Rev. Charles Lehmann + Wyatt Bartholomew Frahm + Luke 1:39-56
In the Name of + Jesus. Amen.
John, Jen, family and friends. Wyatt Bartholomew Frahm is come unto mount
Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an
innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the
firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the
spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new
covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that
of Abel.
It has pleased Almighty God to call Wyatt to Himself, but it does not
please us. We want to hold Wyatt. We want to see Him grow and mature into the
man of God that we expected he would be. But the Lord has chosen another way,
and we don't understand it. It makes us angry and confused. No answer seems
sufficient. So we cry out to the Lord, “O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger,
nor discipline me in your wrath. Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am
languishing; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. My soul also is
greatly troubled. But you, O Lord--how long? Turn, O Lord, deliver my life;
save me for the sake of your steadfast love. I am weary with my moaning; every
night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping. The Lord
has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer.”
At moments like this we want to peer into the hidden counsels of God, but
there is no comfort in the hidden God. That is not where the Lord directs us
this morning.
We are directed instead to the God in Mary's womb. We are directed to our
Savior. We are directed to the one who by his conception and birth has
sanctified the wombs of all mothers. We are directed to the one who by his
three day rest in the tomb has made holy the graves of all His saints. We are
directed to Wyatt's Savior.
Elizabeth was a pastor's wife. From the moment that John the Baptist was
conceived, we can have little doubt that Elizabeth spoke the word of God to
him. John was prayed for at temple and synagogue. And even though Zechariah
could not speak during the months that John was growing in his mother's womb,
we can have little doubt that John's father prayed for him.
And John heard that word of God. Elizabeth's womb was no barrier for the
Word of life. John heard and believed. And so when Elizabeth heard Mary's
greeting, so did John, and by that miracle of faith John leaped for joy. His
Savior was there! It was the greatest moment in his life to that point. God,
still being knit together in Mary's womb, was going to stay with Elizabeth,
Zechariah, and John for three months.
And so, even six months before the Lord's birth we can hear His words
echoing in our ears. “Let the little children come to me, for the kingdom of
heaven belongs to such as these.” Jesus is for children, even before He is
born. The faith of a little baby is real, precious, and confessed throughout
the Scriptures. David prays, “On you was I cast from my birth, and from my
mother's womb you have been my God.”
We sometimes have trouble believing these words. We like to think quite a
lot of our reason, and we want to put intellectual prerequisites on faith in
Christ.
But thanks be to God! He gives us no tests. There are no placement exams
for Christian faith. Instead the Lord says, “This is the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put
my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their
God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his
neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know
me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will
forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
The miracle of faith is for all who hear God’s saving word of life, from
the least of us to the greatest, and infant faith is not the exception. It is
the norm. God attaches rich and great promises to the preaching of His Word
and to prayer. And Wyatt even had one advantage in his earthly life that John
the Baptist did not. Though both Wyatt and John both had faithful mothers who
prayed for them, sang to them, and spoke God's Word to them, John the Baptist
did not have the benefit of his father's preaching before he was born. Wyatt
did. Wyatt for the thirty-seven weeks of his life was brought here, to this
place, where his father preached the Gospel, the sure and certain words of
eternal life without which none of us can live. From this very altar, Wyatt's
father prayed for him. And from this very altar Wyatt's mother received
Christ's body and blood in her mouth. And those prayers for Wyatt were carried
out into the world by you, the
saints of Gloria Christi.
Wyatt also had the faith sung to him by his faithful parents. John and
Jen regularly sang the hymn “At the Lamb's High Feast We Sing” to Wyatt while
he was still in the womb, and this past Sunday when Wyatt heard that hymn sung
in the Divine Service, he, like John the Baptist before him, leaped for joy in
his mother's womb. Wyatt spent the last day of his earthly life filled with
the joy of Easter.
Easter triumph! Easter joy! This alone can sin destroy. From sin's
power, Lord set us free. Newborn souls in you to be, “Alleluia!” Jesus
Christ, in whom John and Wyatt rejoiced before they were even born, has gone to
the cross, suffered, and died. He died for Wyatt. From the wood of the cross
Jesus forgave Wyatt all his sins. And Jesus is not dead! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
And because Christ is risen, Wyatt too shall rise. And when the Lord
returns on the clouds, we will certainly not precede this precious child. “For
the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice
of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in
Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up
together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will
always be with the Lord.”
Wyatt lives in perfect peace and perfect joy for all eternity. And when
finally the Lord brings Wyatt’s parents into heaven he will greet them with
joy. Wyatt will say, “Come my beloved father and mother. Enter the joy that
our Savior Jesus Christ has prepared for you for all eternity. I’m so glad
that you are here.”
But you don’t have to wait for that last day to receive the perfect joy
and peace that Wyatt now enjoys. We know that in the Lord’s Supper we feast
with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. There is but one
congregation of the saints and it abides in heaven and on earth.
When the Words of our Lord are spoken at this altar, then heaven will
descend to us. These walls will be filled with all the saints in heaven and on
earth. Ten thousand times ten thousand will sing with us, “Holy, Holy, Holy,
Lord God of Sabaoth. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna!
Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the
Lord.” And John and Jen, there is no doubt that Wyatt is among that myriad in
heaven that sings “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain.”
Jesus has offered His life for Wyatt’s. All of your son’s sin has been
borne to the cross and destroyed there. And you know the wonderful truth about
your Savior’s tomb. It is empty. He is risen, and it is that apostolic word
that has spoken life into Wyatt even in the womb.
Wyatt’s Savior is faithful. He will not leave his dear child in the
grave. Behold I tell you a mystery! We shall not all sleep, but we all shall
be changed, and Wyatt will be raised incorruptible.
The souls of the saints are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment
touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die and their departure
is taken for misery. But they are in peace. For the Lord has regard for His
saints, and He shows mercy to His elect.
To Him be glory forever and ever.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!
Alleluia!
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Rev. Charles R. Lehmann
Assistant Pastor, Youth and Education
Peace with Christ Lutheran Church
Fort Collins, CO
http://wickedbutforgiven.blogspot.com/
http://believeloveprayfight.blogspot.com/
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