Commemoration of C.F.W. Walther, Doctor of the Church
Beloved. The Holy Spirit tells us in Scripture [Heb.13.7]: Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. What is fascinating is that the word that is translated as a simple noun—leaders—is actually a present verb and literally means “the ones who are leading” you. And then you have them described as those who spoke to you. That’s past tense. They spoke; they no longer physically speak. They have died: Consider the outcome of their way of life. What great thing is the Holy Spirit teaching us here in so few words? Simply this: those faithful teachers who have taught the word of God in all its truth and purity, who defended that word, who remained faithful to that word of God to their very end are still leading us. They are not dead and gone and forgotten. This is what we confess in the Creed—the communion of saints. The faithful, by their life and witness, are still leading us. Don’t think just of the big name saints but think also of faithful parents or others who taught you the faith. And pray that, by God’s grace, you, too, may one day be the one whom others consider the outcome of [your] way of life, and imitate [your] faith.
Today, we remember one who is still leading us, who spoke to us the word of God; and today we consider the outcome of his way of life and strive to imitate his faith—C.F.W. Walther, one of the founding fathers of our Missouri Synod, who died on this date in 1887. Walther was born in 1811 in Saxony in what is modern day Germany. He was the son of a pastor, the 8th of 12 children, although only 6 would live to adulthood. He later enrolled in the University of Leipzig in 1829 to study theology. Not just in society but especially at university the prevailing thought was rationalism, which taught that human reason was above all and that Scripture had to fit with human reason. Walther, who later said that at age 18 he had never had a Bible or catechism, came to know Christ first came to know Christ with a Pietistic group. But Pietism, which is based on feelings and experience, left Walther in despair. By God’s grace, Walther was pointed to a faithful preacher of God’s word, Martin Stephan, who told Walther to lay hold of the full, free, and unconditional promises of the Gospel. During his college years, Walther suffered a near fatal lung disease that interrupted his studies for six months. Even this was God’s grace at work because during this time Walther read Luther’s works intensely and became convinced of the firm Scriptural foundation of Lutheranism and the importance of holding a firm confessional position.
In 1837 Walther was ordained and became pastor of a congregation. The local church authorities were steeped in rationalism and Walther was opposed and persecuted for his firm stand on Lutheran doctrine and practice. In 1838 he followed the call of Pastor Martin Stephan to leave Germany to come to the US where they hoped they could live as confessional/ orthodox Lutherans. Upon arriving in the US and settling in Missouri, Walther worked to unite various groups of confessional Lutherans forming our Missouri Synod on 26 April 1847.
What we see in this very brief description of Walther’s life is Jesus’ guardian care of each of His dear Christians and of His Church at large. How beautifully He works both together! Walther was at the point of spiritual despair and Jesus leads him to His Gospel; through the time of what was a very serious health concern—and what must have had Walther and others thinking, why did Jesus allow this—Jesus worked to strengthen Walther’s faith and to make him a bold confessor of His saving word. By this and through the struggles that Walther and the Lutherans endured in America, Jesus formed a solid church body to proclaim His holy Word.
This guardian care of Jesus for His Church shows both His compassion for His Church and His blessing on His Church. That’s exactly what we find in our text from St. Jeremiah. It is part of the description the Lord gives of His NT Church and what life will be/ is like for the Church: I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be filled with my goodness, declares the Lord. This theme of Jesus caring and providing for His Church is a continuation of what we heard last week—that Jesus is our Good Shepherd and as our Good Shepherd, Jesus is guiding, leading us, and protecting us. This mercy and compassion of our Lord is a very vital point for us to keep in mind because we, our Lord’s dear Christian and His Church, are in the midst of a sinful world. We need Him to care for us; we need Jesus’ compassion. And He delivers!
Thinking of our text, there seems to be a bit of a disconnect between how our Lord describes the Church and us in it and what we day in and day out experience. I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be filled with my goodness, declares the Lord. We don’t always see ourselves filled with all sorts of abundance and goodness. We more often than not see/ feel/ experience pain, sorrow, suffering, disappointment, the attacks on our faith by the devil, the world and even our old sinful self. Just like we see with Walther, so we see with the Church throughout history, and so also we see, if we take a close and honest look at our own lives, Jesus’ care of us and of His Church; we see His compassion. Did Jesus let the church in Walther’s day go its own way because so many were adopting the worldly/ secular attitude of rationalism that made human reason above Scriptures revelation? No. He preserved His pure word and had it preached—even by far from perfect preachers like Martin Stephan. Was Jesus forsaking Walther when Walther held to the true Lutheran doctrine and was being persecuted for it by the church authorities? Absolutely not. The Church and each of our Lord’s dear Christians are in the midst of a sinful world. Jesus knows that and has compassion for His Church and for each of His dear Christians. And in and through that compassion He is blessing us with every heavenly and spiritual gift and grace as we are in the midst of this sinful world.
Easter and Jesus’ resurrection does not mean that everything is and will always be outwardly good but the reality, the true description of our text fits the Church and the Christian to a “T”: I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be filled with my goodness, declares the Lord. We are filled with every spiritual goodness—the forgiveness of sin, peace with God, the certainty of heaven, eternal life, etc. In the midst of living in a sinful world—experiencing the results/ consequences of the sins of others and our own sins—our dear Lord Jesus, having been here Himself and having experienced the worst sin could dole out, has compassion on us and fills us with great spiritual abundance and joy. No matter what our material and physical condition, our joy is full and it is in the Lord.
Precisely through faithful pastors and confessors, Jesus is showing us compassion —comforting us in our trials, binding up our wounds, giving us His peace, the forgiveness of sin, life, heaven, strengthening our faith. I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be filled with my goodness, declares the Lord. St. Paul clearly tells us of Jesus and His compassion [Eph 4.11]: And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ... On this day, we give our Lord thanks for His gift to the Church of Pastor Walther and that He worked so mightily through him keeping him faithful and giving him the Gospel to proclaim. Jesus clearly tells us [Mt. 16.18]: I will build My church. But how does Jesus do it? Through His word that He has His Christians proclaim; through the pastors and teachers He gives His Church to preach His holy word and administer the holy Sacraments. One of the great blessings that Jesus has given us today through C.F.W. Walther is Walther’s rediscovery and emphasis on the distinction between God’s Law and the Gospel. Where these are not taught rightly, a person can easily think: if I’m saved by God’s grace, then it doesn’t matter how I live and I can sin all I want so God’s grace may abound all the more. Or, a person can never come to know the certainty of their salvation if all they look at is God’s holy law and think they have to be at a certain “level” of holiness in order to be worthy of Jesus, heaven and salvation. Instead, rightly distinguishing Law and Gospel—the 2 main doctrines of Scripture—as Scripture, Luther and Walther emphasize—we see that the Law of God drives us to recognize our and sorrow over our sins, see God’s wrath and our condemnation—but in doing this, the Law of God drives us to the Gospel, to Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins. Here, in the Gospel, the Holy Spirit works faith so that we believe/ trust in Jesus our Savior and His work—His life, suffering and death—for our forgiveness and eternal life in heaven.
Jesus gives the fruit and blessing of His work in the holy sacraments—in Baptism washing away our sin, giving us His righteousness and bringing us into His holy family; in the Sacrament of the Altar, He gives us His very body and blood coming/ uniting with us, giving us the forgiveness of our sin. In the Gospel—the word and Sacrament—Jesus is offering/ saying to the one crushed by the Law recognizing his/ her sin [Mt. 11.28]: Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Or in the words of our text: I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be filled with my goodness, declares the Lord. In the Church, by the Gospel and Sacraments, Jesus satisfies the longing soul with rich abundant blessing.
Soon after the Lutheran immigrants settled in their new homeland, their leader and self-proclaimed bishop, Martin Stephan—the very one who pointed Walther and others to the pure Gospel—was accused of financial and sexual misconduct and expelled from the settlement. This led the group to despair and wondering if they had sinned by leaving Europe and the state church; if they were even indeed a Lutheran congregation. Our Lord, in His care of His Church led these Christians back to the Scriptures to settle this question.
Tied in with this question is the phrase in our text, I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance. Here we come to another way the Lord blessed the Church through His faithful servant, C.F.W. Walther: the point that all Christians are spiritual priests—as St. Peter tells the Christians to whom he is writing [1 Pt. 2.9]: But you are a…royal priesthood, and St. John [Rev. 1.6]: Jesus made us…priests to His God and Father. We, dear Christian, are spiritual priests. To say that all Christians are spiritual priests is not the same thing as saying that every Christian is a pastor or minister. To the pastor, the congregation—the spiritual priests—entrusts/ calls him to the preaching of the word and the administration of the holy sacraments. That’s the pastor’s call; that’s what makes a pastor a pastor. A priest offers sacrifices. And what sort of sacrifice do we Christians/ spiritual priests offer up? We offer up the sacrifices of our prayer, praise, thanksgiving; we offer up the sacrifice of our life of faith and good works; we offer up the sacrifice of ourselves as we fight against sin, as we fight against our old sinful nature, as we say no to self. And what does our text tell us? I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance …declares the Lord. By His holy word and sacrament, the Lord richly provides and equips us with the gifts necessary [Rm. 12.1] to present [our] bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.
As we see in the example of the life of C.F.W. Walther, and all the saints, Jesus in His compassion so graciously cares for and blesses His Church. Praise be to our gracious Lord who continues to build and preserve His Church using humble and lowly instruments so that as He says in our text: I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be filled with my goodness. How blessed we are! INJ