Fourth Sunday in Easter

Matthew 10:16-20

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

St. Paul writes in his New Testament letter to the Romans, that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now (Romans 8:22). He means that there’s this longing to be restored to the Creator after having been apart from Him (because sin and corruption separated the creation from the Creator). After a waiting time (like the time of a pregnancy), this reunion happens fully on the Last Day when Christ returns.

We’ve heard from the New Testament; we turn to the Old Testament, then. There’s a Psalm in which the writer says, The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season (Psalm 145:15).

Those two passages are related in the idea that everyone, whether it’s recognized or not, is dependent upon the LORD, Who made all of this. We depend on Him for the needs of our bodies and our souls.

Isn’t dependency also brought out in our other lessons that we’ve read this morning?

In the Epistle lesson for instance (found on pp.10-11 in the bulletin): God’s people see themselves as sojourners and exiles, it says (they merely pass though this world on their way to God’s eternal kingdom). They wait on the Lord’s justice, even suffering and enduring until He delivers them.

And it’s in the Gospel lesson. God’s people weep and lament for a little while here, waiting patiently, later rejoicing eternally (being with Him in His kingdom).

This theme of dependance upon the Lord is certainly also in our text. It’s in the need of the people to whom Jesus’ disciples are sent. And it’s in the need of those who are being sent (sent out as sheep in the midst of wolves to bear witness about Him). They need courage and strengthening and comfort from the Lord to serve faithfully as His witnesses. The disciples are instructed not even to be anxious about what they’re going to say, because the Spirit is going to be the one doing the speaking through them.

We talked last week, about this dependence that everyone has on the Lord when it comes to having faith, to believing His Word. We said we can’t do that without God bringing it about, because our resistant sinful hearts would always refuse it unless God is working to overcome that resistance. That’s why Martin Luther (after whom our church body is named) wrote, in the meaning to the Third Article of the Creed: I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to Him. But the Holy Spirit has called me.

What a good set of lessons on a Sunday upon which we Baptize two young children into the Christian faith. How fitting, that we talk about this dependance we have on God, on this occasion. Again, we depend on Him to provide the faith in our hearts that turns our entire prospect. Without His intervention we perish in our sins because then, we are fully accountable for our own guilt. Hell would be the only place for us in that condition. But with this faith that the LORD provides, we are relieved of the guilt. God’s own Son has the guilt instead of us, then. He has been made accountable for it, punished for it.

We are dependent upon God to provide for us faith that connects us to Christ, our Savior.

Here’s where all this talk about our dependence on God is leading on this particular morning: the Bible tells us that He provides faith for us in Baptism.

The way the providing of this faith is often talked about in the Bible is as a washing. Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins (Acts 22:16). St. Paul calls it the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5), through which God saved us without us having done anything to earn it. “Regeneration”—that’s a big word. It indicates that we were dead so far our souls were concerned; and that in Baptism we were regenerated, given new life.

Our need of this regeneration is brought out in our text.

Jesus is sending out His disciples to tell about him. They go to what will be a hostile crowd, ones who will deliver them over to their courts, flog them in their synagogues, drag them before governors and kings.

And as soon as we’re inclined to think, What bad people those must be, with all of the delivering and the flogging and the dragging!—we realize we have the same sinful nature they have. We have inherited it from our first parents like they did (even the children among us; That which is born of the flesh is flesh, Jesus says—John 3:6).

This nature that you share with these hostile crowds has been evident in your own life every time you haven’t been eager to hear about Christ or to obey God’s other commandments. You might not have delivered or flogged or dragged anyone; but you’ve sinned in turning off your attention and your heart to God’s inviting just like they did. There would be good reason for you to look in your mirror and say, What a bad person that is!

We baptize because it connects us to Christ our Savior. He is God’s eternal Son, God Himself. He hasn’t inherited the same nature you have. He doesn’t have any sins. So, when He took your sins, your guilt upon Himself—being made guilty of them, the Bible says they were removed from you. They no longer condemn you like they did before. You are forgiven of them.

The Spirit would be speaking through the disciples when they were sent out (we hear that in our text). That’s the way it has to be if God’s message is going to penetrate sinful hearts, putting faith and salvation where there has only been resistance before. The Spirit has to do the speaking. The Spirit speaks to you through God’s Word.

And, He speaks through Baptism. He alerts you to the seriousness of your sins, urging you to repent of them before God, to put them away from yourself—no longer continuing in them. And He shows you the One Who took them and removed them entirely—your Savior, Jesus.

So, these parents have brought these young children here this morning in order that they might hear from the Spirit in the way God has provided, that they might have Him put faith in their hearts that connects them to Christ.

What could we as parents want more than that for our children? What could we want more than God taking them by hand and adopting them into His own family? What could we want more than Him introducing them to their Savior, Who took their sins upon Himself so that they could have His righteousness, so that they could be welcomed into His eternal kingdom?

God Himself has led all of us who are dependent upon Him (including these young children) to where we can find Him in His grace and mercy. The Spirit has spoken to us through His Word this morning. And He has spoken, through Baptism, into the hearts of these children who now know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. God be praised. Amen.

Other Lessons This Week:

Lamentations 3:18-26

My endurance has perished;  so has my hope from the LORD.” Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me.

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the Salvation of the LORD.

1 Peter 2:11-20

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

St. John 16:16-23

[Jesus said], “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.

“When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.”