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Resurrection of Our Lord 2018

Bible Text: Mark 16:1-8 | Preacher: Rev. Alan Kornacki Jr. | Series: 2018

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The hands of the grieving ladies had been busy. They wrung their hands helplessly as their Lord, the Lord of life, suffered and died. And after watching their Lord be put through a farce of a trial, after watching Him be crucified, after watching Him die, after watching the soldiers pierce His side, after watching Him being removed from the cross, after watching Him be placed in the tomb and then sealed inside, the ladies prepared spices to anoint the body of their deceased, beloved Lord. Nothing would ever be the same for them, they thought. And they were right, though they could never have imagined the way the Lord would change everything. Their crucified, dead, and buried Lord had risen from the dead, and in doing so He destroyed the power of death forever.

Mary Magdalene touched the Lord with her hands, but that wasn’t good enough. Our Lord appeared to the disciples, hidden for fear in the upper room, as we will hear next week. He showed them His hands, and they believed. That same evening He appeared to two unnamed disciples on the road to Emmaus. He taught them what His life, His work, His death, and His resurrection meant, and then His hands proved to them who He was by breaking bread before them, just as He had done at the feeding of the 5,000, just as He had done when He instituted the Sacrament of the Altar. He then showed His hands and feet and side to Thomas, proving to him that Jesus is His risen Lord and God.

But He had spent His whole ministry proving Himself to be their God. When parents brought children to Jesus so the He might touch them, He was insistent: “The Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” And no one would know that better than the Son of God, for He brought the Kingdom with Him. When the blind, the lame, the deaf, and the leprous came to Jesus, He placed His hands on them and healed them. When He came upon the dead—the daughter of Jairus, the son of the widow of Nain, and even His friend Lazarus—even before He rose from the dead Himself, He brought these dead back to life. He proved Himself to be the Son of God, the King of Kings, the Lord of Life.

That’s all very well and good for the people who actually got to see Jesus with their eyes, who were touched by His hands, who walked with Him, who were healed by Him. But what about us, Lord? What about the people who walk as yet by faith and not by sight? Are we to wallow in despair because we cannot see His hands upon us? No. Our Lord does not leave us to walk in uncertainty. We may not see Him with our eyes, but He still touches us today. Just as He picked up the little children in His arms and blessed them, He does that today when the pastor takes a child in His arms and washes that child “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” And more than just blessing these children in His arms, He has raised them from the dead, and even more profoundly than raising Lazarus, for these baptized children will not face the eternal death their sins deserved. His holy, wounded hands lay His own body and pour His own blood into your mouth by the hands of His chosen servants who stand in His stead.

We have spent the past 40 days looking at our Lord’s hands and how they serve us. Today, those hands invite you to come to Him in this place for rest. His hands heal your soul by pouring his blood into you as the medicine of salvation. His hands provide for your needs of body and soul. His hands are folded in prayer over you, that you would be united to Him. His hands protect you from the strokes of Satan and your own sinful flesh. His hands have set you apart, consecrating you for service. His hands have bled into the cup you will come forward to receive. And His hands have proved that He is your good and gracious God, your Lord of life, and your Life in the midst of death. 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.

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

Good Friday 2018

Bible Text: Luke 23:32-46 | Preacher: Rev. Alan Kornacki Jr. | Series: 2018

At our Lord’s trial, the mob cried out about Jesus, “His blood be on us and on our children!” Most accomplices to murder have no desire to have the victim’s blood on the hands or their consciences, so this cry is particularly stunning. Who actually wants to be covered with blood? But when someone is filled with so much hate—a hatred multiplied by the mentality of the mob—sometimes it’s worth it to be covered in blood. The crowd, fueled with the hatred of the religious leaders of the Jews, certainly thought they could handle the consequences of killing their King.

But blood is a powerful thing. Moses tells us that the blood of Abel cried out from the ground to the Lord. God told the Israelites not to consume the blood of any creature they killed, for “the life of all flesh is its blood.” And the mob, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who were gathered to celebrate the Feast of the Passover, knew the power of blood. The very Passover they were in Jerusalem to celebrate was a celebration of the blood of the Passover lamb. The lamb’s blood marked their homes as the homes of the children of Israel; seeing that blood, the angel of death would spare the firstborn sons of Israel. They knew the power of blood; their ancestors had slain “prophets, wise men, and scribes.” And now they wanted to see blood spill from their King of Kings.

Blood is, indeed, a powerful thing. The blood of the Son of God is exceptionally powerful. If Abel’s sinful blood was able to cry out to the Lord, how much louder would be the cry of Christ’s innocent blood to His Father? The farmer Cain was cursed from the earth, and his toil would no longer bring forth fruit; how much more dreadful would be the punishment of those with the blood of Christ on their hands? And we are not innocent of the blood of Christ, either, for our every sin gives out a cry for the blood of Christ to rest upon us and our children as well, as surely as if we ourselves had pierced our Lord’s hands, feet, head, and side.

The Lord allowed His blood to spill from His innocent hands. But the blood of Christ is not merely powerful to condemn the unfaithful. For the repentant, for those who realize by faith the power of the blood of Jesus upon their hands, that blood is a cleansing flood. When the Apostle John was given a vision of heaven, he was blessed to see the true power of that blood. The elder stood before the throne of heaven, pointing John’s attention to the white-robed worshippers, the saints singing praises to the Lamb of God. He told John, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” They have been clothed in the spotless baptismal robe of the righteousness of Christ. They stand before the throne and sing praises to the Lamb eternally.

The old adage says, “Be careful what you wish for; you just might get it.” The crowd screamed for blood. Only by the gracious and merciful power of God could such a dreadful prayer be heard and answered as a mighty blessing to His children. The children of Israel wanted the blood of Jesus to spill? The Father allowed that blood to be spilled. The thorn-encircled brow of Jesus spilled blood. The hands and feet of Jesus spilled blood. Blood and water flowed forth from the pierced side of Jesus. And just as the Father promised it would be, “the life of all flesh is blood,” for the blood of Jesus is the life of the Church. The blood and water flowing forth from the side of Jesus are the sign of the Sacraments: water with the Word of God washing us clean in Holy Baptism, and blood with the body of Christ feeding us in the Holy Supper. His blood is, indeed, upon us and upon our children. And His righteous blood, flowing from His piercéd side, His thorn-encircled brow, His feet, and His hands, is our life. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

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

Maundy Thursday 2018

Bible Text: I Corinthians 11:23-32 | Preacher: Rev. Alan Kornacki Jr. | Series: 2018

Our Lord Jesus Christ does nothing by accident. Everything He does, He does with a purpose. So when He takes bread into His hands and blesses it, and then does the same with the cup of wine, it’s not just because that’s what’s handy as they celebrate the Passover. Jesus has a purpose, and everything He says and does is for that purpose. Everything He says and does is for the salvation of His creation.

Since our Lord always acts with purpose, it is important that we examine what our Lord says and does. He began with the command: “Take and eat.” “Take and drink.” He does not call upon us to do something miraculous. We do not have that ability. He tells us to something natural—something, in fact, that we need to do to live. Eat. Drink. It’s no coincidence that He connects His gifts with eating and drinking. Our earthly lives are fed by what we take in with our mouths; the same is true for eternal life.

And that’s true because of the Word of Christ. Hear the Word of God, recorded by the prophet Isaiah: “As the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” So when Jesus says, “This is my body;” “This is my blood;” “given” and “shed for you for the forgiveness of sins;” His Word does exactly what He says it will do. The bread is His body; the wine is His blood; in taking and eating and drinking, we eat and drink His body and blood, and we receive the forgiveness of our sins. The hands of our Lord consecrate this holy Meal, setting apart the bread and wine for the purpose of our salvation.

This is a stumbling block for many, including many who call themselves Christians. They doubt the power of Christ’s Word to do what He says it will do. When Jesus says of the bread, “This is my body,” they can’t bring themselves to believe that Jesus means it’s actually His body. Bread is bread, they think, and it certainly cannot contain anything that isn’t bread. In their minds, when Jesus uses the word “is” when He says, “This is my body,” the bread can only represent His body; it’s only a symbol. But that raises the question: If Jesus cannot actually do what He says He will do, then how can we really trust that He has the power to take away our sins?

My brothers and sisters in Christ: Do you trust the power of the Word of God? Do you trust that, when your pastor poured water on you and said, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” you were made a child of God and given faith to cling to what our Lord says? Do you trust that, when your pastor makes the sign of the cross and says, “In the stead of our Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins,” Jesus is taking away your sins? It is not your pastor who is doing the work; he is only acting as our Lord’s hands and mouth. Your pastor’s hands and mouth have been set apart, consecrated to deliver the gifts which Christ has called him to deliver.

Here is the truth: Christ is truly present, body and blood, in the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper, just as He says He is. Your faith doesn’t put Him there, but it recognizes Him in this holy gift. The ordinary bread and wine, combined with the Word of God, deliver the crucified and resurrected Christ to you. These ordinary, everyday things, combined with the Word of God, deliver the forgiveness, life, and salvation Jesus died and rose to give you. Receive it from His hand, the hand of Christ which set it apart for you, the hand that has set you apart as one whom He has redeemed. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

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

Midweek Lent V 2018

Bible Text: Matthew 14:22-33 | Preacher: Rev. Alan Kornacki Jr. | Series: 2018

When God made His creatures, He did not simply make them and then leave them to their own devices. He is not watching us, as Bette Midler would assert, “from a distance.” He has taken it upon Himself to protect His people. The Creator took responsibility for the well-being of His creation. Our Savior’s hands are hands that protect. That was true when the disciples were alone in a boat. Jesus came to them in the midst of a storm; He was walking on water. The disciples were terrified, thinking Jesus was some sort of ghost. Jesus reassured them: “Be of good cheer. It is I; do not be afraid.” That wasn’t good enough for Peter. “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” Peter is either incredibly confident in the Lord or incredibly foolish to test the Lord; maybe both. Either way, Jesus invited Peter to come to Him. You know the story. Peter stepped out of the boat and began to walk toward Jesus on the water. When he took his eyes off the Lord and allowed himself to be distracted by the winds and the waves and his own doubts, he began to sink. But our Lord reached out with His powerful hands and pulled Peter to safety.

How easy it is for human beings to be distracted by the fearful events of life. How easy it is to lose sight of the Lord who promises His goodness and mercy and protection to all. In fact, it doesn’t even need to be something terrifying to distract you from the Lord. You allow all sorts of everyday things to distract you, to pull your attention away from the Lord: relationships, jobs, school, sports, hobbies—the list could go on endlessly. Maybe you’re just not familiar enough with the Lord’s Word to trust in His goodness. Maybe you allow yourself to see the little things of this life more clearly or to view them as larger and more important than the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But your perception is skewed. Think about the many times our Lord’s hands protect His people. Think of the woman caught in the act of adultery, how He protected her from being stoned to death. Think of the many times He protected the lives of the disciples. Think of the time He healed Malchus, the servant of the high priest, whose ear Peter cut off. And In the same action of protecting the high priest’s servant, He protected Peter from certain death, telling Peter to sheathe his sword in the face of overwhelming odds.

Think of the many times you have had our Lord’s protection. Think of the times in childhood that the Lord protected you from illness or from the dangers of your curiosity. Think of the times our Lord guided the hands of doctors and nurses and other health care providers. Think of the times you’ve survived driving in Carbondale. You may rejoice with the Psalmist: “The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore.” The hands of the Savior protect His creatures.

But beyond the needs and dangers of the body—beyond even the danger of physical death—you need protection for your soul. You need protection from the folly of your sin. Without this protection, without His intervention for the sake of your soul, you would face eternally damning consequences, far more deadly than the mere death of the body. With His hands our Savior carried the cross upon which He would die, suffering those consequences you deserved for your sins. He who protects you from the perils of this life also preserves you for eternal life.

Do not focus on the perils of this life. Do not even focus on the perils that come with your sin. Our Lord extends His hands to you, inviting you to come to Him, to trust in Him. He who has used His hands to pour Baptismal water on you, who has put His own body and blood in your mouth, will use those hands to shield you from all dangers of body and soul. With those hands He will lead you through the valley of the shadow of death and into His presence, where you shall dwell with Him in the house of the Lord forever. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

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

Midweek Lent IV 2018

Bible Text: John 9:18-26 | Preacher: Rev. Alan Kornacki Jr. | Series: 2018

The hands of our Lord Jesus have the power to raise the dead. This makes our Lord uniquely qualified to be the Redeemer of the world. The Son of God is in control of life and death; He can help us in life and serve us even in the hour of our death. This is important, because death is God’s enemy. And because death is God’s enemy, death is the enemy of everyone who trusts in God.

This ruler, this man of authority, came to see Jesus with a plea for our Lord’s all-availing mercy. The man’s daughter was dying, and Christ’s reputation had come before Him. Jesus would not refuse. Responding to the man’s prayer, the Son of God determined to use His hands to restore life. With the interruption of the woman on the way, the little girl was dead by the time Jesus arrived. The mourners were already gathered. It seemed as though death had already claimed this girl as his victim. But Jesus would not allow death to have the victory. He told the mourners that the girl was only asleep. Leaving the scorn of the mourners behind, Jesus went into the house. He took the little girl by the hand, and He raised her from death into life.

This was not the first time our Lord had made life. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, including all living things. As we confess in the Nicene Creed, all things were made by our Lord Jesus. Life is the very reason He came in the flesh to dwell among His people. This is how He explained His purpose: “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” This life He came to give was so much more than just inhaling and exhaling; this life He brought with Him is linked to very heart of God Himself. He came so that we would have a faith to rely on God. He came so that we would have a hope which would depend on what God alone can do. He came so that we would have that peace which the world cannot give. He came so that we would enjoy communion with God and fellowship with our neighbors.

So that this little girl would have that life, our Lord used His hands—the same hands by which He gave life to the world—to raise her from the dead. That action also gave that same life to her father. These were not the children of Israel, but Jesus came for them anyway. The hands of the Savior worked to bring endless blessings to both Jews and Gentiles, believers and doubters. He came to lay His hands upon us who were dead in our sin and raise us to new life.

Where do you stand before God? Are you alive in Christ? Or are you dead in your sin? The hands of Jesus have raised you from death to life. At your Baptism, our Lord placed His hand upon you, pouring His Word-filled water upon you, marking you upon your forehead and your heart with the sign of His cross as one who has received the forgiveness He died to bring. It is the Lord’s hand which makes the sign of the cross over you as He speaks His word of forgiveness to you. It is the Lord’s hand which places His body in your mouth to feed you with forgiveness. In all these things He gives you abundant life. The hands that led you into Sunday School and Catechism classes; the hands that brought you to worship the first time and every time since; the hands that hold you up and comfort you in times of grief: these are the hands of Jesus, touching you, blessing you, raising you up, giving you that life He came to bring.

And He came to give you that life, to raise you up, by dying in your place, letting His hands be nailed to the cross in place of your hands. His love for you is beyond measure. It is a love so powerful, so astonishing, that you can be sure that the same hands that raised this little girl from the dead will pull you from the veil of tears, through the valley of the shadow of death, to rest in His arms, until that day when He will raise you and all the faithful to life everlasting. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

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

 

Midweek Lent III 2018

Bible Text: Matthew 26:36-46 | Preacher: Rev. Alan Kornacki Jr. | Series: 2018

Why did Jesus need to pray? Prayer is, after all, a uniquely human endeavor, and Jesus is God. In the Old Testament we see the three Persons of the Trinity consult without using prayer—at creation, where God says, “Let us make man in our image…;” at the tower of Babel, where God says, “Let us confuse their speech…;” and elsewhere. So why would Jesus need to pray? The answer is simple: Jesus prayed because Jesus was also human. Jesus came into the world in flesh, as a man, and it was as a man that He carried out His earthly ministry. He used His divine powers only to help others; He never used His divine nature to make His work of salvation easier for Himself.

So yes, Jesus prayed. But just as important as knowing that He brought supplications to the heavenly Father in prayer is to know what it was our Lord prayed for. He folded His hands in prayer because, as a man, He faced temptation in every aspect of His life and work. Sometimes we allow ourselves to believe that Jesus only faced temptation when He went into the wilderness after His baptism. But Scripture reminds us that Jesus “was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” And Scripture tells us that, after Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, “he departed from Him until an opportune time.” There were more temptations to come. And just like us, Jesus needed strength to meet temptation every day of His life. We see in the Garden of Gethsemane that, with His hands folded in prayer in the midst of agony, in the midst of the great temptation to avoid the cup of suffering, the Son of God received strength to endure, to submit to the will of the Father, to complete His journey to the cross and grave.

Jesus prayed because He knew the Father would sustain Him. Every kingdom of the earth already belonged to Jesus; how easy it would have been for Him to manifest His glory and claim what was already His. He could easily have turned stones to bread, just as He provided water from the rock for the children of Israel. He could have leapt from the pinnacle of the Temple and come down unharmed. He could have come down from the cross effortlessly, with legions of angels to drive off the Romans.

Human nature lives by desires and cares rather than the will of the Father. We know those desires all too well: the temptations of overindulging in fine foods and potent drinks; the temptations of the flesh, especially when pornographic images are so easy to access by means of the Internet; the temptations of wealth and power; the temptation to live contrary to the will of God. Satan knows us very well. He knows what will make our blood boil, our skin tingle, our reason and strength fail. It is in these temptations that our Lord shows Himself to be our greatest ally, for He has faced all our temptations, yet without giving in. In facing His temptations, He called upon His Father. And knowing that we cannot by our own reason or strength resist, our Lord has overcome them, and He has given us His name to call upon, to help us resist and to forgive us what we cannot resist.

Before He went to face His arrest in Gethsemane, His trial, and His crucifixion, our Lord prayers what the Church calls the high priestly prayer. He prayed that the disciples would be united and that they would be able to overcome temptation. To pray for others is an act of unselfish faith. Jesus also prayed for His enemies even as He hung upon the cross. And we are included among those who have been listed as His enemies, for we were His enemies, lost in sin, unable to do the will of the Father. And so He prays, “Father, forgive them.” By grace, through our Lord’s cross and Passion, we are no longer enemies of God. God and sinners have been reconciled. We have been forgiven; our Savior’s prayer has been answered by His work. Now, with our own hands folded in prayer, we praise God for His mercy and love for us, and we pray that we, too, may demonstrate the love of God in our lives, praying for our neighbor as Christ prayed for us. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

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

Midweek Lent II 2018

Bible Text: Matthew 14:13-21 | Preacher: Rev. Alan Kornacki Jr. | Series: 2018

Luther tells us in his Small Catechism, “I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them.” Luther also tells us, “He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life.” When God showed the Garden of Eden to Adam and Eve, they saw a magnificent garden with more than enough to provide for all their needs of body and soul, and this garden was set apart by God to be their dwelling place. The hands of the Savior are the hands of God Himself, who made us and who bound Himself to provide for all He had made in creation. The feeding of the five-thousand clearly demonstrates this divine truth: that humanity’s Savior is also humanity’s Maker and the One who provides for His creation.

But in truth, our Lord had no obligation to do what He did for this crowd, especially after our first parents misused the gifts He gave them. The people He fed were responsible for their own situation. They had followed the Savior without thinking ahead for their own well being, and now they were hungry. The disciples suggested that the people should pay the price for their lack of foresight. “Send the crowds away,” they said. But Jesus provided for them. Our Lord’s hands make up for human failings. In the Garden, God’s creation bit the hand that fed them, so to speak, but God decided He would continue to care for them. He went so far as to provide for their greatest need: a Savior. It is that plan on which we focus during the season of Lent. The Savior covers our sins and foolish errors, even as He fed the multitude who, by all rights, should have starved. Only one boy thought to bring food—five loaves and two fish. Jesus took them, gave thanks, blessed them, and made a great feast with baskets of leftovers to spare.

The Lord of creation continues to provide for His people. From His generous hands we have more than just bread for the body: we receive the bread of life, which is Jesus Himself. He tells us to eat this bread, to have Him as part of us, so that He gives us a life of peace with the Father that is bound in faith to Christ, so that we who partake of this holy Meal will have eternal life. With the same hands that fed a crowd, our Savior prepared a special meal for us to cherish and enjoy. By setting apart ordinary bread and wine to be His holy body and blood, He gave us a new covenant. Whenever we eat this bread and drink this wine, we remember His death for us until He comes again. Jesus is in our hearts and minds and understanding. Our body becomes His dwelling place. We dwell in Him because He dwells in us. And in a very special way, our Lord has restored to us the bounty of the Garden of Eden, for He is now the Fruit of the Tree of Life by which we shall live forever.

And remember, these hands of our Savior, hands that provide, are also hands that invite. He wants you to come and eat His body and drink His blood. This food is of such great spiritual value that we will never die. In all the struggles we face in this life, spiritual starvation never has to be one one them, for we have a redeemer with hands that provide! We will never grow weak from spiritual hunger as we battle Satan, for the bread of life sustains us in the fight.

Our Lord prepares His table for the Church, the family of God, to gather. And as we gather, we are strengthened in our resolve to meet and overcome Satan and his demonic minions. When temptations come, we are sustained by our Lord’s body and blood, for He Himself has overcome our fiercest enemy when He said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” And thanks be to God, for He provides that Word for us by His gracious hand. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

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

Midweek Lent I 2018

Preacher: Rev. Alan Kornacki Jr. | Series: 2018

Our Lord is called “the Great Physician.” And it’s no wonder: no matter where He went throughout His earthly ministry, He was healing. He healed the blind, the lame, the leper, the deaf, those who could not speak. It didn’t matter what the disease was. If Jesus wanted to heal someone, they would be healed. Jesus came into this world to extend the hand of His Father’s mercy to everyone. Often He healed with words alone. But in many cases, He healed with His hands.

The man born blind was sightless with his eyes, but he was also spiritually blind. He did not know his Maker, and he did not know that his Maker was standing right in front of him in the person of his Savior, Jesus. This was a controversial healing, because the priests taught the false idea that a person’s blindness or other birth defects were the result of grievous sins committed by this person or his parents. People still think this way. Prosperity preachers want you to believe that illnesses, diseases, birth defects, and other ailments are God’s way of punishing those whose faith is weak. But our Lord silenced this myth Himself when He said, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.” God uses hardship to draw us closer to Him. Or as Paul wrote to the Romans, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

So Jesus set about to heal the blind man. He spat on the ground, making mud. And then He placed the mud on the man’s eyes and ordered the man to wash in the Pool of Siloam. And when he did as Jesus told him, the man could see! Faith led to obedience, and obedience led to healing. The hands of the Savior gave this man an entirely new perspective: the ability to see with his eyes for the first time.

But there was more healing to come. The man who had been born blind had no idea who had healed him. He addressed the Man who healed him as “the man they call Jesus.” Then he referred to Jesus as a prophet. But when the Pharisees questioned him, the man born blind insisted that it was Jesus who had healed him, at which point they became angry and threw the man out of the temple. Jesus asked him—and we must all face this question at some point—“Do you believe in the Son of God?” Still the man didn’t know the answer; he didn’t know who healed him. Jesus told him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.” And finally the man gratefully confessed and worshipped Jesus, saying, “Lord, I believe!” The man received two great and powerful gifts. First, the Lord restored his sight. Second, he was brought to faith in Jesus as his Savior and Redeemer.

This is an outstanding parallel to how we received our spiritual sight. Thanks to the sin we inherited from Adam and Eve, we were born blind to God and His Word. And as He did for the blind man, Jesus sought us out. Jesus loves us so fully, so completely, that He would allow His healing hands to be nailed to the cross. What wondrous love! Just as the man who was born blind was given his sight by the saliva of Jesus, we are given faith to see Jesus present in His Word through the waters of Holy Baptism. Just as the man who had been born blind was cast out of the earthly temple by the self-righteous Pharisees, only to find himself face to face with God in the flesh, we are separated from the self-righteous prosperity preachers, brought face to face with our Lord who gives us His body and blood to eat and to drink at His holy altar. He touches us, and we are healed.

Jesus has given you the sight to see Him, not as a mere prophet, not as some guy who happens to be named Jesus, but to see Him as your Lord and Savior. The hands that healed the blind man are the hands that were nailed to the cross. And there on that cross, those hands won the healing of your soul from the death your sins would bring to you. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

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

 

Ash Wednesday 2018

Preacher: Rev. Alan Kornacki Jr. | Series: 2018

It is not at all unusual for us to use our hands when we talk. In fact, in some cases, it’s almost comical and can certainly be distracting to watch a person talk who can’t help but gesture wildly with every sentence. But when used sparingly, a well-timed gesture in a conversation can be an aid to understanding what the speaker is trying to convey; it can add emphasis to an important point; it can bring the hearer into closer communication with the speaker. (As you’ve probably noticed over the years I’ve been here, I’m not very comfortable making gestures with my hands when I talk. My hands sort of flop around unless I’m trying to make a point, or unless the flow of the liturgy invites the pastor to gesture to the congregation.)

Throughout His ministry, our Lord’s hearers couldn’t help but remark, “He has done all things well.” And that would certainly be true of His ability to convey His message clearly and with great emphasis. So when our Lord says, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” you can picture Jesus spreading wide His merciful arms to welcome the burdened sinner into His embrace. “Come to me,” He says, and when you hear that, you know that our Lord has a place set aside for you in His presence, a place where you will be welcomed with love and compassion and rest for the weary soul. He invites you to come to Him, and He has a purpose in that invitation: He wants you to lay your burdens upon Him.

As it is today, so it was during our Lord’s earthly ministry. People had stress and pressure in life: the stresses of family, of work, of heavy taxes and oppressive laws and cruel and ruthless authorities. And to top it all off, the religious leaders of the day—men who should have been speaking the comfort of God to a weary people—were laying burdens on the people, burdens that did not come from the Word of God but from the imaginations and machinations of the priests, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Scribes, and the other leaders of the community of faith. We experience those burdens ourselves from those who call themselves pastors and church leaders, but who are really wolves in sheep’s clothing. They tell you that the life of the Christian is a life without suffering. They tell you that, if you just believe enough, you will never get sick, will never be poor, will never experience any kind of hardship. They tell you that, if only you will just give them your money, you will be blessed.

It is in the midst of these false preachers and their greedy fear-mongering that our Lord stretches forth His hands. “Come to me…and I will give you rest.” He invites you to bring your burdens to Him—the weight of the cares of family life, the heavy load of work responsibilities, and burden of emotional and spiritual distress—and lay them in His outstretched arms. He invites you to hide in His embrace, where you will be sheltered and guarded from the teeth of the wolves who would pull you away from Him with their false piety and their false promises. He gives you a place free from fear, free from the false preachers, free from your guilt.

You know this is true, for He voluntarily stretched wide His arms—in fact, they were nailed wide open—on the cross. And He did it for you. In the midst of your fear, your doubt, your distress, He invites you with those outstretched arms to lay your sins upon Him. He invites you to trust Him for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life with your heavenly Father. He invites you to call upon Him when Satan wants you to doubt the work your Savior has done for you. He invites you to return to the waters of your Baptism through the words of Holy Absolution, where He speaks through the mouth of His called servants to give you the peace only He can give you.

And this evening, He invites you to this table, where He welcomes you with open arms to the eternal wedding feast of His own body and blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. “Come to me,” He says. He’s here, fully present in this meal. “Come to me.” Come and partake of the body and blood of your Savior. Be refreshed from the burdens the world places upon you. And then, having received your rest, return to the world, strengthened to bear the easy yoke, the light burden of faith and service to the Lord. For He will bear that burden with you, as well. “Come to me,” He says, His pierced hands outstretched. Come and receive Him. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

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