Ultimately, this is the point of the Proverb: God has prepared a feast for everyone to enjoy, inviting you and all willing to come and receive, especially those who are sinful and in need. However, one must humbly accept this invitation with charity and love, turning away from the callings of this world, because you will only grow in wisdom and faith and receive forgiveness and eternal life when you gather around the Wisdom of the Lord. 

This is a familiar Gospel, today, that draws the lines between falling in love with earthly glory and heavenly glory. The Rich Man depicts many people of the world who see glory in what you wear, what you consume, who you keep company with, while Lazarus depicts those who, on the surface, appear poor and lowly, who bear the weight of many crosses of this life.

Remaining in this faith can be as challenging as contemplating and understanding the Holy Trinity, which is the focus of this day’s celebration. The Holy Trinity is a profound mystery that cannot be fully grasped or explained through human wisdom and knowledge. Instead, it invites you, the Christian, to sit at Jesus’ feet and learn how, out of great love for you, His Father sent Him to redeem you upon the cross. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, you become a new creation—born again by living out the baptismal life of daily drowning the Old Adam within you as you repent of the sins and darkness that cling to your heart, then be raised from the water to new life through the words of absolution, the words of God’s forgiveness, spoken to you from the lips of the pastor.

This marriage you desire is ordained by God, He is uniting you today; this isn’t a game of bowling, there are no splits here. From this day forward, your marriage becomes a wonderful confession of your Heavenly Father’s love for you. A sacrificial love understood in the sending of His only Son, Jesus Christ, who went to the cross and died for you, for all of you, His bride, the Church.

This is love — the love of a husband for a wife, of a bridegroom for the bride, and of Jesus for you. 

This is the sacrificial love you are to have for one another now – to support one another in the middle of the night after a child throws up. To face financial challenges together, to walk together as illness and death draw near.

It’s not an easy path, this marriage thing, but through it, you get to confess the love of Christ Jesus in you every day of this life together.

As you walk away today, recognize the wonderful gift you’ve received and rejoice in how God has united you this day, man and woman, two individual beings into one beautiful and loving flesh. +INJ+

But remember these words of Jesus, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

The cost of this faith is high; just look at Jesus’ cross and see. He loved you so much that He was willing to die in this way for you, beaten, naked, and left alone. 

That’s a great love He has for you.

As the Easter season nears its end, don’t ever forget the cost Christ paid for your salvation, and if you find yourself struggling, remember these words from the Gospel, “I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.” (John 16:4)

The Holy Spirit is sent upon you to place before your eyes the love of Jesus Christ, to grant you enduring faith to carry the crosses of your life, and be made ready to die when that day comes, when you can be gathered with all the martyrs and confessors of the Christian faith in the resurrected life that will never end. +INJ+

What is this joy of the resurrection? It’s the peace in His Word that soothes your troubled conscience and the declaration of forgiveness He bestows upon your heart. 

In a sense, as the Large Catechism states, the Church has become your mother, one that conceives and births every Christian through God’s Word. (LC 2:42)

And if the Church is your mother, then it’s here you should come, find comfort in her words, and rejoice in her unconditional love.

Now, I can’t promise you’ll understand every word of every Scripture reading from this mother, the Church. Some require more meditation and prayer than we’re used to these days. But I can tell you, the answer is always close; it’s always right in front of you—your Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Truth is not just an idea; it’s a person—it’s Jesus Christ. It doesn’t end with simply knowing who He is, but it’s found in Him, who brings you into a relationship with God through daily surrender of the Old Adam, dying to sin and being raised to new life. It’s found in the forgiveness of sins, rescuing you from death and hell, and restoring you as image-bearers of God. 

While time does not heal all wounds, time remains fleeting, so you should listen intently to the words of Jesus today,

 A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father. (John 16:16)

These words not only describe the aspect of time, but also lead you, along with Jesus’ disciples, to look toward His cross and His death. Still, they don’t leave you in darkness either, because they remind you that on that first Easter morning, your Jesus rose from the dead, bringing you the joy of His forgiveness. 

Jesus, your Good Shepherd, knows you. He has claimed you in Holy Baptism, and through His Word, He calls out to you. He doesn’t send hirelings among you, who do not care about you and would abandon you in times of trouble, to leave you when you or your children wander away from Him, or remain snug in your beds on a Sunday morning.

No, He sends His pastors, His sheepdogs, to do His will, to care for you, and to ensure you are constantly hearing the voice of Jesus, so you might know Him. So you might look to the cross and see how the Shepherd laid down His life for you, the sheep, enduring the attacks and wounds of the wolf - He died for your sins, your struggles, and the darknesses that lead you away from His Church, from His flock.

However, through the example of Thomas today, we see that these instances are opportunities for us to trust, have faith, and cling to Jesus’ Word all the more.

And this is what St. John says in the closing verse of the Gospel as he wrote,

And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. (John 20:30-31)

This belief and faith are how you place your fingers with Thomas into the print of the nails and your hand into the side of your Savior. Remember from last week, Jesus never stops being the crucified, and for this reason, every time you enter this sanctuary through the remembrance of your baptism, you enter the cross of Christ the crucified.

In a way, on Easter, we all become Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome as we come to this sanctuary. While we do not bring spices and ointments for His burial, we do bring songs of praise as we seek and celebrate the resurrected Jesus who is here as He has promised.

This journey we are on, whether alone or with others, is also a preparation for our own death in Christ—the grave we enter through our baptisms—shaping not just the body but also the soul, for eternal rest and new life in the resurrection with Christ Jesus.  

And this is why we come and return to this sanctuary as often as possible, for Christ Jesus to prepare our bodies and souls for our deaths and burials. To die to our sins, to walk away from the devil and the grave. To be clothed and made ready to be raised in forgiveness and new life, every Sunday and Lord’s Day. 

The idea of keeping watch, of keeping vigil, is ingrained in the rhythms of life.

It began with Adam and Eve as they waited for a seed, born of woman, to crush the serpent’s head. It continued with Israel as they observed the Lord’s Passover and remembered His promise to redeem them. And it was fulfilled in the coming of the Christ Child that first Christmas.

The Church is no different; throughout its history, it has always gathered in the darkness of night, with candles and torches in hand, as a reminder that the Light of Christ will scatter the darkness of sin and this world. (1 Corinthians 4:5)

We have a profound need to remember our own death and mourn the things that lead us toward death. We must turn away from what harms our faith. To drown our betrayal, denial, and selfish indifference to Christ in the waters of Holy Baptism, remember that we must die to sin in order to rise to new life. 

When we can do this, “Memento Mori” isn’t as scary as it first appears.

On this Good Friday, remember your death by taking up the cross in your hands, placing it before your eyes each day, seeing your Savior on the cross, and recognizing your own death on the cross. 

So, what does a sacrificial and merciful life look like for you?

Probably doing one of the hardest things you could imagine. No, you won’t have to give up your life savings to rescue a family member from debt. You won’t have to give up a vital organ to save a child’s life. You won’t even have to give up your earthly life.

Still, what you will need to do is one of the most challenging things you could imagine: ask your Father in heaven for a humble heart, to remove pride from your heart, so you may die to your sin, confess the malice, spite, hatred, coldness, and enmity you have toward your neighbor, and repent. 

Hosanna is your song of gladness, your confidence to journey to the cross, to rest with Him in the tomb, and to know that just as He has risen from the dead, He has triumphed over the grave and will call you as He called His friend Lazarus to come forth from your graves on the last day.

So sing Hosanna, what a beautiful song, because in Jesus, your salvation has been won, and your sorrows will be no more.

The Church and those sheep that fill its walls were bought with the blood of Christ Jesus upon His cross. For this reason, there’s no greater responsibility than to watch over and care for His flock.

And for this reason, when one of us strays into unrepentance, the Church is to pray for them and their conversion, their confession of sin, taking to heart the words of Jesus in the Gospel of St. Luke,

I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. (Luke 15:7)

“There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents…”

And this is why God sends pastors among you: so that when someone repents, they may quickly hear the words of the Gospel, be restored to communion and fellowship with the flock, and then reach the place where the joys of heaven are present for them, where the angels, archangels, and the entire company of heaven are rejoicing—here where the flesh and blood of Jesus are present for the forgiveness of sins. 

The forgiveness of your sins.

And this is an important aspect not only of the season of Lent but also of these final two weeks—being attentive to hearing God’s Word. Because when you listen to the Words of Jesus, as they dwell and take root within you, the image of Jesus and His cross is never far, but firmly planted within your minds and hearts.

Martin Luther made a wonderful comment about this image and the use of the crucifix; he says,

For whether I will or not, when I hear of Christ, an image of a man hanging on a cross takes form in my heart, just as the reflection of my face naturally appears in the water when I look into it. If it is not a sin but good to have the image of Christ in my heart, why should it be a sin to have it in my eyes?^[1]

Although the crosses and crucifixes in the church are now veiled and hidden from view, listen carefully to the words of Jesus and allow the image of your Savior to appear within your mind, for He is never truly hidden from you or far from your heart. 

^[1] Luther, M. (1999). Luther’s works, vol. 40: Church and Ministry II. (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald, & H. T. Lehmann, Eds.) (Vol. 40, pp. 99–100). Philadelphia: Fortress Press.

In His trial that first Holy Week, there is this wonderful exchange between Pilate and Jesus written for us in the Gospel John, it says,

So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” (John 19:10-11)

We learn from this that all authority in heaven and on earth originates with God the Father, the Creator, and author of heaven and earth.

He sends His Son, Jesus, to submit to the authority of Pontius Pilate, to die upon the cross, to redeem you and what was lost in the sin of your first parents.

Jesus teaches us to live in submission and be obedient to all authority by fulfilling His Father’s will, even to the point of death, so that you might receive the forgiveness of sins He won for you on the cross. 

The child, often carried to the font in a mother’s arms, enters the church through Holy Baptism and receives new life through the work of the Holy Spirit. For the first few months, one might wonder if the baby makes any noise as they remain in their mother’s arms, clinging to their love. But then, as they grow, they become more active. They move, fidget, and yes, they make noise. 

Still, while some like to say, “They’re the future of the Church,” as baptized children of God, they are the Church, even now.

Look at the cross and see what your sins have brought about.

But Jesus died for you because He loves you and wants to forgive you. However, to receive Jesus’ forgiveness, you must first examine your life and confess the darkness within. 

To do this, you need to become comfortable with silence and set aside life’s distractions. Sit alone with God’s Word, walk through the Ten Commandments, and ask yourself, “Have I kept this Word of God as I should?” 

Then be honest in what is revealed to you through the mirror of God’s Law and give an answer to God. No filters, no self-justifying, just confession.