It was the first day of the week, Sunday evening, and the disciples were huddled behind locked doors "for fear of the Jews." Then comes the Risen Lord. Standing in their midst, He says, "Peace be with you." He shows them His hands still imprinted with the marks of the spikes and the gash in His side. "Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord."
We are assembled here tonight, not in fear but in gladness. Surely there is gladness on your part, Dan, as years of diligent preparation have now been brought to completion and you have been presented to the church as a man ready and fit to be placed into the Office of the Holy Ministry. Likewise, there is gladness on the part of Amy, your parents, family, and friends as they witness this most memorable day in your life. They have counseled you with their wisdom; out of their love they have supported you with their gifts and lifted you up in their prayers. It is good and right that they share in the joy of this day. There is, of course, joy here in St. Matthew and St. Paul congregations as, after months of a vacancy in the pastoral office, the Lord of the Church has given His people a new pastor. All of this is the cause for happy thanksgiving, but there is a deeper cause for gladness here this afternoon. The same crucified and risen Lord who appeared to His disciples on the evening of Resurrection Sunday, giving to them the Office of the Holy Ministry, today gives to His church another servant to fill that office. It is the Lord's gift and therein we rejoice.
The Office of the Holy Ministry is a gift from the Lord. St. Paul makes that clear in his words in Ephesians 4: "And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the equipment of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ." Confessing that the Office of the Holy Ministry is the Lord's gift excludes the opinion that this Office is human arrangement. As surely as the Lord Jesus stood in the midst of His disciples speaking His words of peace, showing them His hands and side, and breathing into them His Holy Spirit, so surely we know that the Office of the Holy Ministry is His doing. This fact is a great consolation and comfort both to those hold the Office and those who receive from it Jesus' words and gifts.
This is comfort to you, Brother Dan. The work that you are given to do is the Lord's work. You are not called to preach a message which you invent, but the Lord's Word - a Word which accomplishes the purposes of the Lord who sends it. The sacraments which you administer are likewise the Lord's. You are, as the holy apostle says, "a steward of the mysteries of God...a servant of Christ." You will be reminded of that fact each time you speak the Absolution, as it identifies you as one who is called and ordained to speak in the stead and by the command of your Lord Jesus Christ. The Office into which you are placed this afternoon belongs to the Lord. The Lord does not require you to be creative and clever, but faithful. If you are to always be relevant, you must always speak things that are eternal. It is your calling to preach the eternal Gospel.
No doubt there will be times of disappointment. The Apostle Paul said to the young pastor Timothy that he "must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ" (II Tim. 2:3). Take your courage from the Apostle who says, "Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart" (II Cor. 4:l). In l804 in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Napoleon took the crown from the hands of Pope Pius the VII and set it on his own head. Napoleon was a self-proclaimed emperor. In the Jordan River our Lord Christ humbly bowed before John and was baptized. In that Baptism He was anointed into His Messianic Office by the Holy Spirit. Like Jesus, not like Napoleon, Dan will kneel receive the pastoral office from the Lord. Knowing that this Office is from the Lord will anchor your heart, Dan, on the mercy of the Lord and that mercy will sustain you in the work you are given to do.
Likewise, dear members of St. Matthew and St. Paul congregations, the fact that the Office of the Holy Ministry is God's gift is a tremendous comfort to you. This man who is ordained and installed as your pastor is sent to you by God. That is the reason that we refer to the Call as the Divine Call. When all is said and done, it is God who has created the Office of the Holy Ministry and it is God who fills this Office. We may not take unto ourselves what belongs to the Lord. Every time your pastor preaches God's Word to you, baptizes in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, speaks the words of Holy Absolution which forgive sins, and gives into your mouths the very body and blood of the Savior, you will know that God Himself is dealing with you, using the mouth and hands of your pastor as His instruments. That is what we confessed in the sermon hymn:
"The words which absolution giveMartin Luther captures this blessed reality in a sermon on John 14 in which he states: "Thus the apostles and pastors are nothing but channels through which Christ leads and transmits His Gospel from the Father to us. Therefore wherever you hear the Gospel properly taught or see a person baptized, wherever you see someone administer or receive the Sacrament, or wherever you witness someone absolving another, there you may say without hesitation: 'Today I beheld God's Word and work. Yes, I saw and heard God Himself preaching and baptizing.' To be sure, the tongue, the voice, the hands, etc. are those of a human being; but the Word and the ministry are really those of the divine Majesty Himself. Hence it must be viewed and believed as though we were seeing Him administering Baptism or the Sacrament with His own hands. Thus here we do not separate, or differentiate between, God and His Word or ministry; nor do we seek God in another way or view Him in a different light" (AE 24:67). The pastor is here for the delivery of God's gifts. And it is for that reason that Luther says in another sermon that "It matters not that dishes are made of different materials - some silver, others of tin - or whether they are enameled earthen dishes. The same food may be prepared in silver as in dishes of tin. Venison, properly seasoned and prepared, tastes just as good in a wooden dish as in one of silver. We must also make this application to Baptism and absolution. This ought to be a comfort to us. People, however, do not recognize the person of God but only stare at the person of the man. This is like a tired and hungry man who would refuse to eat unless the food is served on a silver platter. Such is the attitude that motivates the choice of many preachers today. Many, on the other hand, are forced to quit their office and are driven out and expelled. That is done by those who do not know this gift, who assume that it is a mere man speaking to them, although, as a matter of fact, it is even more than an angel, namely, your dear God, who creates body and soul" (AE 22:529).
Are His who died that we might live;
The minister whom Christ has sent
Is but His humble instrument" (331:5 TLH)
Dear members of St. Matthew and St. Paul congregations, receive Dan (in a few minutes you will know him by that honored and intimate title as Pastor Welch) as the delivery man of the Lord's gifts. The man who will be your new pastor is not here to meet the "felt needs" of the community or as a cheerleader for spiritual pep rallies. He is here as your servant for Jesus' sake. His vestments cover up the man to remind you that he is here in Christ's stead, as His servant. Pastor Welch is here to do what the Lord gives him to do, namely, to deliver the gift of the forgiveness of sins in the preaching of the Gospel and the giving out of the sacraments. After all, that is what we need, for we are by nature children of wrath who are dead in our trespasses and sins. Without the blood-bought forgiveness won for us by the Lamb of God we would be lost forever. God has had mercy on us and has sent His Son into the flesh to carry our sins in His body to the cross. There on the cross the Son of God died as a sacrifice for our sins. But God did not leave the forgiveness of sins back there at Calvary. The forgiveness obtained by the Son of God for us is delivered and bestowed on us by the men God sends to us with His Word and Sacrament. The Large Catechism says it well: "Therefore everything in the Christian church is so ordered that we may daily obtain full forgiveness of sins through the Word and through signs (sacraments) appointed to comfort and revive our consciences as long as we live" (LC II:55).
To be ordained is to be put "under orders" to deliver that precious gift of the forgiveness of sins. Listen again to the words of Jesus: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any they are retained." With those words the Lord establishes the Office of the Holy Ministry. We rejoice that as surely as the Lord sent His apostles out from that upper room with His word of forgiveness, He is sending to His church here today yet another servant with same word. "Who is sufficient for these things?" says the Apostle. Not Peter or James or John. Not Paul. Not Luther. Not Dan. Only Jesus. It is His office into which Dan is ordained and it is His gifts that will sustain both pastor and congregation.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.