The Onion on Death

Leave it to The Onion to make a profound statement about day to day death.

I truly enjoy satire and irony, and find them to be immensely powerful tools for both humor and for making a point. The Onion does both extremely well, and sometimes their 'articles' are so well written that they (knowingly or not) go far beyond an impolite jab at this or that issue or person in the news to expose a deep truth.

Today's update on 'millions of people dying every month' is an example of just such an item. It is funny because it takes something that has been happening the same way for hundreds of years (indeed, since the fall of humanity in the Garden) and treats it as if it is headline worthy news. What we all know, though, is that nobody would bother publishing such a report in a non-satirical newspaper. They would not publish it because people die every day, especially of 'natural causes.'

But that's the thing, is it not? People die every day, and for the most part little changes in our lives. Most of us do not personally know someone that dies every day. Even when we lose loved ones, we set up protective boundaries to soften the blow. Life insurance - clearly a necessity these days - is a great example of how we're already working while we're alive to ensure that our own death is least disruptive to those we love and who love us. It is not bad or evil to be prepared - I have life insurance myself. Just because I don't believe society has an appropriate understanding of death does not mean I will neglect my family when my time does come.

What's more important to me as a pastor is that I proclaim without ceasing that we in the Christian church have the answers that doctors, scientists, philosophers, kings and politicians cannot provide - we have an answer for why everyone is dying. Of course, the professionals can tell you a multitude of causes of death - murder, collision, cancer, drowning, etc. - but they cannot tell you the cause behind the cause. We in the church believe that sin is ultimately behind every death. We believe that apart from sin there would be no death. When someone dies of 'natural causes,' it should actually be said that they died 'because of their nature.' Truly, every death, from the first murder in history to each one of our deaths, happens on account of our nature.

Far more important than proclaiming the cause of death, however, is that I proclaim even more without ceasing the cause for life - the forgiveness and salvation won by Christ on the cross and given to us sacramentally in his church. Only Christ gives life, and at that gives it eternally! We can never lose sight of the promised redemption we have in eternity, and we can never stop proclaiming it to the world around us.

College students are notoriously bad about considering their own death in the future - and so I will keep preaching the same message of death and life; Jesus' death for our eternal life, that is, so that they need not fear this grave pandemic that truly threatens all of us.

How Do I Connect With God?

This was a presentation I gave about a year ago in a religious forum on campus here at Central Michigan University. The 'Campus Religious Leadership Association' here, a group of leaders involved in campus ministry at CMU, hosted it and I offered to speak. We had a decent turnout (about 45, including clergy), and received some excellent questions afterward. The topic of the night was, 'How Do I Connect With God?' Obviously, that raises flags for Lutherans right away, and you'll see that I address that right off the top. I offer it here because it is a decent summary of how everything in theology is interconnected, and finally finds its beginning and end in Jesus Christ. Remember that it was written with a non-Lutheran audience in mind.

How Do I Connect With God?

Four Views: The Sacramental Life

Pastor Jonathon Bakker

Christ The King Lutheran Chapel

Mount Pleasant, Michigan

To begin speaking about ‘connecting with God’ puts Lutherans in somewhat of a conundrum. Lutherans, you see, are not so concerned with how we connect with God, but rather with how God connects with us. Now, to the average ear that sounds like two ways of saying the same thing, but to Lutherans that point makes all the difference in the world.

Connection with God all begins with creation. “In the beginning…” God created the heavens and the earth, night and day, land and sea, the sun and the moon, stars and planets, plants and animals, and finally man. When God created these things out of nothing, he created them by his Word and called all of them ‘good.’ When God created man, he fashioned man out of the dust of the earth and called him ‘m’od tov’/very good.

Humanity is special in God’s eyes. We are the crown of creation, created in the image and likeness of God himself. And from the very beginning, God has had a plan and destiny for humanity. The end for which he created us is eternal fellowship with him, but humanity wasn’t ready for the end yet when they had just begun. God had a plan for humanity along the way. Be fruitful and multiply, he said, fill the earth and subdue it. Along with a beginning and end, God also gave humanity a middle, a period in which to mature and develop and grow. Like a puppy is not ready for full freedom in a home without gradual training and discipline, humanity also was not ready in the beginning for eternal fellowship with God. God’s connection to humanity began with the creation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Without getting into too much detail, the subsequent fall into sin in the Garden put humanity on a different course throughout history. Creation was turned upside down in the fall into sin. Instead of looking to God for every good thing they needed to live and thrive, humanity looked to themselves. God’s connection to humanity was corrupted by human desire. God’s plan for his creation, though, never changed. There was still beginning, middle, and end for humanity. The middle, though, consisted of a different kind of maturation and growth. Death changed everything. Adam and Eve had been created for eternity. They would eventually get there, but now they had to die first.

I have to apologize at this point because I haven’t spoken explicitly about sacraments, but stay with me, I will. There was one promise made to the serpent in the Garden before they were all banished about a Savior who would crush the head of the serpent. That Savior, of course, is the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

Though this is an enormous generalization, Lutherans believe that the Bible is basically about the Son of God; before, and after his birth. The Old Testament, then, served the people of God by preparing them to meet this Savior, and Jesus Christ is therefore for us the fulfillment of the Old Testament. God worked in the Old Testament through many means and events to defend and deliver his people Israel. Looking back at the Old Testament after Jesus birth and death and resurrection, though, we see that there is much more to it than that.

Looking at the Old Testament this way, we see God at work establishing patterns of salvation for his people. Wood, water, bread, and blood all play recurring and prominent parts in God’s work for his people in the Old Testament. The great flood destroyed all of humanity with water except for the eight members of Noah’s family in the wooden ark. The blood of the Lamb spread around the doorposts protected the children of Israel from the last plague wrought against their Egyptian captors – the killing of the firstborn sons. Those same children of Israel escaped hard-hearted Pharaoh’s army on dry ground as they crossed the Red Sea between walls of water, and that same water again drowned Pharaoh’s army to the deep. When they were hungry in the wilderness, God sent them manna – bread from heaven. When they made sacrifices for their sins, the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on the altar and on them. When Naaman, commander of the Syrian army, had leprosy and sought a cure, the prophet Elisha instructed him to bathe seven times in water of the Jordan River.

We could go on, but the point is that in all of these things, God was preparing his people to recognize what it looks like when God works in the world for the salvation of humanity. In other words, in these things, God connected with humanity to bring them toward the eventual destiny which he still has in mind for us. If similar things were to happen again, it would only make sense to see God in them.

When Jesus was born, these patterns began to show themselves again, only this time God wasn’t in the background. In Jesus, heaven meets earth and God acts to fulfill his plan for humanity in a very direct way. In Jesus you have the consummation of creation.

When he is baptized, and then later when he institutes baptism for those who follow him, you see that water was created for something more than quenching thirst and sustaining life. Israel’s crossing of the Red Sea and Namaan’s washing prefigure a fuller meaning. When Jesus turns water into wine, and then wine becomes his blood (all questions of how this is possible aside), you see that wine and blood were created for more than enjoyable drinks and bodily fluids. The sacrifices of Israel and the Passover meal take on a greater significance. When Jesus feeds thousands with a few loaves of bread, and then bread becomes his body, again, bread is more than just food. Manna from heaven never did these things, but God was at work in them all the same. Finally, when Jesus makes his living as a carpenter, and then makes his death on a wooden cross, all wood, including Noah’s ark, takes on a deeper salvific meaning.

In all of these things, Lutherans speak about God acting sacramentally to bring about his intended plan for humanity. We believe that God still works through these sacramental means, to call, gather, enlighten, and sanctify the whole Christian church on earth. The discussion of what is and what isn’t a sacrament is a discussion for another time, but for us, in these sacramental actions, we believe that God binds himself to creation to bring about the eternal fellowship with him for which we were created in the beginning. For Lutherans, the Sacramental Life is the means by which God connects with us and brings us to eternal life.

Thank you.

Easter Sunday Sermon

Christ Is Risen!

Mark 16:1-8

Easter, 2009 (B)

Zion Lutheran Church

Mount Pleasant, Michigan

Pastor Jonathon Bakker

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. The Holy Scripture for our consideration this day is the Gospel from St. Mark.

When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, do not be alarmed, you seek Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, who was crucified! He has risen from the dead! He lives forever! He has defeated sin; he has overcome death; he has crushed the devil! The fast is over, and it is time to feast! The terror is past, and it is time to sing! The joy is here, and is it ours, forever! All creation rejoices in the salvation won by our creator!

Today we are Adam and Eve. The first sinners and the first saints; we are hearing in our own ears the curse of the devil. Christ has crushed his wicked head and triumphed victoriously.

Today we are Enoch. We are walking with God and fear no earthly death. We share his testimony because we share his faith, and by faith we are pleasing to God.

Today we are Noah. God made a promise to protect us. We have been kept safe in the ark of our baptism and our church. We set foot on a new earth today with our family and with all creation.

Today we are Abraham. Born in a foreign land, we have been called to believe God and are thus accounted righteous. We are his children by faith and in his seed we are all blessed.

Today we are Isaac. Beloved and only son, we see our life flashing before us as we are about to be sacrificed. But we rejoice that God has provided the sacrifice in our place after all.

Today we are Jacob. Like the favored twin we have wrestled with God and these past years of our lives have been lived as aliens in a faraway country, but God will bring us home.

Today we are Joseph, Jacob’s son. We are beloved by our Father and for it we have received what others intended as evil, but in his mercy God has turned it to good for all his children.

Today we are Moses. Orphaned unwillingly, but again, protected by God to be his spokespeople in an unfriendly world. We do not fear Pharaoh’s wrath because God will deliver us with his mighty power.

Today we are Miriam. With unmoistened feet we have crossed the Red Sea. We are rejoicing and singing that the Lord is our strength and our song. He has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.

Today we are Joshua. The greatest powers of this world are nothing compared to the victories delivered by God. Nothing can keep God from delivering us to our promised inheritance.

Today we are Rahab. Living on borrowed time in a land that is not ours, we have learned the fear of the Lord and love his coming.

Today we are Ruth. Widowed in a faraway land, our Kinsman redeemer has stepped in to spare us from misery. His people shall be our people, and his God is surely our God.

Today we are David. Though we clearly fail, God still extends to us his forgiveness through his own word. We shall all receive crowns and look forward to the greater days ahead.

Today we are Jonah. Three days in the whale have curbed our reluctance to speak and we know that God proclaims repentance through even the least willing of his speakers.

Today we are Isaiah. In his temple we see the Lord of hosts; the Lord stricken by God, smitten, and afflicted; and we see the promised mountain the Lord will make for all people. We see that the Lord has swallowed up death forever and will wipe away every tear from our eyes.

Today we are Jeremiah. God has revealed to us destruction and misery that accompany ignorance of his word, and yet we also see that God will gather again his remnant and give them a Shepherd.

Today we are Ezekiel. Before our eyes the Lord breathes life into dry bones and promises that the graves will be opened and his people will return to the Promised Land forever.

Today we are Job. The devil had his way with us, but we know that our Redeemer lives and that he shall stand at last on the earth. Even after our skin is destroyed we know; in our flesh we shall see God.

Today we are Zechariah. We have rejoiced greatly as daughters of Zion and shouted; we have seen the king coming to us with righteousness and salvation. We have mourned the one whom we have pierced.

Today we are Joseph. The devil sharply works to inject doubts into our minds, but God will protect us and see us through.

Today we are Mary, the mother of God, rejoicing in what we have received from God. The Lord is truly with us and we are most certainly blessed!

Today we are John the Baptist, beholding the Lamb of God that has taken away the sin of the world. We have decreased and he is everything. We are not worthy to touch our Lord, but sees fit to touch us.

Today we are Lazarus, wept over by Jesus and stepping forth from our own tombs at his word, rising from the dead to live a new life with God.

Today we are Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, walking quietly to the tomb. We are looking for a dead man – not because we do not believe what he said about rising from the dead, but because we were not able to anoint him before the Sabbath.

Today we are those women, wondering who will roll away the stone from the tomb. We want access to the body of Jesus of Nazareth because we love him and wish to honor him.

Today we hear the message of the angel. He is not here, he has risen, just as he had promised!

Today we are gathered in Jesus’ name and in his own house. Today we are Christ’s Church and we are not alone – we are here in the midst of all God’s saints and with the whole company of heaven!

Do you seek Jesus of Nazareth this morning, dear brothers and sisters in Christ? I hope so, for he is risen, and he is here for you! Come to the Lamb’s high feast and rejoice with us and all the company of heaven! Your sins are forgiven, you have been saved from the power of the devil, and you have the life that never ends!

Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!

To God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be all the glory, forever and ever, amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, amen.

Sermon for Maundy Thursday

Is it I?

Mark 14:12-26

Maundy Thursday, 2009 B

Zion Lutheran Church

Mount Pleasant, Michigan

Pastor Jonathon Bakker

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. The Holy Scripture for our consideration this day is the Gospel reading from St. Mark.

Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare, that you may eat the Passover?” And he sent out two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him. Wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ Then he will show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared; there make ready for us.” So his disciples went out, and came into the city, and found it just as he had said to them; and they prepared the Passover. In the evening he came with the twelve. Now as they sat and ate, Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you who eats with me will betray me.” And they began to be sorrowful, and to say to him one by one, “Is it I?” And another said, “Is it I?” He answered and said to them, “It is one of the twelve, who dips with me in the dish. The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had never been born.” And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” Then he took the cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. Assuredly, I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as the Gospel says, they killed the Passover lamb. There is no getting around it. Every Thursday of the New Covenant – of the New Testament – every Thursday of the Mandate – every Maundy Thursday – is clouded over for us by the pending death of our Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ. There is no getting around it – just as there would be no Passover feast for our Lord and his disciples without the slaughter of the Passover lamb; there would be no Holy Feast instituted for us this evening without the suffering and death of Christ our Lord.

The original Passover was for the deliverance of Israel, God’s children, from the oppressive slavery of Egypt. They ate as those prepared to make a long journey. The frames and lintels of their doors were marked by the blood of the Lamb. Death passed over those homes, sparing the firstborn men of the Israelites, but taking all of the firstborn among the Egyptians. Pharaoh finally relented and released Israel, and they were instructed to keep the Passover so that they would never forget the mighty deliverance God gave them.

By the time God delivered the Law to Moses, written in tablets of stone, the people had already forgotten about their deliverance. They had forsaken the God who led them out of Egypt for a false idol, but they repented and God made a covenant with them. They swore, in our Old Testament reading, that, ‘All the words that the Lord has spoken, we will do.’ How quickly it changed, however. They would fall and repent, time and again, cursing God and blessing him. They would wander in the wilderness until that generation died off, and only then would their great deliverance from Egypt reach its completion in the land of Canaan.

Even now, thousands of years later, we know exactly what it is like to struggle with temptation and sin, just like the Israelites, and our Lord has established another Passover which tonight we celebrate. Yes – celebrate. Even in the midst of the shroud of death hanging over Jesus’ life – we celebrate the better Passover; the Passover given and shed for us on the cross for the remission of sins. It is for this reason, after all, that our Lord gave himself into suffering and death. Though it is glorious, he did not do it for glory. Though it is powerful, he did not do it for power. Our Lord took on flesh and then gave that flesh not for himself; but for you. This is why he gives us this new Passover meal which we are to eat and drink for the remission of sins.

For the disciples at the first Lord’s Supper, it was similar to the children of Israel at the first Passover. They saw what was happening, but wouldn’t understand the full meaning of the event until it was revealed later by God himself. When the Israelites learned of the death of every firstborn son of Egypt, they understood the price and the deliverance promised in their meal before travelling. In the same way, it took the death and resurrection of Jesus for the disciples to fully realize what Jesus meant when he said and did those things on that Thursday night.

We, on the other hand, have the benefit of being able to look at the whole situation in hindsight. We can read it in our book and we also live it in the liturgy, Sunday after Sunday; hearing, seeing, tasting, and receiving the promises of God in Jesus. We see the logical progression Jesus is making from life to death and to life again. We see how he truly is the fulfillment of Moses and the Prophets. What they promise, he delivers. But Jesus himself is also a prophet and makes promises and predictions too. One of them that is often glossed over, and it almost happens in our Gospel, is that of his own betrayal.

We know from elsewhere who it will be, but in this account it is left a mystery. The disciples are all asking the question, ‘is it I?’ Only one of them is the betrayer Jesus speaks of, but it is significant that all the disciples ask this. We know that they will resolve not to betray Jesus, and that some, like Peter, will actually swear never to deny the Lord. The intentions of the disciples, of course, fall short. They quickly learn that it is easy to make commitments, but it is not always easy to keep their words.

It was no different for the children of Israel, and it is no different for us. How many times have we determined that we would live our lives for God? How many times have we made a promise to God, ourselves, or our neighbors and failed? How many times have we repented of such failure and asked for forgiveness?

In this Gospel it is the disciples asking the question of who will betray our Lord. ‘Is it I?’ they wonder. We ask ourselves the same question, but we know the answer better than the disciples. We know that we are all betrayers when it comes to God because we are all sinners. Is it I? Yes, it is me; and you too. Betrayal is what gives Jesus over to the cross, and we are all guilty.

We cannot also forget, however, how Jesus treats the betrayers at the Last Supper. One is certainly singled out and condemned, but even he tastes the body and blood of Christ in that heavenly meal along with the rest of the disciples. It is a powerful image – Christ knows his betrayer, and still gives himself over, even to the betrayer. But then this is what still happens, even today. We are not so foolish to think that we have no need of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross; we confess that we sin and are sinful, and we need forgiveness.

Dear friends, just as Christ did not withhold forgiveness from disciples, that forgiveness is not withheld from us. He gives himself over on the cross so that we might have that forgiveness, and not merely forgiveness we hear about or read about and understand, but forgiveness that comes to us, touches us, and truly feeds us. God is flesh and blood for us, to this day. As we asked in the first hymn, ‘what is this bread?’ It is Jesus’ body, resurrected for our salvation. ‘What is this cup?’ It is the blood of Jesus, shed to give us life. Even more than that, though, is that it is for us. So, ‘Is it I, Lord?’ Yes, it is you, and most importantly it is for you that Jesus gives himself on the cross, in the bread, and in the cup, to set you free and make you forgiven.

To Christ alone be all the glory forever and ever, amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, amen.

The Remainder of Holy Week

I invite all of you to come to our Holy Week services in the coming days. These are the most holy days of the church year and I hope you will be able to join us!

Here is the Service Schedule for the remainder of Holy Week:

Maundy Thursday Divine Service with the Lord's Supper
4:30pm & 7:30pm both at Zion Lutheran Church

Good Friday Service
1:00pm at Zion Lutheran Church
3:00pm at Christ The King Lutheran Chapel

The Resurrection of Our Lord, Easter Sunday Divine Service with the Lord's Supper
7:00am Sunrise Divine Service at Zion Lutheran Church
10:45am at Christ The King Lutheran Chapel

Easter Breakfast (Youth Group fundraiser)
Will take place at Zion Lutheran Church immediately following the Easter Sunrise Divine Service, mostly like at 8:00am.

Hope to see you here!