Dearly
loved by God in Christ Jesus,
Yesterday new teachers graduated from Martin
Luther College including one of our members, Nathan Koerber. At the end of this
week pastoral candidates will graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary to
begin soon their work in parishes and schools.
In a sense they are now alone. They no longer
will be living with their parents and siblings. They will have to say good-bye
to the fellowship and camaraderie of classmates and friends. In some cases
there will not be another called worker within a hundred miles.
Yet in no way are these servants of Christ on
their own. They will have the prayers and other support from family, friends
and co-workers. Most of all they have the promises that their Savior is with
them in the power of his name, and the power tool of their work is the
sanctifying Word of God.
They are like Jesus’ disciples who heard him
pray his High Priestly prayer in the upper room before leaving for Gethsemane. Alone But Not On Their Own. The
disciples would enjoy the full protection and joy of the Father’s name. The
disciples would possess and take out the sanctifying Word of God.
Imagine being with Jesus virtually every day
for three years. We can get close to that by being in the gospels every day in
our reading. I still think it would not be quite the same. Soon the disciples’
Master and Lord and Savior would leave them visibly not just for three days but
until the end of the world. 40 days after Easter Jesus ascended into heaven,
which the church observed last Thursday.
Jesus knew this departure would cause his
disciples no small consternation. He prepared them with this prayer for his
leaving and for their work after he left them visibly. Well within earshot
Jesus’ followers who would soon forsake him, watch him die on the cross and be
buried, and then see his empty tomb heard him pray to his heavenly Father on
their behalf.
God’s Son called on his Father that the
disciples would enjoy the full protection and joy of the Father’s name. God’s
name is everything he has revealed about himself in his providence and grace.
The disciples then and we now bear the Father’s name through faith and enjoy
that special protection. We also have the full joy of our relationship with
Christ by the power of that name.
We are alone in the midst of the unbelieving
world but we are not on our own. The power of the Father’s name keeps us safe.
The power of God’s name fills us with joy even as we suffer tribulation and
persecution because of that name.
Jesus had protected the disciples this way
when he was with them. They had rejoiced when they performed miracles and that
their names were written in heaven. Jesus had prayed for Peter that Satan would
not destroy him. Only one, Judas Isariot, was lost from their number. This was
not because Jesus had not prayed for him or called him to repentance. Judas
invited sin into his heart and refused to repent. Because of his own actions,
Judas was “doomed to destruction” and
the Scriptures were fulfilled as the Savior prophesied in Psalm 41:9, “Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he
who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me,”
The power of the Father’s name had brought
them together as one just as the mystery of the three persons are one in God’s
being. This is the unity of saving faith in Christ we enjoy with fellow
believers in other churches around the world. It is the unity of salvation the
holy Christian Church, the communion of saints confesses in our creeds.
False doctrine divides believers in visible
Christianity. We “test the spirits to see
if they are of God,” and beware of “false prophets” we do not forget this
fellowship of trust in Christ and his cross for the full forgiveness of our
sins. The Father has answered Jesus’ prayer as our High Priest and has
continued to keep his church safe so the world has not destroyed it. Jesus has
given his church the ability to rejoice fully in persecution by the power of
his Father’s name.
Those disciples and we are alone but not on
our own. Jesus remains with us always if not visibly and we have “joy, joy,
joy, deep in our hearts.” There is work to do and Jesus prayed for his church
reminding them and us that his disciples they would possess and take out the
sanctifying Word of God.
The young pastors and teachers beginning
their ministry are reminded repeatedly that the power of their work lies not in
themselves but in the Word of God. This is a good and constant reminder to all
of us called workers and you, God’s people, who call us to work with you and in
your name. Together we have the power tool that the Holy Spirit used to
sanctify us, i.e. to set us apart from unbelief and bring us into faith. That
Word is truth. Truth is the very essence, nature, authority, and power of the
Word of God. When Jesus prayed, “Sanctify
them by the truth, your Word is truth,” he testified to that fact. The Word
of God continues to keep us in the faith. It will be the only tool we have to
work saving faith.
With that sanctifying power to keep us in
Christ, we carry the Word of Christ out to others. The Father had sent his Son
Jesus into the world to declare the coming of the kingdom of God and to call
the world to repentance and faith. This is our mission and ministry together.
Jesus sanctified himself through his perfect
obedience of the law so that the Spirit could impute to us his righteousness.
This is the only way we are “truly
sanctified.” Just as the Word gathered Christ’s church out of the world in
the past through those first disciples, so our work will not be in vain. The
Father continues to answer his Son’s prayer on our behalf as through the
Word we and others see our sins,
recognize the punishment they deserve, and then turn away from self and our
efforts to trust only in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for redemption.
This is why Jesus prayed, “My prayer is not that you take them out of
this world but that you protect them from the evil one.” It was not time
yet for Jesus to take his church to be with him in heaven. We possess and take
out the sanctifying Word of God. We are not of the world any more than Jesus
was. We are in this world because Jesus has sent us on a mission just as the
Father sent him, a mission of mercy so the world can know what their Redeemer
has done.
Being alone can be frightening if we forget
that we are not on our own. The world hates us because Jesus has given us his
Word just as it hated Jesus because the Father had given him the Word. Yet in
Jesus’ holiness we are holy and with his power we are powerful. Jesus does
protect us from the evil one as the Father continues to answer his prayer,
“Sanctify them by the truth; your Word is truth.” Amen. <SDG>