Today is not Palm Sunday. It is also not simply the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Today is the beginning of Advent, the beginning of a new church year. The word “Advent” means coming, and so for centuries and centuries, the Christian Church in the Western part of Europe and now the Lutheran Church here in America listens to the Palm Sunday Gospel on this day. Why? Because this is the perfect Gospel to kick off the new church year. Consider: Palm Sunday was the beginning of Holy Week, the week of grace. For us, this reading about Palm Sunday is the beginning of the Church Year, the year of grace. Also, in the next four weeks until Christmas, we will remember especially how Jesus did come to us at Christmas, does come to us in the Word and Sacraments, and shall come to us at the end of the world. It is the season of Christ’s coming. And so it is good and right to hear how Jesus came as a humble King to the city of Jerusalem, to be our King on the cross, and to save us from our enemies, especially from sin, death, and the devil. Since our fathers in the faith have instructed us to read the Palm Sunday Gospel on this day, let us take up this important part of God’s Word, and go through it verse by verse. Let us hear how wonderful and strange our humble King is, and how we should greet this humble King of ours. The Gospel reading begins:

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, The Lord needs them, and he will send them at once. (Matt. 21:1–3)

“Jesus sent two disciples.” He is preparing His royal entry. The king of Israel, you see, lived in Jerusalem, because Jerusalem was the capital city. It was their Washington, D.C. Imagine what it would have been like three years ago if John McCain and Sarah Palin rented a jet that looked like Air Force One, flew to Washington, got in limos preceded by police motorcycles and secret service, and made a slow procession to the capitol building, on the very day of the Inauguration? That would have been the same as claiming, “We won, we deserve to be in charge here.” And everyone would have seen what they were up to. That’s how it was with Jerusalem. If you wanted to be king, the way to do it would be to enter the capital city Jerusalem with horses, trumpets, armies, and crowds of people shouting “Long live the king,” or something similar.

So “Jesus sent two disciples” to prepare His royal entry. But He doesn’t ask for war horses. He doesn’t get Himself a chariot. He doesn’t have secret service going before and behind. He just sends two of His disciples to go get a full-grown donkey and a young donkey, a colt. Now what can we learn from this? This is what: See how Jesus works. He is true God, the King of all the universe. He has angels at His command and can do miracles. But does He simply create a donkey and its colt? No, He works through the service of men. He sends His disciples to do His work at His command. That is how Jesus loves to work. He loves to get human beings involved. Even today He sends pastors to do His work of preaching and giving out sacraments, warning people to repent, and comforting them with His forgiveness. That is how Jesus works.

Now, if anyone said anything to the two disciples, they were supposed to say, “The Lord needs them.” I’ve always wondered why the owners of those donkeys would let those donkeys go. If a stranger came to your house, took your car keys, and started to back your car out of the driveway, you’d run out and say “What are you doing?” What if they said, “The Lord needs this car”? You’d think he was crazy. Yet when Jesus does it, it works. What is Jesus showing us here? Why does He get His ride this way? Our Lord was a very poor man. He said “The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Matt. 8:20). But He has what He needs whenever He needs it. When it’s time for His royal entry into Jerusalem as a humble King, Jesus has what He needs. Friends, we too can trust that Jesus will give us what we need at the right time. We have Jesus as our King. He owns the entire world. He will take care of us, working through the service of men, to give us what we truly need. So that is how Jesus prepares His royal entry. He doesn’t get Himself an army, chariot, and horses, He just gets a humble donkey and its colt.

But what good does this do us? Unless we find out the meaning of these events, we’ll never know why this is important. Therefore our text continues with these words: This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden (Matt. 21:4–5). Here you have it. This is the meaning. Christ got Himself a donkey and colt and rode into Jerusalem. Why? In order to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet. Which prophet? The prophet Zechariah in the 9th chapter. Zechariah predicted: “Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you.” He said that a king would come to Zion. Zion is the mountain where Jerusalem and the temple were located. And that is what Jesus is doing here. But this isn’t a regular king. The prophet says, “your king is coming to you, humble.” That is what the prophet said. But normally kings are not humble. They are glorious and proud. They are just the opposite of Jesus. This shows that Jesus is a different kind of king. He does have all power. He does rule the whole world. He is the creator. That’s what we call Christ’s “kingdom of power.” But when the prophet says, “Behold, your king is coming to you, humble,” he is talking about Christ’s “kingdom of grace.” Christ’s kingdom of grace is what today’s Gospel is all about. Jesus said elsewhere, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). That is the kingdom that we speak of in the Lord’s Prayer, when we pray “Thy kingdom come.” What does this mean? Martin Luther explains: “God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.” That is the kind of kingdom that Jesus brings, riding on His donkey and colt. It is a kingdom in which God gives grace, in which we believe His Word, and in which we lead godly lives.

Oh, what a marvelous and wonderful kingdom this is! If only we could see it for what it is. To us it looks humble, but it is truly glorious. We hear only of a poor man riding into a faraway city on a donkey and a colt, but in reality this is God’s Son, who could have entered Jerusalem accompanied by angel armies with flaming swords. But instead He enters with humility. It is a marvelous kingdom, because the humility of the all-powerful God means mercy for His people, mercy for you!

“Behold your king is coming to you, humble.” Christ is a humble king. Christ was humble when He came into Jerusalem. He was humble when He first came into this world as a baby in Bethlehem. And He is humble when He comes to us here in the Word and Sacraments. This is just the opposite of how David’s rebel son Absolom rode around Jerusalem. In 2 Samuel 15, we read that Absolom rode around with “a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run before him” (2 Sam. 15:1). And Absolom did this, why? To steal the hearts of the men of Israel and rebel against his father David (2 Sam. 15:2–6). Absolom was a son of David, but Jesus is the greater Son of David, and Jesus is totally different when He enters the city. He shows that His kingdom of grace is not about having power, it is not worldly. It is about forgiveness and mercy. Jesus came as a humble king, but just a few days later was being put to death on the cross. And what was the charge against Him? “Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews.” They crowned this humble king with a crown of thorns. They put a purple robe on Him to mock Him. They spit at Him, hit Him on the head, whipped Him, and finally killed Him. And Christ, who has all the power in the world, did nothing to stop it, so as to save you. Christ died on the cross in your place. He took the punishment for your sins. He made things right with God, so that God will be your loving Father. He is a king without an army, suffering a punishment without guilt, so that His people are forgiven without their works, and made holy without blemish. He is a humble king, a king powerful in mercy and truth.

So then, if He is powerful in truth, what should we think about what follows in our text? The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. (Matt. 21:6–7). Jesus is powerful in truth. Indeed He is the truth (John 14:6). Yet liberal critics keep saying that the Bible has errors, and here is one place in particular. Did Jesus ride just on a donkey, or on a donkey and a colt? If you look at Mark chapter 11 and Luke chapter 19, you will read nothing about a colt, they only mention the donkey. But here in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus rides on a donkey and a colt. So here come the critics and they say, “Aha! An error in the Bible. The Bible disagrees with itself!” But God is true, Jesus Christ is the truth, and His Word is truth. What His apostles wrote in the Bible is 100% true. These critics should learn how to read not only Greek but even English! If I say, “I went to work on foot and on the bus,” and later I say, “I went to work on the bus,” do these two statements disagree? Of course not! First I walked to the bus stop, then I rode the bus. I just didn’t mention the walking part the second time. In the same way, it could easily have happened that Jesus started by riding the colt, and then changed animals to fulfill the prophecy, finishing His royal entry on the donkey. Both Matthew and the other Gospels are true. Let the critics fall silent. Christ is powerful in truth, and He is the truth.

Now the last part of our text speaks of how the people welcomed their king. The Gospel says: Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. (Matt. 21:8). They spread their cloaks and palm branches on the road to give Jesus something like a red carpet treatment. They were taking what little they had and using it to honor the King. Brother and sisters, this is what we Christians should do, too. We give what little we have to build a place where Jesus can come to us. We have this beautiful church building. We give our King the red carpet treatment by providing music, artwork, beautiful dishes for the sacraments, stained glass, and the like. The world sees little point in bestowing beauty on the advent King, but we Christians know that even the little we have can and should be used to honor our King. Of course, when the people of Jerusalem spread out their cloaks and palm branches, they were showing everyone else that Jesus is King, and that His coming, even though humble, is the most important thing in their lives. By spreading out their cloaks and palm branches, they were confessing their King. Brother and sisters, let us, too, confess our king. By our actions, let it be clear to everyone else that Jesus is our King. As our Epistle reading says, “Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy” (Rev. 13:13). Let it be clear that even though the world sees Jesus as humble and lowly, we know that He is the King of the whole world in power, and especially the King of His Church in grace. Let us confess, and let our confession be clear! And let our confession not just be in good works, but let it also be in good words. For our text concludes by saying:

And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! (Matt. 21:9). “Hosanna” means “Please save!” When they crowd says “Hosanna to the Son of David,” it means basically, “God save the King, the Son of David!” It is a prayer for health and success for their King. Of course, Jesus does not need to be saved. He came not to be saved, but to save. Yet it is right to pray “Hosanna to the Son of David,” “God save the King,” because when we do this, we are praying for Christ’s kingdom. We are saying, “O Lord, give success and prosperity to King Jesus and His kingdom. Advance Your kingdom of grace in all the world. Defend it from Satan’s attacks. Give this kingdom faithful soldiers to speak Your words and carry out your warfare against sin and Satan. Hosanna to the Son of David. God save the King. God prosper His kingdom! Blessed is Jesus who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

Brothers and sisters, may Christ our Advent King come to You through the Word of the Gospel and through His holy Sacraments. In this new year of grace, let us meet our Advent King with our cloaks, palm branches, and voices. He who shall return with glory, came first with humility, for us human beings and for our salvation. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Luke 1:57–80
A prophet and more than a prophet.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Dearly Beloved:

Who is this fellow John? He wears camel hair, eats locusts and honey, lives in the desert, and probably stinks to high heavens. We’ve known people like that, sometimes we meet them on the streets of St. Louis, but not people in their right minds. Yet this fellow John is coherent, with a mind that is razor sharp and speech that is crystal clear. Who is this fellow John? Jesus said, “What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet” (Luke 7:26). A prophet in the Old Testament was a teacher called immediately, called directly by God, to cleanse doctrine anew and especially to explain the promise of the Messiah, and sometimes to give the people of Israel some political directions from God. And the prophets had the power to do miracles, and the miracles were supposed to make people certain that their teaching and doctrine was from God Himself, and that their teaching had no errors, because the miracles showed that God was giving His approval to them. Not all prophets did miracles, but when God wanted to establish their credibility, and call people away from errors, and set up a teaching that seemed “new” to the people, He always gave His prophets miracles.

If you think about it, an ambassador doesn’t go to a foreign country without certificates to prove that he was sent by the president and senate. A policeman doesn’t do his job without a badge to prove that he is employed by the police department and the city. A medical doctor doesn’t prescribe drugs without his medical certificates hanging on the wall. So also, God’s official preachers don’t do their work unless they have signs and proof that God has sent them.

Now, there are two ways that God gives credence to His official preachers. The normal way is by what’s called a “mediate” call, a call through means, that is, a call to the ministry through the Church, through human beings. That is how I was called to the ministry, and how Pastors Hellwege and Kinnaman were called to the ministry. God did not come down from heaven in a burning bush or a pillar of fire and talk to us. Instead, the Church called us: laypeople and pastors prepared us, chose us, and then other pastors ordained us. In the Old Testament the priests of Israel were called in this “mediate” way, through human beings, through the Church. And in the New Testament, the apostles ordained new preachers and supervisors of preachers in every city, as we read in Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus. That’s the normal way that God gives credence to His official preachers.

But the other way is by an “immediate” call, a call straight from God in heaven, or from God the Son here on earth. For example, God spoke to Moses in the burning bush and sent Him to His people in Egypt as His spokesman and prophet and gave him miracles to do to prove his call. God called Isaiah to the ministry of being a prophet by appearing to Him in the temple and having cherubim touch his mouth with a glowing coal. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, chose twelve apostles, and later He chose St. Paul, and sent them as His official messengers. In all of these cases, God also gave His prophets miracles to do. If people doubted whether this or that man was God’s messenger, the miracles were supposed to convince them.

So how could John be a prophet, if he didn’t do any miracles? John the Baptist Himself preached a wonderful teaching and boldly told kings and rulers to repent and believe in the coming Christ. But did he do any wondrous miracles? No he did not. Once, many people who knew John well came to Jesus and said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man [Jesus] was true” (John 10:41). So how could John be a prophet, if he didn’t do any miracles? This is how: he had a miraculous birth. His miraculous birth is what the church remembers every year on June 24th, two days ago. His miraculous birth, witnessed by many people and famous, made John’s preaching credible, believable, even though John himself didn’t do any miracles. So today, let us briefly consider three things: the background for John’s birth, the miracle of John’s birth, and the outcome of John’s birth.

The background of John’s birth was his mother’s barrenness. Luke 1:7 says: “But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.” This is the background for the miracle—infertility. Elizabeth and Zachariah likely had been hoping and waiting sadly for children their whole adult lives. They knew that infertility is nothing to be hoped for, much less something to be sought. They probably knew that the prophet Hosea spoke of infertility as a curse or at least an affliction. The prophet Hosea wrote: “Ephraim’s glory shall fly away like a bird—no birth, no pregnancy, no conception! … Give them, O LORD—what will you give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts” (Hos. 9:11, 14). Yet Elizabeth and Zachariah did not give up hope. They waited for the Lord and “were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord” (Luke 1:6). They kept hoping for children, even into their old age. Did you know that could have sought out some infertility treatments? Even the ancients had their “technologies” for taking control of reproduction. They just didn’t work as well as today. Ancient peoples discovered drugs to prevent conception or cause abortion, on one hand, and to bring about fertility, on the other. Furthermore, the pagan religions of Israel’s neighbors were essentially fertility cults. A great deal of the sacrifices and prayers of pagans to their false gods were done in the attempt to attain fertility for their fields, their animals, or themselves. Throughout the Old Testament God’s prophets condemned these false religions. Instead, Scripture teaches that children are a gift of God, and God gives them when and where it pleases Him. And so Elizabeth and Zachariah waited, and Elizabeth conceived late in life, when God was ready. And then the child was born when “the time came for Elizabeth to give birth.” You see, children are born neither earlier nor later than when the time of their birth comes, the time that the Lord has determined. That is the background for the miracle of John’s birth, and in fact it is in itself a miracle. An old, barren woman conceived a child. May God be praised!

Second, the miracle of John’s birth. There were several parts of this miracle. The angel appeared to announce John’s birth to Zachariah, even though Elizabeth was infertile. But Zachariah didn’t believe, and so there was the miraculous punishment that Zachariah suffered for his disbelief—he could not speak, and it appears that he could not hear either. And finally, Zachariah miraculously received his speech when he gave his son the name “John.” Well what do you think you should learn from this? There is a warning for you here: Doubting and disobeying God can have direct, physical consequences. If you refuse to believe the Word of God that you hear, God can take away your hearing. If you refuse to speak your faith before other people, God can take away your speech. If you abuse your eyes by viewing pornography, God can strike you blind. If you abuse other parts of your body with fornication and adultery, drugs or drunkenness, God can give you a horrible or even deadly disease. He did it to Zachariah when Zachariah doubted, and Zachariah was “righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.” So if He did it to Zachariah, He can certainly do it to you, too. Therefore, dearly beloved, repent of your sins and turn away from them. Fight against the sins that tempt you! For some reason we are more moved by physical consequences like disease, blindness, or inability to speak, when we ought to be even more moved by the threat of God’s anger. That ought to be enough to fill us with the fear of God and not presume to serve ourselves and ignore God’s commandments. But since that’s not usually enough, God sometimes adds physical consequences, like He did to Zachariah here. So the warning is, repent!

Now, Zachariah had some time to think about what he did. Likely with the loss of speech he also lost his hearing. So he had months of silence to reflect on what the angel told him. And over time, by God’s mercy, his doubt was done away and he believed. He gave his son the name “John.” “And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God” (Luke 1:64).

That brings us to the third part, the outcome of the miracle of John’s birth. Just as being speechless is a fruit and a punishment of disbelief, so also confession and speaking are a fruit of faith. The outcome is that Zachariah prophesied. The words he spoke have become part of the church’s liturgy over the centuries. These words, which are a song or “canticle” in the form of a Psalm, are called the Benedictus, which means “Blessed,” the first word of this song, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel.” The Benedictus has two parts. The first part speaks of the mercy that God promised and that Jesus performed. The second part speaks of John’s ministry and, by extension, the ministry of all Gospel preachers. An entire book could be written just about this song, the Benedictus. Today, however, look with me just at this one point. In verses 73–75, Zachariah sings about a promise that God made to Abraham, a promise that still affects us today. God’s “oath that he swore to our father Abraham” was “to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.” The one point for today is that all of this is God’s gift. When he says, “to grant us,” this actually means in Greek, “to give to us.” So all of this is God’s gift: living without fear, worshiping God, holiness, and righteousness are all God’s gifts. Being God’s people, having Him as our God, being justified, and becoming holy are not things that we just decide to do and then God has to accept our decision. No! They are all God’s gifts. God causes us to be delivered from the power of our enemies: sin, death, and the devil. God causes us to serve and worship Him without fear, that is, in faith and trust. God causes us to have holiness and righteousness. And He gives all of these things only in His Son Jesus, whose way John the Baptist came to prepare.

That is the ultimate outcome of the miracle of John’s birth. “The child grew and became strong in spirit” and prepared the way for the Lord Jesus. He pointed with His finger to Jesus the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Wouldn’t it have been good enough just to send Jesus and forget all about John the Baptist? No. God made John great so that John could show how much greater Jesus is, whose death and resurrection is the world’s only hope for salvation. Because of John’s finger pointing to Jesus, he is a prophet and more than a prophet. To God the Father be glory through the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Acts 2:4
The gift of the Holy Spirit

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Dearly Beloved:

After Christmas and Easter, today is the greatest, most joyful and holy holiday of the Christian year. Joy fills our hearts once again, and we again are thanking God for His wonderful gifts. In Bible times, a bride received a rich gift, a dowry, from her future husband. Pentecost is about the dowry that Jesus Christ gives to us, His bride, the Church. What is this dowry? What is this rich, divine, heavenly gift that the King of heaven and earth gives to us? It is the gift of the Holy Spirit. Today, come with me as we listen to this one passage of Scripture: “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” We have two questions: What happened? And does it still happen?

“They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” What happened? All the disciples were together in one place, in a house, “and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1–4). This is the event that we Christians have been celebrating for roughly 2000 years now. The Holy Spirit came to them all and did great things. The disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit. And aside from the wind and fire, the Holy Spirit did two miraculous things. He gave them the gift to speak real languages that they had never learned, and He put His words into their mouths. St. Paul calls these gifts “tongues” and “prophecy.”

What are tongues? Nothing other than real human languages, not the babbling of misguided Pentecostals, which has been proven not to be a language, and which the false prophets of other religions can do just as well. The true gift of tongues was the ability to speak real human languages that one had never learned. Those are tongues. Now what is prophecy? I personally have never met a prophet, and you probably haven’t met one either. So we have to learn from the Bible what prophecy is. A prophet speaks words that the Holy Spirit gives him to say. The Lord said: “If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the LORD” (Num. 12:6–8). That is to say, the Lord speaks or shows things to a prophet, and the prophet  tells other people what God has to say.

Now there is more than one way to have the Holy Spirit and to prophesy: in a holy way and in an unholy way. You thought that everyone who prophecies is holy? Think again! When the people of Israel came out of Egypt, a pagan prophet named Balaam gave some true prophecies about how Israel would win great victories, and even about how Christ our Lord would one day be born (Num. 24). Yet Balaam was not a holy man; he had the Holy Spirit in an unholy way. At the time of Jesus Christ, the chief priest Caiaphas said that Jesus should be killed so that the people could be saved, and the Gospel says, “ He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the  people” (John 11:51). Yet Caiaphas was not a holy man; he had the Holy Spirit in an unholy way. Evil King Saul received the Spirit in an unholy way too. When Saul was trying to kill David, he sent messengers to find him. When the messengers found the prophet Samuel, they prophesied instead. That is, they completely forgot about their job and they stayed with Samuel, probably seeing visions, and raving and raging. Then Saul sent other messengers, but when they came to Samuel, they, too, prophesied. Then this happened a third time. Finally, King Saul himself went looking for David. But he, too, found the prophet Samuel instead. And then one of the most bizarre things of the Bible took place. We read in 1 Sam. 19: “And the Spirit of God came upon him also, and as he went he prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. And he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay naked all that day and all that night.” This is madness. This is losing your mind. This is a bizarre and dangerous way to prophesy. In fact, it is unholy. When I say that these unbelievers “had the Holy Spirit,” that is totally different than “receiving the Holy Spirit” and “being filled with the Holy Spirit.” For Balaam, Saul, and Caiaphas, the Holy Spirit was just using them to do His work. He was not filling their hearts; He was not hallowing their souls. What happened with them was completely different than what happened today, on the day of Pentecost. On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came to the disciples to make them holy, to make them saints. And here the Holy Spirit shows Himself as a sober, peaceful spirit, who causes them to speak the great works of God. This is the true, New Testament prophecy, the kind of prophecy that St. Paul described with these words: “The spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. For God is not a God of confusion but of peace” (1 Cor. 14:32–33).

We have been discussing what happened when “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” We haven’t yet touched on the words “they were all.” If you look back to the first chapter of Acts, you’ll find that in those days after Jesus went up to heaven, the apostles were not alone. “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers” (Acts 1:14). Therefore I see no reason to deny that they, too, were filled with the Holy Spirit. Traditional Christian artwork depicting the day of Pentecost gets this right: usually St. Mary is painted with the apostles, and they all have tongues of fire on their heads. What does this mean? It means that everyone needs the gift of the Holy Spirit. There are different gifts, different vocations, but the same Spirit. The women prophecied too. They, too, spoke the great works of God. Yet they did it in a holy way. These were holy women. They spoke in such a way that they were not teaching men in public. That day of Pentecost was very similar to one of our church services. We have a mixed group here—young and old, male and female—and we all have the words of God in our mouths, but only some men, the called ministers of Christ, do the teaching. In a similar way, there is a difference between a classroom teacher’s speaking and the students’ speaking. You see, these holy women would face trials and temptations, too, no less than the men. They needed the Holy Spirit, too. The gift of the Holy Spirit came to all the disciples without exception, so that Peter in his sermon could quote the prophet Joel, saying, “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.” This is not a special grace given to ministers, but a grace common to all the Christians at that time. The special gift given to pastors for carrying out their duties is a different gift of the Holy Spirit—something distinct from this.

Now the second question. Does it still happen? The answer is maybe, and the answer is yes. First the maybe. Does God still give the miraculous gift of tongues? Are there still true Christian prophets? Maybe. Maybe God gives these gifts. Our Lutheran Confessions mention a monk by the name of John Hilten who lived around the year 1500. Our Lutheran Confessions say that he prophesied many things that actually happened. And many of Luther’s followers considered him to be a prophet. So maybe these fantastic gifts of the Holy Spirit still happen. Or maybe not. St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease” (1 Cor. 13:8). That is to say, at some point in time, there will be no more prophecies, and no more miraculous gifts of tongues. Have we reached that time? Maybe so. But it really doesn’t matter. Miracles are not important for our time. St. John Chrysostom, who lived in the early 400’s, wrote some really wise words about this. He wrote: “One cannot find which is the true church either from miracles, which have been removed, or from the behavior of Christians, which has deteriorated.” From this he concludes: “Whoever wants to learn which is the true church of Christ, from what source shall he learn it except only through the Scriptures? Because the Lord knew what great confusion would occur in the last days, He commands that Christians, those who are in Christendom, who want to have the firmness of true faith flee to nothing other than to the Scriptures.” So does this still happen today? Does God still give miraculous gifts? Maybe, maybe not.

But if we’re talking about being filled with the Holy Spirit, if we’re talking about the Holy Spirit coming to you and living within you, if we’re talking about the Holy Spirit giving you His best gifts of faith, hope, and love, then the answer is absolutely, unmistakenly, categorically, YES. This still happens. The Holy Spirit still comes to you. He comes to you through the Gospel and He comes through the Sacraments. The Holy Spirit comes to you and does two things: He forgives your sins because Jesus died for you, and He heals you. Those are the two things. Forgiveness and eternal life. The gift of the Holy Spirit isn’t just behavior improvement. The gift of the Holy Spirit is not in any way some kind of Pentecostal raving, like what happened with evil King Saul. The gift of the Holy Spirit is about salvation. He comes to save you who belong to Christ, you who have been justified, and He gives you the holy life of eternity. It’s as though you were hiking in the Rockies and fell off a cliff, breaking your legs and leaving you half dead. That’s like your sin. Forgiveness is when God pardons your sin and takes you as His own child. That’s like the rescue helicopter that flies in and takes you to the hospital. Then, the gift of the Holy Spirit is like your recovery and healing in the hospital. What I’m saying is this: “Christ was given for this purpose, that forgiveness of sins and the Holy Spirit might be bestowed on us for His sake, so that the Holy Spirit might bring forth in us new and eternal life and eternal righteousness” (Ap. III 11). This is the joy of our high and holy feast of Pentecost. It still happens. The Holy Spirit comes to you and fills you with Himself. Jesus Christ has given you the best dowry that any bride could ever receive: the gift of the Holy Spirit. To God the Father be glory with the Son and this same Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Rev. Dr. Benjamin T. G. Mayes

Emmaus Ev. Lutheran Church U.A.C., St. Louis, Mo.

+Jesu juva!+

John 16:5–15

The Holy Spirit speaks!

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Dearly Beloved:

Speaking. The false gods don’t do that much. In the old pagan religions, indeed in most non-Christian religions around the world, the so-called “dieties” may speak a little bit, but they are mostly there to provide power, fertility, success, safety, and luck. That’s what pagan people seek with their prayers, vows, and sacrifices. That is a big contrast to the work of the Holy Spirit. In today’s Gospel, the work of the Holy Spirit is verbal. He communicates. He speaks. Our God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—does indeed have all power; He alone can provide fertility, life, safety, and success both in this world and the next. But He exercises His power through speaking. He is a personal God. He has a will. He converses with mankind. His power is in His speaking. The Holy Spirit speaks! That is a huge difference between the true God and the false deities of the pagans. And it is a difference that we Christians must remember, for we, too, are tempted to think of God mainly as a source of power and luck, when really He is one who wants to speak with us. From today’s Gospel, there are three main questions: Why should the Holy Spirit speak to you? What does the Holy Spirit speak to you? and How does the Holy Spirit speak to you?

The first question is: Why should the Holy Spirit speak to you? This is an important question. When a young man seeks the attention of a potential wife, he asks himself, “Why should she speak to me?” An infatuated schoolgirl would really like for the boy to speak with her. When you’re sick, you’d really like to get in to see the doctor and speak with him. If you’re struggling in college, having some private tutoring with the professor might be the only way you’ll pass the class. If they don’t speak to you, it’s because they don’t care about you; they’re too busy for you. But if they do speak to you, it’s because they take an interest in you.

So now, why should the Holy Spirit speak to you? Because of Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes to you and speaks to you because of what Jesus did on the cross. This is how Jesus put it in today’s Gospel: “But now I am going to him who sent me,” and “it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” When Jesus says, “I am going away,” He means He’s going to die. It’s because of His death that the Holy Spirit will come and speak to you. Jesus spoke these words originally not between Easter and Ascension Day (as we have it in our Church Year), but in the time leading up to His death on the cross. His death is His “going away.” This is the same “departure” that He was discussing with Moses and Elijah on the mountain of Transfiguration (Luke 9:31). From other parts of John’s Gospel, likewise, it’s clear that the disciples understood what Jesus meant by “going away.” They had already asked Him what He meant and had the gotten the explanation (John 13:36–38; 14:5–6). The really important thing here is this: The gift of the Holy Spirit depends on Christ’s “going away,” on His passion and death. This is to your advantage, Jesus says. Only if Jesus goes away, only if Jesus dies, can you receive the Holy Spirit. Jesus first had to take the responsibility for your sins upon Himself, suffer in your place, die in your place. Jesus first had to make peace between God and you. And He has done it! Peace and forgiveness have been established for you! Your sins are forgiven if you are sorry for them and trust in Jesus. Because God cares for you so much that He let His only Son die in your place, God now sends to you the Holy Spirit, so that the Holy Spirit can speak to you. That is the answer to our first question. Why should the Holy Spirit speak to you? Because of Jesus’ “going away,” His death on the cross.

The next question is: What does the Holy Spirit speak to you? The answer to this question is not a simple one. We have the entire Bible for an answer, and there is no time to speak about all of its content in detail. The Holy Spirit speaks everything that is in the Bible. That would be a long sermon. But in today’s Gospel, Jesus summarizes everything: There are three things the Spirit speaks to you; three categories of what the Holy Spirit says. They are: Comfort, Reproof, and Teaching. First Jesus says, “If I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you.” Some Bible translations say “The Helper will not come to you,” but “Comforter” (KJV, Luther Bible) is a better translation. With God, names have meaning. If the Holy Spirit’s name is “Comforter,” then that is the kind of Person He is. When we say “Comforter,” we’re not talking about a blanket. This kind of comfort is not the same as “leisure,” or “comfortable shoes.” This kind of comfort is the same as “consolation.” The Holy Spirit’s name is “Comforter.” He comforts or consoles. When you are worried or scared, He gives you confidence. When your conscience accuses you because of the bad things you’ve done, the Holy Spirit brings you to Jesus and gives you forgiveness. When you are sad and grieving, the Holy Spirit gives you hope. That is His proper work. That is the kind of Person He is. If the Comforter is sent to you from God, that means that God wants to comfort you. Your sins are forgiven. God loves you. The Holy Spirit is the Comforter. What does He speak to you? As His name is, so does He speak: comfort.

But as Jesus will make clear, that is not the only thing the Holy Spirit says. He has a totally different kind of message, too. He also “reproves” or “convicts.” Jesus says, “He will reprove the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.” What does “reprove” or “convict” mean? It means to “disgrace, put to shame,” “accuse one of doing” something, or “bring to light the true character of a man and his conduct.” That is to say, the Holy Spirit gets up in your face and calls you a sinner. He doesn’t let your sins remain secret. He convicts you. He makes you feel guilty. Yes, He makes you feel bad because of the bad things you have done. This reminds me of when I was on the high school basketball team. My basketball coach told us that if he criticized us, it was because he thought we had potential to become good players. His criticism was actually a sign that he was interested! But if he neither praised me nor criticized me, that meant he didn’t think I was worth his time; in that case, he had no expectation that I would ever become a good basketball player. Well, what happened? The coach didn’t talk to me much, and for good reason. I was a terrible player. Now think about what the Holy Spirit does. He criticizes you, He shows you your faults. But He doesn’t do this because He hates you; He does it because He’s concerned about you. He wants you to repent and improve. As Jesus says, this is “to your advantage.”

The Holy Spirit not only reveals the Gospel and grace, but also the Law and sin. As Luther puts it: “This office [of the Law] the New Testament retains and urges …. And Christ says, John 16,8: The Holy Spirit will reprove the world of sin. This, then, is the thunderbolt of God by which He strikes down both manifest sinners and false saints together, and allows no one to be in the right, but drives them all together to terror and despair” (SA III III 1–2). The Spirit’s work is to reprove sin, that is, to preach the Law. If you’re never made to feel bad or guilty at church, then there’s something wrong with the pastor’s preaching, or with your hearing. Yet sinful people don’t like it because it makes them feel uncomfortable or guilty. But this, too, is the Spirit’s work, and preachers are faithful and filled with the Spirit precisely when they reprove.

Repent. Repent of all the times you have ignored the Holy Spirit’s speaking through preachers, and through all  those who teach the message of Jesus. Repent of seeking the Holy Spirit only for worldly success, luck, and health. Repent of feeling resentment toward pastors, parents, or friends who reprove you for your sins. Repent also of neglecting to reprove when it was your duty to do so: when you should have reproved and corrected your wayward child, your family member, your student, your friend, your co-worker—but you didn’t do it. Too often peace in the community takes precedence over truth. Too often reproving wrong behavior or false attitudes is low on our list of priorities. Reproof. Conviction. That is the second thing the Holy Spirit speaks to you.

The other thing He speaks to you is teaching. Jesus said, “He will guide you into all the truth.” That is to say, the Holy Spirit is a teacher. Now, of course, the disciples already had the truth. In v. 7 of our Gospel reading, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth.” But it’s the Holy Spirit who will lead them into “all the truth.” The Holy Spirit came to the disciples at Pentecost and filled the disciples with courage and gave them the words to preach. Even in our times, the Holy Spirit comes to us and leads us into all the truth. He does this not by teaching us different things, as if now we’re done learning about Jesus and can move on to new doctrines. No, the Holy Spirit leads us into all the truth precisely by bringing us back to Jesus. You can never stop learning. The knowledge of God and Christ is infinite. You can never come to a point where you know it all. You must always learn. Friends, do you not see how important it is to learn God’s Word? You always hear us pastors encourage you to learn from the sermon, to come to Bible class, to read the Bible at home, to have devotions with your family, and to pray. Do you not see how important this is? This is the work of the Holy Spirit. He leads you into all the truth by teaching you. But if you close yourself off and treat God’s Word as something that only kids have to learn, then you are closing the door to the Holy Spirit. Open the door! Learn! Receive the Holy Spirit’s teaching. I guarantee, the more you learn, the more you will want to learn. The Holy Spirit has good gifts for you. Come and receive them!

The Holy Spirit speaks! Now our question is, How does the Holy Spirit speak to you? I can tell you this: it’s not through the little voice in your heart. The little voice in your heart is not the Holy Spirit. That little voice could be your conscience; or it could be your own mind. That little voice might tell you good things, or it might tell you bad things. But usually it just seeks the path of least resistance. There’s nothing wrong with paying attention to that little voice in your heart, especially if it warns you not to sin. But that’s not how the Holy Spirit speaks to you. And in fact, it is idolatry to say “God said,” when it was not God, but your own heart that said it. Idolatry, friends. Instead, the Holy Spirit speaks to you through the prophets and apostles, as we say in the creed, “who spoke by the prophets.” That is, the Holy Spirit speaks with the words of the Bible. If you want to know God’s will for your life, look at the Ten Commandments, not at your heart. And when I am here explaining the Word of God to you, and I’m doing it according to the Bible, the Holy Spirit is speaking. That is how the Holy Spirit speaks to you. And the Holy Spirit speaks also through the sacraments: In Holy Baptism, the Spirit says: I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. In the Lord’s Supper, our Lord Jesus says, “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” These are words of our Lord Jesus, who gives us the Spirit. The Holy Spirit speaks to you through the Bible, through preaching, and through the sacraments.

Our God loves to speak. He is not a mere battery, giving power to your life. He is powerful, that’s true. He is the giver of life. All success, fertility, and prosperity comes from Him. But over all, He is the God who speaks. The Holy Spirit speaks. That is what Jesus says to you today. Listen to the Spirit speaking in the words of the Bible, in the preaching, and in the sacraments. This is to your advantage. He cares for you. And so He speaks to you. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.