Jesus said a very interesting thing in Luke 20:25, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are Gods.” And later to Pontus Pilate, the governor of Judea, who claimed that he had authority over Jesus himself, Jesus responded, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above” (John 19:11). Wow! God is at work. He saves the world through the person and work of Jesus; that’s the main message of the Bible.

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.²¹ Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.²² Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. ²³ “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.

Luke 6:20-23

We live in a very strange world. It is world that says men and women are the same. In fact, they are so much the same, that a man can decide he is a woman, or a woman can decide she is a man, and everyone around that individual is supposed to act like this is just the way things are. It is asserted that men and women are completely interchangeable, and so marriage can occur between a man and a woman or between two men or between two women.

⁴ When [Jesus] had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” ⁵ Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” ⁶ When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break…..⁸ When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”…¹⁰ Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” ¹¹ So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

Luke 5:4-11

What might we, as a people, wish to accomplish in the coming year? Most of it has to do with gaining our voice, and then putting our words into action. That means cultivating courage.

First, we should deal with a constellation of issues revolving around gender. Of course, men should not be allowed to participate in women's sports. Speak up, boycott, act like you mean it. Likewise, let us keep males out of the public bathrooms of women. Protest. Let them know you care about your daughters. Along with that we must begin once again to speak the truth and to reclaim the language. Do not call Rachel Levine a woman, for he is not. Mock those who cannot answer the question, "What is a woman?" And, for heaven's sake, never speak of gender affirming care. Call out such surgery for the barbarism that it is, resulting in irreversible damage, bodily mutilation, a lifetime of misery. Make such treatment illegal everywhere. Instead, help our young people become comfortable in their own bodies.

The word of the Lord came to me, saying ⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” ⁶ “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.” ⁷ But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. ⁸ Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord. ⁹ Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. ¹⁰ See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”

Jeremiah 1:4-10

We are told to be at peace, for Jesus is Lord. I get that. But don't let it be the kind of peace that serves as a sedative, the kind of peace that puts you to sleep while it is still day, and there is work to do. Christ remains on the throne, but that fact should stir us all the more to do good, and that means, on a day like today, in the political arena. The fact that Jesus is King should not lead us to complacency, but to the boldness that our Lord has our backs, now and into eternity. Knowing that our future is secure, here and now we defend our neighbor, including our littlest neighbor in the womb.

We are told to be at peace, for Jesus is Lord. I get that. But don't let it be the kind of peace that serves as a sedative, the kind of peace that puts you to sleep while it is still day, and there is work to do. Christ remains on the throne, but that fact should stir us all the more to do good, and that means, on a day like today, in the political arena. The fact that Jesus is King should not lead us to complacency, but to the boldness that our Lord has our backs, now and into eternity. Knowing that our future is secure, here and now we defend our neighbor, including our littlest neighbor in the womb. Today we defend our right to speak the truth, and not just inside of church walls.

It was a Sabbath day long ago in Nazareth. Jesus stood up, read a portion of the Bible from Isaiah, and then said that all of these things were now fulfilled IN HIM. Wow, what a synagogue service that must have been! He said that God the Father had sent Him to proclaim good news to the poor, liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, liberty to those who were oppressed, and to announce the year of the Lord’s favor. What’s even more amazing is that He brought all those blessings with Him, along with God’s eternal freedom, riches, and redemption, to all who believe.

On my bookshelf is a picture book from 1980 that tells children how babies come into being. The text says, “Since a family is happier with children, your mother and father wanted a baby. They wanted you … to love and to care for.” Thirty years ago, it was normal to assume that getting married and having children made life better. 

I love that title, don’t you? In a nutshell, it says what faith in Jesus is all about. He is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), and faith in Him brings His way, truth, and life to our lives as gifts of His grace. Wow! This call to faith is an invitation to receive life, His abundant life, as a gift. That’s what we see in this first miracle of Jesus’ public ministry. Amidst Christ’s purposeful walk to Calvary to become God’s redemptive sacrifice for sin, He stops by at a wedding, a small-town wedding at that.

“Bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh,” the man exclaimed, “she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Gen. 2:23). God had put the man to sleep, made the woman from his rib and presented her to the man (Gen. 2:21–22). The man’s response expresses the profundity and joy that he had discovered in her sameness; he is also clearly filled with relief. In her, he found rest and a true fulfillment of his godly desire (sexual, emotional, intellectual).

Substitution. That’s a biblical truth that really hits home for me today. Why? There are times in my life when I realize that my best efforts just aren’t good enough; my heartfelt tries still miss the mark. Something just isn’t right, and it doesn’t seem that I can overcome the problem at all. It’s like I’m trying to swim, but the cold waters are numbing my limbs and preventing me from staying afloat; or the waves of warm waters are pounding me to the ocean’s depths, preventing me from gasping the air I so desperately need. At times like those, one needs help from above, help from outside. What an incredible thing it is when, just at that moment, someone else jumps in and faces the destructive power of the water so that I might come out of it alive and well. Substitution. It matters when your life depends on it.

The Lord says, "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man" (Genesis 9:6). Speaking of earthly rulers, St. Paul writes, "But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer" (Romans 13:4). So it is, a functioning society must impose penalties upon criminals. A man may serve ten or twenty years for armed robbery or rape. Circumstances matter, so sentencing varies. Prisons are said to be reformatories, especially when it comes to youth who may not have understood the ramifications of their actions. Prisons do well to incorporate rehabilitation to reduce recidivism. But time in jail is more than a time-out, and a reformed person cannot reverse the consequences of harmful deeds, and for that there is justice.

The Epiphany Season follows the festival of Christmas because this question needs to be asked: “Do you know who this Jesus really is, who He is for you?” Epiphany’s goal is to make that “manifestly” clear. He is your Lord, your Savior, and your “all in all” for life and salvation.

The account of the Wise Men traveling to seek out the young child Jesus is an awesome event! It should cause us to pause today and think about the nature and extent of this child’s work in the world. Jesus was laid in a manger in the small town of Bethlehem (Luke 2:4-7); He was Jewish by birth. Yet from the very beginning, His life, death, and resurrection were meant to be a blessing to all people (see Luke 2:32). In today’s lesson one sees that God has ways of drawing people to Jesus from virtually everywhere. He makes His promises, grace, and blessings “findable.” In fact, our God loves to be found (see Isaiah 55:6; 65:1), especially when that means finding His grace and forgiveness in Christ. The point for us today might indeed be to keep looking for and focusing upon what really matters.

A reed shaken by the wind? What do you seek in a church? The Roman Catholics, back in 1940s, endorsed the higher critical method (Divino Afflante Spiritu), which allows for Scripture not to mean what it means, just like liberal Protestantism. Perhaps it's not so strange to think a little yeast can leaven many a lump. To what then is the church moored? Tradition is not enough, unless, of course, you think the truth is so pliable as to be reinterpreted for each successive generation. Unless, like the once great biblical scholar Richard Hayes, you can now endorse gay marriage under the umbrella of "the widening of God's mercy."

People seem to be more impatient than ever today. We don’t like to wait for much of anything. Life today is often, “Let’s hit the drive through, roll down the window, pick up the order of our choosing, and quickly get on to the next thing.” In a world of UBER EATS and SAME DAY DELIVERY, can there be any good in waiting? Or, can there be anything good worth waiting for?

Yes, even amidst the impatience of our age, there are some things worth the wait. We endure waiting in traffic for the joy of getting home to our loved-ones. We’ll wait in line for that “must have” gift for our children each Christmas season. We’ll endure the wait when it’s waiting for that new job offer, or waiting for a good test result from a biopsy, or waiting for that special someone to call because we are so excited just to hear their voice

Let not one say that this “cannot be the purpose of the Church.” We know that it is not the purpose of the Church to influence culture. The Church is distinct in origin and purpose from the civilization in which we live and of which we are a part. The question is whether Christians as citizens shall bear an equal share with the rest of the population in fashioning the character of the American community. The question is whether we shall leave, for instance, the avenues of the daily press, the policies by which journalism is governed, to men of no spiritual understanding, of nothing but material interests, of nothing but carnal ambitions, governed by desire for praise and the love of power, more dangerous than a wild beast, more destructive than a pestilence, if imbued with an atheistic or communistic attitude; or whether the Christian, the Lutheran, shall use the potent influence of journalism to mold and guide public opinion.

Who could refuse a peace that lasts because God Himself is with us? Well, many do. Why? Because as sinful, rebellious people by nature, we tend to settle for counterfeits, instead of the real thing. When offered an eternal peace that comes from sins forgiven, we would rather settle for peaceful circumstances, or just our temporal “peace of mind,” right? We want the peace that comes with bills paid, relationships intact, body/health doing fine, and purposeful work to do for as long as we’d like to do it. Instead of “God with us” no matter the circumstances, we would rather just have circumstances to our own liking.

A blessed Christmas to all of you next Tuesday!  For “on that Day (many years ago) in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger (Luke 2:11-12).” The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus came as a blessing to the world even though the world didn’t deserve it and even worse, was unreceptive to receiving Him as the gift that He was for them (see John 1:10-13). Increasingly, the world in which we live today seems very unreceptive to that same Gospel, a message that has been such a blessing to the world for over two millennia. Instead of receiving the good news of Jesus like Mary and Joseph, the wisemen, or the shepherds, the world in which we live is violently suspicious of the message of the Messiah like Herod in Matthew 2. In a speech several years ago, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito warned our nation: