Exaudi (The Sunday after the Ascension)

 Exaudi (Sunday after the Ascension) – June 1, 2025

Psalm 27; Ezekiel 36:23-28; 1 Peter 4:7b-11

St. John 15:26-16:4a

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

Christ our Lord has much to say about the trials, tribulations, and crosses Christians must bear on this side of glory. We can sort these afflictions into two broad categories. First, there are those afflictions that are the result of sin but are common to all mankind. Disease, financial difficulty, depression, anxiety, emotional instability, uncertainty about the future; these are the result of sin but they are the results of sin that all mankind experiences. Although these afflictions are real and serious, one does not need to be a Christian to suffer them. God may use these afflictions to punish sin, chastise His beloved children, and draw Christians closer to Himself, but they remain forms of suffering related to the sinful nature born into man.

The crosses which Christ has called all Christians to bear are of a different category. These are the result of being a Christian. They are the reaction of sin against faith. This is the unjust suffering of the Christian, patterned after the unjust suffering and death of Christ. To this category belongs all forms of persecution, resentment, abuse, and hatred endured by Christians for the sake of the name we bear.

Being still afflicted by the sin of our flesh, we know just how easy it is to avoid these crosses. Deny the name of Christ and you will be relieved. A little compromise here and a little deception there, and maybe your persecutors won’t even realize you are a Christian. Keep your mouth quiet and they will leave you alone. Each betrayal of the name of Christ makes life a little easier on this side of glory, but I can tell you it will make eternal life that much worse because it would have been better for the betrayer of Christ not to have been born.

Our reading from the Prophet Ezekiel is set in the context of the Babylonian captivity. The people of God had betrayed the Lord by allowing for the worship of false gods in their land and worshiping those false gods themselves. They had profaned the name of the Lord. God punished them by delivering them into the hands of the Babylonians and scattering the people among the nations. Our text includes the Lord’s promise to restore His people by taking them out from the nations and returning them to the land of their fathers.

In the verse just prior to our text, the Lord tells the people that He will deliver them not for their sakes, but for the sake of His holy name. That is, He will deliver them not on account of their righteous deeds or their piety before God, but so that His name would be made known among the nations. He would deliver them so that the nations would know that He is the true God who upholds His word and saves His people.

This promise still holds true for you today. In Adam’s fall, we were all cast out of the land of our promised inheritance, the land of our fathers. We dwell in a foreign land because of our sin and our willingness to profane the name of God, the name of Christ. Yet while we were still in our sin, the Father sent His Son to die for us, to redeem His name among the nations.

And what did God promise, through Ezekiel, to do when He had gathered His people from the foreign nations? Sprinkle them with clean water. It is no accident that in Holy Baptism, the name of God is placed upon you. We do not just invoke the name of the Triune God in Holy Baptism but in fact place that name upon your head. You are sealed with the very name of God in the waters of Holy Baptism. What did God say He was doing when He delivered the people from Babylon? He was sanctifying His great name. Who bears the name of God? The Baptized! Having been delivered from the nations, you now stand with citizenship in the land of your promised inheritance, the land owned by your Father who stands to give it to you. Washed clean from your filthiness and all your idols, a new heart and a new spirit has been placed within you.

And so, as Christ says, ‘You also will bear witness.’ You will bear witness to the name of Christ and the world will hate you for it. The world is at enmity with God and you, baptized children of God, bear the name of Christ.

Now the task of bearing witness to Christ is too much to bear for man alone. Your justification and your sanctification are not for your sakes but for the sake of God’s holy name. That is, neither justification nor sanctification is on account of your merits or piety. They require the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom Christ has promised to pour out on His people. This too, happens in your Holy Baptism. You are not baptized into the name of the Father and the Son only to receive the Holy Spirit 14 years later at your Confirmation. The name of the Triune God is placed upon you in the waters of Holy Baptism that from your very first breath out of the waters, you begin to bear witness of Christ.

And this is a lifelong task. It is the life to which you have received new birth. It is not a burden to bear. In most of our hearts, we imagine ourselves to be sinners striving to become holy through our manner of living. Even as Lutherans, for whom salvation by grace through faith is so important, we tend to think of our life of sanctification as something we are trying to attain. This is utterly backwards. As the baptized, you ought to imagine yourself as a holy saint who is striving to ward off sin. You don’t need new skills, new habits, better time management to achieve a life of holiness. You don’t need better people skills to convert the masses. You already have the Holy Spirit. God is already on your side. Because Christ is yours and you are His, you have everything you could possibly need.

What is left is to ward off the wickedness. How? By being a witness of Christ in thought, word, and deed. Be serious and watchful in your prayers, not as another thing you must do but as making use of what is already yours. Have fervent love for one another not because “it’s the right thing to do” but because you have the love of the Father, more than enough to share with the entire world. You have received the gift of the Holy Spirit, make use of it to minister to those around you, being a good steward of the gifts you’ve been given.

And then, when those within the Church on earth put you out of the church or murder you thinking they are offering service to God, you will not be made to stumble. You can bear your cross because it has already been borne for you. As you are conformed to Christ, the name of Christ you bear will shine ever more brightly. It is not for your sakes, but for the sake of God’s Holy Name.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity

The Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity – October 2, 2022

Psalm 86; 1 Kings 17:17-24; Ephesians 3:13-21

St. Luke 7:11-17

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

When comparing prayers written 500 or more years ago to those written in recent decades, you’ll notice many differences. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Language develops over time. And even if the general temptations and afflictions experienced are common to all men at all times, the specifics certainly change.

There is, however, one area in which we should pay more attention to the prayers of our distant forefathers than even our grandparents. I speak of prayers concerning suffering and death. Hear the words of our hymn of the day, The Will of God is Always Best, written in the 16^th century:

Lord, this I ask, O hear my plea, Deny me not this favor;

      When Satan sorely troubles me,

            Then do not let me waver.

      O guard me well, My fear dispel, Fulfill Your faithful saying:

            “All who believe By grace receive An answer to their praying.” [1]

Notice that in this hymn, we did not pray that God would remove the suffering or temptation. Whenever Satan troubles us—and in whatever way he might do so—we prayed that God would not let us waver from the faith He has given us. It is a prayer against losing faith in the face of suffering and temptation.

Then, we prayed that God would guard us and remove our fear. Finally, we prayed that God would fulfill the promise He has given us. He has said that the prayers of all who believe will be answered and, in this hymn, we are holding God to His promise.[2]

Our prayer continues in the fourth stanza:

When life’s brief course on earth is run And I this world am leaving,

      Grant me to say, “Your will be done,” Your faithful Word believing.

My dearest Friend, I now commend My soul into Your keeping;

      From sin and hell, And death as well, By You the vict’ry reaping.[3]

The topic of our prayer has shifted from suffering and temptation to death. Notice that our prayer is not for one more day, a miracle, or even for a peaceful end. By praying “grant me to say, ‘Your will be done,’ we are asking that God would again keep us steadfast in the faith once delivered in the face of death. We are begging God to give us the faith necessary to face the dreadful end of our life on this side of glory.

Our prayer ended by commending our souls to God’s care. It is only by His death and resurrection that the victory over sin and hell, and death as well, is given to us. We can ask God as our dearest Friend because He has come to us and brought us into His home through faith. He alone has the power to conquer death and He has called you His own. Why trust the greatest cancer doctor Mayo has to offer when he is powerless against death? Instead, see that God has given great gifts of healing to doctors but it is the Almighty alone that determines the days of your life. He alone will welcome you into the glory of heaven when the number of your days has come to an end. He alone has won the victory over Satan and the grave.

Hear now, a modern prayer, written on behalf of those experiencing serious illness:

O Lord, You are the great Physician of soul and body; You chasten and You heal. Show mercy to Your servant. Spare his life and restore his strength. Even as You gave Your Son to bear our infirmities and sicknesses, deal compassionately with him, and bless him with Your healing power. We commit him to Your gracious mercy and protection; through Jesus Christ, our Lord…[4]

In this prayer, we are asking for God’s mercy, to spare the life of the afflicted, to restore his strength, that God would deal compassionately with the afflicted, and that God would bless him with God’s healing power. Finally, we commend the afflicted to God’s gracious mercy and protection.

There is nothing heretical or false about this prayer. It is published in the Pastoral Care Companion, the small booklet designed for pastors to use on visits for the purpose of individual pastoral care. There does, however, seem to be something missing.

The modern prayer makes no mention of receiving the affliction in faith. It seems to assume that the affliction is contrary to God’s will for the Christian. Strictly speaking, prayers are not written for the purpose of teaching. They are written for the purpose of asking God for something. But our faith is shaped by the words of our mouth and the actions of our body just as much as our words and actions are shaped by our faith.

The temptation in omitting prayers to receive suffering in faith is to believe the goal of this life is to avoid suffering. The sin in this temptation is elevating the avoidance of pain, suffering, and even death, to the highest good. None is good but God alone.[5] The highest good is God, and Him taking on your flesh and dying in your place so that you might receive His life. Modern Western medicine has made this a daily temptation so that we seek constant and permanent relief from every pain. There is always a prescription, doctor, specialist, or surgery for what ails you. And if there isn’t, if you are deemed to be terminal, then there is medication to render you unconscious and unfeeling until the medicine itself finally stops your heart and lungs.

When the goal of life is to avoid suffering, it leaves no room for repentance. If pain, suffering, and death are only medical conditions, they are not the result of sin. If they are not the result of sin, then we have no need for God to remove them. Suddenly, God is only necessary when we choose to do something we think is evil. We must repent of this idolatry. All pain, all suffering, all illnesses, and death are the result of sin. God allows the suffering of His dear children so that we would never forget the severity of our sin. He allows these things so that we would repent of our sins and cling ever more tightly to Christ our Savior.

When our prayers are only focused on God ending our suffering or making it more palatable, we forget that God is a loving Father who chastens those whom He loves. We forget that the just outcome of our lives is misery and eternal death. We forget that it is only by grace that God delivers us from every evil of body and soul, property and honor, and finally, when our last hour has come, grant us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this vale of tears to Himself in heaven.[6]

It is not sinful to ask God to remove suffering, temptation, or grief. St. Paul does this three times concerning a particular messenger of Satan sent to torment him.[7] The Lord refuses to remove this temptation, saying, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” These words cause St. Paul to gladly boast in his infirmities for he knows that God is sending them so that he would be turned away from his own sin. He rejoices in suffering and temptation because it means that he is saved not by his own flesh but by the death of Christ. When Paul is weak, Christ is strong.

Thus we have the words of today’s hymn. We are reminded to pray that God would uphold us in the faith to which He has called us. When you are suffering sickness, pain, despair, or shame, turn to God and pray that He would not let you fall; that your flesh would not succumb to this temptation such that you would lose your soul to eternal death; and if it should be the will of God to remove you from this vale of tears, thanks be to God that He has ended your suffering and brought you home to Him in heaven.

When our Lord arrives in Nain, He interrupts a funeral procession. The mother of the boy is weeping loudly. This could be an indication of the Near Eastern practice of funeral mourning or simply an expression of her grief, but it is certainly weeping and wailing as though there is no hope. Christ bids her stop her weeping. This is not a commandment against grief, it is a commandment against wailing as though death were the greatest enemy, the greatest affliction of man.

Jesus has compassion on this grieving mother.[8] He sees her pain and it moves Him to express His love for her. Stopping the pallbearers, Jesus touches the coffin. He touches the instrument of burial, the mode of transportation carrying this young man from life to death, and He says, “Young man, I say to you, arise.”[9] Immediately, the boy sat up and began to speak.

Jesus was indicating to the crowd that this instrument of burial has no power in the presence of Christ. Jesus is foreshadowing His own death, by which the grave no longer has dominion over man. Jesus will take the place of this young man and conquer death on his behalf. Christ will rise again, just as this young man rose, but the resurrection of Christ endures forever. By His death, the victory has been won on your behalf. By His resurrection, eternity has been given to you.

The coffin is no longer the final resting place of this young man nor anyone who dies in Christ. The tomb is now a cemetery, a word that literally means “sleeping place.”[10] The young man hears the word of the Lord and immediately sits up and speaks the praises of God. Scripture is silent as to what the young man said, but I believe he immediately began singing the Sanctus, the Gloria in Excelsis, or another of the songs sung in heaven. He immediately went from praising God in heaven to praising God in the flesh.

So, when you suffer, pray that God would remove the affliction. Pray that God would hear your prayer and answer it just as He has promised. But do not forget to pray for the most important thing—that God would sustain you through this affliction in the one true faith; that God would grant you the strength to persevere through the affliction, as long as it is His will that you would be afflicted; that God would continue to show mercy to you by bringing to your remembrance that this world is fleeting in the eyes of eternity.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] Albrecht von Preussen, The Will of God is Always Best, stanza 3, as found in Lutheran Service Book (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2006), 758.

[2] St. John 14:12-14.

[3] Preussen, The Will of God is Always Best, stanza 4.

[4] The Commission on Worship of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, “Prayer 254 alt.,” Pastoral Prayer Companion (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2007), 199.

[5] St. Matthew 19:17.

[6] Martin Luther, “The Lord’s Prayer: The Seventh Petition,” The Small Catechism.

[7] 2 Corinthians 12:7-10.

[8] St. Luke 7:13.

[9] St. Luke 7:14.

[10] “Κοιμητήριον [koi-mā-TĀ-rion] – bedroom, place of rest.” A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, 3^rd edition, revised and edited by Frederick William Danker [Commonly known as BDAG] (Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2000), 551.