The Feast of St. Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr – Office Hymn – the Tree of Life

The Feast of St. Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr – Office Hymn – The Tree of Life – LSB 561 T

No one after lighting a lamp, says Jesus, puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. (Luke 13:33) Therefore, Give ear, O my people to my law, says the Lord; and incline your ears to the words of my mouth. (Malachi 2:6) For your eye is the lamp of your body. And when your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, (Luke 13:24) so continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it. (2 Tim. 3:14) For when your eye is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. (Luke 13:34-35) For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Tim. 4:3-4) As for you, be sober-minded, endure suffering, … preach the word, be ready in season and out of season. (2 Tim. 4:5, 2) For through many tribulations must we enter the kingdom of God. (Acts 14:22)

Continue in what you have learned, says St. Paul, knowing from whom you learned it. (2 Tim. 3:14) Truly, you ought to continue, you ought to hold fast, and fight for, defend, and die for what you have learned, because, guess what, you didn’t learned this from just anybody, not from the world, and not from your heart. Yes, you ought to continue and defend these things because you learned them from the Lord God, Himself, from His holy apostles and prophets, from the Head of the Body, Christ Jesus, Who is Lord over all. Yes, continue in what you have learned, and therefore, defend it from all error, stand up for it, confess it, for the One who teaches you is not just anybody. The lion has roared; who will not fear?, says the Lord. (Amos 3:8)

Our Lord Jesus Christ, ascended to the right hand of the Father, has ordered His body the Church in this way: that He has made His Holy Church on earth the steward of His Word and truth. She has received the deposit of faith. Therefore, when the world is filled with senseless noise, when the hearts of men are breathing out violence, when people fail to endure sound teaching, when they listen to speakers that suit their own passions and anger, when the truth is attacked, when the Word is hated, and when Christ is disfigured, the Church cannot be silent. For she is, by His gracious and eternal will, the very steward of His Word and truth. Continue in what you have learned, knowing from whom you learned it. (2 Tim. 3:14)

So the Church must speak, for that is what He has created her to be. She must confess. And therefore she must be ready to quickly dispatch all the accusations and guilt that the world would throw at her. For she is not holier than thou. She is not speaking on her own authority. And she belongs not to the world. Her eyes are full of light, for they are fixed not upon herself, but upon the Lord who teaches, the Lord who saves. So she has no need to play this world’s games, to play by its rules, to be beholden to its terms and ever-changing truths. No, she is the steward of the Lord’s Word. She confesses her bridegroom. She opens her mouth and speaks His Word.

And the world will hate you. For they hated your Lord before you. You will be mistreated and slandered and maligned. You will lose the culture war, you will lose friendships, you will lose reputation and prestige. But he who loses his life for my sake, says Jesus, gains it for eternal life. (Luke 9:24) Indeed, what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his soul? (Mark 8:36) Yes, through many tribulations must we enter the kingdom of God. (Acts 14:22) St. Irenaeus of Lyons, was born in Smyrna, modern-day Turkey, in the year 120. His pastor was St. Polycarp, a famous early-Christian martyr, whose own pastor was that of St. John the apostle. Continue in what you have learned, knowing from whom you learned it. (2 Tim. 3:14) Irenaeus was taught the faith by Polycarp, who himself was taught by St. John, who was taught by the Lord. Yes, the Church is the steward of the Word and the Truth of God. She is never be to speechless. She confesses.

Irenaeus was baptized, catechized, ordained, and sent as a missionary to the city of Lyon in modern-day France. He lived in a time of intense persecution, when speaking out for the faith, almost always brought certain death. The world would have loved for Irenaeus to stay silent. To fight another day. To pick his battles wisely. Perhaps he could have adopted a philosophy of coexisting, of friendship with the world, and favor from men.

Dear Christian, the Word that you have been baptized with, demands to be confessed. It can do nothing else. Yes, no one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket. (Luke 13:33)

We have been sleeping. We have forgotten, perhaps never been taught, what the Church of Christ is. For she is no social club, no Sunday morning pastime for those with nothing better to do, she is no hobby, no memorial to family tradition or friendly loyalties. The Church of Christ, if she is to be and to remain the Church, must be the Church that confesses.

Yes, she must confess, therefore, Irenaeus must speak. He must teach. He must return to the Scriptures. He must preach that the body matters, that the creation is good, that the Lord Christ has come to dwell in the flesh. That the truth is found in the Word, not in secrets, that the Lord is the Lord of both Old and New Testaments. He must dare to say that Christians cannot simply believe whatever their hearts tell them, but that the Word is enough.

O Lord, grant us such fervor. For we have been sleeping. The world is mad. And we are, if we’re honest, unprepared. We have little practice with confessing the truth of Christ and even caring about the truth of Christ. We have wasted years, decades, entire church histories fighting about what would be practical, rather than what is true. Our ears have grown dull, and we wonder what kind of word the Church ought to speak in these gray and latter days.

Let us wonder no more. Rather, continue in what we have learned, knowing from whom we have learned it. (2 Tim. 3:14) Dear Christian, doctrine matters, it is sacred, it is precious, and it is a shining light of sanity in a world gone mad. The Catechism is not some book you put away after being confirmed, this is the doctrine of Christ, learn it, know it. Examine your conscience not by the rules and games of the world, but the clear Words of the 10 Commandments. Confess the fullness of God, not in the murmurings of your hearts, but in the clear promises of the Creed. For this confession, the world will hate you, so be prepared, but let us put the old leaven. Let us stop wondering what to say, what to read, what to speak. Be at peace. Continue in what you have learned.