Trinity 16

Good Shepherd

2004 Pass Rd, Biloxi, MS 39531

Draft 1 Ki 17:17–24; Eph 3:13–21; Lk 7:11–17; Ps 30; antiph: v. 5b   –     9/20/26

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

If you want to understand some more of our history as a church, hear the struggles, the joys, and the sorrows of one of our seminary professors, and hear how in the Lord’s Supper when you kneel at the rail here you are not alone but the whole company of heaven is there with you at the Lord’s Table, then I must recommend an interview on the show On The Line from back in July (7/27/26) of the Reverend Doctor Arthur Just. It is two and a half hours long, and perhaps the deepest part of it doesn’t come until that last half hour, but all that time is worth spending.

Now, please open up your hymnals to the section containing the Small Catechism, page 323 through 325 today. there is ever the temptation before us to become overwhelmed by despair in times of evil, especially at death. Look at the widow of Zarephath in 1 Kings: After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. And she said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!” She knows who Elijah is and Whom he serves, and has even witnessed a miracle in that during a draught which God had sent upon the land Elijah promised her that her jar of oil would not run dry nor her jar of flour empty until the end of the draught, which lasted for three years. Yet now her son has died leaving her alone; the miracle is forgotten despair has moved in. During your lives, you will encounter times when the situation is terrible and despair would threaten to overwhelm you, especially at the death of a loved one. In such times we will be tempted not only to despair, but to blame God since despair is, after all, unbelief, we will be tempted in this way as Job was. When this happens, we must not look to ourselves and our own greatness, but repent of our sins and like Job look to Christ who saves us.

The two lessons for this Sunday stand against that despair, that God will raise all the dead in Christ on the Last Day so the claims of despair are proved groundless, and that we are to show mercy to all and in this way comfort them in their time of trouble as Elijah comforted the widow of Zarephath and Jesus the widow of Nain.

The president of our district of the LCMS recently reminded all the pastors in the South of our duty to teach everyone from the Small Catechism. The topic of death, or really our reason for not fearing death appears in the second article of the creed and Luther’s explanation of it. Let us read together: What is the third article of the Creed? “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.” 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. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise up me and all the dead and will give eternal life to me and to all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.”

Look again at the second to last sentence we just read: “He will raise up me and all the dead and will give eternal life to me and to all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.” Those are not empty words which Luther wrote. He writes this as something you and I ought to confess regularly and work to commit to memory because this resurrection from the dead is what God Himself in Christ Jesus has promised to all who believe. Each one of us will face death, and most of us have even faced death through the death of a loved one—for me it is both my mother and my father—for some it is a child, a brother, a sister, or most of your friends. Luther’s words of faith, “He will raise up me and all the dead”, are not vain but a reminder to those who grieve that we do not grieve without hope. As Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, we may live a life (Rom 6:4).

Luther says, “Our Lord Christ can restore life to the dead, call into being that which is not; in short, no matter how deep the problem, he can mend and straighten things out no matter how profound and perplexing it is. We must recognize God’s power and be convinced that nothing is impossible for him, so that when things go bad we remember to be unafraid and trust that he is omnipotent. Whether the Turk or some other evil threatens, we must remember that we have a helper and Saviour who is almighty and who is able to help. That is true, genuine faith.” (7.25)

When Luther says that Christ can call into being that which is not, he is speaking about the creation of the universe. At first there was nothing, and then God, Who is Jesus, spoke the world into being. We call this doctrine the creatio ex nihilo, which is the Latin for “creation from nothing.” Thus, when you open your eyes and see the ceiling of your bedroom, when you look out your window and see the green trees in leaf, when the sun sets and the stars have come out and you look at the constellations, what do all these tell you? That God has created everything, from the mater which makes up roof that protects you from the weather, to the lovely trees, to the wondrous stars, and to the delightful people about us. If it is a little matter for Jesus to have created all the mater in the universe, then what does that tell you about death? What especially does it tell you about death if you and your loved ones have been connected personally with the resurrection of Christ?

Where are we connected to the resurrection of Christ? For that we always look to our Baptism. So please turn to page 325 and read the Second and Fourth parts along with me: What benefits does Baptism give? “It works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.” Which are these words and promises of God? Christ our Lord says in the last chapter of Mark: ‘Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.’”

And the fourth part: What does such baptizing with water indicate? “It indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.” Where is this written? “St. Paul writes in Romans chapter six: ‘We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.’”

When you were baptized, God was in those waters cleansing you of your sin, renewing your heart, and applying the righteousness of Christ crucified to you. In all this God was marking you on your forehead and your heart as His own child. This means that, as St. Paul said, though we may die, we shall live again in Christ. Though our loved ones and friends die, they shall live again in Christ, but not the life the sons of these widows lived, still in the sinful and fallen world where each boy would one day die again. No, on the Last Day, St. Paul says, We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:51–55)  That is our comfort and the promise freely given to us by faith in Christ crucified for our sins.

Now Luther explains that from this Gospel reading we are meant to learn not only that God will raise His children from the dead, but also how we are to be merciful. “When my poor neighbor is sick it doesn’t only mean that I should gladly help him, but his suffering must become mine in such a way that I feel it as my own, as we see here with our Lord. He is a stranger, an unknown visitor, but when he sees the widow’s suffering, he identifies with it in himself, as though it were his own, shed tears with the widow, comforts and helps her.” Or look at Elijah: And he said to her, “Give me your son.” And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed. And he cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?” Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.”  The pain of the widow was his as well

Luther continues, “It is a paradigm that illustrates the love that follows upon faith; it cannot remain uninvolved because it is genuine faith! We cannot act like wicked, notoriously evil people—we have plenty of them today among our peasants and townsfolk—who have hearts of stone and iron, who rejoice and snicker with glee over their neighbor’s misfortune, but are grieved if he has one penny more than they. Christians cannot be like this. Instead, they are to be compassionate wherever they see grief, rejoicing when others have food, drink, clothes, and shoes, or when they prosper, as St. Paul says, We weep with those who weep, rejoice with those who rejoice [Rom 12:15]. A Christian cannot be a devil’s henchman or such a stony-hearted clod who rejoices in other people’s misfortune and counts it good when his neighbor is in want and trouble, and then is grieved when things go well for him.” (7.26–27)

Rather, we are beggars just as they are, only we have received the good and gracious gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation from Christ which they have not. Therefore we are best equipped as fellow sufferers to stand alongside them in their suffering and, when the time is right, bring them the comfort of Christ crucified and risen again.

These are the two lessons, first with faith not to be overwhelmed in times of evil, especially at death, but to remember that in Christ “we have a helper whose hand is almighty. Of him we must not despair; of ourselves and of other people” we must despair since they cannot stop our death. “But we are to be bold in Christ, for what we cannot do He does for us, gladly and willingly. Those who despair and doubt are God’s enemies and really do not esteem him to be God; otherwise, they would allow themselves to be comforted.” Secondly, we, like Christ, must take the misery of our neighbors “upon ourselves and identify with his grief, whether physical or spiritual. May our dear Lord grant us his grace so that we might learn both things, joining together with the godly people here in this Gospel to praise the Lord Christ eternally for his goodness, and also to learn to be compassionate toward our neighbor. Amen.” (7.29)

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