by Jeffrey Spencer | May 7, 2024 | Sermons
CLICK HERE for a worship video for May 5
Sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Easter – May 5, 2024
John 15:9-17
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
As we come close to the end of the Easter season, we hit the rewind button. With our gospel reading for today we rewind things back to the time Jesus shared with his disciples before his death and resurrection. We rewind things back to the Upper Room, to the night in which Jesus disclosed to his disciples all that was to come. This was the night in which he stooped down and washed their feet, the night in which he instituted the Lord’s Supper, the night in which he was betrayed. This morning we are rewinding back to take another look at what many of you recognize as what we commemorate on Maundy Thursday during Holy Week.
On that fateful night, Jesus said some remarkable things! Jesus told his disciples he loved them: “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.” He told them he loved them with the highest form of love there is, a love in which one lays down their life for the sake of the beloved. Jesus also promised them joy: “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” Jesus told his disciples that they were his friends. “I no longer call you servants…but I have called you friends.” Jesus assured them that he had chosen them. In spite of their bickering, in spite of their power struggles with one another, in spite of their sin, their foolishness and failures, in spite of their upcoming denials and doubts, Jesus had chosen them. “You did not choose me,” Jesus told them, “but I chose you.”
On that holy night with his disciples there was one pledge of love after another! There was one love-soaked promised after another! And then Jesus told his beloved disciples, his dear friends, to abide in this love. They were to remain in it. They were to hang on to it. They were to center their lives in it.
And it is through abiding in this love that wonderful things would start to happen. They would willingly begin to keep his commandments. Their hearts would be changed by his love such that they would want to live in obedience to him. There would be no begrudging on their side or coercion on his. The love of Jesus would compel their willing obedience to his commandments.
As John says in our epistle reading, when someone loves God, his commandments are not burdensome. It is like the vows a husband and wife make to each other. When their love is strong, those vows are not a burden. They are not done begrudgingly or enforced coercively. A healthy relationship steeped in love sees the vows as a delight. They are willingly kept. This is what God’s love will make possible, Jesus says. “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.” Obedience and abiding in love are inextricably connected to one another.
For you language geeks out there, the verbs in this passage are all in the indicative mood. They are describing something inevitable. Jesus is not saying, “I’ll love you if you do this,” or “I’ll be your friend if you do this.” He is telling his disciples that when they abide in his love, this is what will happen. They will begin to keep his commandments.
And these commandments have their highest fulfillment in the way the disciples will love one another. “This is my commandment,” Jesus says, “that you love one another.” And then later, he says again: “I am giving you these commandments so that you may love one another.”
Jesus tells them that abiding in his love will result in fruit, fruit that will last! This is to say, good things will grow out of it. Jesus will grow in them the fruits of faith, and love, and peace, and joy, and these fruits will last. They will last into eternity.
Well, now let’s fast forward. Let’s fast forward all the way past the resurrection, past the book of Acts, where we see all this playing out. Let’s fast forward all the way to today. Today we hear these words of Jesus from so long ago in the Upper Room – and in the hearing, Jesus now speaks them to us! We believe the scriptures are more than just a record of something Jesus said a long time ago. It is God’s living word to us today. In the hearing of his Word, God speaks them anew to us!
And the first thing for us to hear this morning is the love that our Lord Jesus has for us! “As the Father has loved me,” Jesus says to us, “so I have loved you.” Having given his life for us on the cross, Jesus loves us with the highest form of love there is!
Jesus promises us joy: “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” Joy is not to be confused with happiness, which is circumstantial. Joy is so much deeper. True joy is what happens when the love of God enters into our lives in such a way that everything else, both good and bad, pales in comparison. True joy is the sense of being centered and secure in God’s eternal love, no matter what our current circumstances might be.
Jesus tells us that we are his friends. “I no longer call you servants,” Jesus says, “but I have called you friends.”
Jesus tells us he has chosen us. “You did not choose me, but I chose you,” Jesus says to us. We like to believe that we call the shots in our lives, that we are the ones making the decisions, but when it comes to Jesus, it is utterly clear: “You did not choose me. I chose you.” And he really means you, you know. The Lord Jesus, in the speaking of his Word here and now, has chosen you. In spite of every mistake you have ever made, in spite of every act of foolishness, in spite of every failure, he has chosen you. And he has chosen you not merely to be his servant, but to be his friend.
As we hear all these pledges of love from Jesus, all these love-soaked promises, we too are invited to abide in this love. We are called to remain in it, to cling to it, to center our lives on it. And it is through abiding in the love of Jesus that wonderful things start to happen. We see these wonderful things happening in our congregation. We see them happening in each other.
We see them as lives are gradually changed from resenting God’s commandments to embracing them, from only ever being accused by them to seeing them as no longer burdensome, as John says. As we abide in Christ’s love, the commandments become something we freely strive to keep out of gratitude and love.
And the commandments have their highest fulfillment in the way we love one another. As we abide in the love of Jesus, we start to love each other in the same way he loves us. We become a fellowship of self-giving love. We become friends in Christ who serve one another – not because it is our duty as servants, but because we come to delight in it as friends in Christ.
This love for each other goes a long way in bringing us joy, even in the midst of hardship, even in the midst of sorrow. I see it in the way the members of this congregation take care of each other, especially when there is an urgent need. I see it in the way you weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. I see it in the way you find and accompany and support one another in difficult times. I see it in your generosity towards one another. I see God’s love embodied in the things you do for each other and the joy it brings, in spite of difficult circumstances.
The year my mother died a woman in our congregation came back from a trip to Norway with a gift for me. It was a Norwegian sweater. I’m Norwegian on my mom’s side – and she knows that – and so the gift really touched me. Another part of the backstory is that this woman lost her own son several years ago. So here was a mother who lost her son giving this gift to a son who lost his mother. She handed me the bag, I peeked inside, we smiled at each other, sharing an unspoken moment. It took me a couple of tries to say thank you, because I was all choked up.
For me, it wasn’t just the generosity, it wasn’t just the thoughtfulness, though I was deeply moved by both. It felt more like God filling an absence in our hearts through the love of Christian friends. It felt more like a joy born of fellowship that somehow transcended our sorrows.
The point of this little story is not that you should buy presents for your pastor whenever you travel. The point is that God does wondrous things in and among those who abide in his love. The point is that Jesus gives us his love through each other so that his joy may be in us, and so that our joy may be complete. I know you have stories of your own about how you have received God’s love through friends in Christ. I know you have stories of joy reaching you in the midst of sorrow. That’s what happens! This is what Christian community is all about. When we abide in the love of Jesus, that love bears fruit, fruit that lasts!
Is there bickering in the church? Oh yes. Are there power struggles? Um, yeah! How much time do you have? Do we fail to love Christ and one another at times? Yes we do, and I am as guilty as anyone else. But just as Jesus chose the bickering, betraying, denying, doubting, and stumbling disciples, so too has he chosen us – not because we are worthy, but because we are loved. “Just as the Father has loved me, so I have loved you,” Jesus says.
Abide in his love. Rest in it. Cling to it. Center your life in it. And then watch for the wonderful things that are sure to come.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
by Jeffrey Spencer | Apr 30, 2024 | Sermons
CLICK HERE for a worship video for April 28
Sermon for the Fifth Sunday of Easter – April 28, 2024
John 15:1-8
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
I want to admit up front that I am not much of a gardener. We’ve had some decent gardens over the years, but all the credit for that goes to my wife. I do the unskilled labor and she does the rest. I do, however, understand the basics of gardening. I understand that it involves both subtraction and addition. It involves both pruning and feeding. Whether you’re growing roses or tomatoes or grapes, in order to get the best results, you need to both take some things out of the picture and introduce other things. Some things need to be cut out or removed, while other things need to be added or bestowed or given.
On the route I take for my morning run there’s a house where just about every year a guy grows a giant pumpkin in his side yard. I’ve run this same route for years now, and I’ve seen how he does things. Once a particularly promising pumpkin takes shape, he pinches off all the other branches. They are dead ends. Any new flowers or new buds get pinched off. They will only hinder the growth of the pumpkin he is trying to grow. He prunes the vine so that all the nutrients can go to the pumpkin, helping it grow. He is also diligent about pulling out any weeds growing nearby. They will only sap nutrients from the soil, taking them away from the pumpkin. He makes sure nothing is growing nearby which blocks the sunlight, cutting back anything that might impede that wondrous process of photosynthesis.
He not only prunes, he also feeds. He makes sure the pumpkin gets what it needs to grow – not only sunlight, but water and food. I see him out there some mornings with his hose. He enriches the soil with plant food and fertilizer to get that good nitrogen and potassium into the ground. This nourishment comes through the vine, which delivers the goods to the pumpkin, making it grow.
This morning we hear another one of the great “I AM” statements of Jesus. Last Sunday we heard Jesus say, “I AM the good shepherd.” Today we hear him say, “I AM the vine.” Jesus goes on to say that we are the branches and his Father is the vine grower, or the gardener. As Jesus unpacks this word picture, he describes for us how he and God the Father are at work in our lives.
God the Father is glorified by the fruit he grows in us. This is first and foremost the fruit of faith, faith in his Son. This faith, however, goes on to blossom into the fruits St. Paul describes as the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians, which include love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, and self-control. These are some of the fruits God loves to grow in us. And this happens through both subtraction and addition.
God the Father goes to work on us through the Word pinch off those buds that prevent us from bearing fruit, those offshoots that only lead us away from him. Our gardener God speaks a Word of law, a word of command, a word that convicts us, in order to pinch off our false gods, our misplaced trust, our dead-end hopes.
“Oh, you think your accomplishments in life are what saves you? Nope, that’s my job.” Pinch. “Oh, you think THAT is what is going to give you peace and joy in life? Nope. You will only find it in me.” Pinch. “Oh, you think the next election is what is going to decide the fate of the world? Nope, again, that’s me.” Pinch. God pinches off anything that threatens to become more important to us than him, any offshoot that begins to draw precious resources away from what is most important, which is faith in him.
Our gardener God also uses his Word to prune away our sinful desires, our sinful attitudes, our sinful behaviors. There is no place for them in his vineyard, and so he cuts them away. This is not a once-and-done thing, but an ongoing process – just like it is in any garden. The author of Hebrews tells us God’s Word is a two-edged sword. We could also call this Word a set of sharp pruning shears. God uses these pruning shears to shape us into fruitful branches that give him glory, training us in righteousness and holiness, coaxing out of us those fruits of faith. Because weeds are plentiful and aggressive, because they grow so easily in our hearts, because they sap energy away from the bearing of good fruit, there is a constant need for the ongoing work of subtraction, of snipping them away, cutting them out of our lives. God does this work through the two-bladed garden shears of his Word.
But our gardener God doesn’t just snip and pinch. Our gardener God also nourishes. Our gardener God bestows good things upon us to make sure we have what we need for us branches to bear good fruit. And God delivers the goods through his Son, who is the Vine. Through the conduit of this Vine that is Christ our gardener God waters us and feeds us.
In Holy Baptism we are first grafted into the Vine through a water of rebirth. “You have already been cleansed by the word I have spoken to you,” Jesus told his disciples. In Holy Baptism Jesus speaks his cleansing word to us. As we return to the font, we are watered again and again through the life-giving promises we have been given: We are forgiven. We are loved. We are his, now and forever. What a refreshing Word to have splashed over us again and again!
In Holy Communion we are fed with the spiritual nutrients we need so that faith would grow in us. We literally take the fruit of the Vine into our bodies. We receive the bread that is Christ, who nourishes and strengthens us in his grace.
What is our role in all of this? Jesus tells us that the only thing for us to do is to abide in him. “Abide in me as I abide in you,” Jesus says. “Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.”
To abide is simply to “remain in.” To abide is to remain in Christ. It is to stay connected to the Vine. The Christian life is about communion with Christ, staying close to him, resting in him, letting him deliver the goods of his grace and love to you.
This is what John is getting at in our epistle reading for today when he writes: “God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.”
We abide in Jesus through prayer, through being in his Word, through showing up and participating in the life of his church, receiving what he has to give us. We abide in Jesus by staying connected to him, as he so faithfully stays connected to us. We abide in Jesus simply by being branches who are connected to the Vine, simply by letting God tend to us as our good and gracious gardener who goes to work on us through his Word, pruning and feeding, trimming here and bestowing there.
Jesus is the Vine, and you are the branches. Through Baptism and Holy Communion and his Word you have been connected to him. Apart from the Vine, we can do nothing. But as we abide in him who is our life-giving Vine, God continues to give us what we need in order to grow faith in us, faith that blossoms in the kinds of fruit that give him glory.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
by Jeffrey Spencer | Apr 30, 2024 | Sermons
CLICK HERE for a worship video for April 21
Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Easter – April 21, 2024
John 10:11-18
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our risen Lord, Jesus Christ.
There is a moment in the Passion reading on Good Friday where I always almost lose it.
If you were here for one of those services, maybe you noticed me struggling with emotion at a certain point, starting to get choked up. If you are in the choir and were here for both services, you may have noticed that it happened at both services at the very same verse. Even though I know it is coming and try to trick myself into not letting it get to me, every year it does.
It’s the verse where Pilate is interrogating Jesus. When Pilate gets frustrated because Jesus isn’t answering his questions anymore, he says, “Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?” And Jesus, who now decides to reply, says, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above.”
I can do it just fine now, but when I read it in the context of Good Friday, I can’t help by think about how this scene is depicted in the movie “The Passion of the Christ.” Jesus is so badly beaten he can barely stand up. He is trembling, unstable on his feet, swaying back and forth from weakness. He does not look at all powerful. And yet, there is incredible power in his words. His words make it clear that he has chosen this. Despite all appearances, he is in control. He knows exactly what he is doing. He is willingly laying down his life.
In our gospel reading for today Jesus describes himself as the Good Shepherd. This image is rich with meaning. We rightly associate it with the 23rd psalm, which is our appointed psalm for today. Jesus is the Good Shepherd David wrote about in this beloved psalm. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who leads us to green pastures and still waters, restoring our souls. He is the Good Shepherd who is with us in the valley of the shadow of death. He leads us in right pathways. His rod and staff comfort us. He is the Good Shepherd who prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies. He is the Good Shepherd who makes it possible for us to dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
This is all wonderful and true. Jesus does for us all the good things that good shepherds do for their sheep. But he does this in a specific and totally unexpected way. He does it by laying down his life for his sheep.
This is all over our gospel reading for today. Our reading begins with Jesus saying, “I am the good shepherd.” And then, in the very next verse, he describes what this good shepherd does. He describes what makes him good. “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep,” Jesus says. And just to make sure we get the point, he goes on to mention his laying down his life for the sheep four more times. Altogether, Jesus mentions it five times in eight verses!
This goes far beyond regular shepherding. No shepherd in the ancient world, even a really good one, loved their sheep so much that they would lay down their lives for them! But this is precisely what Jesus did for his flock. Jesus laid down his life for his sheep. He did it willingly. He did it out of his great love. He did it to save us.
There was a story some time back about a father who was on a vacation in Florida with his wife and four daughters. His youngest daughter, a 16-year-old named Grace, was swimming in the ocean and got caught in a riptide – one of those currents that pulls you away from the shore. Two of his adult daughters noticed her first and went out to help, but they got caught in it too. The 53-year-old dad then went out for them. He managed to keep all three of his daughters’ heads above water while a family friend swam out with a rescue board.
Once the girls were safely clinging to the board, the father lost consciousness and slipped beneath the surface. He was pulled to shore by some bystanders. CPR was administered, but he did not survive. His last words to his daughters, while they were out there in the water, were, “I got you.” And he did have them. He saved them. He laid down his life for them. He spent every last ounce of strength and breath he had so that they would live.
In looking up this story on the internet to refresh my memory of some of the details, the keywords in my internet search brought up about ten other stories which were similar. It turns out a lot of dads have died saving their kids from riptides. And while these were all tragic accidents, while nobody wishes for these things to happen in the first place, I don’t think a single one of those dads would have regretted laying down their lives if that’s what it took to save their children.
We recognize this as the highest form of love.To lay down one’s life for another is the highest form of love. We often see it in the love both moms and dads have for their children. I’ve seen it between spouses as well. I’ve seen it when one spouse is fighting a terminal illness and the other tells me with utter sincerity, “I wish it were me instead.” They love their wife or husband so much that they wish they could take it all upon themselves. If it were possible, they would be willing to lay down their lives for them.
With Jesus, this is not only possible – it has happened. He took our death upon himself so that we would live. And he did it out of his great love for us.He loves us – he loves YOU – that much!
Jesus tells his disciples he has other sheep who do not belong to this fold. He tells them he must bring them also. Jesus is talking about the Gentiles here. He is talking about those who had been outside of the covenant. He has come to bring them in. He’s talking about us! He’s talking about you! His sheep, Jesus goes on to say, now include all those who listen to his voice.
As sheep, we often go astray. We often lose our way. As sheep we often find ourselves in danger. Sometimes this is because of our own stupidity and stubbornness. Other times it is because of the powerful currents all around us that are constantly trying to pull us away from God and into sin and death and despair.
But Jesus, the Good Shepherd, has come into our world and into our lives to rescue us. He has come to lay down his life for us in order to save us. He has the power to do this! Not only does he have the power to lay down his life for us, but he also has the power to take it up again! And because he is a crucified and RISEN Lord, we can still hear his voice. He continues to speak his word to us. He continues to shepherd us, to guide us. He continues to save us. His voice leads us to green pastures and still waters. His Word restores our souls. His voice leads us in paths of righteousness. His Word is our comfort when we’re in the valley of the shadow of death. His voice speaks to us of goodness and mercy which follow us all the days of our lives. His Word assures us that we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. His sheep are those who listen to his voice and trust it.
I think what gets to me on Good Friday when reading that verse is that it reminds me that what happened to Jesus was not an accident. He knew what he was doing. Even as he was going to his death, he said to Pilate, “You would have no power over me were it not given from above.” In that moment, Jesus tips his cards. He shows that he is not someone who has been randomly swept up by events beyond his control. He knows exactly what he is doing. Jesus was willingly laying down his life for his sheep. He was willingly laying down his life for us, for you, for me. He loves us that much!
There are many pretenders out there who want to be our shepherds. There are those who are only interested in us for what we can do for them, how we can line their pockets or advance their agendas. “Hired hands,” Jesus called them. There are many voices out there trying to lure us one direction or another.
But when the wolves are at the door, there is only one truly Good Shepherd. There is only one who can save us. There is only one who has the power to lay down his life for us and then take it up again, rescuing us from sin and death.
Listen to the voice of your Good Shepherd today. Listen to the One who loves you so much that he willingly laid down his life for you. Listen to the One who is with you in the valley and at the table. Listen to the One who has come to rescue you. Listen to the One meets you in the water and says, “I got you.”
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev, Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
by Jeffrey Spencer | Apr 9, 2024 | Sermons
CLICK HERE for a worship video for April 7
Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter – April 7, 2024
John 20:19-31
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our risen Lord Jesus Christ.
What do you think of when you think of “peace?”
For many people, the first thing that comes to mind is global politics. We long for peace in Ukraine. We long for peace in the Middle East. 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, in this framework, is similar to tranquility or calmness. Peace is what The Eagles sang about in their 1972 hit, “Peaceful, Easy Feeling.” It is a feeling. It includes a quiet mind and a relaxed body. It is how someone might feel while soaking in a hot tub, or when they are deep into their second glass of wine.
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 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, “Hey guys, what’s up?” This was not merely a greeting; it was a proclamation. Jesus was assuring them that they were in right relationship with him. Jesus was telling them that everything was now right again. His resurrection meant that everything had been fixed, everything had been restored. With these words, “Peace be with you,” Jesus wasn’t just saying “Good evening, bros!” He was giving them 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 they had seen the risen Lord, they weren’t anticipating anything he had promised. 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 balled them out a little bit, right?
But no. The first word Jesus had for these failed disciples is, “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. This is what peace means. 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 also 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 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 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. 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.
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 Thomas who was moved from doubts 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! And at this point John 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! Even as global wars rage and countless hostilities on scales large and small continue, Christ has brought a peace into our world, and into our lives, through his resurrection. This peace is more than a feeling. Feelings come and go. 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. His peace is a peace the world cannot give us. It is a peace which passes all understanding.
Jesus Christ has made peace between us and God. Our relationship with God has been realigned, re-ordered, and eternally restored. Your sin is forgiven, and so you can stop hiding from God. Christ has conquered sin and death, and so you don’t need to be afraid of anything anymore. These things have been written down so that you would not doubt, but believe that Jesus Christ is your Lord and your God, and that through believing, you would have life in his name.
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. Christ has been raised, and he bestows his peace upon you today through his living Word. As you receive it, you are given a new life. As you come to believe it, God smiles at you as his beloved child and says, “ah, shalom!”
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
by Jeffrey Spencer | Apr 9, 2024 | Sermons
CLICK HERE for a worship video for March 31
Sermon for the Resurrection of our Lord – March 31, 2024
Mark 16:1-9
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our risen Lord, Jesus Christ.
If the account of the resurrection in Mark’s gospel was an episode in a TV series, you’d yell at the TV at the ending. You might even throw something at the TV screen. You’d holler: “No! It can’t end there! The story isn’t over! They left us hanging! The plot hasn’t been resolved!”
We hear this account of the resurrection every third year in our cycle of readings, and it has to be the oddest of the three. The reading ends without an appearance of the resurrected Jesus. I mean, he doesn’t even make a brief cameo! The women who came to the tomb don’t get to see him. They only hear that he is risen from a mysterious young man in a white robe who is weirdly hanging out in Jesus’ tomb. At the end of this account in Mark, these women are not filled with hope or peace or joy – the things we often associate with Easter. Instead, they are filled with terror and astonishment and fear. Instead of joyfully proclaiming, “We have seen the Lord,” the reading ends with the women not saying anything to anyone.
“No, it can’t end there!”
The story doesn’t end there, of course. I’ll say more about that in a minute. But as odd and unsatisfying as this account of the resurrection may well be, I think it does a good job of meeting many of us where we often find ourselves on Easter Sunday.
For these women, the reality of the resurrection took a while to sink in. It didn’t immediately result in joy. The implications of the resurrection hadn’t yet unfolded in their hearts. Jesus had told them he would be crucified and then raised on the third day. He told them this at least three times. The young man in the white robe pointed this out when he said, “he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” Everything was unfolding just as Jesus had told them it would, but none of it seems to have sunk in with any of them. And so instead of peace, there was terror in their hearts. Instead of hope, there was confusion. Instead of joy, there was fear.
Can you identify with these women? Because I can.
As some of you know, 2024 got off to a rough start for my wife and me. In short order we had four people we cared about die, one after another. These were all people pretty close to our age. One was a neighbor. One was a beloved former member of our congregation with whom we stayed in touch. Two were people we raised our kids alongside in MOPS and in Scouts. It was like getting kicked in the stomach four times in a row. Pow, pow, pow, pow.
Just as we were catching our breath, we received word more recently that our dear friend and former campus pastor up at Western Washington University died suddenly. I asked my wife out for the first time in his van. He did our premarital counseling and preached at our wedding. He preached at my ordination. He was here for my installation at Oak Harbor Lutheran. When I’ve found myself in serious crisis situations in ministry, he was always the first person I would call. Suddenly, without warning, he is gone. No chance to say goodbye. No chance to say thank you.
I’m not sharing any of this to garner sympathy. I’m not mentioning it to portray myself as having it harder than anyone else. I most certainly don’t.
I’m mentioning it because I want you to know I’m not preaching from some kind of spiritual ivory tower up here. Even someone who has dedicated his life to the proclamation of the gospel sometimes has times when the reality of the resurrection takes time to sink in, when the implications of Jesus’ victory over death aren’t immediately apparent, when the hope and joy of Easter are slow in coming. I’m mentioning it so that you’ll trust that when I say “we,” I really mean “we.” And we often feel like death is winning – in our lives, and in our world.
And so, we are often like the women in Mark’s gospel in that the good news of Jesus’ victory over death sometimes takes a while to sink in. Sometimes the implications of Jesus’ resurrection take a while to reach certain parts of our hearts, especially a freshly broken heart – and until they do, we often find ourselves confused and trembling and afraid.
Maybe that’s where you find yourself on this Easter morning. Maybe you’re a visitor today and you’re hearing this strange news that Jesus is risen and you just aren’t sure what to make of it, or what difference it could possibly make for you. Maybe you are a regular worshiper here and have heard the promises of our Lord Jesus over and over again, but they haven’t quite stuck, or they haven’t quite reached certain parts of your life. Maybe you’ve been kicked in the stomach recently by losses in your life, or reminders of your own mortality, or concerns about the well-being of loved ones, and all you can feel at the moment is an unsettled fear.
We find kindred spirits today in these women at the tomb. We find our lives, our experiences, reflected in them, enshrined in the pages of God’s holy Word.
But, my friends, God loves us too much to leave us where we are. Today is a day for the reality of the resurrection to sink in. Today is a day for Christ’s promises to sink in deep enough to touch those tender or sore spots in our lives. Today is a day for the needle to be moved away from confusion and fear and towards hope and peace and joy.
Because you see, the story didn’t end there. Those women did not stay silent forever. Eventually, they brought word to the disciples that Christ was risen. They brought word specifically to Peter, as the mysterious young man in a white robe specifically told them to. Did you notice that? “Go, tell his disciples, and Peter.” Peter, you see, had the most stubborn and confused heart of all. This is the guy who once dared to rebuke Jesus and got called Satan for doing so. This is the guy who said, “I can walk to you on the water, Jesus!” and then immediately sank. This is the guy who, when Jesus was arrested, just as he told them he would, drew a sword and tried to prevent it from happening. “Put your sword away, Peter,” Jesus had to tell him. This is the guy who, in a moment of spiritual bravado, swore that he would never deny Jesus, and then, as soon as Jesus was dragged away, proceeded to deny him not once, not twice, but three times. This is the guy who, with the rest of the disciples, had been told by Jesus on multiple occasions that he would die and then rise again on the third day, and then, when the third day came, spent it in hiding, sure that his Lord was dead and gone. “Go, tell his disciples, and Peter,” the young man in white told them. “Make sure you tell Peter! He really needs to know that Christ is risen!”
God seems to have a special concern for those of us who really need to know that Christ is risen. And so he has a special concern for you. God has a special concern that you know it. God is so concerned that you know it, that here is a man in a white robe to tell you! I may not be all that mysterious, and I certainly can’t call myself young anymore, but that’s my job today! It is my job to make sure you hear the good news that Christ is risen. It is my job to proclaim this message, so that the reality of the resurrection can being to sink in a little deeper for you.
And here is the reality of what happened: Jesus, who was crucified and died, was raised. This was a literal, bodily, physical resurrection. His heart, which had stopped, began to beat again. His brain, which ceased all activity, began to spark again with electricity. His cells, which had begun to decompose, reversed course and began to hum again with life. His flesh, which had become cold and rigid, grew warm and pliant again. He got up and walked out of the tomb. Death was overcome.
As St. Paul points out in our epistle reading for today, Jesus appeared to Cephas (that’s Peter) and the Twelve, and then to more than 500 brothers and sisters at once, and then to James, and then to all the apostles, and then he appeared to Paul himself. Many of these people ate with Jesus. Some of them touched his body, putting their fingers in his wounds. He was not a ghost. He was not merely “alive in their hearts or their memories.” His body was resurrected. God raised him up. And in so doing, the curse of death was reversed.
This is a victory Christ promises to share with us. By his resurrection, Jesus Christ has undone the permanence of death, and he promises to share his resurrected life with us. Because he lives, we shall live also! Death does not win! It does not have the last word!
This good news is really for you. Your sin doesn’t get in the way of it. Your stubborn or confused heart doesn’t stop Jesus from putting this good news in your ears. If God made sure Peter got this word after all his screw-ups, don’t you think this word is for you too? Just listen to Peter himself, who preaches his own Easter sermon in our first reading, telling the world that God raised Jesus from the dead and that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. Peter personally knew the restoration Christ brings, and he knows it is for you too.
Death continues to be its own painful reality, to be sure. Don’t be ashamed or embarrassed when you find yourself sad or scared. Sometimes the reality of the resurrection needs time to sink in before we can feel that hope and peace and joy taking hold in our hearts.
But know this: Because of the resurrection, for those who are in Christ Jesus, death is no longer to be thought of as a permanent condition. Christ has promised us that a day is coming when death will be no more, when mourning and crying and pain will be no more. The aching absences we feel when we lose friends or loved ones will not be there forever. The confusion and fear that hangs over us in times of sorrow or sickness will all give way to eternal joy in the kingdom our Lord has established for us.
Let this promise sink in today. Let it reach those parts of your life that it hasn’t yet touched. Put your faith in the One who has conquered death for you, and that peace and joy will start to break into your life even now.
The Easter story doesn’t ultimately end with an empty tomb, but with a living Jesus. This resurrected Lord has conquered death, and he promises to share that victory with you. And so when the last episode of your earthly life concludes, that won’t be the end of your story either.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
by Jeffrey Spencer | Mar 25, 2024 | Sermons
CLICK HERE for a worship video for March 24
Sermon for Palm/Passion Sunday – March 24, 2024
Mark 15:1-39
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
There was a scene from “The Simpsons” from many years ago which has stuck with me, for reasons which will become obvious. Homer Simpson, through his own stupidity (as usual) finds himself in grave danger. The details aren’t important, but if you’re wondering, he’s in a bucket truck floating down a river, about to sink. Homer, high up in the boom bucket of the truck but sinking fast, falls to his knees in a posture of prayer. He folds his hands piously and says, “I’m normally not a praying man, but if you’re up there, please, save me Superman!”
If you’ll forgive the silly illustration on such a spiritually serious day, I think it helps us to understand this jarring transition we experience as we move so quickly from palms being waved in celebration to reeds being used to strike Jesus, from shouts of “Hosanna” to shouts of “Crucify him,” from a joyful procession to a horrific crucifixion, from palms to the Passion.
You see, the crowds waving palm branches at Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem were not unlike Homer Simpson. These were people who were in trouble. They were sinking under Roman oppression. These were people who needed help, who needed saving. In fact, the word “Hosanna” literally means, “come and save us!”
But the adoring crowds cheering for Jesus were expecting a Superman of sorts. They were expecting a strong man who would swoop in and rescue them from all their problems. They were expecting a king in the mold of David. They said as much: “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David.” They believed they were welcoming a Man of Steel who would flex on the Romans and restore their kingdom to its former glory. “Hosanna!” they cried. “Save us, Superman!”
The crowds were not wrong in celebrating Jesus’ arrival. They were not wrong in treating him as a Messianic figure. For the first time, Jesus let people publicly celebrate him as such! Jesus seemed to soak it all in as he made his way through the city gate on the back of a donkey. Those Messianic shouts and accolades and praises were appropriate. The people were not wrong in placing their hope in him. They were not wrong in shouting “Hosanna.” They were not wrong in expecting that he had come to save them. He had!
But they were very wrong about what he would save them from, and how he would do it.
When this became evident, the people turned on him pretty quickly. Notice how when Pilate offered to release a prisoner for them, they chose Barabbas – an insurrectionist. He was a rebel against Rome. He was a strong man, a fighter. This is a very revealing choice. This was the kind of savior they were looking for – someone who would help them build their earthly kingdom.
Even the disciples turned on Jesus, each in their own way. Judas outright betrayed him. Peter denied even knowing him. They all ditched him after he was arrested.
We heard the gory details of what happened to Jesus next. He was beaten with a whip. He had a crown of thorns painfully pressed onto his head. He was struck with a reed. He was cruelly mocked and spit on. His hands and feet were nailed to a cross. Then he was lifted up from the earth, just as he said he would be. He hung there by the tendons in his wrists for six hours, his life slowly draining away, until he gave out a loud cry and breathed his last.
This certainly didn’t look like a Superman type of savior. Jesus didn’t look like he was saving anyone. He looked like he needed saving himself! That’s what some of the people at the foot of the cross said! They heard him say, “Eloi, Eloi,” and misheard him, thinking he was calling for Elijah to come save him.
But something happened the moment Jesus died which shows that he knew exactly what he was doing by being lifted up on the cross. It shows that he was indeed the savior, even if he wasn’t the kind of savior people expected. At the moment of his death the temple curtain was torn in two. There was this enormous curtain in the temple separating the people from the inner sanctum of the temple where God was believed to be most powerfully present. At the very moment Jesus died, this curtain was ripped open! It had stood for centuries as a sort of guard rail preventing sinners from stumbling into the Holy of Holies. It prevented sinners from coming into the presence of the Holy God. And when Jesus breathed his last, this curtain was torn right down the middle. There would no longer be any separation between sinful humanity and a holy God. Jesus had taken the sin of the world upon himself. The wages of sin is death, and Jesus paid it for all of us! And in so doing, he has torn open the curtain, giving us immediate and eternal access to God.
I find it very interesting that the only person in the Passion narrative who recognized Jesus as God’s Son was a soldier, a centurion. Seeing how Jesus gave out a loud cry and then breathed his last, the centurion responded to what he witnessed by saying, “Truly this man was the Son of God.” This centurion had almost certainly seen hundreds of crucifixions before. Maybe thousands. What was different about this one? Yes, there was the eerie darkness that had fallen over the land, but everyone saw that, and they didn’t respond like he did. Some scholars have suggested that it was the way Jesus gave that last loud cry. Usually, victims of crucifixion die of suffocation. They are very quiet at the end. They don’t have any breath left to shout with. Perhaps he saw a unique strength in Jesus, as he gave that last loud shout.
Or maybe this unique strength went deeper. The ethos of a soldier, especially one who was responsible for 100 men, includes an understanding of sacrifice. Yes, they are fighters. Yes, their goal is to defeat their enemies. But every soldier understands that they may be called upon to sacrifice themselves for the sake of others. Perhaps this centurion had a revelation that this was what Jesus was doing. Perhaps he saw in Jesus the unique strength of sacrificial love. Perhaps he saw God at work in Jesus’ sacrifice of himself. Perhaps this is what made him say, “Truly this man was the Son of God.”
When we sing “Hosanna” now – which we do every Sunday in our communion liturgy – we are not asking for Superman to come save us with muscle, with earthly power. We are not calling for a savior who merely comes to help us with our earthly projects. We are not calling for a savior who will swoop in and immediately take all our problems away. We too will have crosses to bear in this life.
When we sing “Hosanna” now, we are welcoming a savior who comes to us in the midst of our problems, in the midst of the crosses we bear, assuring us that we are not alone, and that our suffering will not have the last word.
When we sing “Hosanna” now, we are celebrating the coming of a savior who has saved us from sin and death by dying for us. We are celebrating the savior who has torn the curtain in two, from top to bottom, giving us immediate and intimate and eternal access to God. We are celebrating the savior who took all our sin upon himself so that we could approach God in all boldness and confidence. We are celebrating the savior who sacrificed himself for us, so that we could live in the hope and peace and joy of God’s gracious and forgiving love, today and forever.
Jesus wasn’t the savior anyone expected, but he is indeed the savior we need the most.
And so when we sing “Hosanna” now, we are joining the centurion in looking at our Lord on the cross, and confessing our faith that, “Truly this man was God’s Son.”
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
