Thursday, March 14, 2024

Lent 5

 

In the Name of Christ the Crucified +

    Boy, Jesus just seems... mean to our ears today, doesn't He? I mean, aren't you a little bit taken aback at the vigor with which Jesus argues? Isn't Jesus supposed to be kind and loving, isn't He supposed to be nice and make me feel good? Part of the problem with hearing a text like this is we are Americans, which means we all live in a consumerist culture, where we are surrounded by salesmen and liars. So much of our world is driven by advertisements and PR firms, mastering the art of the deal. And, of course, if you are in sales, you do what you have to do to close the deal. As the old movie line goes – put that coffee down, coffee's for closers only. Do whatever you have to do to make the sale. And so, we as Americans are simply used to people selling us things – trying to win us over, trying to make us purchase something, choose brand X over brand Y. The customer is always right, right? Of course the problem with sales is that they aren't always the most truthful. The fast food burger in my bag at the drive thru just never quite looks like the one on the billboard. So often the gadget might be the latest, but the greatest is a stretch. Tin fiddles, lemons, pieces of junk. But we're used to it, we buy, we consume, and if the truth gets massaged or mangled a little bit on the way, so be it.

    But the problem for us today isn't just false advertising out there. We can end up importing this approach to how we view Church. There have been countless fads for how to market the church through the decades – movements to make it relevant or hit felt needs, attempts to make it more exciting or “extreme”. I think the hipster pastors are finally falling out of vogue, but I'm sure there will be some new sales trend for the church coming down the pike. And with all of them, if the truth is stretched or skirted around or twisted a bit, so be it – as long as it packs people in, as long as it closes the religious deal, it's good. If it makes you happy, it can't be that bad. Come on, preacher, tell me what I want to hear!

    That's not what Jesus does. Jesus isn't interested in sales, manipulation, anything like that. His focus is on something else – the truth. And the fact is quite often we can't handle the truth. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. People are terrified of the truth. We're not used to it, we're used to the comfortable, enticing lie – and we like those lies. We like living in our denial. But Jesus doesn't come to play up those lies; He comes to rescue us from them. Just prior to our text, our Lord said “If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Free. Sound great, but it's freed from our sin, our delusions, the things we are stuck in. God's truth doesn't sell us anything, rather it confronts us, and it attacks and shakes us. Because it deals with the blunt truth and we don't like it.

    You see, God’s Law is an unpleasant thing. You want an example of God’s Law being unpleasant – look at our Old Testament lesson. Hear what God commands Abraham to do – Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering. . . . That’s a statement of Law right there. Isaac is going to die. And he deserves death. Abraham can’t argue against it – Abraham knows that he himself hasn’t done anything to earn this child –Abraham was old, so was Sarah, they shouldn’t have even ever gotten Isaac, and if God wants Isaac back… well, Abraham can’t gainsay God here. If God wants Isaac dead, well, that’s the wages of sin.

    That’s hard. That is hard to bear – that is a harsh truth. We don’t like that truth. Think about how much work and effort people will put into justifying themselves, into escaping the blame for something – even when there is no punishment, even when admitting that you’ve done wrong only might mean that someone doesn’t think as well of you for a few days. We will duck and dance – it’s not my fault. Oh, how we will try to sell that false image of ourselves! And what about when something doesn’t go right in our life - We will get angry and rail – how can you do this to me God! This is not proper customer service, I demand to talk to a manager! I don’t deserve this. Eh, that’s not true. Your toil in this life is nothing – you deserve death. Apart from God rescuing you, you're toast. That’s what the truth is, that what God says in His Word. That’s what gets the Pharisees in our Gosepl lesson so steamed at Jesus.

    Abraham trusted the Lord, though; Abraham knew that God’s Word was more than just a word of Law – but also a word of Gospel, a word of mercy. That’s why he’s bold to take Isaac, that’s why he tells the servants who stay behind that they both will come back down the mount – Abraham trusts in God’s mercy – God will provide the lamb for the sacrifice. And we see that God does do so – a ram is given to take Isaac’s place. Imagine the joy that Abraham would have had at being stopped, at looking up and seeing the ram and knowing that his Isaac would live. That's a real gift, not some disposable piece of junk found on markdown. This is the joy that Christ speaks of in the Gospel – Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad. Of course Abraham rejoiced – because God would spare Abraham’s son Isaac at the cost of His own Son, Christ Jesus. This is the heart of the Gospel – not that there are no consequences to sin, not that our sin doesn’t matter or doesn’t deserve death – but rather this – Christ Jesus has come and has born up the weight of sin in our place, that He suffers and dies for us upon the Cross, that with His death and resurrection He sets us free from sin and its burden. This is the great and wondrous word of the Gospel – this is what the Gospel truly is – that you are forgiven by God not on account of your works, not on account of your effort, but on account of the precious death and resurrection of Christ Jesus your Lord.

    And yet – the Pharisees in the text are still angry, still reject Christ after he explains this. People today still reject it. Why? Because the Gospel truth is this – that Jesus is your Savior. The Gospel makes sense only if you know and believe the Law. Jesus doesn’t get rid of the Law, He fulfills it to be your Savior. If Jesus is your Savior – it means that you need to be saved, it means that you sin, that you aren’t perfectly fine as you are, that you're not always the victim and sometimes some things actually are your fault. And Jesus isn't going to butter you up. You can’t preach the Gospel without preaching the Law first – because the two go hand in hand. And the people who try to ignore reality and God's Law will also have to reject the Gospel when they hear it. God's word reveals the truth that we are sinners and that we need Jesus, a Jesus who saves us, not a Jesus who placates us. So that's what Jesus does – He does whatever is required to win salvation and take on sin – even our sin, even the sin we like. And Jesus sticks to the truth; He won't hedge anything just to sell us on His plan. It's His way, not our way.

    So what do we make of all of this? We see that all too many people don’t like the truth of God’s Word. They don’t like the Law rightly preached – calling their sin what it is – sin, and pointing out that it is wrong and deserves punishment. They don’t like the Gospel either – the truth that God and God alone is our Savior, without any worth or merit in us. First, we need remember that this applies to us as well. It is not just people out there who do not like God’s truth – your own sinful flesh will rebel against it – we like to be catered to as well. That is why we have a focus on repentance, that is why we are to daily drown our old Adam and our desires and instead to be focused upon Christ. That is why we are to come here and hear preaching, hear absolution, receive Christ’s Body and Blood for our forgiveness and the strengthening of our faith – so that we ourselves don’t fall away.

    But also this. We are tempted, especially in this day and age, to soft sell God’s truth. To try and make it more appealing to sinful man, to accommodate people's sin, to play to “their truth” rather than God's truth. We are tempted to put what people want to hear over what God says. We are tempted to not be proclaimers of Christ Jesus, but rather peddlers of our own plans and programs. But let's be honest – that's not the way. Consider you yourself – you have been brought to faith and you have been kept in that faith by what – by God’s Word rightly preached and rightly taught. By the truth – the law in its sternness, the gospel in its sweetness. That’s the same thing the people who don’t believe right now need – the same thing your family and friends need as well. The truth is that they are in need of God’s love – to know that God richly loves them and offers them salvation and forgiveness – that this isn't a sales pitch with strings attached. Speak them the Word, over and over again, even if they don’t like it. That doesn’t mean be a jerk about it, but be honest and truthful, even when the truth is difficult and hard to hear, and the Holy Spirit will work faith when and where He wills. That’s why in the Scriptures we see Christ speak the truth. And He speaks it over and over again – and some never like it – but because our Lord preaches again and again – some do end up believing. Because the Apostles preach God’s Word in its truth, some do end up believing. Because faithful Christians, Pastors, parents, friends spoke God’s Word in truth and purity to you, you believe. God grant that we would speak God’s Word rightly, so that others might know what God’s truth is, so that the Holy Spirit might work, not through the plans we dream up, but that the Spirit might work through the Word which He places upon our lips.

    The world doesn't need another salesman. It doesn't need more deals or discounts. It needs to be rescued and delivered from the pervasive power of Satan, that runs lies and deceit and death and chaos all around us. And this is what Christ Jesus does, and He does so continually and faithfully in His Word and Sacraments. This is our hope, and it never changes. In the Name of Christ the Crucified +

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Lent 4

 

In the Name of Christ the Crucified +

    My sermons are short. I don’t expect that any one of you here thinks that there is the slightest possibility that I am going to still be in this pulpit, say, 20 minutes from now. 15 minutes is a long one from me. And as for the Church service, if we go over an hour, that’s a long one. You all expect to be well out of here by 6/9:30. This is how we think, this is what we are used to, so because of this we don’t get the full setting of what is going on in our Gospel. After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberius. And a large crowd was following Him, because they saw the signs that He was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat down with His disciples. We aren’t referring to a short little period of time, no longer than a tv show, but hours upon hours – that’s what these people have spent listening to and following Jesus. They didn’t drive to Church, rather they walked miles following Jesus. They didn’t sit on padded pews, but would sit on a rocky hillside to hear what He would preach.

    And then, Jesus pauses, and He looks at His disciples and ask, “Okay, how are we going to feed all these folks, since they’ve followed Me out here into the middle of nowhere?” Jesus knows what He’s going to do, but He wants to see what the disciples are thinking. And they are stumped. Well, we’ve got a kid here with 5 rolls and a couple of small fish – but that won’t do much good. And we know what comes next – Jesus feeds the 5000. Has them sit down, blesses the food, and it just doesn’t run out. In fact, there are leftovers, 12 baskets full of leftovers, each disciple gets to lug one around. And the people know what they’ve just seen. When the people saw the sign that He had done, they said, “This is the Prophet who is to come into the world!” **THE** Prophet – the Messiah, the promised one. That must be who this Jesus is. And then Jesus just slinks away – Perceiving then that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by Himself. Jesus slides away. I’m not here to get into politics – I’m not here to overthrow the Romans or fix the federal deficit – and so Jesus slides away.

    Dear friends, this text is instructive. Do you see how Jesus chooses to care for these people? He cares for them in two vital ways. The first way is that He cares for them Spiritually. Jesus has been preaching, Jesus has been teaching – He has been expounding the Word of God for them – a great and wonderful thing. And they can’t get enough. He goes to the other side of a lake and they follow Him there – give us more, preach more, teach more. A good and wonderful gift. Jesus provides for these people Spiritually. However, our Lord does more than just provide Spiritually. He provides for their physical needs as well. Jesus looks out upon them, sees the crowd that has gathered, and He sees that they are hungry, that their bodies are tired and sore, that stomachs are starting to rumble. And so He provides for them. And He does so without a lot of hoopla. Just has them sit down, blesses the food, and hands it out. Sort of simple and straight forward – I will provide for them. But when suddenly the crowd gets fixated on what He provides physically – this Jesus can mean free food for life – Jesus slides away. I’ve provided, you are taken care of, and that is good enough.

    The fourth Sunday in Lent is a pause, a break in the season of Lent. The last three Sundays have seen intense Gospel lessons with Law that comes and smacks us right upside the head. What we see today, what we remember today, is that God indeed understands the difficulties we face in life, understands the intensity with which we struggle against sin and Satan, the hardships we struggle against in this life. We look at this Gospel lesson today with this in mind. Our focus could be on how this is a fantastic demonstration of the truth that Jesus is True God. Our focus could be on how much those people wanted to hear God’s Word – then asking ourselves, “do we?” Our focus could be on the disciples’ confusion, and how often we don’t understand what God is doing. Each of those could make a fine basis for a sermon, but here, in the midst of Lent, we hear this text for another purpose. Just as God cared for those people in the midst of their hardships, we learn and know and understand that God cares for us in the midst of our hardships, in the midst of our trials. Let’s compare – how does God care for you in the exact same ways in which He cared for those 5000 there?

    First, God cares for your Spiritual needs. Lent is a season of spiritual trial. Lent is that long look in the mirror, that time of self-examination knowing that you aren’t going to like what you see all time. The simple fact is that there is struggle against sin – people that you have to love, that are sort of hard to love. Sacrifices you have to make for the sake of your neighbor that you don’t look forward to. As Christ will put it in the Garden of Gethsame, bitter cups yet to be drank. And that’s the way life always is, and sin has spilled out aplenty, and we can see it in our lives easily – families hurting and seemingly broken, friendships that have fallen on hard times, neighbors that scorn and mock. It’s not easy. But know this. Christ Jesus your Lord sees your struggle, knows what you are facing, for He Himself faced Satan’s temptations, He Himself was mocked and scorned, in fact, His brothers thought He was an embarrassment to the family. Jesus understands. And Jesus provides for you what you need to endure, to conquer. He provides you with His Word. And He does always. Has there ever been a time where Jesus has refused to come to You in His Word? Ever tried to open your bible and found out that God had glued it shut? I didn’t think so. Has there been a time where Christ’s death and resurrection for your forgiveness hasn’t been trumpeted from this pulpit and thousands like it all over the country, where the message of God’s salvation hasn’t resounded? Has there been a time where God has ever said, “Eh, I’m going to ignore your baptism, your on your own again”? No – God continually offers you spiritual care in His Word and Sacraments. That’s what He does. We see this from our Epistle, Acts 2, the day of Pentecost, birth of the New Testament Church. And what do people do? And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Same thing we are doing right now. John was an apostle, and oh look, a sermon, teaching from what John taught us about Christ in His Gospel. Check. Fellowship and the breaking of bread – On the night when He was betrayed, our Lord took bread, and when He had given thanks He broke it! Check. The prayers. We’ve done the collect, those words are probably 1200 years old or so, and then we will pray the Lord’s Prayer, we know they were saying that one, we end with the Aaronic Benediction, they’ve been doing that since the time of our Old Testament lesson. Check. Same thing, same ways, God is consistent. God provides and will continue to provide for the Spiritual needs of His people. And this He does for you, this is His love for you.

    And there is more. God not only provides for you Spiritually, but we see and remember that God provides for you Physically as well. Now if you follow the old tradition of giving up something for lent, of fasting, you’ll be noticing it by now – so this point that God provides physically would stand out all the greater. But it is true – has God ever stopped providing for your physical needs? No, He cares for you, and until the day that He calls you to eternal life, you can be sure that He always will. Doesn’t mean that there aren’t times where we cease to be satisfied – the 5000 wanted to grab Jesus, make Him King and say to Him, “We want more bread.” There are times where we want to grab on to Jesus and see if He’ll give us more stuff – where we think clinging to Jesus means turning Him upside down and shaking to see if any more loose change falls out of His pockets. When we get caught up in the cares of this life, when we are worried and frantic and nervous – which I know can happen this time of year – time to get ready for planting so, doing all the taxes for last year, school work is getting harder and how are the grades, spring and storms are on their way – it can be a mighty anxious time. And we can fret, and we can worry. But when we pause, when we relax, we see and remember that in all times and in all places God has indeed provided for us. Like the 5000 we follow Him and hear His Word – and then we look up and behold, He has provided for us. This is why in Acts the believers could day by day attend the temple together and receive their food with gladness – because they understood that God provides for them. Is this not true in your life? Pause for moment – Has not God seen to it that you are provided for, even in the times when you had no clue how things were going to work out? This is His love for you – this is what He reminds us of in this Gospel text.

    With this in mind, we have confidence in Christ, even in the face of trials in this life. We follow our Lord’s footsteps as He strides towards Holy Week, and it’s culmination on Good Friday. We follow our Lord to Gethsemane, we too have our trials from Satan and our struggles and our hard times – but all of these, all of these we face knowing God’s love for us – indeed we have seen it all of our days, and we know that come what may, in whatever difficulty we find ourselves in, Christ Jesus is still our Lord, still our God who never fails to show us His love, who never fails to provide us the forgiveness and strength which we need for matters both spiritual and physical. This is His love for you, which endures forever. In the Name of Christ the Crucified+ Amen.

Saturday, March 2, 2024

Lent 3

 

In the Name of Christ the Crucified +

    An interesting thing happens as Jesus goes about in His battle against Satan. Quite often Jesus does stuff out in the open, publicly, where everyone can see. Great things! Wondrous things! Like for today's Gospel – we actually jump on in the middle of the action – Now [Jesus] was casting out a demon that was mute. As we first see Jesus, there He is, in the process of actually casting out a demon, actually opening this poor man's lips, making things better. That's pretty cool. Perhaps pretty terrifying as well, but it's still a good thing, right? And yes, by in large the people marvel and are amazed by this... but there's also opposition. There's complaints and grousing – there are excuses. So what happens is Jesus will turn His focus to another fight He wages – and that is the attack on our complaints and our excuses, because Jesus knows them for what they really are. Listen.

    But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” while others, to test Him, kept seeking from Him a sign from heaven. So let's for a moment consider these responses to Jesus' miracle. First – oh, He's casting out demons by Beelzebul. This, of course, strikes us as utterly absurd. They are basically saying that this is just a hoax and that Jesus is in league with Satan. Yeah, it's a lousy complaint – and Jesus will rip it apart in a few moments. But really, what are they doing? I don't think this is a well thought out, logical conclusion that they come to, nor is this just some emotional, visceral reaction. There's something deeper going on here. There's a bit of desperation here, they are grasping at straws; they are trying to come up with any excuse they can think of... to what? To not have to listen to Jesus. To be able to safely ignore Jesus. I mean, there Jesus is, just in their face, casting out a demon right in front of them. They have to acknowledge what is going on, but they don't want to. They want to safely ignore Jesus, and they are desperate to come up with an excuse, a reason, a justification for them to ignore Jesus.

    It's really the same thing for the people who are testing Jesus, who keep demanding more signs from heaven... as though casting out a demon right in front of them wasn't sign enough. This too is just an excuse, a reason to ignore Jesus. He hasn't done enough. I asked for a sign from heaven, one lousy peel of thunder, and He couldn't produce it – who cares about Him now! As though Jesus' job is cater to our whims. But there you go, more silly little reasons to ignore Jesus, just there milling around the crowd.

    And Jesus will have none of it. But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every Kingdom divided against itself is laid to waste, and a divided household falls. And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?” Oh, I'm doing this by the prince of demons? So you think there's a civil war, or that Satan has just become a toothless idiot? Because he's not. He still scowls fierce, and so on. Maybe, My friends, you aren't reading the situation correctly. But it's not Me who will be getting on your case for this – And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. Jesus points out here something that is going on – people were casting out demons in Jesus' name. This was sometimes upsetting to the disciples because the guys doing this weren't according to hoyle part of the 12 disciples – Jesus doesn't mind it at all. But to the point right now, Jesus states the obvious – if you accuse Me, you also accuse a lot of other people, including your own sons who are calling upon My Name for wondrous things. Do you see how Jesus just deftly deflates their complaints, their excuses?

    And then Jesus brings out the elephant in the room. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. No, this is the kingdom of God, the power of God at work – and if you are fighting Me, you're fighting God. There's no way around it. Because what Jesus is doing here is destroying Satan's kingdom and rescuing us – When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides the spoil. Jesus is raiding Satan's kingdom, He's blasting apart Satan's defenses, and all on a mission to rescue people, to rescue you. And you need to be on board with this Jesus rescue mission – Whoever is not with Me is against Me, and whoever does not gather with Me scatters. In or out. Come with me if you want to live. This is the situation.

    And here we really get to the heart, the theological root, the issue at stake. The excuses, the complaints, they are all just symptoms of a deeper problem, and that problem is self-justification. I will justify myself – I will take my actions and I will defend them no matter what. I will excuse the inexcusable, I will deflect from any wrong I've done and bring up what-abouts, and if the heat ever gets to close to me I'll start complaining and turning up the heat on someone else. Because I'm fine. I don't have any problems, I don't have any issues – why it's just you guys who are the problem. I don't need a Savior, I don't need to be saved. I don't need Jesus.

    Isn't that really what these people are driving at here? I don't think I need Jesus, I don't want to need Jesus, so I'll say He's in league with Satan. I don't think I need Jesus, so I'll say He's not good enough for me. Now, maybe you've not done this sort of self-justifying dance with Jesus, but we all know the pattern of excuse making and denial and puffing ourselves up. It happens all the time in our relationships – at work, at home. Often we come up with terrible excuses that we think are brilliant, and then maybe we can laugh at them later on once we've come to our senses. And maybe, just maybe, if we're being honest, you can think of times where you've used excuses and complaints and self-justifications against Jesus, against Church. Lord knows I have often enough. It's the common move and drive of our sinful flesh – to make excuses for ourselves, to seek to justify ourselves, to cry out that it's not our fault. And when we get called out for this excuse making, we can get really defensive. Why, yes, Jesus, you have caught me with my hand in the cookie jar, but clearly I just want a cookie, and there's nothing wrong with that, and in fact, I think I deserve a cookie!

    Here's the thing, the issue. You can't justify yourself. When you've messed up, when you've sinned, no excuse, no fasting talking will get you out of it. No denial will make reality go away. The problem of our sin is real, and we can't self-justify ourselves out of it. We can bluster, we can gripe, we can shake our heads until the cows come home, but that doesn't fix, that doesn't address, that doesn't deal with the problem. And for the physical things of life this is problem enough – Tax day is coming, you've got to actually sit down and do them. A project at school or work is coming due – you've got to get it done, quit with the dithering. But Jesus here isn't just giving a lecture on “adulting” and “being responsible” - He's addressing a very important spiritual reality. When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, “I will return to my house from which I came.” And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first. When you start making excuses about sin, about Christ, about Church, about these spiritual matters, bad things happen. Things will get worse. We see this with physical things – start a diet, it goes well, but then you gets slack, ignore the healthy routine, and you're worse off than you were before. Jesus points out that this is true spiritually as well – and the world is full of people who were baptized, who were cleansed, but then cut themselves off from Christ and His Word and they're hellions now.

    Because the reality is you need Jesus – and not just a Jesus who gives you a little touch up – but the Jesus who is with you and you with Him – the Jesus who is your King and the Kingdom of God is with you Jesus – the Jesus who is your Justification, the Jesus who is your righteousness, the Jesus who is with you and who gathers you together with all His saints around His Word and Sacraments. And I'm not whistling dixie here – Whoever is not with me is against Me, and whoever does not gather with Me scatters. That word for “gather” is “synagogue” - basically the word for church at the time. Or we here are a congregation – where we congregate – where we are gathered together by Christ around His Word. Because in the Church, hearing His Word, receiving His Supper, that's where we ourselves are blessed. As He said these things a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” But He said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” Hear the Word of God. Keep it – keep it in your heart, your mind – treasure Jesus and His forgiveness so that when Satan and his minions comes sniffing around they don't find a neat but empty house – rather they find one filled with Christ and His Word. They find a temple of the Holy Spirit.

    This is what Jesus does to you whenever He speaks His Word to you. He comes upon you with the power of God to break down your excuses, your silly self-justifications that everyone but you know are bunk – and He forgives you, and He gives you strength, and remember the very beginning – the demon that was mute. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare Your praise. The is the good power of Jesus. And there are times this is fine and dandy, and there are times when its scary because we've become aware of sin and temptations that we don't want to deal with, or even more dangerous we want to give into and delight in. Jesus knows the power of Satan – Satan is strong. But Jesus is the Stronger One, and He breaks down Satan's power – and He does this for you, for your good, even right now, to rescue and restore you. Be in His Word, and be kept safe for now and for all eternity. In the Name of Christ the Crucified +

Saturday, February 24, 2024

Lent 2 Sermon

 

In the Name of Christ the Crucified +

    If you would understand the battle our Lord wages against Satan this Lent, indeed, if you would understand the Christian faith, you must abandon pride and be humble. This is what we see in our Gospel lesson today, for if you view your life and the world with eyes that are proud and self-focused, you will miss, you will fail to see your humble Lord Jesus and the salvation He wins for you. You see, our text is the second half of a comparison, a comparison between the pride of the Jews, on the one hand, and the humble faith of the Canaanite woman on the other.

    Before we look at our Gospel text, we need consider what happened before hand – after all, our lesson starts, “and Jesus went away from there…” Away from where? Well, Jesus was in Judea, and if you read chapter 15 from the beginning, you see that Pharisees and Scribes from Jerusalem had come up to Jesus and started grilling him about commandments and tradition. Now, we are not going to look at the first 20 verses in detail, but what we see in them is pride. You have this pride that these Jewish leaders show in their heritage, in the fact that they are Jews. You have pride in their works, how good they are, how wondrous they are. In fact, when Jesus responds to them and teaches them, they get offended – the disciples actually come up to Jesus all worried because He said something that offended such good, fine Jewish folks. The disciples too hold on to their ethnic pride a bit too much – they too view themselves as “the good people” because they are nice Jewish folks who try their best to follow all the commandments and rules.

    So Jesus leads them away from Judea, and He “withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region was crying, ‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.’” So they leave the Jewish lands behind, and suddenly this foreign woman shows up begging for mercy. First, let’s consider this. At that time Jewish men didn’t like non-Jews, by in large. Especally the Canaanites – the old villains of the Old Testament. Add to this that Jewish men didn’t like women, by in large. So basically there is no sort or type of person that a guy holding onto the old Jewish cultural pride would disdain and despise more than a Canaanite woman. Just would be repulsed by her. So here you have a contrast between the “Good” Jewish folks and the despised Canaanite woman. Bear this in mind. Now, this woman comes up and begs for Jesus to help her daughter who is possessed. And she asks beautifully. First, she calls Jesus “Lord” – calls Him God. Calls Him Jehovah. She calls Him “Son of David” – not only God but also the One who by rights should be the earthly ruler, the Ruler who should dominate and crush her own people. When she calls Jesus the Lord, when she calls Him Son of David, this is a powerful statement of who Jesus is. True God, true Man. So this gal is spot on theologically. And as Christ comes to fight Satan and destroy His power, casting out the demon that is bothering her daughter is right up His wheelhouse – simple, easy, knock this one out of the park.

    “But He did not answer her a word.” Jesus doesn’t say anything. Now, a lot of people will make this the focus of the text – and their sermons on this text will become sermons on how we should be persistent in prayer, how even when it seems like God doesn’t answer us we should keep on praying. And that is true – be persistent in your prayer. But I’m going to say that Christ isn’t quiet here in order to teach us to pray more – He’s quiet to drive home a point with the disciples, with us. So there Jesus is, just letting this woman wail at Him, and finally the disciples intervene. “And His disciples came and begged Him saying, ‘Send her away, for she is crying out after us.’” And the disciples fail miserably. Send her away. Not “please heal her quickly, Jesus.” Not, “Hurry Lord, and beat down Satan.” So strong, so powerful is the disciples’ self-pride, and so powerful is their disdain of this woman that they beg, beg Jesus to send her away. Send her away, cast her away from us as though she herself were a demon, not a mother pleading for aid against a demon.

    Jesus will now throw the disciples’ pride right back in their face. “He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.’” Note, Jesus isn’t talking to the woman here – He’s answering the disciples. Alright disciples, you think you are so high and mighty because you are Jews, you think you are the only ones worthy of interacting with the Messiah – fine, I guess I can’t deal with her since she’s not as cool as you – you’ll just have to put up with her begging. Jesus just throws their pride and arrogance right back at them.

    Then something wondrous happens. “But she came and knelt before Him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’” The woman is adamant – she knows that Jesus is the One who can help her, and so she is going to Him to seek His help. Excellent on her part. But before He aids her, Jesus is going to have her help in teaching the disciples. “And He answered, ‘It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.’” His answer is true – I mean, if any of you let your children starve because you gave their dinner to the dogs, well, that would just be horrible. But the answer, well, if you imply that a woman is a female dog, that was insulting in Jesus’ day just as it is in ours. And remember what I said earlier – the Pharisees had been offended by what Jesus had said earlier in this chapter – if anything then we should expect this woman to be offended, to say, “How dare you Jesus.” Her pride would surely be thoroughly cut by this statement.

    But it’s not. “She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ tables.’” Jesus says to this woman, “you are lowly and you do not deserve My help.” And the woman says, “You’re right, Lord, I do not deserve your help – I am a lowly dog, but masters care for their dogs, so I know You will care for me.” Do you see what happened? Because the woman isn’t trying to defend her own position, because the woman isn’t concerned with her status or how respected she is, because she does not act in pride, she can see Christ Jesus for who He is, the gracious master who cares even for one as lowly as her.

    And we know what happens next. “Then Jesus answered her, ‘O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.’ And her daughter was healed instantly.” The woman understands. When it comes to her faith, to her relationship with God – it is not determined by how wonderful she is. She can claim no noble birth – she’s not from the right family. She doesn’t point to her works. She doesn’t say that she’s been a good little girl who deserves blessings. Rather this – her eyes are focused in humility upon Christ and who He is. She simply confesses that Jesus is God and that He is gracious – and so she sees and understands. By faith she sees Christ.

    Dear friends, I cannot overemphasize how dangerous pride is, how dangerous a reliance upon works is. Whenever we start thinking prideful thoughts, be it pride in our heritage – why we were born and raised in this Church – or pride in our works – why, I’m a pretty good person and I do things pretty well – whenever we think along these lines we put our faith in jeopardy. Why? Because thoughts like these focus us upon ourselves. I was raised rightly, I’m from a good family, I do good stuff. I, I, I. And it’s such a false focus. Who cares if you were raised right if you are doing wickedness and foolishness now? Who cares if you came from a good family if you disdain God now? Who cares that you are nice – we’re supposed to be perfect – nice doesn’t cut anything. And yet, in sinful pride, we can want to focus on ourselves, and we can end up forgetting God, we write Him off, we don’t see our need for His mercy, for His forgiveness. This place, this service becomes less and less important – we start thinking we don’t get anything out of it… which is really saying that you think the forgiveness of sins is worthless, that you don’t need it. That you don’t need God, God who comes here to be present for you. And pride crushes and kills faith.

    Our pride is a problem, and so Christ Jesus calls us to repentance, calls us to humility. He calls us to not think highly of ourselves, but instead to confess that we are both lowly and in need. To confess that we do not deserve any benefits from God, that God doesn’t owe us anything. But rather, simply because He is good, because He is full of love, because Christ Jesus stands and pleads for us, because of these reasons we seek forgiveness and mercy from God, and God does give His forgiveness to us.

    It is a beautiful contrast we will see in Lent, in our Lord’s Passion. We can be so proud, we can struggle with this pride, we can easily disdain folks and applaud ourselves. But in contrast to this, in contrast to our sin and failure, consider Christ Jesus and His passion. Where does His pride enter in? It never does. Even though He is true God, God Almighty, the very Word which called forth all creation into existence – He lets Himself be arrested, even though legions of angels would come at His command. He lets Himself be mocked and beaten and sorely abused, even though lighting or brimstone could come at His whim and smite those who abused Him. He is not worried about His dignity, but is instead nailed naked to a cross, exposed to the elements and for all the world to see, and left to die. But there, His thoughts are not about His own pride and dignity – His thoughts are upon you, upon wining Salvation for you and forgiveness for your sins of pride and all your sins. This is our Lord’s great humility, His great love for you.

    With humility, humility God brings forth in us by the power of His Word and Spirit, we are taught to see this, taught to believe this. We learn more and more to call out to God, “Have mercy upon us” – knowing that He will have mercy, not because of our goodness, but because of Christ Jesus’ goodness. We know and believe that Christ does not hold Himself aloft and away from us, but He Himself comes down under humble, simple elements of bread and wine, and in His Supper He comes to give us His true Body and Blood for our forgiveness. Pride would have us ignore these mysteries and wonders; pride would have us complain and overlook them – but Christ Jesus is indeed Your Lord, and He has given you the gift of faith, and He forgives you your sin and gives you strength through His Word and Supper so that you might learn more and more to beat down pride and all sins, and rather to ever more see His love for you more clearly. Lord, have mercy upon us! In the Name of Christ the Crucified +

Saturday, February 17, 2024

Lent 1

 In the Name of Christ the Crucified +

    Let’s start at the beginning. There it is, a garden, rich and luscious, full of every good plant, every good fruit imaginable. And there, into this wondrous garden, God places Adam and Eve, the pinnacle of His creation. Adam and Eve, made in the image and likeness of God – here is the garden, enjoy it, work in it, delight in it. But be content with who you are, be content with being God’s servant. And then, into that garden, slithers the serpent, bringing with him discontent and doubt. He hisses into Eve’s ears words of doubt – did God really say? He hisses words of envy and strife and discontent – eat this fruit, then you won’t be the servant anymore. When you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Eat this, and you won’t have to be merely the servant, merely the caretaker, merely one who cares for others. You’ll get to be the one in charge, you’ll be like God – because even today when we think of God our gut instinct is to think of power and control, to think of God as the big bully in the sky who gets to set the rules. And so Eve takes and eats, and then she gives Adam, and he takes and eats that most unholy meal, and it all falls apart.

    We know what happens. Adam and Eve – ruined. They will live lives now filled with strife and chaos and pain, son murdering son, so on and so forth, until they die. Life turns to death. But not just for Adam and Eve. . . life turns to death for the world. That perfect garden dissolves, the trees and plants fail, things dry up, good plants are replaced by weeds – the ground itself is cursed. Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you. The world falls. . . the goodness of the garden is dashed. That is how it all starts – then this sinful globe kept on spinning and spinning and getting worse and worse. The man and his wife whom God placed in the garden failed. They ignored the Word of God, traded God's good gifts for the serpent’s poison and thus unleash death, and the world is consigned to ruin.

    Now, we move to our Gospel lesson. When we look on the setting, it is not in a good Garden. That’s dried up, gone, swept away. Instead, it is a wilderness, wild, untamed, unkept lands. The full effect of the fall has its sway. Thorns and thistles are it. It is dry, it is dreary, it is unlivable – it is a place of death, just like what in reality this entire fallen planet had become. And then we hear this – Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. Consider what this is. Jesus Christ, true God and yet also true Man, strides forth into this wilderness, this wild fallen place, this anti-garden of Eden, the precise opposite of what Eden had been. Jesus steps into this fallen domain of Satan. And why? Led by the Spirit, put there by God. God had put Adam in the garden, and so now Christ Jesus, the New Adam, the New Man is put into its fallen wreck. And why? To succeed and be victorious where Adam failed, to begin the work of fixing the fall and restoring creation. And so, God Himself takes up our weakness; He becomes man, stands with us – hungers and is frail, fasts 40 days and 40 nights. God is not some bully overlord, but He in love comes down and takes His place by our side. But whereas we sin, our Lord will not falter. And then – the tempter came and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” Do you see the temptation? Christ is there in the wilderness to fight Satan, to challenge the serpent and put him in his place. And Satan saunters up and says – You know what Jesus, You’re God. You should be taking care of yourself. You should be focusing on what You want. . . what You need. It should be all about You. Come, Jesus, it’s quite reasonable to be selfish here, and after all it’s not hurting anyone.

    But then our Lord rocks the powers of hell with His reply. “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Do you see what our Lord does? Satan had said, “look to yourself, tend to your own needs.” Christ smacks the devil down. “No, Satan, I will not look to My own wants. My belly, my stomach is not God. Rather this – Man lives by the Word of God. That is how man lived in the garden before you came along and tempted Him – the Word of God called forth that garden, and man listened to God, and he lived quite happily. And I too, as Man, will live simply by the Word of God – away with your temptations!” These are powerful words from Christ – of course they are powerful, they are the Word of God.

    Satan regroups. Figures he should try a slightly different approach. And the Devil took Him to the holy city and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, throw Yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear You up lest you strike Your foot against a stone.’” Alright – so You want to play nice with the Word of God, do you Jesus? Alright, well, here it is Jesus, bona fide Word of God. You can jump, Your Daddy will protect You. And note what Jesus says to him. “Again, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Do you see what Satan was trying to get Jesus to do? Use the Word against God! Use the Word to make God jump through hoops for you! If you do that, if you use God’s Word like Satan suggests – it is putting yourself in charge of God. Jesus will have none of it. No, Satan, we do not put God to the test like that – we live by the Word, not above it. Man is to be God’s servant, not God’s master.

    And so Satan tries one more trick, one more temptation. Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” One more temptation for you Jesus – yes, I know you think God should be the master, but really, aren’t I a better master than Your Father? Your Father has sent You here from heaven to win these people – to suffer and die for them. I mean, look at You Jesus, fasting in the desert for 40 days – You’re a mess! The Father’s way is so hard. Listen – I will give you what You want – You can have these people, you can have this world. . . just do things my way. And my way is much easier. There it is – the temptation – avoid the cross and still get what you want. And our faithful Lord says, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God and Him only shall you worship.” And Satan flees, and the angels come and minister to Christ.

    Satan came and he brought the three temptations that are so often our downfall. So often, we live by our passions and desires, by our wants. The eye sees something it wants, and we lust after it, we crave it, we do whatever we can to satisfy our desires. Christ does not give into that temptation. So often, we try to manipulate God, to abuse His Word, His Church, try to make God do what we want, say what we want. Christ does not give into that temptation. So often, we crave power and glory, and we will do whatever it takes to have our way. Christ does not give into that temptation. And something wondrous happens there in that wilderness, as Christ our Lord defies Satan. There you have Christ Jesus, true Man, turn His back upon Satan, and rather listen simply to the Word of God. And at that moment, the gates of hell begin to shake and tremble. Satan’s power lies in tempting man away from God – and so what is God’s response? Christ Jesus comes as the truly obedient Man, Man who does what Adam and Eve should have done – tells Satan to take a hike – and the power of the Serpent begins to crumble.

    You see, dear friends – the wages of sin is death. When God’s Law lies broken, there can be no life that endures. And so our Lord Christ Jesus comes down to become Man, and in our place He takes the Law of God, and He fulfills it, He does it. Man lives righteously because Jesus lives righteously. And the battle is on – God Himself invades Satan’s kingdom of death as a living Man. Jesus starts to undo, reverse the fall, paving the way for eternal life. This is what we see at our Lord’s Temptation – and this is what we continue to see. Every time our Lord shows love or compassion, every time our Lord does what is right – a bit more and bit more of Satan’s kingdom is defied and destroyed, whittled away.

    And our Lord Christ Jesus does this for you. The reason He defied Satan there, the reason why He was worn and weak was so that He might stand at your side and say to, even at your weakest and most worn, “I am righteous and holy enough for you – and you will have life in Me.” Christ is righteous, and by the power of His righteousness, you are forgiven. And Christ undoes the fall in you. Consider again Genesis – Adam and Eve ate, disobeying God, bringing death and violence and sin into the world. Do you wish to see how God makes things right? He says to you – “Come to My Table – and I will give you a meal much better than what Satan offers.” Satan gave Adam and Eve a meal of death, Christ gives you His own Body and Blood for eternal life and salvation. Christ takes bread that we must struggle for, the bread of death, the bread which by itself doesn’t satisfy, which doesn’t give life – He takes this bread and adds the Word of God to it – says, “Take and Eat, this is My Body, given for you.” And in this meal of forgiveness you are given the bread of life, you are given strength, His own strength to beat down Satan, to turn away from the temptations Satan throws at you. In this Supper, Christ undoes the Fall in you, in your life. His mercy takes hold of you and grows in you – the fight He fought against Satan takes place in you.

    And indeed, our Lord continues to struggle against Satan, continues to beat him down. The fight has started, the battle is on, and Jesus will see it through, all the way to the finish, even unto His own death upon the Cross, by which your life and resurrection are ensured. This is His great love for you, this is the struggle He wins for you. In the Name of Christ the Crucified +

Thursday, February 8, 2024

Quinquagesima Sunday

 

In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +

    Lent is at our doorstep. This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, and our Lenten journey to our Lord's Cross will begin in earnest. And today, this final Sunday before Lent, we get a third Gospel lesson that is strangely uncomfortable but vital. We have heard that we are saved by grace – that our works don't merit us anything. We have heard that salvation relies upon the Word, and that we don't get to control how the Word works. One final uncomfortable lesson is left to us before we start Lent. Jesus mixes it up for us today, though. The last two weeks were parables, where there was an image, a story – and then an explanation that follows. Today things are reversed. Jesus will begin with a truth that the disciples deemed utterly inappropriate and wrong, and then we get a story, an event that show why Jesus is right in what He says. Listen.

    Taking the twelve, [Jesus] said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For He will be handed over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging Him, they will kill Him, and on the third day He will rise.” And Jesus spells it out. Alright, this is where we are going disciples – this is where Lent will lead to, O people of Trinity. As the Scriptures had told us, the Messiah will suffer – He will be the suffering servant that Isaiah said He would be, He will be the sacrifice of atonement that all the temple worship and sacrifices pointed to. He will be the Son that is sacrificed instead of Isaac so that Abraham rejoices. The Serpent's head will be crushed, but the Savior must be bruised and battered – and dying to atone for sin, He will rise to show forth victory over Satan and eternal salvation. This is the point, this has always been the point – the Scriptures, the tabernacle and the temple, worship, the history of Israel, they all drive to Good Friday and Christ Jesus there upon the Cross. That's where it all will end, that's where it will be finished.

    And the disciples, they don't want to hear it. But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said. This is the third time Jesus had bluntly told them that in Jerusalem He would suffer, die, and rise again to fulfill the scriptures. And still they don't hear, they don't understand, they cannot yet, the seed does not yet take root (and it won't until after the resurrection). This isn't what the disciples want. This isn't what the disciples think that they need. They want a Messiah who will simply perform wonders to everyone's adulation – but not wonders that are too powerful lest it scare them. They want a Messiah who will be zealous and drive out the Romans – but not be too zealous in driving our their own wickedness. They want a Messiah who will do some good stuff – but be willing to leave them alone when there's too much divine glory and might around. And so, now, before hand, the disciples simply cannot tolerate or countenance or conceive of the full Jesus, the real Savior, the die and rise again to destroy the power of Satan and to usher in the new creation Jesus. And thus, Jesus' plan of salvation is hidden from them, they can't see it, they can't understand.

    This pattern holds true even to this day. So many people who speak about Jesus, so much of what you will hear about Jesus leading up to Easter will be a watered down, crossless, resurrectionless Jesus. You'll find churches where there is nary a cross. You'll hear preachers who flat out deny the resurrection, turn it into an allegory or a fable. You'll hear people treat Jesus as though He was just a wise teacher – a teacher whom we are utterly free to pick and choose what we learn from, a teacher who suddenly sounds exactly like my own personal hobby horse. You'll hear people turn Jesus into a victim of injustice and social oppression, and He'll be turned into a emblem or stand in for whatever social group they want to white knight for and defend. You'll hear so many things other than Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world – who takes it away by dying and rising. Even 2000 years later people are still desperately trying to avoid the truth of Jesus' death and resurrection – the truth that it is your sin and my sin that put Him on the Cross – the truth that the only way you and I get to live is for Christ Jesus, the spotless, holy One of God, to die and rise. We need Jesus – and the whole Jesus, the full Jesus, the real Jesus. We don't need just a little brush up on moral teaching and we are good. We don't need just a little pep talk and then we'll live our best life now. We don't need another symbol for our political movements. We need to be rescued and redeemed from the dire and drastic problems of sin and death and the devil – and the only way that rescue happens is with Jesus going to the Cross and suffering and dying, and rising on the third day – and there's no other way. Period.

    You see, my friends, if you think you are just a little sinner, you'll only want a little Jesus. A shoe polish Jesus, where He just covers up a scuff mark or two and then you're good to go. But what Jesus does, what the Cross does, it is makes us confront the utterly uncomfortable realities of our own existence, of our own sin, that we don't like to face. I'm stuck in sin. I don't need just moral teaching or instruction – because For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing... wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death! The problem is deeper than I can fix! And I don't just need advice, I don't just need 7 easy hints for a happier life, because my life is running out. Death is approaching, and all the health fads and cosmetics and surgery can't change the fact that some years down the road from now there's going to be a grave somewhere with my name on it and a start date and an end date – and I can't change that. That problem is beyond me! And in the world, if you look, you will see the powers of evil at work, you will see Satan stirring up strife and chaos and hatred that claims to be love and every sort of disdain – and I can't change the world, I can't free it, I can't stop the swirl out there. It's beyond me. The answer, the solution, has to be Jesus – it has to be Jesus taking away sin and dying and rising and giving new life and bringing about the last day and ushering in a New Heavens and a New Earth where Satan and sin and death are utterly gone and destroyed, and to do that, Jesus has to have Good Friday and He has to have Easter, just like He's told us from the beginning in His Word.

    But the disciples didn't see that yet, and so many today don't see it, and even we ourselves sometime get distracted and forget it. So, Jesus enacts a parable, a real, living parable to illustrate the point. Listen. As He drew near to Jericho – pause. If you hear Jericho, you might well think of the wall that comes tumbling down. Yes – because Joshua leads the children of Israel by Jericho on their way to the promised land, and now Jesus is on His way to the Cross to ensure that we get to the true promised land of the resurrection. And Jesus is goin gto break down some walls. As He drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” As Jesus gets to Jericho, there's a contrast. There's the crowd who wants to see Jesus – but they want a nice, quiet viewing of Jesus. They don't think they really need anything from Jesus – but He's nice, He's a spectacle. And their entertainment is interrupted by a blind man. And this blind man, he NEEDS Jesus. He calls out for mercy. Why? Because he knows that he has a problem that he cannot fix. He's blind. He cannot see. And he'll never see unless Jesus does something. He doesn't need a wise teacher Jesus, he doesn't need a good advice Jesus – He needs a mercying Jesus, a Jesus who undoes the effects of sin and death – who takes dead eyes and makes them live again. And the crowd hates this, tells the blind beggar to be silent.

    That doesn't stop Jesus from being Jesus. And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to Him. And when he came near, He asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” Here's my problem – I want to see again. I would see again. And You're the One who can do that. And Jesus said, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” Not just made you well – your faith has saved you. You're going to see again now, but even more wondrously, because I'm on the road to Jerusalem and the Cross, even when your eyes close in death you will see again because you have been saved by grace through faith. I see your needs now, and I see your eternal needs – and I see them better than you, and I do what I need to do in order to take care of you both now and eternally.

    This is what Jesus does for you. Jesus knows your needs – He knows your needs right now and He tends to them. He gives you both your daily bread and He gives you His Body and blood under bread and wine for forgiveness, life, and salvation. And by His Word and Spirit He brings your attention to His Cross, to His death, to His resurrection, so that no matter what you encounter this week, no matter what comes, you know what He has done for you – that He has won you forgiveness and life everlasting, and there's not a thing that can undo what He has done. The world might try to ignore the Cross, or sell Jesus short, and our own sinful flesh will often wander off into the weeds wanting something else, but Jesus stays focused. Jesus stays Jesus, the real Jesus, the full Jesus, the Son of Man must go to Jerusalem and suffer and die and rise again Jesus, because that's the Jesus you need, we all need. And so Jesus will do all things well, and He will finish what needs to be finished, for He is True God and True Man, and He has come to work your salvation.

    And soon we will enter upon the battle season of Lent. In the Sundays in Lent we will hear Gospel lessons of Jesus taking the battle to Satan, as Jesus enters into this fallen world and wrecks havoc on Satan's kingdom, even as He marches to the Cross where He will destroy sin and death. In our midweek lessons, we will be focused on the whole armor of God, because Jesus knows this world is a dangerous place, and we will see how Jesus keeps you safe. And Jesus does it all for you, as He had promised He would in the Scriptures. Have mercy on us, O Jesus, and open our blind eyes that we would see this all our days! Grant this Lord, unto us all. In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World.

Thursday, February 1, 2024

Sexagesima Sunday Sermon

 

In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +

    Again this week, as we continue our preparations for Lent, we get another frustrating parable. Last week was the workers in the vineyard, where the master makes everyone equal – for salvation is based upon God's grace and generosity, not our works or efforts. And then today, we get the parable of the sower, and this one again can be frustrating, as it seems like so much of the seed is wasted. Between these two weeks I'm surprised our farmers don't have full blown conniption-fits over how poorly run this agricultural business seems to be by the Lord! 75% of the seed doesn't even end up in the good soil, what is the Lord doing? Well, in a parable demonstrating again His almost reckless generosity, Jesus reminds us that salvation comes about by the Word alone. Let's listen again.

    When a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to [Jesus], He said in a parable... Pause here. There's a great crowd listening to Jesus, following Him. You do realize that this parable is describing this crowd, describing the very preaching that Jesus is going to engage in. By the time we get to Good Friday and Easter, how many are still following Jesus? How many are still interested? How many, by that time, have left and forgotten Jesus because the spectacle was gone, or they just got caught up in something else, or they got ground down. It's not just a strange parable, but it's a sad one, a sad commentary on what happened in Jesus' own ministry. A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold. And there it is – there is the parable – the seed gets sown, but there are four distinct endings, and only 1 is the happy one that you would hope for. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

    And, of course, no one understands. Even the disciples have to go ask Jesus to explain it to them – and even then Jesus' explanation, while it connects the dots, leaves a lot to be desired. We find out what the soils represent. The path – the ones along the path are those who have heard. Then the devil comes along and takes the word away from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Sometimes, disciples, when you preach, people just aren't going to really hear a lick. Satan will snatch away the Word, it will be in one ear and out the other, you will be dismissed and blown off. And not to put too fine a point on it, we probably all know times and places where we've shared the Gospel, proclaimed God's Word, and it just got thrown back in our face. And none of us like that at all, and often it can be heart rending. But Jesus is honest here – it happens, and whenever you proclaim the Word of Jesus, it will happen. That's the way it is.

    And then we hear about the 2nd type of soil. The ones along the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. Sometimes people seem really excited, really all in on this Jesus thing, but then they just... fall out. Move on to the next thing, and then on to the next. The root doesn't grow, and they wither away and the wind sweeps them on to the next thing. And again, this is something we are familiar with. We all know people we love who have done this – where'd so and so go? And to put even a finer point on it – some of us have been here. If we went back to the days of our youth, I'd bet many of us could find times where we were really gung-ho and then just faded out, immature passion and excitement waning away and replaced by some other hip thing. Again, Jesus is honest here – it happens, and whenever you proclaim the Word of Jesus, it will happen. That's the way it is.

    Oh, and then we get to the third type of soil. As for those that fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. And there are those who know, who should be solid and mature, and yet... just too busy. Got this going on and then that. And then time for the Word, for hearing the Word and proclaiming and the Word and being in the Word just gets... squeezed out. Again, we all know plenty of people like this... and to put an even finer point on it, I'd reckon that quite a few of us in this room know all entirely too well what Jesus is describing here – where right now we feel that pressure, that press, that pull of being busy and there's this and there's that, and some of it good and some of it bad – and perhaps many of those new years' resolutions we made about reading our bible have already been squeezed out and forgotten? And this isn't me picking on you guys here – a pastor has plenty of busywork task that can occupy his time and strangle out his time for study. There's a reason that room over there is called the Pastor's Study – and to let you in on a secret that I don't think too many pastors would be too scandalized over me sharing – every pastor's study is filled with books they have wanted to read and learn from, to dive on into the Word, but somehow just got too busy to get to it. Once more, Jesus is honest here – uncomfortably honest. It happens, and whenever you proclaim the Word of Jesus, it will happen. That's the way it is.

    Now, if Jesus had ended the parable here, and if we were to end the sermon here, it would be quite dour, wouldn't it? And this is the thing, we don't like the dour, we don't like the down, the fizzles and failures. And we certainly don't like them when they are close to home, when they start to describe my family and friends, when they start to describe me. But the simple fact is that we are sinners in a sinful world, and Satan is prowling around like a roaring lion, and there is no shortage of trouble and hardship. And we can't pretend that there isn't, otherwise we will be caught terribly off guard. Not only will false hopes and dreams come crashing down, but we ourselves will fall swiftly into the same pitfalls and traps. But, my friends, I will assert that this parable is not meant to be dour or depressing, but defiant and hopeful. Now, it's depressing if we look at it like we sinful humans do, with our expectations, and our greed that puts limits on what we will do, what we will give. That's not how God operates – that's not how your wondrous Lord works. He's never scanty. A sower went out to sow his seed – now the parable is this: the seed is the Word of God. If there is to be any growth, any success, any harvest – the seed must be sown. And that happens – and a harvest comes. As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. Sometimes the Word is heard, and it grows, and there is fruit – there is more seed, 30, 60, 100 fold of the fruit, the seed, the Word to be proclaimed, and then the Sower sows it out again.

    God keeps sowing the Word. And God keeps producing a harvest. And He does so even in you. The fear, the worry, the anxiety about failures that we have – they don't stop Jesus from sowing His Word. He keeps sending the Word forth into the world, and the Word does its job, and it reaches people and creates faith and forgives and people proclaim the Word and forgiveness again. And while we get frustrated, because this process isn't as smooth or successful as we want it or because this church isn't packed the way I might want it to be packed – that doesn't stop God at all. The Gospel of Christ Jesus – that He has died for your sin so that you are forgiven and there is no more guilt tied to you, and that He has risen, showing that Satan and death actually are defeated and you will rise again – this is proclaimed still! To this place, right here, right now – to you, this day, whatever the story of your life had looked like. The Sower still sows His seed.

    And you know what? I have no idea how this seed will play out. For some of you, this sermon might resonate; for some it might be in one ear and out the other. It happens, and whenever one proclaims the Word of Jesus, it will happen. That's the way it is. And as frustrating as you and I might find this – Jesus just takes it in stride as a matter of course. Jesus understands the power of sin and Satan – and Jesus neither downplays it nor overblows it. Jesus understands hardships and trials, but He is not so scared of them that He doesn't even start. He simply sees His Word sown, again and again and again. And we're in a rural community – we should get this. Our farmers could probably tell us a dozen ways this summer's crop could be devastated, things they'd have no control over. Still, you've got to go out and sow the seed otherwise there will be no harvest – and if one field fails, or one section goes bad – the seed still has to go into the ground or nothing good will happen.

    So God sends the seed into the ground. The Father sends the Son, and the Son is buried and planted in the ground on Good Friday so that His harvest of life and salvation would arise and bear fruit on Easter – and that fruit, that seed is proclaimed to you – and proclaimed to you over and over and over. And God is diligent in seeing His Word proclaimed, and He has it proclaimed even when many people would simply assume it does no good, when they'd focus on failures and the like. That's not God's approach, and it's not His approach to you. You hear His Word, He proclaims His Word to you, because He is persistent, and He is persistent to save you. He knows what is He doing. A sower went out to sow his seed – now the parable is this: the seed is the Word of God. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

Saturday, January 27, 2024

Septuagesima Sunday

 

In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +

    Grace alone. One of the touch points of theology is that we are saved by Grace Alone – that our salvation is due entirely to God's grace and mercy towards us. We do not earn forgiveness, though works will follow after grace. And historically in the Church this is an idea that gets so confused and muddled, but today, Christ lays this out so beautifully in our parable from Matthew 20 – the workers in the Vineyard.

    For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. And after agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them out into his vineyard. Now, I want you to understand the point, the impact of this parable. Jesus is not telling this parable in a union friendly state. There are no government benefits, nothing like that. The rule was simple – if a man shall not work, he shall not eat. And who are these people standing there in the market place? They are the unfortunate souls who have no job. They have no income, no back up plan, nothing. And more than that – they are just “workers”. They don't have a specific trade to where they can try to latch on at some place already established – these are the bottom rung workers. And unless someone hires them, tonight they go hungry. That's their situation. And into the market comes this master of the house, and he hires these folks for a denarius a day. A Denarius was a good wage for a day-laborer; it was fair and generous. The master isn't playing hard ball, he doesn't negotiate them down. Just simply – let's do this fair and square. And they agree. Happily. In Greek, the word is “symphony” - that's how beautiful and harmonious this agreement is. And off they go.

    And going about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, “You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.” So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. Now, he hires three more groups of workers – but do you see the sense of desperation these workers would have been having? Think about it – how desperate do you have to be to go and work for someone who says, “wages, we don't need to set up any wages – just trust me, I'll pay you something.” But there they go. The day is wasting, and as that sun creeps higher and higher without them being hired, that's just a reminder that they will probably starve tonight – so take what you can get.

    Finally, at the 11th hour, 5 O'clock, an hour before quitting time, the master goes out again. And about the 11th hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, “Why do you stand here idle all day?” They said to him, “Because no one has hired us.” He said to them, “You go into the vineyard too.” We can hear this wrong. We can hear these workers say “because no one has hired us” and think, “Bums, get on out there and look for a job.” No – they've been there, where the jobs would be, all day. And nothing. The “idle” doesn't mean that they were loafing, it means that they hadn't found work... or more accurately, work hadn't found them. And so the master sends them into the vineyard. What happens next is wondrous.

    And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, “Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.” And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. This is mindblowingly generous. This would be utterly unexpected. This is bad business sense. But that's what the master likes to do. He shows over-abundant compassion. However, it does end up ruffling some feathers. Now when those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also received a deniarius. And on receiving it, they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” That harmonious agreement, not so harmonious anymore, is it? You've made us equal – how dare you say that we are equal to them when we've done more, we've suffered more! The master responds gently. But he replied to them, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?” That last line in the Greek is literally: “Or is your eye evil because I am good?” Look pal, I've dealt with you fairly, kindly – everything's been above the board. Why do you gripe? If I choose to show kindness to those poor schlubs who thought they were going to starve, that's no skin off of your back. Why does my kindness build up your resentment?

    This, dear friends in Christ, is the picture of Christ's grace to us, and also a warning of how and why we can end up hating God's grace. By the end the first workers are indignant – You have made them equal to us! We're so different than them! We deserve more! They view everything on the basis of what they themselves have done, and they become angry. Yet, the master is right. All of them were equal – they were all the same thing. Workers. Day-laborers. Folks who would have starved that day with nothing if the master hadn't gone and found them and put them to work. These first could have easily been the last if the master had hit different parts of the market in a different order. These angry workers failed to see that they were in the same boat as all the other workers, regardless of when they entered the vineyard. Yet they rage.

    What do you see when you look at your fellow Christians, your fellow sinners? How do you judge them, how do you size them up? Do you see them as folks who are in the same boat as you are – sinners struggling against sin who receive Jesus' forgiveness... or do you size them up on the basis of what you do, how hard you work, how much you've done for God, how much more in order your life is than theirs? Do you see them as the same as you, as equal to you – or do you find a way to see them as less than you, so that you really ought to deserve more than them?

    It was a false, misleading dream that God His law had given, that sinners could themselves redeem, and by their works gain heaven. The opening of the third verse of my favorite hymn. Do you judge, do you evaluate people on the basis of what they have done? If so, my friends, you have forgotten grace, and we are indeed saved by grace alone. Grace refers to a gift of God, freely given, without any merit or worthiness in me. And the simple fact is none of us deserve anything from God. We are born sinful, born in opposition to God, born at war with Him. And yet, simply and solely out of His great love, He calls us out of darkness into His marvelous light, gives us forgiveness, gives us life, gives us meaning and purpose to our lives. And this is not because of how great we are – no, it is how great, how good He is, in spite of our own jealous wickedness.

    Here's the thing. We know this. This is a Lutheran Church full of Lutherans. If I said “grace alone, grace alone” you all would smile and nod your heads, yes pastor, grace alone. But here's the thing; this is where Satan will attack you. We still like to check our works, we still like to get out the ruler and measure ourselves and compare ourselves to each other and get all prideful. When we do that, we forget truly what great gifts from God we have received. Or do you not know that even your works aren't “yours” in the sense that you created them – they are gifts from God to you.

    Consider again the workers from the parable. The very first group, the ones that so quickly become prideful in their own accomplishments. If the master of the house hadn't walked up to them and sent them into the vineyard, where would they have been at the third hour, or the sixth hour, or the ninth? Standing idle, waiting, fearing for the future, wondering if they were going to starve. This is why they rejoiced in the morning, this is why they gladly went into the fields. Even working itself was a gift – now they knew that they would be provided for, their day had certainty instead of doubt. And even though the work was hard it was still a great blessing to them. And if they had never looked at what anyone else got, they would have taken their denarius with joy and satisfaction and gone home glad.

    God gives us our bodies, clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, all that I need to support this body and life. Our vocations, our ability to work at all is a gift from God. We now live under Christ in His kingdom and serve Him! What a gift! Now, if this is all a gift from God, where do I get off thinking that I should look at what I do, my life, which is a gift from God gift from God, and then start jawjacking at God about how He's not giving me enough because I do more than that person over there? How dare You, God! You give me talents and opportunity that others don't have – but then You dare to not give me more on top of that! Kind of stupid, ain't it? All sin is when we step back and think about it.

    God is a giver. He is gracious – that's what grace is, it is a gift that is given. And God gives you good things. Left to our own, we would only earn death – because the wages of sin is death. But instead God chooses to give you good things – the free gift, the grace, is eternal life in Christ Jesus. And yes, there are works that you do – but these are given to you by God, and He doesn't judge you based upon them. Rather, you are judged righteous and forgiven in Christ – your sin and failures are crucified with Christ; your life you live in Christ. And God has promised to keep giving you good things - it's what He's promised you, it's the deal He gave you at Holy Baptism when you were called away from standing idly in this world and brought into His kingdom. His grace for you is freely given, and it never fails. In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the world +