Finally, looking at God, you’ve learned a lot. That He is your Father who loves you and provides for you every day and to whom you have the duty of thanking, praising, serving and obeying. That the Father has given you a Savior, Jesus, and that all your sins were laid on Him and that He rose in victory to destroy your death and bring you home to Himself in eternal life. That the Father and the Son have sent the Holy Spirit to live in your heart and constantly renew your faith. That your God is not a grasping deity, but an overflowing fountain of goodness, who pours out His love constantly, and in Baptism poured that life into you and will do the same in His Supper.
“Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” The servant-mind. The mind of Him who did not grasp His equality with God, but humbled himself to the death of the cross - for you. Have that mind, that way of looking at yourself, your world, your God, and the prayer of the Church on the day of your confirmation will be realized.
It’s with joy that we will shortly hear your own confession of the faith that has been imparted to you. God’s blessings, you four!
Amen
On the Epistle:
Today’s epistle lays out for us exactly what the ministry of confirmation in a parish is all about. And despite what you nine might be thinking, it is not about correct answers to a set questions. Rather, listen to what St. Paul said: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” The whole task of catechesis - the church’s instruction of her baptized children - is geared toward nothing less than imparting to you, shaping in you, forming in you the mind of Jesus Christ.
That is, we want and pray that as a result of the time we have spent together in His Word, that you will have been changed. That you will now look at yourself, at this world, and most of all at God with new eyes. That you’ll see what you didn’t see before. That you’ll see with the mind of Christ.
Looking at yourself, you’ve hopefully learned two things. First, that you are totally and hopelessly sinful - just like the rest of us. That your native bent is to put yourself first and to do only what pleases you. And with that you’ll have learned how much God condemns that very mindset that says: “Me first! I! I! I!” But second, that you know despite your sin how very precious you are to God and how He was determined to rescue you and how He did that rescue in His Son.
Looking at the world, you’ve hopefully learned a few things as well. First, that when you put a whole bunch of folks together who all like to pretend that they are god, you’ve got trouble. There is that feature of the world to beware of. But second, that it was no less than that world which God loved so much that He gave His Son. When you look at another human being, it is the Church’s hope and prayer that you look at that person as a sinner whom Christ redeemed, a sinner whom Christ thought of infinite worth. And so you’ll not ignore the wrongs and the injustices of the world - you’ll strive with might and main against them - but you’ll do so with humility. With humbleness of soul, knowing that you share the same sinful flesh with everyone else and that with everyone else, you have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. And you’ll work hard at making sure that others come to know how much God loves them in Jesus too.
