How we celebrated Holy Week 2025

Reaffirmation of Alfonso Torres.

"But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15.

 On Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025, we  received into membership Alfonso Torres. We have known him and his family for 23 years. Five of his children were among the first to be baptized at our mission on March 25, 2007: 

Psalm 37:4

    • Yexi Karina;

    • Deisy Yovana;

    • Yaneth Andreina;

    • Yovanny Javier;

    • Jhonny Alexander.

Yaneth was the youngest at 18 months. Deisy brought Yaneth to our Sunday school classes and, from 2 to 6 years of age, Yaneth was a 

 in our preschool. Deisy and Yovanny received first communion on October 25, 2009 (Reformation Sunday). Jhonny received first communion on October 31, 2010 (again Reformation Sunday). 

Alfonso and his wife, Maria Cecilia, welcomed another daughter, Diana Carolina, and she was baptized on January 8, 2017 (the dedication of our current sanctuary). Diana also would attend our Sunday school and preschool. She received first communion on October 31, 2021.
Deisy’s daughter, Emely Antonella Estrada Torres, was baptized on December 24, 2017. Two more of Alfonso and Maria Cecilia's grandchildren, Jesuly and Josué Fernández Torres, were baptized on January 6, 2019. We received Maria Cecilia into membership by reaffirmation of faith on September 15, 2024.

Reaffirmation of Maria Cecilia.

The Torres are an example of how family can strengthen the faith and faith can strengthen the family. The great outflow of people from Venezuela has had a devastating effect on many marriages, which have not survived lengthy separations. Of the Torres children, only Yaneth and Diana remain in La Caramuca, but we give thanks to God that they have a home with both parents present and a church home in our mission.

Second part of the Sanctus

Of  course, we began our observance of Holy Week seven days earlier, on Palm Sunday, April 13, 2025.

According to John 12:1, six days before the Feast of Passover Jesus arrived in Bethany, where He had raised Lazarus from the dead. When he left for Jerusalem the next morning, a large crowd came out of the city to greet him. Having heard of Lazarus's resurrection and Jesus' other signs, both the residents of Jerusalem and Passover pilgrims came out to greet him as the multitude had welcomed Simon Maccabeus when he entered to drive the Gentiles from the holy city (1 Maccabees 13:51). But Jesus did not approach Jerusalem as a conqueror coming to free Jerusalem from its oppressors and establish his kingdom by force. He was not mounted on a white charger, but on a donkey in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9.

He entered Jerusalem as the true King of Kings whose “dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river, the Euphrates, even to the ends of the earth”, but not to make war but to “speak peace to the nations” (Zechariah 9:10).

We remembered this mission with our annual procession of palms and, as we do every Sunday, sang with joy, “Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" in the second part of the Sanctus in our Holy Communion liturgy. As on the first Palm Sunday, the words are drawn from Psalm 118:25-26. The first part of the Sanctus is based on the prophet Isaiah 6:1-5.

 The vocation of womanhood

April 13 also was the fifteenth birthday of Luz Maria’s granddaughter, Anyi Vanesa Garrido Santana. We celebrated her quinceañera that afternoon. The quinceañera is celebrated across Latin America as a religious and a social event that emphasizes the importance of family and society in the life of a young woman as she passes from childhood into adulthood. The Roman Catholic version includes a mass and vows to the Virgin Mary, 

But in our Lutheran quinceañera reaffirmed her baptismal vows. She was baptized here on June 19, 2010. Her parents, along with the entire congregation, spoke the vows for her. Why repeat the baptismal vows at this time? Truly, we should remember our baptism daily, every time we pray in the name of the Trinity. Dr. Martin Luther said to remember your baptism every time you wash your face. But it was a special moment for Anyi to reaffirm her identity as a child of God as she contemplated her future direction in life. Especially because, as a woman, that might involve carrying new life in her womb, something no man will ever experience.

Nor did we forget that most blessed among women, the mother of our Lord (Luke 1:28). When the angel told Mary heard that the fruit of her womb would be the Word made flesh, she simply said, “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it to me according to your word.” (verse 38). When she heard nearly same words from her relative, Elizabeth, “Blessed are you among and blessed is the fruit of your womb”, Mary broke out into the song of praise we call the Magnificat (Luke 1:47-55). We sang it at Anyi’s quinceañera.

Come, Tell the Story of Salvation
After Palm Sunday, we began a vacation Bible school with the theme, "Come, Tell the Story of Salvation." There are many Pentecostal sects in our area that don't celebrate Holy Week. Their pastors tell them it's a pagan holiday. From Monday to Wednesday, we explained the biblical basis of Holy Week to 20 children. We encouraged them to use the chronology of Holy Week to tell their parents the story of Christ's death and resurrection. It also was the occasion to celebrate the seventh birthday of Emmanuel David Sanchez, Luz Maria’s grandson.

Maundy Thursday in Barinas

We celebrated Maundy Thursday with divine service at the Corpus Christi Lutheran Church in Barrio El Cambio, Barinas. The epistle designated for Maundy Thursday (1 Corinthians 11:23-32) contains the same words of institution of the Lord's Supper as in the three synoptic gospels. For Matthew, Mark, and Luke, it is part of their account of the Passover meal that Jesus shared with the apostles before his crucifixion. However, in John's gospel, we do not find these words, but rather the story of Jesus washing his disciples' feet. In the ancient world, footwashing helped prepare people for specific tasks. 

In the Old Testament ritual context, footwashing was a symbol of purification. Priests were required to wash their hands and feet before entering the Holy Place and offering the sacrifice on the altar (Exodus 30:17-21; 40:30-32; 2 Chronicles 4:6). In Exodus 29:4 and Leviticus 8:6, footwashing is part of the priestly consecration rite. There are parallels in Greco-Roman literature. In the works of Homer and Strabo, people routinely wash their feet before entering a sacred place.

We observed Good Friday at La Caramuca with a Tenebrae service. This liturgical ceremony originated seven or eight centuries after Christ. The purpose of this service was to remember the dark moments that occurred in Jesus' life, from his euphoric entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday until the night of Jesus' burial on Good Friday. The most notable aspect of the service is several lit candlesextinguished one by one while Scripture readings are shared to tell the story of Holy Week.

Roosters crow like clockwork

One of the most poignant moments in the Passion story is when the Apostle Peter realizes that he has denied his Lord three times before a rooster in the vicinity of Pilate’s courtyard has finished calling the watches of the night. Listening for cockcrow as a way of marking the passage of time between midnight and dawn is an ancient and worldwide practice. Roosters will crow several times soon after midnight, and again at the dawn of day. The birds have an internal rhythm that tells them when to crow. Although roosters can occasionally crow at any time of day, the majority of their crowing is like clockwork, peaking in frequency at time intervals roughly 24 hours apart.

We have firsthand experience of this. Backyard chicken flocks are a staple in Venezuela, as they were in the rural South Dakota of my childhood. Once, during a Skype call, my mother, who grew up on a farm, heard one of our roosters crowing and closely guessed its age by the tone of its crow. I was quite impressed.

Besides the crowing rooster in the parallel Gospel accounts of Peter’s denial of Christ, our Lord speaks of a rooster in Mark 13:35. Hens and their chicks are mentioned in Matthew 23:37 and Luke 13:34. There are no clear references to chickens in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word, zarzir, in Proverbs 30:31 is sometimes translated “strutting rooster”, but other translations render it, “greyhound”, while in Job 38:36 the word, sekvi, also is of uncertain meaning. Sometimes it is translated as “rooster”, but otherwise as “heart”.
In 1932, an onyx seal was found on a tomb 12 kilometers northeast of Jerusalem, dating back to the the seventh century BC. It features a fighting rooster, with the inscription: “Belonging to Jaazaniah, servant of the King”. This could be the man named in 2 Kings 25:23 and Jeremiah 40:8.

Why roosters are worth the noise

Our flock has grown to 20 hens, two roosters and 60 chicks. We sacrificed four hens who were no longer laying (not in a propitiatory sense) for Easter dinner for our congregation. It has been some time since we have had to buy eggs (which are selling for $5 for a carton of 30). In fact, Luz Maria has sold eggs to people who want a farm-fresh, organic product. Once I got into an online debate with people who tried to tell me that it’s not worth the trouble to keep roosters. They are noisy, when there’s more than one, they fight over the hens, and hens will lay eggs anyway. But the hens are healthier when they maintain their natural reproductive cycle, you do not have to buy new hens to replace the ones that have stopped laying, and many people here consider eggs produced with the help of roosters to be of higher nutritional quality. In addition to providing eggs and meat, free-range chickens help us control termites and biting ants.

César Delgado confirmed on Easter Sunday

On Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024, we received into communicant membership César Miguel Delgado Rojas. He chose as his confirmation verse Isaiah 41:13, “For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, Fear not, I will help you.” The second part of the book of Isaiah, chapters 40 to 66, is known as the Book of Consolations and pictures the restoration of the remnant of Israel, the messianic King, and the final glory of the Church. “Fear not, I will help you” or “Fear not, I am with you” is a favorite phrase of the prophet.

Deborah, woman of God
On March 8, 2024, we concluded “Old Testament I”, an online course for deaconesses in training, with a study of the Book of Judges. Deborah, prophetess, wife and judge, was a woman who loved Jehovah and his Word. God gave her wisdom from her and she used it for the good of her neighbors, giving them advice from her.

We know more about Deborah than about the five Old Testament prophetesses, including Miriam, Moses' sister; Huldah, advisor to King Josiah (2 Kings 22:8-20; 2 Chronicles 34:22-28); Isaiah's wife (Isaiah 8:3); and the mother of King Lemuel (Proverbs 31:1). Prophetesses mentioned in the New Testament include Anna, the widow who blessed the Baby Jesus in the temple (Luke 2:25-35); Philip's daughters (Acts 21:9); and the prophetesses of Corinth (1 Corinthians 11:5).

Although the Scriptures mention prophetesses, none were public speakers during a meeting of God's people or priests in his temple or apostles or pastors of the church. In fact, St. Paul's reference to prophetesses in 1 Corinthians 11 occurs in a passage that emphasizes the leadership role of a husband. The Scriptures always distinguish the roles of men and women. Women can proclaim God's Word publicly through song (like Miriam and Deborah) and privately through counsel. Furthermore, the Scriptures strictly warn against false prophetesses (Ezekiel 13:17) such as Noadiah (Nehemiah 6:14) and Jezabel (Revelation 2:20-23).

Continuing deaconess training

On March 19, the Rev. Dr. Sergio Fritzler from Concordia El Reformador Seminary in the Dominican Republic began the orientation of 16 pastor various countries for the next course, "Diaconal Practice 2" with a devotional on the mercy of God. The next step was the orientation of more than 40 women from Venezuela and other countries on March 21, 2024.

Medicines from GLO distributed

On Sunday, March 3, 2024, we distributed the bulk of non-prescription medicines received from Global Lutheran Outreach. The rest were distributed through in-person visits to those whose disabilities prevented them from leaving the house.

After the pandemic, the palms

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!

On April 2, 2023, we marched through the streets of La Caramuca in our first Palm Sunday procession since April 14, 2019. A number of our sister congregations in the Lutheran Church of Venezuela did the same.

Although the Venezuelan government continues to urge citizens to take preventive measures, and some medical facilities and businesses still require masks for people to enter, most restrictions on personal mobility have been relaxed. As of April 30, the Venezuelan government reported 267 active cases of COVID-19 throughout the nation, with 17 hospitalized, nine in Comprehensive Diagnostic Centers, eight in private clinics, and 233 receiving supervised community care. With these figures, 1,140 days after the COVID-19 crisis was declared in Venezuela, confirmed cases total 552,627 with 546,504 recovered patients, which corresponds to a recovery rate of 99 percent, and 5,856 deaths.

“Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel, who comes in the name of the Lord!" (John 12:12-18) is the second part of the Sanctus in the liturgy we use today. Both the hosanna acclamation and the words, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” come from Psalm 118:25-26. Psalm 118 is a processional psalm celebrating God's repeated deliverance of his people through the centuries. The faithful would enter through the gates of the Temple in Jerusalem with palms to receive the priestly blessing of verse 26. These words of the psalm also were understood in a messianic sense, like the Old Testament lesson for Palm Sunday, Zechariah 9:9-12.

Something of a Passion play

On Wednesday of Holy Week, members of Corpus Christi Lutheran Church, our neighboring congregation in Barinas, presented a dramatization by their youth of what they had learned about the institution of the Lord’s Supper. Our young people were invited to participate as well. The abbreviated Passion play included Jesus washing His disciples’ feet as recorded in John 13:1-17. Following that were the words of institution, recorded in Matthew 26:17-29; Mark 14:12-25; Luke 22:7-23; and 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, also were included. We are grateful to Pastor Raimundo Brito, and his wife and deaconess, Sandra, for arranging this event. Their daughter, Sara, brought Easter eggs.

I should explain that this was not the service of the Eucharist dressed up as a modern Jewish Passover seder. This is an important point for us, because surrounding our Lutheran mission are neo-pentecostal sects that teach true Christians should not celebrate Christmas or Easter according to “man-made traditions,” but should observe Old Testament festivals like Sukkot, the Feast of Booths. Some even say Christians should observe Hanukkah, which is not a holiday ordained in the Old Testament, but originated in the intertestamental period. Our role as Lutherans is not to collaborate in the confusion, but in the freedom of the gospel, we approach the Eucharist with all reverence and all clarity.

During the existence of the Tabernacle and later of the Temple in Jerusalem, the focus of the Passover festival was the sacrifice of the lamb, which not only recalled the deliverance from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 12:1-36; Exodus 13:1-16) but also pointed to the sacrifice of the Messiah (Isaiah 53). In our Lord's time, Passover was one of the three pilgrimages, the name given to the three festivals during which the Jewish people used to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem and offer offerings and sacrifices. The others were Shavuot, also called Pentecost, and Sukkot.

Each family large enough to fully consume a young lamb was to offer one for sacrifice in the Temple in Jerusalem on the evening of the 14th day of the month of Nisan, and eat it that night, which was Nisan 15. If the family was too small to finish eating the entire offering at one time, an offering was made for a group of families. There could be none of the meat left in the morning. The slaughter of the lamb took place in the atrium of the Temple of Jerusalem. The slaughter could be carried out by a layman, although the rituals related to blood and fat had to be carried out by a priest.

This all came to an end with the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 AD. Today, in the absence of the Temple, no sacrifices are offered or eaten at the seder. Rather, a set of Biblical and rabbinic passages dealing with the Passover sacrifice is recited after the evening prayer service on Nisan 14, and is celebrated with the zeroa, a symbolic food. placed on the seder plate (but not eaten), which is usually a roasted leg bone (or a chicken wing or neck).

The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was instituted in the context of the Old Testament Passover but it is not the same. Christ, our Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:6-8) has been slain, once and for all. We would not and could not offer another sacrifice. We now celebrate only the Lamb's own feast as instituted and ordained by Him. For us Lutherans, the Paschal Lamb is not a memory. He lives!

Resurrection and baptism

We celebrated Easter Sunday with the baptism of Pedro Jesús Gael Santana Marquina. Little Pedro happens to be Luz Maria’s 14th grandchild. He was baptized with a cast on one leg because of being born with a malformed foot. Thanks be to God, he received the necessary orthopedic operation and later the sacrament of baptism.

For the Gospel lesson, I read all of the last chapter of Mark’s Gospel, which is the succinct account of the empty tomb, the post-Resurrection appearances of Jesus, the Great Commission and the Ascension. Mark 16:16 is a key passage used in the Small Catechism and in our baptimal rite.

“What benefits does Baptism give? It works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare. Which are these words and promises of God? Christ our Lord says in the last chapter of Mark: Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanations, Concordia Publishing House, 2017).

Titus 3:5 was the special baptismal verse for Pedro Jesús. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” God uses baptism as a means to transmit and seal to the believer the inestimable benefits of salvation. The baptized is born anew to eternal life. As is implied in the dialogue between the Lord and Peter in John 13:6-10, but the renewing thus begun by the Holy Spirit continues throughout the life of the Christian until completion in our own resurrection.

For we have this promise in Romans 6:3-5, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.”

News from the chicken coop

Nothing gets you moving in the morning like the cry of prairie hawks circling above the chicken coop. We did some renovation this month to improve protection against predators and make more room for our growing flock. (By “we”, I mean Luz Maria’s grandsons, Eduar and Ignacio Garrido. Eduar turned 16 on April 26). We now have 8 hens, four of which are laying, four roosters (we need to get rid of three; males are expendable), and 35 young chickens. A dozen eggs costs about $3.21, while less than a penny per kilo of chicken feed keeps our hens laying four to six eggs per day.

Firstfruits of the passion flower

 

Our passion flower vine produced its first fruit during the week of our Lord’s Passion.

The English name is derived from the Latin name for its genus, Passiflora (there are several species). Missionaries to South America in the 17th Century the flower to illustrate the crucifixion of Christ. They saw the crucifixion reflected in the coiled tendrils, similar to the whips used in the flagellation, the three pistils corresponding to the three nails of the cross, five stigmas or wounds in the five stamens and the crown of thorns in the purple filaments that adorn the flower. 

The vine is thought to have originated in Paraguay, southern Brazil, and northern Argentina. It is commonly eaten and used in cooking throughout South America. In Venezuela, flower, fruit and vine are known as la parchita. In other regions it is called the maracuyá or pasionaria. We tried growing a passion flower vine several years ago, but the soil proved too poor to sustain the plant.

Our cacao tree also began producing during Holy Week. The word, cacao, refers to the tree’s beans which are processed to make cocoa and chocolate. Although early chocolate production is often associated with Mexico, the Spaniards found cacao trees cultivated on the shores of Lake Maracaibo and the Orinoco River in Venezuela, too. Before the world became interested in petroleum, chocolate was Venezuela’s major export and to this day, Venezuelan chocolate is recognized internationally for its quality.

A subdued Semana Santa

Our Semana Santa, or Holy Week, was rather subdued because of renewed concern over COVID-19. For a second year, we did not take our Palm Sunday processional through the streets.

There was talk of reopening the schools (including our preschool) after Holy Week, but than a new variant of COVID-19, called the P.1 virus, made its appearance in Brazil. Brazil is currently one of the global epicenters of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the world’s second-worst outbreak in terms of both deaths and infections, only after the United States. The P.1 variant is said to be more contagious than the original virus and has slipped over the Brazilian border into eastern Venezuela. Now restrictions on travel and business hours are stricter than ever.

We have heard that some of our sister congregations in eastern Venezuela have been hit hard by this new virus. Malnutrition and pre-existing diseases, such as dengue and yellow fever, make many Venezuelans vulnerable to COVID-19. Please continue to pray for these people and that Global Lutheran Outreach may find new funding for its shipments of medicine to Venezuela.

Solar batteries back in place

We have a new set of solar batteries in place after the explosion of one which I talked about in the last newsletter. It is good to have the solar backup system up and running again as power outages continue, with one lasting 18 hours within the last month. The acid from the exploded battery removed the polished surface from the floor in more than one room. Now the house often has the smell of raw cement from the exposed floor. Our house is the oldest structure on the property, having stood as a farmhouse in the 1950s and later used as a school before Luz Maria acquired it. We have an extra bedroom that we have used to offer visitors a place to stay. Our thought is that it would improve the house as a shelter if we installed ceramic tiles as the new surface for the floor. We have an estimate of $400 for materials for this project.

From Venezuela to Peru with love

Luz Maria’s daughters, Yepci and Charli, were teachers in our preschool before Yepci moved to Peru and Charli left for Ecuador. In 2009, Luz Maria and Charlie developed a “My Holy Week Book”, with a Bible verse and manual activity for every day of Holy Week. We used it in our preschool every year until 2020. We did not think about offering it online as an activity for the homebound child last year, because we thought the closing of the schools was only for a short while and we did not realize that was how things were going to work for more than a year. But Yepci remembered “My Holy Week Book” when she recently became involved in improving the Christian education program at the Lutheran mission in Los Olivos, Lima, Peru. Charli designed a new edition of the book for her and the children of Castillo Fuerte took to it immediately. Luz Maria also has distributed the new edition of the book online to women in the online deaconess training program for use with children at home.

O God of infinite grace and love, we beseech you to let your Word be fruitful in every land, dispel the gloom of ignorance and sin, loosen tongues to sing your praise. Help those who suffer for the sake of truth to find your strength in their weakness, to see you glory in what is despised, to feel your presence in what is desolate. For the welfare of your people everywhere, keep all in your steadfast love in Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, now and forever. Amen.

Praying for peace and liberty

Holy Week of 2017 began with an explosion heard around the world as two suicide bombings killed 44 people at Coptic churches in Egypt on Palm Sunday. The attacks constituted one of the deadliest days of violence against Christians in Egypt in decades.

But some of the violence that marred Holy Week 2017 struck much closer to home for us. Political tension in Venezuela came to a head and five people died as encounters between anti-government protesters and the authorities turned violent.

On Wednesday, a pro-government mob attacked Jorge Urosa Savino, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Caracas as he prepared to celebrate Mass at Santa Teresa Basilica. According to reports, members of the news media also were attacked, and worshippers attending the Mass were robbed of cell phones and other valuables.

 Thousands took to the streets on Caracas on Maundy Thursday for a rally that remained peaceful until the end, when young men clashed with hundreds of riot police who lobbed tear gas to break up the crowd.

During our Holy Week services on Thursday, Friday and Sunday, we remembered in prayer both the Coptic Christians and Archbishop Urosa and his flock in Caracas. We have stressed, for the benefit of those confused by such events as Pope Francis participating last year in a Reformation Day Service with officials of the Lutheran World Federation in Lund, Sweden, that as confessional Lutherans we are not in full doctrinal agreement with either the Roman Catholic Church or the Lutheran World Federation. However, we recognize freedom of conscience and belief as a basic human right, because faith properly belongs to God's kingdom of grace, not to His kingdom of power. Furthermore, any attack on the name and symbols of Christ is a threat and an offense to us as well.

The events of Holy Week 2017 reminded us that as the shouts of “Hosannah to the Son of David” on Palm Sunday turned to “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” on Good Friday, the fame and favor of the unbelieving world is fleeting. We understand that good government, which preserves the safety of the streets and national borders, is a blessing from God, part of the “daily bread” for which we pray in the Lord's Prayer. But we also understand that the only true peace in this world is that which we have in anticipation of our own resurrections on the day when the Lord returns in glory.

Therefore we prayed a prayer based on this collect suggested by the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod Worship Ministry:

Almighty God, heavenly Father, Your beloved Son assured His own that they would suffer in this world and yet called them to rejoice in His promise of a life no death could ever take from them. Strengthen all Your children living under persecution and threat of violence; fill them with Your unshakable peace and use their witness to bring salvation even to their persecutors and slanderers and, according to Your gracious will, bring an end to the bloodshed and violence; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Preaching to spirits in prison

"For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him." 1 Peter 3:18-22

On Holy Saturday, between our remembrances of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, it is good to meditate on this, the Scriptural passage which provides the primary basis for the assertion that Christ "descended into hell" found in both the Apostles and Athanasian creeds. Christians also have seen references to this doctrine in other scriptural passages such as Ephesians 4:8–9 and Romans 10:6–8. As Lutherans, we did not interpret "preaching to the spirits in prison" to mean that Jesus set free from hell the souls of unbelievers who died before the Flood or the souls of Old Testament patriarchs and saints from some kind of limbo. Rather, Christ descended into hell to declare His triumph as God’s Messiah over death and the power of the devil. “We simply believe that the entire person (Jesus Christ), God and man, descended into hell after the burial, conquered the devil, destroyed hell’s power, and took from the devil all his might” (Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, Article IX).

This was a part of the punishment which came upon the condemned and upon the demons in hell that they saw and heard Christ proclaim Himself as the Victor over death and hell, and were obliged to tell themselves that they might have partaken of this glory of the great Hero of mankind, if they had not deprived themselves of this blessing by their revolt against Him and by their unbelief. Thus the descent into hell was not part of Christ's state of humilliation (in which He divested Himself of His divine power), but rather part of His exaltation (in which He took up His divine power once more).

Among the spirits in prison to whom the victorious Christ manifested Himself were the souls of those people who in the days of Noah had refused to heed the preaching of that man of God, and probably jeered at him for building his big ship on dry land. For one hundred and twenty years the Lord had Noah preach repentance to his neighbors. But they refused to heed his warning and have thus become an example to the unbelievers of all times, all of whom may expect to meet with the same condemnation. As unbelievers were destroyed by water in the days of Noah, it is by the water of baptism that we now enter into the ark, that is, the church, and are saved from the destruction by fire that is to come. Yhe spiritual gifts and blessings which are the result of the resurrection of Christ, the certainty that God has accepted the sacrifice of His Son and granted forgiveness of sins to the whole world, are transmitted to the believer in baptism.

In the context of the preceding verses of chapter 3 of his epistle, the Apostle Peter is urging Christians to live in piety and brotherly love, even in the midst of suffering and persecution. Christians may sometimes have to bear evil for a season, but nothing can really work lasting harm in their case, for they are under God’s care and protection. No enemy can take away from us the true, eternal blessings: God’s grace and mercy, forgiveness of sins, righteousness, peace with God, joy in the Holy Spirit.

As a missionary church, we have the task of proclaiming God Word into all the world. As the parable of the sower teaches us (Luke 8:4-15), we have no guarantee that the seed, which is the Word of God, will fall on good soil and yield an abundant harvest. That is up to the Holy Spirit. We first must call all people to repentance, that the Lord's lost sheep may be gathered in the fold of the Church and be saved. But, as in the days of Noah, there will be many who will scoff and refuse the call to repentance. We must continue the proclamation of the Word in the face of widespread rejection, not only in the hope of saving some, but also that our witness now may be testimony against the unrighteous on the day of judgment.

It may happen that the malice of our enemies will reach a point where the very fact of Christians leading a blameless life will act as a spur to their hostility, and make them all the more determined to cause us suffering. There seem to be too many cases of this to count in our world today. But we remain steadfast in the assurance that the Jesus who died, descended into hell and rose again from the dead, is seated at God the Father's right hand with all power and authority given to Him.

Here at Epiphany Lutheran Mission, we live in a country in rocked by a crisis with political, economic and humanitarian dimensions. This crisis is not the result of a natural disaster, such as an earthquake, drought or flood, although we have had all of those things in recent years. It is not the result of a lack of human or natural resources.The crisis is mainly a result of the destructive power of false belief. When our Lord lived on earth, there were those who thought that the promised Messiah would be a Jewish superhero who would throw out the hated Romans and restore Israel to its ancient glory. After the feeding of the 5,000, there were those who wanted to seize Jesus and make Him their "bread king", someone who would always provide them with whatever they wanted without anyone having to work. Even in Latin America today, people still look for these types of "messiahs", but, of course, false gods always fail and bad ideas have bad consequences.

Nevertheless, it is not our mission to agitate for political or social reform, but rather to point people to the true hope of eternal life in Christ, the true source of every blessing. We give thanks to God, that with the prayers and financial support of many, we have been able to proceed with the construction of a chapel and learning center, despite the difficulties surrounding us. 

My flesh also shall rest in hope, because you will not leave my soul in hell. Into your hand I commit my spirit. You have redeemed me, O Lord !, God of truth. You, Lord, I have trusted, let me never be confounded. Amén.