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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Christ is risen. He has risen indeed. Hallelujah. Good morning, St. Paul Lutheran Church. This is the Sunday Drive to Church podcast for the fifth Sunday of Easter, continuing to celebrate the resurrection, May 18, the year of our Lord 2025. Let's pray the collect of the day. Oh, God, you make the minds of your faithful to be of one will.
[00:00:21] Grant that we may love what you have commanded and desire what you promise, that among the many changes of this world, our hearts may be fixed where true joys are found, through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
[00:00:39] Amen.
[00:00:41] Amen. That's a beautiful old collect. I remember the old language was, may our hearts be fixed, that among the manifold changes of this world, our hearts may be fixed for truth, so that everything in this life is changing, but Christ doesn't. He stays the same. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And we rejoice in his unchanging joys. And so we want to do what he promises and want what he commands. This might be a little quicker Sunday Drive to Home podcast because I had to leave for this Tyler and Kayla's wedding in just a few minutes. So we want to make sure that we get this thing done. Our psalm is Psalm 148, all 14 verses of it. This is.
[00:01:24] This is getting edging up really close not only to the. Well, to the end of the book of psalms, remembering, there's 150 Psalms, and by the time you get to about 146, you're kind of in this grand crescendo. And that's true of Psalm 148. This is the alleluia section that gets translated from the Hebrew into praise the Lord. Oh, yeah. Remember in Sunday school a couple weeks ago when I was talking about how hallelujah, the Greek word, the Hebrew word, only appears in the New Testament because of the difference between translation and transliteration.
[00:02:00] And you guys were like, walked out of Bible class like you were hypnotized.
[00:02:05] Anyway, this is a good example of when that comes up. Praise the Lord from the heavens. Praise him in all the heights. Praise him all the angels. Praise him, all his hosts. Praise him, sun and moon. Praise him, all you stars of light. Praise him, you heavens of heavens, and you, waters above the heavens, all calling forth the praise of the Lord. In fact, it ends that same high note, praise the Lord. And we have that, that great alleluia still echoing in our hearts, especially from the resurrection.
[00:02:34] The first lesson, Remember, we're doing Not Old Testament, but first lessons from the Book of Acts for this season of Easter. And the first lesson is from Acts 11, 1, 18.
[00:02:48] Now, the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.
[00:02:55] So Peter comes up to Jerusalem.
[00:02:57] Now, this is one of these really important kind of keystone events.
[00:03:02] Acts chapter 10.
[00:03:04] Acts, chapter 10 is when the event happens where Peter's down in Joppa, same place where Jonah left to go over to Spain, at least tried. Peter's down there and he has the vision of the animals coming down.
[00:03:19] And then he goes up to Caesarea and he goes into the centurion's house and he goes and he baptizes them. In fact, the Holy Spirit falls on them. And Peter says, how can I prevent them from being baptized? But now. And we have that stained glass window. Don't miss the stained glass window. In fact, maybe I'll preach about this text.
[00:03:36] And we can use the window. It's that wild window that is on the pulpit side of the church, right towards the front, and has the sheet and Peter's on the roof and it has like the rat and the snake and the scorpion in there. That's crazy.
[00:03:53] So Peter has to go back to Jerusalem and explain what just happened.
[00:03:57] How the Holy Spirit called him and he has this call and he has this vision, rise, kill and eat. And whatever I've called clean, don't call unclean.
[00:04:06] It's a beautiful text. So that the Gospel is going to go to the Gentiles, and God grants this gift of repentance that leads to eternal life.
[00:04:17] It's really this unfolding drama of the Book of Acts. Because remember, right before Jesus ascended into heaven, he said, you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and. And Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth. And each one of those locations which the Lord promises that the disciples would be witness of His. Each one of those is a barrier. There's a barrier for getting out of Jerusalem into Judea, the countryside. And then there's a huge barrier getting from Judea to Samaria. Samaria, and then from Samaria to the Gentiles to the ends of the earth.
[00:04:54] And this is the Lord in a way, dragging Peter and the apostles over that barrier into the Gentile world and taking the Gospel beyond the confines of the Jewish culture. It's really beautiful. Then we have. Oh, boy, can you believe it? The Epistle is Revelation. We're doing Revelation and all these beautiful passages in Revelation. Last week, chapter seven, you think, how can it get more beautiful than that. Well, you go to chapter 21.
[00:05:25] Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. And the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. The sea was no more. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Here's the thing to look for In Revelation chapter 31 is that the Lord, this cosmic washed with the blood of Jesus.
[00:05:51] Gigantic scale replica of Genesis chapter one.
[00:05:56] So that the perfection that the Lord had there at the very beginning in the garden with Adam and Eve and the wedding and walking with them, that that is expanded a million fold. And now it's the wedding feast of the Lamb and his kingdom which is heaven and earth. The new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven so that there's no more separation between heaven and earth and the two become one.
[00:06:20] And the one who is seated on the throne, that's Jesus. The lamb who was thrown said behold, I am making all things new. He says write this down. For these words are trustworthy and true.
[00:06:30] So that we, excuse me, we reach the culmination of all of the Lord's work in the Bible. This is where it's all headed towards. And this is where. And this is so helpful because this is where your life is headed and my life is headed. You think Pastor, I'm driving to church. But eventually you're driving to the new heaven and the new earth. The Lord is bringing you there to his new creation where all things are made new. Where there's no sea because there's no sin to wash away.
[00:07:08] It's so beautiful. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment to the one who conquers will have this heritage. I will be his God. He will be my son.
[00:07:20] So beautiful.
[00:07:22] And then the gospel lesson John 16:12 to 22 takes us back to Maundy Thursday. This long, it's the longest sermon in the Bible. I think it's. I mean parts of John 13, but especially John 14 all the way to John 17. Sorry. The longest sermon of Jesus in the Bible. Vicar reminded me that all of Deuteronomy is one sermon from Moses that would be the longest sermon. But the longest sermon preached by Jesus is John chapter. It's this big section here. It's called his Vala victory speech. It's the night before his crucifixion and it's surrounding the washing of the disciples feet and the Lord's supper and the going out into the garden and the getting arrested. All of this is happening here. And this little section, verses 12 to 22 is the little while section. A little while, a little while, a little while. You'll notice because there's two little whiles that Jesus is talking about. And the disciples don't know what he's talking about. So they repeat it and it goes back and forth. In fact, it's kind of a.
[00:08:20] You should get one of those auctioneers to read this text. So I'll give you a little sample. Verse 16. A little while you'll see me no longer. And again a little while and you will see me. So some of the disciples said to one another, what is this? He says to us, a little while and you'll not see me. And again, a little while and you will see me. And because I'm going to the Father. So they were saying, what does he mean by a little while? We don't know what he's talking about. Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him. So he said to them, is this what you're asking amongst yourselves what I meant? But I said, a little while and you will not see me. And again, a little while and you will see me.
[00:08:54] Truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. Here's the point. We preached about this a little bit for a little while on Wednesday night because the One Year Lectionary had this text last week.
[00:09:07] The little while that Jesus is telling them about is the time before his death, which is approximately, probably when they're talking, it's what is it, eight at night or something like that. And he's going to be crucified at 9 in the morning. So they've got 13 hours until Jesus is on the cross. They've got 19 hours until Jesus has breathed his last and is dead. So that's a little while and you're going to see me no more. I'm going to be buried.
[00:09:32] But then a little while on the third day and you'll see me again. And for that little while that I'm dead and buried, the world will rejoice and you will be captivated by sorrow. But then a little while and your sorrow will be turned to joy. And this is the point. No one can take the joy from you.
[00:09:50] It's solidified by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
[00:09:55] He gives the example of a woman in birth who travails. But then when the child is born, the travail is forgotten.
[00:10:07] We can know that illustration around here. There's a lot of babies coming along.
[00:10:11] So Jesus says, there's that little while. Now, here's the point. The disciples don't believe either one.
[00:10:17] While Jesus is alive, they don't believe he's going to die. And when Jesus is dead, they don't believe he's going to rise from the dead.
[00:10:25] And so the Lord has to say, hey, things are fine, but in a little while they're going to be bad.
[00:10:30] And things are going to be bad, but in a little while they're going to be wonderful. And so it is for us, if things are fine. We think they're always going to be fine. So he warns us, in this world, you'll have trouble.
[00:10:39] There are difficult days ahead. They're coming.
[00:10:42] But then, if you are in the midst of trouble or when you are in the midst of trouble, the Lord promises it's just for a little while. Weeping endures for the night, but joy comes in the morning. It's just a little while. That's how he arranged things.
[00:10:59] That's how he disciplines us. This is the individualized tutorial life that the Lord has given to each of us. That we bear our cross and learn to suffer. And in that suffering learn to look to him for all good and for all that we need.
[00:11:13] So a little while and you will have joy. And this is especially in the joy of heaven.
[00:11:19] And then the Resurrection and the Revelation 21, New heaven and new earth, you will have joy, and no one will take it from you. How fantastic this hymn of the day is. At the Lamb's high Feast we sing.
[00:11:34] It's hymn 6:33.
[00:11:37] I just went to grab my hymnal and it's gone.
[00:11:41] Someone stole it from my office, so now I have to. From memory at the Lamb's high fee, heast, we sing.
[00:11:48] This is a Revelation hymn. See how good I get it from memory. Because remember, the Book of Revelation is punctuated by these beautiful hymns of the elders and of the angels and of the saints. And they're all singing to whom? To the Lamb who sits on the throne. And we bring that into the divine service, remembering that Jesus our Savior, crucified, dead, buried, risen, ascended, is with us in the Word to hear and believe, and on the altar to eat and drink and hear and believe, and so be cleansed from all of our sins and have a good conscience to stand before him on the day of Judgment, where the Lord says, look, if you're not, I'm giving you practice of standing before me to receive from me mercy and joy, so that you will receive the same thing on the last day when you stand before me. This is so great. So that we recognize that we are partaking of that high feast of the Lamb whenever we come into the divine service and receive his great gifts from Him. It's really great. We get to sing Jerusalem. The golden splendor and honor in Thee is gladness will be our opening hymn. Absolutely phenomenal. We'll have a special guest tomorrow in Bible class, Robert Bennett, who is the director of the Luther Academy. This is really. It's a pretty amazing thing. I think there's two mission organizations, as far as I'm concerned, that are doing the greatest good works around the world for confessing our Lutheran doctrine.
[00:13:27] The Lutheran Heritage foundation, which is publishing our Lutheran stuff into all these different languages, and the Luther Academy, which is going all around the world hosting theological lectures. I went with Professor Pless and the Luther Academy to Madagascar, oh, some years ago. So wonderful.
[00:13:46] So Dr. Bennett, who's the director of the Luther Academy, is going to be there to present in Bible class, so that'll be a great joy to learn from him as well. All right. I know it's a little bit shorter this week, but out of necessity, if I could be in two places at once, I guess I'm in the backseat riding to church with you guys, which is two places at once, but, you know, it's not the same. But anyway, God's peace be with you. Christ is risen. He has risen indeed. Hallelujah. See you soon.