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Pentecost 6 2021
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud 
July 4, 2021
Ezek. 2:1-5, 2 Cor. 12:1-10, Mark 6:1-13

Sermons online: 
Text and Audio:         immanuelhamiltonchurch.com   click “sermons”
Text:                           pastorjud.org   
Audio:                         pastorjud.podbean.com 
itunes:                        bit.ly/pastorjud
Full Service Audio:   bit.ly/ImmanuelWorship

            After healing the woman with the discharge of blood and raising Jairus’ daughter from the dead that we heard about in last week’s Gospel reading, Jesus travels with His disciples to His hometown of Nazareth, a 26 mile walk from Capernaum.  That Sabbath Jesus begins to teach in the synagogue.  The reaction of the people is astonishment.  Some may be astonished like the people of Capernaum, Mark 1:22 (ESV) “22 … they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.”  

Others it seems are astonished because Jesus is a hometown boy and now He is back acting all high and mighty.  They have all heard the stories of what Jesus has done; the healings, the driving out demons, the calming of a storm, the raising of Jairus’ daughter from the dead.  Jesus is doing things that only God can do.  But Nazareth probably has only about 400 residents and as any of you who grew up in a small town know, everyone knows everybody.  They all know this Jesus fellow.  Despite all they have heard, they know that Jesus is no one special. He is a carpenter after all and His parentage is pretty questionable.  This Jesus is not one of the important people of Nazareth and here He is rolling in after being gone for a little bit acting like He is all that. Who does He think He is?

            Earlier in Mark we saw how Jesus’ family thought he was crazy, now we see the people of Nazareth reject Jesus.  They are offended that Jesus is teaching in the synagogue. Mark 6:4 (ESV) 4 And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” 

            Jesus tells them that this is not a problem with Him; it is a problem with them.  He is a prophet and more, but they cannot see past their own issues of familiarity to recognize this.  Mark 6:5–6 (ESV) 5 And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And he marveled because of their unbelief…

        The people had been astonished wondering, “How are such mighty works done by his hands?”  Now, Jesus can do no mighty works in Nazareth.  Why is that?  What does this mean?

            Why can Jesus do no mighty works?  Perhaps it is Jesus’ judgement on Nazareth for rejecting Him. He taught in their synagogue and instead of following Jesus they bring up Jesus’ pedigree and reject Him.  So maybe Jesus is bringing judgement.  There are times we can wonder if God is judging us. You pray for healing, you pray for relief, and God does not answer the prayer they way you want Him to and you wonder, “Is God judging me for my sin?”

The disciples want judgment.  Jesus rebukes them.  John 3:17 (ESV)  17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 

            Judgment sounds like a reasonable explanation, but it does not fit with Jesus’ mission and ministry.  John the Baptist thought Jesus was coming immediately with axe and fire to destroy all sinners, but instead Jesus comes with water and words to bring people salvation.  We learn Jesus’ attitude toward immediate judgment in Luke 9:51–56 (ESV) 51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, [Jesus] set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. 53 But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. 54 And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55 But he turned and rebuked them. 56 And they went on to another village.” 

The disciples want judgment.  Jesus rebukes them.  John 3:17 (ESV)  17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 

            Judgment day will come on the last day with axe and fire.  But until then Jesus is on a mission of mercy.  Jesus is on a mission to save.  This mission continues among us today.  The mission is to save, not judge.  People question Jesus, misunderstand Jesus, resist Jesus, but Jesus does not give up on them.  Jesus takes God’s judgment upon Himself on the cross, pays for the sins of the world and opens the Kingdom of God to all.  So it is not for judgment that Jesus can do no mighty work. 

            Perhaps it is because the people of Nazareth lack faith. Maybe Jesus is unable to do miracles because the people do not believe.  After all, Jesus does marvel at their unbelief.  This is an idea that is still very big concern among Christians today. Faith healers on the television claim that if you just have enough faith you will get a miracle.  There are churches that teach that God wants to bless you with health and wealth and if He is not blessing you it is because you lack faith.  They teach that if God is not answering your prayers the way you want Him to answer, it is because of your lack of faith. 

            To be clear, God does not need your faith to perform miracles.  The creator of heaven and earth does not need your faith to rule the world.  Jesus fed the 5,000 and calmed a storm without anyone’s contributing faith.  When Jesus returns to raise the dead, all people will be raised whether they had faith or not.  So if Jesus is not judging the people for lack of faith, and He does not need faith to perform miracles, why is he unable to work miracles in Nazareth?

            Miracles are not a reward for faith, but miracles can lead to punishment for those who do not believe.  Jesus is not pleased with those who want Him to do miracles as kind of a show.  Mark 8:11–12 (ESV)  11 The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. 12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.”  Just before His crucifixion Jesus is sent to Herod who is excited because He wants to see Jesus perform some sign.  Jesus doesn’t.

            For those who have seen Jesus’ miracles and still do not believe there are harsh words of condemnation.  Matthew 11:20–24 (ESV)  20 Then [Jesus] began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.” 

            Jesus is on a mission of grace as He visits Nazareth and He is still on a mission of grace here today.  Even though His family and the people of Nazareth reject Him, Jesus wants them to be saved.  Matthew 12:20 (ESV) 20 a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; 

            Jesus does not want to harm the people of Nazareth; He wants to bring the Good News.  And so, despite their rejection of Jesus, He still loves His family and the people of His hometown and wants them to believe.  He even heals a couple of people, but quietly.

            It is so natural for us to want to reject those who reject Jesus; perhaps even punish them, but this is not Jesus’ way.  Jesus loves all people; those who follow Him and those who reject Him.  Jesus loves you.  Jesus loves even me.  Jesus wants all people to be saved.  Jesus died for all people. 

            Jesus’ mission of salvation is still for all people. Jesus has not given up on anyone yet. You can look the most ardent atheist in the eye and speak the truth to them, “Jesus loves you and He died on the cross to pay the price for your sins,” and it is true, because Jesus is still on His mission of mercy.  Judgment Day has not yet come.  There is still time.  Repent and believe the Good News. 

The devil loves to throw your sins in your face as if they would keep God from loving you.  Jesus comes for sinners.  Jesus comes for you.  Jesus has sealed you as His child in the Kingdom of God.  You are a new creation in Christ washed clean in the waters of baptism.  You have received the mighty work of forgiveness of all your sins.  Jesus has done a miracle for you and given you eternal life. Amen. 

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BULLETIN

SERMON TEXT BELOW

Pentecost 5 2021
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud 
June 27, 2021
Lam 3:22-33, 2 Cor. 8:1-9, 13-15, Mark 5:21-43

Sermons online: 
Text and Audio:         immanuelhamiltonchurch.com   click “sermons”
Text:                           pastorjud.org   
Audio:                         pastorjud.podbean.com 
itunes:                        bit.ly/pastorjud
Full Service Audio:   bit.ly/ImmanuelWorship

            There is an epic battle going on in your life.  Two forces struggling for control.  It is happening when you are working, studying, resting, eating.  It is an ongoing battle.  Even as you sit here in worship the two forces are engaged in warfare. 

            One of the forces is fear.  Fear of the future.  Fear of failure.  Fear of humiliation.  Fear of being hurt by others.  Fear of disappointing people.  Fear of persecution.  Fear of injury.  Fear of not finding the right person.  Fear of your marriage failing.  Fear for parents and grandparents.  Fear for children.  Fear of sickness.  Fear of never being good enough.  Fear that you are lost.  Fear of death.  Fear can lead to feelings of helplessness and hopelessness.  Fear leads to despair.  Fear is a powerful force and battles for control inside of you. 

            In our Gospel reading today we have two stories of fear; one inside the other.  After completing His journey across the Sea of Galilee, Jesus encounters one of the rulers of the synagogue named Jairus.  Jairus is beset by fear.  His 12-year-old daughter is very sick; she is dying. This is every parent’s greatest fear. His daughter is dying and there is nothing Jairus can do to save her.  He is helpless and becoming hopeless and despairing. 

            As He goes with Jairus, Jesus encounters another person in the grips of fear. There is a woman who has had a discharge of blood for 12 years.  The discharge of blood renders the woman weak and sickly, but also unclean.  She is not welcome to participate in normal Jewish life. She is an outcast.  Anyone whom she touches or touches her is rendered unclean. This woman has spent all that she has seeking a cure and it has only gotten worse.  She is unclean and she is afraid she will always be.  She is helpless and becoming hopeless and despairing. 

            Jairus and the woman are both in the grips of fear.  But fear has not won because battling with the fear is faith.  With faith there is hope. 

            Jairus has heard about this man Jesus – a teacher, a prophet, a healer, the Christ.  Jesus can do things that no one else can do.  He has the power of God.  Jesus has driven out unclean spirits; He has healed a leper and a paralyzed man.  He has restored a withered hand and just calmed a storm on the Sea of Galilee.  Jairus has faith that Jesus can help his little girl.  Faith fights fear.

            The woman with the ongoing discharge of blood is afraid, but faith battles the fear. She also has heard about Jesus and all that he can do.  She knows Jesus can heal her.  Faith fights fear.

            Jairus, a well-respected man in the community, approaches Jesus from the front and bows down at His feet and implores Jesus to heal his daughter.  The woman is an unclean outcast and sneaks up on Jesus from behind in a crowd to touch His garments.  After Jesus calls her out and she explains what she has done Jesus declares, Mark 5:34 (ESV) 34 … “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”  This outcast, unclean woman is cleansed and restored to the community.  Jesus calls her “daughter.”  Faith wins out over fear.

            As Jesus finishes talking to the woman a messenger arrives on the scene from Jairus’ house.  Mark 5:35 (ESV) 35 … “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?”  What Jairus dreads most has happened and fear swells inside of him.  Jesus overhears the messenger’s awful news.  As the fear and helplessness and hopelessness and despair grow within Jairus Jesus tells him, “Do not fear, only believe.”

Jesus takes Peter, James and John with Him to Jairus’ house and tells the assembled mourners that there is nothing to be wailing about since the girl is only sleeping.  Jesus takes the little girl by the hand says to her, “Talitha cumi – Little girl, I say to you, arise.”  She immediately gets up and begins walking and Jesus forbids anyone to tell what happened and then tells them to feed the girl.  Faith wins over fear. 

            “Do not fear, only believe.” 

            Fear is a powerful force battling for control of your life, but you have an even more powerful force battling back; faith.  Not faith in faith, but faith in Jesus.  Faith that is not your own doing; faith that is a gift from God the Father through the Holy Spirit.  Faith in Jesus; the Christ; God in flesh who died on the cross for your sins and rose from the dead to conquer death for you.  Faith that knows Jesus destroys fear. 

            There is an old Indian story:  One evening, an elderly Cherokee brave told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.  He said, “My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.  One is evil.  It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.  The other is good, it is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”  Then grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?”  The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one that you feed.”[1]

            Faith is fed by focusing on the object of your faith; Jesus.  Faith is fed by hearing the Word of God.  Faith is fed by gathering together to receive God’s promised gifts of forgiveness and eternal life.  Faith is fed by coming to where Jesus has promised to deliver forgiveness and eternal life to you in His divine service. 

            Faith and fear are fighting for control of you.  Which one will you feed?  Fear is fed by obsession with the things of this world.  Fear is fed by caring too much about what others think about you. Fear is fed by fixation with what the latest, greatest experts declare to be the newest, most awful ways that you can be harmed or killed.  The 24 hour news cycle of the cable networks drive fear.  Social media drives fear as you are fed a constant stream of divisive rhetoric, and as you are reminded over and over that your messy life does not measure up to the sanitized, filtered, enhanced versions of life that your friends portray online.  Your unrealistic expectations about life drive fear.  Your realistic expectations about life drive fear.  Fear is driven by the lying, accusing evil one driving you to despair.  Fear is pervasive and powerful.  Don’t feed fear. 

            Faith is fed by focusing on the object of your faith; Jesus.  Faith is fed by hearing the Word of God.  Faith is fed by gathering together to receive God’s promised gifts of forgiveness and eternal life.  Faith is fed by coming to where Jesus has promised to deliver forgiveness and eternal life to you in His divine service. 

            Fear wants to take over your life, call the shots, and be the driving force for everything you do.  Fear wants to control you, but you have faith.  Like Jairus and the woman with the discharge of blood, you know that Jesus is the source of healing.  You approach Jesus from the front as you did this morning by getting on your knees and admitting that on your own you are helpless and hopeless but you know from where help comes.  You approach Jesus at His altar knowing that the touch of His Body and Blood in Holy Communion brings healing from the disease of sin.  You know that Jesus is the cure.  Jesus is the antidote to fear.  Do not fear, only believe.  Feed faith by focusing on Jesus.

            There is a lot of opportunity to be afraid in this life.  Life is hard.  Fear is powerful.  God has not promised an easy, trouble free life.  You know that well.  But through the troubles of this life you do not need to fear.  Romans 8:38–39 (ESV) 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

            You are baptized child of God.  You have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus.  God has given you faith.  Do not fear, only believe.  Amen. 

[1] https://www.nanticokeindians.org/page/tale-of-two-wolves

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BULLETIN

SERMON TEXT BELOW

Pentecost 4, 2021
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Hilbert Kamps 
June 20, 2021
Mark 4:35-41

Sermons online: 
Text and Audio:         immanuelhamiltonchurch.com   click “sermons”
Text:                           pastorjud.org   
Audio:                         pastorjud.podbean.com 
itunes:                        bit.ly/pastorjud
Full Service Audio:   bit.ly/ImmanuelWorship

The stormy-weather incident recorded for us in this morning’s Gospel lesson is not just a nice story about Miracle Worker Jesus saving His followers from a watery grave. It is also full of teachings concerning

the nature of Jesus as the Christ and the nature of the sinners in the boat with Him. Which is also our sinful natures.

The context leading up to the events in today’s Gospel include a very full day of teaching for Jesus. We heard two of the parables He taught in last week’s Gospel. It’s been a long day.  Jesus is tired.  As is often the case after a busy time of ministry, Jesus decided to get away with His disciples for some much needed rest and relaxation.  In this case, He elected to travel across to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. 

The Sea of Galilee is about eight miles across from west to east at its widest point.            Ordinarily, the crossing should only take a few hours, but on this crossing, a storm came up.  Even though several of the disciples were experienced fishermen, they were still frightened.  This indicates that the storm was certainly powerful. 

Where was Jesus during this storm?  He was asleep in the stern of the boat. He was exhausted from His long day and fell into a sleep so sound that even the storm did not wake Him.

The fact that Jesus was asleep is an important demonstration of the nature of the Christ.  Other than His actual death on the cross, there is no better demonstration of the humanity of Jesus than the sleep of exhaustion.  Every human being on the planet knows what it is to grow tired and fall asleep.  Here Jesus demonstrates His unity with all people.  He sleeps like any other human being.

But then the disciples wake Him and ask for His help.  We should not assume that the disciples were expecting much from Jesus. After all, he was brought up as a carpenter, not as a sailor.  It is more likely that they were  just thinking  in terms of another  set of hands to help bail the water out of the boat or some other similar activity. It may even be that they just wanted Him to move away from the stern so that they had better access to the  rudder. In  any case, they woke Him and asked for help, but they did not expect what happened next.

Jesus woke up and had a few choice words for the developing weather elements.  The word “rebuke” in the text means that Jesus scolded the wind and the water rather harshly.  After that, the wind and the water became calm. 

Now, you and I could scold the weather until we were blue in the face and nothing would change.

Remember in the movie Forest Gump where Sargent Dan is sitting high on the mast-pole and cursing the storm. Well, if we would continue in that sort of activity, people might wonder if they should call the authorities to take us somewhere to get a mental checkup.  Jesus, on the other hand, scolded the weather and the weather paid attention.  It paid attention because Jesus is not just your ordinary, sleepy human being.  He is also the God of all creation.  Jesus’ ability to control the wind and the waves with just a word clearly shows that He is God.            So it is that this one event very clearly demonstrates that Jesus is both 100 % man and 100 % God in one person.

The disciples, on the other hand, were terrified.  The original Greek says that they feared a great fear. They were in a boat with someone who could talk to the wind and the waves and the wind and the waves would pay attention to what He said.    They began to question who their master and teacher really was.

This is one of the themes in Jesus’ life. People often ask who Jesus is.  Today, we heard that the wind and the waves know who Jesus is.

In other parts of the Gospel account, we learn that diseases, birth defects, and injuries know who Jesus is. Even the demons know who Jesus is.  But, when it comes to the human beings, Jesus is a great mystery. They regularly ask, “Who is this? Where does He get this authority?”  Hear the words that the Holy Spirit spoke through His prophet Isaiah.  “The ox knows its owner, and the donkey  its  master’s crib,  but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” (Isaiah 1:3)

The terror  of God traces  its  way clear  back to Eden.  God called and Adam  replied, “I  heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid.” (Genesis3:10)  Adam had sinned and the  presence of  the  holy and almighty God terrified him.  It is the same for  all people who see their sin clearly in the holy presence of Almighty  God. The writer  to the Hebrews  put it  this way:  “It is a fearful thing to fall into  the hands of  the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31)

That is the reason it  so important that Jesus be both man and God. If Jesus were only God, He could not take our place under the law and live a holy life for us.    He also could not suffer the penalty we have earned for our sin. If Jesus were a man, and nothing more, then His perfect life and sacrificial death would earn the salvation of one and only one person.  The rest of the world would be lost. It is essential for our salvation that Jesus be both God and man. We need the salvation that Jesus provides because the storm on the Sea of Galilee is just one instance of the many disasters that the sin of humanity has brought into this world.

The destruction that storms bring is an expression of the curse that came when sin entered the world.  Our sin not only brings sickness and death to us, but even the world is cursed. The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write to the Romans: “We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.  (Romans 8:22)

Floods, fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, hail, lightening, earthquakes, and all the other natural disasters are the result of the curse that our sin brought into the world. These natural disasters are not the  only storms that our sin has brought into the world.  There are other storms in our lives as well.  There are the medical storms of infections, heart disease, diabetes, strokes, cancer, and so forth. There are the relational storms of broken families and friendships.  There are the financial storms of plant closings and layoffs. Ultimately, there is the storm of death that comes to all of us sooner or later.  We may try to deny the existence of sin in our lives, but these storms, both private and public, say otherwise.

It is in the incarnation of Jesus Christ – the fact that the Son of God assumed human nature – that we see God’s loving plan to deal with sin.  In Jesus Christ, God assumed human nature to save humans from their nature –  their sinful nature.  For our own sin doomed  us to perish –  not  just from this earth, but also from the blessings of God’s presence with us.

In first John chapter 1, verse 7 we read; But the blood of Jesus [God’s] Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7) Christ’s human nature allowed Him to be the target of God’s wrath as He hung on the cross.

Christ’s Divine nature allowed Him to endure that wrath for all people in all times and places.  So it is that God took on human flesh and saved us from our sins.

We have complete confidence in that salvation that Jesus earned for us because death was unable to hold Him.  For Christ did not remain in the grave, but, after He conquered death, He rose from death never to die again.  After He rose, He showed Himself to His disciples.  He encouraged them to examine the marks of the cross in His body.      He talked with them and ate with them.  He interacted with them in very human ways.  At the same time, locked doors and windows were no barrier to Him as He appeared and disappeared at will. In His resurrection, He demonstrated that He lives forever as both God and man in one person.

Jesus Christ is both fully God and fully man.           With that combination, we find our full salvation from sin, death, and the power of the devil. In His humanity, He was able to suffer on the cross in our place and for our good. In His deity, He was able to defeat our foes and rise from the dead to give us eternal life. It is in the person of Jesus Christ who both slept and stilled the storm  that we have our  faith and the promise  of eternal life; as well as the promise that your sins are forgiven, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen

WORSHIP VIDEO LINK

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BULLETIN

SERMON TEXT BELOW

Pentecost 4, 2021
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Hilbert Kamps 
June 20, 2021
Mark 4:35-41

Sermons online: 
Text and Audio:         immanuelhamiltonchurch.com   click “sermons”
Text:                           pastorjud.org   
Audio:                         pastorjud.podbean.com 
itunes:                        bit.ly/pastorjud
Full Service Audio:   bit.ly/ImmanuelWorship

The stormy-weather incident recorded for us in this morning’s Gospel lesson is not just a nice story about Miracle Worker Jesus saving His followers from a watery grave. It is also full of teachings concerning

the nature of Jesus as the Christ and the nature of the sinners in the boat with Him. Which is also our sinful natures.

The context leading up to the events in today’s Gospel include a very full day of teaching for Jesus. We heard two of the parables He taught in last week’s Gospel. It’s been a long day.  Jesus is tired.  As is often the case after a busy time of ministry, Jesus decided to get away with His disciples for some much needed rest and relaxation.  In this case, He elected to travel across to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. 

The Sea of Galilee is about eight miles across from west to east at its widest point.            Ordinarily, the crossing should only take a few hours, but on this crossing, a storm came up.  Even though several of the disciples were experienced fishermen, they were still frightened.  This indicates that the storm was certainly powerful. 

Where was Jesus during this storm?  He was asleep in the stern of the boat. He was exhausted from His long day and fell into a sleep so sound that even the storm did not wake Him.

The fact that Jesus was asleep is an important demonstration of the nature of the Christ.  Other than His actual death on the cross, there is no better demonstration of the humanity of Jesus than the sleep of exhaustion.  Every human being on the planet knows what it is to grow tired and fall asleep.  Here Jesus demonstrates His unity with all people.  He sleeps like any other human being.

But then the disciples wake Him and ask for His help.  We should not assume that the disciples were expecting much from Jesus. After all, he was brought up as a carpenter, not as a sailor.  It is more likely that they were  just thinking  in terms of another  set of hands to help bail the water out of the boat or some other similar activity. It may even be that they just wanted Him to move away from the stern so that they had better access to the  rudder. In  any case, they woke Him and asked for help, but they did not expect what happened next.

Jesus woke up and had a few choice words for the developing weather elements.  The word “rebuke” in the text means that Jesus scolded the wind and the water rather harshly.  After that, the wind and the water became calm. 

Now, you and I could scold the weather until we were blue in the face and nothing would change.

Remember in the movie Forest Gump where Sargent Dan is sitting high on the mast-pole and cursing the storm. Well, if we would continue in that sort of activity, people might wonder if they should call the authorities to take us somewhere to get a mental checkup.  Jesus, on the other hand, scolded the weather and the weather paid attention.  It paid attention because Jesus is not just your ordinary, sleepy human being.  He is also the God of all creation.  Jesus’ ability to control the wind and the waves with just a word clearly shows that He is God.            So it is that this one event very clearly demonstrates that Jesus is both 100 % man and 100 % God in one person.

The disciples, on the other hand, were terrified.  The original Greek says that they feared a great fear. They were in a boat with someone who could talk to the wind and the waves and the wind and the waves would pay attention to what He said.    They began to question who their master and teacher really was.

This is one of the themes in Jesus’ life. People often ask who Jesus is.  Today, we heard that the wind and the waves know who Jesus is.

In other parts of the Gospel account, we learn that diseases, birth defects, and injuries know who Jesus is. Even the demons know who Jesus is.  But, when it comes to the human beings, Jesus is a great mystery. They regularly ask, “Who is this? Where does He get this authority?”  Hear the words that the Holy Spirit spoke through His prophet Isaiah.  “The ox knows its owner, and the donkey  its  master’s crib,  but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” (Isaiah 1:3)

The terror  of God traces  its  way clear  back to Eden.  God called and Adam  replied, “I  heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid.” (Genesis3:10)  Adam had sinned and the  presence of  the  holy and almighty God terrified him.  It is the same for  all people who see their sin clearly in the holy presence of Almighty  God. The writer  to the Hebrews  put it  this way:  “It is a fearful thing to fall into  the hands of  the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31)

That is the reason it  so important that Jesus be both man and God. If Jesus were only God, He could not take our place under the law and live a holy life for us.    He also could not suffer the penalty we have earned for our sin. If Jesus were a man, and nothing more, then His perfect life and sacrificial death would earn the salvation of one and only one person.  The rest of the world would be lost. It is essential for our salvation that Jesus be both God and man. We need the salvation that Jesus provides because the storm on the Sea of Galilee is just one instance of the many disasters that the sin of humanity has brought into this world.

The destruction that storms bring is an expression of the curse that came when sin entered the world.  Our sin not only brings sickness and death to us, but even the world is cursed. The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write to the Romans: “We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.  (Romans 8:22)

Floods, fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, hail, lightening, earthquakes, and all the other natural disasters are the result of the curse that our sin brought into the world. These natural disasters are not the  only storms that our sin has brought into the world.  There are other storms in our lives as well.  There are the medical storms of infections, heart disease, diabetes, strokes, cancer, and so forth. There are the relational storms of broken families and friendships.  There are the financial storms of plant closings and layoffs. Ultimately, there is the storm of death that comes to all of us sooner or later.  We may try to deny the existence of sin in our lives, but these storms, both private and public, say otherwise.

It is in the incarnation of Jesus Christ – the fact that the Son of God assumed human nature – that we see God’s loving plan to deal with sin.  In Jesus Christ, God assumed human nature to save humans from their nature –  their sinful nature.  For our own sin doomed  us to perish –  not  just from this earth, but also from the blessings of God’s presence with us.

In first John chapter 1, verse 7 we read; But the blood of Jesus [God’s] Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7) Christ’s human nature allowed Him to be the target of God’s wrath as He hung on the cross.

Christ’s Divine nature allowed Him to endure that wrath for all people in all times and places.  So it is that God took on human flesh and saved us from our sins.

We have complete confidence in that salvation that Jesus earned for us because death was unable to hold Him.  For Christ did not remain in the grave, but, after He conquered death, He rose from death never to die again.  After He rose, He showed Himself to His disciples.  He encouraged them to examine the marks of the cross in His body.      He talked with them and ate with them.  He interacted with them in very human ways.  At the same time, locked doors and windows were no barrier to Him as He appeared and disappeared at will. In His resurrection, He demonstrated that He lives forever as both God and man in one person.

Jesus Christ is both fully God and fully man.           With that combination, we find our full salvation from sin, death, and the power of the devil. In His humanity, He was able to suffer on the cross in our place and for our good. In His deity, He was able to defeat our foes and rise from the dead to give us eternal life. It is in the person of Jesus Christ who both slept and stilled the storm  that we have our  faith and the promise  of eternal life; as well as the promise that your sins are forgiven, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen

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Pentecost 2 2021
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud 
June 6, 2021
Gen. 3:8-15, 2 Cor. 4:13-5:1, Mark 3:20-35

Sermons online: 
Text and Audio:         immanuelhamiltonchurch.com   click “sermons”
Text:                           pastorjud.org   
Audio:                         pastorjud.podbean.com 
itunes:                        bit.ly/pastorjud
Full Service Audio:   bit.ly/ImmanuelWorship

            Have you ever had a dream where you find yourself at school or work and then you realize you are naked or in your underwear?  Supposedly this is a dream about having your insecurities revealed.  In our Old Testament reading today we find some people who are living out that dream.  Adam and Eve suddenly realize that they are naked.  They are naked and ashamed.  Ashamed not just about being unclothed, but ashamed that they have disobeyed God.  Naked and ashamed, our great-great grandparents try to cover up with fig leaves and then they try to run from God; hide from God.  They have been deceived by the lies of the evil one.  They have broken the world.  Now they are trying to hide from God’s wrath.

            God, however, is not going to destroy them and start over.  Instead, God has a plan for redemption.  God comes looking for His human creations and asks them questions.  He calls to them, “Where are you?”  Genesis 3:10–11 (ESV)  10 And [Adam] said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 [God] said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”  Satan deceived the two by questioning God’s word, “Did God actually say?”  He twisted the truth and repackaged rebellion against God as just, “being like God.”

            God asks the naked and ashamed couple three questions which convict the hiding pair of their sin.  Although it turns out it isn’t just Adam and Eve hiding from God in the Garden, the serpent is still there with them. 

            Guilty Adam desperately tries to shift the blame to others. Genesis 3:12 (ESV)  12 … “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”   Genesis 3:13 (ESV) 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 

            The Lord God will address Eve and Adam, but first He speaks to the Serpent; Satan, and He curses the Evil One.  Genesis 3:14–15 (ESV) 14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” 

            God gives the plan of redemption.  The offspring of the woman will be wounded but He will crush the serpent’s head.  God promises a savior and covers over Adam and Eve’s naked shame with garments of skin. 

            In our Gospel reading the offspring of the woman has come and is preparing to crush the devil’s head while being wounded by the devil on the cross.  As Jesus moves about in His ministry His very presence causes unclean spirits to cry out and then Jesus drives them out.  Jesus has been driving out demons, healing many, preaching and teaching.  He cleanses a leper, a paralytic and a man with a withered hand.  Jesus is attracting such large crowds that He is not even able to eat. 

Jesus’ family hears about this and they twist things around to declare “He is out of his mind.”  The scribes twist the truth of what is going on and try to repackage what is happening. They say that Jesus is casting out demons by the prince of demons.  Jesus, upon whom the Holy Spirit descended at His baptism, is accused being in league with the devil. 

Jesus has come to crush the devil and the scribes say He is working with the devil.  Mark 3:23–27 (ESV) 23 And [Jesus] called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house. 

Jesus is binding the strong man, Satan, and plundering his house.  Jesus is freeing people from the power of the devil and the scribes say He is possessed by the devil.  Jesus sternly warns them of the dire consequences of their mislabeling who Jesus is.  Mark 3:28–30 (ESV) 28 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.” 

            If you reject Jesus and the Holy Spirit, you reject forgiveness.  You will be lost forever.  You will stand before the judgement seat of God naked and ashamed because you have rejected the Lamb’s robe of righteousness which covers over all your sin. 

Sin is serious.  You need forgiveness.  You need Jesus.  If you reject Jesus, you reject forgiveness.  You need the real Jesus who died on the cross for you and rose from the dead for you.  You need the real Jesus of the Bible, not one that has been repackaged and relabeled into someone compatible with the whims of the culture. 

            How wicked would it be for someone to come into your house and take toilet bowl cleaner, pour it into soda pop bottles and put it in your fridge?  It would be a tremendous evil to repackage and relabel poison to make it appear harmless. 

            But that is exactly what people love to do these days. Folks love to repackage and relabel sin to make it seem harmless and fun.  Greed and the love of money are repackaged as ambition and aggressive business skills.  Anger is relabeled as righteous indignation. 

            God created man and woman and said, Genesis 1:28 (ESV) 28 … “Be fruitful and multiply ….”  and Genesis 2:24 (ESV) 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 

God has a plan for sexual intimacy within the marriage union of a man and a woman, but people reject God’s plan and relabel and repackage sexual sin to seem harmless.  Just fooling around.  Just hooking up.  Just shacking up.  So much twisted and perverse sexual sin now repackaged with rainbows and relabeled as pride. 

            Killing an unborn child is called essential health care for women.  Killing the elderly and infirm is called death with dignity.  We so much want to listen to devil’s lie, “Did God really say?” and repackage and relabel sin. 

            When sin is repackaged and relabeled as harmless it is more dangerous than toilet bowl cleaner in a pop bottle.  Because if you believe sin is harmless you will not seek forgiveness, and without forgiveness, sin is eternally deadly.  If you reject Jesus’ forgiveness because you ignore sin it will leave you standing naked and ashamed before the judgement seat of God. Do not fall into this twisted trap of the evil one.

            Renounce the devil and all his works and all his ways. You are a baptized child of God. Your naked shame has been covered by the robe of Jesus’ righteousness made white in the blood of the Lamb.  Jesus paid for your sins on the cross of Calvary. He is the first fruits of the grave promising that you will be raised from the dead. 

            In Christ you have eternal life.  Indeed you are by nature sinful and unclean but you have forgiveness in Jesus.  The Holy Spirit dwells in you.  Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.  So stay alert.  1 Peter 5:8 (ESV)  8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 

Everyday, be aware of the devil’s tricks as he twists the true Jesus into a false Jesus, even making Jesus the enemy.  Resist the devil and his lies as he repackages and relabels sin.  The devil knows all your weak points.  Do not dabble with sin and evil.  James 4:7 (ESV)  7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 

            Always remember who you are a new creation in Christ. You have been born again in water and the Spirit.  Declare the truth, “I am baptized!  I still struggle with sin, but Jesus has forgiven me.  On the last day I will not be naked and ashamed before the throne of God because I am clothed in Jesus’ righteousness and I will live with him forever.”  Amen. 

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Trinity Sunday 2021
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud 
May 30, 2021
Is. 6:1-8, Acts 2:14a, 22-36, John 3:1-17

Sermons online: 
Text and Audio:         immanuelhamiltonchurch.com   click “sermons”
Text:                           pastorjud.org   
Audio:                         pastorjud.podbean.com 
itunes:                        bit.ly/pastorjud
Full Service Audio:   bit.ly/ImmanuelWorship

            The potter grabs up a double handful of reddish brown clay slaps it between his hands and presses it into a smooth ball.  He throws the ball of clay in the center of the rotating potter’s wheel. Over the next hour the potter carefully transforms the lump of clay into a beautifully shaped jar which he then fires in the kiln, paints and fires again.  The potter creates beauty and function from a couple of handfuls of clay.  

            The Lord God Almighty takes a couple handfuls of fresh dirt and slaps it and presses it and forms it into a man and breathes into him the breath of life. From a pinch of flesh from the side of the man the Lord God Almighty forms woman and brings her to the man. From this man and woman, formed from the dust of the ground, all people have descended.  You are the product of the creative power of the Almighty Potter.

            Now, does the clay jar have any rights to demand things of the potter?  What audacity a clay jar must have to have to question the potter who made it.  But that is just what ol’ Grandma and Grandpa Eve and Adam decided to do.  They are clay jars, God is the potter, and yet they are tempted to question God’s instructions.  They are tempted to want to be like God.  The pot is tempted to be the Potter.

            This continues throughout history and even until today.  The pot wants to be the potter.  Isaiah 29:16 (ESV) 16 You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, “He did not make me”; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”? 

            Romans 9:20–20 (ESV) 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 

            There is an ongoing desire since the Garden of Eden to question God’s authority, to want to be like God, to be your own god.  We want to be like God and make God in our image so God makes sense to us. 

When people make up religions they often make up gods that are like themselves. Joseph Smith made up the Mormon god with the idea that god was once like you and if you try hard enough you can be like god.  People make up gods that make sense.  Gods who demand you do what they say in order to earn their favor.  The Greek and Roman gods were created in the image of man with the same flaws as people.  In Islam, they did not so much make up a new god, but rejected things about the true God that did not make sense; the idea of God being incarnate or God being spirit.  They teach that Allah is beyond all comprehension. Now this helps make God make sense, and while it does acknowledges God’s majesty, it is fatally flawed because it rejects God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in order that the pot can make more sense of the Potter.  There is a deep desire to have a god that makes sense.

            But the true God does not make sense; three persons, one God.  God the Father is spirit.  Jesus was spirit and then took on flesh.  The Holy Spirit dwells in you.  Three persons, one God.  It does not make sense, and that really does make sense.  Because if you have a god that makes sense it means it is a god that someone made up.  It makes sense that the true God is beyond understanding because He is the Potter and you are the pot.

            The true God is spirit; a personal being without a body. John 4:24 (ESV) 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The true God also takes on human flesh in God the Son in order to redeem humanity.  John 1:14 (ESV) 

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 

            At Christmas we celebrate God coming to be with us as that little baby boy born in Bethlehem.  “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail the incarnate Deity.  Pleased as Man with man to dwell, Jesus, our Immanuel!”

            The true God is beyond your understanding.  He is incomprehensible.  God does not make sense.  The Trinity does not make sense.  You cannot understand God.  God is uncreated, eternal, infinite, almighty, coequal, coeternal. 

            When we think about it, our minds are really quite limited in our understandings.  God is eternal; He is infinite; He has no beginning and no end.  We have symbols in mathematics to represent infinity, but we do not have a handle on eternity.  I can draw a line with an arrow at each end and say this line goes on forever, but my mind cannot comprehend something that has no beginning and no end.  We cannot understand how God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit, has always been and always will be. 

            Arius, a theologian from Alexandria Egypt in the late 3rd and early 4th Century AD, taught that God the Son is not coeternal with the Father but was begotten of the Father in time.  This was rightly condemned as heresy by the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD.  This led to the Nicene Creed.  Opposition to Arius was led by another Alexandrian theologian, Athanasius, along with others including Nicholas of Myra, Ol’ St. Nicholas was not so jolly one day at the council and became so enraged he slapped Arius in the face.  The Athanasian Creed was a further clarification of Biblical truth in opposition to the Arians and clearly expresses what we can know about the Trinity.  It is named after Athanasius who most likely did not actually write this creed which we confess on Trinity Sunday.

            God is eternally holy; infinitely pure; perfectly just. In our Old Testament reading we see Isaiah coming into the presence of God and having an intense time of confession and absolution.  Isaiah 6:4–5 (ESV) 4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

            Isaiah has seen God, YHWH Sabaoth.  YHWH of heavenly armies.  There are angelic beings, cherubim and seraphim, Isaiah 6:3 (ESV) 3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” 

Isaiah knows his sin and feels his own guilt and shame.  But YHWH does not crush Isaiah.  He does not give Isaiah tasks to earn forgiveness.  Instead He sends a seraphim to Isaiah with a burning coal and Isaiah 6:7 (ESV)  7 And he touched [Isaiah’s] mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” 

            As you gather together each week you come into the presence of the eternal God, YHWH Sabaoth, and get on your knees and plead guilty of your sins.  The foundations of the church building do not shake.  The sanctuary is not filled with smoke.  There are no Cherubim and Seraphim flying around.  The danger is that it can get to be routine.  But know that you are coming into the presence of the infinite, incomprehensible God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and admitting that you deserve immediate and eternal punishment.

            But God does not strike you dead.  He does not give you a list of things to do to work off your debt.  Instead, He forgives your sins.  He declares you forgiven and He touches your lips with His Body and Blood in Holy Communion. He cleanses you and makes you holy and pure.  Jesus’ death and resurrection are credited to you as a free gift of love from God.  You are called by God to live out your holiness in love and service to others; doing what you have been given to do and responding to God’s call to do what He wants you to do.  You are called to live as someone whose body is a temple of the Holy Spirit praying the words of Isaiah 64:8 (ESV) 8 But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. 

            When you find yourself alone on a clear, dark night staring heavenward at the stars you stare into infinity and realize how small you are in the universe.  You are small in the universe and still the infinite God loves you and cares for you and forgives you and knows how many hairs are on your head. 

            God is incomprehensible.  The pot truly cannot understand much about the Potter and yet remains the Potter’s treasure.  You have the Spirit of God dwelling in you giving you the Good News of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection for you.  You have the treasure of God.  2 Corinthians 4:7 (ESV) 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.  

            The Good News about Jesus comes indeed in jars of clay but it still remains an eternal treasure.  You are a creation of the infinite God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. You are a treasured pot made by the eternal Potter.  You have been sealed by the infinite God and while you cannot comprehend eternity you have eternal life.  Amen. 

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Pentecost 2021
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud 
May 22, 23, 2021
Ezekial 37:1-14, Acts 2:1-21, John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15

Sermons online: 
Text and Audio:         immanuelhamiltonchurch.com   click “sermons”
Text:                           pastorjud.org   
Audio:                         pastorjud.podbean.com 
itunes:                        bit.ly/pastorjud
Full Service Audio:   bit.ly/ImmanuelWorship

            It is a windy day at the park.  Lots of children are flying kites which soar high into the sky.  But there is one boy who doesn’t have a kite.  Instead he has a five gallon bucket in one hand with the lid in the other.  He is running around holding the bucket high in the air by the handle.  He swoops the bucket through the air and then slams the lid down onto it.  You ask him, “What are you doing?”  He replies, “I have caught the wind.  Do you want to see?”  He lifts the lid. 

            You know that he has sort of caught the wind in the bucket, but it is hard to tell.  It looks like an empty bucket. 

            I think that sometimes when we talk about the Holy Spirit it can be frustrating. Comprehending the Holy Spirit is a lot like trying to catch a bucket of wind.  Today, on the Festival of Pentecost, let’s take some time to ponder the Holy Spirit. 

            Pentecost is an Old Testament festival 50 days after Passover.  It is also called the 

Feast of Weeks.  It is a harvest festival offering the first fruits of the wheat crop to the Lord. On that Pentecost after Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension the disciples are together in Jerusalem waiting to be clothed with power from on high as Jesus promised at His ascension. 

            The Holy Spirit shows up that Pentecost in a big way.  The Spirit arrives with the sound like a mighty rushing wind that fills the house where the disciples are.  Like herald trumpets the wind sound announces the arrival of the Holy Spirit who comes like divided tongues of flame which rest on each of the disciples. 

            And in that moment, the confusion of languages that God caused at the Tower of Babel is undone in Jerusalem.  The disciples are enabled to tell the Good News of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension so that all can understand.  They are not just speaking Hebrew, but languages that all can recognize; even the Gentiles. 

            This is a monumental moment in the history of salvation.  The whole world is united as those for whom Jesus died and the gift of salvation is now offered to all; Jews and Gentiles.

            Peter then preaches to the people gathered there from all over the Mediterranean bringing them the Law of God and the Gospel of God.  Acts 2:37–41 (ESV) 37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. 

            3,000 people received the gift of the Holy Spirit that day in baptism.  These 3,000 who receive the Holy Spirit are the first fruits of an ongoing harvest of those devoted to the Way; devoted to Jesus. You received the gift of the Holy Spirit at your baptism.  You are part of the ongoing harvest of those with the Holy Spirit.  You are one in the Spirit with Peter, James and John and the other eight disciples.  You are one in the Spirit with the 3,000 on that Pentecost day long ago.  You are one in the Spirit with Christians throughout the world and throughout the ages.  

Your body is perishable.  Death is ever lurking.  But God has given you the Holy Spirit as an earnest deposit on you guaranteeing that He will return and raise your body from the grave and bring you to live with Him forever in Heaven.  2 Corinthians 1:21–22 (ESV) 21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, 22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. 

            The Holy Spirit is and does so many things.  He is God’s guarantee to you that He is coming back for you.  The Holy Spirit is the breath of God that breathes in you and gives you faith to believe that Jesus died for you and rose from the dead for you. The Holy Spirit dwells in you and your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit makes you Holy and helps you in the struggle to live out that holiness in this crooked generation.  The Holy Spirit is your helper, your counselor, your comforter. 

            The Holy Spirit enables you to believe.  As Martin Luther writes in the explanation of the third article of the Apostles’ Creed.  I believe in the Holy Spirit…What does this mean?  I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.

            Getting a handle on the Holy Spirit is like trying to catch a bucket of wind.  Martin Luther comments on this passage, “The Lord wishes to say: ‘…Nor can you tell Me how far [the wind] blows and where it stops, even though it blows right in front of your nose.’”

            “Why are some saved and others not?”  Among churches there are different answers to this question.  “Why are some saved and others not?”  In the Roman Catholic Church they would say that some people are members of the Roman Catholic Church and others are not.  Baptists and Evangelical Churches would say that some people have decided to follow Jesus and asked Jesus into their hearts, and others have not.  Lutherans answer this question with an unsatisfying, “We don’t know.  We don’t know how the Holy Spirit works.”

            Jesus is talking to Nicodemus at night in John 3:8 (ESV) 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”  The word here for “wind” is also the word for “spirit”.  The word for “blows” is also the word for “breathes”. The Spirit breaths where it wishes. Why do some receive the Holy Spirit and believe and not others?  We don’t know. 

            Getting a handle on the Holy Spirit is like trying to catch a bucket of wind.  Martin Luther comments on this passage, “The Lord wishes to say: ‘…Nor can you tell Me how far [the wind] blows and where it stops, even though it blows right in front of your nose.’”

            How does the Spirit work?  We don’t know?  We do know that the Spirit gives faith to confess Jesus as Lord.  1 Corinthians 12:3 (ESV)  3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. 

            The Spirit works through hearing and reading the Word of God, and through the water and Word of Holy Baptism.  John 3:5 (ESV) 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

John 6:63 (ESV) 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 

            The Spirit is mysterious.  The spirit does not promote Himself, but rather directs you to the object of your faith, Jesus on the cross for your sins; Jesus rising from the dead to conquer death for you.  There is only one Holy Spirit and that same Spirit dwells in each of you and all believers around the world.  The Spirit unifies the Church on earth.  1 Corinthians 12:13 (ESV) 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.  You have the Spirit dwelling in you so you can confess that Jesus is Lord. 

            Next week on Trinity Sunday we will explore how the Trinity, God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is incomprehensible.  Today we are getting a preview of the incomprehensible.  Trying to understand the Holy Spirit is like trying to catch a bucket of wind.  You know the Spirit is there, but you cannot see Him.  That’s okay. God is not here for you to comprehend. He is here to save you.  On the Last Day the saving breath of God will breathe on your dry bones and fill your body with life eternal.  Rejoice in Spirit of God who dwells in you.  Amen. 

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Ascension (observed) 2021
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud 
May 16, 2021
Acts 1:1–11, Ephesians 1:15–23, Luke 24:44–53

Sermons online: 
Text and Audio:         immanuelhamiltonchurch.com   click “sermons”
Text:                           pastorjud.org   
Audio:                         pastorjud.podbean.com 
itunes:                        bit.ly/pastorjud
Full Service Audio:   bit.ly/ImmanuelWorship

            Have you ever been on a pilgrimage?  There are many different kinds of pilgrimages.  Muslims are supposed to take a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia at least once in their lifetime.  Roman Catholics take pilgrimages to holy sites around the world to seek to atone for their sins and sometimes to gain an indulgence which is supposed to remove the penalty for sin.  Some baseball fans make a pilgrimage to watch a game in every stadium in the major league. Some folks make a pilgrimage every few years to Florida to see a mouse.

            Our trip to Germany every four years might be called a pilgrimage to see some the sites of Martin Luther’s life, and our upcoming trip to Israel could be called a pilgrimage to see where Jesus lived and worked when He was on earth.  There a lot of different kinds of pilgrimages. 

All of you have been on a pilgrimage.  In fact, you are on a pilgrimage right now. You are on a pilgrimage from the baptismal font to standing before the throne of God. 

In our readings today we hear about Jesus’ ascension into heaven to be with God the Father.  This is the end of Jesus’ earthly journey and the beginning of the Church’s pilgrimage on earth.  The Church has been given to proclaim to the world that the way of Jesus is the way to the throne of God.  Jesus is the way.  When you wonder about your pilgrimage, look to Jesus to see the shape of your journey. You are on a pilgrimage through life, death, resurrection and ascension with the goal to stand, in your resurrected, imperishable flesh, before the throne of your heavenly Father with your earthly brother, Jesus. 

Give thanks that Christ has already brought humanity to the throne of God; preparing the way for you.  1 Corinthians 15:20–26 (ESV)  20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 

            In our Gospel lesson today we read how Jesus teaches the disciples how He fulfilled everything written about Him in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms.  Luke 24:45–49 (ESV)  45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” 

Jesus ascends into heaven 40 days after His resurrection.  Ten days after His ascension, the power from on high is bestowed upon the followers of Jesus at Pentecost.  They receive the Holy Spirit and become witnesses for Jesus.  The Church, the Body of Christ on earth, is born and begins its pilgrimage from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth to invite all people to join on the journey and personally make the final pilgrimage with Christ and ascend on high on the last day.  Two thousand years later the Church is still on this pilgrimage to bring the Good News of Jesus life, death, resurrection and ascension to all people. 

The children of Israel are delivered from Egypt through the waters of the Red Sea into the wilderness and finally into the Promised Land; an exodus from slavery to freedom. 

Jesus goes through the waters of John’s baptism, into the wilderness of temptation, through a time of ministry fulfilling the scriptures, and then into suffering, death, resurrection and ascension; an exodus from death to life. 

You gather each week as people on the pilgrimage. Worship begins with a remembrance of where your journey began at the baptismal font, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”  You hear the Word of God which has been fulfilled in Jesus and learn more about your journey.  You receive the true Body and Blood of Christ in a mysterious way in the bread and wine at the Lord’s altar to strengthen and preserve you in body and soul to life everlasting.  Ponder this mystery.  You receive the very body and blood of Jesus that are at the throne of God saving a place for you.  You gather together and sing praises to the Lord as a foretaste of what is coming on the last day when you will praise God face to face. 

You know the way.  Jesus is the way.  So pilgrim, remain faithful on your journey.  Cling to the Word of God which guides you on your pilgrimage.  Love God and love your neighbor.  Pause in your vocation as a worker to gather in worship each week to remember why you are on the pilgrimage and receive strength for the journey.  Remember that Jesus is the leader of your pilgrimage. He has gone ahead to blaze the trail and you get to follow in His footsteps.  Invite others to join you on the pilgrimage where you have meaning and purpose and death has lost its sting.

You are on a pilgrimage; an exodus from slavery to sin to freedom in Christ; an exodus from death to life; a journey from the waters of baptism to the throne of God.

So many in this world do not see Jesus’ ascension as giving shape to their journey. So many are not on a pilgrimage to the throne of God, but instead are just wandering through this life without direction. They have been told that they are just the meaningless byproduct of an endless series of random mutations; that they are just stardust residue from a great explosion.  Lost in the world they live in constant terror of death which is always lurking and gets closer every day.  So many folks live like this, desperately trying to find meaning and purpose in the things of this world.  They can feel that they are missing something, but they don’t know what and so they seek peace by following their every urge or desire, thinking this will bring them fulfillment and yet they are disappointed.  They should be on a pilgrimage to the throne of God, but they have rejected the narrow path for the wide, easy way. 

You know the way.  Jesus is the way.  So pilgrim, remain faithful on your journey.  Cling to the Word of God which guides you on your pilgrimage.  Love God and love your neighbor.  Pause in your vocation as a worker to gather in worship each week to remember why you are on the pilgrimage and receive strength for the journey.  Remember that Jesus is the leader of your pilgrimage. He has gone ahead to blaze the trail and you get to follow in His footsteps.  Invite others to join you on the pilgrimage where you have meaning and purpose and death has lost its sting.

Jesus is on the top of the Mount of Olives with His disciples.  He has said His final words and ascends up and a cloud takes Him from their sight.  The disciples just stare upwards when two angels appear standing nearby and tell them, Acts 1:11 (ESV) 

11 … “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” 

Jesus will come back and raise you from the dead and take you up to be with Him forever in the presence of God.  Until then you are on your pilgrimage following Jesus. As you ponder Jesus ascension, know that you can honestly say, as you picture Jesus ascending, “That will be me one day.” Amen 

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Easter 6 2021
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud 
May 8, 9, 2021
Acts 10:34-48

Sermons online: 
Text and Audio:         immanuelhamiltonchurch.com   click “sermons”
Text:                           pastorjud.org   
Audio:                         pastorjud.podbean.com 
itunes:                        bit.ly/pastorjud
Full Service Audio:   bit.ly/ImmanuelWorship

            It is the sixth Sunday of Easter and here we find ourselves back in the upper room on Maundy Thursday as Jesus prepares His disciples for His arrest, crucifixion and resurrection.  The word Maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum; command.  Maundy Thursday is command Thursday. 

            In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke the Maundy Thursday account is relatively short, contained in one chapter, and each includes the institution of the Lord’s Supper; Jesus ongoing gift to you of His Body and Blood. 

            In the Gospel of John, the account of Maundy Thursday covers chapters 13-18; six chapters.  It begins with Jesus washing his disciples’ feet.  Jesus explains afterwards, John 13:13–15 (ESV) 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 

            As we read Jesus’ words in our Gospel reading from that first Command Thursday the night is growing late and time is running short.  Jesus’ teaching here in this section is intensely important. Judas has already left the gathering to set up Jesus’ betrayal into the hands of those who would arrest Him, beat Him, mock Him, whip Him and crucify Him.  Jesus’ teaching here is focused and clear.  He gives a new command.  

            What is the command Jesus gives on commandment Thursday. John 13:34 (ESV)  34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 

            Love one another.

            Love.  It is an amazing word that can mean so many different things.  In English we have one word for love, in Greek there are at least four.  The word “love” for us often conjures up lots of sweet images of hearts.  We hear “love” and think first of romantic love.  But there is also brotherly love for our friends and family.  We use the word love to describe liking something a lot; “I love hiking.”  There is love within the family.  These loves come naturally to us.  The type of love that Jesus commands us to have for each other is not a natural love.  It is the Greek word “agape.”

Agape is a selfless love.  A love that loves no matter what.  A love that loves even when the other does not deserve to be loved.  A love that even loves your enemy.  This is the kind of love that Jesus has for you.  Jesus gives up everything for you.  He lays down His life for you.  He offers His own body to the wolf as a sacrificial lamb to pay the price for your sins.  Jesus is servant of all.  Jesus eats with sinners.  Jesus washes His disciples’ feet.  He washes you into His love in the waters of Holy Baptism.  He washes away your sins and covers you with His love and feeds you with His own Body and Blood.  You belong to Christ.  You abide in Christ and Christ in you.

            As a baptized, forgiven, beloved child of God, how should you live?  In the precious moments just before His arrest, Jesus is telling His disciples, and He is telling you, live in agape love.  Live in selfless love.  Strive to love like Jesus.  This is an impossible love.  It does not come naturally from within you.  This love comes from Jesus to you.  As a branch in the Jesus vine, the love of Jesus flows into you.  Jesus loves you unconditionally.  Jesus loves you in your sin.  Lose yourself in Jesus’ love.

            People unconditionally love many things instead of God.  St. John warns in 1 John 2:15 (ESV)  15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  And in 1 Timothy 6:10 (ESV) 10 …the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. … 

            Love can be misused.  Love can be abused.  Jesus’ command is to love unconditionally.  How do you love like this?  John 14:15 (ESV)  15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  In our reading today John 15:12 (ESV) 12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  John 15:14 (ESV) 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 

            We have the Ten Commandments from God shown up here on two tables.  How are they broken up?  Commandments 1, 2, and 3 on the first table (recite 3 commandments) and commandments 4-10 on the second.  (recite 7 commandments).  What is the five word summary of the Ten Commandments.  Love God.  Love your neighbor. 

            On that first Command Thursday Jesus gives a deep teaching; an impossible teaching.  Jesus calls you to love like He loves.  Just love like God in flesh; God with us.  You want to cry out in frustration, “I can’t do it.  Just give me a list of five things to do.  Give me a doable checklist that I can accomplish.” But there is no checklist.  Instead you are called to love like Jesus, and when you fail to love like Jesus, He again envelopes you in His unconditional love and forgives you.  When you fail, you receive more love from Jesus and a renewed call to love like Jesus. 

            John 15:9–10 (ESV) 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.  

            Jesus loves you with an impossible love and calls you to love others with that impossible love.  It is this impossible love that enables you to forgive someone who does not deserve forgiveness.  It enables you to care for people who are not your responsibility.  It allows you to see others as fellow sinners that Jesus loves so much that He died for them.  If Jesus loves this person, how can you do anything less?    Matthew 5:44 (ESV)  44 …Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

            When you are tempted to love money.  When you are enticed to love the world.  When you are drawn to love yourself more than others. When satisfying your desires becomes top priority…stop.  Stop and ponder the love Jesus has for you.  Love like Jesus.  By nature you want everything to be about me.  Jesus smashes this idea.  Everything is about Jesus and what He has done for you.  Everything is about loving others.  You are to be about loving like Jesus.

            Jesus loves you with an impossible love.  He saves you and blesses you with eternal life. You abide in Christ and Christ in you. Live in this love and love like Jesus. Amen. 

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Easter 5 2021 – Confirmation Sunday
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud 
May 2, 2021

Sermons online: 
Text and Audio:         immanuelhamiltonchurch.com   click “sermons”
Text:                           pastorjud.org   
Audio:                         pastorjud.podbean.com 
itunes:                        bit.ly/pastorjud
Full Service Audio:   bit.ly/ImmanuelWorship

            When camping with my family as a boy I liked to whittle on sticks with my pocket knife.  I thought this was great fun, but my mother would cringe and start calculating the distance to the nearest emergency room.  Apparently I had a tendency to cut my fingers…badly.  Many times the doctors needed to stitch my fingertips back together, but somehow I made it to adulthood with all ten fingers scarred but intact.

            What would you do if you did actually cut off one of your fingers?  With my extensive first aid knowledge gleaned from television ambulance dramas I think you are supposed to find the missing digit, pack it in ice and send it with the patient so the doctors can hopefully reattach it.  If the finger cannot be reattached it will die; it is no use without being attached to the body.  The body gives the finger life.  How deadly foolish it would be for a finger to say to the rest of the body, “I don’t need you.  I’ll be better off on my own?”

            After a storm I walk around my yard and collect dead branches lying under the trees.  Attached to the tree they were full of life.  Now they are dead and only good to be thrown into the fire.  Imagine for a moment a branch rebelling against its tree saying, “I don’t need you.  I will be better off on my own.”  It is utterly self-destructive. 

            John 15:5–6 (ESV) 5 [Jesus said] I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 

            In baptism you are grafted into the vine of Christ. You are made a part of His Body, the Church.  You abide in Christ and He abides in you.  Christ Jesus lives in you.  His life flows into you and gives you life.  In the Church, the Body of Christ, you receive forgiveness of sins through the Word of God and the Body and Blood of Jesus.  You in Christ, Christ in you, you have life. 

            Today at the 11 AM service we will baptize the three Johnson children; sealing them as branches of the vine of Christ renouncing the devil and all his works and all his ways and declaring faith in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  At the 8 AM service four of our young men will confirm what was spoken for them at their baptisms renouncing the devil and declaring faith in the true God.  They will also pledge to remain in Christ and Christ in them.  They will pledge to hear the Word of God and receive the Lord’s Supper faithfully.  They will pledge to live according to the Word of God, and in faith, word, and deed to remain true to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, even to death.  They will pledge to remain steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it.  They will promise to remain in Christ and Christ in them.  Because they know they need Jesus.  They know that in Christ there is life; without Christ is only death. 

Like blood flowing to your extremities, like sap flowing through vine and branches, Jesus’ love and forgiveness flows into you and then from you to others through your good works.  Because you are in Christ and Christ is in you, you bear the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22–23 (ESV)  22 … love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; …. 

            You know that you need Jesus.  Each day remember your baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and renew your vows to remain in Christ and Christ in you.  Because you need Jesus. 

            Jesus is life.  Without Jesus is death.  And yet there is an aching temptation to want to be independent.  The devil wants to separate you from the vine.  He wants you to think you don’t need Jesus; that you can be free from Jesus, that you can go it alone.  He wants you to let the busyness of daily life choke out life in Christ and to separate from His Body, the Church.  The devil wants you to give up the Church.  The devil wants to push you to declare, “I don’t need forgiveness.  I don’t need the Church.  I don’t need your organized religion.”  But that is like a finger saying to the body, “I don’t need you.” That is like the branch saying to the tree, “I don’t need you.”  Independence equals death.  You are fully dependent on Jesus.  

Like blood flowing to your extremities, like sap flowing through vine and branches, Jesus’ love and forgiveness flows into you and then from you to others through your good works.  Because you are in Christ and Christ is in you, you bear the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22–23 (ESV)  22 … love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; …. 

Alive in Christ, you bear the fruit of the Spirit in love for your neighbor even as you continue to struggle with temptation to selfish sin.  Life in this fallen world is a struggle.  Life in Christ is not the promise of an easy life, a pain free life, a life without trouble or hardship.  Abiding in Christ and Christ in you, as a branch in the vine, God prunes you to clean you from sin and make you more fruitful.  With Christ in you; with your body as a temple of the Holy Spirit the Lord works in you to cut sin out of your life.  God prunes you to help you to battle sin in your thoughts before they become sinful words and deeds that harm your neighbor and that the devil can try to hold against you.  This pruning hurts and it is an ongoing process which continues until the day you die. You live in the paradox of being, at the same time, a Saint declared holy by God because of Jesus, and a sinner who struggles with the devil, the world and your own sinful desires.  You are already declared fully clean because you are in Christ and Christ is in you, and God continues to prune and cleanse you of your sin.  Pruning can be painful as sin is cut out of your life in this ongoing cleansing but it is God’s work in your life to make you more fully live out who you are in Christ in love for God and love for your neighbor. 

Alive in Christ or dead apart from Christ.  There are only two categories.  You in Christ and Christ in you, you are alive forever.  Apart from Christ you are dead and destined for eternal fire.  You cannot live apart from Jesus. 

Jesus is the vine.  You are the branches.  Remain in Jesus.  Amen.