
1st Sermon: Your King Comes to You in Holy Baptism
2nd Sermon: Your King Comes to YOU in Holy Absolution
3rd Sermon: Your King Comes to YOU in the Lord's Supper
Hebrews 10:1-4, 12-14
Matthew 26:26-29
Luther's Small Catechism - The Sacrament of the Altar
Our Lord says, “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) Rest from your sins. Rest in your soul. Rest that refreshes and pours forth energy into your body.
That’s what Jesus promises. Rest. Rest for your soul. Rest from the hounding of your wounded conscience. Rest from the impacts sin has on your body. Rest from all of it.
This rest is yours in His Supper. “For where there is the forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.” Luther called this holy meal “the medicine of immortality.” For the forgiveness of your sins, the freeing of your conscience, loosens up the grip sin has on your body, your mind, your shoulders, your bowels, etc. And more importantly this blessed meal reverses death in you. Death is done in eternally in the resurrection, but even here and now in your body this meal gives life. It reverses death. It gives life and salvation. Bodily health. Not that we should seek that as an end in itself. Clinging to our earthly life is just one more idol we worship. Repent and do not fear death for Christ has overcome it and you are in Him. But bodily health is good for your loving service of others.

These are tall tasks. How can we be the salt and light on earth if we are not made salty and luminous by our God? On our own we would sputter out and lose our saltiness. That’s where the Lord’s Supper comes in. In Baptism you are His child. In Absolution you are returned to the grace of your Baptism. In the Sacrament of the Altar you are given Jesus Himself to live inside you, to lighten you, to preserve you. He lives in you. He resides in you. He works in you. His incorruptible flesh takes root in you. His life blood flows through your veins.

Where He is, the devil can not be. Where He is there is life. Where He is sin is cast out, darkness is gone, for all is light.
Light can not overcome darkness. Darkness is only the absence of light. Wherever light is, darkness is obliterated. Where Jesus is, sin, Satan, and death are obliterated. Your King comes to you in this meal and His enemies flee.

The Law of the Lord only reminds us of our sin. It has no power to give us life. But the Gospel, the New Testament in Jesus’ blood, this Sacrament gives us life. For in God’s wisdom it pleases God to come to you in physical things: water, spoken words, bread and wine. These things are the New Testament in His blood. By which He comes to you.
An incurable disease requires a cure. News of a cure gladdens the heart of the afflicted one but does not save. The cure must be placed on their tongue and ingested into your body to save you. Thanks be to God that He has given us the cure to our affliction of sin and death. He has baptized and claimed us as His own. He assures us of His love and our salvation in Absolution. And He gives us rest through this life-giving meal. In Him there is rest. Eternal rest and life to the full.
In +Jesus’ name, Amen.