There were three crosses on Golgotha’s hill.  Jesus hung in the center, but he was flanked by the crosses of two criminals.  Two men who must have been the dregs of society, because Rome didn’t crucify you for jaywalking or spitting your bubble gum on the sidewalk. 
 
But then came the voice of one of the criminals.  Like a crack of thunder!  So unexpected!  So shocking! Rebuking his compatriot in crime.  “Don’t you fear God, since you are under the same condemnation? We are punished justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for what we have done, but this man has done nothing wrong.”  (Luke 23:40-41)   
 
This is true repentance!  This thief offers no excuse for his conduct. There's no playing the victim card, no attempt to blame anyone else for what he was, neither his parents nor his partner nor his peers. Instead, this thief makes a candid admission that he's getting exactly what he deserves. His problem is with himself, not with his environment. He knows he is a sinner, and he confesses it openly before all.  He’s sorry for what he has done; not sorry about the consequences in his own life and how it’s hurting him, but he’s sorry for what he’s done to hurt other people.  Sorry for the way he’s hurt his God.  This is repentance.
 
"We are punished justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for what we have done." (verse 41).  Out of the mouth of a common—or perhaps I should say “uncommon”—thief comes a powerful and profound confession that each of us needs to make our own!  For this thief came to see himself as God sees all of us.  Our God dared to write, “There is surely not a righteous man on earth who does good and does not sin. (Ecclesiastes 7:20) But that’s a hard truth to make personal, isn’t it?  That’s a truth we’d much rather apply to the televangelist with his wet hanky in hand or the politician sort of apologizing into the camera or the brazen criminal caught dead to rights but still blaming society.  It is so easy for us to pontificate about the evils of others around us, but to take God’s law as a mirror and look deep into our own heart, our mind, our soul?  That we’d rather not do, and even when we try, we easily start excusing ourselves again.  Too often we tend to grade sins on a scale ranging from not so bad to really bad. Really bad?  That’s the other guy.  Not so bad.  That’s me.  No, we're not perfect, but no one is. We’re doing the best we can.  God will have to be satisfied.
 
But that’s not repentance, is it?  True repentance admits as did the thief: “We are punished justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for what we have done.”  True repentance isn’t too proud to borrow a line from the hymn as confession: “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling" (CW 389:3).
 
Yet true repentance is more than acknowledging sin.  Even Judas did that.  But unlike Judas, the thief placed his full trust in Jesus.  He knew that Jesus had done nothing wrong, and he said so. Then, when eternity stared him in the face, the thief simply said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” (verse 42). What did the thief want Jesus to remember?  His rap sheet?  I doubt it.  I suspect he’d just as soon have the Lord lose that.  What did the thief want Jesus to remember?  His life filled with accomplishments?  His good name and reputation?  He had none, remember?   He had nothing to offer Jesus.  Nothing at all.  His only hope?  Jesus the Savior, the One sent to save people from their sins.  This repentant thief placed every ounce of his trust in Jesus!
 
And with the gates of hell about to slam shut on this wretch of a man, what did Jesus do?  Did he say, “Don’t bother me now.  I’m hurting too much to help you.”  Did Jesus say, “I’ll think about it.  But I don’t know if I even want to remember the likes of you.”  Did Jesus say, “I’ll try.  But being God isn’t easy.  There will be lots of names to remember on the Judgment Day.  I’m not sure yours will make the cut.”  NO!  What did Jesus say?  “Amen I tell you: Today you will be with me in paradise.”  (Luke 23:43)
 
This is the purest, sweetest Gospel, isn’t it?  The man asked for a scrap of grace, to be remembered somehow, some way on the Judgment Day.  What did Jesus give him?  A feast!  A guarantee not just to be remembered, but to be with Jesus! To be with the Savior off of that horrible cross that same day—free from pain, sorrow, punishment, and sin!  Forever in paradise!
 
Treasure this Gospel, knowing this:  that thief on the cross, that might as well be you or me.  But you argue, “Pastor, I’ve never gone to court, been tried and convicted.  I’ve never cooled my heels in the Oneida or Vilas County Jail much less a state prison.”  Maybe so. But we have been convicted in God's court, a court that has decreed, “All have sinned!”   A court that passed sentence, “The soul who sins is the one who will die.”  (Ezekiel 18:20) True repentance faces the facts as presented in God’s Word and doesn’t shrug them off.  Instead, when we’re repentant, we say, “Yes, Lord.  You got me dead to rights.  I know I’ve sinned. Take me away. I deserve it.” 
 
But then, by the grace of God the Holy Spirit working a miracle in our heart, true repentance causes us to take an incredible leap of faith.  In simple trust, like the thief on the cross, we turn to Jesus and beg, “Remember me."
 
And what will Jesus do?  Fellow felons, to us Jesus makes this grace-filled guarantee: "You will be with me in paradise."
 
Privileged to serve,
Rev. Glenn Schwanke
 
PS:  Our midweek Lenten theme this year is “Reflections on Repentance.”  In these services, each Wednesday at 4 pm, we are doing a deep-dive study of David’s penitential Psalm 51.  The services are led by a rotation of WELS pastors from the area.  

The concept of the “fog of battle” has been around ever since battles and wars began to be fought. Fear, panic, noise, dust, smoke, motion, and limited personal perspective all contribute to the phenomenon known as the “fog of battle” or the “fog of war.” A 5th century BC military historian, Thucydides, wrote concerning the confusion of battle on the heights above Syracuse (413 B.C.):  “Even in daytime fighters do not perceive anything; indeed, nobody knows anything more than what is going on right around himself.”
 
Even today’s technology advances are unable to clear the fog of battle. Missiles and bombs miss their marks, human error is always in the mix, and even the most highly sophisticated electronic and computer equipment can fail, leaving generals and commanders in a fog as to what it really happening on the ground. At such terrifying moments, Thucydides’ words still ring true, “Nobody knows anything more than what is going on right around himself.”
 
The Battle of Gettysburg is the most well-known and thoroughly examined battle in American history. More than 150,000 men fought there, and every soldier/general/civilian had a unique perspective of the fight limited to personal experience.  For example, the Confederate soldier on the far right flank of Pickett’s ill-fated Charge could not have known what was happening on the far left flank, a full mile away.
 
As they made their way across nearly a mile of open ground toward the Union lines, their own line shrunk in half (from 1 mile to a mere ½ mile) because of the chaos brought about by Union artillery fire, musket and rifle fire, the noise and smoke of battle, and the fear and uncertainty and panic pounding in their own hearts and minds. At the height of this intense battle, it could be said of each of those men, as well as the opposing Union forces, “Nobody knows anything more than what is going on right around himself.”
 
The fog of battle. You face it daily. Spiritual warfare rages all around you…and within you. The strain and fatigue of fighting sin, Satan, and the world wear you down. The fight is fierce, the battle relentless, the enemies powerful and resourceful. In the heat of battle, in the fog of the fight, perspective narrows and it’s hard to see beyond the moment, beyond the immediate conflict. The words of the ancient historian still ring true: “Nobody knows anything more than what is going on right around himself.” And to top it all off, the stakes couldn’t be higher: heaven or hell, life with God or life without him. Forever.
 
You need strength, resources, energy, power, and clarity to see through the fog of battle. God provides exactly what is needed: weapons for the fog of battle. Word, water, wafer and wine – we call these the Means of Grace. Word and Sacrament deliver the saving power of the Gospel to help us maintain our bearings, keep our focus on Christ, and strengthen us for the fight of faith. It all begins with the Word of God. In the midst of the fog of rhetoric and ideas, battles temptations and challenges, God’s Word give clarity. Always.
 

• “Your words are a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.” (Psalm 119:105)
•  “I will make you wise. I will instruct you in the way that you should go. I will guide you, keeping my eye on you.” (Psalm 32:8) 
• “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5,6)

Many, many more Scriptures speak of the clarity and power God provides. The entire Bible does!
 
Bottom line: stay away from the Word, remain immersed in the fog of battle. Be in the Word, use it, and you’ll still find yourself in the heat of battle, but armed with the clear power, presence, and promise of God, who says, “I am with you.”
 
In Christ,
Pastor Stephen Luchterhand

When I was a boy, Daniel Boone was my hero.  He visited our farm house once each week, as played by Fess Parker on the television show heralded by that memorable theme song: “From the coon-skin cap on the top of his head, to the tip of his rawhide shoe, the rippenest, roarinest, fightenist man the frontier ever knew.  Daniel Boone was a man, yes, a big man, as he fought for America to make all Americans free. What a Boone, what a doer, what a dream-come-a-truer was he!”    In the opening credits, as the theme song played, Daniel Boone held his ax, threw it, and split a big tree, clean-in-half! Ah, the stuff of a boy’s dreams.  When I grew up, I wanted to be Daniel Boone.
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But I never could throw an ax that well.  The ax was dull and never once stuck in a tree.  And I really can’t shoot very straight.  I shake too much. Yet there was one skill I shared with Daniel Boone.  For the real-life Daniel Boone once observed, “I have never been lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.”  How many times, while my wife and I were road-tripping, even out in the Rockies on dirt-track mountain roads back in 1988, did I scoff at the idea of checking a map?  Or these new-fangled smarty-pants Google Maps!  I don’t need that kind of help.  I always know exactly where I’m going! 
 
Well, maybe I was once a little “bewildered” the first time my wife and I did a road trip on the eastern side of the Keweenaw Peninsula.  From Dollar Bay, we drove over to Lake Linden, and it sure felt like we were going in an easterly direction, though the map clearly showed that from Dollar Bay you are heading northeast—mostly north.  Then we headed south to Bootjack, down past the famous Dreamland Restaurant, and from there to Jacobsville, White City, and the Lower Portage Entry.  Now, I knew from the map that we had headed south, but it sure felt like we had headed north.  That, as I recall, prompted denial and disbelief in me!  I figured my wife had read the map wrong, because I am blessed with a perfect sense of direction.  So my momentary bewilderment caused a wrong turn or two (thankfully there aren’t many road options down around Jacobsville or it would have been more).  That, in turn, prompted a lively dialogue between driver and copilot, plus one of her memorable eye-rolls.  Things got even worse when I argued, “It must be the mineral deposits in this area that are messing up the car-compass and my internal compass!” 
 
Maybe I am a tad stubborn when it comes to checking a map or asking for directions, but from what I hear, this is not my failing alone.  It’s a “guy thing.”  We males, as a rule, live with this inner conviction that you could set us down on the dark side of the moon, with no compass or map--just a space suit and a back-pack for supplies--and, like some modern-day Daniel Boone, we would find our way back to civilization with nary a misstep or wrong-turn!
 
However, when it comes to spiritual matters, this bravado and false confidence is not just a “guy thing.” It is, tragically, a “guy and gal thing.”   Without our Lord, without His illuminating gift of faith, and without the divine guidance He provides in His Holy Word, we will invariably point our nose--not in the direction of heaven, but in the direction of hell!  You don’t believe me?  Then listen to what the Lord says about the human race and its feeble attempts to find its way to Him!  
 
The Prophet Isaiah, speaking about the Lord’s own Chosen People could say, “We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way. . .”  (Isaiah 53:6a) Saint Peter, writing to believers scattered throughout the world, could say, “For you were like sheep going astray.”  (1 Peter 2:25)   Now, if I were lost out in the bush somewhere, and the good Lord allowed me to choose one animal as a companion to guide me home, I would never, in a million years, choose a sheep!  Sheep are too dense, too flighty, and too helpless.  Yet God, in the pages of His Word, consistently compares the entire human race to a huge flock of sheep.  God’s point behind the comparison?  By nature, apart from our Lord and in the death-grip of sin and Satan, we are all dumber than a bag of hammers!  Totally lost! 
 
Our only way out?  Let The Lord Be Your Guide!  Because when it comes to navigating the twists and turns of this life, and when it comes to following the path that leads to heaven, you and I have only One option!  That is the One who told us, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father, except through me.”  (John 14:6) 
 
Jesus found us when we were hopelessly lost in our sins and far too stubborn to admit it!  (Luke 19:10) Jesus lived for us, died for us, became our life-blood, and gave us a spiritual pulse!  Through his Spirit’s work, Jesus came into our hearts and gave us new life, new hope, and new direction.  He gave us a working spiritual compass—faith!  Faith to see Him!  Faith to hear Him!  Faith to trust Him!  Faith to follow Him!  Faith to walk hand-in-hand with Him through the twists and turns of this sinful and sometimes difficult life.  Faith to hold on tight to Him when weaving our way through tragedies, setbacks, and temptations that are like magnets for our old sinful nature.  Faith to know that the Lord’s Word is the only lamp for our feet and light for our path!  That means when blind guides waltz into our lives, peddling their satanic wares and tempting us to wander off hell-bent, you and I will check their guidance against God’s own infallible compass, the Bible.  And we will throw away whatever does not match what the Lord tells us.  
 
Only our Lord knows how to get us to heaven.  Jesus once said, “Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. . .Amen, Amen, I tell you: The one who believes in me has eternal life.” (John 6:45-47)

Privileged to serve,
Rev. Glenn Schwanke

The mysterious package arrives by expensive Next Day Air shipping. Inside, a beautifully decorated invitation beckons. This is more than a mere electronic invite, more than a home-computer-generated invite twice folded, much more than a causal request for your presence at a friend’s birthday party or neighborhood barbeque. Beneath the elaborately papered and layered production is an invitation to the White House.
 
You are invited to meet the President of the United States! It’s once in a lifetime honor, one that few people ever receive. Excitement soon gives way to anxiety as questions begin to form: What will I wear? What is the proper etiquette for such a visit? What will I say? Will I even have a chance to speak? Will I be able to ask questions? I have so many…
 
Such visits are carefully controlled. The President’s time is valuable and his schedule busy. Aides and Secret Service personnel maintain constant vigilance. Any conversation will likely be light and brief and directed by the President himself.
 
Fortunately, any breach in protocol at the White House will not be met with immediate execution.  Such was the fate of many who dared to speak improperly or without permission in the presence of kings and dictators in centuries past. A visit with the President will be exhilarating, but limited. 
 
An even more stunning invitation awaits. God invites people to speak to him. The Almighty Creator of the universe, who is far above all rulers and authorities and presidents, invites people to come to him in prayer.
 
But who can pray? Only believers have permission to speak to God. Because sin separates us from God, only those whose sins are forgiven through faith in Jesus can be heard. Isaiah declares, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” (59:2)
 
God’s only Son earned for us the right to pray to the God of heaven and earth. Jesus Christ paid the price for sin with his holy precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death. Baptized into his death and resurrection, we are covered by his grace with the righteousness of the One who took our place. All this comes to us by God’s gift of faith. With our sins forgiven and adopted as God’s children, we have the right to come into his presence and speak. Because of Christ’s saving work, God invites us to speak to him and talk with him and pour out our hearts to him.
 
This coming weekend at Trinity, we’ll be digging into the topic of prayer via the Lord’s Prayer. For the next six weeks (the Sundays in Lent) our theme will be “Touching Heaven: God Invites Us to Pray.” Worship, listen, watch (if you are unable to be there in person), and pray. Your heavenly Father invites you.
 
In Christ,
 
Pastor Stephen Luchterhand