Jupiter Jones was the First Investigator. He was the leader. A resourceful kid, and nephew to Uncle Titus, who owned the Jones Salvage Yard -- where the Three Investigators' headquarters was hidden in a trailer underneath piles of junk. (I think in my mind, this was the role played by Jeff.)
Although it's very popular in Germany. I highly recommend tracking them down, especially for the "middle school" age of readers. The ones labeled "Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators" follow the original plot lines with Hitchcock. Revisions since Hitchcock's death in 1980 have edited him out.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” This morning we hear the chants of praise echoing from the streets of Jerusalem, welcoming Jesus. Voices raised singing psalms to the Savior King as He humbly entered the Holy City, riding on a donkey.
“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” These words from Psalm 118 were chanted to Jesus then, and they are sung to Him even now. Throughout the centuries the Church has continued to praise the Lord with this beautiful confession of faith.
This morning we hear a confession of faith from nine young people in our midst. They have been baptized. They have been catechized in the faith, as taught by the Church of the Augsburg Confession. Today, they acknowledge that gift and make a serious promise. This morning, they vow that they will endure life’s hardships and society’s persecutions; they will even die, if they must, rather than fall from the faith as taught by the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
But what about this confession of faith in the Entrance Gospel for this day? What do these words confess? “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna!” “Hosanna” is a Hebrew word that means, “Save us now, we pray.” It is what David sang in Psalm 118:25 – “Ana’ YHWH hosiah-na’ – Save us, we pray, O LORD!” The crowds gathering around Jesus, trying to get a glimpse of Him, singing for joy, did not take this word lightly. This single word was confessing faith in Christ! The One they shouted to was the One whom they believed could save them!
Granted, even five days before His death, the people still did not understand how Jesus was going to save them. Was He going to incite riots against the Roman garrison in Jerusalem? Was He going to work some miracle that caused the Roman occupation to get up and leave? No one knew. They just knew they were expecting great power and majesty, like one would expect from royalty!
Pastor Tannahill from Gloria Dei in Elizabethtown, Kentucky told a story this week. He was born and raised in Canada. Once as a child, Queen Elizabeth II
came to his hometown and Pastor’s mother wanted to be sure he got to see her. They went to the event, and since the queen is not very tall, Mrs. Tannahill lifted her little boy so he could see above the crowd. “Can you see the Queen?” she asked. “No,” he sadly replied.
That evening, they watched the news. “There!” said Mrs. Tannahill, “Didn’t you see the Queen?” she said, pointing to a lady on the television who had a simple spring dress, a pill box hat, and handbag. “Well yeah, I saw her!” he said,… “That’s the queen?”
The portraits in his school, and other pictures he had seen diplayed the Queen in her regal robes, with crown and scepter, opening parliament, or posing for formal occasions. But this woman simply looked like someone’s mother! A regular person. Seeing her in person was not what he expected. She did not look powerful or regal or queenly.
Likewise, as Jesus entered Jerusalem, He did not look powerful, or regal, or kingly. The type of King that He is, is far different from what the common people expected. They wanted the miracle worker who fed thousands, who healed many. They wanted a man who could show great power and get their land back to the glories of David and Solomon.
We follow that pattern too. We want a powerful Jesus. We want the Jesus who can snap His fingers and produce all that we want or desire. We want a Jesus who will make life easy and trouble-free. We want a Jesus who will simply take away any illnesses or accidents or hardships from us and our loved ones. We want a Jesus who will bless our parish, school, and day care with lots of money, business saavy, and the envy of all the other churches around. We want a Jesus who will answer our self-centered prayers with a big house, expensive cars, HD TV’s, and all the latest things that our friends have. We want a Jesus who will place us in an easy job that we love, and surround us with others who appreciate the work we are doing. We want a Jesus who – plain and simple – is not Jesus!
Repent, dear friends. The people of Jerusalem may not have known any better. But you do. Lusting after the power, and glory of God in the image that we want Him to be, and trying to make that power and glory our own, has been a favorite sin ever since the Fall in the Garden of Eden. And imitating the ways of the world, as if its wisdom and ways were desired more than God’s, only leads to pain and judgment for the church.
Yet the Lord does not manipulate and remove trials from you. He does not wave a royal scepter like a wand and make you a force to be reckoned with, in the ways of the world. Instead, He surrounds you with His love and grace and forgiveness, as He bears your burdens and carries you through every trial and valley.
The wrong idea of Jesus? Even so, in this single word, “Hosanna,” we know that they looked to Jesus as Savior. We join them in this desire to adore our God and King. The people of Jerusalem needed a Savior. Adam and Eve needed a Savior. Those of us gathered here this morning, both now, and every day of our lives, need our Savior!
“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” With these words, the people of Jerusalem also confessed that Jesus is the Son of David. Not only is He Savior, but He is King! This Descendant of King David was recognized for who He was, again, even if not completely understood. He is a Savior. And as a descendant of David, He is One who could claim the throne. He is Messiah – the Anointed One – the Christ who is the Promised King. This Royal Heir had Divine right to rule over them, and they welcomed the Anointed One!
Yes, Jesus is King. He does rule over all. But His kingdom is not of this world. He is, as many Hebrew prayers state, “King of the Universe.” Yet He has no geographic realm. His rule is spiritual, godly, and eternal – far surpassing any worldly ideas or ideals of what a king is to be or do. He goes beyond any limits of our imaginations for our ultimate King.
Why? Because the Son of David is also the Son of God! He IS the LORD, God Almighty in the flesh. Jesus Christ, our Savior and King is our God!
“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” With the Name of God invoked, He brings His presence to His people. When two or three are gathered in His Name – “The Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” – God blesses and bestows His presence.
Jesus, being God, brought the presence of the Lord wherever He was. Riding into Jerusalem, Jesus was (and is) God in the flesh! They were blessed to behold their King and to see and hear God – Jesus – coming in the Name of the Lord! But they were not alone!
These nine youth have a lot on their minds this morning. My fervent prayer is that they are ever-mindful of one thing: Jesus bringing His presence in the Divine Service. We hear Him and receive Him week after week in His Word and in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. Jesus DOES come to us. And every Sunday – every Lord’s Day – is a celebration of that presence.
That is why the Divine Service is the most important thing in any Christian’s life, whether they realize it or not. It is central to our faith. It is where God comes and gives Himself as a Gift! It is where the Lord feeds us so we have the strength and nourishment to continue in life. When people truly understand this, they desire to come to the Divine Service.
Dear youth, this morning you are swearing to the Lord God Almighty that you will be faithful and regular in coming to His House, receiving His preaching, confessing your sin, and partaking of His Holy Eucharist. This is a solemn vow that there is nothing more important to you than coming to the Divine Service in Christ’s Church!
The devil and the world will tempt you. They will try to convince you how boring it is to come to the Divine Service. Your friends and even family may try to persuade you that it is better to sleep in, play sports, watch a movie, or to go somewhere else that is supposedly more fun. It is a tough battle, and Satan will try hard to harass you. Even when you do come, the devil will try to convince you to let your heart and mind drift from the Holy Gifts that our Savior gives.
But our dear and blessed Savior is there. The same Jesus who hears our “Hosannas” and “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!” is still there. He continues to forgive us, even as we drift during the Divine Service. When we confess to our pastor and hear Holy Absolution, He forgives us. When we hear His Gospel preached, He forgives us. When we receive His Holy Body and Blood, He forgives us.
Forgiven and strengthened, Jesus our Savior-King makes you bold to confront His enemies, and unapologetic for your need of and dedication to His Divine Service. He brings you to cherish the very Gifts that have delivered His forgiveness; and gives you the wisdom to know the wonder and amazement of receiving more and more of Jesus!
And with joy, we respond to that forgiveness, singing as His redeemed saints, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”
St. Matthew 26:30-75
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Boy! Did Peter ever blow it! Denying that he even knew Jesus! Not just once. THREE times! What a coward. And he even had fair warning to try to avoid it! How sad that he denied Jesus in front of others!
We too deny Him. We deny Him when we choose to go other places and be with other people rather than worship. We deny Him when we show up for Vespers or the Divine Service, but let our minds wander, thinking about a game we’d rather be watching, or who’s going to sing the best on American Idol tonight, or concentrate on the new dress, or hair style, or even baby in the next pew. We deny Jesus when we keep quiet about our faith, so that we don’t “offend” anyone or “cause any trouble.”
Then again, not only do we deny Jesus to others, trying to hide our relationship with Him, but perhaps our greater problem is that we also deny that He truly comes among us. We deny that He is more than an historical figure. Old Adam likes the idea of the Ascended Christ stuck up in heaven, not able to interact with us. But my dear friends in Christ, that is not how He works! Jesus comes to us, in His glorified body, and acts and speaks to us!
When we manipulate what God’s Word says, we can deny Jesus in Holy Baptism. Yes! We 
Calling this Gift our action says, “Jesus, I don’t recognize You! I don’t need You here. I’ve got it all under control. We’ll call You when we need You!”
But it is the Holy Spirit at work in that font, stirring the waters of Bethesda to heal us; washing of the mud of blindness in the Sent pool of Siloam; cleansing us from the leprosy of sin in the Jordan. He forgives, rescues, and saves as He delivers our dear Lord Christ through His drenchingly wet Word.
Often we deny the work and authority of Jesus in Holy Absolution. Yes! We deny Jesus in Holy Absolution! That is why so few people avail themselves of this sacrament! We don’t really believe that Jesus is working and speaking through His ministers to hear our confessions and remove those sins forever.
Our Lord and Merciful Judge has authorized His Twelve Apostles, and the generations of pastors that follow them until His glorious return, to hear our confessions, and bestow absolution, that is forgiveness, from the pastor as from God Himself, not doubting, but firmly believing that by it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven.
Dear friends in Christ, this could be the single most ignored doctrine in the 21st century Lutheran Church. Officially we still believe, teach, and confess that the private confession of sins to our pastor is the norm. And yet, a watered-down rite that removes the individual contact and assurance from our Lord, intended to supplement that private confession, has (in practice) become the sad substitute.
The reality is that our general confession as a congregation is NOT what Luther speaks of in the Catechism. It is NOT what Jesus is talking about in John, chapters 20 and 21. It is intended to be a reminder of why it is necessary to make individual confession to our pastor in Christ.
Refusing to do so is denying Christ. Rejecting His Holy Gift of Individual Confession and Holy Absolution is telling Jesus that we don’t really believe that He is hearing our confession and speaking that liberating, joy-filled forgiveness.
After Jesus’ resurrection, He confronts Saint Peter on the beach. Three times He asks Peter if he loves Jesus. There is no mistake here. Jesus asks precisely the number of times that Peter denied Him. But He quickly and firmly gives Peter the command to feed and tend the Lord’s sheep. Peter is absolved, and assured that he is still in Christ’s Church, and part of His plan.
You too, are part of His Church, and part of His plan. Dear friends, do not deny or refuse Jesus the opportunity to forgive and renew you! Do not ignore Him or act ashamed of Him! Return to the Lord. Blessed Martin Luther once said we should value this means of grace so highly that we would walk a hundred miles to confess and receive absolution from a pastor! He also said that the people should be demanding their pastors to hear their confessions.
I don’t see too many shoes that worn tonight. Not many of us have urged and demanded our pastors for this gift. We stand convicted, my friends. We have denied Jesus.
And our fits of unbelief continue. We deny Jesus in the Holy Supper. Modern Lutherans stray from what we have believed, taught, and confessed for nearly 500 years. Jesus says that the bread and wine ARE His Body and Blood. But did He really mean that? Surely, He doesn’t actually mean that they become His flesh and blood! …So says Satan.
Christ our Lord speaks His Word, and the bread and wine as elements of His creation have no choice! They MUST be His Body and Blood! No longer common things, they can never again be mingled and mixed with other wafers of bread, or bottles or decanters of common wine. He never says that these items cease to be His Body and Blood, and so we treat them with the dignity and respect that these items are divine!
When we treat the Blessed Sacrament non-chalantly, or walk about His sanctuary and enter His Holy Place with disrespect or disregard, we are denying Him. When we think that this is some ordinary food and drink, or approach His altar with gum or a mint in our mouth, we are denying that this Holy Food IS GOD!
Historically, Lutherans continued the fast from midnight the night before receiving the Holy Eucharist, that their cleansed and empty stomachs would receive the Lord more properly. Only the children, the elderly, and those with health problems ate breakfast before the Divine Service.
Are you denying Jesus by not fasting? No. Not necessarily. But the thoughts and actions and attitudes with which one approaches the Holy Altar declare volumes about us. And often, those thoughts and actions and attitudes are denying Him.
Tonight we hear even Peter, Prince of the Apostles, first among twelve equals, one of Jesus’ three closest friends, deny that he even knew Jesus! And we realize that daily we sin much and frequently deny our Lord as well.
Yet even as our Savior strolled on the beach with Simon Peter, individually hearing him and speaking to him, and thereby absolving him, so also Jesus speaks to you. He holds no grudge. Christ does not keep you from entering His kingdom due to your denials. He reaches out to you in love, speaking to you through the voice and the forgiving touch of your pastors. He gathers the scattered and joins us in the unity of His Holy Church, cleansed by His blood at Baptism, renewed by His absolving Word, and refreshed by His saving Body and Blood in His Eucharist.
Yes, dear repentant friends in Christ, you may rest assured that our loving Savior has removed your guilt and will never deny you. Tonight, you go down to your houses justified. Amen.
Saint John 9:1-41
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
Jesus saw the man. Blind from birth, our Lord had compassion on him. His heart went out to the blind man. How does He help? It sounds gross, but Jesus spits. He spits and makes mud from some dirt, and smears it on the man’s eyes. Water from the mouth of God works with the very earth from which man was made, and anoints the man’s eyes. And as the words and promises of God, 
which tell him to wash in a pool named Siloam – Sent – as those words and promises of God declared, he is healed!
Think about it! He hadn’t seen Jesus to know who He was. Once healed, the formerly blind man didn’t even know who to thank! But he knew one thing – this was no ordinary man who healed him. He was some prophet from God. In fact, he was soon to discover that this was THE Prophet of whom Moses spoke. The Sent One. The Messiah. The Son of Man. God-in-the-flesh.
God had sent Moses to deliver the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land. He sent King David to lead the people into being a great kingdom on earth. He sent Solomon to build His temple. He sent Elijah, Isaiah, and others to be His preachers to His Old Testament Church. He sent Saint John the Baptizer to prepare the way of the Lord.
And now the Father had sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that through Him the world might be saved. Through the season of Advent, we remembered that the Sent One would come, and at Christmas, the festival celebrates that our Sent Savior IS come. Now, throughout the holy season of Lent, we reflect on the suffering and death for our salvation, and His rising from the dead, that were the entire purpose of His being sent!
This is the same death and resurrection into which you were baptized! A blessing with great benefits!
What benefits does Baptism give?
It works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.
Which are these words and promises of God?
Christ our Lord says in the last chapter of Mark: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe, will be condemned.”
Jesus, THE Sent One, sends this Blind Man to wash and be healed. Like the baptismal font He sent you to, those waters were attached to His promise, and brought you healing. Sure, your body may have problems. You are not free from all sickness or injury. Yet a healing of your soul from sin, and a healing of your body that you cannot yet see, one that prepares you to live in both body and soul with Him forever, has taken place.
And the sending continues. Our dear Lord Jesus keeps on sending you. He sends you to His house week after week. Sometimes we go, other times perhaps we do not listen. But He sends us to His holy liturgy to hear His Word preached and taught, and to respond with thanks and praise. He sends us to His altar, to receive His blessing, and to taste His forgiveness, life, and salvation! He sends us to our pastors to hear His absolution freely given to all who repent.
And from His services, the Lord sends us out into the world. We are living witnesses to all around us, as our words and actions declare what He has done for us. Our Savior sends us to live in faith toward God and in fervent love toward one another. That love from God is shown in how we live our lives. If we are parents, by being good parents; if we are children, by being obedient children; if teachers, than teaching to the best of our abilities; if students, then by cooperating and doing our very best at our lessons.
Just two days ago, we had another example of being sent. The Lord preserved the life of Emma Oberdieck in a car collision. He sends her now to be a living witness to His divine protection.
Others have been through such wrecks and were taken to their Lord in paradise. In those cases, their loved ones are sent as living witnesses of the loving consolation and comfort of Christ – the only One who can lead them through such grief.
The blind man’s parents were sent too. But they did not do such a good job. They were scared. They were frightened by the leaders of their synagog – their church – knowing that they would be kicked out if they said Jesus is the Messiah. So they kept quiet. They did not get kicked out, but they acted like they were ashamed of Jesus, and were not only hurting themselves, but anyone that they could have told about Jesus Christ.
How often are we that cowardly? How frequently do we take the easy way out, and avoid being made fun of, or avoid hurting someone’s feelings, instead of speaking the truth about our Savior?! For most of us, we do that far too often!
In your Baptism, you are sent to be a picture of Christ to those around you. You are sent to “hear His Word, receive His gifts, and proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.” [Order of Holy Baptism, LSB 271.]
How well do we do at proclaiming those praises? Even if we go to church every week, can we honestly say that our actions proclaim the praises of Jesus 24/7? Not a chance!
But don’t go home sad, or angry, or depressed! I have Good News! Our dear Lord Jesus has paid the price for your sin! Because He was sent to save us, you are forgiven for every single instance of failing in the tasks He sends you to do. Your guilt is gone for every word of Christ that you failed to speak. You are cleansed from the shame of every thought of Jesus that you failed to think.
God is not keeping some grade book that is marking bad grades for not being perfect Christians. Instead, He is blessing us all with the extra credit that our Savior won on the cross, and giving it to us all, so that each of us now have a glorious 100% in the Book of Life!
There is another one sent this morning, that we all should remember. Mrs. Tanya Johnson has been sent by God to teach in Lutheran schools. Currently she has been sent to Wisconsin. This past week, we have called her and have asked her to consider with prayer whether this should be the school to which she is sent. We ask the Lord to bless her with wisdom to know where He may use her knowledge, talents, and abilities best.
As we pause this morning, and celebrate National Lutheran Schools Week, we praise God for the gift of Lutheran Schools, and in particular, the blessing of this school for this congregation and community, for 147 years. We thank God for the first pastors that He sent to Saint John’s, who taught school in the log cabin parsonage when they could. We thank God for Julius Prelle, whom God sent to Saint John’s as our first full-time teacher over 100 years ago. We thank the Lord for the many blessings of teachers, and buildings, and families, and gifts that He has sent to make this a great place to grow, where children are nurtured in Christ.
Praise the Lord, dear friends and students! Jesus Christ is sent for you, that you may be sent to heaven, forever, with Him. Rejoice, dear sent ones! Rejoice in our Lord, who is sent for you! Amen!
