THE WEEK OF EASTER - THURSDAY

LESSON: 2 CORINTHIANS 4:13-15

Jesus said to her, “Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” John 20:17

In these words of Jesus to Mary Magdalene, as reported in John’s Gospel, Jesus sets forth a very clear explanation of the benefit and profit of His death and resurrection. “Go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”

This is one of the great consolatory passages of the Gospel at which we can knock with all boldness and confidence. It is as though Christ is saying here, “Go, Mary, and tell my disciples, those deserters, who really merited punishment and eternal damnation, that my resurrection will redound to their great advantage. Through my resurrection I have brought it about that my Father is your Father and my God your God.”

A few brief words! But they contain a very important truth, namely, that we have a trust and confidence in God which is the equal of that which Christ, the very Son of God, Himself has.

Who can grasp such boundless joy? Who can explain how a poor, miserable sinner can call God his Father and God, even as Christ Himself does?

SL 11:606 (9)

PRAYER: Dear heavenly Father, Your ways in Jesus Christ our Lord are beyond all our powers of understanding and telling. Grant us the faith to cling with all our hearts to the benefits and profits of our Lord’s resurrection, that with Him You are our Father and our God in and through Jesus our Savior. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 2:215-221.

THE WEEK OF EASTER - WEDNESDAY

LESSON: ISAIAH 55:6-9

Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. 1 Corinthians 13:12

We should always be very careful not only to hear the truth that we are Christ’s brethren with our bodily ears. We should feel and experience this truth in our very hearts. Then we shall never become over-weening and conceited, but this fact will fill our hearts with wonder.

True, pious, and godly Christians are always deeply conscious of their very serious limitations. In humility and modesty, they will begin to wonder how such miserable sinners as they are, drowned in sins, could ever become worthy enough to have God’s Son as their brother. How does it come to pass that such a wretched creature as I am enjoys such a privilege?

At the same time, such a Christian is amazed at this fact and meditates upon it. It certainly requires great effort to believe it. Indeed, if one actually experienced this fact for what it really is and involves, one would perforce have to die in that very instant. For man who is flesh and blood cannot comprehend this fact.

As long as we live in this life, our heart is far too restricted to be able to grasp such a fact. After death, when our heart is enlarged, we shall be able to comprehend fully what we have heard through the Word.

SL 11:606 (8)

PRAYER: Your ways are not our ways, and Your thoughts are not our thoughts, heavenly Father. Enlighten us by Your Holy Spirit in such a way that we believe Your Word, even where we may not fully understand it, for Christ our Savior’s sake. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 2:215-221.

LESSON: ROMANS 8:14-17

[Let your adorning] … be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable jewel of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. 1 Peter 3:4

The title that we are Christ’s brethren is so exalted that no human heart can really comprehend it. Unless the Holy Spirit confers this grace, no one can say, “Christ is my brother.” No man’s reason would be bold enough to make such a claim, even though it may occasionally be made with the tongue, as in the case of our modern charismatics. Nor is it enough just to make such claims—this must be a matter of the heart—otherwise it is pure hypocrisy.

If you really know this in your heart, it will become something so great and important for you, that you will keep quiet about it rather than chatter about it to all and sundry. To be sure, face to face with the magnitude of this blessing, you may even have your doubts and uncertainties whether it is really true or not. Those who are always crying, “Christ is my brother, Christ is my brother!” are not necessarily Christ’s true brethren.

With a true Christian it is very different. For a true Christian it is a wonderful thing to hear that he is Christ’s brother. The flesh is dismayed at this, and not so very much will be said and openly acknowledged about it all.

SL 11:605 (7)

PRAYER: Give us at all times a quiet, confident faith, O Lord, not given to empty and foolish boasting, but fully trusting in your assurance that we are Your brethren in and through Your glorious resurrection from the dead. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 2:215-221.

THE WEEK OF EASTER  - MONDAY

LESSON: REVELATION 1:4-8

He is not ashamed to call them brethren. Hebrews 2:11

The fact that Christ receives such abandoned wretches as you and me and calls us brethren is a fact full of all consolation for us. If Christ is our brother, I would like to know what we still lack?

The situation in which we find ourselves is very much like that which exists among earthly brothers. Earthly brothers have common possessions, as well as one father and one inheritance, otherwise they would not be brothers.

In Christ, we also share common possessions and have one Father and one inheritance. But this inheritance never becomes less by being shared like an earthly inheritance. It becomes even greater and greater. For it is a spiritual inheritance.

The earthly inheritance is dissipated when it is divided into many parts, but in the spiritual inheritance which is ours in Christ, he who has a part of it has all of it.

What is this inheritance which makes us Christ’s brothers? In His hands are all times of life and death, sin and grace, and all that is in heaven and on earth, eternal truth, might, wisdom, and righteousness. He rules and reigns over everything—hunger, thirst, good fortune, misfortune, over everything that is conceivable, whether it be in heaven or on earth, not only spiritual matters, but also earthly matters.

In short, He has all things in His hands, whether they are eternal or temporal. My faith in Christ, then, full covers all my needs.

SL 11:604 (4-5)

PRAYER: Keep us ever mindful, O Lord, of all that we have for time and eternity in our relationships with You, the beginning and ending of all our faith and hope, as Your privileged brethren, for Your love’s sake. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 2:215-221.

LESSON: MARK 16:1-8

Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” Matthew 28:10

Jesus Himself pointed out the benefit of His suffering, death, and resurrection when He said to the women, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

This is the first word that they heard from Jesus after His resurrection from the dead. He hereby confirms all His former teachings, as well as the blessings He had already conferred on them. They are reminded here that they will now indeed be the recipients of all these blessings. Not only this but He also intimates that the Christians who believe His words are His “brethren” even though they do not see like the apostles did.

He does not wait until we beg or beseech Him that we may become His brethren. All ideas of meritorious services are completely ruled out here.

What did the apostles merit? Peter denied the Lord three times; the other disciples all fled from Him; they stayed with Him like a hare stays with its young. He should have called them deserters, traitors, and scoundrels rather than brethren. So, this word was sent to them through these women by sheer mercy and grace.

The apostles could not help feeling this. We feel it, too, when we are held fast in sins, temptations, and damnation.

SL 11:603 (2-3)

PRAYER: We thank and praise you, dear Lord Jesus, for the wonderful grace and mercy which You have so richly bestowed upon us unworthy sinners in demonstrating by Your resurrection that we are Your brethren, with all the privileges of brethren. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 2:215-221.

LESSON: 1 JOHN 5:6-12

The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ … destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us. Ephesians 1:3, 5-8

When we discover what the Gospel of God’s free and unmerited love really is, we see how foolish it is to teach that people should bear suffering and death patiently to atone for their sins and to obtain grace. Some claim that if one bears all this patiently and willingly, all one’s sins will be forgiven accordingly. These people are seducers, because they conceal Christ with His death upon which our comfort depends. They induce people to rely on their own suffering and death.

This is the very worst thing that can befall anyone in the end, because it is a way that leads straight into hell. You must learn to say, “What is my death and patience? Nothing at all! I will have nothing at all to do with it and will close my ears to it as far as any consolation is concerned. Christ’s suffering and death is my one consolation. On this I place my reliance and trust that through it my sins are forgiven. I will gladly suffer death for my God’s praise and honor freely, gratuitously, and in my neighbor’s service, but place no reliance on it for myself.”

SL 11:527 (5)
AE 76:351-52

PRAYER: Lord Jesus Christ, thanks and praise be to You for the completeness of Your work of salvation for us and for making this known to us in Your holy Gospel for our eternal comfort and consolation. Amen.

LESSON: 2 CORINTHIANS 5:14, 15

Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. 1 Peter 3:18

Thorns pricked the sacred head of Christ, but you have actually deserved the pricks of more than a hundred thousand thorns. To be sure, you have deserved to be pricked by such thorns in all eternity, and much worse than He was pricked. Christ had to suffer the agony of having His hands and feet pierced with nails; you have deserved to suffer from much worse nails in eternity.

This is what will indeed befall those who disregard Christ’ suffering on their behalf. In this grim reflection, Christ does not lie or scold; what He indicates must surely follow. St. Bernard says, “I thought I was secure and knew nothing of the eternal sentence passed upon me in heaven until I saw that the only-begotten Son of God had mercy on me, stepped forth, and submitted to the sentence of condemnation on my behalf. If there is such seriousness here, it is not for me to play around any longer and to be secure.”

This also explains Christ’s words to the women of Jerusalem: “Do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.… If they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” (Luke 23:28, 31). Jesus means to say: “From my sufferings, learn what you have deserved and what will befall you.”

Christ’s sufferings should always be pondered with the greatest of seriousness on our part. They are written for our warning to teach us the awful and horrible nature of sin.

SL 11:577 (6-7)
AE 76:427

PRAYER: Lord God, our heavenly Father, let the awful sufferings and death of our Lord Jesus Christ be for us a continual reminder of the horrible nature of all sin in your sight. Move us at all times to a serious consideration of our Savior’s passion and death on our behalf. Amen.

LESSON: ROMANS 15:1-6

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2

Not the least part of love or self-surrender is for me to be able to give away my self-conceit or arrogance. I can no doubt give my neighbor temporal good and bodily service with my painstaking toil. I can also serve him with instruction and intercession, for example, by visiting him and consoling him when he is sick or sad. I can feed him when he is hungry, free him from imprisonment, and such like. But the greatest of all the services I can render my neighbor is bearing his weakness.

We will always fall short of the mark here. We will never attain to the perfection of Christ in this regard. He is the pure, bright Sun in which there is no mist. Our light is just like a glimmering stalk of straw in comparison with this Sun. Christ is a glowing oven full of fire and perfect love. But He is still satisfied with our little candle, if we provide some sort of evidence of letting our love shine forth.

Take a look at the Gospel record and see how Christ dealt with His disciples. He bore with them when they were guilty of foolish conduct and even when they, at times, went astray. In their service, His wisdom yielded to their folly. He did not condemn them but bore their weakness with long-suffering patience. “What I am doing you do not know now, but afterward you will understand,” He tells them on one occasion (John 13:7). Through such love He gives up His righteousness, judgement, might, wrath, punishment, and the rights he has over us and our sins. He could condemn us because of our folly. But He does no more than to say, “You are in the wrong; you do not know anything; do not, however, reject me, but trust me.”

And so I say that it is no small example of love to be able to bear with our neighbor when he is weak in faith and love.

SL 11:597 (26)
AE 76:445-46

PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, fill our hearts at all times with such love for our neighbor that we understand his weaknesses and needs and continue to bear with him, for Your name’s sake. Amen.

LESSON: PSALM 19:7-14

They understood none of these things; this saying was hid from them, and they did not grasp what was said. Luke 18:34

What Jesus said to the disciples had no meaning for them at this time. “This saying was hid from them.” This amounts to saying, “Reason, flesh, and blood cannot understand or grasp that Scripture should declare how the Son of Man must be crucified.” Still less can it understand that such is His will, and that He does this gladly.

Reason does not believe that this is necessary for us; it wants to take care of itself before God with works. God must reveal this in our hearts by His Spirit, after proclaiming it outwardly into our ears by His Word.

Even those to whom the Spirit reveals it inwardly find it hard to believe this and have to struggle with this.

So great and wonderful a thing it is that the Son of man is crucified willingly and gladly to fulfill the Scriptures, that is, for our good. It is a mystery and remains a mystery.

SL 11:527 (4)
AE 76:351

PRAYER: O Lord, we are always in need of the enlightenment of Your Holy Spirit through Your Word. We thank You that, through the Spirit, we can understand the treasures of Your Word and make them our own. Amen.

LESSON: HEBREWS 10:1-7

[Christ said,] “‘Lo, I have come to do thy will, O God,’ as it is written of me in the roll of the scroll.” Hebrews 10:7

Christ’s sufferings are understood correctly when we do not simply regard the sufferings as such but recognize and grasp His heart and will to suffer. For if one regards His sufferings in isolation without recognizing His heart and will therein, one will be shocked by Christ’s sufferings rather than rejoice in them. But if one sees that Christ’s heart and will are in these sufferings, it produces real comfort, confidence, and pleasure in Christ.

The psalmist praises this will of God and Christ in suffering when he says, “In the roll of the scroll it is written of me; I delight to do thy will, O my God; thy law is within my heart” (Psalm 40:7-8). The epistle to the Hebrews also refers to this when it says, “By that will we have been sanctified” (Hebrews 10:10). It does not say through the suffering and blood of Christ, which is pure enough, but through the will of God and of Christ, that they were both of one will to sanctify us through Christ’s blood.

This will to suffer He also manifests in the Gospel (Matthew 16:21-23), where He proclaims beforehand that He is going up to Jerusalem to suffer Himself to be crucified. It is as though He were saying, “Look into my heart to see that I am doing this willingly, without compulsion, and gladly, so that you may not be shocked or dismayed thereby when you see it come to pass and begin to think that I am doing it unwillingly, that I must do it, that I am forsaken, and that the Jews are doing it by their authority.”

SL 11:526 (3)
AE 76:350-51

PRAYER: Thanks be to You, loving Father, for sending us such a ready and willing Savior, whose love for us has been manifested in His readiness and willingness to suffer and die for us and in our stead. Mercy and love are all Your ways, and those of Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.