Vespers - Advent 2

 Wednesday Vespers following Populus Zion – December 10, 2025

Psalm 85; Malachi 3:1-5

St. Matthew 11:11-15

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

It is so easy to become weary with the things of God. Reading the same texts year in and year out becomes boring. The hymns of our fathers aren’t relevant.

Another way to become weary is to shift your focus. Rather than reading the Word of God, it is more exciting to listen to radio preachers, watch the History Channel, or let your pastor do the heavy lifting. “As long as he is preaching, I don’t need to read it.” If you can’t remember singing a hymn from your childhood, then it must not be a traditional hymn. Decorations, presents, and parties are the focus of Advent rather than repentance, the Word of God, and preparing to receive your Lord. The world is having fun so why can’t we?

In Malachi’s day, the people began to bring sick, blind, and lame animals to be offered as sacrifices. Our Lord denounces these actions for two reasons. First, they are disobeying His commandment. His people have been commanded to bring Him the first fruits of their labor, the best of what they have to offer. By bringing diseased animals, the people are mocking the Lord as though He wouldn’t notice or as though they are more worthy of a healthy beast than God.

Second, the people of God are despising His priests. The Levites were given no inheritance, no land on which to raise cattle or wheat. They were sustained by the offerings of the people. By offering sick and blind animals, the people are depriving the Levites of their wages. They are depriving the ministers of God of their rightful sustenance that they might dedicate their lives to God, His Word, and His people.

At the same time, our Lord denounces the priests as well. The priests have failed in their duty to warn the people. Rather than rebuke them for offering profaned sacrifices, the priests were accepting these sickly animals and proclaiming the people righteous for it. The priests failed both to teach the people concerning right sacrifice and to guard the Temple of the Lord from profane things.

It is again, so easy to become weary with the things of God. Why bring God a tenth of what you have when He already has everything? Why offer the sacrifice of prayer when God already knows what you need? Why worry about avoiding sin when God has promised to forgive your sins? When your sins have been washed away in Baptism? When you can come to confession?

Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me.”[1] God will not sit idly by while His people become weary and His preachers become lazy. He sent His messenger in the person of St. John the Baptist, whose duty was to prepare the hearts of men to receive their Lord.[2] How is a heart prepared to receive his Lord? It is prepared by being confronted by sin. St. John did not have a pleasant job. He was not given the task of preaching concerning the vision of a beautiful heaven. He, like Malachi, was called to teach concerning the Law of God. When the people are not following the Law of God, John must show them their sin.

It is never fun to be told you are sinning. No one likes to hear his conscience say, “Don’t do that! God is watching!” let alone to have someone else do it. Cries of “Tyranny!” and “Who do you think you are?!” and “Who made you God?!” immediately burst from our lips.

At the same time, we ought to be thankful for Malachi and John. Men like these, sent by God, are messengers sent before the coming of the King. It is their duty to prepare you so that you will not be caught unawares.

“Who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears?”[3] None can stand according to our sin. None can stand according to our nature. None can stand without having heard the preaching of men like Malachi and John.

When the Lord comes, “He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap.”[4] If you remain in your sins, if you reject the Word of God, if you reject the preaching of Malachi, you are a solid rod of dross. When the refiner’s fire is applied to the rod, it will be entirely burned up.

But to you who fear the Name of the Lord, you are a rod with a core of silver. When the refiner’s fire is applied to you, your sinful dross which still clings to you, will be purged from the rod. Such purgation will leave behind a pure rod, a rod of pure silver. It is this pure rod which can offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness, pleasant to the Lord.[5]

The faith of the people in Malachi’s day was revealed in their profane sacrifices. The faith of the priests was revealed in their sloth. No one needs to claim that we cannot see their hearts because their faith is revealed in the works of their hands. This has not changed. Your faith is seen in the works of your hands.

Now, do not mistake me. Do not lie awake tonight trembling over your works, “Have I done enough? Have I done the right things? How much more do I need to do?” These questions are useless. God is not concerned with the quantity of your works. Malachi is no where writing about such questions. God is concerned with the orientation of your heart. Do you seek to follow the Word of God? Do you fear the Name of the Lord?

“To you who fear [God’s] name, The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves.”[6] To fear the name of the Lord is akin to loving Him. It means you do not want to disappoint Him. It means you understand that you are undeserving of His love. It means you trust that He has forgiven your sins by His mercy and that even still, you are as an ant to a young boy with a magnifying glass in hand. To fear the Name of the Lord is to desire never to disappoint your Heavenly Father and trust that He will always, always hold you tenderly in His hand.

The rising of the Sun of Righteousness points directly to the Incarnation of our Lord. It speaks of His descending into the flesh of man because in this flesh, He brought healing. The Second Person of the Holy Trinity became man so that He could die. By His death, you are healed. You are purged of the sin and filth of former times. You are made righteous, as in the days of old, as in former years, when Adam and Eve were made stewards over the earth but had not submitted to temptation.

Though your eyes cannot see it and experience tells you otherwise, this healing has already taken place. It occurred when Christ breathed His last on Friday and then breathed again on Easter morning. By this healing, “you shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that” Christ conquered death.[7] Though the world roar and foam; though Satan claw at your soul with his wickedly sharp talons; though your own heart would leap from your chest to obtain the objects of its lust; you shall trample such wickedness because Christ is yours. Because your heart has been turned toward your Father and His heart toward you.

Therefore, “remember the Law of Moses, [God’s] servant.”[8] That is, remember the Law of the Lord. Until Christ returns, it will never seem like you are trampling on the wicked. In fact, it will always appear that the wicked triumph and the Church suffers. In this age, it is necessary to remember the moral law, to recite the Ten Commandments and the Table of Duties, so that you would not grow weary. Do not grow weary of righteousness so that you will not be caught unawares. Do not grow weary of hearing the preaching of Malachi and John so that you too would be called to repentance. Repent for the sake of loving your Heavenly Father.

Repent now, for the reality is that the triumph of the wicked is only an illusion. The wicked are nothing more than a wolf backed into a corner. They lash out fiercely because they know they are soon to die. The war is won. The wicked are defeated. Any last efforts are only the final actions of a dead man, because the Sun of Righteousness has arisen and has brought healing to all who hear the Word of the Lord.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] Malachi 3:1.

[2] St. Matthew 11:14.

[3] Malachi 3:2.

[4] Malachi 3:2.

[5] Malachi 3:2-4.

[6] Malachi 4:2.

[7] Malachi 4:3.

[8] Malachi 4:4.

Populus Zion (Advent 2)

Populus Zion – December 7, 2025

Psalm 80; Malachi 4:1-6; Romans 15:4-13

St. Luke 21:25-36

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The word “advent” means “coming.” Now the world treats this time as the “Christmas season,” by shopping for Christmas presents, holding Christmas parties, decorating houses, and making travel plans for the Christmas break from school and work. There is nothing wrong with participating in these things. We do live in the world even if we are not of the world. Yet the temptation is to become wrapped up in these activities of the world and to forget the purpose of the season of Advent.

Like the world, Christians use the time of Advent for preparation, but the way in which Christians prepare and the occasion Christians are preparing for are quite distinct from that of the world. During Advent, we reflect, contemplate, and prepare for the three ways in which Christ comes. First, He came in the flesh, born of the Virgin Mary. The eternal Son of God descended into the flesh of man, sharing in our humanity that we might receive His eternity. Second, He comes to us today, through the reading, preaching, and meditating on His Word. He also comes to us bodily in His Holy Sacrament. He comes in the mutual consolation of our Christian brothers and sisters, as they share with us His Holy Word. Finally, we look forward to His final coming, when Christ will reveal Himself to the nations, make His final judgment, and receive all who believe and are baptized into His loving arms for all eternity.

It is this final coming of Christ that Christ speaks of this morning in the Gospel and for which He bids us to prepare. While the world is preparing to celebrate family time at Christmas by buying presents, preparing meals, and making travel plans, the Church prepares to receive her King in the same way she has always prepared herself for God: by repentance.

When I speak of repentance, I don’t just mean reciting the words of the general confession once a week, “I, a poor miserable sinner…” though that is a good start. I mean taking a serious reflection of your heart, actions, mind, and soul. Consider your station in life according to the Ten Commandments, whether you are a father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, or worker; whether you have been disobedient, unfaithful, slothful; whether you have grieved any person by word or deed; whether you have stolen, neglected, or wasted anything, or done other injury.[1] Have you placed your fear, love, and trust in God above all things or have you feared the opinions of people or the economy more than trusting that God loves you and will provide?

Our age is filled both with security in material goods and anxiety over every aspect of life. On the one hand, we look to our stuff to feel secure and happy while constantly worrying about the opinions of others, how we measure up to their expectations. This security and anxiety are both misguided because they entirely remove God from the equation. Our security is in Him, who created and sustains all things in the universe. Our anxiety only runs skin deep, though we feel it deep in our soul. This anxiety forgets that the same God who created and sustains the universe also descended into our flesh for the very purpose of taking our cares, anxieties, and most importantly our sins, upon Himself and crucifying them. He bore your sins into death so that they would remain in the grave forever.

Both the security and anxiety of our age is also misguided because it fails to reach into the root of the problem: our sinful state. The problem is not that we don’t have enough to be secure or that we feel bad about ourselves. The problem is that these are sins against the Almighty God. They are the actions of sinners who have forgotten what the Lord has commanded. Only by a serious contemplation of the Word of God can sin be revealed. “I would not have known sin except through the law…The law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.”[2]

And yet there is a second part of repentance. Repentance is first contrition, that is, sorrow over our sin which has been brought about by the contemplation of God’s holy, just, and good law. The second part is faith; faith which clings to the promise of God that Christ has died for your sin and rose for your justification. If it were not for faith clinging to God’s promise of forgiveness, it would be unthinkable to consider your sins. It would be so overwhelming because it is obvious to anyone that they are unworthy of God. A moment of reflection over the state of your soul would either cause you to turn immediately away from God and cling to your sin in pride or fall into such despair that you would beg for death.

And yet knowledge of the promise of forgiveness makes considering your sin bearable. It becomes bearable because the Word of God has revealed that His great love caused His incarnation. His great love caused the Father to accept the sacrifice of His only-begotten Son on your behalf. His great love washed you in the waters of Holy Baptism, not only cleansing you from sin but making you a child of the Heavenly Father. And just as a child desires nothing more than to make his father proud, so too such great love of God moves your soul to desire to make God proud. It causes you to desire to be free from sin and conform to God’s holy Law.

This is what makes the Christian’s Advent preparations different from that of the world’s. When the nations see signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, they tremble with fear because they are perplexed. A sense of foreboding dread sweeps over the nations for fear of what is coming upon the world. Yet the Church sees these signs and knows that her King is coming soon. We prepare (through repentance and faith) with great joy, straightening up and lifting our heads to see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. The distress of nations is for us a sign that the end is near and we know what will happen at the end. Christ will come and gather us to Himself.

Thus He bids us to watch ourselves so that we are not weighed down with despair, drunkenness, and the cares of this life. Rather, we stay vigilant and pray that we be kept in this true faith until either we die or Christ returns, whichever should come first.

I stand before you today for the first time, charged with bringing you the whole counsel of God. The Lord has seen fit to call this sinner to serve Him in this place and at this time. I have taken vows to be faithful to the Word of God and the Lutheran Confessions, which means that it is my sacred duty to stand in the stead and by the command of my Lord, Jesus Christ, delivering to you His Holy Word and Sacraments. When Christ returns on that final day, I will stand before Him and be held accountable for my ministry to your souls. If I profane the Word of God, if I cause one of you little ones to fall away from the faith because I pervert the things of God, then I will be judged guilty and spend eternity in hell.

It is my sacred duty to pray for you and with you. It is my duty to love you as Christ loves this church. It is my duty to weep over your sins, even as I call you to account for them. Know that it is not my sacred duty to be nice. Certainly to extend Christian love and fellowship, bearing with you in all things, but there is no obligation to be “nice” simply to please men. This is a hard teaching, but it is true. I am obligated to hold you accountable to the Word of God just as you must hold me accountable to it.

Scripture calls all Christians to pray for their leaders, including their pastors. God expects you to pray for me and to pray for my family. It is also expected that you will bear with me in all things, honor the office to which I’ve been called, uphold my reputation - not hearing any accusation from others in idle gossip, and listening intently to the Word of God. You have also promised to aid me as I care for my family and to be diligent to “put the best construction on everything,” recognizing that “love covers a multitude of sins.” I expect you to hold me accountable to the Word of God and if I should sin against you, I expect you to call me to repentance.

Our Lord has promised that though heaven and earth will pass away, His Word will never pass away.[3] The time is already growing late. It has been 2,000 years since our Lord spoke these words. Though it is cold outside and the calendar shows it is winter, in the broad view of time, the trees are coming out in leaf and the end of time draws near. Together, we hope and pray that the Lord will grant a bountiful harvest in this congregation, that He will bless us with new children to baptize, adults to instruct, and families to bring into our fold. Yet it is the Lord who gives growth. It is also at the Lord’s discretion that congregations shrink. We do not measure the success of the Church in man’s terms. We measure the success of the Church in faithfulness to the Scriptures, trusting that God knows better than we do how to manage His own household.

So together, we must stay awake at all times, praying that we may have strength to escape the temptations of the world and to stand before the Son of Man in humility and faith. Together, we must devote ourselves to the things of God, to His Word and Holy Sacraments. Together, we must show ourselves to bear the Light of Christ into the world, that not by our efforts, but by the very Word of God, the world would be brought to Christ. You and I bear the priceless treasure of Jesus Christ. Let us not bear it in vain, but in boldness of faith. Let us prepare for the return of Christ in humble repentance, never forgetting that He came in our flesh to die for our sins and still comes to us today, wrapped in water, bread, wine, and His Holy Word.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] Small Catechism, Confession VI.

[2] Romans 7:7; 12.

[3] St. Luke 21:33.

Populus Zion (Advent 2)

 Populus Zion (Advent 2) – December 8, 2024

Psalm 80; Malachi 4:1-6; Romans 15:4-13

St. Luke 21:25-36

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our Lord, Jesus Christ, makes a vow to mankind this morning. He says, “Amen, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”^[1]

The first part of this vow requires an understanding of the word “generation.” I can think of three ways to understand “generation,” and each is closely related to the others, but it is helpful to distinguish them. The first and common understanding of “generation” refers to the group of people born during a certain time. We might think of the Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, Zoomers, or Gen Alpha. The bible uses the term this way whenever there is a list of generations or a genealogy. Applied to the vow of our Lord, this understanding of generation would severely limit His words and possibly invalidate them. It would mean that all the signs of the end times, including the return of Christ, would have been fulfilled by the death of the Apostles.

“Generation” can also refer to a set time period that is much broader than all those who live and die within a few years of each other. In this second case, it would have a sense like an “age,” a long timeframe that has distinct characteristics that set it apart from other generations. Examples would be the age of the Roman Republic, the age of the Roman Empire, the Gothic Era, the Age of Discovery, the Industrial Revolution, or the Digital Age. There are distinct characteristics that set each apart and everyone who lived during those times shared a basic way of life.

When applied to the life of the Church, we can see how this type of generation is appropriate. The Ante-Diluvian generation, that which existed after the Fall but before the Flood, was significantly different from the generation after the Flood. Those who lived in the time of the Judges experienced a very different life from those who lived under the kings – first the united monarchy and then the Divided kingdom. Again, the age of the Apostles was very different from that of Moses, David, the Early Church, the Medieval Age, the Reformation, or today.

The third understanding of a “generation” has less to do with how you define one generation against another but where that generation comes from. We call genealogies “generations” because fathers generate sons. The word relates to the origin of something and overlaps with the previous two definitions. Whether we think of generations by relative birth timing or of sweeping ages, they receive their distinction because of their origin. Baby boomers are so called because their origin is in the baby boom following World War II. Millennials are so called because their origin is just prior to the turning of the millennium, and they will spend their adult lives entirely in the new millennium. The Industrial Revolution began with steam and water powered mechanization. The dawning of a new generation in this sense begins with a significant change in origin.

Theologically, we can see developments across the generations of God’s people. Adam and Eve were created in the Image of God, perfectly understanding and conforming to God’s will.[2] But after the Fall, this relationship changed.[3] Man distanced himself from God and yet the promise of the Seed endured.

At the time of Noah, all the imaginations of the heart of man were evil.[4] All but Noah, his wife, their sons and their wives and entirely cut themselves off from God. For this reason, God destroyed the unbelieving world in the Flood, but saved Noah and his faithful family. So that these would not despair, God placed His rainbow in the clouds.[5] This signified that His promise of the coming Seed of Eve, the Savior, still endured.

Through Moses, God delivered the Holy Law.[6] God was establishing His people as a nation and made sure this new nation was established on His, unchanging Word. His people were to be the keepers of His Holy Word, that the promise of the coming Seed, the Savior, would endure throughout the generations, right down to a lowly virgin, a daughter of David.

By that time, the time of Blessed Mary and John the Baptist, the nation had been taken away into exile and was never reconstituted, at least not how it was before God sent it away into exile. Sure, it was independent for a short time but soon the Greeks, then the Romans, once again conquered the Holy Land. By the time of the birth of Christ, the Church was but a beggar on the earth, looking for her Savior.

Throughout these generations, man’s relationship toward God changed and developed but God’s relationship to man did not change. Even at the height of the Israelite nation, under King David, when the sacrifices were offered daily and faithfully, God desired not the blood of bulls and goats. He desired a pure and contrite heart.[7] The angels in heaven rejoiced over the repentance of one sinner in the days of David just as they do in the days of John, Luther, and today.

And yet, we do live in a generation distinct from Noah, Moses, and David. We belong to the generation of the Church, begun on this side of the Resurrection of Christ, born from the pierced side of the Crucified Christ and baptized when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles at Pentecost.[8] God’s Word has not changed. The promise of the Seed is for you just as it was for Adam and Eve. The only difference is that we know the name of the Seed. We have heard and read of His death for the forgiveness of sins and we look not to His coming in humility, but His coming in glory on the Last Day.

In this sense, we are living in the same generation as the Apostles. Our way of life may look very different from that of the Apostles, but our life of faith is unchanged—or at least should be. This, I believe, is the simplest understanding of the vow of Christ. This generation of the Church, the coming of Christ in Word and Sacrament without the works of the Law, will not pass away until He returns in power and glory.

Our generation is not separated from the generations prior to the birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ but it is distinct. We are not waiting a further development in our relationship toward God. We are not looking for a return to a geographic location, our promised inheritance. The promise of the Seed has been fulfilled and we await its consummation. This is the promise Christ is making: “My word will never pass away. Everything in heaven and earth will change but My word will not. Gunpowder will change the nature of war, but wars will not cease. Kingdoms will become Empires and Empires will become Republics, and Republics will fall but My Word will endure forever.”

Because of this vow of Christ, we shouldn’t be surprised to see wars and rumors of wars. Nor should we be surprised by signs in the heavens—be they shooting stars, narrow misses by comets, or other celestial phenomena. It is for the pagan and the unbelieving world to see these things and be distressed in their hearts. But for the Christian, He says that when you see these things, these signs, “look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”^[9]

Christ gives you these signs that you might look up in joy to see Christ returning.[10] You look with joy for the return of Christ because it is the fulfilling of your hope, the fruition of your faith. It is also the manifestation of your deliverance from sin, death, and the devil. You look with joy for the return of Christ just as the bride looks with great joy upon her beloved leaping upon the mountains and skipping upon the hills.^[11]

At the same time, Christ admonishes you to pray that you would be counted worthy to escape all these terrible signs. That means Jesus recognizes the suffering that comes with the sea and waves roaring, the powers of the heavens being shaken, and the distress of nations. This suffering isn’t reserved only for the unbeliever. “Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.”^[12] It is not a contradiction for God to command excitement and joy in the midst of suffering, especially when talking about the last things and the return of Christ.

Understanding that the generation that will not pass away is the generation, or age, of the Church, Christ gives us a warning. Pay attention to yourself that you won’t be weighed down by frivolous living, sins of the flesh, or the cares of this world. He literally says, “carousing, drunkenness, and the cares of this life,”^[13] but these can easily stand in for three categories—living for pleasure, indulging in sin, and concern for this life.

Living for pleasure does not need to be overtly sinful living. That is covered by drunkenness. Carousing is “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” It is the extreme understanding of living for today with no care for tomorrow; no mind for the consequences. The soccer mom who makes sure her kids are well fed and educated, preparing them for a long career and good retirement is doing nothing more than carousing if she isn’t raising her children in the fear and love of the Lord. Not only is she condemning herself by giving no heed to Christ, but she is also endangering her children by not teaching them to place Christ above all other things. Knowing the catechism is more important than going to college. Receiving the Lord’s Supper is more important than being on a sports team—any sports team.

Drunkenness is the category of indulging in sin. This is the obvious, manifest, and outward sinning from which we not only flee but from which we are able to abstain. Do not cheat your neighbor. Do not look at pornography. Do not waste your life in greed. Do not waste your twenties so you can rebuild in your thirties. These things destroy your soul. They will rot you from the inside out.

The third category – the cares of this life – is uniquely a warning to Christians. It is not to say, “Ignore paying your bills or mowing the lawn.” Rather, do not be weighed down with these things as though they matter in eternity. Are you sick? Will you lose a limb or your eyesight? You should be concerned, and you should carefully consider what types of medical intervention you receive or refuse. But even in such difficult matters, there is no need to be weighed down.

Our current age is incredibly weak compared to our fathers. We get sad and call it depression. We get nervous and call it anxiety. Have trouble focusing? You must have ADHD. You might even be on the spectrum. Sure, there are cases where real medical intervention might be necessary for these things, but there is also a reality that sometimes people get sad. Sometimes people get nervous. But then you get over it. How has the church usually taught her people to deal with these problems? Through prayer and fasting. Through repentance. Through confession and absolution.

Our Lord’s purpose in giving us this warning is so that we would not be weighed down such that we miss the substance of His promise and His return. Christ’s return will come a snare on everyone, that is, it will happen in the blink of an eye. What will you be doing when it happens? Don’t be weighed down, face toward your naval, curved inward in carousing, drunkenness, or the cares of this life. Instead, see in these signs the occasion to lift up your head and look for the coming of Christ, rejoicing that your Redeemer is near.

Our Lord’s vow concludes with a commandment. He tells you to “watch and pray always.”^[14] For what shall you pray? First, that God would have mercy on you by allowing you to escape the worst of the events of the end of time. Second, that when Christ returns, you would be able to stand before Him, that is, that you would be sustained in the faith delivered to you by the Holy Spirit to stand before Christ in the gleaming robe of your Holy Baptism, unstained by sin.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] St. Luke 21:32-33.

[2] Genesis 1:26.

[3] Genesis 3:14-19.

[4] Genesis 6:5.

[5] Genesis 9:12-17.

[6] Exodus 20.

[7] Psalm 51:16-17.

[8] St. John 19:34-35; Acts 2:1-4.

[9] St. Luke 21:28.

[10] Psalm 24:7.

[11] Song of Songs 2:8b

[12] St. Matthew 24:19-20.

[13] St. Luke 21:34.

[14] St. Luke 21:36.

Wednesday Vespers following Populus Zion (Advent 2)

Wednesday Vespers following Populus Zion – December 7, 2022

Psalm 85; Malachi 3:1-5; 4:1-6

St. Matthew 11:11-15

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Book of the Prophet Malachi is somewhat of a mystery. We know it was written after the return from exile and after the restoration of the Temple. It seems that it was written either at the same time as Ezra or within a generation. Worship in the Temple had been restored and enough time had passed for both the people and the priests to grow weary of the temple sacrifices.

It is so easy to become weary with the things of God. Reading the same texts year in and year out becomes boring. The hymns of our fathers aren’t relevant.

Another way to become weary is to shift your focus. Rather than reading the Word of God, it is more exciting to listen to radio preachers, watch the History Channel, or let your pastor do the heavy lifting. “As long as he is preaching, I don’t need to read it.” If you can’t remember singing a hymn from your childhood, then it must not be a traditional hymn. Decorations, presents, and parties are the focus of Advent rather than repentance, the Word of God, and preparing to receive your Lord. The world is having fun so why can’t we?

In Malachi’s day, the people began to bring sick, blind, and lame animals to be offered as sacrifices. Our Lord denounces these actions for two reasons. First, they are disobeying His commandment. His people have been commanded to bring Him the first fruits of their labor, the best of what they have to offer. By bringing diseased animals, the people are mocking the Lord as though He wouldn’t notice or as though they are more worthy of a healthy beast than God.

Second, the people of God are despising His priests. The Levites were given no inheritance, no land on which to raise cattle or wheat. They were sustained by the offerings of the people. By offering sick and blind animals, the people are depriving the Levites of their wages. They are depriving the ministers of God of their rightful sustenance that they might dedicate their lives to God, His Word, and His people.

At the same time, our Lord denounces the priests as well. The priests have failed in their duty to warn the people. Rather than rebuke them for offering profaned sacrifices, the priests were accepting these sickly animals and proclaiming the people righteous for it. The priests failed both to teach the people concerning right sacrifice and to guard the Temple of the Lord from profane things.

It is again, so easy to become weary with the things of God. Why bring God a tenth of what you have when He already has everything? Why offer the sacrifice of prayer when God already knows what you need? Why worry about avoiding sin when God has promised to forgive your sins? When your sins have been washed away in Baptism? When you can come to confession?

Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me.”[1] God will not sit idly by while His people become weary and His preachers become lazy. He sent His messenger in the person of St. John the Baptist, whose duty was to prepare the hearts of men to receive their Lord.[2] How is a heart prepared to receive his Lord? It is prepared by being confronted by sin. St. John did not have a pleasant job. He was not given the task of preaching concerning the vision of a beautiful heaven. He, like Malachi, was called to teach concerning the Law of God. When the people are not following the Law of God, John must show them their sin.

It is never fun to be told you are sinning. No one likes to hear his conscience say, “Don’t do that! God is watching!” let alone to have someone else do it. Cries of “Tyranny!” and “Who do you think you are?!” and “Who made you God?!” immediately burst from our lips.

At the same time, we ought to be thankful for Malachi and John. Men like these, sent by God, are messengers sent before the coming of the King. It is their duty to prepare you so that you will not be caught unawares.

“Who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears?”[3] None can stand according to our sin. None can stand according to our nature. None can stand without having heard the preaching of men like Malachi and John.

When the Lord comes, “He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap.”[4] If you remain in your sins, if you reject the Word of God, if you reject the preaching of Malachi, you are a solid rod of dross. When the refiner’s fire is applied to the rod, it will be entirely burned up.

But to you who fear the Name of the Lord, you are a rod with a core of silver. When the refiner’s fire is applied to you, your sinful dross which still clings to you, will be purged from the rod. Such purgation will leave behind a pure rod, a rod of pure silver. It is this pure rod which can offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness, pleasant to the Lord.[5]

The faith of the people in Malachi’s day was revealed in their profane sacrifices. The faith of the priests was revealed in their sloth. No one needs to claim that we cannot see their hearts because their faith is revealed in the works of their hands. This has not changed. Your faith is seen in the works of your hands.

Now, do not mistake me. Do not lie awake tonight trembling over your works, “Have I done enough? Have I done the right things? How much more do I need to do?” These questions are useless. God is not concerned with the quantity of your works. Malachi is no where writing about such questions. God is concerned with the orientation of your heart. Do you seek to follow the Word of God? Do you fear the Name of the Lord?

“To you who fear [God’s] name, The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves.”[6] To fear the name of the Lord is akin to loving Him. It means you do not want to disappoint Him. It means you understand that you are undeserving of His love. It means you trust that He has forgiven your sins by His mercy and that even still, you are as an ant to a young boy with a magnifying glass in hand. To fear the Name of the Lord is to desire never to disappoint your Heavenly Father and trust that He will always, always hold you tenderly in His hand.

The rising of the Sun of Righteousness points directly to the Incarnation of our Lord. It speaks of His descending into the flesh of man because in this flesh, He brought healing. The Second Person of the Holy Trinity became man so that He could die. By His death, you are healed. You are purged of the sin and filth of former times. You are made righteous, as in the days of old, as in former years, when Adam and Eve were made stewards over the earth but had not submitted to temptation.

Though your eyes cannot see it and experience tells you otherwise, this healing has already taken place. It occurred when Christ breathed His last on Friday and then breathed again on Easter morning. By this healing, “you shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that” Christ conquered death.[7] Though the world roar and foam; though Satan claw at your soul with his wickedly sharp talons; though your own heart would leap from your chest to obtain the objects of its lust; you shall trample such wickedness because Christ is yours. Because your heart has been turned toward your Father and His heart toward you.

Therefore, “remember the Law of Moses, [God’s] servant.”[8] That is, remember the Law of the Lord. Until Christ returns, it will never seem like you are trampling on the wicked. In fact, it will always appear that the wicked triumph and the Church suffers. In this age, it is necessary to remember the moral law, to recite the Ten Commandments and the Table of Duties, so that you would not grow weary. Do not grow weary of righteousness so that you will not be caught unawares. Do not grow weary of hearing the preaching of Malachi and John so that you too would be called to repentance. Repent for the sake of loving your Heavenly Father.

Repent now, for the reality is that the triumph of the wicked is only an illusion. The wicked are nothing more than a wolf backed into a corner. They lash out fiercely because they know they are soon to die. The war is won. The wicked are defeated. Any last efforts are only the final actions of a dead man, because the Sun of Righteousness has arisen and has brought healing to all who hear the Word of the Lord.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] Malachi 3:1.

[2] St. Matthew 11:14.

[3] Malachi 3:2.

[4] Malachi 3:2.

[5] Malachi 3:2-4.

[6] Malachi 4:2.

[7] Malachi 4:3.

[8] Malachi 4:4.