κήρυξον τὸν λόγον

[And Jesus said:] But the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and he will remind you all things that I spoke to you. Peace I leave to you. My peace I give to you (vv 26-27a). And now you have that peace.  Brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus was born without sin, lived without sin, died for your sin, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven so that he can always be with you. He has announced his absolution to you that your sins are forgiven on his account. He has united himself in baptism with you, drowning your sins and raising you into eternal life. And today, once again he will deliver to you his Supper that gives you peace ... that is, the peace of God that transcends all understanding ... quite literally, the forgiveness of your sins. This is where the Lord of Peace is giving you his peace at all times in every way (2 Th 3:16) ... through Word and sacraments. You who confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in you...

It’s difficult to hear the lessons for today and not see all kinds of red flags being raised and all kinds of alarms sounding off.  In his epistle, Saint Peter speaks of the end of all things drawing near. And now you see those fiery trials enveloping our world, don’t you (1 Pt 4:7, 12)? Men are demanding to be called women, and women men. Even worse, our world is demanding you support abortion. Meanwhile, Jesus speaks of the faithful being tossed out ... locked out ... barred from gathering for worship. Although we aren’t currently locked out, it was forced upon us, wasn’t it? As Jesus said, These things they will do because they have not known the Father or me (Jn 16:3).  Our world will tell you that they love the Father, but then they will hate you. Our world will tell you they love the Son, but not only will they not forgive, they’ll do whatever they can to murder you. Worse yet, they’ll even say they’re serving God by doing that. As Jesus said, These things they will do ...

As the disciples stood there watching Jesus ascend into heaven, they must have wondered, “Why?” After all that he had done ... after all he had started ... Why was Jesus going away? Maybe that question has crossed your mind from time to time: Why did Jesus ascend into heaven? Wouldn’t it be nice ... wouldn’t it be better ... if Jesus were still walking around among us? I mean, in person, in the flesh. He could answer all our questions, solve all our problems, settle all our disputes, and heal all our divisions, convince the doubting, comforting the weak, bringing back the lost, personally leading his church forward in proclaiming the Gospel?  WHY DID JESUS GO AWAY? It’s a good question to pursue today.  And it’s a good theme as we talk about the Ascension of Our Lord. Fortunately, the Bible gives us some good answers ... answers that can help us understand what a blessing it is for us that our Lord did not stay but went away on Ascension Day. I. First of all, Scripture tells...

Grace to you and peace ...  [Jesus said,] In that day, you will not ask anything of me. Amen, amen, I say to you whatever you might ask the Father, he will give to you in my name. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive that your joy may be full (vv 23-24). Brothers and sisters in Christ, a minute or so ago, we all confessed that I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.  What does this mean? I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened with his gifts, sanctified and kept in the one True Faith . This is the truth. And together, we confess this truth. We are able to do this because God has given you faith, and has poured out his Holy Spirit upon you in baptism. In your baptism, your pastor spoke your name, poured water upon you, and s...

[And Jesus said,] when he comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will guide you in all the truth, for he will not speak on behalf of himself ... whatever he hears, he will speak, and the things coming, he will announce to you. He will glorify me, for he will receive [it] from me and announce [it] to you (vv 12-14). Just a few minutes ago, we all confessed together, I believe in the Holy Spirit . That is to say, we all confessed that we are convinced there is only one Truth. We all confessed that the Holy Spirit speaks that one Truth. We are convinced, as Jesus says, that he is not just “a” Spirit of Truth, or the “Spirit of Truth,” but the Spirit of “the” Truth. This is our confession. Our world bristles at the idea that there is only one truth, just like they bristle at the idea that there is one Triune God. They don’t like this truth at all. Instead, the world is largely agnostic to it. So they try to change the truth to a truth that fits their worldview, that suits their needs and desi...