Weird and wacky history of Confirmation - complete list of links

During the last two years I wrote a series of ten posts about the history of Confirmation up to the dawn of the Reformation.  The posts now all contain at the end a link to the next post so that the reader can follow the whole story.  However the individual posts are scattered all over the blog, and so I have put all the links on one page so that it will be easier to find particular topics that may interest a reader.

Part 1 The western Church before Nicaea

Part 2 Rome before Confirmation

Part 3 Milan and northern Italy before Confirmation

Part 4 North Africa before Confirmation

Part 5 Spain before Confirmation

Part 6 The stage is set in Gaul for Confirmation

Part 7 Confirmation is born in Gaul 

Part 8 The bishop is separated from baptism

Part 9 Medieval scholastic theology defines Confirmation

Part 10 The practice and problem of medieval Confirmation

Sermon for the Feast of the Confession of St. Peter

                                                                                    Confession of St. Peter

                                                                                    Mk 8:27-35

                                                                                    1/18/15

            Awhile back I shared that one of my least favorite expressions that a congregation member can say to me is, “Pastor, I was watching the History Channel….”  Now as I indicated at that time, I really like the History Channel.  However whenever it deals with anything related to the Bible, it’s terrible.  They usually find the most radical scholar they can find who makes outlandish claims and presents it as fact.  Knowing the data and the arguments, when I see one of these presentations on the History Channel I just want to roll my eyes and say, “Whatever.”

            There is, however, another expression that I encounter all the time that grates on me far more than the one about the History Channel.  For me, hearing it is like hearing finger nails scratching down a chalkboard. It is one that you also know well. You encounter it when someone says, “I am a spiritual person, but I’m not religious.”  In fact, this is so common that it is studied by sociology as a religious category.

            People say this expression like it is some kind of insightful and enlightened position.  On the one hand they are saying that they are deep and in tune with the possibility that there is some reality greater than just this world that we experience.  On the other hand they showing their independence and free thought – that they are not confined by any one belief system or tradition.  They are figuring out what is true for them.

            There are few things that are more typical of the American religious environment.  It reflects the so-called postmodern outlook in which there is no such thing as truth – just perspectives of what is true for you and true for me.  And it is incredibly focused on the individual who alone determines what is true – what works for him or her.

            Our text today is the Gospel lesson for the Feast of the Confession of St. Peter.  There are few texts that are a better antidote to this way of thinking; few texts that reveal how much it contradicts the Gospel.  And at the same time, this text challenges us to examine the ways that we fail to confess Jesus as the Christ.

            In our Gospel lesson we find Jesus and his disciples in northern Israel – at Caesarea Philippi.  In the first chapter we learn, “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’”  The Gospel of Mark has of course up to this point narrated Jesus’ ministry of proclaiming the Gospel and bringing the kingdom of God – the reign of God – through his miracles.  In the very first miracle reported, Jesus encounters a person with an unclean spirit. The spirit cries out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”  Jesus rebukes the spirit to be silent and then casts it out of the man.

            Jesus was powerful in word and deed as he brought the reign of God – the kingdom of God – into this world.  And he captured the attention of people – how could he not?  Immediately after Jesus casts out the unclean spirit Mark tells us, “And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.”

            Jesus captured attention and interest. But, who did people think that he was? That was the really important question. And it is the question that Jesus asks of his disciples in our text today as he says, “Who do people say that I am?” In reply they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”

            It was impossible to miss that Jesus was preaching about God’s reign arriving and doing the kinds of things that God’s prophets had done in the Old Testament – especially Elijah and Elisha.  Many first century Jews believed that Elijah, or an Elijah-like prophet would come in order to bring the arrival of God’s end-time rule and they believed Jesus was this kind of prophetic figure.  John the Baptist had been Elijah-like and had proclaimed repentance in preparation for God’s imminent judgment, and so apparently some people thought that Jesus was John returned to life after his execution by Herod Antipas.

            In our text Jesus then addresses the disciples very directly with a question, and the Greek text makes clear that it is an emphatic one: “But who do you say that I am?”  Jesus confronts them and calls them to confess as he asks who they think Jesus is.  And in response Peter confesses, “You are the Christ.”           Then Jesus strictly charged them to tell no one about him which indicated that Peter was exactly right.

            This text teaches us two important things. First it says that the whole idea of there being what is “true for you” and “true for me”; the whole idea of “spiritual but not religious” – is just bogus. There were wrong answers about Jesus and there was only one correct answer. And second, it teaches us that Jesus demands an answer to the question.  The very fact of his existence – his words and deeds demand a response.  He can’t be ignored.

            The nature of Jesus and his message does not allow for “that’s true for you but this is true for me” response.  The Christian writer C.S. Lewis identified this fact long ago when he wrote in his classic little book Mere Christianity: “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg--or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.”

            Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ.  He confessed that Jesus was the One in whom God’s saving promises of the Old Testament found fulfillment.  He was the One who fulfilled God’s promise to King David – the One who fulfilled the words of the prophet Isaiah about the Messiah who would bring God’s salvation and peace.

            On all of this Peter was exactly right.  In Matthew’s Gospel we learn that such an understanding, faith and confession could only be provided by God. And yet then, we hear in our text that Jesus, “began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly.”  Peter makes this awesome confession about Jesus, and immediately the Christ begins to talk about his suffering, death and resurrection.

            Peter didn’t want to hear such talk.  He took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him. But the Lord set him straight. He rebuked Peter as he said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

            And then Jesus called the crowd to him with his disciple and said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.”

            In the confession of St. Peter we see that Jesus is the Christ who brings God’s salvation.  But he does this by dying on a cross … and then rising from the dead.  This is not what the world expects – it’s not even what Peter expected!  And Jesus tells us that those who wish to confess him as Christ will need to deny themselves and take up the cross. Make no mistake, there will be a cost to confessing Jesus as the Christ.

            That cost can take different forms.  It can be the fact that our culture says that polite people don’t talk about religion in public and instead keep it private.  It can be the fact that Sunday morning is now considered just regular weekend time for events, and confessing Christ means telling a coach or teacher that we can’t be there on Sunday morning because that is when we attend the Divine Service.  It can be the disdain that our culture heaps upon anyone who would dare to say that Jesus alone is the way, the truth and the life.

            You know how you experience these challenges.  You also know times and settings when you have caved; when you have remained silent; when you have gone along in order to get along.

            The Confession of St. Peter challenges us to recognize the ways that we are called to confess Christ in our daily life. There are times we do fail.  But we are reminded of how Jesus begins his ministry in Mark’s Gospel as he says, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Have you failed?  Then repent … and believe in the Gospel.  Believe that Jesus is the Christ who has brought God’s salvation by dying on the cross and rising from the dead.            He has won it for you. He has called you to be his own through the water of Holy Baptism and washed away your sins.  He just spoke his word of forgiveness to you in Holy Absolution.  He is declaring that forgiveness to you right now.  And in a few moments he will give you that forgiveness through his body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar. 

            In repentance and faith you are forgiven. And through these same means the Holy Spirit grants you strength to face the challenge of confessing Christ.  The Spirit has given you life in Jesus.  It is a life that nothing can take away from you, not even death.  For as Jesus says in our text, “whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.”

           

           

           

           

 

                

Sermon for the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord

                                                                                    Baptism of Our Lord

                                                                                    Mt 3:13-17

                                                                                    1/11/15

            If you ask a person who is the greatest basketball player of all time, most likely the answer you will receive is Michael Jordan.  There are certainly other players who can enter into the conversation, such as Bill Russell.  But for the most part the consensus is that Jordan is best who has ever played the game.

            When you consider Jordan’s accomplishments, it’s hard to argue against this conclusion.  He won a NCAA championship at North Carolina by hitting the winning shot.  He won two Olympic gold medals.  He won six NBA championships in a pair of “three-peats” and was the Finals MVP in all six of them. He was a ten time NBA scoring champion and scored 32,292 points in his career which ranks him fourth all-time in NBA history as he averaged 30.1 points per game. And Jordan wasn’t just about offense.  Nine times he was named to the NBA All Defense First Team and three times he led the NBA in steals.

            When we think of Michael Jordan, we think of basketball and greatness.  So, if you had attended a Birmingham Barons AA baseball game during the 1994 season you would have been excused for asking, “What in the world is he doing here?”

            On Oct. 6, 1993 Jordan shocked the sports world by abruptly announcing his retirement from basketball.  There were a number of contributing factors.  Jordan had just finished his first NBA threepeat with the Chicago Bulls during 1991-1993. Set in the middle of all of this was the 1992 Olympic gold medal won by the first “Dream Team.” Jordan was worn down, and then in 1993 his father was murdered.

            So what do you do when you are the greatest basketball player and you retire at the age of thirty one?  Apparently, if you are Michael Jordan you try your hand at professional baseball.  Jerry Reinsdorf owned the Chicago Bulls.  He also owned the Chicago White Sox and he gave Jordan a spot at the White Sox’s AA affiliate in Birmingham, AL – presumably expecting that Jordan would get baseball out of his system and return to basketball with the Bulls.  

            For a season before coming out of retirement and back to basketball, Jordan rode the bus and played minor league baseball.  Michael Jordan was the greatest basketball player. But as a baseball player … he was bad.  He hit .202 with no power.  Fans in Birmingham were thrilled to have Jordan on the team.  But as they watched him make out after out, many of them must have wondered at some point, “What is he doing here?”

            In the Gospel lesson for the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord, John the Baptist has the same reaction.  As Jesus comes to be baptized by John, John wonders, “What is he doing here?”  In fact he is so puzzled that he tries to prevent Jesus from being baptized.  In Jesus’ answer to John, and in the events that followed at his baptism, we learn that Jesus Christ came to take our place and bring God’s end-time salvation.

            John the Baptist showed up in the Judean wilderness along the Jordan River and proclaimed, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven stands near.”  Matthew tells us that people were baptized by him as they confessed their sins.  John called all people to repent, even the religious establishment.  He did this because he said that God’s kingdom – his reign – was about to arrive and everyone needed to be ready. 

            John said that he was the forerunner of someone even greater.  And it wasn’t too hard to figure out what was going to happen when this coming One arrived.  Just before our text John says, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”  It was clear that this coming One would bring the judgment of the Last Day.

            In our text we learn that Jesus arrived at the Jordan from Galilee in order to be baptized by John.  John is giving a baptism for repentance to people who come there confessing their sins.  And now Jesus comes to receive this baptism!  He comes to John in order to be treated like a sinner.

            Why would Jesus do this?  It made no sense.  And so we hear in our text, “John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”  What business did Jesus have being baptized?  Why would the One who brings the judgment of the Last Day take his place where sinners stand?

            Jesus’ response to John begins to explain things.  He said, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”  Jesus said it was this way now.  In the word “now” our Lord acknowledges that things may not look like John expects.  Yet in his next statement, he confirms that John is right about Jesus and that in fact the baptism of Jesus is necessary for God’s salvation.

            Our Lord said, “thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”  In the Psalms and Isaiah God’s righteousness is often set in parallel to his salvation.  His righteousness is his saving action to put all things right – an action that includes the whole of creation.  Jesus said that it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.  John and Jesus each had a role to play.  John was there to baptize.  Jesus was there to be baptized.

            Jesus enters into the waters of repentance willingly – even insistently.  You on the other hand don’t want any part of that water – not really.  You don’t want to confess what you have done wrong, you would rather talk about how you have been wronged.  You don’t want to confess what you have said, you would rather talk about what other people have said.  You don’t want to confess how you have failed to serve, because you would rather be served.

            It is because of you that Jesus comes to the water of repentance as he is baptized.  And then in the events that followed the baptism we learn about what is happening and what it means for you.  Matthew writes “And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’”

            The Spirit of God descends upon Jesus.  And then God the Father says “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”  These words are taken from Isaiah chapter 42, and are in fact quoted about Jesus later in the Gospel.  There Isaiah writes, “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased.  I will put my Spirit upon him and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.”

            At this baptism, Jesus enters into the waters of repentance in order to take on the role of the Servant of the Lord for you.  He, the sinless One, identifies himself with you the sinner and takes your place.  He takes up your sins in order to carry them to the cross.  For there he will fulfill all righteousness by dying for you.  He will be the suffering Servant who was wounded for your transgressions and crushed for your iniquities.  He will be the One who gives his life as a ransom for many.

            But then, on the third day God the Father will raise him from the dead through the work of the Spirit.  And in this event it will be clear that God’s righteousness is putting all things right.  The crucified and risen One will have won forgiveness for all who believe in him and will have begun the Last Day by his resurrection.

            Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River set him on the path that led to the cross and resurrection for you.  In your baptism, you have now received a share in his death, and so you know that you will also share in Jesus’ resurrection when he returns.  The apostle Paul told the Romans, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.  For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

            Through baptism you have shared in Jesus’ saving death.  Now, when you stumble in the struggle against sin – or just plain fall - you know that in repentance and faith there is forgiveness present for you.  In repentance you confess your sins to God.  And in faith you return to the water of your baptism.  You return to the event by which you have shared in Jesus’ saving death.  And because you trust God’s promise about what he did in your baptism, you know that you have exactly what his word says: forgiveness.

            Jesus emerged from the water of the Jordan in order to live for you.  And each time by returning to the water of your baptism, you emerge to live in ways that follow in the ways of Jesus.  As Luther writes in the Small Catechism the baptizing with water “indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”

            Today we see Jesus in the water of the Jordan. But we don’t ask “What’s he doing here?”  Because of the words of Jesus, the descent of the Spirit and the words of the Father we know why he is there.  He is there to take our place so that we can be with God.

                                                           

Commemoration of Basil the Great of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa

Today we remember and give thanks for Basil the Great of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa, Pastors and Confessors.  Basil and the two Gregorys, collectively known as the Cappadocian Fathers, were leaders of Christian orthodoxy in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) in the later fourth century. Basil and Gregory of Nyssa were brothers; Gregory of Nazianzus was their friend. All three were influential in shaping the theology confessed by the Council of Constantinople of 381, which is expressed in the Nicene Creed. Their defense of the doctrines of the Holy Spirit and Holy Trinity, together with their contributions to the liturgy of the Eastern Church, make them among the most influential Christian teachers and theologians of their time.

Collect of the Day:

Almighty God, You revealed to Your Church Your eternal being of glorious majesty and perfect love as one God in a Trinity of persons.  May Your Church, with pastors like Basil, Gregory and Gregory, receive grace to continue steadfast in the confession of the true faith and constant in our worship of You,  Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who live and reign, one God, now and forever.