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87. If the earth and heaven are renewed, why should we doubt that man, on account of whom heaven and earth were made, can be renewed? If the transgressor be reserved for punishment, why should not the just be kept for glory? If the worm of sins does not die, how shall the flesh of the just perish? For the resurrection, as the very form of the word shows, is this, that what has fallen should rise again, that which has died should come to life again.
The Church falters when Christians refuse to pray, confess, and reconcile in conflict, but Christ’s unyielding mercy calls them to lay their grievances at the altar and be made whole.
This is Jesus: the Spirit-anointed Servant, chosen and beloved of the Father, who does not conquer by shouting, does not redeem by politicking, does not establish His kingdom by power plays. He redeems by mercy. He conquers by weakness. He saves by suffering.
You don’t love God. You don’t love your neighbor. But Jesus does. Jesus loves His Father completely, and Jesus loves His neighbor completely. And then He dies for every failure of yours. He dies for the times you looked away. He dies for the grudges you still carry. He dies for the names you called people in your heart. He dies for your selfishness, your coldness, your Cain-heart. And in exchange, He gives you His heart. His Spirit. His love. Paul says in Romans 5: “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” You don’t love by nature. You love by gift. And the gift is Jesus.
This is your hope: what He begins here, He will complete on the Last Day. The blind shall see, the deaf hear, the mute sing, the dead rise. For the same Jesus who opened eyes and loosed tongues has conquered death itself. “Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5). Therefore, we join the blind men in their prayer: “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” This is the Church’s daily cry. In sickness, in sorrow, in sin—we cry for mercy. And Christ answers. Not always with a miracle of healing, but always with forgiveness, always with His presence, always with the promise of resurrection.
As Jesus cried out, “Ephphatha!” more ears were opened and more tongues confessed. Within eleven years, the congregation had grown so that it called its first teacher, Jakob Brater, to assist the pastor in opening the children’s ears to Christ and His Word. In that same year, some of our own who lived closer to Cascade began a new congregation there. And through fire and plague and Civil War, Jesus continued to open ears and loosen tongues, with new buildings, new congregations, and pastor after pastor. His Word went out and the people of Sherman Center “were astonished beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak’” (Mk 7:37).
Whether you are standing behind a counter, sitting in a cubicle, driving a truck, or managing a household, take heart: your work matters. It is not wasted in God’s sight.
Here, Pharisees and tax collectors, hypocrites and doubters, saints and sinners, come together as one. Here you confess together: “I, a poor miserable sinner, confess unto You all my sins and iniquities.” And here you hear together: “I forgive you.” Here you cry out: “Lord, have mercy.” And here you hear: “Take, eat; take, drink. This is My body, this is My blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Come, then. Come with your shame, your guilt, your fear, your grief. Come as a sinner. Come to the altar where Christ welcomes sinners. And go home justified.
