​Easter – 2024                                                                                                 LSB #’s 457, 464, 463
Text – Psalm 41:12-13
 
BECAUSE OF MY INTEGRITY
 
 
Christ is risen!  (He is risen indeed!)  Alleluia!  Grace, mercy, & peace to you from God our Father & our risen Lord Jesus Christ!  Amen.  
David prayed to the Lord of hosts in Psalm 41, “You have upheld me because of my integrity, & set me in Your presence forever.  Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!  Amen & Amen.” 
Lack of integrity – there’s a pandemic of that going on in our nation today.  Integrity means ‘whole & undivided.’   Integrity indicates original, unblemished condition.  Integrity can be used to indicate beautiful qualities such as honesty, faithfulness, purity, reliability, uprightness, honor, incorruptibility, forthrightness, & other noble virtues. 
David wrote, “Because of my integrity,” not because he wanted to sing & pray all the psalms by himself.  David wrote Psalm 41 because he wanted you to sing & pray together with him.  He wanted you to say to God in sincerity & truth, “You have upheld me [O Lord] because of my integrity.”     Can you bring yourself to think that, let alone speak it out loud? 
God, the Holy Spirit, inspired David to write those words into the Holy Scriptures.  David’s words are there because your Lord & Savior wants you also to pray, with all honesty, “You have upheld me [O Lord] because of my integrity.”  Can you honestly join with David in saying to God, “You have upheld me [O Lord] because of my integrity”?   The answer is Yes!  
Yes, because you are the baptized child of God & because Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!   It is the resurrection of our Lord that has guaranteed your answer to be Yes, even though you might feel tempted to think  that your answer should be no.  Followers of Jesus want to have integrity, but nobody actually has it – at least, not in the original, main sense of the word.  Our loss of integrity was originally Adam & Eve’s fault, & once we were conceived it became our fault.  Integrity means ‘whole & undivided.’  Integrity indicates an unblemished, original condition.  Integrity can indicate beautiful qualities as such honesty, faithfulness & purity.  Those who follow Jesus long to be described with such wonderful words. 
The miracle of Christianity is that in Christ, you can be.  Those words are how Christ describes you to the heavenly Father at your Baptism.  Those words are your eternal characteristics as a child of God.  That’s why we celebrate the fact that Christ is risen from the dead.   He is risen so that the word integrity can be used in a description of you. 
Do you hesitate to pray to the Lord, “You have upheld me because of my integrity”?  Perhaps you don’t think all the qualities of integrity rightly describe you; certainly not all of the time.  Perhaps you see a different set of qualities at work inside yourself:
Not whole & undivided, but sometimes doubleminded (James 1:8), & at other times doubtful.  (Matthew 14:31)   Not in original, unblemished condition, but chipped or broken, stained with sin, hampered by the memory of wrongdoing, & scarred with regret.   Not always true & faithful, but unreliable & dishonorable, even corrupted. 
Those realizations make it feel brazen or dishonest of us to pray David’s words, “You have upheld me because of my integrity.”  
We’d like to have integrity.  In most cases, any of us would gladly describe ourselves as having integrity, but we probably would not want to speak so boldly in the presence of God.  He knows our hearts.  (Luke 16:15)    He knows where the integrity falls apart.  
Perhaps it is wisest & best to mumble Psalm 41 when it states, “You have upheld me because of my integrity,” or to pray those words with the thought    that they probably refer to someone else   but not so much to you or to me.      We are wrong to think that.    David wrote Psalm 41 because he wanted us   to sing & pray together with him.  David’s words are in the Scriptures because the Lord our God wants us   to pray those words together with David.  “You have upheld me because of my integrity.”  
Through the season of Lent, all our midweek worship has focused upon Psalm 41 & the sermons have emphasized two vitally essential points for God’s children:
In one way or another, all of God’s Psalms – including 41 – speak about our Lord & His work of salvation on our behalf.  (Luke 24:44)   That’s why God included them in His Scriptures; they “bear witness about Me,” said Jesus.  (John 5:39) 
And because the Psalms are about Jesus, they are also about you.  After all, you are the baptized of Christ.  When you were baptized, you miraculously entered into Christ’s holy body (Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians 1:30), just as surely as He entered yours.  (John 14:20; Galatians 2:20)   And Christ is risen!  (He is risen, indeed!)  Alleluia!  
You & the risen Messiah are now joined together as one flesh.  (1 Corinthians 6:17; Ephesians 5:32)   “What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate!”  (Matthew 19:6)   What does that union with Christ indicate?  It says that, when Jesus of Nazareth died upon His cross, you & I, & all the baptized of Christ died there with Him.  
Baptism is why Paul could say, & why each of us can say with Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ.”  (Galatians 2:20)   In addition,   Baptism also indicates that, when Jesus rose from the dead, God the Father also “raised us up with Him & seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”  (Ephesians 2:6)               At your Baptism:
The Lord’s perfection became yours.   Your sins became His.  (1 Peter 2:24) 
Christ’s strength became yours.   Your weakness   became His.  (2 Corinthians 12:8–9) 
His life became yours.   Your death became His.  (Romans 6:4) 
The perfect & unblemished integrity of Jesus became yours.   Any lack of integrity in you became His.   You are now “partakers of the divine nature,” said Peter.  (2 Peter 1:4)  
Because of your baptismal participation in the divine nature of Christ, every Scripture passage that speaks about Jesus now speaks also about you.   In all human history, only Christ Jesus, our Lord, could pray to His Father on the basis of His own merit, “You have upheld Me because of My integrity.”  
But Jesus has joined Himself to you.  In that miraculous joining, whatever the Scriptures say about Jesus can now also be said, in faithfulness & honesty, about you: “You have upheld me because of my integrity.” 
Integrity means “whole & undivided.”  It means “original, unblemished condition.”   Integrity indicates qualities such as honesty, faithfulness, purity, reliability, uprightness, honor, incorruptibility & forthrightness.    Those qualities all describe Jesus, the Crucified One.  (1 Corinthians 1:23)   Because of our Lord’s personal integrity:
“God raised Him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it.”  (Acts 2:24)    As you heard in the Gospel reading:
“When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, & Salome bought spices, so that they might go & anoint Him.  And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.  And they were saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?’  And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back – it was very large.  And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, & they were alarmed.”  And he said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed.  You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.  He has risen; He is not here.  See the place where they laid Him.’”  (Mark 16:1–6) 
 
By the power of His death, & in the victory of His resurrection, Jesus has given all of His integrity to you so that His perfect integrity may be yours forever!   His personal integrity was delivered to you in the water of Baptism, which joined you to both His death & His resurrection.  (Romans 6:3–5)    Our Lord’s personal integrity has miraculously entered into your heart & mind through the proclamation of the Gospel.   Our Lord’s integrity likewise enters your mouth & fills your body when you participate in the blessed Sacrament of the Altar.   With confidence, we can proclaim that Christ lives – & we live with Him – as we hear in Romans 6:9, “Death no longer has dominion over Him.” 
Christ’s personal integrity, given personally to you, is the power by which you now can pray to the Lord, with all godliness & honesty, “You have upheld me because of my integrity.”  That same integrity, poured out by Jesus, is the only reason why I can pray along with you. 
King David did not rely upon his own integrity when he prayed.  King David relied upon the integrity of his Messiah, who was both David’s Son   & David’s Lord.   You & I do not need to rely upon our own integrity any more than David did.   David’s Son was born also to us.  (Luke 2:11)   David’s Lord died also for us.   
David’s prayer is therefore our prayer, & David’s rejoicing in eternity is likewise our rejoicing, both now & forever: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!  Amen & Amen.”    Why?  Because Christ is risen!  (He is risen indeed!)  Alleluia!  Amen. 
 
 
The powers of death have done their worst, But Christ their legions hath dispersed.  Let shouts of joy outburst.  Alleluia!       He broke the age-bound chains of hell; the bars from heaven’s high portals fell.  Let hymns of praise His triumph tell.  Alleluia!      Lord, by the stripes which wounded Thee, from death’s dread sting Thy servants free that we may live & sing to Thee.  Alleluia.  Amen.  LSB 464:2, 4-5. 

​Good Friday – 2024                                                                        LSB #’s 439:1, 12-15; 447, 425
Text – Psalm 41:10
 
But you, O Lord, be gracious to me, & raise me up, that I may repay them!
 
BE GRACIOUS TO ME
 
For the midweek sermons in Lent, we’ve focused on Psalm 41, written by David, as it concerns himself & Christ.  Although written many years before the birth of our Lord, Psalm 41 speaks history about Jesus.   
During His ministry, Jesus “went about doing good & healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”  (Acts 10:38)   That fulfilled David’s words in Psalm 41: “Blessed is the one who considers the poor” (v. 1) & “he is called blessed in the land.”  (v. 2) 
Jesus was welcomed & loved by the Galilean crowds but not by the Jerusalem leaders.  Many prominent men opposed Him, hated Him, conspired against Him.  This took place according to what David had prophesied in Psalm 41: “My enemies say of me in malice, ‘When will he die, & his name perish?’”  (v. 5) “They imagine the worst for me.”  (v. 7) 
Psalm 41 saw the future of the Lord’s betrayer, Judas Iscariot.  It said in our Lord’s voice, & Jesus even quoted the psalm on the night He was betrayed: “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.”  (v. 9; cf. John 13:18) 
Tonight brings us to the death of our Lord & to the prophetic words from Psalm 41: “But You, O Lord, be gracious to me, & raise me up, that I may repay them!”   When the Scriptures speak about “lifting up,” or “raising up,” as they do in this psalm,  the first thing that comes to mind is God’s miraculous power of resurrection, by which He makes the dead to be alive again.  
Thus it is written in Psalm 40, “He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, & set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.”  (Psalm 40:2)   To this Paul added, “[God] raised us up with Him & seated us with Him in the heavenly places.”  (Ephesians 2:6)   Yet, there are times when the Scriptures speak about “raising up,” that are not talking about life, but about death.   In particular, “raising up” can be a reference to our Lord’s place on His cross.  Throughout John’s Gospel, Jesus repeatedly used “lifting up” & “raising up” in reference to His death by crucifixion. 
Jesus said in the 3rd chapter of John, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.”  (v. 14)    Those words speak not about our Lord’s resurrection but about His death on the cross.  
In the same way that the bronze serpent was raised up on a pole for the healing of the rebellious people of Israel, so Jesus was suspended above the earth “for the healing of the nations.”  (Revelation 22:2)   Jesus said a similar thing in the 8th chapter of John: “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He.”  (v. 28) 
There again, the “lifting up” or “raising up” of which our Lord spoke was a reference to His crucifixion.  This lifting was in keeping with the words of the prophet Isaiah: “…He shall be high & lifted up...  His appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, & His form beyond that of the children of mankind – so shall He sprinkle many nations...”  (Isaiah 52:13–15) 
What happened when the Lord Jesus was lifted up from the earth & suspended upon His cross?  Jesus explained in John chapter 12: “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself,” (v. 32) speaking about His death for the sins of the world. 
“But You, O Lord, be gracious to Me, & raise Me up.”   In Psalm 41, as in those other passages, the reference to “raising up” is not so much a reference to our Lord’s resurrection as it is to His death on the cross.  “Raise me up, that I may repay them.”  For what purpose was our Lord lifted up, according to this psalm?  “That I may repay them!”    Repay whom?  
Here’s an amazing thing: Jesus wanted to be raised up on His cross in order to repay
those who plotted evil against Him; to repay those who spoke evil concerning Him; to repay those who imagined the worst for Him & said “in malice, ‘When will He die, & His name perish?’”  (v. 5)   This is a strange way of speaking!  The Son of God worked His vengeance against His enemies in a manner totally unlike the ways we prefer to work our vengeance.  
The kings of the world work their vengeance by sending armies against those who plot against them.  King Saul required from David a terrible & weighty bride price, requiring that it be cut from the Philistines, “that he may be avenged of the king’s enemies.”  (1 Samuel 18:25)  
When Jesus told His parable of the tenants, even His enemies knew that the master of the house would be within his rights to “put those wretches to a miserable death & let out the vineyard to other tenants.”  (Matthew 21:41) 
Like the kings of the earth, you & I equally use revenge against those who’ve wronged us.  Even little children understand the idea of payback; adults are usually able to work their revenge more subtly, & more disastrously.  That’s why we’ve heard these sayings “Revenge is a dish best served cold” & “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” 
Not so with the Lord our God!   Where we prefer to work vengeance in acts   against others, the Lord of hosts preferred to execute judgment against His Son.   God was so adamant about cleansing the sin of the entire world, so preoccupied with our salvation, that even the vengeance He sought against His enemies was self-inflicted:
“But You, O Lord, ...raise Me up that I may repay them!”  In answer to that prayer, God the Father lifted up His Son to death, “even death on a cross.”  (Philippians 2:8)   The death of Jesus was divine vengeance over every enemy – including death itself.  
The death of Jesus was not the triumph of His enemies over Him.  When the soldiers at Golgotha saw the earthquake & what took place, “they were filled with awe & said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’”  (Matthew 27:54)   This happened in keeping with David’s prophecy in Psalm 41, written in the voice of Jesus, “By this I know that You delight in me: my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.”  (V. 11) 
Even though the enemies of God enjoyed the sight of His death, their enjoyment was momentary, so eclipsed & devastated that momentary victory was   by the power of Christ’s resurrection.  We must therefore be exceedingly careful & mindfully faithful when we think of our enemies.  
Jesus died.  All vengeance was worked by God upon the cross.  That’s why our heavenly Father now graciously forbids us to seek vengeance.  Our acts of revenge are nothing less than a denial of Christ & His death!  Through Baptism, you were joined to the death of Christ, as Paul stated: “I have been crucified with Christ.”  (Galatians 2:20)  
In addition, Paul wrote, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?”  (Romans 6:3)   Thus, because Psalm 41 speaks about Jesus, it speaks likewise about you.  Therefore, these words are also your words: “But You, O Lord, be gracious to me, & raise me up, that I may repay them!” 
What do those words mean when you & I pray them?  We, along with Jesus, already have been raised up on the cross.  Like Jesus, we have our losses & injustices avenged in His blood.  In the death of Christ, all vengeance has been worked by God.  If we seek revenge upon our enemies, our desire for revenge becomes a denial of the cross; a rejection of the atonement. 
God has said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.”  (Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:19)   Our Lord Jesus taught us, “Do not resist the one who is evil.  But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”  (Matthew 5:39)   The apostle Paul added, “The Lord is an avenger in all these things.”  (1 Thessalonians 4:6)   Will the Lord our God work vengeance for us on the Last Day, when Christ our Lord returns to judge the living & the dead?   Yes, & Amen!  That is why there are Christian martyrs who, even now, plead with God for His victorious return, that He might avenge their blood.  (Revelation 6:9–10) 
We do not need to think of our Lord’s vengeance on the Last Day as something separate from His cross.  The Last Day, rather, is the culmination & the full flowering of that which was completely worked out for us on the cross.  The blood of God’s saints shall one day be avenged (Revelation 6:10) because Jesus was raised up on the cross to work God’s vengeance.  
The death of God’s saints is precious in His sight (Psalm 116:15) because Jesus of Nazareth “bowed His head & gave up His spirit.”  (John 19:30)   Every injustice you have suffered – along with every injustice you have ever committed – finds its fulfillment & satisfaction in these words: “O Lord, be gracious to me, & raise me up, that I may repay them!”  Amen. 
 
 
Jesus, in Your dying woes, even while Your lifeblood flows, craving pardon for Your foes: Hear us, holy Jesus.   Savior, for our pardon sue when our sins Your pangs renew, for we know not what we do:  Hear us, holy Jesus.    When we seem in vain to pray & our hope seems far away, in the darkness be our stay: Hear us, holy Jesus.    When the death shades round us lower, guard us from the tempter’s power, keep us in that trial hour:  Hear us, holy Jesus.  Amen.  LSB 447:1-2, 11, 20. 

​Maundy Thursday – 2024                                                                              LSB #’s 625, 445, 889
Text – Psalm 41:9
 
 MY CLOSE FRIEND
 
 
David prayed in Psalm 41, “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.”  The Wednesday sermons for Lent have emphasized two things: 1) that the Psalms speak about Jesus (John 5:39)   & 2) that because the Psalms speak about Jesus, they also speak about you.  
In Baptism, you were “joined to the Lord” (1 Corinthians 6:17) & are now “become one” as the Scriptures say.  (Ephesians 5:31–32)    As a result, we can think of Psalm 41 as a biographical sketch about you.    It tells both your story & mine as surely as it tells the history of our Lord.  But Psalm 41 was written by King David, which means the psalm also reflects his life. 
“Even my close friend,” said David, “in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.”   King David might have been talking about Absalom (cf. Psalm 3:1), his most handsome & charming son.   Absalom ate bread at his father’s table.   He enjoyed his father’s generous & reconciling love, & received every comfort of his father’s house.  
Absalom also harbored a temper & held a grudge that led him to murder his own brother.  Absalom conspired against his father & tried to occupy the throne of Israel for himself.   In the figure of speech used in Psalm 41, Absalom “lifted his heel against” David, & his father was knocked hard by the blow. 
Of the various muscles in the human body, hardly any physical blow can exert more impact than a heel.  A closed fist can do damage, especially when thrown by a strong man with an experienced arm & calloused knuckles.  A swung elbow can drop an opponent larger than you, but only if it hits the right target.  
By comparison, it is very difficult for anyone to receive the uncoiled blow of a raised heel
& still remain on his feet.  Even a petite woman’s heel can “kick like a mule,” as the saying goes.  The heel explodes out like a cannonball, involving nearly every muscle in the leg.   Absalom “lifted his heel” against David.  Absalom laid low the one who had lifted him up & given him every good thing. 
Judas Iscariot did the same to Christ Jesus, our Lord.   As written, “One of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests & said, ‘What will you give me if I deliver [the Christ] over to you?’   And they paid him thirty pieces of silver.  And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray Him.”  (Matthew 26:14–16) 
Judas did that terrible thing because he held malice toward Jesus – inexplicable malice toward Jesus, who had given Judas every good thing.   When traveling together with the disciples, Jesus even entrusted to Judas all the finances of the group.  (John 13:29)  
When Jesus sent out His disciples & gave them His divine power to “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons” (Matthew 10:8), the gracious, ordaining hand of our Lord was gently laid also upon Iscariot’s head.  On the night Jesus was betrayed, as you heard in the Gospel, Jesus knelt before Judas & humbly washed his feet with the rest of the disciples.  
Our Lord knew beforehand – He knew from the Scriptures of the OT (Zechariah 11:13; Psalm 69:25; 109:8; cf. Acts 1:20) – who would betray Him.   Jesus faithfully loved His betrayer, nonetheless.  Judas fulfilled in the life of Christ what King David had earlier experienced & written of in Psalm 41:
“Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.”   Likewise, in Psalm 35, David wrote words concerning himself & Jesus: “I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother.”  (35:14)    In Psalm 55 David wrote about himself & Jesus, “It is not an enemy who taunts me – then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me – then I could hide from him.  But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend.  We used to take sweet counsel together; within God’s house we walked in the throng [of worshipers]… My companion stretched out his hand against his friends; he violated his covenant.”  (55:12–14, 20)  
The words, “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me,” (Psalm 41:9) are about Jesus, the true & messianic Son of David, whom God had promised.  Because those words are about Jesus, they are also about you; you are the baptized of Christ & “one body” (Romans 12:4–5) with Him. 
Among the many emotions that betrayal evokes, perhaps the strongest   is loneliness.  Betrayal can make you feel abandoned & alone.  Betrayal can focus your thoughts upon only that one, lost friend, rather than all of the other friends who remain faithful.  
David wrote Psalm 41 about himself, & about Christ, so we could draw comfort from the ancient fact that you & I are not alone.   We are in good company when betrayed by those whom we have made our equal, our companion, our familiar friend.  (Psalm 55:12–13) 
“Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.”  Many people can read those lonely words as a biographical sketch.   Life in this dreary world assures us that we shall each eventually get to a point where we can see ourselves in this story.  I know how my betrayers have made me desolate.    By whom have you been betrayed? 
Think of the muscles in the human body.  Our betrayers have the power to kick like a mule, bowl us over, lay us low.  Both our Lord Jesus & our forefather David can help us with that threat:
Absalom dealt his father a harsh blow that laid him low, but David survived; rose to his feet by the power of God, & sat down again on the throne that had been given & promised to him by his Maker & Redeemer.  Judas Iscariot likewise dealt our Lord Jesus a mighty blow, laying Him low in the depths of the grave.  Jesus rose from the dead & God “crowned Him with glory & honor because of the suffering of death” (Hebrews 2:9), & “because He loved not His life, even unto death.”  (cf. Revelation 12:11)  
Thus, Jesus could say to His Father in heaven, in the words of His father David in Psalm 41, “By this I know that You delight in me: my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.  But You have upheld me because of my integrity, & set me in Your presence forever.  Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!  Amen & Amen.”  (41:11–13) 
Those words are also your words.  David said those words; Jesus said those words; you have been given God’s Spirit that you might also say those words!  “I know that You delight in me: my enemy will not shout in triumph over me!” 
We shall not pretend: Those who betrayed us have certainly hurt us, having raised their heel against us.  We shall not pretend: the pain & the shame & the loneliness can be harsh, but those things shall remain only for a little while.  The Lord your God shall vindicate you & raise you up, setting you above your “enemies all around.”  (Psalm 27:6)  
The resurrection of Jesus will inevitably make it so.  To this, we can say with David, in the final words of Psalm 41, “Amen & Amen!”  (v. 13)   By the power of the Holy Spirit & with confidence in the resurrection of our Lord, we add our “Amen” with certainty & without fear.  We say it once because we mean it; we say it twice to intensify & emphasize our hope.  Amen. 
 
 
When you woke that Thursday morning, Savior, teacher, faithful friend,  thoughts of self & safety scorning,  knowing how the day would end;  Lamb of God,  foretold for ages,  now at last the hour had come  when but One could pay the sin’s wages;  You assumed their dreadful sum.    One day all the Church will capture  that bright vision glorious,  & Your saints will know the rapture  that Your heart desired  for us,  when the longed for peace & union of the greatest & the least  meet in joyous, blest communion in Your never ending feast.  Amen.  LSB 445:1, 5. 

​Palm Sunday – B                                                                                           LSB #’s 828, 835, 830
Text – John 12:17
 
The crowd that had been with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb & raised him from the dead continued to bear witness.
 
CONTINUING TO BEAR WITNESS
 
 
Do you consider yourself an average American adult?      A study done in 2018 found that fewer than one in ten Americans talk about God,  faith,  religion  or spirituality   once a week.   The actual number was 8% who think about eternal things  at most – one day in seven.   The average adult says they have only one  spiritual conversation  per year.[1] 
   In the same study, data suggested that  while non-Christians are open to having spiritual conversations, their overwhelming answer was, “No!” when asked if they’d like to talk to a pastor  or some other church professional.   And yet, more than half of those respondents said they would speak  to a friend.[2] 
In every person’s life,  under the surface,  there are unresolved tensions,  unanswered questions,  unfulfilled longings,  unspeakable sins,   unrelenting fears.   To speak about them threatens us with a strong sense of vulnerability.     Whatever a person’s perspective on spiritual issues,  it always involves risk  & for that reason  spiritual conversations require trust. 
Whether we like it or not,  our culture has lost trust in religious institutions & those, like pastors, who represent the church.   But  people still do  trust their friends.   A friend  values you as you are   & is willing to meet you  where you are.    Jesus met Lazarus where he was – dead in the tomb.   Lazarus did not pray for help,  yet Jesus called him back to life anyway. 
That  is essentially our task as God’s children – to call others  back to life.  Granted,  we
don’t have the power to call them back to life  from physical death.  You & I  are tasked with calling people back to life  from spiritual death.   We do that by declaring the Good News that Christ has set us free  from our sinful condition.    Jesus has made up for our failures.   Our heavenly Father reconciled all people to Himself  with the sacrifice of His only Son. 
Will you allow God to meet you  where you are?   Will you allow Him to lead you  on the path to paradise?   The gate is narrow.    The way is hard,  but it does lead to living   joyfully & forever.  Very few people will reject the goal of living joyfully & forever.  The arguments arise  over how to get there,  &  what to do in the meantime. 
The struggle  of calling others to life,  is that people are looking for a broad & easy road  right here & now.   Compared to many people around the world,  & throughout history,  we have had an easy life.  We’d like to keep it that way.  Satan has other plans,  & that is the problem.  Adam & Even had an easy life in the Garden of Eden.  Satan had other plans then   as well. 
Many people were cheering at Palm Sunday but all of them,  other than Jesus,  had a different view of what exactly  was going on.   Jesus was entering Jerusalem to be sacrificed as their Savior.  The people thought He was entering the city as their king. 
He will be coming back as King  one day  to usher in the heavenly broad & easy road.  Until then,  it’s the narrow gate  & the way is hard,  but not because God wants it that way.  The problem is not with Him.  It’s with us.  Even though many people are willing to say they believe in Jesus,  the truth is,  they believe in Him  like they believe in the Easter bunny. 
How many of you believe in the Easter bunny?    Certainly no self-respecting adult in a Lutheran church service would admit that,  but every year,  91 million chocolate Easter bunnies are sold.  The Easter bunny is definitely real.  It just depends on how you define it.  Research has even been done showing that 59% of all chocolate Easter bunnies  are eaten  ears first!  Millions of people do believe in the Easter bunny.  It’s just  not a real live rabbit that lays eggs.  People believe in the Easter bunny as something you eat & then it’s done.  They don’t trust the Easter bunny to deliver them from or through the trials & tribulations of life.  You’re not going to open your heart & spill your guts to a piece of chocolate formed into the shape of a rabbit. 
Neither do most people open their heart & spill their guts to Jesus.  They might say they believe in Him, but in truth  it’s no different than the way they believe in the Easter bunny.  The reason the gate to salvation is narrow  & the way is hard  lies in the sinful human heart.   That means you,  & it means the preacher man  standing before you. 
 It also means the people who welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem 2000 years ago.  It means the generation of Israelites that were delivered from Egypt, “Yet God was not pleased with most of them, & their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.”  (1 Corinthians 10:5 NLT)     Jesus made it perfectly clear where the problem lies when He spoke to the issue of divorce:
“Because of your hardness of heart  Moses allowed you to divorce your wives,  but from the beginning it was not so.”  (Matthew 19:8 ESV)      As Jesus entered Jerusalem, on what we call Palm Sunday,  crowds of people were willing to say they believe in Jesus,   yet,  by Friday,  they were shouting, “Crucify him!” 
The gate is narrow & the way of salvation is hard,  because even those who believe in Jesus as Savior from their sins,  due to their nature as sinful creatures,  have hearts that are hard & closed to God  in so many  different  ways.   The Holy Spirit wants to open  our hearts because that is how Yahweh enters in. 
The only way we can describe what we see  is that some people are just given the gift to believe.   Their hearts are naturally open to God.   Many others  need to have their hard heart  crushed  by the trials & tribulations of life.  Only then,  will those hearts be opened to God.  Only when the Holy Spirit has opened your heart  can you bear witness to God’s love & mercy.  Unfortunately, we feel a lot less vulnerable  when we press our heart  shut   & keep all the struggles of life inside.  Those struggles are evidence that our Creator is working to shape & mold us into the image of His Son.  It can be through those struggles that God reveals Himself. 
On Palm Sunday,  believing in Jesus & shouting Hosanna was the broad & easy road.  Everyone thought they knew what Jesus was doing.   By Good Friday  they had no clue what He was doing.  To believe in Jesus  when we have no idea what’s up  that is faith.  And it’s that faith  which bears witness to the power of God the Holy Spirit  at work in us. 
Unbelievers  will call that blind faith, because they are blind & unable to understand the things of the Spirit.  Do not be deterred  by their unbelief.   All of us know people who’ve chosen to take the broad & easy road.  We know people who’ve rejected God’s call to live,  & we also know there is not one thing  you or I  can do  to save them. 
God does work through our witness,  but it is still & always  the work of God when a person’s heart is opened  to Him.   John recorded in his Gospel, “The crowd that had been with [Jesus] when He called Lazarus out of the tomb & raised him from the dead  continued to bear witness.”  (12:17 ESV)   John also mentions that Jesus’ own disciples did not understand. 
After the resurrection,  & especially with Pentecost,  the disciples finally understood.  Jesus’ victory was far bigger than conquering Rome or the greedy, threatened religious leaders.  It was bigger  even  than raising people from the dead  only to have them die again.   Jesus’ victory over death  was about recreating everything,  perfectly  for eternity. 
His victory was over everything sin & death can do to us.  Jesus went to battle against the dark places in our hearts & minds,  the things we shy away from speaking of because that leaves us vulnerable.  Jesus took on our worst enemies: sin,  the wickedness infesting this world we live in, & Satan himself.  Ultimately, Jesus’ victory was over our greatest enemy – death & our grave.  What sin works in our lives – the unresolved tension,  unanswered questions,  unfulfilled longings,  unspeakable sins,   unrelenting fears – Jesus can erase forever & leave in their place the peace & harmony of heavenly paradise. 
Will you allow God to meet you  where you are?   Will you allow Him to lead you  on the path to paradise?   The reality is that most people answer no.   They’d rather sing the song, “I did it my way.”  They would rather see  than believe.  As far as continuing to bear witness goes, the truth is that most of the good that God does through us  is unseen. 
For salvation, the gate is narrow & the way is hard,  because our sinful hearts  are hard  & unyielding.  They are blind to the things of the Holy Spirit.  So Jesus’ victory over evil  came in totally unexpected ways.  It came riding into town on a donkey.  It came by way death on a cross.  It came through His resurrection  from the dead. 
Our calling & privilege is to continue bearing witness, no matter what we see.  In heaven we’ll see perfectly.  Until then, the heavenly Father sees all things on our behalf,  guiding & directing all of history to bring good to those who love Him. 
As a sign of His goodwill, Jesus rode into town on a donkey instead of a war horse,  & He is still working in ways of kindness rather than bloodshed.  That leaves us vulnerable,  if we follow Him,  yet Jesus meets us there,  not to crush us,  but to renew us & to recreate us.  You may even have an unbelieving friend  who trusts you enough to ask about it.  Amen. 
 
 
On Galilee’s high mountain  Christ gave the great command  in words of strength & promise  which all can understand: “All power to me is given  to do what I shall choose; therefore I send My children,  their witness I will use.”    Lord, gather all Your children,  wherever they may be,  & lead them on to heaven  to live eternally  with You,  our loving Father,  & Christ, our brother dear,  whose Spirit guards & gives us the joy to persevere.  Amen.  LSB 835:1, 6. 


[1] Spiritual Conversations in the Digital Age, Barna Report produced in partnership with Lutheran Hour Ministries (2018) 7. 

[2] Ibid., 50.

​Midweek 6 – 2024                                                                                LSB 560, 431, 430:1, 7; 878
Text – Psalm 41:7-8
 
VINDICATION
 
 
David prayed in Psalm 41, “All who hate me  whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me.  They say, ‘A deadly thing is poured out on him; he will not rise again from where he lies.’” 
In our everyday speech,  the word enemy  might seem to overstate our situation.  The devil,  the world & our sinful nature  are certainly mortal enemies; they oppose us with deadly intent.  But those are spiritual enemies,  not physical, human enemies  who look us in the eye.  Not many of us have those enemies these days; King David & our Lord Jesus did.  
Even if there might be loveless people in your life who drum their fingers, waiting for you to die,  so they can have your money,  hopefully they will not scheme to commit murder.  Treacherous, murderous men schemed against David: “They imagine the worst for me.  They say, ‘A deadly thing is poured out on him.’”  
Christ Jesus, our Lord, likewise endured the deadly designs of murderers: “The chief priests & the elders of the people... plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth & kill Him.”  (Matthew 26:3–4)   Our situations are measurably different.  
We do not  (yet) have people who directly seek our death.  Most of our enemies are less violent: people who are just plain mean; people who speak evil about us; those who seem oddly gratified by our pain;  people who selfishly take but refuse to give; those who willingly commit injustice & leave us feeling miserable; people who at times make us wish we actually were dead.  
Perhaps the worst thing about such people is that they seem to get away with it.   Rest assured: those who treat you badly will NOT.   God is patiently waiting.   David’s enemies thought that they would get away with their injustices against him.  They poured out a deadly thing for him, then foolishly said concerning him, “He will not rise again  from where he lies.”   They were wrong.  No one who dies  stays dead.   All people shall rise, “some to everlasting life, & some to shame & everlasting contempt.”  (Daniel 12:2)   Jesus spoke the truth that gives shape to all eternity when He declared:
“…I say to you, an hour is coming, & is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,  & those who hear will live...  Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice & come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, & those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.  (John 5:25, 28–29) 
Those words speak the certainty of the resurrection.  David lived in that certainty.  Jesus of Nazareth embodies that certainty.  You have been baptized into that same  certainty! 
“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?  ...If we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.”  (Romans 6:3, 5) 
The certainty of the resurrection allowed David to live in confidence & hope,  even while his enemies said, “He will not rise again from where he lies.”   David knew very well that he would rise & that knowledge gave David comfort  & power.  
First, his faith in the resurrection indicated that, whatever he might have been required to suffer, it would not last forever.  David’s psalms are full of the hope of the resurrection,  even while he teetered on the brink of death.  The resurrection is why he could pray confidently – & why you also  can pray with equal confidence:
“I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me  all around,” (Psalm 3:6); &, “I will tell of Your name to my brothers;  in the midst of the congregation I will praise You,” (Psalm 22:22);  & yet again, “I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living!”  (Psalm 27:13)   Relief from suffering is only the 1st comfort of the resurrection.  The 2nd comfort is vindication.  Vindication is when all wrongs  are made right.   It happens when those who suffer loss have their loss restored.  
Have you suffered unanswered injustice so that you long for & await  vindication?   You are not alone.  The souls of countless Christian martyrs wait  with you.  They loudly cry out from the pages of the Word, in Revelation, “O Sovereign Lord,  holy & true,  how long before You will judge & avenge our blood?”  (6:10) 
“All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me.”  (Psalm 41:7)  David knew that although his enemies might win a battle here or there,  they could not win the war.   David knew he would be vindicated; you shall be as well.  That is why David could pray – & why you also  can pray with him:
“All my enemies shall be ashamed & greatly troubled; they shall turn back & be put to shame in a moment” (Psalm 6:10); & “His mischief returns upon his own head” (Psalm 7:16); &, in Psalm 41, “By this I know that You [Lord] delight in me: my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.  But You have... set me in Your presence forever.”  (vs. 11–12) 
How do we know that David’s enemies did not finally get away with it?   More to the point, how do we know that your enemies will not get away with what they’ve done to you?  We know this because the enemies of Jesus could not & did not get away with their plans against Him. 
Psalm 41 speaks in the voice of the Christ, as surely as it speaks in the voice of King David: “All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me.  They say, ‘A deadly thing is poured out on him; he will not rise again  from where he lies.’”  The enemies of Jesus were so desperate that He not “rise again from where he lies” that they posted a guard &
imposed a seal upon His tomb. 
“…the chief priests & the Pharisees gathered before Pilate & said, ‘Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while He was still alive, “After three days I will rise.”  Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the 3rd day, lest His disciples go & steal Him away & tell the people, “He has risen from the dead,” & the last fraud will be worse than the first.’  Pilate said to them, ‘You have a guard of soldiers.  Go, make it as secure as you can.’  So they went & made the tomb secure by sealing the stone & setting a guard.”  (Matthew 27:62–66) 
 
The plan did not work.  Jesus rose from the dead.  God the Father “crowned Him with glory & honor.”  (Psalm 8:5; Hebrews 2:7)    Jesus was vindicated in His resurrection, & so shall you.  Those who have committed injustices against you shall not remain unanswered forever.  Those who have harmed you  have only harmed themselves.  
You shall gain back all that has been taken from you.  You shall rise again from where you are finally laid down, & King David shall rise with you,  in the power of God’s Son who rose before both of you.  (Colossians 1:18; Revelation 1:5)   You shall say on that great day,  with David & with Jesus:
“You have upheld me because of my integrity, & set me in Your presence forever.  Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!  Amen & Amen!”  (Psalm 41:12–13) 
 
 
Not all the blood of beasts  on Jewish altars slain  could give the guilty conscience peace  or wash away the stain.     But Christ, the heavenly Lamb,  takes all our sins away;  a sacrifice of nobler name  & richer blood than they.  Amen.  LSB 431:1-2.