“Jesus the Refugee” (Matthew 2:13-23)

Matthew 2:13-23

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Pastor Tom Johnson, December 29, 2019

“The Return from Egypt” by James Tissot (1836-1902)

Joseph has four dreams. In each of them, God speaks to him. The dreams make a good four-part outline. In the first dream, God tells Joseph not to fear taking Mary as his wife and child as his own. He marries Mary and adopts Jesus. In the second dream, God tells Joseph to take his family to Egypt to escape Herod’s violence in Israel and find refuge in Egypt. In the third dream, God tells Joseph to go back to Israel since Herod is dead and no longer a threat. In the fourth dream, God tells Joseph to go to Nazareth because it is a safe city in Israel. Joseph’s dreams remind us that God knows the thoughts and intention of every human heart—even those bent on cruelty and evil. God warns Joseph to stay one step ahead of the threats. As Joseph walks with the Lord, God uses him to preserve the lives of Mary and the Child, Jesus.

Biblical scholars suggest that the gifts from the Magi—the gold, frankincense, and myrrh—helped Joseph take his family to Egypt. They may have had to pay for safe passage into Egypt or bribes when they arrived. Regardless, they had what they needed to sustain them until Herod’s murderous madness was over. It is unbearable to even think about how horrific and wicked Herod was to kill all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years-old or under. Yet, there it is right there in the Bible. And it is real. You can still see the bones of the slaughter of the innocents in a cave in Israel today.

According to World Vision, there are over 70 million refugees in the world today—being forcibly displaced from their homelands. Half of them are children. The top five countries are Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar, and Somalia. Many Christians are targeted for violence throughout the world. And even at our borders in the United States there are many seeking asylum and safety from their homelands which are too dangerous to return to. Some are leaving their country of origin because of war, gang violence, religious persecution, or human trafficking. It is an alarming fact that Jesus and his family’s flight into Egypt to escape the threat of death is not as uncommon of a human experience as we would like to think. It is easy for us, perhaps, to live, work, and go home in the security of our borders and not realize the plight of humanity all around us and all around the world.

God cares about the most vulnerable among us. Even before God’s love for the world was fully revealed in Jesus Christ—thousands of years before Jesus and his family fleeing their homeland threat—God said to his people, the Israelites, “You shall not wrong or oppress a resident foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry” (Exod 22:21-23). “You shall also love the foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt” (Deut 10:19).

I’m grateful that the president of our denomination as well as the president of the Northern Illinois district have both put out strong statements regarding our Christian duty to show hospitality and love to those who who come to our borders and communities. We of all people should know that God calls us to treat others—and especially their children—as we would want ourselves and our own children to be treated. We are to love one another as Christ has loved us. Scripture says in the book of Hebrews, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Heb 13:2). And that is quite something to ponder: Egyptians showed hospitality to the Word made flesh and entertained the Messiah in their borders unawares. This is simply a fulfillment of the Golden Rule and the Royal Law: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Joseph the stepfather of Jesus does not get a lot of attention. He not only is a fabulous and godly father—he embodies our Heavenly Father. Joseph adopts Jesus as his own Son. He preserves his life through his obedience, care, and love even though Jesus is not his flesh and blood. He leads Jesus away from the threat of death into the sanctuary town of Nazareth. Jesus found refuge in his Heavenly Father through his earthly stepfather Joseph.

Like Joseph, God our Heavenly Father adopts us as his own daughters and sons. He preserves us body and soul through the obedience of his Son. Jesus suffers as a refugee and, as an adult, suffers death for us even though we are not his own flesh and blood. Jesus is our divine Coyote—our soul smuggler—who takes us safely to the other side. He purchases a place for us in heaven—not with gold and silver or with frankincense or myrrh but with his precious blood on the Cross of Calvary. He leads us from the threat of sin, death, and evil by the power of his resurrection. And he welcomes us into the sanctuary city of the New Jerusalem. We are no longer refugees, foreigners, and aliens. We are citizens of the Kingdom of God. He welcomes us, takes us as his own, and brings us safely to our heavenly home. Jesus the refugee is now Jesus our refuge.

“Eternally Begotten” (Heb 1:1-9; Jn 1:1-14; Ps 2:7)

Hebrews 1:1-9
John 1:1-14
Psalm 2:7

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“Eternally Begotten,”
Pastor Tom Johnson, December 25, 2019

Our readings this morning help us see that Jesus was born a child but also that was not his beginning. He was born into time and into humanity. But that is not the beginning of his story. It is the continuation of his story. The writer of Hebrews says that he is begotten of the Father in timeless eternity. He quotes Psalm 2 to explain this profound truth. The Father says, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.” There was never a time he was not the Son. His relationship with God the Father is, was, and will always be one-of-a-kind in heaven and earth. The Son is God. He is the second person of the Holy Trinity. He is not created. He has no beginning. He has no end. The “today” in “today I have begotten you” is the eternal now—the timelessness of the Kingdom of Heaven in which God dwells. The Father “created the worlds through the Son.” “He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all this by his powerful word.” His years will never come to an end. And one day—on our timeline of history—he will come back in glory to make all things new.

In our reading from the Gospel of John, he is the Word, “and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being...And the Word became flesh and lived among us.” Christmas is the celebration of God’s eternal gift intersecting with our time and our space in human history. But it is also a celebration of God’s eternal gift that still intersects with our today—in this moment and in this place. This is the mystery of the incarnation—the Word made flesh—eternal God taking on our humanity by becoming a baby in a manger. But he still comes to us by his Spirit through Word and Sacrament. It should humble us that we cannot fully understand these profound truths with our finite minds. “He was in the world,” John says in his Gospel, “and the world came into being though him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.”

Sometimes we do not trust what we do not understand. Or we reject the faith because we do not recognize what was under our noses all the time. The Word became flesh. But if the miracle escapes us, we will remain in unbelief. But he is “the true light, which enlightens everyone” and has come into the world. He takes the initiative to enter our world and give us spiritual rebirth. He is the eternally begotten who is now born into time and space—our time and space. He is with us in our today just has he is in God’s eternal now. Jesus is the reason for the season. He is the reason for every season not just these few weeks each winter. He is born into hearts when God adopts us through the Water, Word, and Spirit of Holy Baptism. He is born into our nows through the word of Scripture. He is born into our relationships through our Christian fellowship. He is born into our weeks through the Bread and Wine—the Body and Blood of Holy Communion. He is born into our todays through our daily prayers. He is the eternally begotten One. And the day draws near when we will be born anew in the world to come—when we fall asleep in Jesus and leave this world or when he comes back in glory to make all things new.

This is He whom seers in old time
Chanted of with one accord
Whom the voices of the prophets
Promised in their faithful Word
Now He shines the long-expected
Let creation praise its Lord
Evermore and evermore.
          (“Of the Father’s Love Begotten,” LSB 384 v. 3)

“A Great Light” (Isaiah 9:2)

Isaiah 9:2-7

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Pastor Tom Johnson, December 24, 2019

This evening we have heard the development of the promise of light in the Old Testament Scripture. Beginning with Genesis, we see how the darkness of the serpent deceived Adam and Eve. But immediately we have the promise of the light that will deal a death blow to the darkness through their offspring. This is the Child of promise who will crush the head of the serpent of old. Satan’s days are numbered. Soon Messiah comes. He will cast away all darkness and evil. He will be our eternal light.

The prophet Isaiah talks about all those who walk in darkness—those who live in a land of deep darkness. That is the valley of the shadow of death that we all experience in this life. This is a universal human experience—deep darkness. We know that behind the news of human brutality, there is something sinister that lurks deep in the human heart that would be capable of such evil. This deep darkness is our hearts as individuals. This deep darkness is in our communities, our institutions, and threatens to cause nation to rise up against nation and neighbor against neighbor. It is difficult to hear the daily news and not be reminded of just how palpable evil and how its shadow haunts us.

On that Christmas Eve long ago, the shepherds were keeping watch over their flock by night. Why were they working the night shift? They knew that behind any shadow there could be the threat of robbers, wolves, and lions. But they were also under the shadow of Roman occupation. Even their own leader, Herod, was a maniacal king willing to kill a whole generation of boys to maintain his position of power. The darkness was deeper than just the absence of light. It was the heavy burden of deep darkness that weighed them down. There are times when we also feel like the world around us is shrouded in evil. That we are fighting a losing battle against the profound evil around us and the demons within.

I have wondered why a choir of angels would appear to these common shepherds in the dead of night to share their good news. Maybe it is because they of all people longed for more light in this world. “An angel of the Lord stood before [these shepherds], and the glory of the Lord shone around them.” “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined.” This light was not just for them. It was for every nation, for all tribes and peoples and languages. It was light for those of the ancient past back to our first parents. It was light for those thousands upon thousands of generations to follow.

The light of the Christ Child illumines all of creation—the creation that is, was, and is to be. Jesus birth is “good news of great joy for all the people.” He is the great light of creation. He is the great light of re-creation. Darkness cannot overcome light. The darkness must scatter before the light of Christ. The darkness of sin and temptation tried to put out the light of Christ. But his light prevailed. The darkness of death tried to snuff out the light and life of Christ on the Cross of Calvary. But just a few days later, the blinding light of Christ burst through the empty tomb. The newborn babe is the flicker of hope and light for all people and for all times. His light will only grow. His life and goodness will illumine all creation—so much so that there will be no need for sun or moon. He will be our eternal light.

At the end of our celebration of the gift of light through the Christ Child, we will get to celebrate this truth of growing light. We will dim the lights. We will sit and stand in deep darkness. The single flame of the Christ Candle will then be passed from person to person. His light will grow among us. His light will illumine all our grateful and joyful faces. As the shepherds went with haste to find the Christ Child in a manger—and all were amazed to hear their story of promise, hope, and joy—so we will go out into the world with haste, promise, hope, and joy to be the light of Christ to the world. Our faces will shine with the radiance of the Christ Child’s countenance upon us. We will tell our story of peace, forgiveness, and eternal life. We have seen a Great Light. And that Light will disperse the darkness of our sin, despair, and death forever.

“Immanuel, God with Us” (Isaiah 7:10-16)

Isaiah 7:10-16

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Pastor Tom Johnson, December 22, 2019

2 Kings (16) and 2 Chronicles (28) give us the context for the promise of Immanuel. Ahaz, a twenty year-old, becomes king of Israel and reigns for 16 years. He does not walk in the way of the Lord but does what is evil in the sight of God. Scripture gives several examples of just how wicked he was. He made idols out of metal. He worshiped foreign gods of the mountains and trees. He offered his own sons as sacrifices by fire to false gods. He betrayed those closest to him—his own children—for political gain. As a result of his hunger and thirst for power, many of his own people died, lost their homes, and their livelihood because.

But at one point the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before a storm. They were overcome with fear because they realized two foreign powers made a pact against them to destroy them. It seems that Ahaz had no one else to turn to except God for help. It is God’s idea to send Isaiah to Ahaz to meet him in his fear. Isaiah brings a message of hope to Ahaz even though he clearly is not a person or leader who deserves the goodness and kindness of God. Isaiah gives Ahaz God’s message: “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” In other words, “King Ahaz, there is no limit to the sign God will give you if you ask humbly and prayerfully. Your request can be as grounded as the deep places of the earth or as transcendent as the reality beyond the stars. Just ask.”

King Ahaz’s response is, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” In other words, “Thanks, but no thanks, God.” His religious piety is a farce. God is offering him an undeserved gift and he wants to refuse it as if God has ulterior motives—as if God is going to betray him like Ahaz betrays everyone else. Isaiah is greatly annoyed. He scolds Ahaz: “Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also?” In other words, “Is it not enough, Ahaz, for you to exasperate other people that you would also try to exasperate God?”

There is a lesson for us today in this ancient story of Ahaz’s 16-year quest for power. He turns toward false gods in pride and abuse of power. He refuses to accept God’s gracious gift—even though he clearly does not deserve God’s gift. The promise of Immanuel comes at a time of global conflict and corrupt leadership. The promise of Immanuel comes again hundreds of years later to Joseph at a time of global conflict and corrupt leadership. Like Ahaz, Joseph is overcome by fear at the news of his fiancé’s pregnancy.  Unlike Ahaz, however, Joseph is a man of integrity and truly loves Mary, his fiancé. God wants to give Joseph, Mary, and the whole world a gift—an undeserved gift—Immanuel—the God who is with us.

And so the promise of Immanuel extends to us. No matter where you or I are on the political spectrum, I think we can agree that we also live at a time of global conflict and many corrupt world leaders. There is nothing new under the sun. Whether we look to one news network or another—whether we we vote for one party or another—whether we are citizens of one nation or another, God’s gift comes to us underserved.  We have not earned or merited his goodness as fallen humanity. Clearly none of us deserve or could have earned such a priceless and divine gift. The gift of Immanuel always comes to those who could not have imagined or even asked for such a gift.

God’s gift is a death-blow to our arrogance, narcissism, and idolatry. Immanuel reveals our self-centeredness and preoccupation with worldly power and prestige. He takes the mask off of our false gods to reveal our destructive demons.  God calls us to look away from earthly saviors. He wants us to learn the wisdom of Psalm 146: “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help.” Our hope and future does not rest in the next election or the next royalty in line. As the hymn “O Little Town of Bethlehem” says of the promise of Immanuel, “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight.”

Here is the beautiful irony of today’s Scripture. Like Ahaz, we mortals fear other mortals. We humans often look to humanity for hope, power, and a better future. God wants us to look to him for salvation and blessing. And so he sends his Son to take on humanity. The Word becomes flesh. Now we can look to someone born of woman. But this one is not born as we are. His mother is a virgin. He is not merely human. He is divine. He is Immanuel: God with us.

God is with us in human flesh. We can now look to the King of kings and Lord of lords. God is with us in the person and work of Jesus Christ. God is with us in our suffering because he himself suffered. God is with us in our death because on our behalf he died. God is with us through death because he rose from the dead. God is with us in the life of the world to come because he will make all things new. God is with us in spite of ourselves. His name carries the full joy of who he is for us, Immanuel, the God who is with us.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heav’nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

And so we pray, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”

“Greater than expected” (Matthew 11:2-11)

Matthew 11:2-11

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Pastor Tom Johnson, December 15, 2019

“John the Baptist in Prison” by Josef Anton Hafner (1750)

There is some debate on why John the Baptist asks if his cousin Jesus is the one to come or if they should expect another. Some say John had his doubts. That does not bother me since he was human like the rest of us. Others say he did not ask for himself—that John did not doubt who Jesus was but wanted his disciples to hear for themselves how Jesus would assure people that he was the true Messiah.

These are difficult times. John is in prison. He knows that he could be executed by Herod at any time. He is being toyed with and only kept alive for his entertainment value. Everyone knows John’s days may soon be over. Jesus is also under constant threat of arrest himself. The religious authority are constantly challenging Jesus, trying to find fault in him, and bringing charges against him to get him into trouble.

Neither John nor Jesus make a spectacle of their greatness. They both humble themselves. John, a human, took on camel flesh for clothing. Jesus, the eternal Son of God, took on human flesh to clothe himself in humanity. John pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John said, “Jesus must increase but I, John, must decrease.” It was John’s mission to prepare the world to better understand and receive Messiah. That’s why Jesus says John is the greatest of prophets and even more than a prophet. He had the great responsibility of helping people recognize Jesus as the Savior of the World. And he was faithful—even to his imprisonment and death.

Jesus says, “Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” Blessed are those who do not despise Jesus because of his perfect humanity and great humility. We are truly blessed when we believe that God did the great work of sending his eternal Son be born, live, teach, heal, suffer, die, and rise again for us. Both John the Baptist and Jesus the Messiah came as servants to people, servants to God, and servants to help bring God’s reign from heaven to earth. They built the Kingdom of God on earth from the bottom up.

It makes me think about driving into the city in the early morning hours. Sometimes the great skyscrapers of our skyline are clothed in fog and clouds. Sometimes you can only see the base of those tall structures. It’s that way sometimes when you hike great mountains. You begin under the cover of darkness, fog, and cloud. You trust the forecast that the fog will lift and the clouds will melt away in the sun to reveal their majesty. We know that the greatness of buildings and mountains are sometimes obscured and hidden. We trust that even though we have not yet set foot at the top yet or can see their height, they are greater than what we can now observe.

This is the humility and patience of Advent, the coming of Jesus. “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor the heart imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Jesus is not offended by our questions. Are you the real deal? Are you who you say you are? Are you really the Word made flesh? He is patient toward us. He came to encourage us. He came to build us up in him. He came to extend his reign into our lives, minds, and hearts.

So we should not take offense at Jesus or God. His ways are not our ways. God says through the prophet Isaiah, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa 55:8,9). God’s thoughts and ways are so high that they are sometimes hidden by the fogginess of our minds and our clouded thinking. It only makes sense that God’s greatness is not yet fully known or realized by us mere mortals. Barbara Brown Taylor says, “Blessed are those who do not let the Messiah they are expecting blind them to the Messiah who is standing right in front of them.” The greatness of Christ came wrapped in the flesh of a human baby, he comes to us wrapped in the Word of Scripture and the Gospel, he comes to us wrapped in bread and wine of Holy Communion. One day he will come wrapped in his full glory.

The truly mind-blowing thing that Jesus reveals to us is when he says, “…the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than [John the Baptist].” That is you and me! We are those who have been Baptized into an even greater name—the Triune God. 1 John 3:2 says it this way, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we will be like him because we shall see him as he is.”

One day—and the day will come quickly—Jesus will come in his full glory. The heavens will tear apart and the King of Glory will come to make all things new—including you and me. We will be transformed into his likeness. He will not clothe us in camel skin or in greater humanity; we will be clothed in blinding light and the righteousness of Christ. We will realize how great he has re-created us to be in the Kingdom. We will celebrate an eternal wedding feast in the great company of Jesus the Groom and we will be the beautiful Bride. And so we pray, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”

“Stay Awake” (Matthew 24:36-44; Rom 13:11,12a)

Matthew 24:36-44
Rom 13:11,12

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Pastor Tom Johnson, December 1, 2019

In our Gospel, Jesus tells us: “Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. …stay awake. …Therefore stay awake…lest [the master] come suddenly and find you asleep. What I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.” Four times Jesus tells us to wakefulness—to rouse ourselves—to keep our spiritual eyes and ears open—to be fully conscious—to be ready with our minds and hearts to welcome the day when our Master Jesus comes back.

In our reading from Romans, we have a similar message “..to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near” (Rom 13:11,12a). God calls us to see the present time as the lingering night just before the break of day—a new and eternal day when Jesus comes back to usher in his Kingdom, right ever wrong, and make all things new. Jesus has been gone 2,000 years. Many generations have been born and died. Kingdoms have risen and kingdoms have fallen. There have been 2,000 years since Jesus spoke these words. It has been a long night. It often does not appear that the dawn of a new age is around the corner. The darkness of humanity seems to have grown. My parents grew up under the dark cloud of World War II. My generation grew up in the terrifying shadows of nuclear war. Today we live in under the dark cloud of international and domestic terrorism.

I like how Jesus compares this world to humanity live in his house. The Master appears to have abandoned his house. He has gone on a long 2,000 year journey. Some of our hearts have grown just as empty. The darkness of the night has convinced some of us that the dawn of His return will never come. For many occupants of this house the darkness is all we have known. We have grown so accustomed to the darkness, we believe that the darkness is all that is real. Or the darkness has chased the hope for light away. The deep darkness threatens to choke and smother our faith. We begin to fall asleep spiritually. Our eyelids grow heavy and our limbs are weighed down. Our eyes itch with the desire to close and shut out. Our hearts sink in the dark void of the house without a master. Under these conditions, why should it surprise us that we grow weary and tired in this two thousand year night? The lack of hope and light threatens to drain the life out of us.

Jesus asks us not to succumb to the night. The Master cries out, “Stay awake!” “Wake up!” Jesus the Light of the World cries out to us through the darkness: “The night has lingered on so long that My coming back sounds like a far-fetched dream. But the Day is coming—and it is coming quickly—when Day will Dawn. “The light of that New Day will be so bright that the Sun and Moon will pale in comparison. The light of the Son of God will radiate into your being like a bright, cloudless day does after weeks of gloomy skies. The darkness of my absence and the memory of a broken world will become a distant memory. The light will shine in the darkness and the darkness will not overcome the light.”

Think of what it is like to fly in an in airplane. We may lift off the ground under dark clouds. But soon we leave the clouds behind. What a wonderful surprise to break through to the blue sky and see the sun shining so bright. We know that the earth is spinning on its axis. At night we know it will spin out of its own shadow soon. Dawn is coming. The promise of a new day will come quickly. The Master is about to come back the same way.

So Jesus tells us. Wake up! Stay awake! He is giving us an opportunity to live in light of eternal truth and eternal reality. We do not need to live the lie that the darkness is permanent. God wants each of us to live each day with our eyes fixed on the Eastern Horizon knowing that the Son of God will appear in His blinding glory! Stay awake! He will not let us down! The Son of God will arise and shine! He stretches his almighty hand, takes us by the shoulder, and shakes us with his Word—“Stay awake!” Scripture has the power to stir up strength and alertness within our hearts, minds, and souls. He splashes us with the water of Baptism—waking us up to the reality of our adoption and forgiveness of sins—in the Name of the Father and the Son and Holy Spirit. He comes in his Body and Blood—a heavenly feast in the Lord’s Supper—a holy meal to give us the energy and faith to get through the night—strengthening and preserving us in body and soul until life-everlasting. Holy Communion is like an early morning breakfast just before the dawn of our new and eternal day.

We long for the Son of God to rise and fully shine on us and the world he made. And so we pray, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”