in His life-giving Flesh and Blood; gifts given to forgive you, to uphold your faith and renew your strength for this present hour; gifts that sustain you until the life to come where all mourning, pain, sorrow, and suffering will cease; gifts given to keep your eyes on the promise that you will see JESUS. In this, you may rightly rejoice, for it is a joy no one can take from you. In it can be heard a blessed Word that no devil or enemy of God can undo, for in it JESUS says unto 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 5/11/25 AD
Sunday May 4, 2025
JESU JUVA MISERICORDIAS DOMINI Text: St. John 10:11-16 ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA! IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN. “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:6 When reading or listening to the Gospel of Saint John, one must always listen or read the words in the context and purpose for which they are written: “... but these are written that you may believe that JESUS is the CHRIST, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” Therefore, we must listen for the voice of the Good Shepherd who is JESUS, the CHRIST, the SON of God and our SAVIOR. To hear our SAVIOR’s voice, you must know His voice, and when one comes to recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd, one no longer recognizes any other voice. Our Gospel text this morning bears a warning: there is a wolf lying at your gate and his one great desire is to devour you. If he cannot devour you, he will settle for wounding you and scattering you, because the end result will be the same—your destruction. He will attempt to wound you by overthrowing your faith. He will attempt to scatter you by sending you after false gods, false religion, and false worship. Hirelings, who care nothing for you or for God, will not protect you from this wolf. A hireling’s only concern is for himself. Hirelings will live off your wool and they will extract from you more than a mere pound of flesh if you allow them, all the while soothing you with sweet sounding words, telling you that they know what is best for you, that everything they do is for your own good, but they lie, and they will not protect you. Their primary concern is for their own comfort and safety. They, too, feed on you who are the sheep, and they would strip you of your every defense against the wolf. When the wolf comes, they will not defend or protect you; they will only run away. Hirelings, you see, make paths straight for the wolf. For the wolf, they fill in the valleys and bring the mountains low. The rough places they make smooth. They lay the foundation for the wolf and his coming. Hirelings sit in the seat of the Good Shepherd caring not a whit for the souls of the sheep they attend, nor for He to whom the sheep truly belong. They do not feed them what is good. They do not comfort the sick and strengthen the weak, they do not bind up the wounds of the injured, and they do not seek the sheep that are lost or have been driven away. Their only desire is for earthly gain and the praise of men. They fatten the sheep for the wolf, and when the wolf comes, they flee and look for another flock to plunder. However, the True Shepherd, that is, the Good Shepherd, is different from the hireling, and He is the mortal enemy of the wolf. The hireling is indifferent to the needs of the sheep and the wolf seeks to destroy them. Yet, the “Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” The Good Shepherd knows His sheep, and His sheep know Him. The Good Shepherd speaks and His sheep come running to the sound of His voice. The sheep of the Good Shepherd seek every opportunity to be in His presence and receive from Him what is good. The sheep look to their Good Shepherd for all things needed for this body and life. The sheep seek no other shepherd and no other pasture other than that of the Good Shepherd. They look to Him to be led to streams of living waters, they seek Him out to be fed what is good, and when they come to the valley of the shadow of death, they fear no evil, for the Good Shepherd is with them. The rod and staff of His Word comfort them. When the wolf comes, He does not flee but gives His life to the wolf in their place. That is your Good Shepherd. That is your JESUS. In a world ruled by sin, in a world of hunger, in a world of loneliness, suffering, pain, evil, and death, sheep are raised to be fleeced, to be slaughtered, and devoured. In our world of sin, sheep are murdered in their homes, schools, universities, and city streets. They are slaughtered by the millions in abortion clinics and by the hundreds of millions in wars. What more proof do we need that the devil exists, he who prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour? Cunning, and hungry like a wolf, Satan seeks to deceive and devour you. You, and all of creation, do not need a hireling to protect you from the tearing fangs of the wolf, you need a SAVIOR; you need the Good Shepherd. You need JESUS CHRIST. Unlike the hireling, JESUS does not leave the sheep to be sacrificed, and unlike the wolf, He does not devour them; He loves them by giving His life for them. He loves them so much that, in accordance with His FATHER’s will, He became one of them and yet, was not like them. Instead, He was a humble, pure, and innocent Lamb to be slain—to give His life, a sacrifice, in place of the lives of His sheep. This is our Good Shepherd’s plan and His desire from all eternity—to die that His sheep might live; to offer Himself as an all-atoning Sacrifice, a pleasing aroma, for the sins of the sheep; to suffer His FATHER’s righteous judgment and the full weight and fury of His terrible wrath, all for the sake of His sheep—the same sheep who would reject Him, who would hate Him, beat, abuse, and crucify Him in their vain search for greener pastures, in a vain hope of being their own shepherd. Still, the Good Shepherd loves His sheep. He will not flee when the wolf comes. Instead, He stands between His sheep and the wolf and allows the wolf to have his way with Him, doing to Him all that he will—all that he wished to do to the sheep. The Good Shepherd allowed the wolf to tear into Him, to rip flesh from bone, to pierce His hands, feet, and side. With wild abandon, the wolf indulged himself in an orgy of the Good Shepherd’s Flesh and Blood. In a mad frenzy the wolf, who is Satan, and all his minions, exhausted themselves in their rage, and when they were finished, when their bloodlust was finally sated, the Good Shepherd hung lifeless from His Cross and then was laid dead in His grave. Yet, something wonderful happened that the horror of that scene could not have revealed, but to eyes of faith. The story was not yet over, for it was by that very Blood, the very Blood of JESUS, our Good Shepherd, that the wolf was defeated. On the third day, the stone rolled away to reveal an empty tomb. Empty, that is, except to the eyes of faith, which could see there, lying dead next to the napkin and burial linens, sin and death itself. Satan, the wolf, is defeated—defanged and declawed—his apparent victory, no victory at all, his power over you, gone forever, and death and sin are left dead in the grave. Now, CHRIST JESUS, our Good Shepherd calls to you. Can you hear His voice? If you would know the Good Shepherd, if you would hear His gentle voice, look into His face as He hangs from the Cross. There you will come to see His love for you, a love so deep that it caused Him to lay down His life for you, His sheep. He did not push His FATHER’s cup of wrath aside; He drank it to the dregs. He saw the wolf coming and did not flee. He did not desert His sheep but gave His Body over to the beast. We were all like sheep going astray but now have been called to return to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls, who, Himself, bore our sins in His own Body on the Tree, that we, having died to sin, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes we are healed. JESUS has sought you out and called you. He has led you from the wilderness where you were scattered. He left the ninety-nine and came to find you. Now the Good Shepherd is calling you to follow Him to the green pastures of God’s holy Mount Zion where He will feed you with the very Body and Blood with which He saved you. He has called you back and with these, He binds up your broken hearts and strengthens what was sick. For His Body and Blood, given and shed for you, are the Medicine of Immortality. With these, He has delivered your soul from sin and death and defeated the wolf forever. So, let us come this day and feast on the Good Shepherd who is the heavenly Food He, Himself, provided for us who are His sheep. Let us feast on the Risen, Living LORD, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world by laying down His life for us. Let us feast and hear the voice of the LORD as He says, “I am the Good Shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own… and they will hear My voice [when I 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 5/4/25 AD
Sunday April 27, 2025
JESU JUVA QUASIMODO GENITI—THE OCTAVE OF THE FEAST OF THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD Text: St. John 20:19-31 ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA! IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN. On this side of Heaven, there has never been, nor shall there ever be, a so-called “Golden Age” of the Church. If there ever was such an “Age” it would have been in the days when CHRIST our LORD walked among us. Yet, even then, the religious authorities scorned the Word of God and even rejected God Himself in the person of JESUS. They rejected Him, arrested Him, beat Him nearly to death, and then crucified Him. JESUS was, as we confess, crucified, dead, and buried. A great stone was rolled across the mouth of His tomb to prevent the theft of His body and any fraudulent claims that He had risen from His grave. Such things were hardly necessary. Even His own disciples did not expect Him to rise from the dead; they did not remember what He said. The people of God did not remember what God had said and promised—certainly not the Sadducees and Pharisees, though of all people, it truly was they who should have remembered. After all, had God not told them even as Moses recorded, “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” And again, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear….” The prophet Isaiah wrote, “Therefore the LORD Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a SON, and shall call His Name IMMANUEL.” And again, “In that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious… the LORD shall set His hand again the second time To recover the remnant of His people who are left….” And again, “For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people 2 He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked—But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.” The prophet Micah wrote, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting. Therefore He shall give them up, Until the time that she who is in labor has given birth; Then the remnant of His brethren Shall return to the children of Israel. And He shall stand and feed His flock In the strength of the LORD, In the majesty of the Name of the LORD His God….” And the prophet Malachi, “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a SON is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His Name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting FATHER, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.” These prophecies, and others, prophesied the coming of God’s anointed and what He would do, but God’s children did not remember; or perhaps they chose to forget. Nor did His disciples remember. They lived with JESUS, they sat at His feet and learned from Him. They ate with Him, they laughed with Him, and cried with Him; they saw His miracles. Even more, they saw the prophecies of old fulfilled in Him. But they did not remember. The disciples did not remember that no less than three times did JESUS tell them what to expect and warn them about what was to come. Three times He told them, “The SON OF MAN must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.” And again, “For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me: ‘And He was numbered with the transgressors.’” And once more, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the SON OF MAN be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” JESUS’ disciples’ understanding was dulled, their hearts, overcome by grief and fear. They did not remember, nor could they accept the words of the women, whom they must have assumed, were even more overcome by emotion than were they. They did not believe that angels greeted the women with the words, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The SON OF MAN must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’” But they did not remember. Neither did they remember JESUS’ words to them on the night of His betrayal into the hands of His enemies, “But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.” 3 They did not remember, nor could they accept the words of the disciples who ran in the dark of night, the seven miles from Emmaus to Jerusalem, to spread the news that they had seen the LORD. They did not remember and so they could not believe. So, here we are today. Do you remember? Do you believe? Perhaps the Words of Christ, Himself are more to the point: “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?” Do you demand to put your fingers in the wounds in Jesus’ hands and your hand into the wound in His side? Must you see before you will believe? “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Our LORD took on the flesh of sinful man to fulfill all things demanded of us by the Law of God; things which we could not do ourselves. He came to establish peace where there is no peace, that is, He came to establish peace in the hearts of His people through the forgiveness of their sins. But first He had to die. First, He had to “suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed.” First, “the SON OF MAN [had to] be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” First, He had to “be raised the third day.” Do you remember? Do you remember that JESUS “has redeemed [you,] a lost and condemned creature, delivered [you] and freed [you] from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with silver and gold but with His holy and precious Blood and with His innocent sufferings and death, in order that [you] may be His, live under Him in His Kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, even as He is risen from the dead and lives and reigns to all eternity”? Do you remember? Do you believe that it is JESUS, who in His mercy breathed life into your dead, dry bones? Do you believe that JESUS, even as He rose from His grave, will return on the clouds of Heaven to open your grave and raise you up to live with Him for eternity? These things He has promised He will do. Do you remember? He remembers, and He will do it. For JESUS is the SON of the living God and He cannot lie. Believe in Him and you will have overcome all obstacles to your salvation. For, “Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that JESUS is the SON of God?” and “…this is the witness of God which He has testified of His SON.” What we do not remember, our LORD will not forget. When we forget His promises of life and salvation, He holds His pierced Body before us saying, “Take, eat; this is My Body which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me.” When we forget, when we doubt, when we hide ourselves away in fear, He holds the Chalice before us saying, “Drink of it, all of you; this is the Cup of the New Testament in My Blood which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do, as often as you drink it in remembrance of Me.” We eat, drink, and remember our God who saved us by becoming one of us, and then died and rose from the grave for us. 4 So, come now to CHRIST’s table of peace and remembrance. Here, we remember and proclaim His death until He comes again. Here, we receive His peace, for our life is in His Blood, and He has given it upon the altar for 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 4/27/25 AD