The description of Christ coming into Jerusalem as "humble" is too often reduced to an antithetical expression against worldly pride and power. He comes on a donkey so as to contrast coming as a war general on a horse, etc. These analysis don't go far enough. The particular word here in Zechariah 9:9-12 is that He comes in a distressed and miserable way. This creates quite the scene: He is being greeted with great joy as the King who saves even as He comes in misery. This misery is depicted as He rides the foal of a donkey -- on an ass that still follows the mother ass -- a beast of burden that is still beneath its mother that it follows. Jesus comes miserably. And so many did not understand. How can we know joy in this scene? It is because He enters willfully in order to know the greatest misery...on the cross that He took on just days after that first Palm Sunday. He came willingly to suffer this great distress in order to make us righteous; in order to bring us salvation...to end our strife, to give us eternal peace, to free us from the "waterless pit (Zechariah 9:11)." In His misery the greatest victory was won, the greatest power was enacted, the greatest feat was conducted. In His misery true joy has come to be known. He entered into Jerusalem that day to take away your sins!

In Christ,

Dr. Espinosa

We forget the violent, painful, and deadly aspect to Holy Baptism. It kills the Old Adam. It drowns the sinful nature. It destroys the flesh. A death must occur before resurrection. Our Lord Jesus Christ spoke of His cup and His baptism which described the immense flood of pain, torture and wrath that He would endure in order to save us from our sins. He was willing to do it out of great love and mercy for you and me! What is additionally amazing about this text is that our Lord prophesied that His disciples James and John would undergo a similar baptism. They would know the cross of discipleship; they would be persecuted for following Christ. We too must live in fulfillment of the cup and cross that is laid upon every true disciple of the Living Lord (see Matthew 16:24).

At the same time it is vital not to mistake this cup and cross. This is not the occasion for self-salvation or self-redemption. This is not suffering in order to merit mercy. No way. Furthermore, we must guard against the other extreme. Namely, that we should dismiss this idea of cup and baptism altogether. This is not a popular idea. After-all, what kind of God would permit and even intend for His children to bear a cross?

We must understand that our Lord never desires any of us to suffer for any reason. At the same time, it is precisely on account of our sinful nature that seeks to destroy us, that we need a cross to crucify it. We cannot coddle it nor counsel it; it must be drowned. That's getting back to baptism. If our sinful self is not dealt with to the extreme, then it will gladly envelope and devastate our whole lives to the extreme especially so that we would lose our faith. The Lord allows us enough of a cross to permit us to be conformed to His image. Like the Savior, so are the Christians! This is evident in the account of the martyrs for example.

But you are not a martyr you say? Do you subdue your flesh? Then there is a important part of your life that is very much like those holy martyrs. There is a part of you that enters death.

But how can we poor sinners possibly live in such a life? The answer gets back to Christ's cup. Receive it and drink from it. Receive His blood that represents the ultimate price paid to save you. But when you receive it, you also receive Christ's life and in His life -- in Christ Himself -- you will be lifted up to follow Him by His almighty power and promise to save you!

In Christ,

Dr. Espinosa

Dear Christians,

The Word of the Lord: "[Jesus said:] 'As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." (John 3:14-15). It matters in what way we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ! That's why some presentations of Christ -- even from some churches -- raise concern to say the least. Sometimes Jesus is presented as a magic word or rabbit's foot; sometimes we are told to "know him" in a very ill-defined way so as to open the window for religious relativism: believe in the "Jesus" of your own making, etc.

In John 3, Jesus provided Nicodemus with a kind of object lesson. As Nicodemus was very confused about Christ's teaching on being born again, Jesus draws him a picture by taking him back to what must have been a familiar Old Testament account that Nicodemus had probably known since childhood: the Numbers 21 presentation of Moses with the bronze serpent on a pole and the saving of those bitten by the fiery serpents on the ground. Jesus intended to clear things up for Nicodemus; He was showing Nicodemus in what way Christ is to be believed in.

What is eliminated is to believe in Him as in a kind of magic or mystical pass for getting into heaven; or a kind of trust in His good life or moral teachings for us to imitate; or viewing Him as a kind of representative to remind us of a generic and universal "love of God" with no concern of form or content of the faith. These won't do.

Instead, Jesus said -- in so many words -- to believe in me for eternal life is to believe in the Son of man, the Savior who was lifted up; who was crucified! The bronze serpent in Numbers 21 that was lifted up had the form and appearance of the poisonous snakes after which it was modeled. Likewise, Jesus was revealed in the form of our sinful flesh and was lifted up on the cross of Calvary. The bronze serpent, however, had no poison and was perfectly harmless, in the same way, Christ -- though He took our flesh -- had no sin in Him. He was holy and harmless. Indeed, it was a very strange curse that fell on Him while He was crucified! And finally, just as whoever believed God's promise and looked in faith at the bronze serpent remained alive, so also every sinner that has been poisoned by sin in its various forms, may now look to Jesus the Savior and while trusting in God's promise, will not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16).

That is, Jesus is teaching us on how and in what way to believe in Him. Believe in the true Christ who was crucified for you; who was lifted up for you. In this being lifted up, He truly took your sin upon Himself; He was truly punished in your place; He truly -- in the full legal sense -- took your sin and death. Some just cannot accept this. People will say and do say, "It is too unjust; God just couldn't allow this to happen!" And yet that is exactly what happened and this was how far the Lord went to save you!

Luther would tolerate no compromise on knowing Christ as He truly was...the incarnate Lord who came to be lifted up for you and the full implications of this confirm your salvation as you look to Him and believe. Luther said, "And all the prophets saw this, that Christ was to become the greatest thief, murderer, adulterer, robber, desecrator, blasphemer, etc., there has ever been anywhere in the world." (AE 26, 277)

And in being lifted up, it meant two things: not only His being lifted up in space and time when He was crucified, but He was also lifted up to be glorified. Yes, even on the cross, because it was there where His atoning blood covered your sin; it was there where you were saved and the Father was glorified: the Son had accomplished that purpose for which He was sent...to save sinners; to save you; to save me!

In Christ,

Dr. Espinosa

I love the season of Lent, but I must say that these pulpit-exchanges have made it even more fulfilling. Two weeks ago, I was blessed to serve the people at Redeemer Lutheran Church, Huntington Beach, and this past week, the royal priests at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, San Diego. I rejoice in the fact that several LC-MS congregations in Southern California are excited about the work going on with "Servants of the Word," LC-MS pastors and other servants (like Deaconess Linda Seward who is also a member of my congregation), who have a love and passion for our Lutheran tradition which is of course enveloped in the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ. We love the fact for example that there is a strong mutual encouragement among us to retain our historic liturgy, to preach sermons based on Law and Gospel, and to conduct ministries which emphasize -- and do not minimize -- the Sacraments of our Lord Jesus Christ. One of those Sacraments is that of holy absolution.

Article XIII of the Apology of the Augsburg Confession states, "Therefore, Baptism, the Lord's Supper, and Absolution (which is the Sacrament of Repentance) are truly Sacraments." (Concordia, 2nd Edition, 184). When Luther wrote of this precious gift of confession and absolution in A Brief Exhortation To Confession, he put the gift into perspective:

"If you were a Christian, then you ought to be happy to run more than a hundred miles to Confession and not let yourself be urged to come. You should rather come and compel us to give you the opportunity. For in this matter the compulsion must be the other way around: we must act under orders, you must come into freedom. We pressure no one, but we let ourselves be pressured, just as we let people compel us to preach to administer the Sacrament."

Luther then says, "When I urge you to go to Confession, I am doing nothing else than urging you to be a Christian." (Concordia, 2nd Edition, 653)

Luther was pointing to the command given to those serving in the office of the ministry. When pastors hear the confession of God's people unto the Lord, then they are commanded to impute, proclaim, and put upon the penitent the holy absolution -- the sacred forgiveness of Jesus which in itself gives the atoning work of Christ -- to the one confessing. From the perspective of the penitent (the one confessing) this free gift of the Gospel is so certain, so accessible, so powerful, so enlivening, that the penitent is "happy to run more than a hundred miles" to receive this precious gift.

The pastor is bound by sacred oath not to divulge anything you confess; and he is commanded by Christ to give you God's holy absolution when you confess your sins. This is one of those means of grace and sacraments which connects us to the saving work of Jesus which was conducted 2000 years ago outside the city gates of Jerusalem on the hill of the skull.

Our pulpit exchange is dedicated to going to the Word of Christ pertaining to holy absolution and proclaiming the Lord's Word on this precious gift. Furthermore, we are looking forward to A Catechism Convocation for the People on "Confession and Holy Absolution: The Keys in Action." This will be held on Saturday, April 21st, 2012 at Trinity Lutheran Church, 11716 Floral Dr., Whittier, CA 90601-2834.

At this convocation, I will speak on "Individual Confession and Absolution as Integral to Pastoral Care: An Apologetic," Rev. Robert Dargatz of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Orange will discuss exegetical and systematic considerations on private confession and absolution, and our very special guest, Rev. Dr. Lawrence R. Rast, Jr., President, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN will discuss private confession and absolution in the history of the Lutheran Church.

We can't wait to share these further insights on the importance of this precious gift!

Please tune in to www.issuesetc.org on Monday, March 19th at 2 pm when I'll be interviewed on my contribution to the convocation.

In Christ,

Dr. Espinosa

Dear Christians, We should never get the impression that our Lord made His best diplomatic effort to reach people, but that things somehow got our of control and as a result He was unexpectedly rejected, persecuted, tortured, and then crucified. No, that's not what happened. Jesus started His public ministry off with a "bang!" and made a lot of enemies. When He entered Jerusalem on the Passover and saw what was happening in the temple, He had to act, and act immediately. There was no coddling what was sinful; this was not the time for counseling. There was nothing to negotiate.

Those actually participating in the transformation of the temple's outer court into a marketplace, probably thought they were fully justified. After-all people needed the proper animals for the sacrifices and people needed the proper coinage in order to pay the temple tax. They were facilitating the religious needs of the people. They must have thought they had great reasons for doing what they were doing. Such are the operations and rationalizations of sinners!

What they were actually doing was making a mockery of God's House! The Scriptures in Zechariah 14 said that Gentiles would come to worship God in Jerusalem. If this was going to happen, then this outer court taken over by the marketplace was in fact cutting them off! Thus the Scriptures were being denied and rejected by such actions. But more importantly, the very worship of God the Father was being withheld. When Jesus saw this, there was only one reaction...and it was one that was going to "consume" Him...it was going to get Him killed. He knew it, and did not avoid it, not for a micro-second!

So much for the hyper-gentle images of Jesus. Jesus acted out with an angry, but holy love. He made a whip and drove out both men and animals, He scattered the coins and turned over tables, and He shouted "get out of here!" One might wonder why some did not resist Him! No one could: God was angry and no one can resist God under such circumstances. But there was no sin in His action. This was about giving honor to the Father, it was about defending the Scriptures, but it was also about providing for the salvation of all people...even those selling in the temple...and even for you.

Christ's zeal continued all the way to the cross. Nothing was going to stop Him from giving His life for you and your sin. We are now called -- in Romans 12:11 -- to also be zealous. In fact, to "never be lacking in zeal." As those redeemed by Christ, we too have zeal in speaking the truth in love, standing by the Word, and keeping the worship of God! Such zeal is Christ's zeal and it keeps the world in contact with His Word and Sacrament so that people continue to know the Savior who drove out their sin by taking their sin; the Savior who was zealous for them, even to the point of dying in their stead. Jesus was zealous for you!

In His Peace,

Dr. Espinosa

We have the delightful blessing of participating in a Lenten pulpit-exchange with some other LC-MS congregations and pastors! This evening, March 7th, Rev. Brandon Jones of St. Paul's, Long Beach led our worship. These are the other guest pastors we look forward to welcoming:

On March 14th: Pastor Paul Wilweber of Prince of Peace, San Diego.

On March 21st: Pastor Jeff Springer of Trinity, Whittier.

On March 28th: Pastor Daniel Harmelink of Redeemer, Huntingon Beach.

All of our mid-week services are held at my home, 21986 Mae Circle in Lake Forest. Soup suppers begin at 6 pm and then the service begins at 7 pm. Please come and invite a friend!

This past Wednesday, Pastor Jones preached on "The Paralysis of Sin/The Power of Forgiveness (Mark 2:1-12)."

My assignment in this exchange -- which I preached on for the first time at Redeemer Lutheran Church, Huntington Beach on March 7th -- is "Confession and Holy Absolution: The Keys in Action (Matthew 16:13-20)." This sermon is being made available on this website and I understand is also on the Redeemer website in audio form.

We must be aware that the evil one attacks the foundations of what delivers the saving Gospel to people. He attacks the Church. One of the enemies' strategies is to try to convince people that the Church is the invention of men, derived from the imagination of men to serve the power and agendas of men. Wrong! Christ says clearly in Matthew 16: "I will build my church (verse 18)."

What is truly exciting is that the Lord Jesus Christ includes the blueprints for this building! He describes confession as that instrument for constructing the household of faith, His body, His people into a house of living stones. This happens in Church where we confess our sin and confess our faith. To truly get to the point of confessing as St. Peter did, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (verse 16)," -- and to do so with the true meaning behind the words --  it is also necessary to confess our great need for this Anointed One, sent from the Father to save sinners!

The united voice of the Church uses the same words -- a common confession -- of the saving faith, and she also approaches the Lord in the same way: through the confession of sins. There is no other way to approach the Holy God! And when we do approach this way, He is eager to put upon us His Holy Absolution. This means of grace delivers the atoning blood of Christ to us poor sinners! When we receive God's absolution in Church we receive His voice from heaven declaring us forgiven and released from the bondage of sin and death. It is the Lord's heavenly voice and His divine authority which liberates us to live as His people here on earth!

This is that means of grace that is threatened by extinction. We have lost our appreciation for private confession and absolution and want to replace it with the mere discussion about the Gospel or "declarations" of the content of the Gospel. And while it is true that we may also receive God's grace through preaching, teaching, and personal witness, we neglect God's gifts when we exclude absolution. Furthermore, while the "general confessions" on Sunday mornings also serve an important purpose, we must be careful that such confessions do not lead us to gloss over our individual struggles and doubts, or tempt us to hide unrepentant attitudes. That is to say, private confession and absolution addresses all of these concerns.

As the Church we need to rediscover this invaluable asset. We are given pastors to be the Lord's mouthpiece and compassionate hand upon our heads, etching the cross into our foreheads while applying the Lord's direct and personal absolution so that all doubts about our forgiveness are destroyed. As Lutherans we know that such personal service is not mandatory, but we rejoice that the things of the Gospel are never viewed through the lens of legalism, but treated as what they actually are: gifts! These are things we love to receive, especially when we discover the power of such direct forgiveness upon our personal and specific sins which may plague our conscience. This is not about the enumeration of sins which is impossible, but about giving to God that sin or sins which burden our souls and raise doubts in even the most devout believers.

But we must remember that it is a gift. This is never a matter of twisting arms. Christ calls us to Himself, and then He appoints His spokesmen, His stewards, not to judge, not to condemn, but to heal the burdened child of God who needs the healing Gospel applied to them throughout their life. I can never put into words how much I have been helped and blessed through my pastor-confessors who have served me as the stewards of Jesus!

May the Lord bless us to return to the good things He has given to us. He has given His Church the power of His forgiveness. Let us seek it out regularly and frequently, because the battle that rages against us is very real, but nothing is stronger than His constant forgiveness through His blood shed on Calvary's cross and His victorious resurrection. These are what come to the sinner who confesses their sin; and through such confession in the saving Gospel we know the power of the Gospel itself, that which the Lord works through to build His Church!

In Christ,

Dr. Espinosa

We have a hard time accepting that specific persons come with specific actions. We want to love our family member who is engaged in a life-style that is against our faith and morals and then say, "hate the sin, love the sinner." I wonder how that family member feels about this approach? Persons and actions are joined at the hip. If certain actions are actually repented of, then the very person changes. Person and actions are inextricably linked. I was calling on folks and inviting them to church during a summer internship back in 1988. The woman in the trailer park seemed friendly enough when she welcomed me into her mini-trailer, but she immediately began to define her religious position as: "I believe in God, but I don't want to be a fanatic." My immediate question -- at least in my mind -- was "how do you define 'fanatic'?" What I came to realize that anyone who went beyond believing in God and actually pointing to the necessity that we believe specifically in Jesus Christ, the Son of God (number one), and that Jesus Christ came to live, die, and rise from the dead to save us from our sins and win for us eternal life (number two), and that Christians are called to share this faith with other people (number 3), was considered to be in the view of this woman a fanatic! She had a definite position going on: she would rather deny the Savior of the world than be a "fanatic."

The disciples had finally come to know who Jesus was in His Person. They finally realized that He was truly the Messiah, the very Son of God, true God and true man. But as much as they believed this, they could not accept the actions that came thrown in with His person. In Mark 8, Jesus told them what He had to experience and what He had to endure: He had to go into Jerusalem to be murdered. This necessary person-action connection was untenable and unacceptable to the disciples. Peter was so sure of the incongruency that he felt perfectly justifed in rebuking Jesus! He stood in front of Jesus to stop Him and when Peter did this he became the spokesman of the devil himself. Jesus did not hesitate to crush this satanic temptation not to suffer and to avoid shedding the blood that would be the life of the world. Jesus was straight-forward: "Get out of my sight!"

We are like Peter. We want to accept the great person Jesus is. God in the flesh, God with us, God who loves us, God who guides us, God who is our Good Shepherd, but we want to stop right around this point. The rest of the story is hard for us to swallow. This God in the flesh had to take His incarnation into a state of severe rejection, suffering, to the point of crucifixion, to His blood being poured out on that cold Roman cross, to being mocked, to being condemned. Why did the person of our Savior have to go so far with these actions? We would like to tame this picture and make it much less messy; considerably less offensive.

One reason is that it brings out the reason He had to have His blood flow down that cross to begin with: namely, our sin. Our sin is that bad. It required atonement. It required that the life of God's Son be spilled out for that which brings death into the lives of people. It means that those people (all of us) really are sinners who will perish eternally apart from the atoning work of Christ. This is the last thing we want to speak of. It is humiliating.

So sinners are ashamed of Christ and must rebuke Him. "Lord I want you, but do I have to embrace the details?!" We want to hate what the Savior did, but love the Savior." It doesn't work.

Our salvation is seen in the fact that Jesus did not negotiate with Peter. He wasn't shocked and didn't go into counselor mode, "But Peter, why do you feel this way?" No, Jesus didn't play around with sin and temptation. His one response was one that saved us as it kept Him on the faithful path to cover our sins with His blood. His response was one of total annihilation of the temptation: "Get out of my sight Satan!" Recognizing that Peter -- yes even Peter who had just previously confessed Christ as the Son of God -- was in this moment acting as the agent of the devil. By crushing the temptation, Jesus proved that He does not care about our compromising attitudes that wheel and deal between person and actions. He will not tolerate the compromise, but went straight-ahead to die for you and to die for me, so that in entering our death, He would defeat it and His resurrection proclaims this victory.

In the end, it is our compromising ways that are rebuked by Christ. Thank God! Now in Him our person and actions are made congruent. We are children of God and our confession is specific and uncompromised: Jesus is our Savior, His blood washes away our sin, He is risen and calls us to follow Him. Let our person in Christ be consistent with the born-again life He has created for us, indeed, His very life for us and in us! In Him, when our actions rub against our new persons, His faithfulness continues to overcome our weakness. May He always be our hope!

In Christ,

Dr. Espinosa