Seeing the One We Need

Below you'll find online worship from Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio, for this past Sunday, April 26. We hope that it will help you grow strong in faith in Jesus, whether you already know Him or not. Below that then is the written text of the message included in the worship. God bless you with a safe and healthy week.



Luke 24:13-35

Today, I want to focus on two verses from our gospel lesson: “When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him…” (Luke 24:30-31) 

Here is the moment when, on the first Easter Sunday, two of Jesus’ disciples, after walking on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus with a mysterious stranger, realize that this stranger, Whose unfolding of God’s Word had made their hearts burn while they walked together, was Jesus: crucified, dead, buried, now risen from the dead. 

They’d been blind. 

But now they could see.

During His ministry, Jesus had spoken about what He intended to accomplish in Jerusalem. 

“The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” (Luke 9:22) 

“For the Son of Man in his day,” Jesus says in Luke 17:24-25, “will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.”

To eyes blinded by sin though, a gracious God going to the lengths that God goes to in Jesus in order to seek and save those lost in sin, death, and darkness, is beyond imagining. 

The blindness of the human race goes back to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. After they rebelled against God and ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, “...the eyes of both of them were opened” (Genesis 3:7). 

Before, they had seen only God and what was good. 

Now they saw evil. 

From that point forward, whenever the human race gave God a thought, it imagined that God was as lacking in grace and charity they themselves. 

They saw God as a Being to be placated by religious acts, a Deity who demands perfection. 

Or, they were, like me at one time in my life: fools, of whom God’s Word observes, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’...” (Psalm 14:1)

In the risen Jesus, our eyes are opened to Who God really is. 

We see that He is the God Who, out of His grace and love, called ancient Israel to be His own people who would carry the light of His love to all the nations, despite the smallness of Israel’s numbers and power, despite its sin, idolatry, and lies. 

In Jesus too, we see the God Who sent His Son “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). 

This is the God Who, desperate to restore us to the life only He can give, is indifferent to the humiliation others might see in His becoming... 

• like a widow scouring her home for a single lost coin (Luke 15:8-10, or 
• like a shepherd who has 99 sheep securely penned for the night, but still seeks the one that’s lost (Luke 15:3-7), or 
• like a father who doesn’t care what the neighbors say because, though his son has squandered everything he gave him--every blessing--and shown him complete disrespect, will still anxiously look down the road hoping for his return and throw a party when that lost child returns. (Luke 15:11-32)

For three years, disciples like Cleopas and the other disciple who walked to Emmaus on that first Easter had followed Jesus. They hadn’t understood it when Jesus foretold His death and resurrection. 

In Jesus, they had heard the voice of God and had seen, in Martin Luther’s wonderful phrase, “God’s loving face.” 

But they were blind to all of Jesus’ promises, assuming that as Messiah, Jesus would go to Jerusalem and claim His kingdom.

They were right, except that the kingdom of the Messiah, the Christ, could not be claimed before Jesus dealt with our blindness. Until it was overcome forever. 

All who follow Jesus must learn to see the world aright. 

First, we have to see that we are sinners. Jesus didn’t just die for all those “other people” over whom we tsk and shake our heads. We too are sinners whose blindness causes us to brag, tear others down, to be unkind, to hoard paper towels, toilet paper, and disinfectant, to think we’re always right and the other guy is always wrong, to covet, steal, take God’s name in vain, gossip, and lie. The cross should open our eyes to our sin. The condition of sin into which each of us is born and which we blindly indulge, is so bad that it required the sinless God of all creation to take on human flesh, becoming the only human being who could offer a pure sacrifice acceptable to God to overcome the power of our sin. 

And it’s for blind people like us, prone to look no further than our own interests, desires, and preferences, that Jesus came to die...and rise.

Which brings us back to the road to Emmaus. 

Two disciples walk on that road, so blinded by sin and habitual ways of thinking and religion, that they can’t accept the report of the women who had returned from the tomb with news that Jesus was raised from the dead. “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” Jesus tells them while they still don’t recognize Him. (Luke 24:25) 

It’s at this point that Jesus begins to open their eyes, showing them God’s Law is not meant to be the last word over their lives or their eternities. He shows them from Moses and the Prophets that the Messiah was always meant to do what Jesus did...to die and then to rise. 

Jesus points them to the gospel, the good news: God has conquered our sin and our death by dying and rising and all whose eyes are opened to their need of what Jesus accomplished in His death and resurrection and trust in Jesus are no longer lost. God finds us and saves us by His grace in Jesus!

The night is closing in when Jesus and the two disciples come to Emmaus. It will soon be too dark to see and therefore, to travel. They beg Jesus to stay with them. 

It’s at a table in Emmaus that it happens. 

Jesus breaks the bread and blesses it and starts to give it to them, as He has so many times before, and THEY SEE. 

After Jesus reveals Himself to them, their eyes are opened to what Jesus had done--died for the sin of all people and risen so that all who trust in Him can live with God now and always, the darkness outside doesn’t matter to the disciples. Despite the dangers posed by wild animals and highway bandits, they race back to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples that they have seen Jesus, risen. Their eyes are open. 

They can testify in the words of John Newton’s hymn, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see.”

The same is true for you and me. When God’s Law shows us our need of a Savior and His Gospel presents Jesus as that Savior Who saves us by God’s charity--His grace--through faith in Jesus; whenever His Word causes our hearts to burn within us; when we are claimed by God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--in the waters of Holy Baptism; and when we see Him again (and we will see Him again!) in the breaking of the bread at Holy Communion, our blindness gives way to seeing God in all His glory, grace, and love. 

We move out of the darkness of our cramped, self-serving lives into the bright spaciousness of His kingdom. 

We can marvel, revel, and celebrate the reality that the apostle Peter says belongs to all believers in Jesus: “...you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9) 

This week, listen to Jesus’ Word, heed His call to repentance and renewal. He will come to You not only as God the Son Who died for Your sins but also as God the Son Who rose to open Your eyes to see how much He loves you and the new life He gives to you. 

Look to Jesus and you will see. And you will believe. 

Amen

Overcoming Our Addiction

"The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply..." (Psalm 16:4)

This passage hit me during my quiet time with God today.

The fundamental problem we human beings have is that we have a natural inclination for worshiping false gods. Naturally unwilling to trust in the God revealed in Jesus, the God we can't presently see and can never control, we prefer to bet our lives on other gods. They're everywhere: our own smarts, talent, and strength; our feelings; our families; our countries; money, success, sex, stuff. Even Christians are prone to idol worship when they make of Jesus a demanding dictator who is only placated by our religious acts.

Idolatry is addiction. Whatever our idols are--whatever we devotedly "worship" (i.e., prioritize) for the "blessings" we think they can give us--will, in the end, leave us disappointed, depleted, and dead. Only the living God revealed in Jesus Christ can give us life to the full.

Until we heed Christ's call to turn away from the little gods that make us miserable, we will never be free. And we will know self-inflicted sorrow.

God, set us free of our penchant for idol-worship. Help us to follow Jesus--the Way, and the truth, and the life. Help us to honor You alone as God so that we can live in the joy only You can give, now and always. In Jesus' name, Amen

Tonight's Weeknight Study of the Gospel of John, Chapter 20

Tonight's Weeknight Study of the Gospel of John, Chapter 19

Tonight's Weeknight Study of the Gospel of John, Chapter 18

The actual study begins at 12:08. I was unable to edit it from the video. I had gone on earlier in hopes of including some pictures and links in the comments but was unable to do so.

Tonight's Weeknight Study of the Gospel of John, Chapter 17

Of Wealth and Foolish Kings

Two passages struck me from today's appointed readings from The One Year Chronological Bible, as I had my daily quiet time with God.

First: Psalm 14:6, where David writes, "...evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge."

It reminds me of the parable Jesus tells of a poor man, Lazarus (not to be confused with his friend, Lazarus) and an unnamed rich man in Luke 16:19-31.

The rich man in Jesus' parable had everything he wanted in this world, the false idols of self and money that he craved...and worshiped. He passed poor Lazarus every time he went in or out through the gate of his home, evidently not giving him a second thought. Clearly, Lazarus was thwarted from enacting any plans he might have for improving his life or gaining healing by the care he might have received from the wealthy among whom he lived.

In the course of the parable, Lazarus dies and so does the rich man.

Lazarus, who has trusted in God despite his suffering, is taken by the angels to occupy an honored place next to Abraham, the patriarch of Israel who had believed in God and God's promises even though he couldn't see God.

The rich man, meanwhile, who had lived only for himself, his ambitions, and his desires, is tormented in the fires of Hades.

The rich man, evidently not much changed by the eternal condemnation under which he is living, calls out to ask Abraham to send Lazarus to serve him by giving him water. Abraham says that won't be possible: There is a chasm between God's heaven where those who have, in this lifetime, turned from sin and trusted in the God we now know in Jesus, on the one hand, and the place where those who have turned from God and trusted only in themselves or in the dying things of earth, on the other.

When the rich man finally thinks of someone other than himself, he asks that Lazarus (notice that once again, the rich man wants the beggar to serve his desires) be sent to his brothers to call them to repentance and faith in God so that the brothers won't suffer eternally as he is. The rich man figures that if they see a once-dead man in the flesh, they'll repent for their sin and believe in God. Abraham says that won't be possible either. Jesus, Who, of course, will die and be raised from the dead, says that Abraham tells the rich man, "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead." (Luke 16:31)

This parable surely underscores what the Psalm teaches. Even if and when evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, evil need not be the last word over their lives. God promises that all who turn from sin and trust in Christ will be with Him for eternity.

But the parable also indicates that those who spurn the freely offered gift of new life for all who repent and believe in the God revealed in Jesus, face a horrifying, eternal, and permanent prospect of separation from God and the life that only Jesus can give. Meanwhile, those who trust in Jesus, God the Son, will live with God at their sides, both in the imperfections and difficulties of this world and in the eternal perfections of life beyond our own death and resurrections.

Every believer in Jesus will be interested in caring for the poor and building others up as a matter of course. When you know that by God's grace through faith in Christ, you belong to God forever, sharing the blessings God has given to you isn't odious, it's an involuntary act of gratitude for God's goodness given in the crucified and risen Jesus.

2. "Surely I have acted like a fool and have erred greatly." (1 Samuel 26:21)

These are words spoken by Israel's first king, Saul. He has been trying to kill David, the man God clearly has in mind to be Saul's successor. Saul is consumed with murderous jealousy because he understands that while he has become, in an old phrase, "yesterday's man," David is "tomorrow's man."

Saul speaks the words cited above after David had spared Saul's life even though he could have killed the sleeping Saul with the king's own spear.

For a moment, Saul recognizes how foolishly he's acted. Consumed with himself and his desire for glory, he has sought to kill a virtuous man. (David wasn't always virtuous. But that's a story for another time.) More than that, Saul was seeking to thwart the plans of God to make David king. And so, Saul expresses regret for his foolishness and errant ways.

It's refreshing when leaders can say things like, "I'm sorry. I've been foolish. Please forgive me. I take the blame." In this moment of honest repentance and humility, Saul showed more greatness than he had at any other time in his life.

But it wasn't to last. Soon, he would be chasing after David again. Repentance and faith do not come naturally to we human beings; they only happen when, by the power of God's Holy Spirit and the Word of God working on us, we can lay aside our inborn aversion to God and trust in Him.

Father, help me to be a person humble enough to confess my foolishness and to know that having others' respect and esteem isn't important. All that matters is that I trust in You. Help me to do that today. And, God, in our world, grant us leaders who are humble enough to change course when they've gone wrong, who will listen to Your call to repentance, confess their sins, receive the forgiveness available to those who turn to Christ, and trust in You alone. In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen.

[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]

Tonight's Weeknight Study of the Gospel of John, Chapter 16

Tonight's Weeknight Study of the Gospel of John, Chapter 15

I'm Praising God Anyway!

Psalm 57 is a strange and beautiful cry of David, the shepherd who would later become king of Israel. 

The superscription says that he composed it while hiding out in a cave from King Saul. Saul could see how God favored David: Saul had been faithless and there would come a time when God would displace him from the throne and give it to David. 

But David was unwilling to lay a finger on Saul, the Lord's anointed and so, despite his military prowess and popularity among the people, instead of defending himself against the king, David ran. And hid in caves.

David prays:

I cry out to God Most High,
    to God, who vindicates me.
 He sends from heaven and saves me,
    rebuking those who hotly pursue me—
    God sends forth his love and his faithfulness.

 I am in the midst of lions;
    I am forced to dwell among ravenous beasts—
men whose teeth are spears and arrows,
    whose tongues are sharp swords. (Psalm 57:2-4)

David knows his dire situation and prays for deliverance to the only One he believes can help.

It's here that David prays:

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
    let your glory be over all the earth. (Psalm 57:5)

Whatever God does, David is saying, he prays that God will be exalted and His glory seen by everyone. Yes, he wants to be delivered. Yes, he asks that God spare his life. But more than anything, he wants his God to be given glory. He wants the whole creation to give God the honor and praise that is God's due.

In verse 6 of the psalm, David again speaks of the plans for his destruction being hatched and implemented by his enemies. 

But then, David prays not only that God will be exalted by the nations of the world (he will pray that again in verse 11), he expresses his intention to himself sing God's praises, even in the midst of his distress:

My heart, O God, is steadfast,
    my heart is steadfast;
    I will sing and make music.
 Awake, my soul!
    Awake, harp and lyre!
    I will awaken the dawn.

I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
    I will sing of you among the peoples.
 For great is your love, reaching to the heavens;
    your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

David is making no deals with God. He hasn't prayed, "God, deliver me and I will sing your praises." David has a confidence in God that no matter what happens, he will belong to God. And no matter what conditions prevail in his life, he will praise God. He will make music to God. He will praise God among all peoples and nations.

Last night, I was feeling down. No, bleak. Almost everything I've tried to accomplish in the past two weeks has ended in failure. Or at least that's how I felt. From technology (for work) to taxes (my daughter's), from giving myself a haircut that was a disaster to trying to record some of my songs on a new app, from an online Catechism lesson plan that didn't turn out as I'd hoped to the ongoing fear that all of us who are in at-risk categories feel in the midst of this coronavirus plague, I felt accosted by failure, even by death.

But as I prayed before going to bed last night, I realized how self-absorbed my thoughts had become.

My call is to praise God among the nations, when I succeed and when I fail. My call is to "sing" of God among the peoples.

David said that he was so intent on fulfilling this call that he would "awaken the dawn" with his songs of praise to God!

I went to bed with a different perspective. Then this morning, I woke to see this psalm appointed for my quiet time reading in The One Year Chronological Bible. The question is never whether I have succeeded or failed in my own eyes. It's not even whether I live or die. It's whether I'm following Jesus, the One Who gives life and peace and forgiveness to those who turn from the stupid, futile ways of thinking in this selfish, fallen world. No matter what, He is my Deliverer!

God, forgive my bellyaching and self-pity. Your Son Jesus died and rose from the grave, assuring us that all who turn from sin and follow Him have a share in His victory over sin, death, and the grave. And we live with You now and forever. In Jesus, I belong to You and You deserve my praise always. Help me today to praise You and sing Your praises by whatever means You give me to do so.In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen



[This song, composed and performed by Bruce Cockburn during his "Christian phase" in the 1980s, always reminds me of the last line in verse 8 of the psalm. At the time of the song's release, Cockburn called To Raise the Morning Dawn one of his "God songs." Like David, he seemed intent to wake up the day with praises of God. I pray that he will come again to his former love for Jesus and follow Him. He has more songs he could sing in praise of the God we know in Jesus Christ!]

My Lord and My God (Sunday Worship, Living Water Lutheran Church)

Here's Sunday worship from Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio. Below the video is the manuscript for today's message. God bless you!



John 20:19-31
One day during seventh-grade English class, our teacher, Mrs. Biggs, told us that we were going to have a say in what book we would read together over the next six weeks. 

She gave us three choices. I can’t remember what the other two were. But I do remember the one I definitely didn’t want to read: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 

I thought I would be bored out of my skull if we read that book. But the vote for the Holmes stories was nearly unanimous. 

Then I read the stories and got hooked. I read all twelve in the collection even before we were actually supposed to be reading them for class. I loved them for the puzzles they presented, the vivid characters, the strange plot twists, and the friendship of the brilliant Holmes and the sometimes clueless Watson. I couldn’t stop talking about the stories. And for Christmas that year, I received the complete Holmes collection: all fifty-six short stories and four novels. I still have that book!

Have you ever noticed how skeptics can become the biggest fans of something they once disdained? And it’s often these people who have what’s called “the zeal of a convert.” It’s often former skeptics who tell us the most about the things they once dismissed but have come to love.

Our gospel lesson for today, John 20:19-31, gives us a portrait of such a person. His name is Thomas. He was called to be an apostle of Jesus, one of the twelve Jesus would send into the world to witness that all who believe in the crucified and risen Savior will have eternal life with God and plant Christ's Church everywhere.

At the beginning of his gospel, John introduces us to Jesus, the Second Person of the Triune God, the one God in three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

Jesus, John said, is the Word, God the Son, Who spoke the universe into being. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” John says (John 1:1). 

Later in that same chapter, he says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) 

John spends the rest of his gospel recounting signs, sermons, and dialogs pointing out to those who dared to pay attention that Jesus was no ordinary man. They all demonstrated that Jesus was more even than the Messiah, the Christ, who God’s people had long-awaited. Jesus was God the Son in the flesh, the Creator becoming one of His creatures so that in His sinlessness, He could die for sinners and win eternity for all who believed in Him, their sins forgiven, made forever new.

Now, Thomas was with Jesus throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry. He knew that there was something special about Jesus. That’s probably why he kept following Jesus. But he refused to give in to the enthusiasm of faith. (The word enthusiasm comes from the Greek phrase, en Theos, in God.) 

Thomas held back, determined not to get hoodwinked into giving his loyalty to anyone. Not even Jesus. 

Thomas was there to see Jesus bring sight to the blind man who, when Jesus identified Himself as the Son of Man had told Jesus, “Lord, I believe” and proceeded to worship Jesus as God (John 9:38). But while others exhibited faith in and devotion to Jesus, however imperfect, Thomas folded his arms. 

When Jesus announced His intention to go to Bethany after His friend Lazarus had died there, Thomas was less than enthusiastic. Bethany was in the heart of the territory from which Jesus and the twelve had just run for their lives. At Jesus’ announcement, Lazarus cynically told the others, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” (John 11:16) 

Even at the Last Supper, after Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead and after Thomas had heard Jesus speak repeatedly of how He was going to Jerusalem where God the Father would glorify Him, through His death, resurrection, and ascension, Thomas asks Jesus, Who had told the disciples that they knew the Way He was going, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” (John 14:5) 

When Jesus told Thomas, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” Thomas remained immune to Jesus’ Word (John 14:6).

After Jesus’ died and all hope of His being the Messiah seemed gone, the other disciples, grief-stricken and disappointed, nonetheless stayed together, probably drawing comfort from one another. Not Thomas. He was nowhere to be found on Easter Sunday morning. He had moved on. 

Nor was he around on Easter Sunday evening when Jesus entered a locked room to greet the disciples and show them that He had conquered sin, death, and the grave for all who believe in Him. When, a week later, Thomas was told about several encounters Jesus’ other disciples had with Jesus raised from the dead, Thomas refused to believe.

I have a confession to make. 

I can sometimes be a Thomas. 

I live on the Easter side of Jesus’ time on earth. 

I believe in Him as my Lord and King. 

But sometimes I act and live as though the Word never became flesh and dwelt among us, that He never died to destroy the power of sin and death over me, that He didn’t rise to make me a new creature to whom He wills an eternity of good. 

I can wake up and go through the next sixteen hours of my day like someone who never heard of Jesus. I can live like Jesus never died and rose for me. Like those who don’t know Jesus, I can stew over how things are going to turn out, forgetting that the Lord Who was raised by God the Father on Easter has believers and our ultimate destination in His strong grip, that Jesus has prepared a place for us with God in eternity and He will be with us every step of the way on this earth. 

How about you? 

Can you be a Thomas? 

Do you sometimes let unbelief, cynicism, skepticism, selfishness, or a kind of thoughtless, default atheism setting cloud your vision of Jesus, of Who He is, and of what He has done for you on the cross and from the empty tomb?

Today brings you (and me) good news! 

Like John, the beloved disciple, who saw the empty tomb on the first Easter Sunday morning and believed, Thomas got his chance to see the risen Jesus on the following Sunday. 

And when that happened, Thomas, the hardened skeptic, became the only person in the Gospel of John to make this ringing confession about Jesus: “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). 

No one had previously dared to say Who Jesus was (and is). 

Thomas confessed Jesus not just our Lord. Not just the Lord Who conquered sin and death and Satan. 

Thomas looked at Jesus and declared Jesus to be God! 

Jesus says of believers like you and me, who have received the Word about Jesus that would be shared by the lives and martyrdom of witnesses like Thomas, Peter, John, Mary Magdalene, and Paul, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)

We are blessed. 

Although like Thomas, we can doubt or be disbelieving or forgetful, we are blessed. 

That’s because the truth of our faith in Christ is not measured either in how often we allow our human nature to get in the way of trusting in Jesus. It isn't measured in our imperfections. 

Our faith is truly seen in this: in how, when confronted by Jesus in His Word, in the Sacraments, and in the fellowship of the Church, we realize again that this Jesus, this One raised from the grave on the first Easter, is Lord and God and His Word has transformed us from sinners dead in their trespasses and given us the saving faith to say with Thomas, “My Lord and my God!”

Friends, Jesus never tires of coming to us and always remains the Word made flesh, true God and true man, Whose desire above all else is to fellowship with us and make us His forever. 

May we who, by the power of God's Word about Jesus, give us the zeal of converts, people who sold out to Jesus that we can't keep from telling the world about Jesus and His gospel.

And when Jesus calls us, may we always hear His voice and may we always come to Him, our Lord and our God. Amen

Tonight's Weeknight Study of the Gospel of John, Chapter 14

Tonight's Weeknight Study of the Gospel of John, Chapter 13

Tonight's Weeknight Study of the Gospel of John, Chapter 12

Weeknight Study of the Gospel of John, chapters 10 and 11

What the Church is Called to Do in These Times

A Virginia pastor has died from coronavirus after insisting on continuing with regular worship services at the congregation he served.

Here's the deal.

When Jesus began His earthly ministry, following His baptism by John the Baptist when His deity and messiahship were affirmed by both God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, He went into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Jesus faced three major temptations then. One of them involved the devil taking Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem. The devil told Jesus: "If you are the Son of God...throw yourself down..." (Matthew 4:6) Then, he tried to push Jesus into jumping by citing a passage of Old Testament Scripture, Psalm 91:11-12: "He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone." That is a beautiful and reliable promise from the God first revealed to Israel and now to all the world in Jesus. Generations of believers have found God to be a fortress through the adversities of life. I know that I have.

But Jesus wasn't having any of the devil's mangling of the Bible. God's promises are not insurance against our willful foolishness.

So, Jesus told the devil, also citing God's Word: "It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” (Matthew 4:7, with Jesus quoting Deuteronomy 6:16).

This pastor's death is tragic.

But it is also the result of a seemingly intelligent man's decision to engage in foolishness, to ignore the wisdom of those who know what they're talking about when it comes to this unique virus for which there is presently no cure.

This is a time that requires social distancing and for group meetings, including meetings of the Church, to not happen.

To forge ahead with public worship or church activities for the foreseeable future is pure foolishness, like texting while driving, not fastening one's seatbelt, or failing to wear a helmet while on a motorcycle. People can do these things. But if they're counting on God to protect them from their foolishness, they're putting God to the test.

I would argue that it's not just foolish, it's downright sinful to expose people to a lethal disease that we can prevent on the pretext of being faithful.

God the Father didn't count it a sin when His sinless Son refused to jump off the temple. And as much as I miss being together in worship with God's people, it's no sin for us to forgo doing so out of simple love for God and neighbor.

The magazine First Things presented an article by Thomas Joseph White this past week. Among other things, it searches through the history of the Roman Catholic Church for circumstances like the Plague we currently face. One paragraph particularly struck me:

The first thing to be said about the suspension of public masses is that it is not innovative nor is there any evidence that it stems from undue influence of a secular mentality. In fact, there is clear evidence that in medieval and modern Europe, as well as in the U.S., this form of response on the part of the Church is a very traditional and time-tested one. St. Charles Borromeo has been mentioned much in these discussions. He closed the churches of Milan due to a plague in 1576–77. During this time, he arranged for masses to be elebrated outside and at street intersections so that people could watch from their windows. There wasn’t any question of distributing communion since it would have been rather unusual in this period for most people to receive regularly at mass. This lasted about two years...

Mass was suspended in Milan because of a plague for TWO YEARS. Clearly, St. Charles Borromeo believed that if the Church truly loves God and loves others, gatherings of the faithful could not happen in diocesan churches until the danger had passed.

White goes on:

There are many other medieval and early modern examples that could be cited, but much more recently, in 1918, the churches in many parts of the United States closed for public worship during the Spanish Flu. In New Orleans (hardly a Protestant city) the city ordered that churches had to close, which did prompt some outcry from Catholic pastors who said that this had not been done during earlier epidemics. They were in error.

Fortunately, unlike past generations of Christians, we have two blessings that can help the Church to (1) not become the means by which coronavirus is spread; (2) continue our mission of proclaiming the Word and being and making disciples (and, I believe, in sharing the Sacraments).

We have modern medicine, infectious disease specialists, epidemiologists, and a track record by which medical professionals have produced vaccines that have destroyed diseases that, initially, were lethal.

We have the Internet. Via the Internet this week, my congregation will be able to worship and hear the Word of God (and share it with others), hold Catechism class for our middle schoolers, have our church council meeting, conduct Bible studies on John and 2 Peter, have gatherings of our small groups for prayer, the consideration of God's Word, and, in a phrase from one of our Lutheran tradition's confessional documents, "the mutual conversation and consolation of the saints," and host a channel composed entirely of bedtime stories read by members of the congregation for our children.

In a few weeks, lay representatives and pastors of the 60+ congregations of our Ohio Mission Region will gather in convocation, hear our bishop, and conduct business online.

Wouldn't I rather that we were able to worship and meet together in person? Of course, I would.

But if we are serious about following Jesus and living in His love, then the Church must be willing not to meet until we no longer will be testing God by doing so, until Jesus' great commandment to love God and love neighbor gives us leave to resume more normal activities.

I also think that while our church buildings are closed, we are seeing Christians reaching out to others in loving ways. Every day, I hear of people in our congregation checking on each other, checking on neighbors, and praying together on the phone and by other means. The blessing in this cursed time is a Church--laity and clergy alike--growing in their faith and sharing Christ with others as I haven't seen in thirty-five-plus years as a pastor and over forty years as a Christian!

The family of this Virginia pastor is in my prayers. I pray that God will comfort them.

And I pray that all churches will refrain from worship and all group activities until, by the grace of God and in answer to the prayers of the faithful, this scourge is forever destroyed!

Nothing Can Hinder God, the Saving One

This morning for my quiet time with God, I read the entry for April 13 from The One Year Chronological Bible. Today, that included 1 Samuel 13:23-14:52 and 1 Chronicles 8:1-9a.

I was struck by words, spoken by Jonathan, the son of Israel's first king, Saul. Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, "Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few." (1 Samuel 14:7)

The context of these words is that Israel's army, under King Saul's command, was faced by a Philistine outpost on the other side of a rocky pass rimmed by cliffs. The Philistines had been harrying God's people. Jonathan proposed to his armor-bearer that the two of them would cross over and enter the Philistine post themselves.

They agreed that they would let the Philistines see them crossing over. If the Philistines told them to stop, that they would come to Jonathan and his companion, the two would stop. But if the Philistines told them to come up to their outpost, they would go, knowing that God--Yahweh, the LORD--was giving their people victory.

Clearly, Jonathan and his armor-bearer had entered what we might call a prayer agreement or covenant with God; they asked God for a sign on how they should proceed and committed themselves to proceed on the basis of what God revealed to them. In the end, the Philistines did tell Jonathan and the armor-bearer to come up to their camp. From that point, God threw the Philistines into a confused panic that resulted in victory for God's people.

But that victory began with Jonathan's simple faith. "Nothing," he'd said, "can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few."

Before I start my quiet times with God, I always ask Him to show me the passage, among those appointed for the day, I need to read, focus on, or act on that day. This is the passage that struck me forcefully today. I underlined it immediately.

Then I asked God, "Why is this passage important for me today?"

The answer, I believe, has two parts.

First, in this grim time of a massive pandemic, on a day when China is reporting a deadly new outbreak and the United States is experiencing a massively disproportionate share of the total global cases and deaths from the coronavirus (the US is about 5% of the world's population, but has about 20% of all COVID19 cases and deaths), God was assuring me: Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving people's lives.

Obviously, this means that governments need to continue stay-at-home orders, mandate social distancing, provide hospitals and individuals with the tools needed (i.e., testing, tracking, ventilators, and eventually, a vaccine). It means that we can save other people's lives by refraining, to the greatest extent possible, from social contact, wearing masks, washing our hands well and frequently, and refraining from group meetings.

If we will use the wisdom our Lord has given to us through dedicated people who have spent lifetimes studying and understanding infectious diseases and epidemiology, nothing can hinder the Lord from saving lives that would otherwise be threatened.

Second, even now in the midst of the restrictions under which we must necessarily live, there is nothing hindering the Lord from saving people from eternal separation from God, nothing preventing us from using all the tools presently available to us (i.e., cell phones, social media, email) to share the good news--the Gospel--that all who repent and believe in Jesus Christ have eternal life with God.

You can do this in your everyday interactions with people, even if you never leave your house.

God can use our witness for the loving, redeeming, saving God we know in the crucified and risen Jesus to save people for life with God for all eternity.

All we have to do--"with gentleness and reverence" as we're told by the apostle Peter--is share what Jesus has done and is doing for us.

He is a living God and "nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or the few."

He can save whoever reads this from sin, death, futility, and hell. He can give you life, purpose, peace, and hope. He can give you a life with God that never ends. In the book of Revelation, John reports that the risen and ascended Jesus says, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me." (Revelation 3:20)

When the Holy Spirit gives us the faith to let Jesus in, He will enter our lives and save us from ourselves: all our darkness, fear, futility, and death. Jesus told his grieving friend Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die." Then he asked her, "Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26)

If we do believe this, if the Holy Spirit has led us to faith in Jesus Christ as we've received the Word about Jesus, we have the very life with God that Jesus told Martha about.

If we believe in this gospel, our call from God, whatever our jobs, is to share Jesus with others, so that they too can be saved from sin, death, and hell, saved for life with God.

God, this day, help me to trust that nothing can hinder You from saving, whether by many or by few. In Jesus' name. Amen

[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]

Easter Worship from Walburg

This the Easter Sunday worship service at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Walburg, Texas. The pastor is someone we know fairly well, my wife and I: our son, Pastor Philip Daniels.

'Easter, 2020,' An Extraordinary New Poem from Malcolm Guite