1st Sunday after Easter

Text: John 20:19-31
Vicar Gary Schultz

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side… “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you… Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.”

We identify pretty well with Thomas. “Sure,” he thought, “Jesus came back here and talked with you. I’ll believe it when I see it.” We like to have proof. We want to see things before we make any conclusions. Thomas’ desire to have some proof sounds good to us. Maybe these other disciples are mistaken. How could a dead man come back and speak with us? If I actually seem Him, maybe then it will make sense.

Not so with matters of faith: Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Heb 11:1). That’s why Jesus says: Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Faith poses a problem for us, who through our human reason and senses like to figure things out on our own, to be in charge, to see first, and then believe.

Then we run into more problems. Our own human experience will not lead us to faith in Our Lord. How could God have created the earth and everything in it in six days? It takes months for a plant to produce fruit, years for a baby to become an adult, centuries for fossil fuels to develop. How could God become a man? If God is the creator, He can’t be a creature. He looks like a man. How is He God? How could Jesus, the Son of God, die? Jesus is the Son of the Eternal God. How could a man rise from the dead? It doesn’t make sense for us to believe Jesus raised people from the dead. It doesn’t make sense that Jesus Himself rose from the dead.

When we rely on our own experience, things don’t look too good. We see problems at school, problems at work, problems at home. We see marriages fall apart, hard-earned money get spent away, loved ones die, sicknesses come, injuries happen, wars and natural disasters occur, distress, heartache, pain, loneliness. What we see in creation honestly considered tells us there is a God, but what we experience in this dying world doesn’t point us to our loving Heavenly Father or to the gifts of His Son. Our human reason, our work at figuring things out, tells us that dead people stay dead. When the heart stops beating, when the lungs stop breathing, when organs stop working, it’s all over. Permanently. Death is the end.

Our experience leads only to doubt. Thomas’ experience lead him to doubt: It doesn’t make sense that a dead man would come back here and visit with the disciples. So Jesus comes back for him. Jesus doesn’t reject Thomas in his doubt, doesn’t push him away, but comforts him. He opens His arms to him, and invites Thomas to see the nail prints in His hands, the mark of the spear in His side, the wounds that brought forgiveness, wholeness, and life.

Thomas’ faith was strengthened by the presence of Our Lord, allowing him to confess: “My Lord and my God!” In the same way, faith is created and strengthened in us by the presence of Christ as He comes to us. That’s why we pray that the continued celebration of Our Lord’s resurrection would lead us by grace to confess in our life and conversation that Jesus is Lord and God (Collect).

When Jesus ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father, He didn’t just leave us alone on the earth. He isn’t sitting carelessly in heaven watching from a distance disconnectedly. He intercedes for us before the Father in heaven and comes to us here on earth.

Jesus’ resurrection came as a complete surprise to everyone. He had told about it before His death. But Thomas’ doubt sums up how people were thinking until they saw the Risen Christ. The Resurrection changes everything as it begins the new creation and brings life out of death. What great things will Jesus do in this new creation? Will He stop wars, end hunger, and heal bodily diseases and afflictions?

See how Jesus brings peace. See how He comforts sadness and gives hope in the midst of hardship. See what is the substance of the new creation. Jesus’ words “Peace be with you” are connected with the forgiveness of sins – your sins! Absolution, the forgiveness of sins, is the substance of Jesus’ word of peace. Absolution is the life-giving, recreating gift that Christ gives to His Church immediately after His Resurrection. Jesus, in His new creation, is concerned chiefly with your forgiveness.

In Baptism, this forgiveness is first placed upon you in the washing of rebirth. In the Holy Supper, forgiveness is given through Jesus’ body and blood. And in Absolution, we receive forgiveness from the pastor as from God Himself, not doubting, but firmly believing that by it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven. This is just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself.

Private Absolution is another precious gift where Our Lord pours out His rich grace and mercy to you – individually. When Jesus appears to His disciples, He twice shows them His hands and says, “Peace be with you.” His hands accompany the blessing, demonstrating and showing the loving work He has done. So, too, also in Private Absolution, the pastor lays hands on the penitent and says, “I forgive you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

New life is ours as the keys of the kingdom of heaven open to us the gates of righteousness, a seat in heaven with our heavenly Father. Thomas was comforted by the hands of Christ at his time of doubt. John was in great terror when he saw the voice speaking to him in his vision of heaven and is likewise comforted by the hands of Christ, as he testifies: He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. Christ has authority through the keys to open heaven through forgiveness, and authority through the keys over Death and Hades.

We see through Thomas the doubt in faith that is part of our human nature. We, like Thomas, aren’t quick to trust in our Lord’s resurrection on our own. We aren’t quick to believe in its life-changing power. We see in Our Lord the signs of His love – the wounds in his hands and side, a reminder of the cross and the grave that He endured for us. We have in our Lord new life and victory over the grave that was won by His triumph over death. We have these things written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Amen.

Easter Sunday

Text: Luke 24:1-12
Rev. Kenneth W. Wieting

Alleluia, Christ is risen! HE IS RISEN INDEED, ALLELUIA! Dear friends in Christ:

When Jesus hung in naked, shameful death on Good Friday, there was no panic in heaven. When Jesus breathed His last and gave up the Spirit, the eternal joy of heaven was not diminished! Amid the blood and brutality of Calvary there was a hidden beauty and bounty that all heaven still sings about – Worthy is the Lamb who was slain (Rev. 5:12). Remember the topic of conversation on the Mount of Transfiguration. What Moses and Elijah, residents of heaven, spoke with Jesus about is what all heaven anticipated. They spoke about His Exodus at Jerusalem, that is, His crucifixion.

In other words, there was no surprise in heaven on Easter morning. Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia! Angels had announced the birth of Jesus as Savior. Angels had also brought to earth His name. “You shall call his name Jesus for He will save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). The angels of God, His messengers in a realm of creation you cannot see just yet, knew why Jesus was on this earth. With that work finished on Good Friday, with the sacrifice complete, with peace restored, with man reconciled to God by the blood of the cross, the angels now announce His mighty resurrection. It was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him. There was no surprise in heaven on Easter morning, only delightful announcement of life from death for us dying sinners. Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!

But on earth, there was nothing but surprise! On the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. The women were expecting to find a corpse on Easter morning. They planned to rub his dead body with strong-smelling spices and wrap it more carefully. Despite what Jesus had predicted, they had no thought that He might be living again. The women had watched His agonized death struggle. They had observed the burial of His dead body. When you’re dead, you’re dead - right?

Surprise – you dying sinners! God’s messengers at the garden tomb asked, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” O, GLAD SURPRISE, GLAD SURPRISE OF LIFE FROM DEATH! Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!

The women weren’t the only ones surprised. When they told these things to the eleven and to all the rest we heard, these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. The Greek word means that they thought the women were delirious, out of their minds. And when Peter ran to the empty tomb and observed the grave clothes, he went home marveling at what had happened. Surprise, surprise, surprise! No one on earth expected that God would fulfill His word. O, THE GLAD SURPRISE OF LIFE FROM DEATH!

Dear Christians, What God says will happen, will happen! The soul that sins, it will die. It is appointed for men once to die and then the judgment. Mankind is continually trying to redefine death to make it more comfortable and at that same time mankind is continually surprised by death. Death is said to be natural and expected since life is said to be an accident. Yet it is so unexpected when it comes, as if we can control it or keep it away indefinitely.

But there is no escape hatch from death. Science is not. Outer space is not. Meditation or oneness with nature is not – for nature is dying. There is no reincarnation. There is no second chance based on pagan superstition or personal speculation. In Adam all die. And when you’re dead, you’re dead – right? That is right! – apart from Christ. Dead, not just in the sense of being cut off from earthly life, but dead also, in being cut off from God in the second death of eternal punishment. It is appointed for men once to die and then the judgment.

But then came the judgment of Good Friday! God the Son was judged in our stead! The Word made flesh suffered the punishment of hell and physical death as our substitute. Indeed, worthy is the Lamb who was slain. As God’s messengers proclaimed, it was divinely necessary for the Son of Man to be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise. Their only surprise is that the women hadn’t believed what Jesus had promised, including His victory over death. “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” “Remember how he told you?” Surprise, surprise, surprise! What God says will happen, will happen!

Perhaps nowhere was the surprise of Christ’s victory over death greater than in Satan’s domain. When Jesus breathed His last on the cross it appeared he had been swallowed up by death. The first president of our synod, C. F. W. Walther expressed it well in the hymn we just sang. The foe was triumphant when on Calvary – The Lord of creation was nailed to the tree. In Satan’s domain did the hosts shout and jeer, for Jesus was slain whom the evil ones fear. How could that weakness, that humiliation, that gruesome death be anything but total defeat.

Walther’s hymn continues the story. But short was their triumph, the Savior arose, and death, hell, and Satan he vanquished, his foes. The conquering lord lifts his banner on high; he lives, yes, he lives, and will nevermore die. While in the very grasp of death, the Messiah overcomes death. Snatching the keys of death and hell from the devil Jesus burst forth from the dark abyss. In the face of seeming defeat, the victim pulls off the victory of the ages! Instead of being swallowed up by death, Jesus swallowed up death forever (Is. 25: 8). Surprise, surprise, surprise!

And that’s not all, for this day is the beating heart of all our hope! The greatest surprise of all is that God’s victory in Christ is your victory too. As Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though He die, yet shall he live. (John 11:25) But you say, “I can’t believe it for just recently they found “The Lost Tomb of Jesus”. It was on TV and in the magazines. Good heavens, by now you must expect this kind of stuff every Christmas and Easter season.

The Lost Tomb of Jesus will not go down as the greatest archeological find, the greatest story ever told as its producers hope. It will go down like the Titanic – as one of the greatest fabricated interpretations ever imagined. No serious scholars or archaeologists are getting on board. The original excavator that discovered these ossuaries in 1980 finds these claims laughable and disgusting. There is no certainty about the names, even the one said to be “Jesus”. There is no evidence that Mary Magdalene was ever called Mary amna (the elitist ossuary name assigned to her). A recent Issues, etc. broadcast that your mission dollars support detailed the distortions and fabrications concerning this unremarkable find a quarter century ago. It is not credible news. It is more junk on Jesus as the current Lutheran Witness details. Please take a copy along with you as you leave this morning.

So why even speak about it on Easter? Because Satan does and is! You see, the resurrection of the crucified Christ is the beating heart of all our hope! As St. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, “If Christ has not been raised our faith is futile and we are still in our sins.” “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. The sacrificial death and bodily resurrection of Jesus is not a religious idea shaped by human imagination. It is a rock-hard fact. It the 15^th chapter of His letter to Corinth, Paul calls out three sets of two witnesses and numbers more than 500 who saw the risen Lord at one time. The great deed of God is done and cannot be undone!

But you say, “I can’t believe it – it’s too marvelous and far beyond the realities of my daily life. Welcome to the Church of Jesus Christ. We are all constantly tempted to trust our own brains and our own feelings more than we trust God. The truth is, no one can believe based on their strength or intellect or will. God’s Word alone works the miracle of faith and gives new life. O, THE GLAD SURPRISE OF THE LIFE OF FAITH FROM THE DEATH OF UNBELIEF. Surprise, surprise, surprise! The angel’s exhortation identifies our life-line. The risen Christ has not stopped speaking to us dying sinners in this dying world. Remember what He said and what he continues to say to you today.

Risen from the grave He said, “Peace be with you” to disciples who had not believed His promise to rise from the dead. He comes into your midst speaking exactly the same today, “Peace be with you”. Risen from the grave He said, “Make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Beloved, as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Gal 3:27) Surprise, surprise, surprise, in God’s mind He looks at you and sees you as He sees His beloved and righteous Son.

Through His gift of faith, you have a present and a future full of surprises.

Doubting your worth to God?

Surprise – God’s wants you with Him (He desires none to perish)

Uncertain how He views you today?

Surprise – there was no panic in heaven on Good Friday but there is such joy in heaven today over your repentance

Troubled by disappointment and suffering in your life?

Surprise – God disciplines those He loves and His strength is made perfect in your weakness

Feeling alone?

Surprise – when you pray “Our Father” Jesus prays with you. He will never leave you or forsake you.

Fearful of death?

Surprise – to depart and be with Christ is better by far – when God calls you from this life such eternal joy awaits you that no eye has seen and no ear has heard

As Walther continues in his hymn: O, where is your sting death? We fear you no more; Christ rose, and now open is fair Eden’s door. For all our transgressions his blood does atone; Redeemed and forgiven, we now are His own. Sing your hosanna and raise your glad voice; Proclaim the blest tidings that all may rejoice. God help us to share this glad surprise with all whom we know. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Good Friday

Text: 2 Corinthians 5:14-21, Luke 23:26-43
Vicar Gary Schultz

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

When they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

The wages of sin is death (Rom 3:23a). It is only a matter of time before death and the grave come for you. There’s no escaping it. The sin that corrupts you leaves you with the inheritance of the grave. The things you do against God’s will each day are only symptoms of the underlying curse of sin – the curse that leads only to death.

The two criminals show us a picture of ourselves. Punishment for sin is what we deserve. Jesus, crucified between two criminals, shows how He lived His entire life, among sinners. As He lived among sinners, He was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin. The thief on the cross bore witness to this: We indeed justly [are under the same sentence of condemnation] for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong. He was crucified among criminals that He may truly be the innocent among the guilty. Jesus was even tempted to use His divine power and come down from the cross: Save yourself and us, one criminal exclaimed. But He remained and endured the curse of death.

This is how Our Lord wills it to be. God must offer up Himself. He offers up His own son. It’s a tragic, gruesome sight. Jesus has been through torture already, in His agony in the garden, in his betrayal and arrest, in His undergoing the trials of Herod and Pilate, in His enduring mocking and scorn, in the beatings, the flogging, the crown of thorns – the scandal and punishment of sin. Now He is on the cross, at the place of The Skull, even as Jesus was promised to come and crush the skull of Satan. It’s not a pretty sight. The punishment of death is taking place.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. To make His people right again, God must offer up Himself as the atoning sacrifice, that is, for payment. God gave up Himself so that we, His people, might have everlasting life. Our Lord Jesus was not defeated by death. Rather, He defeated death. He crushed the skull of Satan. He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

There is no fighting among the Father and the Son here. Jesus, as the God Man, asked and begged and demanded that the cup of His suffering be taken away. But Jesus, as the God Man, did not have any will other than that of Our Father. That’s why He went willingly, so that in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against us. Our Lord gives up Himself to reconcile – that is, make right, the world’s trespasses by taking them away.

It is only a matter of time before death and the grave come for you. There’s no escaping it. Death is an enemy and it will come. But Our Lord’s victory over sin, death, and the devil on the cross takes the enemy of death and flips it around. When death comes for us, it will not be pretty. But it will be the way that Our Lord uses to bring us to be with Him in Paradise.

One of the criminals sought Jesus on the cross. He trusted that Jesus was able to help him. He acknowledges Jesus’ innocence. This criminal knows he’s done wrong. He knows he is being rightly punished. Yet he trusts in Christ: “Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus assures him: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” So, too, for us. We know that we have only earned death. But Christ our Lord assures us of something different: eternal life. God’s gift of faith in Christ allows these words of Our Lord to be spoken to us when we are ready to depart this vale of tears: Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Your baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection makes the criminal’s words about Jesus now also rightly said of you: “This man, this woman, has done nothing wrong.” God’s righteousness placed upon you is exactly what this day – the death of the Son of God – has accomplished.

Be Thou my consolation, My shield, when I must die.

Remind me of Thy passion When my last hour draws nigh.

Mine eyes shall then behold Thee, Upon Thy cross shall dwell,

My heart by faith enfold Thee. Who dieth thus dies well.

(LSB 450:7) Amen.

Maundy Thursday

Text: Hebrews 10:22, Luke 22:19
Rev. Kenneth W. Wieting

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Do this in remembrance of me”. Jesus didn’t mean “don’t forget Me altogether when you do what I command.” Do this in remembrance of me. Nor did He merely mean, “contemplate what I once did for you in the past” – “retain the information in your mind of how I once shed my blood for you.”

The modern word “remember” has that primary meaning of mental effort to recall someone in the past who is absent at the moment. Understanding Jesus’ words in this way, however, would make Holy Communion a memorial service that was our work. It would then be viewed as a double work of man - doing something and remembering the right person while doing it. Millions in Protestant Christianity view the Lord’s Supper in this way – a symbolic action that is our doing – a deed we need to occasionally satisfy to fulfill a command of God.

But, Dear Christians, the Lord’s Supper is not something that we do! It is the Lord’s Supper for His Church, not the supper of Christians performed for the Lord. Luther taught repeatedly that remembrance does not consist of meditating on Jesus’ suffering with which some have sought to serve God as with a good work.

Do this in remembrance of me. Jesus did not mean put on a play recalling what happened in the Upper Room. Passion plays are major events and can be entertaining and emotional and educational. At this time of year Christian television broadcasts offer dramatic reenactments of the Last Supper. But none of that is what Jesus meant when He said Do this in remembrance of me.

In truth, He meant something that is quite well captured by the writer of Hebrews. As we heard, We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus…through his flesh…“let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith…” Dear Christians, there is great comfort and joy in understanding the fullness of what Jesus meant when He said, Do this in remembrance of me. The heart of what He meant is that at His Table we are to receive in faith His body given and His blood shed for us. At His Table we enter the holiest place, that is, the place where God is present on earth for us, to serve us with forgiveness, life and salvation.

Do this in remembrance of me – that is, do this believing that what you receive into your mouth is My holy body to eat and My holy blood to drink. Do this in remembrance of me – that is do this believing that I am here in the flesh to forgive your sins just as I have promised. Jeremiah spoke of My new covenant in this way, “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more.” The New Testament in My blood is a Holy Mystery. Do this in remembrance of Me – that is, do it in faith for My words make this meal a miracle of love, heavenly food for you on earth.

And He took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you.” Jesus used real bread – unleavened bread – the Matzah stipulated for use for Passover. Of the bread he said, This is my body. “Is” (estin in Greek) means is. There is no word present that could possibly be translated as symbolizes or represents. There is no indication that the words of Christ are picture language. This is my body, which is given for you. The giving of His body with the bread is just as real as the giving of His body into death on the cross. Do this in remembrance of me, that is do this believing what my words give to you.

And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” Jesus used real wine, not tomato juice or pomegranate juice or grape juice. Because water was somewhat scarce and often polluted in biblical times, wine was used much more extensively than it is today. It was used as medicine (II Sam 16;2; I Tim 5:23; Luke 10:34). It was present in joyful abundance at feasts such as Passover.

The rubrics (operational directions) at Passover called for four cups of wine. It appears to be the third cup of wine – the cup of blessing over which Jesus said, this cup…is the new covenant in my blood. The one who said at creation, “let there be light” and there was light, now says “this cup…is the new covenant in my blood.” The giving of His blood with the wine is just as real as the shedding of His blood on the cross. Do this in remembrance of me, that is do this believing what my words give to you here.

Only in this meal does Jesus identify the bread as His very body and the wine (the contents of the cup) as His very blood. Only this meal does Jesus direct His disciples to repeat. Only this meal is the climax of His earthly life and public ministry – it is His last will and testament – given in holy love for His Church only hours before his sacrificial death. Only this meal is a miracle greater than Jesus feeding 5000 from a few fish and loaves. Only this meal has connection to what He said after that miracle, “My flesh is food indeed” and “My blood is drink indeed” (John 6:35).

It is His body and His blood that your mouth receives in this gift tonight, whether you believe it or not. That is, the very same body of Jesus given on the cross, buried and raised the third day and the very same blood that poured from His pierced limbs and side on Good Friday is received by both the worthy and unworthy. Our faith does not make it happen. God’s Word makes it happen.

But it is our faith that receives the forgiveness of sins that is given with this heavenly food. And that, beloved, is what Jesus is holding before us when He says, Do this in remembrance of me. This is the Lord’s Supper for us. As Luther said, the Lord not only instituted it, but also prepares it and gives it himself, and is himself cook, butler, food and drink.

As Jesus and His disciples ate the Passover in the upper room, similar celebrations were being held all over Jerusalem. Normally only one division of priests was on duty but at Passover all 24 divisions were in attendance. Generally there was a 3-fold trumpet blast by the Levites. Some priests then sang the Hallel (Psalm 114-118) and others slaughtered the animals. Bucket after bucket after bucked of blood was poured out in the temple.

But on this day a new thing was taking place. On this day He who led Israel out of Egypt, He who instituted the first Passover, took over the Passover. No longer would the blood of thousands of Passover lambs point to God’s rescue and release because God’s rescue and release was here in the flesh. Now the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world was about to accomplish a once-for-all sacrifice for the sins of the world. Soon He would go out with His disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane – also singing the Hallel. Soon Judas would betray Him with a kiss. Soon He would be flogged and driven through with spikes and lifted up to die. The blood that He shed on Calvary was not to be smeared on doorposts. Rather, concerning His blood given with wine in Holy Communion He now commands, “Drink of it all of you for the forgiveness of sins.”

That’s why Jesus comes into your midst this evening and each week in the Divine Service. He prepares a miracle in earthly time and space. As He comes He still says to us sinners, “do this in remembrance of me.” That is, do this believing that I am here in the flesh to forgive you exactly as I have promised. Do this in remembrance of me, that is, do this believing that my sacrificial death on the cross finished your redemption and that what you receive into your mouth is my holy body to eat and my holy blood to drink. Do this in remembrance of me, that is, do this knowing that I am here as your Bridegroom to unite myself with you in holy love preparing you for the eternal wedding feast in heaven. Or as the writer of Hebrews reveals, We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus…through His flesh…”let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith…” Amen.

5th Sunday of Lent

Text: Luke 20:9-20 / (Luke 1:26-38)
Vicar Gary Schultz

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Then the owner of the vineyard said, “ I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.” But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, “This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.” And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

A beautiful vineyard, a very fertile hill, cleared of stones, carefully watered, planted with choicest vines, a prominent watchtower in the middle, with the finest machinery standing ready for producing the best wine. Everything was perfectly planned and prepared. Now it is ready. You can just picture this perfect vineyard, prepared by the master for his people.

This is the picture our Lord gives us of His kingdom through the prophet Isaiah. The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel (Is 5:7a). Yet although the Lord’s vineyard was perfect, He still laments that His people did not walk in His ways. He looked for fine grapes, and it yielded only wild grapes. He looked for justice, but only found bloodshed.

Since the vineyard is a picture of God’s kingdom, it’s no surprise that Christ uses it in this parable just days before He would be killed. Our Lord uses this parable to teach about His kingdom and how it is related to His upcoming death. This parable shows us the infinite love of Our Lord who keeps sending His servants, His prophets, to His people. One by one the messengers are sent, but the people do not respect or honor them; rather, they treat them badly and throw them out.

The Lord sent prophets to deliver his message, but the people had no interest or concern. Some things never change. As in centuries past, today in some countries missionaries are persecuted or killed for bringing God’s message of forgiveness through Christ. In some areas of the world, faithful pastors are threatened with imprisonment for preaching against homosexuality. In our own country, there are religious groups that slaughter the message of Our Lord sent through His prophets, apostles, and pastors. Our Lord teaches that marriage is a blessed union between a man and a woman, giving an example of Christ and His church. Some groups teach that marriage is anything you want it to be. Our Lord teaches that life begins at conception in the womb. Some groups teach that abortion is an acceptable choice for a woman to exert over a lifeless tissue. Our Lord teaches that Baptism is a blessed flood washing away sin. Some groups teach that Baptism is merely an outward sign and of little significance.
By nature we also would like to take control of the vineyard ourselves. It is our chief sin every day. Both pastors and hearers are constantly tempted to add things to or subtract things from God’s care of the vineyard. Instead of earnestly seeking after God’s message, conforming our lives to God’s Word, and rejoicing in the rich blessings of forgiveness, life, and salvation freely given, we would rather try to micromanage the vineyard ourselves, through our own teaching, of what seems best to our liking right here and now.

Yet God does not give up on His vineyard. He sends His Son. The Son, the heir, has the full authority of the Father. So, the Son will be respected as the very person and authority of the Father. But they threw out the beloved Son from the vineyard and killed Him. The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them. Through the betrayal of Judas and the trial before the governor, they caught him and killed him.

But this death was not in vain. It was through this death that the Father reconciled the vineyard to Himself. God made things right by sending His Son to offer up Himself for the people’s sins. The Father destroyed those tenants and gave the vineyard to others. Jesus became the cornerstone, the stone the Jews rejected. They stumbled on this stone and fell. While the Old Testament was made up of believing Jews, God’s promises to His Old Testament people were twisted into a different, false religion over time. This Jewish religion is crushed to pieces by the cornerstone, destroying it as the owner of the vineyard destroyed those wicked tenants. The vineyard of His kingdom was given to others – to the Gentiles, to us, who through the preaching of the Gospel were brought with the believing Jews into the vineyard of the kingdom of God.

“I will send my beloved Son,” the Father said. In the church year, March 25 has long been honored as an important festival in the life of Our Lord. Today is nine months before Christmas. After the church set December 25 as the commemoration of the Nativity of Our Lord, counting backward nine months to today set the date for the conception of Jesus. This date is known as the Annunciation, the day when we commemorate the Word of God through the angel Gabriel bringing about the conception of God in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

This is how the Father sends His beloved Son. This is how God comes to His people. This is how the Father will save His vineyard, His kingdom. From the very conception of Jesus in the womb of the Virgin, indeed from the very promise in the Garden of Eden, God planned to save His people by becoming one of them. The celebration of the conception of Jesus as a little baby today, alive in the womb, causes us to remember with great thanksgiving His true human nature for our salvation. “I will send my beloved son.” What a miraculous plan the Father had to come to His people as one of them! God has done a new thing as He comes to us through Jesus, true God in the flesh!

It is through Christ that the vineyard is made perfect and produces the God-pleasing fruits of the Spirit. I am the vine, you are the branches, Jesus says. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. Even though the vineyard described by Isaiah was made perfectly by the creator, it didn’t bear the right fruit. Christ describes Himself as the vine. As we are connected to Him in our Baptism and abide in Him through our reception of Absolution and the Holy Supper, in faith we bring forth good fruit. This happens not because of our tireless efforts for Him, but because of His life and His love abiding in us. Abiding in Christ, we long for the Word made flesh, to hear His Word spoken through His messengers, and to conform our lives to His good and gracious will.

It’s fitting that Our Lord speaks of a vineyard as His kingdom. The point of a vineyard is to make wine. And wine is the means Our Lord promised to be present with His people in the church as He joined His blood with wine at the Last Supper – to bring the fruit of the cross to us today. He abides in us, bringing Himself to us through the bread that is His true body and the wine that is His true blood.

Flesh and blood: the Father sent His own Son to the vineyard. Flesh and blood: Our Father sent His own Son to His people in the womb of the Virgin. Flesh and blood: The Son poured out His blood on the cross for the forgiveness of His people. Flesh and blood: Our Lord comes to His people today at the Altar. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.