Life News: White House counsel knew about IRS targeting pro-life groups and didn't tell President Obama?

The Wall Street Journal reported late Sunday that "White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler learned about the inspector general’s conclusions during the week of April 22, including that IRS agents had directed unfair scrutiny towards Tea Party groups and others who were seeking tax exemption."  However, President Obama has said that he didn't learn about the IRS actions until the public did on May 10.  How likely is it that President Obama's chief lawyer learned about information that was certain to be a scandal for the administration and didn't tell the President?

Sermon for the Feast of Pentecost

Feast of Pentecost

                                                                                                            Acts 2:1-21

                                                                                                            5/19/13

            I have spent a great deal of time in my life learning foreign languages. During high school I took Latin and German.  In college at Concordia, Ann Arbor I took Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and Latin.  During the time between college and seminary I look Latin at Indiana University. 

While I was student at Concordia Seminary, I was of course putting that training in Greek and Hebrew to good use.  During my first two years in St. Louis, I also took Greek and Latin classes at nearby Washington University.  After finishing the Master of Divinity degree to be a pastor, I continued on for another year at the seminary in order to earn a Master of Sacred Theology degree.  I really hadn’t done all that much with German for several years, so I had to brush it up in order to pass the German exam and also to begin using it in reading German sources for my research.

When I went on to doctoral work in New Testament Studies at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX I had to pass a Hebrew exam and a Greek exam – the latter of which required me to be ready to sight read anything in the New Testament.  I had to pass a German exam.  And then during the summer after my first year there I had to teach myself to read French in order to pass the French exam.

            I have spent a lot of time learning different languages.  However, I should add that there is a common denominator among all of my language efforts – and it is one that my son Matthew finds quite amusing.  All of my work in learning languages has been directed at reading them.  All of my work has been directed at reading texts – texts of Scripture, theology and biblical scholarship.  The truth is, that after all of this work with languages I can’t speak one of them.

            Now in some cases this isn’t surprising since they are dead ancient languages. In the case of French, I can read a French book but I have no idea how you really pronounce the words.  Only in German can I understand a little of what it is said, and respond with some rudimentary sentences. But I would never make the claim that I can communicate in it.

            The experience of the disciples on the Day of Pentecost was very different.  In our text,God pours forth the Holy Spirit in order to advance the work of the Gospel – the proclamation about the crucified and risen Christ.  On that day, through the work of the Spirit, the disciples were able to speak in foreign languages that they had never studied. In this event, God announced that something new had begun.

            At the Feast of Pentecost as we listen to the account from Acts about the sound like a violent rushing wind, tongues as of flame and foreign languages being spoken it is easy to rush right into talking about the meaning of this event.  But first this morning, I want to talk about waiting. Ten days ago we celebrated the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord.  On that day the Scripture readings from Luke and Acts told of what happened prior to Jesus’ ascension.

            The books of Luke and Acts are really Luke-Acts – it’s a two volume set.  The end of Luke and the beginning of Acts contain an overlap as they both describe the ascension of Jesus and the instructions that Jesus gave to the disciples. In Luke we hear, “Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.’”

In a similar manner Acts says, “And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, ‘you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’” And then Jesus added, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Our Lord promised that the disciples would receive power as the Holy Spirit came upon them – as they were baptized with the Holy Spirit.  He said that they would preach repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name in Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth – to all nations.  And he commanded them to stay in Jerusalem until they received the Spirit.

Now, Jesus had ascended.  The disciples were in Jerusalem waiting.  It was a time marked by tremendous uncertainty. First of all, they didn’t know exactly what they were waiting for.  “Clothed with power from on high”; “the Holy Spirit will come upon you”; “baptized with the Holy Spirit” – what exactly did that mean?  What would that look like?  How would they know when this had happened?

And then beyond the nature of the event itself, the disciples didn’t know when it was going to happen.  Literally the Greek says, “not after these many days.” It’s so vague that some individuals involved in copying the manuscripts by hand in the fourth and fifth centuries added “until Pentecost.”

How long is “not many days”?  We don’t like waiting. And we really don’t like waiting when we don’t know how long it is going to be – when we don’t know the time when the wait will end.  Yet we find ourselves waiting for very important things. We wait to see if a treatment is going to bring relief.  We wait to see if we are going to get a job or get into a school. We wait to see how a situation is going to develop in the life of a loved one.   When we face these kinds of situations in life, we get impatient.  We get impatient with the situation … and we get impatient with God.  We may begin to question how he does things.  We may begin to get angry about the wait.

The disciples waited faithfully. They trusted Jesus’ word. And on the tenth day Jesus kept his word.  It was Pentecost – one of the three great festivals that God had commanded his people to observe. We learn in our text that when the day of Pentecost arrived, the disciples were all together in one place. Suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. In addition to this sound, there also appeared divided tongues as of fire on each one of them. The disciple were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them the ability.

They began to proclaim in different languages the mighty things that God had done in Jesus Christ.  The sound attracted a crowd, and some mocked the disciples saying that they were drunk.  But Peter announced to them that nothing could be farther from the truth.  After all, it was only 9:00 a.m.! Instead what was happening was a fulfillment of God’s Word.  Peter said, “But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions,

and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.”

            The disciples had waited, and now God had done something dramatic.  He had poured forth the Holy Spirit.  He had done it in a way that announced a new era in his plan of salvation had arrived.  This new era had begun in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  In accordance with God’s plan Jesus had been put to death on a cross. But Peter went on to say, “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.”

Jesus Christ had died on the cross so that there could be forgiveness of sins for those who repent – for those who confess their sin and look to him for forgiveness. He had been raised from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father. And now as the exalted Lord he had poured forth the Holy Spirit upon his Church.

You got up this morning and came to church like you normally do.  It’s the same thing that we do Sunday after Sunday, week after week after week.  It all seems so ordinary.  But our text for the Feast of Pentecost reminds us that we do not live in ordinary times. We live in the time when the resurrection of Last Day has already begun in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We live in the last days – the end times – because the risen and ascended Lord has poured forth the Holy Spirit.

This same Spirit has given you new life.  You were born again of water and the Spirit in Holy Baptism.  And this same Spirit continues to sustain your faith and life in Christ.  He does this through the Word of God – as you hear it proclaimed and as you read and study it.  He does this through the word of Holy Absolution as Christ forgives your sins. And he does it through the body and blood of the risen Lord which you eat and drink in the Sacrament of the Altar.

And because Spirit has given you new life; because the Spirit sustains you in this life through the Means of Grace, as a child of God you are now to follow the leading of the Spirit.  As we heard Paul tell the Romans last night in the epistle lesson for Pentecost Eve, “So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”

To be led by the Spirit is to live as someone who knows what time it is – someone who knows it is the Last Days. It is to live as someone who knows what Jesus Christ has done and what this means for us.  As Paul said later in Romans, “Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.”

Instead the Spirit of Christ enables us to live in the way that follows our Lord – to live in the way of love.  As Paul wrote, “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”  By the power the Spirit provides we are now able to offer the sacrifice of love as we help and serve those around us in our lives.

On this day, the Feast of Pentecost we rejoice that God has begun something new.  In the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the outpouring of the Spirit, he has given you salvation and begun the new creation.  We live as people who know who we are because of the work of the Spirit – we are the sons and daughters of God.  We know what time it is – it is the Last Days because Christ has poured forth the Spirit. And we know what we are to do – we are to live in love as we follow the leading of the Spirit.     

           

           

           

           

           

             

Homily for Pentecost Eve

Pentecost Eve

                                                                                                                        Joel 3:1-5

                                                                                                                        5/18/13

            As you listened to the Old Testament reading for Pentecost Eve, it is understandable if you felt a little confused.  You may have found yourself wondering, “Aren’t we getting ready for the Feast of Pentecost?  Why then are we hearing about the Last Day?  Wouldn’t this be more appropriate for the end of the Church year?”

            After all, we hear in our reading, “For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land.”  If you read a little further in Joel chapter 3, it would only confirm your questions because we hear there, “Let the nations stir themselves up and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.”

            Now to be sure, this is language describing the judgment of the Last Day.  Yet the reason that we have this as our reading for Pentecost Eve is because it provides the setting for the words of the prophet Joel that are quoted by Peter in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost.  And in this fact we are reminded about how the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost announces that the last days have arrived.

            In the verses just before our text, the prophet Joel begins a new section.  He says, “And it shall come to pass afterward,

that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.”

            God speaks of how he will pour out his Spirit “afterward.”  And this rolls right into our text where God says, “For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there.”  In the text of Joel it becomes clear that these events are related to one another.  Like other prophetic books, Joel leads us to expect that the outpouring of the Spirit is an end-time event.  It is an event that is tied to the final judgment that God will bring upon all nations when he vindicates his people.

            Tomorrow we will celebrate the Day of Pentecost.  On that day, as you know well, there was a sound like a mighty, rushing wind.  Tongues as of flame were distributed on the heads of the disciples and they were filled with the Holy Spirit in a new and dramatic way.  As a result of this, they began to proclaim the good news about Jesus Christ in the languages of the many different peoples who were present in Jerusalem.

            Peter began his sermon by responding to the accusation that what was happening was simply a result of too much alcohol.  He pointed to the true reason, and in order to do this he used the words of the prophet Joel.  He said, “But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.’”

            Peter left no doubt about what was happening and what it indicated.  The events of Pentecost were caused by the Holy Spirit. And they were occurring because the last days had arrived – the end-times were here.  Peter went on to proclaim a message that focused on the death and resurrection of Jesus fifty days earlier.  Jesus had been crucified according to God’s plan.  But Peter went on to say, “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.’”

            Joel’s prophecy and the events of Pentecost prompt us to recognize what God has done and what it means for us.  God has entered our world in the incarnation as Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. The Son of God has borne our sins upon the cross and died for them – he has received the wrath and judgment of God against sin that we deserved. And then on the third day, God raised him from the dead.

            More specifically, Paul tells us that through the work of the Spirit, Jesus’ body was raised from the dead.  He didn’t simply come back to life, but rather he rose as the second Adam in whom mortality and corruption have ceased.  In the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the resurrection of the Last Day has already started.

The Spirit carried out this end-time event.  And on the Day of Pentecost God poured out the Spirit upon his church.  Because of Pentecost the Spirit who will raise you from the dead is now active in the world.  Paul tells us, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”  Or as Paul told the Ephesians about Christ, “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”  The presence of the Spirit within you is the guarantee that you will share in Christ’s resurrection on the Last Day.

The question then is whether we realize what time it is.  It is the last days – it is the time of the Spirit who has caused us to be born again in Holy Baptism.  Because of this we now live as people who are in Christ – we have been joined to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  This means that through the work of the Spirit, the resurrection power of Jesus is at work in us.

True, the old Adam is still present too as we live in this time of the now and the not yet.  There are times when we live like “not yet” people instead of the “now” people the Spirit has made us to be.  And when we do, we return in faith to the forgiveness that we have in Christ.  We return to the source of our life in Christ - we return to our baptism.  Washed clean of our sins, we then arise once again to walk by the Spirit and not the sinful flesh.  We arise to live as the “now” people that God has made us through the work of the Spirit poured out on Pentecost.

           

           

                       

           

Mark's thoughts: Our culture doesn't do Pentecost. Do we?

The ability of our culture to commercialize almost every holiday and festival is truly stunning.  When the words “commercialization” and “holiday” are brought together, the first thing that probably comes to mind is Christmas.  What began in the late fourth century A.D. as the Church’s celebration of the incarnation of the Son of God, has become for our culture a time of Santa Claus and gifts.  It has become a crucial part of the business cycle that can make or break a company’s year.

We have just celebrated another festival that has been commercialized in amazing ways.  Easter is the celebration of the Resurrection of Our Lord.  It is the oldest Christian feast – a feast celebrated since the very beginning of the Church.  Yet for our culture Easter has become focused on a bunny that hides colored eggs. It has become a time to sell chocolate, baskets and fake plastic grass.

However, our culture doesn’t do the third of the major Christian festivals – the Feast of Pentecost.  It has not created an alternative mythology with which to secularize and commercialize it.  It has not created a figure like a fat, jolly man in a red suit or a large bunny.  Stores don’t stock special items for the Feast of Pentecost.  In fact, the Feast of Pentecost comes and goes in the Church year without the world even noticing.

Yet this observation raises a question about the Church today: Our culture doesn’t do Pentecost.  Do we?  In the case of Christmas and Easter, there are factors outside of the Church that help to raise our awareness about these festivals – even if it is for the wrong reason.  Beginning before Thanksgiving, the stores put up Christmas decorations that remind us Christmas is coming.  In the time before Easter, stores put out candy and decorations that play a similar role.  Nothing like this occurs before Pentecost.  Does this play a role in the fact that today, Pentecost receives little recognition from many Christians?

People are very intentional about coming to Church on Christmas Eve and Easter Sunday.  In fact for some people, these are the only two times in the year when they come to church.  However, very few people are intentional about coming to church for the Feast of Pentecost.  Perhaps the timing of Pentecost plays some role in this. Pentecost is always fifty days after Easter.  Depending on when Easter falls, Pentecost often occurs just as the school year is ending or as summer has just begun.

While all of these things may be factors, it appears that the main reason for our failure to emphasize Pentecost is that we no longer really understand its importance.  For the early Church, Pentecost was first a season before it became a day.  The word “Pentecost” described the entire fifty day season that followed Easter.  Before too long, the word was applied specifically to the Feast of Pentecost – the event in which Christ poured out His Spirit upon the Church.  The life of the Church placed great emphasis on the Feast of Pentecost.  From the fourth century on in the early Church, Easter and Pentecost were the two primary days when baptisms were done.  Just like Christmas and Easter, Pentecost was proceeded by a service on the evening before the day – Pentecost Eve.  The Church did this because she understood the importance of Pentecost.

Before His ascension occurred forty days after Easter, Jesus commanded His apostles to remain in Jerusalem until they received the Holy Spirit.  Our Lord promised, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).  When this event occurred, Peter told the crowd that it was a fulfillment of the prophet Joel’s prophecy, “And in the last days it shall be, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh” (Acts 2:17).  Peter proclaimed that this event was a sign that the end-times had begun.

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit began a new era as Jesus Christ extended His saving work into the world through the work of the Spirit.  Jesus had promised on the night of His arrest, “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me” (John 15:26).  Our Lord said, “He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:14). 

It is the Spirit who creates faith in Christ, for Paul tells us “…no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3).  It is through the work of the Spirit that we are able to call upon God as Father.  Paul says, “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’  The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:15-17).

The Holy Spirit was the agent brought who about the incarnation as the Son of God was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary.  The Spirit was the One who was active in raising Jesus from the dead.  And the Holy Spirit is also the One who will be at work in raising us from the dead.  Paul wrote, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11).

All of these things are directly tied to the incarnation, death and resurrection of the Son of God.  The end-time salvation that was begun in Christ – the “now” of our salvation – is made present for us through the work of the Holy Spirit.  The unique end-time work of the Holy Spirit is tied to the unique end-time work of the Son.  At the Feast of Pentecost, we rejoice in the fact that God’s Gospel work is being extended through the work of the Holy Spirit, whom Christ poured out upon the Church. The work of the Holy Spirit creates and sustains faith in us now, and points us to the return of Christ and the resurrection that God will work through the Spirit on the Last Day.

Life news: The Gosnell trial is done. Let the real trial about abortion begin.

In a few words Robert P. George gets to the heart of the issue in his brief post "In Gosnell Case, Abortion on Trial."  He writes:

Something as morally arbitrary as a human being’s location—his or her being in or out of the womb—cannot determine whether killing him or her is an unconscionable act of premeditated homicide or the exercise of a fundamental liberty. Yet something like that is the prevailing state of American law under Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. Its incoherence and indefensibility have been laid bare by the prosecution of Dr. Gosnell. Whatever now happens to him, it will no longer be possible to pretend that abortion and infanticide are radically different acts or practices.

Life news: Pope Francis surprises crowd by joining 40,000 in March for Life in Rome

Pope Francis surprised the crowd by joining 40,000 people who were taking part in a March for Life in Rome.  It is encouraging to see strong continued support on life issues by the new pope.

Sermon for Seventh Sunday of Easter, Exaudi

Easter 7

                                                                                                            Jn 15:26-16:4

                                                                                                            5/12/13

            I have only been called upon to testify in court – to be a witness – once. Yet even though I have only done it once, that one time was more than enough for me.  I didn’t get cheated when it comes to having that life experience.

            My first time serving as a witness wasn’t in some local or state matter.  Instead it was a case in federal court.  I had to go to the federal justice building in downtown Chicago – a huge imposing structure – in order to testify.  It was a federal case with a federal prosecutor and judge.  Since it was the U.S. government bringing the charges, the witness on the stand prior to me was a F.B.I. agent.

            Now I will confess that I was nervous.  I don’t think I had ever been in an actual court room before.  Yet now, here I was in the big leagues.  And I wasn’t just there to observe things and give moral support.  Instead I had been subpoenaed as a witness in a case that dealt with a very serious matter.

            I took the stand and spoke the oath to tell the truth.  I began to answer questions.  And then I was asked a question about information that had been revealed to me in private confession.  My mind raced as I realized that the hypothetical had now become my reality.  In pastoral theology class at the seminary you are taught that the seal of confession cannot be broken. At ordination a pastor takes an oath that he will never divulge sins confessed to him.  I had been taught that the confidentiality of this communication was recognized by the legal system.  Yet never in a million years did I think I would ever actually experience this situation!

            I responded that I wasn’t able to answer the question because it involved information that had been revealed to me in confession.  I was relieved when the judge nodded in approval and indicated that the lawyer needed to continue on with a different question.  And I was glad when the judge released me to leave the witness stand.

            In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus speaks about bearing witness. He is not speaking about witness that takes place in a courtroom, but instead something even more serious; even more important.  He speaks about the witness that the Holy Spirit will give to Jesus, and also in turn the witness that the disciples will give to the Lord.  This is a witness that will at times have serious consequences as they speak the truth.

            In our Gospel lesson for today, the Seventh Sunday after Easter – Exaudi – we hear yet again from the words that Jesus spoke to the disciples on the night of Maundy Thursday.  In these readings we have encountered a recurring theme: Jesus is going away to the Father and he is going to send the Holy Spirit.  In fact we have already heard Jesus say that it is necessary for him go away; that this is a good thing. He has said, “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”

            Jesus’ departure, of course, took place in his ascension that we celebrated on Thursday.  We will celebrate the sending of the Holy Spirit in a week at the Feast of Pentecost.  In our text Jesus tells the disciples what the Spirit will do, and what in turn, they will do.  He says, “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.”

            The Spirit is going to bear witness to Jesus.  Later in chapter sixteen Jesus will say, “He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”  The Spirit’s job is to point to Jesus and to make known what he has done for our salvation.  The Spirit does not point to himself, and any time in the Church you find someone pointing more to the Spirit than to Christ, you know something has gone wrong.

            The Spirit was going to bear witness to Jesus. And the disciples were going to bear witness too, because they had been with Jesus from the beginning.  Yet as Jesus speaks about the disciples bearing witness, he immediately tells them that this will not always go well.  In fact, it is going to provoke hatred and harm from the world.  Our Lord says, “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.”

            Jesus said that the disciples would receive the world’s hatred.  And this was simply because the world had hated Jesus first.  The world hated Jesus for two reasons: because of the witness that he gave about the world and because of the witness that was given about Jesus.

            These two points are found at the beginning of the Gospel when Jesus was speaking with Nicodemus.  Jesus said, “For God loved the world in this way, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.”

            Jesus Christ is the light who reveals the darkness, the evil of the word.  Jesus said that the world “hates me because I bear witness concerning it, that is deeds are evil.”  The problem is that we are inclined to think that the deeds of the world are not evil.  We live in a sexualized culture – where the misuse of God’s gift of sex is found at every turn – on the internet, on TV, in the movies, in the music, in the magazines.  Have we begun to see things in the way of the world - have we ceased to view these things as sinful?  Have you recently had sex with someone who is not your husband or wife?  Have you watched pornography and indulged in lustful thoughts?  To the world, this is just part of life.   To Jesus, it is evil that cuts you off from God.

            What about the way we speak of other people?  The internet has magnified our ability to communicate.  But it has also done this in an impersonal manner that insidiously promotes harmful and mean speech about others. What are you saying about others in all of the settings of life?  Do you defend our neighbors? Do you speak well of our neighbor?  Do you seek to help your neighbor’s reputation? Do you explain things in the kindest way? Or do you look for opportunities to tear down your neighbor and to share gossip that harms their reputation – because we all know that the only news that is real gossip is news that says something bad about a person.

            Where you have done these things - or any other sin – repent.  Confess your sin.  And then cling to the knowledge that God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  The Father sent the incarnate Son, Jesus Christ, to the cross as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world – who takes away your sin.  Raised from the dead, the Son gives you life – life with God that will have no end.

            He is the only one who can do this. That is what he said about himself.  Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  And because Jesus said this, the world hates him.  It hates him because Jesus removes every pretense about self-sufficiency and self-reliance of the human being. It hates him because Jesus declares that he is the Way and every other way is a lie.

            This is the witness that Jesus declared.  He proclaimed it about himself.  And he pointed to those other things that bore witness about him.  As he told his opponents, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that bear witness about me.”  He said to them, “For the works which the Father has given me to accomplish – the very works that I do bear witness about me.”

            And now after his ascension the Spirit continues to bear witness.  He gave witness to Christ through the apostles.  And now he gives witness through the inspired word.  As John says in the Gospel, “He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe.”  That witness continues on through the Church as we share the message about Jesus Christ with others.  For by the word of the Gospel the Spirit continues to bear witness – he continues to confront people with Jesus Christ.  As John said in his first letter, “Whoever believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the witness that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the witness, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

            We have received this life by being born again of water and the Spirit in Holy Baptism.  And now as we live by faith, we bear witness.  Yet we do not only bear witness by what we say. We also bear witness by what we do.  At the Last Supper Jesus washed his disciples’ feet and said, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.”

            The life that Christ has given us; the love that he has shared with us prompts us to live in ways that bear witness to Christ.  The Spirit moves us to act in service and love, for in doing so we fulfill our Lord’s words: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”