Pious Lutheran

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! If you were to hit an extremely rough patch in your life and run away from everything for a few days, upon coming to your senses and returning home, what would be the first thing you would do? Probably you’d go to your family, those who love you the most and were the greatest troubled by your disappearance. When you show up you wouldn’t just shoot the breeze and talk about silly little things. You would comfort them, speak consoling words in order to give peace to their frightened hearts. You might tell them something you should’ve told them earlier, something important. Most likely, you’d tell them you love them. Thus Jesus upon His return from the grave doesn’t just shoot the breeze with His disciples, but consoles them with the peace of the resurrection. Of course Jesus didn’t run away from His problems, but faced them head-on and even died for our problems. But when He returned to those whom He loved, His disciples, His ...

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! A joyous Easter to you all! Christ Jesus has endured the agony of the crucifixion, the shame of the cross, the punishment for our sins, and He has risen from the grave! The angels have declared, “ Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; He is not here! ” Our Lord Jesus on Good Friday bowed His head and gave up His spirit. On Easter Christ lifted up His head, clothed in the Divine Glory! He once was crowned with thorns, but now He is crowned with majesty from on high! “ Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. ” What a joyous celebratory day! We all wear our Easter best, gathered here to feast upon our Lamb who was sacrificed for us. This day truly is a joyous day worthy of glad shouts of rejoicing! But why? Why do we gather here on Easter? Why are we so happy and filled with ju...

“ But one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. ” What a gory detail that the apostle John included in His account of the crucifixion. As we read through what happened to Jesus during the last day of His earthly life, this is one of those details that makes us a bit queezy and uncomfortable. Perhaps this language makes us so uncomfortable because it makes us think of childbirth. When a child is born, very often there’s a flow of water and blood which comes from the mother who is giving birth to this new life which she has nourished inside of her womb. But this makes us uncomfortable because childbirth is about new life, whereas the crucifixion is about the death of Jesus. Yet the two are in fact very similar because the crucifixion is also about new life. However it is true that the crucifixion is about death, namely the death of Jesus. This gory detail is provided as evidence that Jesus’ crucifixion did truly take place, as ...

On this day in which we reflect upon the institution of the Lord’s Supper, we would do well to regard this holy meal as one of the great gifts of God to us His dearly beloved church. Amidst the severely splintered christendom on earth, one of the most contentious topics is that of communion. With such a great divide in the church on this matter, we mustn't’ waver on it one bit, but we must faithfully hold fast to the Lord’s Supper which Jesus has given to us. So this evening, very briefly, let us consider how an error made in regards to communion results in errors made in regards to the clarity of scripture, the presence of Jesus with His church, and of the very forgiveness of our sins. One of the most flagrant errors in our day pertains to when Jesus says “ This is my body; this is my blood. ” Since the days of the Reformation, Christians had begun doubt those words of Christ, asserting that Jesus’ body and blood cannot be present in the sacrament of the altar. Surely, they s...

Last Sunday marked a shift in Lent, when the Jews picked up rocks so that they could throw them at Jesus. Today marks an even greater shift in the mood of Lent. We’ve gone from Christian warfare as Jesus fights for us and we join in the battle against Satan, to Jesus’ suffering and death. We’ve gone from the triumphal entry with all of its fanfare, to shouts of murder which lead to Jesus being scourged and crucified. Today begins Holy Week. When you hear the account of Jesus being betrayed, unjustly accused, tortured, and sentenced to death it might upset you. Jesus shouldn’t have died! This riotous crowd is ridiculous! Jesus is innocent, He shouldn’t die! So we, like Pilate, place all of the blame on that bloodthirsty crowd and excuse ourselves of any guilt. We wash our hands with Pilate and say, “ I am innocent of this righteous man’s blood. ” But the truth is, no one is innocent of this righteous man’s blood. Innocence. The world is apparently full of innocent people, right? Ev...

Strangers in a strange land, that’s what Daniel and the three young men felt like. Nearly every Christian knows their names: Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego. However, many Christians probably don’t realize that those were not their real names. The story of Daniel takes place during the Babylonian Captivity when a number of Hebrews from Judah were taken captive and moved to Babylon. When the captives were taken from their homelands they would be given new Babylonian names in place of their original names. And so, Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego were originally named Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Their new Babylonian names were likely the names of Babylonian pagan gods. These new names were to distance the captives from their home country and force them to acclimate to their new home. They most certainly felt like strangers in a strange land, because they were. They made a few concessions when taken captive, such as allowing their names to be changed. But they didn’t give in to ...

I don’t know if you’ve seen the recent movie franchise Guardians of the Galaxy or not, but they’re superhero movies about heros who guard the galaxy. It’s a lot of slapstick humor, fast paced action and excitement, with a good bit of middle school humor mixed in as well to get lots of giggles from the boys.  Superhero movies and comic books have long received a good deal of attention, and probably for good reason. It’s healthy for boys to want to rescue other people, to be a hero, to be a guardian. I would guess one of the most common daydreams for boys and men is to be a hero of some sorts. Would that more of our young men today desired to be heros who provided for their “damsel in distress,” their wife and kids.  Today’s Gospel lesson teaches us something about being guardians. Not guardians of the galaxy, you see that’s Jesus’ responsibility, but guardians nonetheless. Jesus said, “ Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” We are ...

The story of Jonah is a fascinating one which reveals to us that God is gracious and merciful. It begins with the Lord calling out to Jonah, “ “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. ” Nineveh was a terrifying place. It was a city within the Gentile kingdom of Assyria, to the northeast of Israel. From what we know of the history of that nation, these people were immensely evil who did things nightmares are made out of. So I don’t think you’d blame Jonah for running away from these people because he’s afraid of them. I think I too would have my reservations about knocking on these folks’ doors and calling them to repentance. It’s scary enough telling nice midwestern folk to repent of their sins, let alone these frightening barbarians. So Jonah hopped aboard a ship and fled from the presence of God. “ But the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and the...