Video of the Divine Service is here. The sermon begins around the 22:50 mark.

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

Jesus gives us difficult words this morning. And part of the reason they’re difficult is because we are often trained by the world around us, and even by churches, to think of Jesus as someone who is going to swoop in whenever we have a problem, help us out, and then go mind His own business until we need Him again. We think that Jesus is here to help us through this short life, to help us with our problems so we can be as happy as possible. So we have trouble understanding Jesus when He tells us that, in a sense, He’s making more problems, rather than solving ours.

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace on the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but rather a sword.” “The one who finds his life [in this world] will lose it, and the one losing his life for My sake will find it.” Jesus seems to be promoting a sword and death over peace and life. We want Jesus to help us keep the peace, and we want to live as long as possible. Isn’t Jesus about peace and life? Yes. He is the Prince of Peace, of whom the angels sang “peace on earth” at His birth, and just before this He told His disciples to say “peace to this house” wherever they go. He has come to give life and give it abundantly. But because we measure peace and life by what we know in this creation and in our own lives, we mistake comfort for peace and death for life. Jesus comes to cut away all of that. He doesn’t just bring peace, or keep the peace; He is the peace. He doesn’t just give life; He is the life.

And Jesus’ words are the only appropriate words for this world and this age, because nothing and no one is going to get out of here alive. It is a futile world, and sin and death are going to bring it to its end. Jesus doesn’t want you to have the fragile, temporary peace of this world. And He doesn’t want you to have the fragile, finite life of this world. Left to ourselves, we will always choose what we can get now, what we have, what we want, rather than wait patiently in hope for what God promises us.

Think about peace in this world. All it takes is one bullet to break a cease-fire. All it takes is one harsh word or a single misunderstanding to bring an end to the peace we try to keep in our homes. Think about life in this world. We are all going to die, right? Unless Jesus returns first, none of us is going to escape death. This creation itself is going to be purified with fire and recreated. And do we want Jesus to give us just a little more of that? A little bit of time without trouble? A little more time in these decaying bodies? Jesus has appeared in the world to bring an end to everything that is against peace and everything that is against life, and to bring about peace and life in His own body. To find your life in this world, in your family, in your possessions is to find your life in death. None of that will save you. Your parents cannot save you. Your children cannot save you. Instead, bear witness to your unbelieving family and friends by being here, where Jesus is to save you. I must be where Jesus is. I must hear Jesus’ words. I must have His absolution. I must have His body and blood. I must have Him while I am living, and I must have Him when I die. He is the only one whose life lasts beyond my death.

The Jesus whom you hear in His word is the same Jesus who entered into a world of violence, destruction, unrest, division, separation; He entered into a world of lust and greed and selfishness; and He picked up His own cross and took it to His death. He felt the sword of this world’s “peace” and He took all of its disaster into His own flesh. In His resurrection, He begins a new creation where there is only peace, and only life. You have been gathered into His body by baptism, so that He will be your peace in the midst of all your unrest. He is your abundant and overflowing life, in the midst of death. And when you and the members of your family are all joined to Him, you are united more closely than before. Baptismal water is thicker than genealogical blood. The communion you share in Christ is an eternal one, while the one you share by natural birth ends with death.

Hear Him, whenever the word is spoken, because you know that, whatever else happens, whatever divisions the world considers important, Jesus is your peace, and the only peace there is or ever will be. Whatever else happens, even your death, Jesus is your life, and the only life there is or ever will be. And the day is coming when violence, bloodshed, and division are all gone; when all sin and death and the work of the devil are gone. In that creation, in new and undying resurrection bodies, God will be all in all and there will be only peace, only life.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7, ESV). Amen.

— Pr. Timothy Winterstein, 6/30/23