Redundant – Part 2

by Robert Mohns

In my last article, I noted that the word redundant comes to us from the Latin word redundare, which carries the sense of surging upward.  

This summer we have had tsunami alerts on our West Coast because of earthquakes on the Russian peninsula. You may have seen videos in the past of tsunamis, where strong seismic forces push water with ever greater intensity, one wave upon another, overflowing land masses. It is one of the most powerful and destructive forces on earth. On the morning of March 28,1964, the Alberni valley on Vancouver Island was hit by six such waves, known as a wave train, and 131 people perished. 

Few of us have directly experienced the force of a tsunami, but many of us have been impacted by destructive forces, tsunami wave trains of evil and sin crashing upon our lives. From my own experience, the tsunami waves of sin and evil never come one at a time, but several at a time, mercilessly destroying my feeble flesh and spirit. Foolish man that I am to think that I am invincible, resilient, and well-prepared to take on such forces and not only survive but thrive. 

In my last article, I focused on the redundancy of God’s Word, by which the Lord keeps us firmly rooted in Christ. In this article I want to raise up the redundancy of the Sacraments that God has provided for His people and by which Jesus gives us His saving works.

God has given us Holy Baptism by which, through water and His Word, He adopts us as His children, drowning our sinful nature in that baptismal flood and raising us to live in true holiness and righteousness. And talk about redundancy: every day we die to sin and rise again to live in the newness of that baptismal life.  

God has given His Church the blessed Sacrament of our Lord’s body and blood for the forgiveness of sins and strengthening of faith. Week after week, Christ’s broken body and shed blood is poured into us, cleansing us from all unrighteousness and strengthening the new creation bestowed upon us in holy baptism.  

God has given us Holy Baptism by which, through water and His Word, He adopts us as His children, drowning our sinful nature in that baptismal flood and raising us to live in true holiness and righteousness. And talk about redundancy: every day we die to sin and rise again to live in the newness of that baptismal life.

Wave after wave of Christ’s redemptive works floods us, destroying sin and every evil that seeks to destroy us. The waves of God’s grace and mercy are far stronger, far deeper, and higher and wider than any one of life’s train wrecks that beset us. 

God reminds us in His Holy Word that He has us and that He acts to save us. To Peter, overcome by the storm-tossed seas, Jesus immediately says: “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31). And to the disciples making no progress amid storm-tossed seas, Jesus comes and gets right into their boat. Matthew reveals that Jesus had intended to walk past them, but instead He jumps into their boat and calms the storms, turning to them and saying: “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid” (Mark 6:50). 

The world sees the Church, the Word of God, and the works of Jesus as redundant, obsolete, and worthless. And even within the church, there is the temptation to consider some things redundant in an analogous way. A person might think, “Well, I have my Bible, which is all I need. Holy Baptism, the Divine Service, and Holy Communion are all redundant, in the sense of not being necessary.” 

Today the clarion call to the church is to repentance, as Martin Luther reminds us. Hammered onto the wooden doors of the church in Wittenberg were these words: “When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said, ‘Repent’ (Matthew 4:17), He willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”  

Such repentance is a work of God which changes us, the Holy Spirit creating faith in us in God’s Word and in the work of His Son Jesus Christ, to save us—to save me—a lost and condemned creature.  

God has instituted the Office of Holy Ministry to administer His holy Sacraments and to proclaim His Word of Law that convicts the heart of sin and proclaims His Word of Gospel, Holy absolution that releases the Christian from the bonds of sin and death and evil by the work of Jesus. Every day God is at work to fill our lives to overflowing with His life, real life, eternal life. 

God has provided us with a redundancy of His means of grace, a continuous upsurging of His powerful Word and blessed Sacraments, waves which put to an end our greatest enemies: sin, death, and the devil. His waves of grace and mercy sustain His dearly betrothed, in order to present His Holy Church to Himself as His beautiful bride, without blemish or stain. May the voices of God’s saints redound in doxology from heaven above to every corner on earth below.  

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

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Rev. Robert Mohns is Lutheran Church–Canada’s West Regional Pastor.

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