Pious Lutheran

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! The Bible is chock full of shepherds! Right at the beginning, Abel, the son of Adam and Eve, was a shepherd. Jacob herded the sheep of His father-in-law Laban. Joseph tended sheep with his brothers. Moses herded his father-in-law, Jethro’s sheep. David, in particular, is the most popular of the Old Testament shepherds. But all of these shepherds simply point to the true Good Shepherd of our souls: our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is our Good Shepherd who rescues us from Satan’s jaws by laying down His life and leading us into His fold. It is just as Christ has said: “ I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ” Usually it does the sheep no good when the shepherd dies, but in this case, it’s absolutely necessary that our Good Shepherd lay down His life for the sheep. The reason it’s necessary that the Good Shepherd must go to such great expense for the sheep is because of their predicament. I...

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! It’s fascinating, the artwork depicting Christ, at least up until recent decades, predominantly depicted Christ as One who suffered. For example, the most common image of our Lord is that of Him hanging crucified on a cross. Another common image of Jesus, present in many sanctuaries as the altar piece, is that of Christ with His arms outstretched and His palms opened to reveal the holes in His hands.  That particular image is described in our Gospel lesson just read: “ Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. ” The sight of Christ’s wounds caused the disciples to be glad. Indeed, the wounds of Christ cause all believers to rejoice. It’s not that seeing Christ on a cross gives us some sick sort of morbid satisfaction, like watching a gory horror film. It’s not that we’re ob...

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! “ And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. ” What a beautiful sight and a wonderful message! The women who went early that morning on which our Lord rose from the dead witnessed such a spectacular sight and heard the most precious news! Christ victoriously triumphed over death, through death, to bring us life. “ Death is swallowed up in victory! ” “ He has swallowed up death forever! ” Our death is swallowed up by Jesus’s death so that the sting of death would be lost forever!  Now all that remains for Christians is life. This fantastic news is well symbolized by the angel’s calming presence. Throughout the Old Testament, angels are beings of great and magnificent power, warriors that ...

One of the last words Christ spoke from the cross before yielding up His spirit in death was: “ Τετέλεσται ”tetelestai. In the Greek it’s just one word, in the English it could be translated as “it has been finished.” It comes from the word telos, meaning goal or end, the consummation. Jesus isn’t just saying that He’s about to die and His life is finished; He’s saying that the goal for which He came has been accomplished! It’s not just His life which is ended, but the purpose for which He came is fulfilled and completed, now and forever, in His death.  Which is Christ’s goal? What is the telos that He came to complete? The Father sent the Son so that whoever believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life. Jesus came that we might have life, and have it abundantly. The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many. He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own poss...

“ Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. ” If we were to consider all of the events that took place on Maundy Thursday, we’d be here all evening, since a lot happened that day. So out of everything that happened, the church has historically focused on two particular things for us to contemplate this evening: The foot washing and the Sacrament of the Altar. In both of these actions of Christ we see what it means for Jesus to love His people by humbly serving them. Firstly turning to the foot washing, what a strange scene is recorded for us: “ Jesus laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. ” While this might be a strange image for us, it was customary in the ancien...

These days many of us are feeling like prisoners, prisoned to our own homes. We’ve been exiled and our freedoms have been lost. Exiled from stores and restaurants, exiled from weddings, funerals, and family reunions, exiled from our church families even. For a long time we’ve taken our freedom as Christians in America for granted, assuming we will always be free to do as we please. But as the past few weeks have made abundantly clear, such is not the case, our freedoms can very quickly be lost when we’re prisoners of fear.  So in these monumental times, let us remember that God “ makes nations great, and He destroys them; He enlarges nations, and leads them away. ” Kingdoms are like grass that will wither and fade. But, remember God’s promise! “ As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double. ” We need not be prison...

614 “As Surely as I Live,” God Said Stanzas 1,2,3,4,4.1 “As surely as I live,” God said, “I would not see the sinner dead. I want him turned from error’s ways, Repentant, living endless days.” And so our Lord gave this command: “Go forth and preach in ev’ry land; Bestow on all My pard’ning grace Who will repent and mend their ways. “All those whose sins you thus remit I truly pardon and acquit, And those whose sins you will retain Condemned and guilty shall remain. “What you will bind, that bound shall be; What you will loose, that shall be free; To My dear Church the keys are giv’n To open, close the gates of heav’n.” “They who believe, when you proclaim The joyful tidings in My name, That I for them My blood have shed, Are free from guilt and judgement dread.” Homily “ As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. ” Trully, “ the Lord is gracious and ...