Video of the Divine Service is here. The sermon begins around the 26:20 mark.

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

“The time is fulfilled. The Kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the Gospel.” Those are the words with which Jesus begins His preaching, and they encompass everything He ever said or did. The time of God is fulfilled, and He has sent His beloved Son into the world, Jesus, our Savior. The Kingdom of God has come near to you. Today is the day of salvation. Repent and believe the Gospel.

What happens when the Kingdom of God comes near? Jesus goes to the house of Simon and Andrew, and they tell Him that Simon’s mother-in-law is lying sick with a fever. Jesus draws near to her, stretches out His hand, and raises her up. She doesn’t need any recover time. She gets up and begins to serve them. Then, at night, Mark says the whole village drew near to the house, and they brought people with all sorts of sicknesses, illnesses, weaknesses, and Jesus healed them, and cast out many demons beside. The Kingdom of God has come near to them.

Then He goes out to a wilderness place and prays. Simon finds Him and says, “People are looking for You.” He says, “Let’s go to the other villages nearby, in order that I may preach there also. For this reason I came out.” So He went preaching in their synagogues in the whole of Galilee, and casting out demons.” The time is fulfilled, and so the Kingdom of God goes out by the preaching of Jesus to all the surrounding places. That’s why He appeared there. It’s not just about souls being saved so we can get rid of these bodies and fly away into heaven. This Kingdom encompasses both bodies and souls. He doesn’t preach only so that the effects of sin and death can be erased and souls can be eternal. He preaches so that the power of sin, the power of death—including sickness and bodily weakness—and the power of the devil—demons cast out—are all broken. The Kingdom of God comes near in Jesus, and people are taken out of the kingdom of the devil and put into the Kingdom of God, with Jesus as Lord. This is why Jesus was born, why He lived, why He died, and why He rose from the dead: so that this evil-destroying, life-giving word would go out to every place.

And it does in the Gospel of Luke, but it’s interesting (at least to me) that after Mark 1:39, Jesus is never again in the Gospel the subject of that word “preaching/proclaiming.” He says that He must go to all the other towns and preach, but He’s not the one who does it in the rest of the Gospel. The former leper does it, after Jesus tells him not to (1:45). The former demoniac does it, after Jesus tells him not to (5:20). Those who saw the former deaf-mute healed do it (7:36). The Twelve do it (3:14; 6:12; 16:15, 20). And Jesus says it will be preached (13:10; 14:9). But He is not the subject of that verb in the rest of the Gospel.

Of course, it is still His word, His Kingdom, and His preaching, but it goes out from other people’s mouths. He restores bodies and souls, and then those people go proclaim it, announce it, preach it, whenever they have the opportunity. It is still Jesus’ word, and it cannot be otherwise, if it is to do what Jesus does, but it is spoken by other people. Jesus’ words must go out; He says so. That’s why He appeared in the world, that’s why He traveled on, that’s what He’s still doing by His Word, because He’s ascended to the powerful right hand of God. It must go out, and it does—by you, and by me. Now, don’t worry; if you and I fail, He will still get His word out. It doesn’t depend on us in that sense. But He has brought His Kingdom near to you, purchased and won you from the kingdom of sin, death, and the devil; you belong to Him now. And His Kingdom continues to come near: your sins are forgiven! He puts His Name on sinners in Holy Baptism. Here, He gives you His living body and blood to eat and drink.

This is what the Church is and does: the location of His Word, and the way He brings it to people. He does it by means of some preacher, in the broad sense. Here, publicly, He does it by the pastor, who still, if he’s any pastor at all, announces the fact: the time is fulfilled! The Kingdom of God has come near to you! Repent and believe in the Gospel! But if you think it’s the pastor’s job to magically fill the church with people, you’re going to be disappointed. You go out to all sorts of places where I will never be. You know all sorts of people I do not know right now. The word of Jesus goes out, and it does so with you. It’s not the job of the evangelism committee. They have their vocations, and their relationships, and their gifts. But they will probably not be where you are, with the people you know. The word of Jesus goes out, and it goes out with you.

This is, really, how it’s always been, from the very beginning. The word went out, people heard it, believed it, and the power of sin, death, and the devil over them was broken by Jesus. People spoke the word of Jesus to other people, and said, like Philip to Nathaniel, “Come and see!” So they did. And some of them believed, and they were baptized. And Jesus took them out of the kingdom of the devil, and put them in His Kingdom, and became their Lord. And their Lord fed them with His body and blood, and kept them in His Kingdom until they died. So it goes: evangelism, which is simply telling people that God has given them His salvation and life in Jesus; then, baptism; then supper, and life together in Christ.

The time is fulfilled, the Kingdom of God has come near, and repentance and faith follow. Those whom Jesus has gathered into the Kingdom have His Word and Spirit, so wherever you and I go, His Word and Spirit go with us. He gives us opportunity to speak of Him, and we do, and then He does His work—not on our timeline, obviously, but His Word will not be stopped or silenced until the last day. And some of those who believe join us here, and we continue to live from and in the life of Christ. It’s like blood in the body: we are gathered in, to Jesus, who is our heart, our life, the vine; and then we go out to the places where God has put us; and then we come back in, and others come with us, from our families, our friends—whomever God has put in front of us. And together, we rejoice in Christ and His life, until the day when He raises us all from the dead to live with our Lord forever. His word must go out, and it will.

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, 2/2/24