Good Book on the 2003 Iraq Invasion

WARNING:
If you have any loved ones or friends serving in Iraq or Afgahnistan or you have served yourself, I would recommend either not reading this post or having someone else preview it for you.



Last evening, I finished reading a book that I received on Friday as a gift. It is titled, "A Table in the Presence" by Carey Cash, military chaplain. His is the story of the first Marine Battalion to cross over from Kuwait to Iraq at the start of the ground invasion of 2003. The story does tell the usual details of those killed in action, of firefights with the enemy, of mass surrenders by conscripted Iraqi soldiers. It tells another side to this invasion as well.

We hear of Bible studies being held before and during the invasion as well as Baptisms being performed for those who had come to faith through the work of this chaplain. The most striking part of the book is to read the account he gives of an ambush of his battalion as they move to take a Presidential Palace located on the Tigris River.

Chaplain Cash and others who did not have armor on their vehicles are ordered to stay behind while the combat troops perform the mission. All goes well until they are ambushed by an equivilant number of mercinaries hiding in the abandoned buildings of downtown Bagdad. It is then that this book becomes a truly remarkable account of war. We read an entirely different version of a battle than we would anywhere else.

Chaplain Cash relates the spiritual reality of this battle for us. He tells of soldiers totally exposed passing through sheets of bullets for the number of enemy combatants. And coming out the other side completely uninjured. He tells of those who are fighting from within "ragtop" Humvees where the bullets have shredded the canvas except where the soldier was sitting. We hear of un-numbered Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG) being fired at point blank range being seen swatted away like so many flies. Finally, a company of these Marines are ordered to take a Mosque shortly after they capture the Presidential Palace. One of the Marines, now in the middle of a fire fight is totally exposed with only his M-16 for defense, instead of the roof mounted grenade launcher, and he sees a mercinary step out of a doorway in the outer wall of the Mosque with a RPG ready to shoot. Chaplain Cash tells us that to this day, the soldier does not know why the enemy did not shoot. He had time to shoot but this mercinary saw something. The soldier does not know what, but the man ran away down an ally as fast as he could, yelling for his comrade to join him all the way! The only explanation any of these soldiers and the chaplain could give for these many miraculous events was the hand of God. They took literally the words of Psalm 91:11, 7. 'For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. ... A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.' They clung to those words of God for dear life throughout this battle.

This is an incredible book, one I could not put down. I would urge whoever reads this to continue to pray for all our soldiers until the war is over. That is another point made by the author. He quotes from letter from home sent to these troops from time to time. He does this to make the point that hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Christians on the homefront were praying these soldiers through every minute of the invasion. We cannot stop now. No matter what, all of us on the homefront need to lift our leaders and military, especially the soldiers up to our heavenly Father in prayer. And we cannot forget the P.O.W.s. They need our prayer more than anyone.

April 4-Easter Day-St. John 20:1-18

‘Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.’ (Ps. 19:14) Amen.

Christ is Risen! [response] He is Risen indeed! Alleluia!

‘Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”’ (Vv. 1, 2)

John’s opening statements about the resurrection of our Lord are not as glorious as those that Luke pens for us. In Luke we here a more joyous account. It signals a time of rejoicing. This rejoicing for you and me, as for the early church, spreads from here to the festival of Pentecost. The entire time of these next fifty days is one of rejoicing!

John speaks to us in our text about a more confused group. In fact, not all of the eleven go to the tomb, only Peter and John. Soon, as we shall see, for all those first Christians the Alleluia’s spring forth again with great joy as we have cried ourselves this morning.

For all of Lent, we have had the Alleluia’s of the service buried, left out of the service. Then for this past Holy Week we dropped even more. All to make the point that our Lord suffered and died for our sins. He paid the price so that you would not have to. He covered everything. Then this morning, it all comes flooding back in a joyous profusion of praise and rejoicing! The Alleluia first sprang forth from our lips today in the opening words of our Introit Psalm: ‘Alleluia. [Christ] has risen, as he said. He has risen from the dead. Alleluia.’ (Saint Matthew 28:6a, 7b)

Rejoice! Rejoice! Christ Jesus has risen from the grave!

Early this morning, at the time we may celebrate an Easter sunrise service in our own day, those women who were closest to Jesus and wished for Him a proper burial were already on their way to the tomb. They did not wait more than a second longer than they had to with the passing of the Sabbath on Saturday. They went and found the proper materials at the market early that Sunday morning, the very first Lord’s Day as we would count it, and bought the spices they would need. Such work would not have been allowed on the Sabbath. Then these few women trudged out to the garden tomb. They were wondering how they would possibly go about moving that massive stone. They were probably also formulating a plan and who would be the spokesman for the group if there were a guard posted by the chief priests.

And now, in Mary Magdalene’s distressed voice, we hear that glorious news. ‘“They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”’ (Vv. 1, 2) He is gone! He is no longer in the tomb!

We first think, “He is risen! [response]” She was thinking, “I need some help. Someone has moved or stolen the Lord’s body!” We hear the good news in the actions of the women and the two disciples. They are rushing around in a mad confusion of fear and mourning and loss. The two men rush out to the tomb and see: ‘the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.’ (Vv. 6-9)

Whatever may have been swirling around in the minds of Peter and John, they could tell that something strange had occurred. They could tell that no one had stolen Jesus’ body. Again, actions speak louder than words could. The fact that all the linen cloths were still lying there as if there was still a body within, though they would have been sunken from the weight of all the burial spices Nicodemus had brought Friday afternoon. What especially proved this fact of the resurrection was the head cloth lying neatly folded separate from the rest this really told the story.

Jesus’ body had disappeared from where it was laid but because He had chosen to leave, not because anyone else had done anything to Him, just as He chose to give up His spirit on Friday (Saint John 19:30). When Jesus rose early Easter morning, He was simply not there any longer. As our Confessions state, the natural laws of space and time no longer held our Savior subject any more. He had risen. His body is now glorified and moves about as Jesus wills. (Formula of Concord Solid Declaration VIII: 12ff.) We see that later when Jesus appears to the disciples as they hid behind closed doors. (Saint John 20:19) Mary, not remembering the words of Jesus that He had to suffer and be crucified and on the third day rise again, (V. 9) did not understand any of this. The only thing that made sense to her was that the body had somehow been moved.

‘And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”’ (Vv. 12-13) These are not words of rebuke by these two angels. Rather, they are words of assurance for Mary Magdalene. They were seeking to help her see that all her spices and assumed preparations for a dead body that she had planned, were unnecessary. Praise God that these angels are correct! It is true; Jesus is not where He should be. He has risen! [response]

These angels are trying, though it does not seem to do much good, they are seeking to help Mary believe the good news of the resurrection. So, we have the next verses. Mary stands up from looking into the tomb and turns seeing what she thinks is a gardener. Jesus repeats what the angels had already asked Mary. ‘“Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?”’ (V. 15) As we see, He asks her a further question. Teasing out of her the understanding of what had happened and to whom she was speaking.

What we have is the reaction we first expect on Easter morning. We have the same joyful response we have given ourselves to the resurrection of our Savior. Mary exclaims: ‘”Rabboni!” (which means Teacher)’ (V. 17) She is overjoyed at this unexpected reunion. She is rejoicing that Jesus really is not dead, her eyes had not deceived her. She is rejoicing as we all are today. This Easter is double cause for celebration for many in our area.

It is a great and wonderful thing to be reunited with one you had thought gone or who has been away for a long stretch of time. I have never personally sent a family member off to war, I have only rejoiced with all Christians on Easter Sunday that our Savior’s payment for my sins and your sins with His sinless life was accepted by the Father and Jesus was returned to we who love Him. Though John does not record this for us, I am sure that Mary Magdalene was jumping and running over to Jesus to give Him a great big hug and checking His hands for the nail marks to see that it really and truly is Jesus. That her eyes really were not deceiving her.

As with you and me, we those who are blessed by Jesus, ‘“who have not seen and yet have believed.”’ (V. 29) Mary Magdalene finally believed the good news of Jesus’ resurrection. As she knew and would believe she now knew that when she died she would be in Paradise with Jesus. Death would now transfer her, as also it does for you and me, to the Father in heaven. Mary Magdalene finally knew and believed that her sins are forgiven, she had been rescued from sin death and the devil and she had eternal life with Jesus in heaven. Mary now knew this for certain. It is the same with you. You now know for certain that you have forgiveness of sins, salvation from sin death and the devil and everlasting life with Jesus in heaven. You know this for sure. These gifts are yours because of your baptism (Small Catechism IV: 2nd) and are yours eternally because of Jesus death on Good Friday and resurrection on Easter Sunday. 'Amen, Come Lord Jesus!' (Rev. 22:20)

In the Name of Jesus+ our Risen Savior. Amen. Alleluia!

April 2-Good Friday-St. Luke 23:46

‘Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.’

‘Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.’ (Ps. 19:14) Amen.

‘Grace, mercy and peace will be with you, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.’ (2 John 3) Amen.

On Good Friday, we commemorate the death of our Savior. So, we are likely to speak of death at such a service as this one. This is especially the case when our sermon text is the seventh and final word of Jesus spoken from the cross.

Are you afraid of death? Does attending a funeral give you an un-conscience shudder at the thought of attending? Why, you are a Christian! For the unconverted it is natural to be afraid of death. Natural man is afraid at such a thought. It is different though for you, or at least it should be. As a Christian, you and me, each of us, we are not afraid to die. Why is this so? What makes us different as Christians?

Well, we have the answer tonight. May the Lord Jesus, who Himself has taken the sting out of death, bless us as we study His final word from the cross. ‘Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.’ (V. 46)

These words declare for you that death leads your soul back to the father. It is as simple as that.

All of us here, we live in a very disillusioned world. Some years back many people felt as if they knew it all. Everything was certain if you asked such a person. Now, these same people, many of those around us, feel that no one knows anything. So, when you or I come and tell them that there are certain truths about which there can be no doubt, for that matter if we simply declare that there is any absolute truth, they are stunned and shocked.

When we say that a Christian’s death leads his soul back to the Father, they reply: “How do you know?” Or they ask such foolish questions as: “Have you been there?” We have to answer that second question with a no. However there is one of these truths of which we are each sure. No we haven’t been there. But Jesus, the Son of God, who was in the bosom of the Father, came down from heaven and revealed this truth to you and to me.

When speaking of His death He said to His disciples: ‘“I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again I leave the world, and go to the Father.”’ (Saint John 16:28) Again He said, ‘“I go to prepare a place for you and I if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again to receive you unto Myself; that where I am you may be also.”’ (Saint John 14:2f.) Notice how Jesus words these statements. There are no “maybe’s”, there are no “if, then” portions. None of this is attached to these words of Christ. He simply states the way things are and will be.

When Jesus came to comfort Mary and Martha, whose brother had died, He said: ‘“I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”’ (Saint John 11:25f.) To the penitent thief on the cross He gave the assurance: ‘“Today though shalt be with Me in Paradise.”’ Jesus taught that His death would lead Him back to the Father and that the death of every believer would lead back to the Father.

Jesus believed what He preached. There was no lack of confidence in our Savior. Even as He hung on the cross, He knew and proclaimed for sure the way it would be. Jesus told that thief that because of the faith created in that man’s heart, he would be in Paradise. This is important because there were many false prophets around at the time of Christ. It was the same as it is in our day. Many spread a false message about the Savior and how God has rescued us from sin. Those false preachers may not be sure themselves about what they preach. Jesus is different, even when it was darkest. Even when the Father had abandoned Him, Jesus was sure of what he preached and He believed what He preached.

Hear again that last word of Jesus from the cross. ‘Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.’ They crucified Him at nine in the morning. Now it was almost three o’clock in the afternoon. Jesus had reached His hour of death … the hour which He told us “have no fear”. This is the hour that leads back to the Father. At this point, with the same confidence that our children say, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep,” Jesus in His dying hour confides: ‘“Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.”’

That is why you and I and all Christians are sure that death is not the end. That is the result of our confidence. Our trust in the salvation of our souls and the forgiveness of sins, which Jesus won for you on that cross this Good Friday. There are many things about which you or I may say; “It is my opinion”. This is not one of those times. We proclaim with the hymn: “Jesus is my confidence!” (TLH 201:5) Because of Jesus atoning death on the cross, you now have no doubt. Death is now no longer an end but rather a beginning. It is the beginning of that glorious life in heaven with our Father.

In Jesus’+ Name. Amen.

‘And the Peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’ (Phil. 4:7) Amen.

April 1-Maundy Thursday-St. Luke 22:7-20

‘Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.’ (Ps. 19:14) Amen.

‘Grace, mercy and peace will be with you, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.’ (2 John 3) Amen.

‘Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.”’ (Vv. 7, 8)

Have you ever had an important dinner at your house? Very likely you have, it may have been that dinner when you invited the boss for dinner or a client. It may have been that time you invited someone from the bank over for dinner because you wanted to make a good impression before you borrowed money for a big project. We have all had some important meal to prepare for.

Actually, we all have such a meal every year. This Sunday we will all return home after Easter service to celebrate a meal with family and the resurrection of our Lord. We do the same thing at Christmas time; we celebrate then the birth of our Savior. Each of these important meals comes after we have gone to church to worship the Savior and to eat and drink with Him as He feeds us His Body and Blood.

Yet, do you prepare haphazardly? Do you break from established tradition during the meal? At Christmas each year, our family reads the account of Christ’s birth from St. Luke’s Gospel. Our boys would be thoroughly confused if we broke from that and read from St. John, or worse, did not read anything at all. You also likely have your own family traditions that always happen either on Christmas Day or on Easter Day.

If you read that passage in Luke 22 sometime, ‘Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.”’ (Vv. 7, 8) Notice that Jesus waits for the actual day of the feast to do anything about preparations! He is not scrambling around the previous few weeks trying to gather in the necessary supplies. Jesus is not asking around among the disciples at the end of last year’s Passover celebration, which was this week, for a host or hostess for this meal. Something we find remarkable since He states later in our reading that He had been looking forward to this with great anticipation. ‘“I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”’ (Vv. 15, 16) Yet, it is good, we think, that Jesus gives this task to two of the disciples from His inner circle of three. Jesus tasks Peter and John with finding the proper place for this final Passover that He would eat with them.

The directions though sound quite random to us. ‘He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters and tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.” And they went and found it just as he had told them’. (Vv. 10-13) When we hear these verses or read them ourselves, it seems as if Jesus is telling these men: “Well, wander about the city until you see a likely guy to follow. Oh, make sure he is carrying a water jug. His master’s house is the place. Tell him the Teacher has need of a guestroom”. An odd set of directions. After all, didn’t everyone carry water jugs? Well, actually, that portion would have been very specific. Men did not normally carry water jugs. This man would have stood out in a crowd no matter what.

The other part, about asking the master of the house for a guestroom might have made Peter and John feel a bit awkward. Have you ever considered walking up to a random house, of someone you don’t know, and asking for a guestroom during Christmastime or at Easter? No, I have not either. These two men would have thought this an odd thing indeed. Everyone that week would have been full to overflowing with guests of their own, or even paying visitors using any extra space as a place to sleep for the Passover feast. Walking in Jerusalem that week would have been like trying to walk around at the fairgrounds during the State Fair. There was a reason other than spending time with friends that Jesus and His disciples stayed in Bethany that week. They all knew there was no room for them in Jerusalem.

Peter and John knew all this. It would have been a strange request indeed for Jesus to tell them to ask someone if they had a spare guestroom. Yet, that is exactly what Jesus told them to do. That is exactly what they found when they followed these strange directions.

Think about the Communion liturgy now. If you like turn to it in your hymnal, specifically the Words of Institution on page 171. ‘And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise with the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”’ (Vv. 19, 20) Sounds familiar doesn’t it? Well, these were not the quite the normal things done during the Passover meal. Remember, God gave specific instructions to Moses about how the Israelites were to eat the Passover meal (Exodus 13:3-16). Oh, sure, there were a series of cups; there was bread and a meal. The structure was there, but the prayers that Jesus gave for this cup and for this bread were different.

All of this would have caused the apostles to perk their ears up and listen. Actually Jesus’ statement that He earnestly desired to eat this Passover with them before He suffered would have made them listen a bit better. They were not just going through the motions this time around. The apostles were listening closely to see why Jesus had broken with the regular Passover liturgy.

So, why did He?

Jesus broke from the established Passover liturgy because as I said on Sunday, He is the true Passover Lamb. That is, the liturgy of the feast of Unleavened Bread has been fulfilled. The true Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world has come. The firstborn of all the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth has come and He has come to pay the price for our sins on the cross. Jesus has redeemed you. Jesus has forgiven you. Jesus has given you, right now, salvation from sin death and the devil and eternal life with Him. None of this is to be given later. We do not have to earn any of this by a righteous life. All of this was given to you fully and in truth in your baptism (Small Catechism IV: 2nd Question)

You who are now baptized and living that baptismal life of repentance have been chosen for this from before the creation of the world. It was God’s intention from that moment to adopt you as His sons through Christ Jesus, according to His will. In Jesus we have redemption and forgiveness of sins (see, Ephesians 1:3-6).

In Jesus’+ Name. Amen