This Sunday, August 21st: The Most Important Question You’ll Ever Be Asked

In Matthew 16:15, we have recorded that Jesus asked His first disciples: “But who do you say that I am?” Before the Lord had asked this question, the disciples spoke of the diversity of answers coming from the general populace: 1) Some thought that Jesus was a great king who had come to threaten Herod’s rule. That is a political figure, but still a man; 2) others thought Jesus was a great herald of the Messiah who would continue to prepare the way for the true Anointed One, but still a man; and 3) Yet others believed that Jesus was a great prophet who was legend and who perhaps may have been raised from the dead, but — you guessed it — still a man, and I should qualify that these answers were really saying that Jesus was merely a man. In the culture, Jesus was just one flavor of ice cream among many. As one theologian put it, “They thought well of him, but not well enough.” This of course is our colossal problem. We think just well enough of Jesus to coax our consciences into qualifying His identity. But while we have grown past the straight-jacket of the Enlightenment which over-invested in the power of human reason, we have graduated into the season of postmodernism. People now believe that the good thing to do is to treat any personal opinion about Jesus as equally as valid and true as any other idea about the Christ. This won’t do and the Christian faith offers so much more than mere opinion. God breaks into our lives through the Holy Spirit working through the Word of Christ and when this Word reaches us, it puts us into contact with Jesus Himself so that we may speak the divinely commended answer recorded in Matthew 16:16: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” This answer does not come from man’s intellect or reason, but from God Himself. It is the answer of faith and it unites us to the single most important truth we will ever know, because it is in this truth that Jesus is He who forgives all our sins; and the One whose victory over death and the grave wins for us eternal life. May we rejoice in the gift of faith given to us when Christ is the rock upon Whom we are built! When Christ builds us poor sinners into the living stones of His Church and into His people built and equipped with the answer from God Himself for the most important question we will ever be asked. Let us worship the Christ, the Son of the living God!

Last Sunday, we were given the honor to celebrate in Christ the beginning and end of life in Christ. We administered the Sacrament of Holy Baptism for Alyssa Anne Orozco during the morning divine service, then that same afternoon Saint Paul’s conducted the Holy Memorial for Martina Johanna Escher Clark, aka Omi. We thank the Lord for permitting us such service in the Name of the Lord through the ministration of Christ’s Holy Word. We rejoice that the Lord baptizes His people and keeps them in the palms of His hands and then welcomes His children into heaven when they leave this earth. We are so blessed to be the people of God by grace through faith in Jesus Christ! Amen! Pastor Espinosa

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