Ambrose, Bishop!
Note: Today is the feast of St. Ambrose of Milan. Below is my daily devotion for today based on the Treasury of Daily Prayer lectionary. St. Ambrose was popularly drafted to be bishop of Milan while he was still a catechumen. The previous bishop had died, and he was an Arian. Ambrose was governor, and came to keep the peace. A voice was heard, “Ambrose, Bishop!” His objections were futile, and he was baptized on December 7, 374 - and was apparently ordained a priest and consecrated a bishop on the same day. Ambrose is mentioned 17 times in our Book of Concord, three times in the Catalogue of Testimonies, and is the author of three hymns in LSB (332, 874, and 890). He is often attributed with authorship of the Te Deum Laudamus, but this is disputed today.
1 John 1:1-2:14
In the name of + Jesus. Amen.
Today, the church remembers with great affection, the 4th century bishop St. Ambrose of Milan. Though a recent convert when he was elected bishop, Ambrose went on to be one of the first four doctors of the church, wrote hymns that we still sing today (“Savior of the Nations, Come), penned theological defenses of the divinity of Jesus (against the Arian heresy), helped to develop a system of liturgical singing (known as Ambrosian Chant), was a powerful preacher of grace (many of his sermons are still in publication), and was the pastor who brought the great Bishop St. Augustine into the Christian faith.
First and foremost in the preaching and teaching of Ambrose was the Gospel, the Good News that by virtue of our Lord’s death on the cross, the entire world has free access to the forgiveness of sins, and thus, to eternal life. And since it is by grace, it cannot be earned or bought. For this salvation has been bought and paid for by the propitiating lifeblood of the Son of God Himself.
It is fitting that we begin St. John the Apostle and Evangelist’s first letter on this feast of St. Ambrose. For John opens his Epistle just as he begins his Gospel: by confessing Jesus as eternal God: “that which from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life.” John confesses that His life was “made manifest” and as an eyewitness, John himself testifies and proclaims “eternal life” to the completion of our joy.
In this time of year, the church ponders the great mystery of the Incarnation of Jesus, and so it is fitting to read and meditate upon this Word of God from St. John, dear friends, as well as to read sermons from Bishop St. Ambrose, who carried forth this proclamation in his own day and age: beating back the attacks of the heretic Arius and his followers who denied the divinity of Jesus.
St. John calls us to “confess our sins,” for God “is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This is the Good News, the Gospel. For Jesus “is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”
And this is why the whole world must deal with Jesus – especially at this time of year. He is loved and hated, followed and denied, preached and reviled, but He is impossible to ignore. This was the calling of the apostle John, the bishop Ambrose, all preachers throughout history – and the confession of all Christians, for whom Christ’s blood atones, and in whom they all put their faith. And even as Ambrose’s skeleton lies in a glass casket in the basilica that Ambrose himself built, awaiting the resurrection, the Word that he preached to the world continues to go forth: Jesus, whom John describes as “the light” (John 1:5), we confess with St. Ambrose in His stirring words:
From the manger newborn light
Shines in Glory through the night.
Darkness there no more resides;
In this light faith now abides.
Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
