This semester at Concordia University – Wisconsin, I am taking an introduction to writing class for this class we are required to have at least one blog post a week. (Lucky me! I'm suppose to be posting every week anyway!) We can post about anything but it's suppose to be an “argument” of some kind. Basically, my professor doesn't want me posting about my ever-so-exciting life, no matter how much you all want to here about it! So this week I am going to post about a topic that I have been thinking about since the “Watermarked” retreat.
“While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fisherman, And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him.” - Matthew 4:18-20 (ESV)
Water plays a very big role throughout all of scripture. Water both destroys things and saves things. The first time that water appears in the Bible is the second verse of Genesis. “The Spirit of the Lord was hovering over the face of the waters.” Water was used to destroy the earth aside from Noah, his family, and the animals Noah was told to have on the ark. Moses takes water from a rock. Jonah must be thrown into raging waters in order for the boat to not be destroyed. Water is also right at the beginning of the New Testament with John the Baptist and the Baptism of Jesus. Then again there is water in chapter four. Jesus is walking along the Sea of Galilee and he sees fishermen.
What does a fisherman do? He catches fish. He pulls the fish out of their home, the water, in order for other men might have food to survive. But Jesus says something strange, something you and I would probably not listen to. He says, “Follow me, I will make you fishers of men.” Follow me? Fishers of men? Peter and Andrew had a steady job as fisherman, there is always need for more fish. Immediately they leave their job, their source of income, no questions asked. He walks along the sea a little longer and has two more leave their boats and follow him. What is this nonsense about fishers of men? What does that even mean? Men don't live in the water and we certainly would never eat others.
Jesus plays with this idea throughout the Gospel of Mathew. In Chapter 8 the disciples get scared of water so Jesus gets up and calms the waters for them. In Chapter 13, Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the seas and gathered fish of every kind. Just in case I haven't gotten my point across as much as I'd like it leads up to the very end of Matthew where the Resurrected Christ gives the apostles the great commission to baptize and teach.
Where fishermen take the fish out of the water to kill and eat them, Fishers of Men pull men into the waters of baptism for eternal life. The raging waters of God's wrath were calmed with Jesus' death on the cross. From the water that flows from His side we are cleansed and made as white as snow(more on that later). Pastors, todays Fishers of Men take the command of Christ and pull us into the saving waters of Baptism.
Prayer for Life as a baptized child of God
Merciful Father, through Holy Baptism You called us to be Your own possession. Grant that our lives may evidence the working of your Holy Spirit in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, according to the image of Your only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in whose name we have been baptized and made disciples: we thank You for our Baptism, which we know is not ordinary water but the water comprehended in Your command and connected with Your Word. How precious are the gifts and benefits it confers. It works forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and confers everlasting salvation on all who believe as Your Word and promises declare. Have You not said, Lord Jesus: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16)? Let us, having been baptized , believe, that we may be saved.
Oh wondrous are the effects of this simple act—effects produced not by water, but by the Word of God connected with the water. Without the Word of God, the water is simply water and no Baptism. But when connected with the Word of God, it is Baptism, that is, a gracious water of life and a washing of regeneration in the Holy Spirit, as St. Paul said to Titus: “He saved us. . .according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is trustworthy: (Titus 3:5-8)
O God, who has taught us by Your holy apostle that we were buried with Christ by Baptism into death, that just as He was bodily raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life: grant that we may walk in the grace of our Baptism, so that the old Adam in us may be drowned and destroyed by daily sorrow and repentance, together with all sins an devil lusts, and that again a new man may daily come forth and rise, who shall live in the presence of God in righteousness and purity forever; through Jesus Christ, Your well-beloved Son, our Savior, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
Look for a post on last weekends "Watermarked" Retreat sometime this week.
To Jordan Came the Christ, Our Lord - Martin Luther LSB 406
"To Jordan came the Christ, our Lord, To do His Father's pleasure; Baptized by John, the Father's Word Was given us to treasure. This hev'nly washing now shall be A cleansing from transgression And by His blood and agony Release from death's oppression. A new life now awaits us."
O hear and mark the message well, For God Himself has spoken. Let faith, not doubt, among us dwell And so receive this token. Our Lord here with His Word endows Pure water, freely flowing, God's Holy Spirit here avows Our kinship while bestowing The Baptism of His blessing.
These truths on Jordan's banks were shown By mighty word and wonder. The Father's voice from heav'n came down, Which we do well to ponder: "This man is My beloved Son, In whom My heart has pleasure. Him you must hear, and Him alone, And trust in fullest measure The word that He has spoken."
There stood the Son of God in love, His grace to us extending; The Holy Spirit like a dove Upon the scene descending; The triune God assuring us, With promises compelling, That in our Baptism He will thus Among us find a dwelling To comfort and sustain us.
To His disciples spoke the Lord, "Go out to ev'ry nation, And bring to them the living Word And this My invitation: Let ev'ryone abandon sin And come in true contrition To be baptized and thereby win Full pardon and remission And hev'nly bliss inherit."
But woe to those who cast aside This race so freely given; They shall in sin and shame abide And to despair be driven. For born in sin, their works must fail, Their striving saves them never; Their pious acts do not avail, And they are lost forever, Eternal death their portion.
All that the mortal eye beholds Is water as we pour it. Before the eye of faith unfolds The pow'r of Jesus' merit, For here it sees the crimson flood To all our ills bring healing; The wonders of His precious blood The love of God revealing, Assuring His own pardon."
Go outside, look around. Christmas trees on the tree bank waiting to be picked up. Stores have all their Christmas decorations down. Some are even getting ready for Valentines Day!
Listen to the radio, no more Christmas music which was playing before Thanksgiving in some places. No more Christmas specials on TV. No nightly Christmas Movies.
By now the Christmas cookies are gone. The leftover food is probably gone or not being eaten anymore.
The smells of fresh pine, baking cookies, or cooking ham are almost a distant memory.
Those itchy Christmas sweaters are washed and placed in safe keeping until next Christmas. No more gifts to unwrap. Many people are probably feeling the after Christmas blues.
After Christmas.... After Christmas?
AFTER CHRISTMAS?!?!?!
Now wait just one second. It still is Christmas! We still see tree's and wreaths and nativities decorating our church naves. Last Sunday we sang great Christmas hymns like Of the Father's Love Begotten and Lo! How a Rose E'er Blooming! We tasted the Body and Blood of Christ. For after all it is Christ's Mass! (More on that here) Some of us smelt the scent of incense or trees, that smell on our parents breath after communion which we could always smell when we were younger. We feel our forehead when we make the sign of the cross, remember the water which washed us once and for all.
We are coming to the close of the 10th day of Christmas. The TENTH day! There are twelve days of Christmas. Two more days of the Church season where we remember Christ coming and becoming man so that He would experience the senses we share. He would be placed under the Law. He would die as we all will, but He dies for you. But He rises, He rises so that we may rise too! He rises for you!
It kind of makes sense that the world thinks Christmas is over. After all they don't celebrate advent. Coming. That's what advent means. Christ came once, on what we celebrate as Christmas Day. He came to die and to rise. Christ comes to us at His Mass every Sunday in the bread and the wine. Christ will come again. To take us to His Father in Heaven.
One thing that all these times He comes is the angels singing. Christmas Day the angels filled the skies singing "Glory to God in the Highest." In the Divine Service we sing that song "Glory to God in the Highest" too. Then later we sing with angels and arch-angels and all the company of heaven: "Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth!" God of the angel armies, the Lord of Hosts! And again on the last day. The great trumpet shall sound. That song of heaven will be heard. And we will live an Everlasting Life.
When it comes to sacred music there are two options. The first we can sing about how Jesus is worthy of OUR worship. The law in how WE lift his name and sing his praises. Then there is the second option, the better option. The option where the Gospel is present.
What is the Gospel specifically? The number of people who don’t know is both surprising and sad. Specifically, the Gospel is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ FOR MY SINS, FOR YOUR SINS, FOR OUR SINS, FOR THE SINS OF THE WORLD!
The Higher Things Conference hymn definitely shows us the Gospel.
O Love, How Deep - LSB 544
“O love, how deep, how broad, how high, Beyond all thought and fantasy, That God, the Son of God, should take, Our mortal form for mortals’ sake!”
John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son…” The ‘so’ in this verse does not say that God loved the world so much, but it shows how God loved the World. “God loved the World in this way, He gave His one and only Son”
God’s love in this act is greater then we can even dream about! This stanza also shows us that it was no mere man who came for us. This was God the Son of God, 100% God who took on our mortal form, 100% man, FOR US!
“He sent no angel to our race, Of higher or of lower place, But wore the robe of human frame, And to this world Himself He came.”
What? He thought that we were important enough for Him to come to us Himself? Surely an angel would have been sufficient right? No, FOR US God came as a man. His glory was covered up by the robe of human flesh only for His grace and mercy to show through in His bloody body on the cross.
“For us baptized, for us He bore His holy fast and hungered sore; For us temptation sharp he knew; For us the tempter overthrew.”
Christ Baptized? But why? (Pr. Kuhlman put it wonderfully: http://blog.higherthings.org/bb55841/article/2922.html) In His baptism Christ takes all the sin out of the water and places it on himself. He was Baptized FOR US, so he could die IN OUR PLACE (FOR US) He was tempted FOR US in every way yet FOR US he did not succumb to temptation!
“For us He prayed; for us He taught; For us His daily works He wrought, By words and signs and actions thus Still seeking not Himself but us.”
Jesus prayed for us? Sure He did! Just look at John 17. Or even his words on the Cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” He taught for us too! Just look at the Scriptures, he didn’t teach those things just for the people there, otherwise why would they have been written down. Every week we hear Jesus teaching, through the reading of the Scriptures and through the words of the Pastor’s Sermon.
“For us by wickedness betrayed, For us, in crown of thorns arrayed, He bore the shameful cross and death; For us He gave His dying breath.”
The Gospel FOR US! FOR US He let those thorns pierce His head. FOR US His bloody body was put up on the cross, for all those around to mock. They told Him to prove Himself as the Son of God to take Himself down from there. FOR US he does not give into that temptation. FOR US He stays up there, FOR US He prays, and FOR US He Dies.
“For us He rose from death again; For us He went on high to reign; For us He sent His Spirit here To guide, to strengthen , and to cheer.”
Death could not hold Him! He rose again, just as he said he would, three days later! He rose FOR US. We rose with Him! He left His apostles just weeks later. Did He leave His apostles and us to fend for ourselves? Of course not, He is at the Father's right hand on our behalf. He didn’t leave us alone. He sent His Spirit!
“All glory to our Lord and God For love so deep, so high, so broad; The Trinity whom we adore Forever and forevermore.”
Through the Gospel we join with the angels singing, “Glory to God in the Highest!” Only through His love in the Gospel can we do so. We are not worthy to praise God by ourselves. We rely on the blood of Jesus to make us worthy. That name we were marked with at our Baptism makes us worthy. We were washed, cleansed in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit! With that we can sing His praises forever and forevermore!
So what is the response to the FOR YOU of the Gospel? Is it go and do this, this and this? Of course not because we can’t, but Jesus did! The only proper response to the FOR YOU of the Gospel is AMEN!
What does a fisherman do? He catches fish. He pulls the fish out of their home, the water, in order for other men might have food to survive. But Jesus says something strange, something you and I would probably not listen to. He says, “Follow me, I will make you fishers of men.” Follow me? Fishers of men? Peter and Andrew had a steady job as fisherman, there is always need for more fish. Immediately they leave their job, their source of income, no questions asked. He walks along the sea a little longer and has two more leave their boats and follow him. What is this nonsense about fishers of men? What does that even mean? Men don't live in the water and we certainly would never eat others. 
Jesus plays with this idea throughout the Gospel of Mathew. In Chapter 8 the disciples get scared of water so Jesus gets up and calms the waters for them. In Chapter 13, Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the seas and gathered fish of every kind. Just in case I haven't gotten my point across as much as I'd like it leads up to the very end of Matthew where the Resurrected Christ gives the apostles the great commission to baptize and teach. 
Go outside, look around. Christmas trees on the tree bank waiting to be picked up. Stores have all their Christmas decorations down. Some are even getting ready for Valentines Day! 
It kind of makes sense that the world thinks Christmas is over. After all they don't celebrate advent. Coming. That's what advent means. Christ came once, on what we celebrate as Christmas Day. He came to die and to rise. Christ comes to us at His Mass every Sunday in the bread and the wine. Christ will come again. To take us to His Father in Heaven.