Today we discuss the thing all Lutherans love to hate, the Papacy. 

Today we continue our discussion on the Smalcald Articles, this time talking about the Saints and possibly detouring to cloisters.

Today we continue our discussion on the Smalcald Articles.

Today we begin season 4 of Uncultured Saints! Now on Youtube! This season we will be tackling the Smalcald Articles.

Hello Internet! The Uncultured Saints are back for season three. Pastor Harrison Goodman and Pastor Eli Lietzau are joined by Erica Jacoby, Executive Director of Higher Things. She’s definitely here as a guest, and not to keep us hosts on task. 

Season 3 is here, and we’re talking about Christ. Christ in the Old Testament in fact! And up first we’re talking about creation. 

A group of youth makes fun of the prophet, Elisha.  They call him, “Baldy.”  It seems like a harmless, although snarky, comment.  It would perhaps warrant a sharp reproof, but certainly nothing more than that.  But what comes later is straight out of a horror movie.  Bears from out of nowhere, mauling these young youths to death, tearing them limb from limb.  The Old Testament is littered with these types of stories.  Are they just mindless, acts of violence with no foundation or continued meaning?  That doesn’t sound like our God.  And besides all that, Jesus must be found in the Old Testament.  He is there:  golden thread woven through, bloody red spots splattered on every page.  So where is Jesus in a text like this?  Where is the Gospel?  Where is the cross?  It’s all there.  Let’s find our where.

We all know this story.  It is one of the bad ones, the fire and brimstone ones.  This is one our favorite texts to club our neighbor over the head with the Law.  Homosexuality, incest, unbelief, pillars of salt:  It has it all, and it’s seemingly all about the Law.  But it can’t just be about the Law.  Jesus’ cross is for Lot and his daughters.  It is for Lot’s salty wife and for smoldering Sodom and Gomorrah.  Jesus and His cross is for all people.  So if Jesus died for the sinners in these infamous cities then that should probably affect the way in which we hear this.  That isn’t to say that the Law has no place.  It does, it always does.  But the cross does, too.  Let’s not forget about that.  The cross has a place, even amongst the ash heaps of Sodom and Gomorrah.

What is worship?  That really is the question that the Christian must figure out.  What is worship?  Why do we gather?  Does it matter what we do and how we do it?  These questions will never stop because the sinner always gets them wrong.  This was true in the Garden in front of the Tree of Good and Evil.  It was true in the tabernacle and later the Temple, the tent of meeting, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place.  This is true for us today and will be true for our children tomorrow.  How we view worship is going to dictate what we think worship is, and vise versa.  …  So what is worship?  Is it an earth to heaven, praise and adoration, man to God sort of thing?  Or is it a heaven to earth, gifts and atonement, God to man sort of thing.  It matters what it is and it matters how you view it.  Let’s stop pretending it doesn’t.

There are two big places in the Old Testament where Jesus is undeniably present and foreshadowed.  One, of course, is the Passover Feast and the paschal lamb.  The other is the Day of Atonement.  This day, found in the middle of Leviticus is the center of worship for the Old Testament Israelites.  It happened only once a year, but it was so important that this day was the only day that the Most Holy Place was breeched.  On this day we have the presence of God on the ark; the blood spilled out from a goat of sacrifice; the High Priest in super-special vestments signifying something truth that happens on no other day; and maybe, most importantly we have the scapegoat.  Now, if we can’t find Jesus here in the Old Testament, then we are never going to find Him.

What is to be done with a prophet who doesn’t want to be a prophet?  What is to be done with a man who would rather die than see his enemies receive the Gospel of Christ Jesus?  What is to be done with a scoundrel who even after he is raised out of the depths of Sheol, maybe even from death itself, still despises the things of forgiveness and life eternal for the other guy?  Well, oddly enough, this man still needs Jesus, too.  And wouldn’t you know it?  Jesus is for Jonah, just as he is for the heathens of Nineveh, just as He is for you.  Join us as we plumb the depths of a good for nothing prophet who Jesus Himself shows to be the quintessential picture of His death and resurrection.