If you’re like me, you’re enjoying the long Epiphany season this year, as determined by the last date of Easter. Considering the weather, we will probably need the late Easter in order to thaw out before the Easter egg hunt on the Great Lawn! The longer Epiphany gives us more time to pause and consider every aspect of Epiphany. We always meditate on the visit of the Magi (Matt. 2:1-12), the boy Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:41-52), and Jesus’ first miracle at Cana (John 2:1-11). And we always end the Epiphany season with His transfiguration (Matt. 17:1-9), where we usually consider His baptism (Matt. 3:13-17). But today, an all-too-rare Epiphany V, presents our life of suffering in the midst of the weeds, setting before us the many dangers of this life, of temptations in this world, and the consequences of forgetting that we are God’s own planting. But this Sunday also presents a rich portrait of eternal grace, a grace so strong that it simply cannot fail. He who died for us and rose again is with us in the field of this world. So our end-times hope, even as we suffer in the church, is in Jesus Christ and His final judgment. On that day, He will “give us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven” (SC XX).

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit The Christian Church is full of wheat and weeds. That is the so-called “visible Church” or the Church that is seen with our eyes. Wherever the Gospel is preached and the Sacraments are administered according to Christ’s institution, we […]

The Fifth Sunday After the Epiphany is a rare occurrence in the Church year. I’ve been a pastor for ten years, and I have never preached on this text. It will be another 27 years before I preach on this text again. I’ll be 63 years old. God willing, I will still be preaching the […]

Only one thing can keep a Christian from not being drawn into the swift current of sectarianism and be irresistibly swept away. He must find out where God’s Word is preached in its purity and the Sacraments administered according to Christ’s institution. Whoever does not consider that and that alone is lost; he must be […]

From the House Postils: [Christ’s] purpose, therefore, is to emphasize that whoever possesses the gospel should be forewarned and spiritually forearmed. For alongside the true, pure doctrine of the gospel many fanatical spirits, heresies, and offenses will sprout up, over which we must not fret unduly. When now these satanic henchmen who distort and pervert […]