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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Benjamin and John, Morton family members and friends, and Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Celebrating the Feast of St. Mary, the Mother of Our Lord may be new to many of you, but the Feast itself goes back to the Early Church and, in some cases, was preserved by the Church of the Reformation, which gives a threefold honor to saints such as Mary: thanking God for them, strengthening our faith by their example, and imitating their faith and other virtues according to our callings (Apology of the Augsburg Confession XXI:4-6). Although the Feast of St. Mary, the Mother of Our Lord is usually celebrated on August 15, the date on which the earthly life of the Blessed Virgin Mary is thought to have ended, the desire to confirm Benjamin and John, with as many of their sponsors present as possible, provided us the opportunity to transfer the Feast to tonight. And, the appointed Epistle Reading for the Feast, which mentions but does not name the Blessed Virgin Mary, seemed especially appropriate on this particular occasion. So, tonight we reflect on the appointed Epistle Reading under the theme “Adopted as sons by the Holy Spirit”.
The appointed Epistle Reading is said to be part of the second of seven arguments that St. Paul uses in his Divinely‑inspired letter to the Galatians in order to support his teaching of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (TLSB, 2001). In this particular argument, a slave’s being adopted as a man’s child and heir apparently serves to illustrate how we go from being slaves to sin to being God’s children and heirs.
In Catechism class, Benjamin and John, you learned the Ten Commandments, as the rest of us confirmed when we were about your age also should have learned them—the Ten Commandments along with their explanations according to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther’s Small Catechism. And, you may and we all should recall that here and now the Holy Spirit’s chief theological use of the Ten Commandments is as law showing us our sin: both how we do not love God as we should and how we do not love our neighbors as we should. Whether we are dishonoring God Himself, His Name, or His Word; whether we are dishonoring our parents or other authorities or God’s gifts of life, sexuality, possessions, or reputation—God uses the Ten Commandments to show us how in thought, word, and deed we sin in countless ways, for we are sinful by nature. As such slaves to sin, we are separated from God, we deserve present and eternal punishment, and we are unable to do anything about it.
But, God does not leave us or anyone else in such a state! Through His prophets God called the people of the Old Testament to repentance and faith. Our Lord Jesus Himself preached that time was fulfilled and the Kingdom of God was at hand, and so Jesus also called the people of the New Testament to repentance and faith (Mark 1:15). And, today God through those He sends calls us and all people to repentance and faith: to turn in sorrow from our sin, to trust God to forgive our sin, and to want to do better than to keep on sinning. God’s call itself enables us so to repent and believe, and when we so repent and believe, then God forgives us all our sin, whatever our sin might be, even our sinful natures themselves. In the appointed Gospel Reading (Luke 1:46-55), we heard St. Mary, the mother of our Lord, sing of how God exalts those of humble estate (those who repent) and how God’s mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation (those who believe), as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his offspring forever.
If you were paying attention to the Hymn of the Day (Lutheran Service Book 670), you may have noticed that in the second stanza we called on Mary both to lead the praises in heaven and to magnify the Lord. As the bearer of the eternal Word, she is higher than the cherubim and more glorious than the seraphim, but Her Son Jesus alone is, as we sang in the Gloria in Excelsis, “the Most High” (Jody A. Rinas, 2016/08/08 email). God sent that Son, Whom He had begotten from eternity, born in time of a woman named Mary, with His authority, in order to accomplish the task of our salvation, as the God‑Man Jesus Christ. God’s sending His only Son into the world so that we might live through Him is how God showed His love among us (1 John 4:9)! So that we might live through Him, Jesus needed to be true God and true Man, and He needed to be born under the same law that we have failed to keep, both to keep it in our place and, on the cross, to redeem those under the law, that is, to suffer in our place the penalty we deserved for failing to keep the law. And, Jesus did just those things: He actively obeyed the law and He passively suffered its penalty—all for you and for me. Jesus redeemed us lost and condemned people, not with gold or silver, but with His holy precious blood and His innocent suffering and death (1 Peter 1:18-19; Small Catechism II:4). In Christ Jesus, we all are sons (children) of God through faith (Galatians 3:26).
Earthly adoption is especially near and dear to some of us, even if, in the end, perhaps such adoptions can be done for what some consider the wrong reasons. Regardless, Paul uses earthly adoption to illustrate how we go from being slaves to sin to being God’s children and heirs. Our spiritual adoption takes place in Holy Baptism (Schweizer, TDNT 8:391-392). The Baptismal Font is where God sends the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. In keeping with God’s predestining you (Ephesians 1:5), Benjamin and John, nearly eleven years ago you were so adopted into God’s family, your sponsors confessing for you what God worked in you, and today you will speak that confession for yourselves. Among other things, your Confirmations this day declare you to be in fellowship with Christ and His Church, and so, since you also have been instructed, examined, and individually absolved, you this night for the first time will be admitted to the Sacrament of the Altar. There you and we together as adopted children partake of the family meal: eating bread that is Christ’s Body and drinking wine that is Christ’s blood, so “that we might partake of His divine life” (Proper Preface).
Now, I may have known the word “abba” as the Aramaic word for “father” before I knew of the Swedish pop group named “ABBA”, for the first initials of the group’s four members, but I have to admit that it is that most‑successful pop group that usually comes to my mind first when I hear the word. The word’s being the intimate and affectionate Aramaic term for “father” is far more important for us, however! God’s Holy Spirit that is sent into our hearts at Holy Baptism brings about our repentance and faith and teaches us to pray boldly and confidently to our Father, seeking the forgiveness of sins that He gives to us through His Word and Sacraments (confer Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15). Tonight you will be Confirmed, but your Catechesis should continue the rest of your life, as it should for all of us— cradle to grave, or womb to tomb. You will vow to continue steadfast in your confession and this Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it, and, as you continue steadfast, you can expect to be persecuted for your confession and Church membership. Here in this lifetime on earth we suffer with Christ in order that we may also be glorifed with Him as heirs of and in His Kingdom (Romans 8:16-17).
After tonight, we all will have experienced a celebration of the Feast of St. Mary, the Mother of Our Lord. Truly God’s and her Son Jesus Christ redeems us, and truly we are “Adopted as sons (children) by the Holy Spirit”. As Mary conceived Jesus only by the grace and power of God, so we are only adopted as sons (children) by the grace and power of God (Scaer, CLD VI:39). We may forget celebrating this Feast tonight, but let us not forget what God through St. Paul at the end of today’s Epistle Reading says to each one of us individually: you Benjamin, you John, and you each one of us all, you are a son and heir. As we continue steadfast in repentance and faith, we heirs will inherit and share with Mary, and all those made holy by grace, the glory of God’s eternal Kingdom.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +