SINNER AND SAINT: THE JAMES NESTINGEN I KNEW

Jonathan Thompson

It was the afternoon of December 30, 2022 and I was on vacation with my family when I called Dr. Jim Nestingen to check in. We spoke about the two classes he was going to lead me through and the books he wanted us to read. I always appreciated these book recommendations as he often knew the authors and would talk about visiting their homes or the times they visited his. Jim liked to hear about my fourteenyear-old daughter, who is a handful. He would laugh and tell me about the similar problems his fourteen-year-old granddaughter was causing for his son.

Jim also mentioned the text study he was working on for the next week. It was Luke Chapter 2, where Mary and Joseph lose track of Jesus and find him three days later in the temple. Jesus is confused as to why his parents could not find him and asks, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

Jim was excited about the text and called it one of his favorites. He ended the call as he always did with “God’s Peace.” It was one of countless phone calls and conversations I was blessed to have with him. During each call Jim made you feel as if he were waiting for you and was excited you had reached out. He had a knack for making so many feel so special.

Less than 18 hours later, Jim’s wife Carolyn would call with the devastating news that he was dead. At the funeral later that week, I met some of his other students, some from years ago, who shared similar stories about their studies with him. For all of us, he was a larger-than-life scholar who brought the gospel and the absolution to life.

But the first time I met Jim wasn’t in the classroom. Jim and Carolyn attended Trinity Lutheran Church in Dallas, Oregon during the summers. It is the same church that my family attends. I knew Jim as the very nice guy who sat in the back and went out of his way to say hello after the service. After one of my chats with him, our pastor at the time walked up and I asked him for a book recommendation on Luther. Our pastor pointed to Jim and said, “he wrote one, start there.” So I went home and typed “Jim Nestingen” into Amazon and was shocked. The very nice gentleman in the back of our church was an internationally known Luther scholar with many books and articles to his credit. To me, he was Jim. I had no idea of the scholarly treasure who graced our pews.

When I felt the call to seminary, Jim was someone I sought out as part of the discernment process. He understood my family commitments and that our small business was not something I could leave for an on-site program. He mentioned he was part of the faculty at St. Paul Lutheran Seminary, and that it would be a good fit. I enrolled and we began to study together. I am forever grateful for the time he spent with me. I learned so much. The legacy Jim leaves behind is as large as his chuckle that echoes in so many churches still today.

Two of Jim’s most important teachings were his love of the absolution and his dedication to the preached word.

Jim’s obituary summed him up well when it said that,“he was not always patient [and] was at times bullish.” But it went on to describe him as loving, and I can personally attest to this side of him as well. To me, he personified the simul justus et peccator (simultaneously being a saint and sinner). As sure as Jim was of the promise made to him in his baptism, that he was indeed saved, he also knew that he was a sinner. Even with all his study, Jim knew he could not save himself. That is why he grabbed hold of the gospel and became a champion of it. He knew he needed it and that the rest of us did too.

But if you really wanted to see Jim light up, talk about the absolution. He could never hear those beautiful words enough and often choked up as he was speaking them or having them spoken to him. Jim also had an ear for people who were struggling, whether they knew it or not, and who needed to hear about the lifesaving gift of Christ Jesus. One of the countless stories Jim loved to tell had him on a plane back to his home in Minneapolis. He was talking to the guy next to him and it became clear that this gentleman was weighed down by his own sin. As they approached the Minneapolis airport, it was time to offer the absolution. Jim stood up and placed his hands on the man and started in. The only problem was the plane was landing and he was supposed to be in his seat with his seat belt fastened and his tray table in the upright and locked position. The flight attended rush over and tried to get Jim back in his seat. But Jim would not be stopped and finished absolving the man next to him. I often wonder if that flight attendant lamented her unruly passenger over dinner that night.

Jim often remarked that if the absolution could free him from his sin, then the rest of us could be freed as well.

Then there was Jim’s love of the preached word. I often sought his advice on the text prior to writing a sermon, and he was always spot on about picking out the law and the promise―Jesus’ forgiveness. What will stick with me the most is Jim’s persistence in “delivering the goods,” that is, proclaiming the good news of the gospel. He did not want to hear about this trend or that in a sermon. The news of the day, or politics, had no place. As preachers, we are to preach the text.

One sermon in particular sticks out. I was preparing to deliver a sermon on the resurrection, and I read him part of it, which included a passage about Jesus saying, “I am the resurrection.” Jesus does not say “I might be” or “If you follow the rules, I will be the resurrection and the life.” No, Jesus says “I am.” And when Jesus makes you a promise, He follows through.

Jim chuckled and said yep, but it is even simpler than that. The resurrection is not just some historical fact. When Jesus went to the cross and then rose from the grave, he did it for you. The resurrection is for you. And then he added, “it is not a possibility, it is a promise.” Each time I prepare a sermon, I hear Jim’s voice encouraging me to “deliver the goods” and make sure the people in the congregation know that those promises are not some abstract concept, but rather that those promises from Jesus are for them―the people stuck in sin and sitting in the pew.

“For you” making the promises of the gospel personal, was important to Jim. In the opening lines of “Free to Be” which Jim wrote with Gerhard Forde, it says that “God has made a decision about you. God hasn’t waited to find out how sincere you are, how devout or religious you might be, or how well you understand the Bible and the Catechism. God hasn’t even waited to find out if you are interested or willing to take this decision seriously. God has simply decided. God made this decision knowing full well the kind of person you are.”1 Jim wanted to make sure that each sermon preached made the promise of the gospel real and personal. That God made you a promise and He will keep it.

Jim’s death leaves behind big shoes to fill. He was a brilliant theologian. This part of him might be described as “head knowledge.” Jim definitely had that and had he stopped there, he would have left an indelible mark on Lutheran theology. But what made Jim truly special was his heart which could take all the head knowledge gained from decades of study and make it personal to you. Jim did not talk about Jesus’ death, he talked about how Jesus died for you. He did not talk about the resurrection as something which happened in history, he talked about how Jesus’ resurrection opened the grave for you. Yes, Jim was a brilliant theologian, but he also had one of the greatest pastoral hearts of anyone I have ever met. That combination of head knowledge and heart compassion, which came so naturally to him, will be hard to replace.

I recall a time a couple of years ago when he sat by the bed of a dying member of our church. For two days they sang hymns and prayed. When she died, Jim called me in tears― not of sadness, but of joy in helping ease her into death.

Jim at the 2017 NALC Convocation

Jim’s book recommendations were always fantastic. We read Gustav Wingren’s Luther on Vocation and discussed it. It was a wonderful study on how God is using us, through our vocations as parents, employees and small business owners to continue the work of creation.

What will stick with me the most is Jim’s persistence in “delivering the goods,” that is, proclaiming the good news of the gospel.

Martin Luther’s Commentary on Galatians was another book Jim talked about often. He told the story of a preacher friend of his who would read through one of the two volumes each year. Jim could tell when his friend stopped because his preaching was not quite as good.

The recommendation I will be most grateful for is the book we read last summer, Spiritus Creator by Regin Prenter. Jim had talked about this book for quite some time before we read it together. He talked about how there was no better study of Luther on the Holy Spirit than this book. One day when we were at his home outside of Dallas, he took me up to his study where he had the wonderful, old, hardcover edition of Prenter’s book. He talked about how much he loved that book and how any study of the Holy Spirit without Prenter was incomplete. He had a giant smile on his face as he showed me his copy.

While space does not allow going too far into Prenter’s work, I will always treasure the way in which it made the Holy Spirit, and His role in the Trinity, so real. I will be forever grateful for the books that Jim wrote and those he introduced me to. When he really liked a book, after we read it, he would tell me to keep the book close and read it again and again.

Jim’s family used a photo for his obituary and at his service which captured him perfectly. It showed him holding a microphone, smiling and laughing. You can hear that deep Scandinavian laugh of his through the picture. The laugh that would warm a room. But what strikes me most about the photo is how it perfectly captured Jim’s love of preaching and teaching. His love of sharing the gospel.

Jim’s love of the absolution and the preached word is something we should all strive to continue. He often described what he was doing as simply one sinner helping another like a hungry beggar showing another where to find food. Jim was not perfect, and he knew it, that is why he hung onto the absolution and preached word. Because as great as he was, he knew his own work would never save him. But Christ Jesus already had. And Jim wanted to share that salvation with the world.

Like the text we discussed the day before Jim died, he has now gone to his father’s house―the one with many rooms. While we will miss him, he leaves behind a rich legacy as a scholar. But more importantly, he left a love for the gospel and Christ Jesus which is still a light for his friends, family and students.

Well done my friend and until we meet again – God’s Peace.

Jonathan Thompson lives with his wife, Jennifer, and their daughter in Keizer, Oregon (the heart of wine country). They own and operate a local small business. Jonathan is working on a Master of Divinity degree from St. Paul Lutheran Seminary which should be complete in December. He is a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Dallas, Oregon where he helps with pulpit supply. Jonathan also serves his local police department as a chaplain. When not at the church or their small business, he enjoys cooking (anything on a BBQ), reading, the great outdoors, and flying in his private plane.

Endnote:

1James A. Nestingen and Gerhard O. Forde, Free to Be: A Handbook to Luther’s Small Catechism (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg Fortress, 1993), 5.