“How to Escape from God” Amos 5.18–24 Pent 24A Nov. ‘26

 

1.      Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The message for the 24^th Sunday after Pentecost is entitled, “How to Escape from God,” and it’s taken from Amos 5:18-24. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.      How many of you know what an apex predator is? An animal at the top of the food chain with no natural enemies. In the ocean, it’s the killer whale—not the great white shark. In North America, the grizzly or the cougar. In Wisconsin, don’t argue with a mama bear. In ancient Israel, it was the lion. Nothing hunted the lion. When the lion roared, everything else went quiet.

3.      The Old Testament Prophet Amos puts a different face on that picture: “The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?” (Amos 3:8). Through Amos, The Lord God describes himself as the lion. The Lord is the apex predator, and on this third-last Sunday of the church year he roars at his own people. Israel had forgotten who sat at the top of the food chain. They treated the Lord as if he could be ignored or managed. And so do we. If God is your problem, only God can be your solution.

4.      Look at Amos’s day. Jeroboam II was on the throne; times were good—for some. Business boomed, offerings were full, feasts were loud. Meanwhile the widow, the orphan, and the poor were trampled at the gate. Israel read the prosperity as God’s approval. They figured they had the Lord in their pocket, offering sacrifices the way you’d send a gift basket to a landlord, hoping he’d stay out of your business.

5.      So they longed for “the day of the Lord,” thinking it would squash their enemies. Amos answers: “Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! … It is darkness, and not light” (5:18). That “woe” is the sound of a funeral. Israel is not the lion’s friend; Israel is the lion’s next meal. “I will be to them like a lion… I will tear and go away; I will carry off, and no one shall rescue” (Hos 5:14).

6.      This was no sudden ambush. The Lord had sent famine, drought, blight, and plague, and after each one the refrain returned: “yet you did not return to me” (4:6–12). Then the sentence: “Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!” (4:12). Do we act any differently? We say we believe in God, yet we trust our own judgment, the market, the experts, the next election. We want a domesticated God who serves our comfort, not a God who is God. A god we can manage is a god we will not fear—and that is why our worship can feel so half-hearted.

7.      The Prophet Amos says there is no escape. “It is as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him” (5:19). You cannot outrun the Lord. Even repentance does not put him in your debt. “Hate evil, and love good… it may be that the Lord… will be gracious” (5:15). It may be. The Lord is free. He owes us nothing. That is exactly why grace is grace.

8.      The darkness in verses 18 and 20 is the darkness of the ninth plague, the darkness before “Let there be light.” Sin disorders what God ordered. At the end stands the darkness of death. The Lord still says, “Prepare to meet your God.” Israel had a God-size problem. Do we?

9.      And yet look at this strange lion. What kind of predator warns his prey? What kind of predator says, “Turn back, turn back, why will you die?” (Ezek 33:11) and “Seek me and live” (Amos 5:4)? He roars, but the roar is a warning. Everything about this hunt is backwards.

10.   Because this lion is not a predator by nature. “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8). He is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (Ex 34:6). He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that they turn and live. The same book of Amos ends with a promise: “In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen” (Amos 9:11). The Lord does not want to devour; he wants to restore. Yet “he will by no means clear the guilty” (Ex 34:7). Because he is holy, sin is not small to him. The deepest problem for Israel—and for us—is the Lord himself.

11.   Wrath is God’s strange work, his alien work (Is 28:21). It is not what he loves to do; it prepares the way for mercy. God’s wrath is his mercy delayed—the stern voice of a Father who will not let his child run into traffic. Scripture also says the devil prowls like a roaring lion (1 Pet 5:8). Both roar, but for opposite reasons. The Lord roars to turn you back to Jesus. Satan roars to scare you away from him. Learn to tell them apart.

12.   Which brings us to the verse many know by heart: “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (5:24). As Law it is clear: the Lord commands justice—care for the widow, the orphan, the unborn, the elderly, the stranger. “I hate, I despise your feasts…” (5:21). Faithful worship leads to faithful living. If you don’t live it, you probably don’t believe it.

13.   Who among us can make justice roll down like a river? Not me. Not you. Our justice is a trickle. But the verb in Hebrew means it expects to be fulfilled, like “Let there be light.” This is more than a demand; it is a promise from the God to whom justice belongs. “The Lord is our righteousness” (Jer 23:6).

14.   That river flows from a hill outside Jerusalem. At the cross the lion who roared in judgment bore his own judgment. The Lamb of God took the wrath aimed at you. God put forward Christ “as a propitiation by his blood… so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom 3:25–26). Justice was done. All the wrath was poured out—not on you, but on the Son. And on Easter that Son rose “for our justification” (Rom 4:25).

15.   That is why Revelation can say, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah… has conquered” (Rev 5:5). When John turns to look at the Lion, he sees a Lamb standing as though slain (5:6). Because of Christ, your sins are forgiven—the greed, the grudges, the half-hearted worship, the neighbor you passed by—every one nailed to that cross. You are justified. On the Last Day you will not be prey. You will be a child.

16.   Faith is trusting the Lord when he seems to be your enemy. Where do you flee from the lion? Only to the lion. You run into the arms of the One who has the right to destroy you and find that he has already carried your sin to the cross. You will never find a worse enemy than the God you despise, nor a better friend than the God who loved you and gave himself for you. He is more than a friend; he is your Father, who “did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all” (Rom 8:32). So when the lion roars, do not run from him. Run to him—to the cross where he was torn for you. If God is your problem, only God can be your solution. And in Christ, he is. Now may the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.

 

“Salvation & Judgment-God's Work of Making All Things New” Psalm 149 All Saints Day Nov. ‘26

 

1. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The message from God’s Word today as we observe All Saints’ Day is taken from Psalm 149, it’s entitled, “Salvation & Judgment-God’s Work of Making All Things New,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.  Anyone who has ever remodeled a kitchen knows the awkward truth about it. Before you get the beautiful new countertops, somebody has to take a sledgehammer to the old ones. The demolition is loud, dusty, and a little terrifying, especially when it's your house. But nobody in the middle of that mess says, "The sledgehammer is my enemy." They say, "The sledgehammer is the road to the kitchen I want." Today, on All Saints' Day, our psalm hands us a sledgehammer, and a sword besides, and invites us to see how God tears down in order to build up.

3. Psalm 149 seems to be two psalms stitched together. Verses 1–5 are pure delight: "Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song." God's people are glad in their Maker, dancing and singing on their beds, for "the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation" (v. 4). Then comes verse 6, and the mood changes. "Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands, to execute vengeance on the nations and punishments on the peoples." Praise in one breath, swords in the next. Many scholars have squirmed over this, and honestly, so do we. It sounds out of place in the church. And yet the Holy Spirit placed it here, and God's Word does not need us to sand down its sharp edges. So we ask what we always ask of the Old Testament: where is Christ in this psalm? Jesus himself told us to look, "You search the Scriptures... and it is they that bear witness about me" (John 5:39).

4. When we look, we find that salvation and judgment are never far apart in the Bible. In the days of Noah, the flood was God's judgment on a world drowning in violence (Gen 6:5–7), and in that same water, eight souls were carried safely in the ark (1 Peter 3:20). At the Red Sea, the waters that closed over Pharaoh's army were the very waters Israel walked through on dry ground (Ex 14:21–31). One event, two sides: judgment for the enemy, deliverance for the people. And the greatest of these is the cross. There God's judgment on sin fell in full, and it fell on his own Son. "The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isa 53:6). Christ took the judgment; you received the forgiveness. At Calvary, God's justice and God's mercy did not compete. They met. So when we read Psalm 149 with Christ at the center, we expect to find both, and we do.

5. Now look again at those two-edged swords. They are not the weapons of a crusade. Remember what Paul says of the church's armor: "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Eph 6:17). And Hebrews tells us that this Word is "living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword" (Heb 4:12). The swords in the hands of ancient Israel's soldiers pointed ahead to the sword that is placed in our hands: not steel, but the proclaimed Word. "The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds" (2 Cor 10:4). So praise and the sword do belong together, because praising God means telling out his mighty deeds, and that telling is exactly what God uses to do his work. Every time we confess the Creed, sing a hymn, read a Psalm, or speak Christ to a neighbor, the sword is drawn.

6. That sword cuts, and it cuts first on us. Our Lord says, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Matt 16:24). The Word asks hard questions. What have your eyes looked at that they should have turned from? What have your lips said that you wish you could take back? Where have your feet carried you that you knew you should not go? The Word does not flatter us; it exposes us. It strips away our excuses and our habit of blaming the person next to us. But the sword that wounds is the same sword that heals, because the Word that shows us the depth of our sin shows us something deeper still: "Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more" (Rom 5:20). Your sin was nailed to the cross with Christ. It is dead, and you are forgiven.

7. This is what we receive in Baptism, where the sword and the water work together. "We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life" (Rom 6:4). Every baptism is a funeral and a birth at once. The Small Catechism puts it plainly: the Old Adam in us "should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever." Here is the trouble: the old Adam is a very good swimmer. He keeps floating back up. So each day we go back to our Baptism, we confess, we hear the absolution, and down he goes again, while the new man, clothed with Christ (Gal 3:27), rises and is strengthened. That is the ministry of the Word in the life of every believer. It kills in order to make alive. As Paul says, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" (2 Cor 5:17). Demolition, and then the new kitchen.

8. Now we can go back to the frightening words of verses 7–9: vengeance, punishments, binding, judgment. If we hear these in the light of the cross, they change. Vengeance belongs to the Lord (Rom 12:19), and in his hands it is not a temper tantrum but the setting right of what has gone wrong. In the cross, Christ makes right what sin has made wrong. "Punishments" can also be rendered "rebukes" or "corrections," the same word behind "the Lord reproves him whom he loves" (Prov 3:12). God's correction is not cruelty; it is a Father's love. The "binding" of nobles with fetters echoes the keys Christ has given his church: "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt 18:18; John 20:23). To the unrepentant we say, as God's Word says, that your sin remains. To the penitent we say, in the stead and by the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you are forgiven. And "the judgment written" is the verdict of God's Word that "the wages of sin is death" (Rom 6:23), spoken so that sinners will run to the One who says, "the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

9. That is the work the church militant is still doing, and it is the work that links us to the church triumphant. Today we give thanks for the saints who have finished their course. John sees them: "a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne" in white robes washed "in the blood of the Lamb" (Rev 7:9, 14). Think of that: robes made white by blood. That is salvation and judgment together, again. And they are our own. The ones we have lost are not lost. They are with the Lamb, who "will be their shepherd... and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes" (Rev 7:17). We still struggle on this side, but we are one church with them, united in Christ. "Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him" (1 John 3:2).

10.                  And notice who Jesus calls blessed on this day: the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matt 5:3–6). These are not the strong, but the emptied, and these are the saints. You, too, are one of them, a saint not by your own strength but by the blood of the Lamb and the washing of your Baptism. So lift up the praises of God, and keep the sword of the Word in hand. Speak it in your homes, to your children, and to the neighbor who needs it. When it wounds, know that it wounds to heal. When it kills, know that it kills to make alive. Even in his judgments, our God is merciful, and even in his chastening there is grace to strengthen faith and renew life. Therefore, with the psalmist and with all the saints above and below, "Praise the Lord!" Amen. And now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

 

“God’s Saints—Blessed by God” Matt 5:1–12; 1 John 3:1–3; Col 3:9–10 Martin Luther High School Chapel November 2, 2026

1.      Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The message from God’s Word the day after All Saints’ Day is entitled, “God’s Saints-Blessed by God,” and it’s taken from Matthew 5:1-12 & portions of 1 John 3 & Colossians 3. What comes to mind when you hear the word saint? Maybe you think of someone who is kind, someone who always seems to do the right thing, or someone who has their life completely together. Maybe you think of the Christians who have died in the faith and now rest with Jesus in heaven. But let me ask you a question: Would you consider yourself a saint? Some of you might be thinking, “Pastor, you obviously haven't seen my grades lately!” Others might be thinking about something you said to your parents, an argument with a friend, or a mistake you wish you could take back.

2.      If being a saint means being perfect, none of us would qualify. We all fall short of God's expectations. The problem is that we often compare ourselves with other people. We might think, “Well, at least I'm not as bad as that person!” We compare our grades, athletic abilities, appearance, popularity, and accomplishments with those of our classmates. Sometimes, seeing someone else fail makes us feel a little better about ourselves. But Romans 3:23 reminds us, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” God doesn't measure our holiness by comparing us with the person sitting next to us. Every one of us needs His forgiveness and grace.

3.      How can sinners like us be called saints? The answer is Jesus Christ! In Matthew 5:1–12, Jesus teaches what we call the Beatitudes. He says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus continues by speaking about those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, and those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. Notice something important. Jesus doesn't say, “Blessed are those with the best grades, the most friends, the highest batting average, or the most impressive college acceptance letter.” Those things can certainly be blessings from God, and we can thank Him for them. But they are not what make us saints, and they are not the foundation of our identity.

4.      Jesus turns our understanding of blessing upside down. He tells us that even those who are hurting, struggling, mourning, and feeling weak can be blessed by God. Why? Because God's blessing doesn't depend on how impressive we are. It rests on His grace and mercy toward us in Jesus Christ. Think about what that means for you as a student.

5.      What happens when you study hard but fail a test? What happens when you don't make the team, lose a competition, or feel left out by your friends? What happens when you struggle with anxiety about the future or feel like you just don't measure up? Those experiences can hurt. God doesn't ask you to pretend they don't. But your failures do not define you. Your popularity does not define you. Your athletic achievements, your grades, your appearance, and even your worst mistakes do not have the final word about who you are.

6.      Jesus Christ has the final word about you! Our school theme this year is “Image Bearers,” from Colossians 3:9–10. These verses remind us to put off the old self with its sinful practices and put on the new self, which is being renewed after the image of its Creator. God created humanity in His image, but sin has damaged our relationship with Him and with one another. We see that damage in the ways we hurt others, tear people down, become jealous, and put ourselves first. Yet God has not abandoned us in our sin. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to save us.

7.      Our monthly theme, “Revealed in Christ,” reminds us that we discover our true identity in Jesus. We don't have to earn our worth through our accomplishments or invent an identity that will impress the world. Listen to the wonderful words of 1 John 3:1: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” Did you hear that? John doesn't say that we might become God's children if we work hard enough. He says that we are God's children! Through faith in Jesus Christ, God gives us this identity as a gift of His grace. And how did Jesus make this possible? Jesus did what we could never do for ourselves. He perfectly fulfilled God's Law. He was truly meek, merciful, and pure in heart. He hungered and thirsted for righteousness. He endured suffering and persecution, even to the point of death on a cross. But Jesus didn't suffer because of His own sins. He suffered for yours and mine. At the cross, Jesus took the punishment our sins deserved. On Easter morning, He rose from the dead, defeating sin, death, and the devil. Because of His death and resurrection, forgiveness and eternal life are yours through faith in Him.

8.      Ephesians 2:8–9 reminds us: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” That is the heart of the Christian faith. We are not saved because we are good enough. We are saved because Jesus is our Savior! And God doesn't leave us wondering where we can find His grace. He comes to us through His Word and Sacraments. In Holy Baptism, God claimed you as His own and united you with Christ's death and resurrection (Romans 6:3–4). Through His Word, He speaks His promises of forgiveness and life. In Holy Absolution, He announces that your sins are forgiven for Jesus' sake. In the Lord's Supper, He gives you Christ's true body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins and the strengthening of your faith. You don't have to wonder whether you've done enough to earn God's love. Look to Jesus and His promises!

9.      So, what does this mean for you as an image bearer of God? First, it changes how you see yourself. When you fail, remember that your failure is not your identity. When you struggle, remember that you are not alone. When you sin, confess your sin and receive the forgiveness Jesus has won for you. You don't have to be the smartest person in the classroom, the best athlete on the field, or the most popular person in the hallway to have value before God.

10.   Your identity is not built on what you accomplish. It rests on what Christ has accomplished for you. Second, it changes how you see other people. Your classmates are not competitors whose value depends on whether they outperform you. They are people created by God and loved by Him. Maybe there's someone at school you have trouble getting along with. Maybe someone has hurt you, or perhaps you've been tempted to join others in making fun of someone who seems different. Remember how Christ has treated you. He knows your sins and failures, yet He came to save you.

11.   Colossians 3:12–13 encourages Christians to put on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, forgiving one another as the Lord has forgiven us. That doesn't mean you'll always get it right. You won't. Neither will I. But because Christ has shown us mercy, we are free to show mercy to others. Being an image bearer of God isn't about showing everyone how wonderful you are. It is about living in the forgiveness and love of Christ and reflecting His love to the people He places around you.

12.   Finally, as we remember All Saints' Day, we remember our fellow Christians who have died in the faith and now rest with Jesus. They weren't saints because they lived perfect lives. They were saints because they belonged to Jesus Christ. Their sins were forgiven through His blood, and they now enjoy the fullness of the salvation He won for them. And that same promise belongs to you! First John 3:2 says, “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” We still struggle with sin and sorrow in this life. But Jesus promises that those who belong to Him will share in His victory. Because He lives, we too will live! So, Martin Luther High School students, remember this: You don't have to earn God's love. You don't have to pretend that everything is perfect. And you don't have to find your identity in what the world says makes you important. When you struggle, turn to Jesus. When you sin, receive His forgiveness. When you feel inadequate, remember that your Savior has done everything necessary for your salvation.

13.   You are an image bearer of God, and through faith in Jesus Christ, you are a forgiven child of God. You are a saint—not because you are perfect, but because Jesus is your perfect Savior! May the Lord keep you rooted in Christ, renewed by His Word, and confident in His promises. And may His love, revealed in Jesus, be reflected in the way you live, serve, forgive, and care for one another. Amen.

14.   Closing Prayer Heavenly Father, we thank You for calling us Your children through Jesus Christ. Forgive us when we seek our worth in our accomplishments, compare ourselves with others, or forget the grace You have freely given us. Keep us rooted in Your Word and strengthen our faith through the gifts of Your Son. By Your Holy Spirit, renew us as Your image bearers so that we may reflect Christ's love through our words and actions. Comfort us when we struggle, forgive our sins, and remind us that in Christ we are Your beloved children, blessed with forgiveness and the promise of everlasting life. Keep us in the fellowship of Your saints until that day when we see You face-to-face. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

 

"There's a Cure for the Diagnosis!" John 8.31–36, Rom 3.19–28 Reformation Day Oct. ’26

 

1.      Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. The message from God’s Word as we celebrate the Festival of the Reformation is taken from John 8:31-36 and Romans 3:19-28, it’s entitled, “There’s a Cure for the Diagnosis!” Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.       Nobody likes the doctor's office. We put off the appointment and tell ourselves the lump is probably nothing and the cough will clear up on its own. Some of us handle the check-engine light by covering it with a piece of electrical tape. The fear isn't really of the doctor. It's of the diagnosis. If I don't know, the thinking goes, it can't hurt me. And in our sinful nature, we do the very same thing with our souls. We live by lies. Sometimes we are deceived, and sometimes, if we're honest, we are happy to be deceived. Adam and Eve hid among the trees rather than face the Lord (Gen 3:8). David confessed that when he kept silent about his sin, his bones wasted away (Ps 32:3). We would rather not know, and so we avoid the church, the Word, and the pastor, because the Word says things we don't want to hear.

3.      That brings us to the lie that has settled over our whole culture, and sadly into many churches too. Sociologists Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton studied the faith of American young people and gave it a name: Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. They write about this in their 2005 book, “Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers.” It is a mouthful, but you will recognize it right away. It says that God exists and wants us to be good and nice to one another. It says the central goal of life is to be happy and feel good about yourself. It says God doesn't need to be particularly involved in our lives except when we need him to solve a problem, like a divine butler or a cosmic therapist. And it says that good people go to heaven when they die. Notice what's missing. There is no sin that actually separates us from a holy God, no wrath, no cross, no blood, no Savior, and no need for one. It is a faith with no diagnosis, and a faith with no diagnosis can offer no cure. It tells a dying man he's doing fine, and it keeps the waiting room full of people who feel good until the moment they don't.

4.      Scripture will not play along. St. Paul says that "whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God" (Rom 3:19). Every mouth stopped. No excuses and no "but I'm basically a good person." "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23). Jesus says it just as plainly: "Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin" (Jn 8:34). Not a person with a few bad habits, but a slave. Jeremiah says that the heart is "deceitful above all things, and desperately sick" (Jer 17:9). That is the diagnosis, and it is terminal. No self-improvement plan, no positive thinking, and no amount of being nice can treat it, because the disease isn't on the surface. It is in the heart. This is what the Law is for. It is the X-ray, and it tells the truth so that we will stop pretending.

5.      Now here is the good news, and it is very good news: the Great Physician makes house calls. When the Pharisees grumbled that Jesus ate with sinners, he answered, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners" (Mk 2:17). Dear friends, if you came in here today thinking you were well, I'm sorry to say that you'll have to leave without an appointment. But if you came in sick and sinful, weary and weighed down, then you are exactly the patient he came for. And notice his treatment. He does not hand us a prescription and wish us luck. He takes the disease upon himself. "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree… By his wounds you have been healed" (1 Pet 2:24; Isa 53:5). The physician becomes the patient. We are "justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood" (Rom 3:24–25). The cure is not our work, and it is not our feelings. It is the blood of Christ, given and shed for you, and delivered to you in the water of Baptism, in the words of Absolution, and in the Supper, where he says, "This is my blood… poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Mt 26:28). As the psalmist says, he "forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases" (Ps 103:3).

6.      That is what Martin Luther rediscovered, and it is what the Reformation was about. It was never about a monk who was angry at the Church. It was about a troubled conscience that heard the diagnosis and found no cure in the religion of his day, until the Word of God opened to him: "The righteous shall live by faith" (Rom 1:17). Justification is by grace alone, through faith alone, on account of Christ alone, as Scripture alone declares. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Eph 2:8–9). No one may boast, not the medieval pilgrim, not the modern moralist, and not the pastor in the pulpit.

7.      But we are not finished, because the Reformation is not a once-and-done event in 1517. The very first of Luther's Ninety-Five Theses says, "When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, 'Repent,' he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance." The whole life. Because the old Adam doesn't die quietly. He keeps creeping back toward the comfortable lie, in the world and in the Church, and yes, in us. That is why our Small Catechism teaches that Baptism means the Old Adam in us is to be drowned daily by contrition and repentance, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever. The Church is always in need of reformation, not by inventing new teachings to suit the times, but by returning again and again to the Word that diagnoses and heals. Whenever a church trades the cross for a gospel of "be nice and feel good," she needs reforming. And whenever you or I begin to trust our own goodness, we need reforming too.

8.      Martin Luther’s comments at the conclusion of the Large Catechism speak well to our need to receive Christ’s forgiveness, especially from the Lord’s Supper, so write’s Luther: “For here [in the Sacrament Jesus] offers to us the entire treasure which He has brought for us from heaven, and to which He invites us also in other places with the greatest kindness, as when He says in St. Matthew 11, 28: Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Now it is surely a sin and a shame that He so cordially and faithfully summons and exhorts us to our highest and greatest good, and we act so distantly with regard to it, and permit so long a time to pass [without partaking of the Sacrament] that we grow quite cold and hardened, so that we have no inclination or love for it. We must never regard the Sacrament as something injurious from which we had better flee but as a pure wholesome, comforting remedy imparting salvation and comfort, which will cure you and give you life both in soul and body. For where the soul has recovered, the body also is relieved. Why, then, is it that we act as if it were a poison, the eating of which would bring death? To be sure, it is true that those who despise it and live in an unchristian manner receive it to their hurt and damnation; for nothing shall be good or wholesome to them, just as with a sick person who from caprice eats and drinks what is forbidden him by the physician. But those who are sensible of their weakness, desire to be rid of it and long for help, should regard and use it only as a precious antidote against the poison (of sin) which they have in them. For here in the Sacrament you are to receive from the lips of Christ forgiveness of sin which contains and brings with it the grace of God and the Spirit with all His gifts, protection, shelter, and power against death and the devil and all misfortune.”

9.      So don't be afraid of the diagnosis. The One who tells you the truth is the One who is the Truth, and Jesus says, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free… So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (Jn 8:31–36). Free from the lies, free from the fear of the doctor's office, and free from death itself. There is a cure for the diagnosis, and his name is Jesus. Come to him, and live. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.