Immanuel LCMS

Transcript from the May 9, 2021 sermon delivered by Rev. Tab Ottmers

Alleluia, Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed. Alleluia.

It is still the Easter season. God’s grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God our Father, from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Our text for this Sixth Sunday of Easter is the Gospel reading that was just read, and most especially the last part, beginning in verse 16, “you did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide. So that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.”

These things I command you so that you will love one another. Jesus commands us to repent, to believe in him. And from this faith flows love. God gives that which he demands. First, he gives us love. So that that love then may flow to others. Very much like how God demanded sacrifices in the Old Testament, God first gives all the animals and all things. First, he gives that which he demands. And to be honest, that’s why we love him, because God gives that which he demands. So, if we are to love one another, we must first believe that for the sake of Jesus, were loved by God, and that we are saved by faith.

Now perhaps, if we were to ask Jesus to edit some of the Bible, this verse might be at the top of the list. Now sure, the whole thing about cutting off your hand if it causes you to sin, or poking out your eye if it causes you to sin, those two might rank pretty high on the list. But today, I think, we just might have well wished I stopped reading at verse 16, in our gospel. “So that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” Well, that’s wonderful! That’s a great way to end the Gospel reading. We can see what we are told to ask for. We are told to ask for faith so that love would flow. That would be a much better way to end the Gospel reading today, “ask my father and whatever you ask, he’ll give it to you.” But no, Jesus goes on to say, “these things I command you, so that you will love one another.”

Oh, but Jesus, you’ve never been to a church council meeting. Jesus, you’ve never had to deal with your own children. Jesus, you’ve never had to sit across the table from them. You’ve never had to clean up a mess. You haven’t had to deal with all these people’s embarrassing habits. Jesus, my wife always argues. My husband, he is unbearable. Jesus, you don’t know what it’s like.

Jesus doesn’t say that we should like one another. Jesus doesn’t say, “these things I command you so that you may tolerate.” Jesus doesn’t say, “go along to get along.” Jesus says, “love one another.” That’s quite a bit different from like.

“Like” and “love.” Ask any college-age sweetheart whose boyfriend or girlfriend just broke up with them by saying, “I like you. But I don’t love you.” They will tell you “like” is worlds apart from “love.” Jesus said these things I command you so that you love one another.

Jesus is of course speaking to the disciples, but he’s also speaking to you and me. The world can tolerate liking one another. Although our political discourse is making this more difficult every day. But Jesus’ teaching is far and away much greater than anything the world can promise you. The world can teach us to like. It can even call that love. But the world knows nothing of the love of God. This is what is different in this room. This is what is different throughout the whole Christian Church. We don’t like one another. We love.

Or maybe, if we wanted to change this verse, maybe we could change another part of it. Like the world we could change the definition of the word love. Or maybe we change it from command to suggestion. These things I suggest to you that you love one another. Like a waiter who suggests the recommended meal of the day, the special, the blue plate platter. But no, Jesus’ word doesn’t change on a daily basis. The grass w

Alleluia, Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed. Alleluia.

God’s grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God our Father, from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The text for our sermon this morning comes from the first reading from Acts. In the Easter season, instead of an Old Testament reading for the first reading, during the season of Easter, the church historically hears from the book of Acts. We read the effect that Easter had on the early church, and how the early church proclaimed the Word of God in it’s beginning. So, during the Easter season we kind of go back in time, to those first chapters of Acts, to see what the church did with this new message of the resurrection of Christ. And what we find in our reading from Acts three is, right after Peter and John heal a man, the man ran and clung to Peter and John, and everybody saw this miracle. And so that’s the setting for Acts chapter three. Why it begins kind of in a strange way. It says, “while he clung to Peter and John,” that was the man who was just healed. He was so thankful that he was healed, and that they did that miracle to him, and everybody was amazed.

And also, our Gospel reading. The sermon is going to be based on this particular verse. This is after Jesus was raised from the dead, Luke 24. And there in verse 45 and following, “Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures. He 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.” And that’s kind of the the part we’re really going to focus on this morning and hear is Jesus telling his disciples, well, now what? What do we do?

Because it would seem natural in our Gospel reading as Jesus–last week, we heard Jesus appeared to the disciples. Thomas wasn’t there. He appeared to them flesh and blood. And then now again, we hear Jesus appears to them again–flesh and blood–and they’re surprised. And so it might be natural, that the disciples wonder, “is this going to happen all the time now? When God’s people gather together is Jesus just going to appear–flesh and blood?” And so this is the reason why Jesus teaches them what he does. He is saying, essentially, “no, I’m not going to appear to you in flesh and blood as I am right here right now. But I am going to be with you. And in fact, I’m going to be with you in an even more intimate and close way, through my word and sacrament.” Because Jesus tells them, “now you are to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins in my name.” That this is how Jesus is present with us. Through His word and sacrament. A new presence, a better presence. Because Christianity is not about a set of moral laws. Christianity is not about a certain type of government. It’s not about a program.

Christianity is about a man. A man who claimed to be God, and then showed himself to be God. Christianity is about a man who was raised from the dead. And he tells us he still comes to be with us. That is what Christianity is. And that should be the concern of every Christian. What is Christianity? Is Jesus really with us? Does he appear to be with us? How do we know that we are being given what we need? When Jesus says preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins, are we receiving–what Peter says in our reading from Acts–times of refreshing?

Now, in the last couple of generations, food packaging has become pretty important. It’s become rather complex. It used to be about the only thing we cared about on food packaging was, well, the expiration date. Even then, if you’re like me, when you look at the date stamped on the milk jug… It’s more of a suggestion rather than a hard and fast rule. Pop the cap, smell it. Eh, close enough.

But now, if you’ve noticed, with more focus on diet, especially with various illnesses floating around everywhere and people caring about their health, now food packaging and i

Alleluia, Christ is risen.

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The text for our sermon this Easter morning is from the Gospel reading that was just read, particularly verses six and following. And the angel 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. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”

God’s grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God our Father, from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This morning, we return to the Lord. We return to him because he has not lost, but because by our sin, we constantly run away from him. But today on Easter, we see our sins, they do not win. Our sin and death, they do not win, but they lose to Christ. That we do not lose to death, but in Christ, we win. Now leading up to this morning, all through Lent, we’ve been keeping our fasts, we’ve been coming to church on Wednesdays and Sundays, and we’ve been hearing this call. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. Today, we see why we can trust God’s invitation, God’s encouragement to return to the Lord. Today, we see why God constantly calls us his people to return to Him. a lost child is one of the most heartbreaking realities in our fallen world. Mary and Joseph lost Jesus for three days. When they found him, they even rebuked the God of all the universe. “Why did you worry your father and I?” Worry can do that. It can make you lose perspective. Of course, Jesus wasn’t lost. He was in the right place. He was in his father’s house.

As far as I know, my parents never really lost me. But then again, maybe they just never admitted to it. I think Emily and I lost one of our kids at Disney for a short time. But I think every parent does that. Grocery stores, Costco, Sam’s, Walmart. It’s always a danger. The store employee comes over the loudspeaker, “Johnny, return to your parents. If anyone sees a lost child wearing a yellow shirt, please let us know.” And then that eerie sound coming from your cell phone. The Amber Alert. Lost children–they need to return to their parents. Whether they ran off on their own, or their parents themselves lost the kid. Regardless, parents don’t care how it happened. They just want their child back. Return to mom. Return to dad. Return to the Lord your God. This isn’t just the wish of parents of small children who get lost. Parents of adult children who’ve lost their way, they too desire their kids to return. Return, because a parent’s love is undying. Today on Easter, the women, they heed that Old Testament call, “return to the Lord your God.” But they don’t return to what they think is a living God. Their motivation was good, of course. They wanted to serve their friend. They were returning to their friend, the one they thought had been the Messiah, but they saw him die. And you don’t return from that. “God? I don’t know if he was God.” They saw him die. “He was a good friend. But would God have let himself be treated the way he was? God surely wouldn’t have let himself be tortured, beaten in scorn to death. Who would allow those sorts of things to happen to himself, much less their own son?” They were heeding the call to return to their Lord. But that part about being God?

Maybe they thought it was possible, but their hopes–their faith–had been dashed. Death kind of has a way of doing that. That is the outcome nobody wishes to hear of when we hear of a lost child, a lost person. Death kind of has a way of making you lose perspective. You toss out everything else. You have the one goal; find the lost child. Mary the mother of James, Mary Magdalene, and Salome, they were returning to find a lost son, if you will. They were looking to find Mary’s lost son. Mary was at the crucifixion. But she wasn’t one of the Mary’s who ran to the tomb that morning. They were

The text for our sermon on this Palm Sunday comes from the Old Testament reading from Zechariah chapter nine. Verse nine and verse 12.

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

“Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.”

So, today begins the week where we, as the people of God, intentionally turn our hearts and minds toward the events that really define the driving force behind our life. You could say the most important events in our lives. We remember this and we begin it on Palm Sunday, where we see a parade. We see a parade and today I would like–with what the Old Testament reading from Zachariah says–to consider this title for us as Christians: that we are Prisoners of Hope. Prisoners of hope who have a humble King.

Every summer my brother and I would spend weeks with my grandparents in a small hill country town of Kingsland, Texas. Quaint town, one stoplight. Your run of the mill small town. Kingsland though, on the Fourth of July, attracted people from all the other small towns. They had a celebration called Aqua Boom, because it culminated on July 4, that evening with a giant firework show. And then, of course, the morning of the Fourth of July, there would be the parade. It was a nice time to celebrate. The best part of the parade, of course, was the hope that we would catch some of the candy that the VFW float would throw out. Or the smarties that the firemen from the volunteer fire department would throw to us kids patiently waiting on the curb. That really is the best part of any parade, the sweet gifts that we hope to get thrown to us. Rowdy kids, with parents still drinking their morning coffee. Sometimes, sitting in those parades, I wished it would never end. But it did point us to something greater. And I think that greater thing is the celebration of freedom and hope we have in Christ. That this week Palm Sunday begins with a parade.

A parade, but it’s not a normal parade. There are children, there are adults, people waiting in expectation. Some perhaps thought it was a political parade. Something like the Fourth of July, something you just celebrate every year, and it really only depends on where you live. Your government could turn against you and take everything away. Not so with the people of God. Your freedom cannot be taken away by anything or anyone. Other people who were gathered there probably knew that there was something more at stake and that’s why they cried out. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. They knew that this was more than just an earthly kingdom or a political maneuver. But the beginning of Passion Week we start with a parade of hope for the prisoners of hope. A parade which will end in a funeral procession of sorts. That people will follow not a dead corpse, but they’ll follow a man who knows his death is looming as he carries his cross. A parade on Sunday, a bloody procession to death on Friday. But, that Sunday, it all gave way to a new parade. Another parade, of sorts, that you and I are still marching in today. A parade for prisoners of hope.

A fourth of July parade is the acknowledgement that the gift of freedom requires sacrifice, a principle built upon the very gospel itself. That because Jesus Christ had died for the sins of the world, those who believe in are baptized, they are free from sin and death. That the power of the devil can don’t touch you. The power of the kingdoms of this world that come and go, what are they to us? But this victory was not without cost. There is a cost. And the cost for freedom is life. Before Easter there’s Good Friday. Before Easter baskets and sweet treats, before you can have a parade, a price had to have been paid. Before the sweet treats of Easter, the bitter drink of the cup of God’s w