by Jeffrey Spencer | May 27, 2025 | Sermons |
CLICK HERE for a worship video for May 25
Sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Easter – May 25, 2025
John 14:23-29
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
There’s an important bit of context missing from our gospel reading for today. Our reading from John this morning consists of Jesus’ response to a question from Judas (not Iscariot) – but the question itself is left out! It’s like Bible Jeopardy – you get the answer, but you have to guess the question! So, let’s back up a bit and provide this important context.
Jesus had just told the disciples that he would be leaving them. This caused them to become anxious. Their hearts were troubled. And so Jesus hastened to add that he would come to them again in a different way. He told them that the world would not see him, but that they, his disciples, would see him. He would reveal himself to them.
And then Judas (not Iscariot) asked Jesus, “Lord, how will you reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” Our reading for today is Jesus’ response to this question. Jesus is explaining how he will reveal himself to his disciples – and to us – after he has ascended to the Father, so that he might give us his peace.
In response to Judas (not Iscariot’s) question, Jesus said, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”
Jesus reveals himself to those keep his word. This is about more than just doing what he says, though that is part of it. Part of the Great Commission is to make disciples who obey everything that he has commanded us, so that’s part of it. But the language here goes deeper. To keep Jesus’ word is to treasure it. It is to hold on to it. It is to cling to it. As Martin Luther wrote in the Small Catechism, it is to hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.
This word is preserved for us in the Bible. This word is spoken to us in worship. This word is poured over us in Holy Baptism and fed to us in Holy Communion. Those who love Jesus treasure this word because this is how our Lord comes to us. This is how he reveals himself to us. This is how he and the Father come and make a home with us, as we gather around the Word, clinging to it, holding it dear.
Unfortunately, we are foolish and forgetful creatures. Unfortunately, there are times when our love for Jesus grows cold and we neglect this Word. We do not treat it as the treasure it is for us. Unfortunately, the world, the devil, and our sinful selves are very effective at distracting us from this Word, and so we do not hold on to it.
Thankfully, our Lord Jesus knows this about us, and so he sends us the Holy Spirit. The Spirit’s job, Jesus says, is “to teach you everything and to remind you of all that I have said to you.” The Spirit moves in mysterious ways, to be sure, but there is nothing mysterious about what the Spirit has been sent to do. The Spirit is sent by Jesus to teach us. The Spirit is sent to remind us of everything Jesus has said to us in his Word, so that we might know his peace.
People come up with all kinds of strange and unbiblical ideas about the Spirit. People sometimes think the Spirit is a free agent who comes with new, updated revelations. People sometimes confuse the Spirit with their own internal voice. How convenient it is when the Spirit seems to be affirming all the things you already want to believe or do! People sometimes believe the Spirit is only really at work in exotic or mystical spiritual experiences.
But according to Jesus, the Spirit’s mission and purpose is really quite simple and down to earth. Jesus explains that the Father sends the Spirit in his name to remind us of what Jesus has said. The Spirit’s job is simply to lead our hearts back to his Word.
This is important because when our hearts lose sight of the Word, we end up as anxious as the disciples were. When we drift away from this Word, our hearts become as troubled as theirs were. When we neglect the Word or become distracted from it, we do not have the peace our Lord Jesus came to give us.
Jesus knows how prone we are to anxiousness and troubled hearts, and so he sends his Spirit to help us cling to his Word. After describing what the Spirit is going to come and do, Jesus says, “My peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” This peace is given to us as the Spirit helps us hold fast to his Word.
I had lunch with my sister this past week. We’ve been meeting for lunch just about once a month since our mother died three and a half years ago. As many of you know, our mother’s death was sudden and unexpected and tragic, and our relationship with her was often strained due to her alcoholism and addiction. This left a lot of unresolved issues that we’ve kind of been working through together over these lunches the last few years. It isn’t all we talk about, especially as time goes by, but it still comes up a lot.
Anyway, while my mom could be a hot mess at times, she was very loving, and very affectionate. She often wrote us sweet notes and cards – not only for our birthdays, but sometimes just because. My sister kept a number of the cards and notes our mother sent her. She has hung onto them. She treasures them. She enjoys seeing our mother’s handwriting and the sweet things our mom would write on those cards. On one of the cards our mom had written, “You are so loved.”
On Mother’s Day this year, my sister took that card and went and got a tattoo of those words on her arm, inscribed with our mother’s distinctive handwriting. At lunch this week she pulled up her sleeve and revealed it to me. I’m not really a tattoo guy (I know that’s a dangerous thing to say in a Navy town) but it was really beautiful and very touching. It looked exactly like our mother’s handwriting, and it was exactly the kind of thing she was always saying to us, even when things were messy in our relationship with her. As my sister pulled her sleeve back down, she smiled sweetly and said that those handwritten words on her arm from our mom gave her a sense of peace.
I went to therapy and my sister got a tattoo. We are not the same. But it really is beautiful, and as I came back from our lunch and dove into our gospel reading for this week, I couldn’t help but think that what my sister did and what she said is a good illustration of what this whole gospel reading is about.
Just as my sister treasured my mother’s words, hanging on to those birthday cards with her handwriting, so too do we treasure Jesus’ words for us. That’s why we stand for the gospel reading. We do so because those readings contain the direct words of our Lord Jesus, and so we stand to honor them. We treasure them. We cling to them. We hold them dear.
It is the Holy Spirit’s job to inscribe those words onto us. It is the Holy Spirit’s job to imprint them upon us, reminding us of all that Jesus has said to us.
And so when we are baptized, the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit is permanently written on us. These are Christ’s own words inscribed with God’s own handwriting. In baptism, we are marked with the saving cross of Christ forever. We gather for worship to hold sacred and gladly hear God’s holy Word as the Spirit goes to work reminding us of all that Christ has taught us, either himself or through his chosen apostles. Here in worship, we hear the words Christ authorized his church to say, that for his sake all the sins that we confess to him are completely and entirely forgiven. Here in worship, we are fed with Christ’s forgiveness and love as we receive the visible words of Christ’s true body and true blood. These visible words become part of us, part of our bodies! Through these means of grace etched into our lives by the Holy Spirit, Christ reveals himself to us. God the Father and Jesus the Son come to us and make a home with us, just as Jesus said.
We may still struggle with anxiety from time to time. We may well find our hearts troubled by things that are happening in our lives or in our world or even in the church. But that’s why the Spirit keeps calling us back. The Spirit continues to call and gather us in order to continue the work of writing the Word of God onto us. The Spirit continues to inscribe God’s promises onto our hearts, that we might cling to them, so that they might become part of us.
This Spirit is working on you even now. Today, through the Spirit, Jesus says to you, “You are so loved.” Today, through the Spirit, Jesus says to you, “You are so forgiven.” Today, through the Spirit, Jesus says to you, “I am so coming to you, and you are so going to be with me forever – and so do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”
And as this word sinks in, as it becomes part of us, our hearts can at last find peace.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
by Jeffrey Spencer | May 23, 2025 | Sermons |
CLICK HERE for a worship video for May 18
Sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Easter – May 18, 2025
Revelation 21:1-6, John 13:31-35
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
There are few words that have the power to grab our attention like the word “new.” You perk up and pay attention when you hear that your favorite musician has a new song coming out. You notice when your favorite author has a new book about to be released, or when there’s a new episode of your favorite TV show about to air. Marketing executives have long known that putting the word “new” on a product or in an advertisement is enough to grab people’s attention. But it isn’t just materialism or novelty which makes this word powerful. Deep down we are all longing for something new: a new hope, a new start, a new life, a new creation.
In our gospel reading for today Jesus tells his disciples he is giving them a NEW commandment. “I give you a NEW commandment,” Jesus says, “that you love one another.”
On the surface, there doesn’t seem to be anything new about this commandment at all. In fact, the commandment to love is one of the oldest commandments there is! It is found all the way back in the book of Deuteronomy, where God says, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” It is found all the way back in the book of Leviticus, where God says, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” Love of God and love of neighbor both are among the oldest commandments God has given us. So why does Jesus call his commandment to love a “new” commandment?
Jesus’ commandment is new in two ways. The love Jesus’ followers are to have for one another has both a new shape and a new source. This is evident from what Jesus says next: “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” These words make this commandment new! This commandment to love, as old as it is, is given a new shape and a new source.
What is the shape of the love we are called to have for one another? It is to have the shape of Jesus. It is to have the shape of his love for us. It is to have the shape of the cross. Jesus uses a specific word for love here. That word is agape. Agape love is more than a sentiment. It is more than an emotion or a feeling. It is not based on attraction or compatibility. The agape love Jesus speaks of is not a noun; it is a verb. It is embodied in acts of service. It is lived out in acts of sacrifice. It is a love that is steadfast, bearing with others even when it is hard.
Jesus powerfully illustrated the shape of this love just before giving this new commandment as he knelt down to wash the feet of his disciples. Jesus had a status and an authority over them as their teacher and their Lord – not to mention his status as the very Son of God and the King of all Creation! – and he set all that aside in order to serve them. He sacrificed his status in order to tenderly wash their dirtiest parts. He loved his disciples with a steadfast love, fully knowing that one of them would betray him, another would deny him, and eventually all of them would abandon him. This is what makes this commandment new – the shape of the love we are to have for one another.
I saw a touching video on social media recently of an interview with Jay Leno, the comedian and former host of the Tonight Show. His wife of over 45 years has advanced dementia. Leno spoke of how he now spends most of his time as her caregiver. He feeds her. He dresses her. He helps her bathe. He helps her go to the toilet. Here is a man of great status. Here is someone who is famous and wealthy and could easily hire those difficult tasks out to others – but he insists on doing it himself. You could see the sadness in his eyes and the sorrow in his voice as he spoke, but he said he actually enjoys doing it. He enjoys it, he says, because he loves her. “And that’s what you do,” he said. It was so moving to hear him embrace those tasks in love for his dear wife. It reminded me of some people I know here at church.
I don’t know if Jay Leno is a Christian. He has spoken about how his faith has helped him through hard times, but he has not publicly shared any religious affiliation. Even so, this is someone who understands the new shape of love taught by Jesus. This is someone who understands agape love. He is practicing it.
Christian community is to be marked above all else by this kind of love, a love that is rooted in humble service, a love that is shaped like Jesus. As St. Paul says in First Corinthians, “If I have prophetic powers and all knowledge and faith to move mountains, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong and a clanging cymbal. If I give away all my possessions so that I may boast, but do not have love, I am nothing.” This passage is often associated with weddings, but Paul is actually writing about the church here! He’s saying that if a congregation has the best programs and the best music and the biggest budget, but does not have love, it is nothing more than noise in God’s ears. Who cares if the choir sounds good if they aren’t loving each other and praying for each other? (Which I’m proud to say they do here!) Paul is saying that if a church has the best theology and the best social ministry efforts and the best church building, but does not have love, it is nothing. Who cares if the sanctuary is beautiful if the people inside it are ugly towards one another? There are many things that are important in the life of a congregation, but what we have to offer the world more than anything else is this new Jesus-shaped love.
At a time when there is so much anger and vitriol and division in our culture, we can show the world a community where people are loved regardless of their differences in age or education level or income level or race or political party. When there are differences of opinion about complex political questions, we can show the world a love that is patient and kind and humble. We can show the world that we can disagree about certain things without hating one another, or accusing one another of being “haters.”
At a time when love is often seen as a commodity, as something you find in order to benefit yourself, we can show the world a love that humbly serves others.
At a time when love is seen as something sentimental, we can show the world a love that is sacrificial.
At a time when love is seen as an amorphous, abstract idea, we can show the world a love that is shaped by Jesus’ obedience to the will of the Father.
At a time when love is often understood as transactional: “I’ll love you as long as you perform as I expect, as long as you are meeting my needs, as long as you make me feel a certain way,” we can show the world a love that is steadfast, a love that bears with others through thick and thin.
We will never do this perfectly, of course. Anyone who has been around the church for awhile knows that! But we are called to strive to live out this Jesus-shaped love here in church. This is where we practice it, so that we can then take that Jesus-shaped love into our homes, into our families, into our community, into our world. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,” Jesus says, “if you have love for one another.”
If we were left on our own to live out this new commandment, we would never even begin to have this kind of love for one another. But this commandment doesn’t just have a new shape, it also has a new source. We are not only called to live OUT the love of Jesus, we are called to live IN the love of Jesus! “AS I HAVE LOVED YOU,” Jesus says, “you also should love one another.” Do you see what this means? Jesus’ love for us comes first! Jesus’ love for us isn’t just the shape of the love we are to have for each other, it is also the source of that love!
Just as the Lord Jesus stooped down and washed the feet of the very disciples he knew would betray and deny and abandon him, so too does he stoop down to serve us in love. He stoops down to wash the dirtiest parts of our lives clean with his forgiveness. The Almighty and Everlasting God stooped down and came into the world in order to be our savior. On the cross, Jesus took all our failures upon himself. On the cross Jesus took our lack of love for him and our lack of love for each other and absorbed it into his own body – and in his resurrection he has started the work of the new creation. He has started the work of making us new people. His love and grace and mercy come to us new every day, moving our hearts to begin to love one another as he has loved us.
The word “new” pops up a few times in our reading from Revelation for today as well. There we hear the promise of a new heaven and a new earth. It says that in this new heaven and new earth God’s home will be among mortals. He will dwell with them, and they will be his peoples. Death will be no more. Mourning and crying and pain will be no more.
Clearly that day is not here yet. But God has already begun to dwell among his people. He has come to us through his Son to show us the shape of his great love for us. He continues to come through the Spirit to be the source of that love in our lives, so that it would flow through us into the lives of others.
In following Jesus’ new commandment, we give the world a glimpse of this new heaven and new earth. We give the world a sneak preview of what God has in store when he comes at last to make all things new.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
by Jeffrey Spencer | Apr 30, 2025 | Sermons
CLICK HERE for a worship video for April 27
Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter – April 27, 2025
John 20:19-31
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our risen Lord Jesus Christ.
When we think of peace, often the first thing that comes to mind is global politics. We think of peace primarily as the absence of war, the cessation of hostilities, the laying down of arms, the end of fighting. We rightfully pray for peace between and within nations.
If we don’t think of peace in political terms, we often think of it instead in psychological terms. Peace is thought of as a feeling, as a sense of calmness or tranquility or relaxation which one might attain through a variety of means – some better than others.
These aren’t wrong definitions. “Peace” is a multifaceted word. It means lots of different things depending on context.
“Peace” was the first word Jesus spoke to his disciples after his resurrection. On the evening of the first Easter, Jesus appeared to them. “Peace be with you,” he said to them. He came back the next Sunday too, a week later, just as we are meeting a week after Easter here today, and again, his first words were, “Peace be with you.” What did Jesus mean? What exactly is this peace?
The Hebrew word is shalom, and it is just as multifaceted as the English word peace. It can be a casual greeting. If you go to Israel today, or to any Jewish community anywhere in the world, you will hear Jewish people greeting each other with the words shalom aleichem, which means, “peace be upon you.” The common response is aleichem shalom, which means, “upon you, peace.” It can be as simple and common as people saying, “Good morning,” or “Have a nice day.”
But the context in which Jesus uses this greeting is fraught with much, much deeper significance. When the risen Lord Jesus said, “Peace be with you,” to his disciples after his resurrection, this was much more than a casual greeting. You see, the word shalom, or peace, can also mean restoration. It can refer to a reordering of things, or a repair. It can refer to a realignment, to a restored relationship.
Pastor Dan Erlander of blessed memory once shared a story from one of his trips to Israel. The car he rented had some engine trouble, so he pulled into a mechanic. The mechanic got under the hood and started making adjustments. He swapped out a spark plug and tweaked the carburetor. When the engine started humming smoothly, he looked up at the pastor from under the hood, smiled, and said, “ah, shalom!” Here the word was used to describe restoration. Everything was right again. Everything was rightly ordered. Everything was aligned, restored to right relationship.
When Jesus greeted the disciples with the words, “Peace be with you,” he wasn’t just saying hello. This was not merely a greeting; it was a proclamation! Jesus was assuring them that they were in right relationship with him. His resurrection meant that everything had been fixed, everything had been restored. This peace meant peace with God, and with it came a new life.
This peace Jesus proclaimed gave them a life beyond their sin, beyond their failures. This is no small thing. The disciples had just failed Jesus in some profound ways. They all deserted Christ. While Peter denied Jesus publicly and repeatedly, they all denied him in their own way. They all either doubted or forgot his promises. Jesus had told them repeatedly that he would be arrested and crucified and then be raised on the third day, but when the third day came, even after the women told them the tomb was empty, they initially thought it was an idle tale. They weren’t watching for him to come out of the tomb. They were huddled together behind locked doors.
You wouldn’t blame Jesus one bit if, when he appeared to these disciples, his first words had been, “Really guys? Did you not listen to anything I said?” You wouldn’t blame Jesus if he scolded them a little bit, right?
But no. The first word Jesus had for these failed disciples was, “Peace be with you.” This is akin to saying, “All is well.” At its heart, these words are words of forgiveness. They are words of restoration. We know this from the fact that Jesus immediately goes on to tell them to go and do the same. He tasks them with going out into the world to forgive sins in his name.
This is what the resurrection has accomplished. It has brought about the forgiveness of sin. It has restored sinners to a right relationship with God, beginning with the disciples and continuing to this very day as his word of forgiveness is announced to us. The peace Jesus proclaims is peace with God. It means our relationship with God has been reordered, it has been aligned through Christ’s saving death on the cross, it has been ratified by his resurrection, and now we are forgiven. Our relationship with God has been restored forever. It hums along now, fueled and well-lubricated by the grace and mercy of the risen Lord.
This peace Jesus proclaimed, this peace with God, gave them a life beyond their fear. The book of Acts is full of stories of how the disciples were transformed by the resurrection, how they were emboldened by the peace of Christ. They came out from behind those locked doors and became bold preachers and witnesses to the resurrection. Instead of hiding away behind closed doors for the rest of their lives, they went out into the world to share the Good News of the gospel, even when it meant being ostracized or persecuted or even killed, which it ultimately did for most of them. Even when their lives, their circumstances, were anything but peaceful, they had peace with God, and that was what mattered most.
This peace Jesus proclaimed, this peace with God, gave them a life beyond their doubts too. This gospel reading is often referred to as the story of “Doubting Thomas,” which is unfair to both Thomas and to John, the gospel writer, who is trying to make the exact opposite point. It is true that Jesus is exceptionally patient with Thomas. From this we can be assured that Jesus is patient with people’s struggles to believe and to understand. We, too, should be patient with people’s doubts. We should make room for their questions and respond to them with grace. But we’ve almost made a virtue out of doubt in our time, and we shouldn’t. In the Large Catechism, Luther describes doubt as a close cousin to despair. Jesus didn’t want to leave Thomas in that confusion that leads to despair. Jesus didn’t leave Thomas in his doubts. He moved Thomas from doubt to faith. Jesus wanted Thomas to know the peace that comes from believing that he had truly risen from the dead. And so Jesus came back the following week, just for Thomas. He came to him specifically, and said, “Peace be with you.” He invited Thomas to touch him, to put his finger in his wounds. “My Lord and my God!” Thomas said. The story John is telling us is not about a Doubting Thomas, but a Confessing Thomas, a believing Thomas – a Thomas who was moved from doubt to faith in the risen Christ.
“Have you believed because you have seen me?” Jesus continued. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Now Jesus is talking about us! Now he is talking about you! At this point John, too, tells us that he has written all these things so that you, the reader, you, the hearer, you, the person listening to this right now, may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. You see, through the resurrection of Jesus, you too have a new life!
We are right to be concerned about global politics. We are right to pray for and work for peace in our world. But even when earthly peace is lacking, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a peace the world can never give us.
It is understandable to desire and look for inner peace. It is wise to look for healthy ways to ease anxiety. But even when our inner peace is disturbed by circumstances beyond our control, even when we are restless, unable to relax, even when we can’t stop the rush of cortisol flooding through our veins because we are worried or stressed, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. This peace is more than a feeling. This peace is not so much a state of mind as it is a state of being. It is an assurance. It is a strength that comes from being centered in his promises. It is a peace which passes all understanding.
Through our risen Lord, God has ultimately fixed everything that was spiritually broken so that our lives would begin to hum with Easter hope and joy. Through his death and resurrection, we have peace with God, which he bestows upon you anew today through the power of his living Word.
Peace be with you. Do not doubt, and do not despair. Believe! Put your trust in the Christ Jesus, who is risen from the dead, and you will have life in his name.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
by Jeffrey Spencer | Apr 23, 2025 | Sermons
CLICK HERE for a worship video for April 20
Sermon for Easter Sunday – April 20, 2025
Luke 24:1-12
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our risen Lord, Jesus Christ.
The women came to the tomb carrying spices. These were not tiny cannisters of cinnamon, like we find in our cupboards. These were more like sacks of flour, several pounds worth of granulated aloe and myrrh – enough to encase an entire human body from head to foot according to the burial customs of the Jewish people. Early in the morning on the first day of the week, the women carried these spices to Jesus’ tomb.
But this wasn’t the only thing these women carried. They also carried the weight of grief and sorrow. They had watched their Lord suffer and die on a cross. No doubt there were images from that horrible day that kept running through their minds. Maybe that’s why they were up so early. Maybe they couldn’t sleep.
They also carried the weight of fear, fear for what might happen next. If they did this to Jesus, what would they do to his followers? There was a reason the disciples were hiding out! What would happen to their friends? Their loved ones? Were they next?
They also carried the weight of hopelessness. Jesus had brought light and life and love into their lives, and now the cruelty of the world seemed to have snuffed it out. What hope was there in a world that crucified someone who brought healing and restoration and the forgiveness of sin?
The women were carrying all these things to the tomb because they assumed that Jesus was dead. They carried them because they had forgotten what Jesus had told them. And so when they came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been rolled away, they were confused. When they entered the tomb and saw that there was no body there, they were perplexed.
Then they saw two men in gleaming white robes who said, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.” There is a sense here from these men that they should have known this! They are essentially saying, What are you doing here? Why did you think you’d find Jesus here, in the tomb? Don’t you remember what he told you? But that was the problem – they didn’t remember! And so the men had to remind them. “Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.”
Jesus had told them exactly what would happen. He told them he would suffer, and die, but then rise again on the third day. He told them multiple times. It was now the third day, but they completely forgot what he had said, and so these women were carrying things they didn’t need to be carrying.
I think this account of Christ’s resurrection in the Gospel of Luke bears an uncanny resemblance to how we live so much of our lives. We go through life carrying things we do not need to be carrying, and it is because we forget what Jesus has said. We forget what Christ has done. We forget the promises our Lord has made to us. We forget what happened on the third day. We forget that he has conquered sin and death and promises to share that victory with us.
We carry so much grief and sorrow. This is entirely understandable. I’ve had seasons when I’ve felt buried under it too. But because Jesus has been raised, we don’t need to be crushed by this weight. His resurrection lightens that load by showing us that the crosses of this life will not have the last word.
We carry so much fear – whether it is low grade anxiety or full-blown panic. We worry about the future. We worry about our loved ones. We worry about what will happen next. Much of this is understandable, but again, we let it weigh us down more than we need to. The resurrection lightens this load too. Fear is constantly saying, “What if? What if? What if?” while resurrection faith says, “Even if….” Even if my greatest fears are realized, Jesus has been raised, and so there is a future beyond that worst thing that can happen.
We often carry a burden of hopelessness. We often look at the world around us with its never-ending problems, with its steady stream of tragedies, with its conflicts and its callousness, and it is easy to lose hope. What hope do we have in a world where God continues to be driven out and put on a cross?
Well, our hope comes from the one who endured the cross and rose again! There are very real troubles, yes, and we shouldn’t ignore them or resign ourselves to them, but I love how St. Paul describes these troubles in Second Corinthians. He calls them “slight momentary afflictions.” In light of the resurrection and the eternal weight of glory being revealed to us, they are merely “slight momentary afflictions.” We can live in hope because Jesus has been raised as the first fruits of a kingdom yet to come, as the Apostle says in our epistle reading for today. Our hope is in him!
We carry so much that we do not need to carry because we forget what Jesus told us. We forget was he has done. We forget what he has promised. Well today, dear friends, is the day we go from carrying burdens to remembering promises.
We can set down those burial spices because Jesus has ultimately defeated death and promises to share that victory with us. “I am the resurrection and the life,” he has promised us. “Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live.”
“I will not leave you orphaned,” he has promised us. “My peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”
“In this world you will have troubles,” Jesus says, “But take heart; for I have overcome the world.”
“Come to me,” Jesus says, “all you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”
All of these promises are true and trustworthy because of the resurrection. Jesus wasn’t just some ancient teacher spewing flowery platitudes. He wasn’t just a man who was wise and compassionate but is now long dead. Jesus is our living Lord, and because he has been raised, we can trust that he has the power to keep every promise he has made to us. Because he has been raised, his ministry of healing and restoration and the forgiveness of sin can and does continue.
Are there things you are carrying today that you don’t need to be carrying? Are there assumptions about this world and about your life that are weighing you down? Is there something you may have forgotten? Like the women at the tomb on the first Easter morning, there are things we all need to remember. There are things we all need to be reminded of. I know I do.
Not long before his death from cancer in 2023, pastor and author Timothy Keller and his wife Kathy did an interview for a show on YouTube. Timothy Keller served for many years as pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. He was the founder of the Gospel Coalition. He wrote many well-loved books about Jesus and the gospel. In this interview he talked about how in the midst of all of his suffering from cancer, he and his wife kept reminding each other that Jesus had been raised. Even the great Timothy Keller needed to be reminded! At that point in the interview, he then looked directly into the camera and said, “If Jesus Christ was really, truly, raised from the dead – you know what? – everything is going to be alright. Whatever you’re worried about right now, whatever you’re afraid of, everything is actually going to be okay.”
Dear friends, on this Easter Sunday God invites you to set down those things you don’t need to be carrying. On this day of joy and hope and celebration, God reminds you of what Jesus has said, of the promises he has made to you. On this day of resurrection, God reminds you of what happened on the third day. Jesus rose again, just as he said he would.
So set down those burial spices and be reminded of this: Jesus was really, truly raised from the dead – and because of that, everything is going to be alright.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
by Jeffrey Spencer | Apr 16, 2025 | Sermons
CLICK HERE for a worship video for April 13
Sermon for Palm Sunday – April 13, 2025
Luke 23:39-43
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
It was early enough in his crucifixion that he was able to get the words out. He still had enough breath that he could speak. There had been the lightning-sharp pain screaming between his middle and ring fingers as the nails were driven through the median nerves in his wrists, contorting his hands. After his cross had been raised, there was the heavy weight of gravity relentlessly pulling on his body, straining his lungs. His heart pounded with effort, making his head throb. But he still had some breath in him, and he used that breath to address the man being crucified next to him: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
It was a prayer, really. Not that he was a religious man. He had abandoned God’s ways long ago. He knew he stood condemned. He readily admitted it. He knew he was getting what he deserved. He had violated the law – not only Roman law, but God’s law. He had broken God’s commandments. The bad choices he had made flashed before his eyes – the people he had hurt, the disappointment in his father’s eyes, the tears in his mother’s. His life had come to this, being nailed to a Roman cross and put on humiliating display as a deterrent to the public, as an example to others of the consequences of sin.
Somehow he knew that the man next to him was not on the cross because of his own sin. Somehow he knew that Jesus was not similarly guilty. When his partner in crime started taunting Jesus, he rebuked him, saying: “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Maybe he was familiar with Jesus’ ministry in the region. Maybe he heard about him in prison in the hours before being brought out for crucifixion. Maybe he heard the women wailing his name at the foot of his cross. Maybe he heard Jesus forgiving the very men who nailed him to his cross. Whatever it was, he knew that Jesus was innocent. He did not belong on that cross. He was not guilty of anything. He was there for some other reason.
Some had been calling Jesus the King of the Jews. There was even a sign over his head with those very words. It had been put there as a cruel joke, but this criminal somehow came to believe that in some strange way it was actually true. And so, as his lungs bore the crushing weight of sin and death pulling on him, weighing him down, he managed to breathe out these words: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And when he did so, Jesus turned his face to him and said, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
What Jesus was promising this man was more than an umbrella drink under a palm tree, which is how many of us picture paradise. The word “paradise” is the same word used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament to refer to the Garden of Eden. In Greek version of the Old Testament, the world in which Adam and Eve lived before the fall is literally called “the Paradise of Eden.” What Jesus was promising this man was a return to Eden before it had been ruined by sin. He was promising him a return to the paradise of that garden where everything was declared by God to be very good. Jesus was promising him a return to that state of being wherein human beings lived in right relationship with God, and each other, and creation. Jesus was promising him that he would be in that garden where sin does not exist and so mourning and crying and pain would not exist either. Jesus promised that he would be there with him. “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
This brief, two-sentence interaction between this criminal and Jesus shows us what this whole bloody mess of Jesus’ Passion is all about. We have a prayer, and we have a promise, and taken together, they get at the very heart of the gospel.
In the criminal’s prayer we have a repentant sinner turning to Jesus in faith and trust and hope, and his prayer is immediately answered with a promise, the promise of a return to paradise – the paradise of the Garden, the paradise of a life free from the weight of sin and death, the paradise of a life restored to right relationship with God.
In crucifying this criminal, the Romans gave us an example alright – but it was not the example they were expecting. By turning to Jesus with his prayer, this criminal gives us an example of faith. By placing his trust in the man being crucified next to him, this criminal went from being humiliated to being heaven-bound. He went from the consequences of sin to the forgiveness of sin. He went from pain to the promise of paradise. He is remembered two thousand years later not only for his crime, but for his prayer and for the promise he received.
We come to worship week after week bearing crosses of our own. We come with prayers of our own. The gravity of sin and death weigh heavily upon us. The consequences of sin – whether our own or that of others or the fallenness of creation itself – has us all gasping for air at times, trying to catch our breath. There are times when the pain of life in a fallen world seems like too much to bear. With all of the mourning and crying and pain in and around us, we are reminded on a daily basis that we do not live in Eden.
But as we lift our eyes to Jesus on his cross, we find a savior who is still answering the prayers of those who turn to him in repentance and faith. As we turn to our crucified savior in faith and trust, we too receive a promise from him. “Your sins are forgiven,” he says to us. “This is my body, my blood, shed for you,” he tells us. Even now we are with him. Even now we begin to live into the reconciliation he has won for us. Even now he is beside us, speaking his word to us.
“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise,” he says. The promise our Lord Jesus made to the dying criminal is the same promise he made to us in our baptism, when we were marked with his cross and joined to his saving work.
And so today we are no longer under a sentence of condemnation. Instead, we live in the promise of paradise.
Today we can live in hope and in peace, trusting that sin and death will not have the last word over us. Jesus will have the last word, and he promises us that we will be with him, in Eden, forever.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
by Jeffrey Spencer | Apr 10, 2025 | Sermons
CLICK HERE for a worship video for April 3
Sermon for the Fifth Sunday of Lent – April 6, 2025
John 12:1-8
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
It has to have been the strangest dinner party ever. First of all, it was being held at the home of a guy who was, just a few days before, very much dead. Lazarus, whom Jesus had called out of the tomb, had now changed out of his grave clothes. All his mummy wrappings had been rolled up and put away, and he was now, along with his sisters Mary and Martha, hosting a dinner party for Jesus and his disciples.
And as if a formerly dead guy hosting a dinner party weren’t strange enough, at some point during the meal, his sister Mary got up and retrieved a very expensive bottle of perfume from her room. This bottle cost her a good 300 denarii, which was a full year’s worth of wages for a common laborer. It was probably the most expensive single item Lazarus, Mary, and Martha owned between the three of them! Martha and Lazarus probably wondered what their sister was up to. But without offering a single word of explanation, Mary took that bottle, knelt down before Jesus, and poured it onto his feet.
But it gets even more strange: Mary then let down her hair. In the ancient world, virtually all women grew their hair long. This long hair was seen as a powerful symbol of a woman’s femininity, and so whenever women were out in public, they kept it pinned up and covered. It is still like this in some cultures of the world today. My sister, who has long hair, recently traveled to the country of Oman for her work. Oman is in the Middle East, just south of Afghanistan and just east of Iran. Though Oman is allied with the West, it has a very traditional culture, and so whenever my sister left her hotel room, she had to wear a head covering. In these traditional cultures, respectable women only let their hair down in the privacy of their bedrooms. Only their husbands are allowed to see their hair tumble down over their shoulders. It is considered a deeply intimate act. And so as Mary let down her hair, you can imagine the disciples shifting nervously in their seats, averting their eyes, forcing themselves to think about baseball.
And just when you think things couldn’t possibly get even more strange, Mary then used her long hair to wipe Jesus’ feet! In the ancient world, washing the sweaty feet of guests who had walked many miles in sandals was the job of the lowest of servants. And here Mary, the host, was doing it herself, in the middle of dinner, with her hair!
Lazarus and Martha, along with Peter, James, and John, Philip, Thomas and Matthew and the rest of the disciples all sat there in stunned silence, until Judas decided it was time for him to weigh in on the situation. “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” Judas objected. You see, Passover was near, and it was customary to make an offering for the poor at Passover.
But that’s not what Judas’ concern really was. Judas was virtue signaling. That’s what we call it today. He was aligning himself with a cause to make himself look good and to make Mary look bad. He was saying what sounded virtuous while doing exactly nothing to actually alleviate the problem he claimed to be so concerned about. His words were a badge he wore to signal his supposed superiority over Mary. But he was in no way superior to her. In fact, St. John first reminds us that Judas would soon betray Jesus, and then mentions that Judas was a thief who liked to dip his fingers into the common purse to skim off a little for himself.
To Judas, what Mary was doing seemed absurd. To be fair, it likely seemed absurd to the rest of the disciples too. It had to have seemed absurd to Martha and Lazarus, who just watched their sister dump out the most expensive thing she owned on Jesus’ feet and then rub it in with her hair.
But none of it was absurd to Jesus. Jesus told Judas to back off. He told him to leave her alone. Jesus understood that Mary was expressing her love for her him. Jesus explained that she was preparing him for his burial, which was now only days away. “You always have the poor with you,” Jesus said, “but you do not always have me.” Jesus received this extravagant display of love with joy.
As strange as it is, Mary’s behavior has a lot to teach us. In contrast to Judas’ false piety, Mary shows us what a life of true faith looks like – and it is something that always looks a little absurd from the outside.
Mary took what was most valuable to her and gave it to Jesus. She poured out her greatest treasure at his feet. We too are called to use all that we have been given, all that we treasure, all that is valuable to us, in ways that honor our Lord. This includes our giving to the church, which often seems like a huge waste to people outside of it. There have been times when our congregation has been blessed to have received large financial gifts from people who included Oak Harbor Lutheran Church in their wills, and you should hear the howls of their non-Christian relatives when they get wind of it. To them, it is absurd. It is a waste.
But it isn’t just our financial gifts. All that we have is to be used in ways that honor and glorify Christ. This seems absurd to those who only see their resources as a way to pleasure or glorify themselves, but this is what flows out of a heart of faith. Mary could be so generous with her treasures because she had come to treasure her Lord Jesus above everything else.
Mary was worshipping Jesus, kneeling at his feet in adoration and praise. We too are called to worship him as our Lord, as we are doing here today. This, too, is something that many people find absurd. Singing songs to Jesus on a weekend morning when you could be sleeping in? Are you crazy? Theologian Marva Dawn wrote a wonderful book about worship called “A Royal Waste of Time.” It was a tongue-in-cheek title, pointing to how worship is perceived by many people. It, too, seems like a waste.
Mary let down her hair in front of Jesus. While the suggestive nature of this gesture is hard to overlook, it does not symbolize romantic involvement. Jesus would not have seen her in that way. But it does symbolize something pretty close to that. It does symbolize intimacy. It does symbolize vulnerability. It does symbolize Mary letting Jesus see her as very few others in her life ever would. Mary could do this, she could let down her hair before Jesus, only because she felt utterly safe with him. This is faith! This is trust!
We too, male or female, are, spiritually speaking, able to let our hair down before Jesus. We too enjoy this close, intimate relationship with him where we don’t need to hide or cover up anything about ourselves. He already knows anyway! We can be our true, vulnerable selves with him. Even the most intimate parts of our lives, the parts we cover up from most other people, are safe with him. This seems absurd. We often believe we need to put our best, most respectable foot forward – especially before God! But to have faith in Christ is to lay our entire lives at his feet, trusting in his mercy, trusting in his great love for us.
Mary stooped down to serve Jesus, washing his feet with her hair. Jesus would do something very similar for his disciples just a few days later. After he was done washing their feet, he told them that if they wanted to be his disciples, that’s how they should love each other – by taking the form of servants, by living in humble service to one another. Mary powerfully foreshadowed Jesus call to humble service.
We too are called to lives of humble service. As Jesus’ disciples today, we are called to wash his feet by serving one another in humility and love. This is carried out in our vocations, our callings in life – in our families, in the church, in our work, in our community. This seems absurd in a world where everyone is looking out for number one, but as Christians our calling is to be looking out for one another.
As strange as her behavior is, Mary of Bethany teaches us some important things about discipleship. While Judas was crowing with false piety, Mary was modeling true faith as she poured herself out before Jesus in love.
The morning after that strange dinner party with Mary and Martha and Lazarus, Jesus went to Jerusalem. He could probably still smell the perfume on his feet as he made the last leg of his journey. There he was greeted with palm branches and people shouting “Hosanna!” There Jesus showed his love for each of us as he gave himself up for us on the cross. We’ll pick up this part of the story next Sunday as we begin Holy Week.
But we remember even now that on the cross, Jesus poured out more than perfume. He poured out his blood for us. He poured out his life for us. It was a shocking display of love that seemed strange to many. It still seems absurd to a lot of people.
But in his great love for us, Jesus poured himself out for the sake of what he treasures most. He poured himself out for you.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
