Sunday, May 10, 2026… Sixth Sunday of Easter
“Making Jesus Known”
Scripture Readings: Psalm 67:1-7; Acts 17:16-31; 1 Peter 3:13-22; John 14:15-21
Service Order: Divine Service III, without Communion (p. 184, Lutheran Service Book)
Hymns: “Lord Jesus Christ, with Us Abide” #585; “Beautiful Savior” #537; “Hark, the Voice of Jesus Calling” #826; “Amazing Grace” #744
Dear Friends in Christ,
Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God our Father and from our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our Lord Jesus was as clear as He could be about who He was and from where He had come. “I Am the way and the truth and the life,” He said. “I Am the Resurrection and the Life.” “I Am the Bread of life, come down from heaven.” St. Paul, and Peter and John and the rest of the apostles, made it the mission of their lives to make Jesus known in the world around them. You and I, and this Church we’re a part of -- if we’re taking our Lord’s instructions to us seriously --- are to make “making Him known” the purpose of our own lives as well. So today we turn our hearts to the mission we’ve been given.
I’ve heard a lot of different ideas about what the purpose of a Church is, and what a Church is for. Some say the Church exists for fellowship, and for giving people “a place to belong.” And that’s true enough, as far as it goes. Some say the Church is here to do “social ministry,” to feed the hungry and house the homeless and care for the poor; and we certainly ought to be doing those things as part of what we do. (Jesus said so!) Some think the Church should be about political action, about trying to influence government and social policies and such. OK, I guess, to a point; we do need to have a voice in those things. That can’t be the main thing, though.
Some seem to believe the Church is about money, and about wealth and prosperity for its members – but that isn’t even true. (Jesus said that, too!) A few mega-churches might have corporate jets, but most of us don’t; most of God’s congregations are small and poor. Some think the Church is a religion, about traditions to maintain, and commandments to keep, and rules to follow; but that’s an empty kind of church, if that’s all you’ve got. Some think the Church ought to be entertaining people with praise bands and rock bands and concerts and such, thinking we can “draw in the world” by being “relatable” and looking more like the world; but that will only have us looking more and more like the world, and less and less like Christ. The best definition I know for what the Church is for, and what we’re all doing here, is “to know Christ and make Him known.” Every other reason for us to exist is secondary to that one.
What was good St. Paul doing in Athens? The man was on a mission. He was all about making Jesus known, in places where people didn’t know Him yet. He’d never been to Athens before. He’d heard about the place, but he’d never been there. He was only there for a little while waiting for friends. He might not have intended to do anything there but pass through, but the Lord had more than that in mind.
So, Paul had a little time on his hands, a little time to look around -- and what he saw in that place distressed him. His dear Christian heart wanted everyone to know the Jesus he knew; but the city was full of idols, which must have just broken his heart. So he went to the local synagogue to tell the Jews the Good News about Jesus; and then he went to the local marketplaces, to tell the wise men and philosophers who liked to gather there about Him, too. Not because he wanted to make money. Not to establish a social club or start a religion. Not to put himself forward as someone big or important or holy. But to do whatever he could do to make Jesus known, because he loved the Lord, and wanted everyone else to know and love Him, too. And that was the only reason he needed to do what he did.
So Paul stood up before those wise men - who were always talking about truth and what the truth might be or ought to be or could be, but could never seem to arrive at what the truth actually was - and he spoke from his heart about the truth he knew. He complimented them (sort of) on being “very religious,” because their city was full of idols to any god you could name. That was because, of course, if they couldn’t decide on what truth was, how could they know which God to worship? Paul mentioned to them about one of their monuments he’d seen, “To An Unknown God” (just in case they’d forgotten one, I guess). So they worshiped, or at least gave a passing nod, to a whole pantheon of gods, but they didn’t really believe or trust in any of them. All of which goes to show that a person can be “very religious” and still not have faith in any god at all. Why would Paul stand up and bear witness and tell God’s truth to that crowd? Because he knew how much God loved them, so he loved them, too.
He told them what he knew about the God who made the world: the God who made everything in heaven and earth, and who has no need for statues or idols or monuments or even temples; a God who doesn’t need our hands or our help to do anything for Him, but a God who in grace and mercy loves to help us, and who gives life and breath to us all. Paul told them about how this God he knew had created all men from the first man, Adam, and how He alone determines where and how and how long each of us will live. (“Our times are in His hands,” the Psalm says.) Not one god among many, some far-away God without any real power; but one almighty, Sovereign God, who made everything, and all of us - and that with a divine intent and with a holy purpose.
And God’s purpose, Paul tells them, is that all of us would - perhaps, hopefully, oh, please, Lord! - reach out to Him, and find Him to be close by, and come to know Him.
“For in Him we live and move and have our being,” and without Him, we’d be nothing at all. “We are God’s offspring,” Paul tells them, God’s dearly loved and precious children. This God who made us isn’t made of gold or silver or stone, nor does He care about those things. He isn’t a god that man invented, but the God who in love created us.
“In the past God overlooked such ignorance,” Paul tells them. Now ignorance isn’t such a bad word as it sounds. If you’re stupid, there’s not much we can do about that; but ignorance just means that a person is lacking knowledge, that there are things you need to know that you haven’t learned just yet. Ignorance is a correctible thing, if someone wants to learn and is willing to listen. (And it’s stupid if you don’t!)
And now Paul, because love won’t allow him to do anything else, comes to his point: God “commands all people everywhere to repent.” To repent means to turn around, to do a 180, to turn away from all your sins and all your idols. It means to turn away from all the foolish things that can’t help you, and turn your heart back to the true and living God, who truly can. Because, says Paul, there is a Day of Judgement coming. And who will be our Judge? It’s “the man God has appointed,” says Paul. That is, the Messiah, the Savior, the Chosen One, Jesus Christ the Son of God, the One who was crucified for the sake of your sin and the sin of all the world, and raised up again from the dead -- the One who lives so you can live.
When Paul told them about the Resurrection, which is what our faith is all about,
he got a mixed reaction from those thinking men and philosophers, which I guess is what we can expect. Some were intrigued and interested and wanted to hear more; while others called him a “babbler” and foolish and crazy and wouldn’t listen to him anymore. But that’s the way it goes; people are no different today. But what can we do? “Christ’s love compels us.” “We can’t help speaking about what we’ve seen and heard.” “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have,” St. Peter says. That’s what the Church is for. That’s who we are and what we do. If we tell a hundred people about Jesus today, and 99 of them mock us or turn away, but one person listens - that was a good day!
This Jesus, who our hearts know, and who we want everyone else to know, says, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” And what did Jesus say were the greatest of God’s commandments? The first and greatest was to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength;” and the second was to “love your neighbor as yourself.” God is love, the good Word says; so it only makes sense that if He loves us, and we love Him, we should be joyful and happy to be obedient to Him by bringing the Good News about His love to others.
The Spirit of Truth is in us - the Holy Spirit, the Helper, the Comforter, our heavenly Guide. Because the Spirit is in us, you and I know “the truth that will set people free.” We do live in a world where truth is unpopular, especially when it calls out people for their sin, and begs them to turn and change and come back to God. But the truth we’ve been given to tell is what it is. The truth about Jesus is loving and saving and necessary, if people are going to be saved. And our hearts should break, like good St. Paul’s did, to know there are still people out there in the world who don’t know the truth about who Jesus is.
We all have our own “Areopaguses,” the places where we live and work and play, wherever God and His good Spirit should lead us or take us on any given day. We’re not just God’s Church when we meet in this place. This place is where the sheep, God’s children, gather to be strengthened and fed, and thank God for it. But the reality is that we all carry the Church with us – “with us and in us,” Jesus says - wherever and whenever we go out to walk in the world. And to “know Christ and make Him known” is who we are and what we do.
Father in Heaven, Your Spirit is in us, Your love is in us - You in us, and us in You.
May our love for You find us obedient to Your calling. May we by Your grace follow the leading of Your good Holy Spirit, and speak the truth in love to everyone we meet along our way. In Jesus’ name; Amen.
Rev. Larry Sheppard, M.Div.
Trinity Lutheran Church, LCMS, Packwaukee, WI; St. John’s Lutheran Church, LCMS, Oxford, WI
pastorshepp@gmail.com