The Lord Is for You and for Your Children

As before in the history of God’s people, another Joseph now brings his Father’s family into Egypt, lest they perish, in order to preserve the world from death. But as this story is unfolding, in the middle of the night, St. Joseph has no way of knowing what the outcome of these events will be. He has nothing to guide him or go by except the Word of the Lord, His warnings and His promises. With that, he goes in faith, and everything ensues and is fulfilled according to the Scriptures. Which is really to say that his situation then was not so very different from your own.

Blessed Are Those Who Hear and Receive this Word

What St. John and his fellow Apostles saw and heard and even touched and handled — the only-begotten God, the Word-made-Flesh, the incarnate Son of the Father, your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ — no less than He is manifested and communicated to you in the apostolic Scriptures, as these have been written and as they are proclaimed within the Church. As the Father has spoken His Word to us in the Person of His Son, so is He now spoken to you in the apostolic preaching of the Gospel, whereby you have entered into the joyous friendship and glorious company of the holy Apostles, and into the fellowship of the Lord Jesus Christ, His Father, and His Holy Spirit.

After the Pattern of Christ Jesus

Stephen knew and trusted that he had a dwelling place with God, because God had made His dwelling place with Stephen in Christ Jesus. The holy martyr knew that he would be with Christ, with the Father in heaven, because the same Lord Jesus Christ was with him in his suffering and death. He knew that heaven was his home, and that heaven had been fully opened to him by the Cross and Resurrection of the incarnate Son of God. The Lord has just as surely done the same for you, as well. He has become Flesh for you. He has given Himself for you, even unto death. He has risen from the dead and ascended into heaven for you, also. And yet, He also remains with you here in His Church on earth, in His very own Flesh and Blood, with His Word and Holy Spirit. Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with you here.

By the Ministry of the Word of Christ Jesus

The pastors and confessors of Christ Jesus bear and suffer His Cross in their body and life, as surely as they proclaim His Cross in their preaching and distribute the fruits of His Sacrifice by the Ministry of His Gospel. And they are content with the food and drink, the clothing and shelter that God provides through His people — just as the Lord also feeds His people and quenches their thirst with His Holy Supper, clothes them with His righteousness in Holy Baptism, and shelters them within His Church on earth through the labors of His called and ordained servants.

In and Out of Egypt with the Lamb of God

God does not fail or neglect the children of Bethlehem, but He calls them to Himself and rescues them from every evil, unto the Life everlasting in body and soul. Their little bodies are cruelly butchered and put to death, but God gives them rest, and He shall raise them in glory at the last.

Meanwhile, Christ Jesus does not “run away” in fear from danger and from death, but He proceeds in faith to the Sacrifice of His Cross, which shall be at the time appointed by His Father in heaven. No one takes His life from Him, but He lays it down willingly when that Day and that Hour come. He does not escape the trials and tribulations of this life — which the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem are spared, though their mothers and fathers are not. But He submits Himself to every bit of the Great Tribulation — for you and your salvation, and for the sake of all people.

Jesus Is a Friend of Yours

Here within His Church all your sins are freely and fully forgiven. Here you are safe, and here you are loved by God Himself in the Flesh. Here you are fed with the good Fruits of His Cross. Here you are given the Life of your dear Lord Jesus Christ. And though you do not yet see Him, what is now revealed to you by the Gospel, under the Cross, shall be openly revealed in the Glory of His Resurrection at the last, when your faith and life in Christ Jesus will be shown to be more precious than gold. As it was for St. Simon and St. Jude and all the Holy Apostles, so it is for you and all the friends of Jesus, and so shall it be for you and all the faithful, forever and forevermore.

Saints, Sermon, Sanctoral Calendar, Feasts & FestivalsRick StuckwischOctober 28, 2021St. Simon & St. Jude the Apostles, sermonComment

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