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Lay ministers serve RLC

Resurrection lay ministers Gary Kresge, Jeff Johns, and John Hazzard have been doing a great  job serving the church since the resignation of Pastor Chris Boyd.  Pastor Boyd resigned at the end of January. His ministry still extends to the Catawba Island Fire Department as its chaplain and as a volunteer fireman. He is in the process of being called to a new church within the Missouri Synod closer to his home town of Dayton. Until an interim pastor through the NALC is in place at RLC, the congregation will receive pastoral care from three lay ministers.  Pastor Dan Pennington has been providing communion.

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Sermons

Easter VI, Cycle C                                                                                                               May 25, 2025

Sermon Text John 16:23-33

The Rev. Dr. David M. Wendel

Grace Ev. Lutheran Church, Westerville, OH

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“Speaking Plainly?”

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In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

     Sometimes, we think of the twelve disciples in less than gracious ways. We think of them as difficult. We think of them as not too bright. We think of them as unable to listen and hear clearly what the Lord is telling them. Why else would Jesus say to them, again and again, “Let he who has ears, hear!” And yet, our characterization of them is not always fair. Yes, they were all too human and had their arguments with each other and their lapses in judgment and understanding. But, let’s be honest. Sometimes the Lord is difficult to understand, at least, as John remembered and recorded the Lord’s words! At times, we have a hard time hearing Him and grasping what in the world He’s saying! 

     Some of Jesus’s instruction in the Farewell Discourses, John chapters 13 through 17, are perfectly clear and understandable. His prayers for the unity of the Church, for example, are clear and straightforward.  The example He gives, in the washing of the disciple’s feet and His new commandment that we love one another, as He loves us, are easily grasped. But these verses we have as our Gospel lesson today can leave us scratching our heads, together with the twelve. They leave us asking, “Is it us?” “It’s Him, right?” “It’s not us—it’s Jesus, who is sometimes, for us, less than clear and direct, in what He’s saying, as recorded by John.” And while we may feel a little guilty saying that, the Lord admits it, in our passage today! 

     It’s interesting that Jesus, Himself, says in verse 25, “I have said these things to you in figures of speech.” Now, “figures of speech” is an understatement. The word, in Greek, is paroimia, which is much more complex than just a simple figure of speech. Various versions of the Bible translate it, “proverbs,” but others have Jesus saying, “I have been speaking to you in dark or shadowed sayings.” Some translate it, “I have been speaking to you in veiled language, using hidden meanings.” Basically, Jesus means He realizes He’s been talking with them using images and language that are hard to understand, veiled to the hearer, not readily accessible.  Jesus says, “The time is coming when I will no longer speak in figures of speech or veiled language but will tell you plainly about the Father.” And then, He said, “In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; 27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.  28 I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”

     And although the disciples respond, saying, “Ah, now you’re speaking plainly and not in figures of speech,” I don’t know about you, but I still don’t find that all too clear. Is this that time when Jesus is going to speak plainly, or is that time still to come? He’s been speaking about Himself and the Father already, so this doesn’t seem like new information, even though it seems a revelation to the twelve. The reality is, until after His death and resurrection, it’s not all clear and plain. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Lord opens their minds to understand all that the scriptures say about Him, so that the apostles then have their eyes opened and it all makes sense. At the Lord’s Supper on Maundy Thursday, these words of Jesus still seem a little hidden and veiled. But there are messages and meanings in our passage from the Farewell Discourses today.

     First, Jesus tells us that the Father loves us and we can approach the Father, ourselves, in Jesus’ name. We hear Jesus say, “Come to the Father in prayer, and whatever you ask, the Father will give you.” We often get caught up on His comment, “whatever you ask, the Father will give you.” But Jesus’ point is not that the Father will give us whatever we want, but that the Father is open to us, that Jesus was opening up a new relationship and a new closeness, between the Father God and we, His children, so that as a Father welcomes His children with open arms, God is always ready to embrace us and hear us, as we pray. That love and openness—to us, to you and me, is what Jesus is communicating to us—not that we will get everything we want—like, a new car or boat, or protection from trial or loss or grief. Which brings us to the next point.

     Second, the Father will answer our prayers, as we pray in Jesus’ name. Because Jesus, by His sacrifice on the cross, atoned for our sins, healing the breach caused by our sin, reconciling us, sons and daughters, with God our Father, we now approach the Father, we come to the Father, in Jesus’ name. We dare not approach the Father, on our own, trusting in our own righteousness, for before God, on our own, we are sinful, disobedient children. We know we can be sinful, disobedient children. We confess it every Sunday! Our estrangement from God our Father has been healed by the death of Jesus, who, as the Lamb of God, died to take away our sin, that in Him, we might return to our Father, prodigal sons and daughters humbly begging for grace and mercy, surprised to find our Father God running to us, embracing us, throwing a banquet for us, in our honor. As the lost have been found, we are welcomed at the table of the Lord. All—only because we have been reconciled to God, through Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray and in whose name we come, every week, to the foretaste of the feast to come is the third thing we want to hear, today, in our Gospel lesson. 

     This is but a foretaste of the feast to come. We have in our second lesson today, the wonderful vision of the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, where God will dwell with His children and the Lamb will be the light, and there will be no night there—even as there will be no crying, pain, or death. Wowever, we aren’t there, yet. We are still in the Great Tribulation, as the Revelation has it. We are still struggling and suffering with life and illness and grief. We are still fighting against sin and Satan and the forces of evil. The Lord recognizes this, as He says at the end of our reading, “In this world you will have tribulation.” But, He says, He promises, He assures us, “Take heart; I have overcome the world.” 

     That’s pretty clear and direct. Now the Lord is speaking plainly! When we are struggling, we are encouraged, because Jesus has overcome this sinful world! When we are grieving, we are comforted, because Jesus has overcome death! When our lives feel out of control, we rely on Jesus, because He is in control, of our lives, of our homes and our families, of our world. No matter how hard or how often we pray to be delivered from evil, saved from the time of trial, protected from the Great Tribulation, in this world, we will have tribulation, we will have trouble and suffering. However, Jesus has overcome “the world!” Jesus has overcome Satan and the forces of evil! Jesus has overcome the principalities and powers which came against Him, and come, even now, against us. That is the assurance we receive, from the Lord today, as He says, “Take heart, I have overcome the world!” Which is what we’ll say in our hymn of the day, as we sing, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine! We are heirs of salvation, purchase of God, born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.” And—this is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long; this is our story, this is our song, praising our Savior, all the day long!

       In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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RLC

EST.  1967

ADDRESS

2370 NE Catawba Road  Port Clinton, OH 43452

SERVICE TIME

Sundays at 9am

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©2023 Resurrection Lutheran Church

John E. Braun
Memorial Park

 

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