The Lord GOD Will Cause Righteousness and Praise to Spring Forth Before All the Nations: Isaiah 61:10-11

Isaiah 61:10-11: "10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the earth brings forth its bud, as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations."

Isaiah's prophecy is the words of our Lord Jesus about Himself. These words, recorded for us today as the Old Testament lesson for the Transfiguration of Our Lord, reveal who our Lord Jesus is. Our Lord Jesus is a bridegroom decked with ornaments. Those ornaments are his righteouness and salvation. One can clearly see the transfiguration in these words. For on the Mount of Transfiguration, our Lord shone like the sun, and His clothes became white like no fuller on earth could launder. His clothes were this type of white, because our Lord Jesus revealed His true righteousness.

In His earthly ministry our Lord hid His divine nature. One could say that he wore the garment of sin and shame, therefore it was dirty and dingy. However, our Lord shows His true nature by revealing His true righteousness to Sts. Peter, John and James the Elder. Isaiah foretells this event by likening the robe of righteousness of our Savior, and the garments of salvation which He wears, as the clothes of a bridegroom and bride.

We've all been to weddings, or are at least familiar with them, so we can relate to this image. Much is made about the dress of the bride. So much so that one would think it was the most important thing (next to the cake). Of course sinful man misplaces the important thing in a wedding, and by extension, in marriage as well, which is the unity that is made by our Lord God, and the agreement that those who are married in the Church, are asking our Heavenly Father's blessing upon their marriage, so that they might live united as one, even as He is One, and the Church is one.

But misplaced focus aside, we know how important it is to dress a certain way at a wedding, and there is nothing wrong with this, even Isaiah the prophet in Old Testament times, recognizes the importance of wedding garments. We can clearly see from the illustration, that wedding clothes are not our everyday clothes. They are special garments that reveal something about the event that will take place. And they reveal something about the person. As the saying goes, "clothes make the man."

Here is the key. Our Lord Jesus wears these special clothes, which we consider to be worn only on special occasions, all the time. His wedding garments are righteousness and salvation, and He is always wearing them. And in the transfiguration, we get a glimpse of His righteousness and our salvation. And the great news is that these special wedding clothes of our Lord, the garment of salvation and the robe of righteousness, have been given to us to wear all the time, by virtue of our Holy Baptism.

In Holy Baptism, we have put on Christ, that is, we have put on His robe of righteousness and His garment of salvation, so that our dirty and dingy clothes racked with sin and shame are covered over, or even better, have been removed, so that all our Heavenly Father only sees the righteousness of His Son Jesus. Our sins are no longer seen on account of our Holy Baptism. And every day that we remember our Holy Baptism, we once again put on that robe of righteousness that our Lord Jesus gave to us in Holy Baptism, and won for us on the cross of His death.

And in this, our Heavenly Father, cause to spring forth from the earth, the new bud of life and salvation. This bud is the Church, that is, all those who have been baptized with the water of life, and who cling to their Holy Baptism in faith. This holy water has gone over the whole earth, and flooded it with salvation, and the whole earth has been reborn in the righteousness and salvation of our Lord Jesus. And those who put on this righteousness by virtue of their baptisms, rejoice greatly in the Lord, and their soul is joyful in the Lord God. For it is He who has clothed them in righteousness. And for that we are eternally thankful.

God be with you!

Deacon Dulas

This is My Beloved Son, In Whom I am Well-Pleased: 2 Peter 1:16-21

2 Peter 1:16-21: "16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' 18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. 19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."

This mornings reading is from the Epistle for the Transfiguration of our Lord, the last Sunday after Epiphany. Next week begins, for those using the ancient and proper lectionary, what is known as Pre-Lent. It is a time of preparation for Lent. The Lenten season is comprised of three cycles: Pre-Lent, Lent, and Passiontide (which starts on Judica, the fifth Sunday in Lent). Pre-Lent is made up of three Sunday that prepare us for our penitential and catechetical journey during Lent. These three Sunday involve call, instruction, and enlightenment. People are called into the vineyard, that is the Church, by our Lord's Word, which is portrayed by the parable of the workers in the vineyard. Then they receive catechesis, that is, instruction in the doctrines and practices of the Church, that is portrayed by the parable of the sower and the seed. Having been called, that is invited into the Church, and having been catechized, that is, instructed, we receive enlightenment, that is, our eyes of faith, blinded by the darkness of sin and despair, are opened to see the glories of our Lord God. This is portrayed in the healing of the blind man, Bartemaeus.

So we have three Sundays which lead us into and prepare us for the reflection upon our sin and our struggle with sin throughout Lent. When we reach Passiontide, then we set our eyes on the cross, that is the Passion (which is why this season is called "Passion"tide.) But these three cycles of Lent cannot take place unless we have what takes place today within the Church Year, that is, the Transfiguration of our Lord.

St. Peter was there, and He relates in his Epistle that he was an eyewitness that our Lord Jesus was indeed the God/man; He was God incarnate in man's flesh. From St. Peter's words that this was not "cunningly devised fables" we can assume that there were those, perhaps even within the Church, who thought this transfiguration narrative was a little too far-fetched. There are those today who think the same thing, even those who claim to be a part of the Church.

St. Peter tells us that he saw it with his own eyes. If we cannot believe an eyewitness, who can we believe? But St. Peter goes on to say that the purpose of our Lord Jesus revealing Himself in such a fashion, was not just to put on a show, nor to scare the disciples to death, although, they certainly were afraid as the Gospel from St. Matthew tells us. No, St. Peter tells us that the reason for Christ's transfiguration was to confirm the prophetic Word.

The prophets of the Old Testament continuously preached and proclaimed that the Messiah would come. That our Lord God would come to save His people with His own hand. Granted this prophecy was veiled in unclear language, but in His transfiguration, our Lord shines the eternal light on all of holy Scriptures so that we can see clearly when reading the Old Testament prophecies that they were referring to our Lord and Saviour Jesus.

Our Lord spreads this light, this eternal light of His Word, into our hearts, full of darkness and sin, and in so doing, He enlightens our hearts, and removes the darkness of sin, so that we may become children of light. Furthermore, having this light shined on our dark hearts full of sin, we can see clearly that these prophecies of our Lord, and for that matter, all of holy Scripture, were not written by men, but by God Himself.

St. Peter, too, writes to us by the hand of the Holy Spirit. It is His Word, he simply uses St. Peter, and all the prophets, evangelists and apostles who wrote holy Scripture, to write it down in their own language. And this leads us to another point, for we often hear the accusation, that such and such a part of holy Scripture is "our interpretation." The Blessed St. Peter dispels even this erroneous thinking, for he tells us that "no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation." What does that mean? It means that not only does the Holy Spirit give the very words and thoughts that the holy men of God wrote in His holy Word, but He also is the One Who provides the interpretation.

This is why our Lord Jesus spent three years with His disciples teaching them all that holy Scripture prophesied about Him. It is no wonder then that the Early Church is some places adopted a three year minimum of instruction in the Word of God (other places had two years). It wasn't until they had spent three years learning God's Word that they could then submit their names to become a member of the "fideles", that is, the "faithful ones." This particular catechesis took place during the forty days of Lent, which is why Lent has always been marked by catechesis and instruction. During these forty days, having already learned fully holy Scripture, got to hear the tenets of the faith. It was instruction in the Creed, that is, the Nicene Creed. And they didn't even get to hear the Creed until they had a week or so of catechesis.

These holy things were so guarded by the early Christians, that the Lord's Prayer was not even taught to them until there was only a week or two left before their Holy Baptism on the night before Easter. This was done for several reasons, one, they took seriously the saying of our Lord that one should not throw pearls before swine, in other words, the mysteries of the Church should not be given to just anybody, but should be revered as holy things. Two, making someone a Christian, at that time, meant not only making them an enemy of the devil, but also an enemy of the state. If someone who was not ready, someone who was not willing to endure the requirements of the Church, was allowed to be told all about the holy mysteries, and then had been captured by the state and tortured, it was believed that this weak individual would give them all up, and the individual church, and the Church at large would suffer.

But, the third reason, was the most important, that was that they did not want any "private interpretations." This was especially important in a day and age when the written word was not a common thing, and that the mysteries of God, and the teachings of the Church, were handed down, for the most part orally. And, we can see from history that this was successful, for when the time of open persecution by the government was ended, and these teachings began to be written down, and the true confession of the Church was recorded in the words of the Nicene Creed, we see that what they believed was the same as what the Apostles taught them. This is almost two hundred years later. The truth was preserved by the work of the Holy Spirit working through the men of God who were in charge of catechesis and instruction in God's word.

This is how we today, know whether our church teaches the Word of God in its truth and purity, because it teaches what the Apostles taught, it teaches what St. Peter taught, because they were taught by our Lord. It also teaches what the Early Fathers taught. And one can easily start to see errors in church bodies where they have left these teachings, and have devised cunning false teachings that only sound right to the untrained ears.

Only those churches teach the truth which place our salvation solely on the shoulders of our Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is found in Him alone, even the Heavenly Father attests to this, not only in this Epistle of St. Peter, but also in the holy Gospels, both here at the transfiguration, and at His Holy Baptism. Salvation is not found in man or anything that he does, but solely in our Lord.

So today, the Blessed St. Peter sets us on the straight path, and preaches our Lord Jesus as the One and Only Saviour of mankind. He alone is the One Who transfigured Himself on the Mount, and He alone it is Who reveals Himself as God incarnate in our flesh. As the Heavenly Father testifies, "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well-pleased. Hear Him!"

May God be with you!

Deacon Dulas

He Taught Them As One Having Authority: St. Matthew 7:24-29

St. Matthew 7:24-29: "'24 Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.' 28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes."

Our Lord Jesus teaches as One having authority. The question that comes from this statement is, "What constitutes authority?" Or to say it in a more Lutheran way, "What does this mean?" Let us look at this question from a civil perspective first.

We have many authorities in this life. Our first contact with an authority is our parents, as the Blessed Holy Trinity commands us, "Thou shalt honor thy father and they mother, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth." * Our parents, were placed over us by our Heavenly Father. However, they were not just placed over us so that we might do their every bidding. Certainly if they asked us to do things contrary to our Lord's commands we would rather serve our Lord God than man. They were placed over us not to rule us with an iron hand, but to lead us into the way of Truth. In other words, our Heavenly Father gave us our parents so that we might learn to love and serve Him. This is of course easier when our parents are also loving and serving our Heavenly Father, and those who are not, are evil parents, for they are not obeying the first and greatest commandment to "fear, love and trust in God above all things." * Truly wicked parents are the ones who not just neglect to teach their children about the Lord God, but purposefully lead their children away from the One True God. This would also include those who teach their children to worship false gods, and false religions, such as, Islam, or Buddhism, or Judaism, or Hindu, or Jehovah's Witness, or Mormonism. This would also include those parents who lead their children into the false sects, who deny the Sacraments of our Lord, and teach that these are not actual means of salvation, but only symbols.

One can see from this that a true authority always has the will and command of our Lord God at heart. And there are other earthly authorities of varying degrees of earthly authority, and these authorities all flow out of the authority of parents. In other words, it is the parents responsibility that they are providing for their children earthly authorities that will obey God's commands. This includes, finding teachers and a school that will not teach their children that evolution is okay, but that the Holy Blessed Trinity created the earth in six days. This means finding a minister and a parish where the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, and the Sacraments are administered according to Christ's institution. This means voting (since we live in a democratic society) for public officials (judges, magistrates, presidents, senators, governors, county sheriffs, and the like) who will do what is right according to God's will and command, and not according to what society dictates is well and good. If we vote for men who will only cater to societies whims, our society will continue on its present course of degradation. And we are clearly not fulfilling our roles as parents, by providing our children with good government.

These authorities all have a duty to uphold what our Lord teaches, and make this world and life, as is in their individual power and authority, a world that looks to our Lord Jesus for their hope and survival.

Ultimately, authority has to do with our Lord's Word. And our Lord is regarded as having authority, because of His teaching. This means that our Lord appeared to the people to actually know what He was talking about. It also means that He taught them as One Who was sent by God. Our Lord, in His teaching, manifests Himself to be the Son of God, the promised Messiah. And, as we learn from later in the Gospel of St. Matthew, the people at the very least recognized Him as a prophet. Prophets were sent by God to proclaim His Word. Our Heavenly Father still sends prophets. Perhaps not the type of prophets that were sent in the Old Testament, but prophets whose chief task is to proclaim the one and only Saviour, that is, our Lord Jesus Christ.

He who hears our Lord, hears the One Who sent Him, as the Gospel of St. John points out. Our Lord's authority to preach and teach comes from the Heavenly Father. The same is true today, those who preach and teach have been rightly called and ordained. There are many today who claim to be called, but in actuality have to authority to preach or teach, this would especially include females and homosexuals, the one because of their gender, the other because one who is rightly called does not live in open, manifest sin. But those who have been rightly called, should be listened to, for they have been sent by our Heavenly Father to proclaim the authority of the Son, who gives His life for His people.

Those who do not listen to these called men, and by virtue of their word regarding our Lord, do not listen to our Lord, are like the foolish person, who built his house upon the sand of false gods, and human wisdom, and the floods, and the rain, and the wind of the devil, the world, and this sinful flesh, beat against it, and they fall mightily, because their fall is an eternal one. He who listens to our Lord's Words, is like a wise man who builds his house upon the firm foundation of our Lord Jesus Christ's teaching, and the wind and rain and floods of sin, sorrow and trouble may beat against it, but it will not fall, but remains unto all eternity. Hear the Words of our Lord, and listen to Him, and He will teach you to trust in Him alone.

May God be with you!

Deacon Dulas

* Translation from Doctor Martin Luther Small Catechism and An Explanation of Christian Doctrine based on Doctor Luther's Small Catechism, Edited by Markku Sarela, Published by The Confessional Lutheran Church of Finland, 1999.

Judge Not, That You Be Not Judged: St. Matthew 7:1-14

St. Matthew 7:1-14: "1 Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. 6 Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces. 7 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! 12 Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. 13 Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

"Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you." This is perhaps the most misapplied section of holy Scripture. This comes from a misunderstanding of what "judgment" means. What usually happens is someone commits a particular sin, and that sin being exposed in public, is accused of that particular sin, then, not wanting to stop committing the particular sin, or worse, thinking that the particular behavior is not a sin, quotes these words from the Sermon on the Mount by our Lord. The idea being, that since you have accused that person of a sin, you are judging him, and therefore, instead of judging that person, you should pay attention to your own actions, and not that persons.

This usually plays well. The person or group doing the accusing, feeling guilty for their own past misdeeds, back down, and then the sin remains unchecked.

So then, how does anyone ever correct sinful actions? For it would seem by the previously given scenario, that any accusation of someone else's sins, would be in violation of going against what our Lord is saying here, for we would be judging that person.

As was said earlier, this comes from a misunderstanding of the meaning of judging, and judgment. Judgment means delivering a sentence, whether that sentence be guilty or not guilty (we must remember that people can be judged innocent). Accusing someone of sin, is not delivering judgment, it is pointing out that person's sin, so that they may discontinue the destructive behavior that they are committing. Think of it this way, when a person is indicted for a crime, he has only been accused of it. It isn't until after the trial, that the judge hands out a sentence, whether guilty or not guilty, and then hands out a punishment. There is a difference between indicting someone for a crime, and giving a judgment for that crime. The same difference lies between accusing someone of sin, and handing out judgment for that sin.

In the final say, our Lord has the ultimate judgment, which is an eternal judgment of guilty or not guilty. Here in this life when a person refusing to amend their sinful actions, the Church may hand out certain punishments, like withholding communion, or excluding them from membership in the church. This is done to impress upon the person the seriousness of their actions, and realizing that they will no longer be allowed to participate in something that is dear to them, they will repent, and amend their sinful life. The problem that exists for the Church, is that this poor soul will probably just find some church or minister who will ignore that persons behavior and let them continue in it. Obviously, this doesn't do that person any good spiritually, not to mention the fact that this church and its minister are creating a greater sin, by calling what is a sin, not a sin. They are the ones going against our Lord's commandments.

Our Lord in telling us to not judge others, is talking about passing judgment, that is passing a guilty sentence on them, when they are committing the same sin. This is utterly ridiculous! And sadly, there are plenty of people that do just this thing, accuse people of their sins, while they are doing the same thing. This, obviously, puts the Church in a bad light, and it is a detrement to the Gospel.

Sin should be pointed out, especially the sins that are destructive to a person's soul. But our Lord would rather us focus our attention of His works, and His perfection in fulfilling the Law on our behalf. He would have us focus on His sinlessness, so that we might rejoice in the Gospel.

Our sins are forgiven, the punishment has been paid, this alone, should propel a person to obey the commandments, being spurned on by love for one's Lord and Saviour, who has judged us not guilty of all of our sin.

May our Lord grant you grace as you struggle daily with sin, and keep you in His holy arms until you reach life everlasting.

God be with you!

Deacon Dulas

Then He Opened His Mouth and Taught Them: St. Matthew 5:1-9

St. Matthew 5:1-9: "1 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. 2 Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: 3 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.'"

This morning reading is our Lord's teaching of the Beatitudes. This pericope from the Evangelist St. Matthew is a shortened form of the Gospel lesson appointed for the festival of All Saints. That festival is about the gifts bestowed upon the saints, and their work and labor done in faith to Him. Today's reading has a different theme being appointed in the season of Epiphany. Epiphany means "to manifest" or "to reveal." A good illustration to remember what Epiphany means, is to think of the cartoon characters who have a light bulb appear above their head when they come up with an idea, or think of something. The idea or thought has been manifested, they have had an epiphany.

The epiphany that takes place today is our Lord revealing His teaching to His disciples through the Sermon on the Mount. There is some debate, even among the Early Fathers, whether this sermon is given to just His disciples, or to the whole multitude, since it says after seeing the crowds He went up into the mountain, and after His disciples sat down, He began to teach them. St. Augustine and St. Chrysostom, the great Fathers of the West and East, respectively, seem to give warrant to the teaching that He was with His disciples alone. St. Augustine relating the reason for differences in this Gospel and St. Luke's Gospel, where our Lord stands for His sermon, is due to the fact that these are two separate sermons, one given solely to the disciples, the other given to the crowds. To whomever He was speaking, whether the crowds or just the disciples, is not as important a discussion as to what He was saying, and where He was saying it.

There are three places where our Lord Jesus takes His repose: the ship, or boat; the desert; and the mountain. These three things have much symbolism attached to them, and each reveal something about our Lord's person and work. Today we have the mountain. Now, our Lord doesn't go up into the mountain, as some would suppose, just for better acoustics. (They say the same thing about Him getting into a boat to preach, too.) The mountain hold more significance and it shows up often in our Lord's life. He is crucified on a mountain; He would often go to the Mount of Olives with His disciples to pray and sing hymns and psalms; The Temple was situated on a mountain; Jerusalem, the holy city, was situated on a mountain; He was transfigured on a mountain. From these brief examples we can see the importance of mountains in our Lord's life, but what do they signify about Him?

The Prophet Isaiah said, "Get thee up into a high mountain." (Isaiah 40:9) The Prophet Isaiah was talking about the preaching of good news, of glad tidings, that such good news should be shouted from the highest places, for they embodied the holiness and righteousness of our Lord God, on account of their proximity to Heaven. St. Chrysostom compares the Church to this mountain, for it is only within the Church that the mysteries of the truth are revealed and given out. St. Augustine carries this point even further by comparing our Lord Jesus to the mountain. For there are two important mountains in all of holy Scripture, Mt. Sinai, and Mt. Calvary. The one mountain represents the Law, the other represents the fulfiling of the Law, or the Gospel. Mt. Calvary is the mountain of our Lord, and the mountain where He wins the battle over sin, death, and the devil. This Mt. Calvary becomes the new mountain, replacing Mt. Sinai, for all of Christendom, the mountain of our Lord's righteousness, which He delivered through His love for us, by His very own death.

The Evangelist St. Matthew tells us that our Lord sat down, and opened His mouth, and taught them. Our Lord manifests Himself as the True Prophet, through His sitting down, which mystically speaking is a representation of His incarnation where He sits down into the flesh of mankind. If He had not taken on our flesh, we would not be able to come to Him, like His disciples come to Him on the mountain.

He also opens His mouth. He who had opened the mouth of the prophets, now opens His mouth to proclaim to His disciples His righteousness. The Beatitudes, as this section in holy Scripture is commonly called, is all about Jesus. He is the one who is poor in spirit, that is humble. He shows His humility by laying aside His glory to become a man in the flesh. He is the one who mourns for His lost people on account of their sins. He is the one who is truly meek. Meek people are those who suffer the trials and troubles of this life without seeking revenge, but rather, endure the punishment willingly, knowing they receive a greater crown in Heaven. Our Lord shows His meekness in enduring the cross and shame of our our guilt willingly and silently as a Lamb led to the slaughter. He is the one who hungers and thirsts after righteousness, desiring to learn all there is to learn about His Father in Heaven, and do what He commands Him to do. This is shown us by the Boy Jesus in the Temple, who spent three days, answering and asking questions of the teachers of the holy Scriptures. Truly He is merciful, for He doesn't treat us the way we deserve to be treated, that is, we deserve our punishment, as the malefactor on the cross next to our Lord Jesus rightly confessed about himself, that he was deserving of death. But our Lord shows His mercy by taking our punishment, and freeing us from ours.

He is the one who is pure in heart, that is, He is without sin. He is pure and clean. We are made pure and clean by grace, through the preaching of the Word of God, and the receiving of the Sacraments. We remain clean and pure in heart, when we continue in these things, and not disdaining them. Our Lord is also the true peacemaker. When our Lord refers to peacemakers, He is not just referring to those who make peace with their fellow man; those who live without dissension and discord amongst themselves; who do not have contentions and fighting amongst them and other people. He is the true peacemaker, for peace begins in the heart and the soul. One cannot have peace with his fellow man, where there is an inward struggle of the soul. Those who battle with sin, the devil, and the world, cannot have peace with his fellowman. Our Lord's heart is pure, and there is no struggle with sin and Satan and the world, for He has conquered them all, therefore He can make peace with mankind for there exists within His heart and Spirit peace.

Does that mean that there is no hope for us, that we can never find peace? Apart from our Lord Jesus Christ, the answer is a firm no. However, through the preaching of the holy Word and the administration of the Sacraments, our Lord gives us His Holy Spirit, who creates and sustains faith in us, replacing our sinful heart with the sacred and pure heart of our Lord Jesus. It is by putting on Christ, that we find peace in our souls, rest from the war with sin, death and the devil, and in receiving that peace, we can then live in peace with our fellow man.

These peacemakers, made by the Holy Spirit, are called sons of God. They have been given the title of their Saviour. Our Lord Jesus teaches His disciples these things in the Beatitudes, and by His person and work, He teaches us that He is the fulfillement and embodiment of these Beatitudes. He fulfills these Beatitudes for us, in order that we may be joined to Him and live as Him by the assistance of the Holy Ghost.

God be with you!

Deacon Dulas