Trinity 3 Sermon

 

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

    Today’s parable is now known as the parable of the Prodigal Son. Son? As in only one? There’s not just one son in our story today, there’s two, two sons who both wander away from their father, two sons who despise their father… two sons who are richly forgiven and welcomed by their father. You see, the focus of this parable isn’t really upon either son – but upon the Father, the Father and his great, overwhelming, indeed prodigious love, love for his two wicked sons.

    And yes, I did say two wicked sons. Both sons in this story are troublesome and in the wrong. To begin, the younger son. And the younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.” Think just how insulting this would be. Dad, I'm tired of waiting for you to die so I can inherit stuff, so how about you just give it to me now? And we know what this young son does – he runs off, he blows it on wine, women, and song. And the way the story goes, it doesn’t seem to take him too long. Think about that – burning through half of a rich man’s life’s work in just a short time. Must have been wild. Must have been wretched and wicked. So we see that this younger son is off base, we get that. But what about the older son – in reality he’s just as bad.

    Oh surely he’s not that bad! He stays at home, he works hard, isn’t he a good kid? Well, when the older son hears that his brother has come home and there is a celebration, what does the older son do? But he was angry and refused to go in. The older son runs away too – runs off the fields. Then when his dad comes out to “entreat him” – to beg him kindly to come back in, this older son tells his dad off. “Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!” Do you see just how wicked this son is? Think about this – he snubs family, snubs his brother. If I had snubbed my family like this, my mother would have tanned my hide. And then consider how he talks to his father. “Look”. You don't start a sentence with “look” unless you are throwing your weight around. And then he brags – I’m wonderful – but you dad, you are mean and unfair and you never gave me anything, not even something to share with my friends – not only do you treat me unfairly but you make me look bad in front of my friends too. Do you see how lousy this older son is behaving – I mean, this is nasty rebellion – this is a guy dressing down his father simply because his knickers are in a bunch because his brother got some attention.

    They are both lousy – and at least the younger son has the good grace to recognize this fact. Granted, he doesn’t realize it until he’s broke, stuck feeding pigs – and for Jewish folks, who thought pigs were unclean – this is about as low and bad and nasty as a job as you can get. So you have the younger son who is wild, hits bottom and realizes he needs help. You have the older son who is prideful in himself, who is hateful, angry, and mouthy, just completely willing to dress down his dad. I feel bad for the father in this text – both his sons treat him like dirt. The one says, “I wish you were dead” and the other says, “You’ve never done anything for me, all you make me do is work.” (Happy Father's Day!)

    But what does this father do? When the younger son comes home, does he make him slave away in the fields? Does the father become the cruel taskmaster the older son accuses him of being? No. Before the younger son can even apologize, can even start to beg, the father sees him coming and runs to meet him. In Jesus day they wore tunics – they basically wore robes, dresses that went down to mid-calf. He had to hike up his hem over his hips and run. It would have been a spectacle, an embarrassment. Dignified men didn’t run, and they certainly didn’t run to meet lousy no good brats like that younger son. But with joy, without concern for his own pride, the father runs to meet the younger son. What love!

    And then, there is how the father deals with the older son. Here this father hasn’t seen his younger son in who knows how long. And we know the father is so excited, so overjoyed to have this younger son back. But then he hears that the older son, his other son, is upset. So what does he do? He leaves his younger son’s party, leaves the son whom he hadn’t seen in who knows how long, and goes to see this older, pouting son. And when the older son is vile to him, lambastes him unfairly and unjustly, what does this father do? Does he give him the back of his hand? No. Out of his great love for the older son, he speaks kindly, he speaks gently, he seeks to restore the love between brothers and remove this brother’s hate. Do you see how this father is prodigious in love, how he is overflowing with love for both his wayward children, how he is patient and kind with them?

    The point of the parable is that this is precisely how God is with you. Consider again for a moment the two sons, for they are pictures, images, of how we ourselves might fall into sin. You have the younger son, and he is greedy, he falls into gross sin, he couldn't care less. That happens. He seeks to serve his wants, his desires, “I’ll do whatever feels good.” That’s one way Satan will tempt us – and that is a way of pain and suffering. It breaks us and we fall until we hit rock bottom. A lousy thing, but how many of us here have had to hit bottom with something? This happens. And then there is the older son. He’s arrogant, he’s prideful, he thinks so well of himself – and what does this do? It cuts him off, it isolates him. Think about it – everyone else is celebrating together, having a wonderful time – and he’s off sulking in a field. That’s what pride and arrogance do – if you walk around thinking you are better than other people, you end up alone. Again, how many of us have been there? Just so sure that we were right and we were going to tell people about it, and we look around, and we are off by ourselves because we in our pride were wrong. These sons show us simple, typical ways of sinning, and the end result for both of them are lousy. One is down at rock bottom, the other is stuck off on his own. Those aren’t good places to be.

    But there's something even deeper. Both these two sons have flawed ideas of how they relate to their Father. The younger son messes up twice – first he runs away from his father and doesn’t care whatsoever. Can we all agree that running away from God and ignoring Him is a bad idea? But then, even when he has hit rock bottom, he still is messed up in how he wants to relate to his father. “I will arise and go to my father and say, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your servants.’” It was good for a bit – you are right young son, you have sinned, and you aren’t worthy. But did you see where he goes too far? Treat me as one of your servants. He wants to tell his dad what to do, and he wants to work things out on his own. That’s not the way it works. He doesn’t get to work his way back into his dad’s good graces. The father will have none of it – he welcomes back his son, brings him good clothes, a ring and good shoes, prepares a feast – all without the son doing anything.

    Dear friends, this is the picture of how God forgives you freely. God’s forgiveness, God’s welcoming you back into His family, into His House, to His table and Supper, never has anything to do with what you are going to do for God. Works flow from forgiveness, but our works never cause forgiveness. God’s forgiveness is all about His complete and pure love for you. God loves you, plain and simple, and He desires to have you be with Him, forgiven and restored. He’s not going to make you jump through hoops first, He’s not going to hold you at arm’s length – rather, when we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. In fact, God is the one who does everything. It is Christ Jesus who comes running down from heaven to you, who suffers the embarrassment and shame of the Cross and the grave so that risen again He might recieve you with open arms. This is God’s love for you.

    And again, the older son doesn’t understand how he relates to his father. He too thinks it is all about what he himself does – look at how I have obeyed you, and you never give me anything. Listen to what the Father says, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.” Son, how do I give you something when it’s yours already? I am with you, and everything that is mine, the house, the fields, the goats and calves, they are yours already – don’t you see? And the older son had been so worried about working, about earning his father’s respect that he failed to see that the father had given him every blessing already. Now, do you see how this too can be a way that we misunderstand God? God is not some cruel taskmaster – it’s not as though we must slave away and hope that God gives us something. Has not Christ Jesus our Lord told us that He is with us always, even to the end of the age? Have we not received so much goodness from God even before we think to ask for it? This is God’s love for you – for He is with you, and all that He is, His goodness, His righteousness, His holiness, His love – this is yours. And the problem is that so often we get focused on what we in our pride are going to do that we forget, we overlook what God has given to us already. But the most beautiful thing is that when we sulk, when we pout – God comes to us and says, “You’re baptized, you are joined to Me, I am with you always, and everything, heaven itself is yours now. Remember this, rejoice in this – rejoice in the good that you have and rejoice in the good that your brothers have. The party's waiting.”

    This, dear friends, is the picture of God’s love for you. Love that is overwhelming, love that is full, love that is complete. There is nothing left for you to do to earn it – simply rejoice in the blessings of forgiveness and life and salvation that are yours, for Christ Jesus our Lord has won us all these things, and He gives them to us gladly and freely. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

The Holy Ghost... THE EXHORTER???

 One of the greatest problems (in my opinion) with being an English speaking denomination - really a non-koine Greek speaking denomination is the devilishly hard time we have dealing with the word "parakalo".  You might know this word in English - it's the source of the word "Paraclete" - a title of the Holy Spirit.  In John 15 and 16, Jesus is promising the Holy Spirit, calling Him the... well... how do we translate this Paraclete word?  Helper?  Comforter?

Sure!  Good translations... but not quite full.

See, a paraclete would be someone who would be along side (para) you in your trial and speak (kalo) to you whatever you needed to hear to get you through the trial.  Your defense lawyer.  Your Perry Mason.  It's a word that describes a whole bunch of different activities.  Help, aid, advise, console, comfort, encourage, exhort, chew in to you if you need to be chewed into... just like a good coach will do a whole bunch of different things.

So it's a very full word.  That we tend to use very narrowly elsewhere... like when we translate the Epistles and take that same word and render it as "urge" or "exhort". 

In fact, we hear all this talk about "exhortation" - and generally the word that gets translated as exhortation is just that "parakalo" word.  Paul parakalos all the time... he speaks in the Spirit the Words that the people need to hear.

...

So why is that so often reduced to "exhort"?  Perhaps that says more about what people think rather than what the Scriptures actually say.  I mean, we have people saying that we need to end sermons with exhortation!  Perhaps there are times that might be the case... but I'd say our sermons need to be Paraclesis... need to be the Spirit filled words of comfort-help-encouraging-exhorting-coaching-consoling-advising that are apt to the time and situation of the people we are given to be paracleting at the moment.

See, just as "parakalo" can't be reduced to one specific aspect, neither can preaching.  When one preaches, one is dealing with a real congregation full of real people in a real time and place.  And where those people are at will always be different.  Sometimes they might need a swift kick, sometimes they might need more of a warning, sometimes they might need a stronger emphasis on comfort or encouragement.

You know, what we used to call the Art of applying Law and Gospel... both of them... and both in their fullness; the Law in its sternness, the Gospel in its sweetness.  And what might you have to emphasize on a given day to show forth the full sternness or sweetness - well, that really depends on your congregation and what they need to hear.

To simply say, "People need more exhortation" is as vapid as saying, "Coaches need to yell more at their team."  Sometimes that may be true... often it's not.  And often just having a coach scream more won't fix the problems with a team.

Sometimes a pastor coming down hard on a congregation will fix things... but not as often as we think.  And certainly not as a response to the Culture War - if the problem is that the world around them is messed up, how does wagging a finger fix that or prepare them to endure in the face of a messed up word.

I mean, I love Bobby Knight not merely as much as the next guy, but if you think all he was as a coach was the guy who yelled and threw chairs, you don't know Bobby Knight.  Don't reduce coach Knight to that... and don't reduce the Spirit and His work to finger wagging because of your fears over the crumbling of society.

Jesus wins.  He rose.  The Spirit still gives life.  He works faith through the Gospel.  People live in Christ.

They do.  And if you yourself aren't seeing that, O Preacher, then perhaps you should shift your focus - let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and the It-is-finished-er of our faith.

Trinity 2 Sermon

 

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

    I love the word “banquet.” It just sounds fun. As you can probably tell, I like food, I like to eat – and the idea of a banquet is that it is a party, but a party with great food. And it's food that is prepared for you by someone else. There's nothing you need to do, you don't need to bring anything – every is provided. And while He is attending a Sabbath dinner at the house of some Pharisees who had been testing Him and awkwardly ignoring Him, Jesus decides to tell a story about a banquet – a banquet where everything will be provided, where it's all done for the guests as gift, pure and simple. Come, receive, rejoice delight. Because this isn't just any banquet – A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. It's the great banquet, the Mega Banquet. It is literally a feast of biblical proportions, something that anyone who is invited to should be overjoyed with, on cloud nine. It is what everyone should be looking forward to.

    And finally, it's ready! And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, “Come, for everything is now ready.” This is the way things are done – when things are ready, you get invited in and you come to the feast. I mean, Jesus had been invited to a Pharisee's house for a Sabbath meal, and when it was ready – Jesus showed up. Now that meal went oddly – it was the one where they invited the guy with dropsy to see if Jesus would heal on the Sabbath... and then when He does, they basically all start ignoring Jesus. It was sort of a lousy meal... and yet, when they told Jesus things were ready, He came to that meal. That's what you do – if you're invited and say that you'll come, you show up.

    But not in the story Jesus is telling. No, in this story – But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, “I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it, please have me excused.” Understand how bad an excuse this is! I must? I have to look over the field that I bought... buddy, didn't you look it over before you bought it? I mean, it's yours now, it will be there tomorrow. Nope – there's my excuse – blown off. Do you get the insult?

    Or the next guy. I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused. Yeah, I'd come to your party, but you know, I bought this sweet combine last week, and I'd rather just sit in my barn and look at my combine. Again, you don't lose your combine if you come to the party – and it's fantastic, there's prime rib and one of those chocolate fountain things... open bar, too, sure you don't want to come? Nah, gonna look at my combine. Do you get the insult?

    And then with the last, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. Sorry, I'm a newly wed, now I get to blame the wife. You sure the wife doesn't want to come to the social event of the year? Nah, we ain't coming. Do you get the insult?

    Of course, Jesus isn't talking about a party here, not as we think of it. He's thinking about the plan of salvation, the heavenly, eternal feast of the Lamb. And all throughout the Old Testament God had said that the Messiah would come and usher in this eternal celebration. Your sabbath rest – that was just weekly reminder of the great eternal rest to come. Even the early passover meal – a foretaste of the feast to come. It's coming, the salvation of the world is coming – in fact, Jesus is here, Jesus is actually with them, teaching them, preparing them to see the mystery of the ages unfold... and yeah, no, we're just not really interested. Jesus is repeatedly blown off by these people. Do you get the insult?

    And yes, Pharisees, your excuses are silly. And I know that you don't like that I've been healing the sick and preaching to the poor, dealing with all the “little people” - well, what do you expect? There's a feast to be had. So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then master of the house became angry and said to his servants, “Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.” What, did you think God would curl up in a ball and cry Himself to sleep if you skipped His party? Did you think the Almighty was put everything on hold just cause you weren't coming – nope, the great banquet will go on, pack 'em in – go bring people who will be happy and rejoice to be there, who cares about the louts. God ain't going to put up with being blown off, He isn't going to be heartbroken if someone gets all passive aggressive – I'll just skip and that will show God. Nope – the party's going to go on. In fact, as there's still room, the Master will say to the servant, “Go out to the highways and the hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you none of those who were invited shall taste my banquet.” You want to insult Me, you want to play high and mighty against the Almighty – nope, highwaymen and thieves and robbers, they'll be at the feast. Hey, Pharisee – you see this thief on the cross next to Me – guess what, today he's going to be with Me at the Paradise Banquet, and you'll get nothing. And why? It's your own fault – your own fault for thinking you know better than God, for thinking that you should blow off God and His invitation. You don't want anything from God, you don't want to be at His feast – fine, then that's what you'll get – so long, see you, goodbye.

    And that's the story that Jesus tells to Pharisees who are ignoring Him, messing with Him, taunting Him. Jesus lays the cards out on the table – here's how salvation happens – I will be the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world, and I will win salvation for everyone – and you're invited – are you coming or not? Because if not, that's on you. But you ought to rethink your priorities, you ought to rethink what is important.

    And here's where we squirm a bit, or at least ought to – because when it comes to priorities, we tend to be pretty lousy. I mean, we confess that when we gather together for Worship that God Himself is present, that He comes to us in His Word and dwells with us – that we gather with angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven... and yet, sometimes it seems like worship is skippable, push off-able. I've got better things to do... and sometimes we do, this is one of the reasons why we have multiple services a week – life happens and things get scheduled – even Jesus acknowledges that if your ox falls into a well on a Sabbath you go pull them out of the well. But a lot of times, those excuses we've all come up with sound more like, “I need to go check my oxen” or “I need to go wash my hair” or whatever blow off excuses you prefer.

    But the service goes on. Church continues. The call, the invite keeps going out anew. And you know what – we get brought in. We get over ourselves, over our stupid excuses, our stupid things we think are more important than Jesus and His forgiveness – and we get brought in to the Church. It might be when we see that we are poor and lame and blind – because that's when you know that you need Jesus, that this is important. It might be when we get compelled to come, when our stupid excuses and wickedness comes crashing down around us and we're pulled in all dragging our feet and mopey. And you know what happens then – the Great Feast, forgiveness, life and salvation, taste and see that the Lord is good – and good for you.

    Is that not astounding – that week in and week out there is forgiveness, without fail, proclaimed to all who come when called? Jesus is faithful – God is trustworthy – He said He was going to give a feast of life and salvation, and so He does. Constantly, continually. Even for us today, even if there have been plenty of times when we've wandered and been foolish – well, now, today, it's the day of salvation. Now, Christ's death and resurrection is for you. And it's real, and it's true.

    So, whenever something pops up, shows up in your life that tries to tell you that Church and God's Word isn't all that important, isn't the most important thing you'll run across in this life, indeed, for all eternity – pause, and beat down that temptation. Because that's what it is – a temptation. Something that is trying to be an idol in your life and supplant God. Resist it – fight against it. Pray for help from to turn from it. Fight against all those temptations that would lead you to blow off God and to insult His grace and mercy. They aren't worth it – and besides, Jesus wants something better for you. He wants you to live in His mercy, in His love, in His joy both now and eternally, and in His Word He pours His mercy and love and joy into you and over you and He works it through you so others receive and delight and taste and see that the Lord is good. Because it's for you – the feast is for you, and all that Jesus does He does so that you would be delighting in His gifts both now and forever. This is the truth – remember it always. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +