Pious Lutheran

“ Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged Him… the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head… and struck Him with their hands… they took Jesus, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull… there they crucified Him… He said “It is finished,” and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. ” As you sit here this Good Friday, meditating on those words of the crucifixion from St. John’s Gospel, what thoughts are fluttering through your mind?  Perhaps the bitter agony and the tormented anguish which Jesus endured sits heavily upon your mind. Maybe you’re contemplating the pain of having nails hammered through His flesh or His skin being shredded to bits when He was flogged. Possibly you’re imagining the difficulty with which He lifted His wounded body to take each wearied breath. But throughout all of those thoughts should be that Jesus, who is both your Lord and Christ, you crucified on account of your sins; Jesus, who is both y...

For many centuries the church has gathered together on Maundy Thursday, the night when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, the night when Jesus was betrayed by Judas, to hear the gospel account from St. John of Jesus washing His disciples’ feet. Interestingly enough, nowhere in John’s Gospel does Jesus institute the Lord’s Supper. That account is present in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and 1 Corinthians, but not John. Nevertheless, we do learn something about the Lord’s Supper in John’s Gospel as well. John’s not instituting a new sacrament of foot washing, He’s teaching us about the Lord’s Supper by teaching us about Jesus’ humility. For when we learn about Jesus we also learn about His supper. Tonight we learn that Christ loves us by His humble service through cleansing us of our sins. Tonight’s Gospel is framed within the context of the crucifixion: “ When Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father. ” Not only that, but more specifically it’s framed withi...

2 ½ months ago, on the first Sunday of Advent, we read this same gospel account of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  At that time, we read it with the expectation of Christ’s birth, that our King is coming; Christmas is coming! Today, we read it on the last Sunday of Lent, just days before Good Friday and the crucifixion. So the joy with which we read this text is a little bit different, but there is still joy on this Palm Sunday. For today we recall that Jesus our King humbly entered Jerusalem to victoriously save us. On that first Palm Sunday, Jerusalem must have been absolutely abuzz with the news of what Jesus had done! Jesus had “ cried out with a loud voice “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died (Lazarus) came out, his hands and his feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” ” The crowd that was gathered around Jesus now on Palm Sunday “ had been with Him when He called Lazarus out of the to...

These past few weeks we’ve discussed how the Lord’s Supper is bread from heaven, it is life-giving medicine from the tree of life, and the fruit from this tree of life gives us communion with Jesus and the whole body of Christ. Throughout these weeks, hopefully we’ve come to learn even greater the value and significance of this holy meal. Hopefully over the past month I’ve been able to communicate to you that the Lord’s Supper is the magnificent gift of life that we sinsick sinners so desperately need to frequently receive in order to sustain us in this world of sin and death. As Luther asks and answers, “What should admonish and encourage a Christian to receive the Sacrament frequently? First, both the command and promise of Christ the Lord.” Jesus does command us to receive the Lord’s Supper when He says “ Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. ” This isn’t a conditional do, Jesus just tell us to do this. Even if the Lord’s Supper had no benefit and promise attac...

“ You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ” The devil is a slanderous prosecutor, and that is quite literally what the word devil means: slanderer, someone who accuses people with the intention of condemning them. Nevertheless, though Satan accuses us, Jesus is the one who judges us, and Jesus’ judgment for our sins is mete out upon Himself. But in the meantime, the devil is going to prosecute you. The Devil is going to dig up all of the dirt in your life and throw it in your face, proving that you deserve punishment and hell, not the rewards of heaven. It is true that the devil is a liar, He is going to lie about you and slander you, but unfortunately we’re also sinners and so the devil has quite a bit of truth concerning your sinful manner of li...

Last week we took a journey from Genesis to Revelation. We  traveled from the tree of life in the Garden of Eden to the tree of life in heaven, and followed back again to the tree of life upon which Jesus hangs: the cross. This tree of life bears abundantly, fruit for all the nations, this fruit is Jesus’ body and blood which has been shed for the forgiveness of our sins. This is life giving fruit. This life giving fruit is communion with the body of Christ. Today’s American culture, perhaps with much greater emphasis than most any other culture in history, is individualistic. We place an incredible focus upon each individual person being special and unique in their own fascinating manner. We consider each person to be their own unique snowflake, unlike any other person who has ever and will ever exist.  And that’s true, each person has their own unique identity. Nevertheless, who we are as an individual is only as important as our relationships to those around us. That i...

“ Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her. ” Those are the opening words of the antiphon from the Introit. The introit, after the hymn of invocation, is the first part of the divine service that changes from week to week. The introit therefore is the first taste of the theme for that Sunday. Sometimes the theme is harder or easier to figure out from the introit, but today it is quite easy. Today in the church year is named after the first word of the antiphon in Latin, Laetare, meaning rejoice. The theme for today is all about rejoicing.  However the theme of rejoicing can seem a little odd when we consider that we’re currently in the season of lent. Lent is a somber season, a time when we refrain from the church’s most joyous of words: alleluia. So how is it, that in the midst of lent, the church rejoices? Such is the way of the church. In the midst of this sorrowful life, the church rejoices because Christ continually nourishes us both bodily and spiritually. Indeed, Chr...