Emmanuel Lutheran Church

Revelation 3:7-13

⁷ “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write,

‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”: ⁸ “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. ⁹ Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. ¹⁰ Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. ¹¹ Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. ¹² He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.

¹³ “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Well, who is able to say they don’t have an ear?  Honestly, no-one! Even deaf people ‘have’ an ear and they also are able to receive “what the Spirit says to the churches.” (it’s just through a different medium). All of these messages to the churches reveal how God takes the proclamation of His Word extremely serious. So, it’s always shocking when someone is encountered who treats God’s Word flippantly. But, sadly and frustratingly, it happens — a lot!

It’s imperative to keep in mind who the Spirit is as God’s speaks through the written word. The Spirit is called the “teacher,” at many places of Holy Scripture (see Nehemiah 9:20; John 14:26; Luke 12:12; and 1 John 2:27). Being familiar with the terminology, we, Lutherans, could call God’s Spirit the ultimate ‘catechist’ (teacher) when it comes to the ‘catechesis’ (teaching) of God’s Word. God’s Holy Scripture could then be looked upon as the ultimate ‘catechism’ (book of teachings); and we could be viewed as the Holy Spirit’s ‘catechumens’ (students).

This gives a whole new perspective to Luther’s words “Let me ever remain a student of the catechism!”  Obviously Luther was speaking about the catechisms (large and small) that he had created. But the same applies when it comes to all of God’s Word! It’s the Spirit who, thankfully, reveals the spiritual things of God. Those things are not discerned by man. Every word spoken by any teacher of Holy Scripture needs always to be held accountable to “what the Spirit says” — for what He speaks, through Law & Gospel, is what brings about true repentance and belief in Jesus. Rejoice that you have heard!

Let us pray: O God, the strength of all who put their trust in You, mercifully grant that by Your power we may be defended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Mark 9:2-32

² Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. ³ His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. ⁴ And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. ⁵ Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”— ⁶ because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid.

⁷ And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!” ⁸ Suddenly, when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves.

⁹ Now as they came down from the mountain, He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead. ¹⁰ So they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant.

¹¹ And they asked Him, saying, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

¹² Then He answered and told them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and restores all things. And how is it written concerning the Son of Man, that He must suffer many things and be treated with contempt? ¹³ But I say to you that Elijah has also come, and they did to him whatever they wished, as it is written of him.”

¹⁴ And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. ¹⁵ Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him. ¹⁶ And He asked the scribes, “What are you discussing with them?”

¹⁷ Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. ¹⁸ And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.”

¹⁹ He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” ²⁰ Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.

²¹ So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?”

And he said, “From childhood. ²² And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

²³ Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

²⁴ Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

²⁵ When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” ²⁶ Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” ²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.

²⁸ And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”

²⁹ So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”

³⁰ Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know it. ³¹ For He taught His disciples and said to them, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.” ³² But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him.

In today’s text we read of Jesus’ Transfiguration, His healing of a demon-possessed boy, and yet another declaration of His death and resurrection.

Our Lord’s Transfiguration is an amazing site for Peter, James, and John as they were taken by Him to a high mountain by themselves and witnessed His highest glory, as later in Gethsemane they were to be witnesses of His greatest humiliation. Luke’s account records that Jesus, Moses, and Elijah were talking about the Lord’s departure that He would accomplish in Jerusalem – His suffering, death, and burial.

Further, the appearance of Moses and Elijah underscores that there is indeed a resurrection from the dead. Their bodies had been in the grave for centuries, and yet here they are with Jesus. This is a prefigurement of the resurrection that Jesus Himself would guarantee for all who die in Him by His own rising from the dead.  The faith and confession of Moses and Elijah testified of the Messiah to come – the Messiah who would defeat death and the grave for all who believe in Him and who would, by His own resurrection, make certain that all who die in Him will also be raised.

Our Lord then released a young boy from a terrible demon-possession demonstrating yet again His power and authority over evil spirits and even the devil himself. Indeed the devil is powerful, the second-most powerful being ever. But Jesus rules over him, proving by His own resurrection from the dead that the devil’s lynchpin – death – is undone and overcome by Jesus.

Dear Christian, Christ died to pay for all your sins and rose from the dead for you. If you, by God-given faith alone believe that, you also have the promise of forgiveness and eternal life, a promise and truth that will sustain you in this life until God calls you Home to be with him forever. And you need not even fear death, for your Lord and Savior Jesus has overcome that for you as well.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, thank You for dying and rising for me and all mankind, and for giving me faith to believe in You. Amen.

Mark 8:10-9:1

¹⁰ immediately got into the boat with His disciples, and came to the region of Dalmanutha.

¹¹ Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him. ¹² But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation.”

¹³ And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side. ¹⁴ Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat. ¹⁵ Then He charged them, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”

¹⁶ And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have no bread.”

¹⁷ But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? ¹⁸ Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember? ¹⁹ When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?”

They said to Him, “Twelve.”

²⁰ “Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?”

And they said, “Seven.”

²¹ So He said to them, “How is it you do not understand?”

²² Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. ²³ So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.

²⁴ And he looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking.”

²⁵ Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly. ²⁶ Then He sent him away to his house, saying, “Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town.”

²⁷ Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, “Who do men say that I am?”

²⁸ So they answered, “John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”

²⁹ He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.”

³⁰ Then He strictly warned them that they should tell no one about Him.

³¹ And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³² He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. ³³ But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

³⁴ When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. ³⁵ For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. ³⁶ For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? ³⁷ Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? ³⁸ For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

9 And He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.”

Jesus warned His disciples to “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod.”  The Pharisees’ teachings functioned like leaven, or yeast, that spread throughout Jerusalem like a cancer and turned people away from the truth of Scripture.  Their teachings were nothing more than rules by which to live and their own erroneous interpretations and applications of the Scriptures over which they claimed to have authority. Although they were the religious leaders, they didn’t believe in Jesus as the fulfiller of Old Testament prophecies; they didn’t believe He was the Messiah, the Savior of the world.

Any preaching or teaching in the church by anyone claiming to be “religious” that does not point to Jesus as the only One who has fulfilled all the Old Testament prophecies and Who gave His life on the cross to pay for the sins of all mankind is leaven.  It is false and misleading.  It is a cancer that ultimately and eternally kills.

What saves and gives life is the confession and teaching that Peter gave: Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (the fuller presentation from Mt. 19:16), a confession that, according to Matthew, was given from God the Father. That is the only truth that matters in this world. That is the only truth that gives not only the certainty of sins paid for and the promise of heaven, but also the sure and certain hope of the resurrection.

Forgiveness of sins is given to us through God-given faith in Christ’s work for us on the cross. In Holy Baptism we die to sin as Christ did and rise to life as Christ did. His death and resurrection become ours in those wonderful waters by the power of the Word of God. And through regular hearing of Christ’s Gospel and reception of Christ’s Sacramental gifts, we continue to proclaim Christ’s death until He comes and are strengthened in our various vocations as living confessions of Christ to those around us.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, Your death and resurrection are solid truth. Keep us in that one true faith until You call us Home to be with You forever. Amen.

Mark 7:1-30

7 Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to Him, having come from Jerusalem. ² Now when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault. ³ For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders. ⁴ When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches.

⁵ Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?”

⁶ He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

⁸ For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.”

⁹ He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ ¹¹ But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban”—’ (that is, a gift to God), ¹² then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, ¹³ making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

¹⁴ When He had called all the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear Me, everyone, and understand: ¹⁵ There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man. ¹⁶ If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!”

¹⁷ When He had entered a house away from the crowd, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable. ¹⁸ So He said to them, “Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?” ²⁰ And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. ²¹ For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, ²² thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. ²³ All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”

²⁴ From there He arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden. ²⁵ For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet. ²⁶ The woman was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”

²⁸ And she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹ Then He said to her, “For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter.”

³⁰ And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed.

Appearances are everything…to some people. That certainly was the case with the Pharisees who were all about keeping up appearances and making sure other people saw them acting pious and holy.  And because they were like that, they thought they had the right to chastise Jesus’ disciples for not following their – the Pharisees’ – rules.

But appearances are merely the veneer, the thin coating which covers up what’s underneath.  Like the thin veneer of a countertop or a cheap piece of furniture, what’s underneath isn’t natural wood; it isn’t worth much.  With the veneer, what you see is not what you get.

Jesus rebuked the Pharisees with the very Scriptures they thought they knew. He tore off their misleading veneer of self-righteousness and false piety by rubbing their noses in the Word of God.  He chastised them for keeping their own traditions instead of being obedient to God’s Word. He chided them for their evil words and actions.

But the Syro-Phoenician woman had no veneer; she wasn’t a fake Christian; she wasn’t superficial or pseudo-pious.  She clung to Jesus and was willing to receive anything, even a crumb, from Him because she had faith in Him. And she received more than crumbs, for Jesus healed her dear daughter of demon-possession.

We need to repent of being Pharisaic about our faith from time to time. Our sinful nature wants to hold up our own goodness and works as the reason God loves us. But God doesn’t save or forgive based on anything we do or are. He saves and forgives because it is His nature. He demonstrated His love for all mankind by sending His Son to pay for the sins of the world, and He grants salvation to all who believe in His work for them. And He continues to deliver His forgiveness and strength through the Holy BAGS – Baptism, Absolution, Gospel, and Supper. Those things have no veneer. Like Jesus, they’re solid, genuine, and sure.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, thank You for Your genuine love, mercy, and forgiveness. Amen.