Trinity 16

 

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

    We're going to do something slightly dangerous today. I want you to try to put yourself in Jesus' shoes. And I say this is dangerous because all too often when we “put ourselves in Jesus' shoes” we don't actually strive to think like Jesus, like the real Jesus, like God Almighty become man to redeem His creation – we rather just end up turning Jesus into a nicer, cleaner version of ourselves – where Jesus thinks just like I do and of course my Jesus is going to support all my political ideas while wearing a Cubs hat. That's not what we're going to do, we're going to consider Jesus here remembering that He is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think. Jesus is operating at a level beyond what we do; He is coming at our lesson from a different angle than we normally do. Consider.

    Let's see how our Gospel text sets up. Soon afterwards [Jesus] went to a town called Nain, and His disciples and a great crowd went with Him. As He drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. Jesus comes across a funeral procession. We know those. We've been to those. We know to pull over when the hearse and line of cars drives by. It's familiar to us. We know and understand the tragedy. It's just a part of life, it's just a part of nature. We hear this set up, this story of death, and we think it's sad, but it's not shocking. It's not surprising. If anything, it's inevitable. After all, even Jesus noted last week that our anxieties can't add an hour to our life. Death and taxes. That's just the way it is. That's just the way the world works.

    And to a certain extent, we see clearly. More clearly than most. There are a lot of people in the world who try to fight and pretend that death will never come, that the ravages of age or lack or ill fortune could ever happen to them. How many pop songs have the phrase “forever young” or “young forever” in them? There is a lot of denial, and pretend, and we're probably no strangers to that ourselves. But in reality, we know how the story goes. We know how nature runs its course. We know death.

    But that's not quite what Jesus sees. Partially it is – Jesus does see death as a horrific tragedy, yes. But you have to remember that Jesus has seen something that none of us here have seen yet. Jesus saw creation. Jesus saw Adam and Eve, saw the world before the fall. Jesus saw the world without sin, without death in it. Jesus is the very Word of God that called that creation into being. So when Jesus comes across this funeral procession, when He sees this corpse, it isn't just another check mark in Death's long list of natural record keeping. This death isn't “natural” - at least not as Jesus had created this world and its nature to be. This death isn't “inevitable” - because it needn't have been this way. No, Jesus sees the wrongness of it, Jesus sees the sin unleashed, the consequences of the fall, the “Adam, what have you done” of it all.

    Jesus sees the consequence of sin unleashed. Jesus sees the Fall at work. This is not “natural” - it is fallen. And while we're so used to this fallen, decaying world, while that's all we've known and experienced – that's not where Jesus is coming from. That's not the limits of His experience, and He knows far more than we do. And so for us men and for our salvation He came down from heaven and entered this world to put an end to this unnatural, anti-natural “nature” that we've gotten used to.

    So Jesus does a couple of things that if any of us today were to do them would seem utterly rude, if not insane. And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion upon her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then He came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still.” We know the story, we're used to Jesus, so we can miss, we can forget how shockingly impolite this is. Let's rephrase it. Let's say you're at a funeral, a funeral of a loved one... and some random stranger just walks up to you and says, “Hey, stop with the crying.” Think how mad you'd be. Gentlemen, if someone barged into a funeral where your wife was sobbing and walked up to her and said, “Stop crying” how many of you would deck him right then and there on the spot? Or how about if you're riding out to the cemetery, and some blithering idiot not only doesn't pull over or slow down, instead he drives right in front of the hearse and parks his car blocking the entire procession? Think for a moment how shocking, how enraging those actions would be. We know that death is serious business and you don't mess around with death like that. And that's because we're sinful people, trapped in slavery to sin and death - And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. Sin and death constantly remind us that by nature, by our sinful fallen nature, we are born captives to sin and death - Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me – that's David's lament about the state of our lives, our existence. By “nature” sin and death are our master, and you don't taunt your master. You don't play around with death and his ceremonies.

    But Jesus knows that you cannot serve two masters, and that He is your True Master, not death. Not sin. Not even fallen nature. No, Jesus is your Creator, and He has come to undo the Fall, to do away with sin, to undo death. Is Jesus telling the woman not to cry impolite? Is Jesus stopping this funeral procession rude? Well, for any fallen sinner doomed to die, it would be; but this is Christ Jesus, God Almighty. This is the Word of Life incarnate. So Jesus does what Jesus always does, what He did even from Genesis chapter 1. The Strong Word speaks, and there is life, there is creation, there is abundance. The One who is able to do far more abundantly than we ask or think opens up His mouth and life pours out. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” Arise, wake up, get up sleepy head. I didn't create you to lie around like a lump of lifeless clay all day. And when Jesus speaks, it happens. And the dead man sat up and began to speak – of course he began to speak! O Lord open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise! This is just Jesus being the Word of God by Whom all things were made. This is who He is. And then Jesus does what He always does when He creates. Consider Adam's creation. The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. Here you are, My son; now tend to the rest of My creation. And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Here you are, my son; now tend to the mother whom I created for you. Do you see, it's the same thing, the same pattern, Jesus being Jesus, Jesus still being and remaining the Creative Word in the face of sin and death and over and against them and defeating them – coming Himself into the world to undo the fall. Just like He told Adam and Eve He would. Just like He promised Abraham and Moses and Joshua and David and all the patriarchs and prophets of old.

    Often we think of Jesus' miracles, the things He does, as being “supernatural” - as being “above and beyond the laws of nature.” I guess that's sort of accurate from our fallen perspective, because we're stuck in a sinful, fallen creation where things fall apart and death runs a-muck and entropy reigns and things fall apart and the center cannot hold. But that's not quite what Jesus is doing. His miracles aren't “supernatural” - they're just what He has always done, even before the fall. They are “pre-lapsarian” if you want the fancy word (where “lapse” is the term for the fall). And they are now contra-lapsarian, contra-death, contra-sin – because not the fall, not death, not sin will stop Jesus from being Jesus, and they will not stop Jesus from being Jesus for you, for your good. Which is why Jesus does the most shocking, impolite, crazy thing ever – He goes to His own death. He takes up our sin, He takes it away, He who knew no sin became sin for us. He dives on in to the wretched mess of this fallen world to undo the fall by going to the Cross, by going to the heart of death, the domain of sin, and stopping it all in its tracks. Jesus dies, and Jesus rises. And the power of sin, death, and the devil are destroyed.

    And here we speak of His promises to you. You are baptized. That means that Jesus Himself has made a promise to you, sealed with His own name, with the name of the Triune God, in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, that your sin is taken away by Jesus, that you have life in Him, and that even when you die, no, no, you shall live for you are joined to Christ and you share in His resurrection. There's going to come a day in your life, in your existence, when Jesus will say to you, “Arise, awake up, get up” and you will. Whenever the second coming happens, whether you've been long since buried or if Jesus comes again while you're still alive in this walking death world, Jesus will say to you, “arise” and you will, and you will rise to life, real life, eternal life, life freed from sin, life where all this junk of the “laws of nature” will be forgotten, where it won't be the wild law of the jungle or the barren dust of the desert, but rather it will be the new creation, the garden restored with far more abundance than we can conceive of, abundance that always brings life, that always gives daily bread without lack, that delivers from evil – Jesus will say to you arise, and that's what you'll do, and that's what you'll see. He's promised you; you're baptized, so it will happen.

    Do you see, do you understand what Jesus is doing? We can't wrap our heads around it fully yet, and that's okay. That's expected. As Paul puts it: For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. You and I might not know yet, but Jesus knows, and He knows you – fully, and He will know you for all eternity and know you freed from sin and death. Amen. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

Trinity 15

 

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

    No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. So who, O Christian, are you going to listen to? Because that's really where “service” starts. It starts by listening. There are so many people and things clamoring for your attention, trying to get your focus, begging you to listen to them. We are bombarded by voices and billboards and music and videos and social media and texts, a relentless barrage of sound and fury. So who, O Christian, are you going to listen to? Because they all want something, they want you to do something, to act in a certain way. There's always people wanting something, wanting you to do something – otherwise they'd not say anything. Vote this way, buy this product (not that product), dress this way, behave like this, be part of this crowd. They're all voices demanding that you follow along.

    And the truth, a blunt truth that we as Americans don't like to hear – you're going to serve someone. You're going to follow someone. We aren't nearly as independent as we think we are – even loving independence means you're happily following in the footsteps of the founding fathers. We're wrapped up in tradition and fashion and trend. And we shouldn't be surprised by this. Even back in Genesis 2 God notes that it is not good for man to be alone – we were created to be with others, to follow their lead, to work along with them. We have to follow, that's just what we do, who we are. And if we do become isolated and alone, we become miserable. So understand as we move into this lesson, you are always following, listening to, serving someone. And there are so many voices out there, and we try to balance who we listen to, and sometimes we do, but when push comes to shove, there's always something that we'll choose over another. Something we have to put over another, elevate over the other thing. We can't serve two at the same time when they both want something different.

    And so Jesus throws down the gauntlet. You cannot serve God and money. I don't quite like the translation there that reads “money”. That's sort of right but it's not full enough. Jesus isn't just talking about cold hard cash, about the Almighty Dollar... it's bigger than that. A lot of older translations just kept the Greek word “mammon” - which I like. Mammon is a great word, and if I were to translate it with a single English Word, I would use a very, very technical and precise word. Stuff. You cannot serve God and “stuff”. Whether it's money, that lets you buy stuff, or power and influence that lets you control stuff, or when you objective people you know and basically turn them into stuff – that's what Jesus is contrasting here. You can serve God – the Creator, the One who made you and redeems you, or you can serve Mammon, stuff, the things God created. Which comes first – the Creator, or the created stuff?

    And the answer for us sinful folk so often is that we choose mammon. We choose stuff. That's basically what all sin is. We serve things, we serve money, we serve stuff – to where we make these things our priority and then run roughshod over God's Word and the rest of His creation. And we do serve mammon. Think of how driven you are, how hounded you are. Maybe by work. And I don't just mean if your boss is on your case – it's worse when you're your own boss and work consumes more and more of your life. Maybe by family, where you've just got to keep doing this and that and making everything just so and you're utterly worn out. Maybe it's your image, what people think of you – putting up pretenses. That's a mammon as well, and it's a harsh one. Oh, being constantly worried about what everyone thinks of you, all the wild and random fears about what other people are saying. That drives so many people most miserably. This is why the Scriptures will talk about us being enslaved to sin – these things become our masters, and they abuse us. Listen to the language Paul uses in our Epistle today – Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression... Caught. Trapped. Bound up in that constant anxiety over what's in it for me, how is this going to impact me, what's going to happen to my stuff.

    There's a lot of varieties of mammon out there in the world, but it's all trying to be your master. That's the sad twist of a fallen, sinful world. All these things, all these fine gifts from our gracious God get warped, and we abuse them, and we're bound to them in dour, fearful ways... and we lose the enjoyment of them, the delight of them. And into this world Jesus speaks words like a thunderbolt – Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life. Pause for a second. Do you understand how bold and brash Jesus is being right here? You can't serve two masters, you can't serve God and mammon – therefore I, Jesus, and going to talk, and you're going to listen to Me, and why? Because I'm God Almighty, I'm the Word of God that called all of creation in to being, and I am going rescue you from this slavery to sin and stuff. You see, the One, Christ Jesus, who is Spiritual is going to restore us folk caught in transgression. He's going to take charge again, become the new head of humanity, and put all things under His feet. This is what Jesus does with His life, death, and resurrection – He takes everything into Himself. Sin – oh, I'll take the weight of that up, all of it, there on the Cross, it's Mine now. Good works – oh, I'll do them all, and I'll do them through you. Don't worry about them, they're Mine. Death – yeah, been there, done that – don't have the T-shirt, though, because I prefer the white robes of Revelation, and because of Me you're going to get one of those in the resurrection too, so don't fret over that.

    But what about stuff, Pastor, what about Mammon? Oh, well, yeah, that all belongs to Jesus too. He's in charge of it. Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Christ Jesus has created you, He has given you life. Your existence. Your being. Do you understand how grand that is, how it is so much more than these temporary things that we get caught up in. Food and drink – important, but it's here today and gone tomorrow. Clothing – quite useful, I'm glad you're all wearing clothes right now... but it does wear out here and we have to get new ones. And that's fine, because the Lord provides all that we need to support this body and life (that was the catechism, by the by).

    And really, all of these things that drive us, they're temporary. They all pass away. Job, money, power, influence, youth, beauty, even family (as we think of it) moves along in the streams of time. Think back ten or twenty years, or think back 40 or 60 if you can, and think of the things that were just so vital, that you were breaking your back over... how much of it isn't even an issue now? And I'm not saying that these things are bad – no, many of them are grand, beautiful even. The lilies of the field were good and gorgeous – but just for a time. But if God so clothes the grass of the field which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith. God gives us gifts now, to enjoy rightly now, to delight in now, to find satisfaction in now... but they're temporary. And if we cling on to them, if we greedily grasp them, if we live in fear and anxiety afraid to let go while forgetting that God continually gives us more and more... we turn these things into idols. They stop being gifts from God and become mere mammon. They become our master, and our longing after them makes us miserable.

    So in a move most profound, Jesus calls you away from listening to and worrying about your stuff, because He wants you to actually be able to enjoy the things, the blessings He gives you – and if you turn any of them into idols, if you have to serve them, it robs them of their goodness, it steals the joy that they should bring. If you constantly worry about how much things cost, you'll never enjoy anything you buy. If you constantly worry about the kids, about mom getting older... you'll miss out on the joy you ought to have with them right now. If you're constantly worried about power, you'll never enjoy going what you're able to do now. So Jesus says no – don't worry about it. Rather – this is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. This, right now, what you have, they're wondrous gifts from God. Enjoy them... and tomorrow enjoy tomorrow's gifts.

    And I will note one other thing. When Jesus says “Don't worry” He's not being some hippie telling you to tune out. No – He gives gifts, receive those gifts rightly – and do the work that they require. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. There are going to be hardships and difficulties that come with everything in life, and those difficulties are made much more rough because of sin – don't go biting off trouble you don't need, but also don't ignore the tasks that are given to you. We live, we work, we do stuff – but not as slaves to the work, not as slaves to our stuff, but as forgiven children of God. We receive it all as gift.

    And how does one receive it as gift? Well, by remembering who is our Master – or maybe it's more accurate to say by being constantly reminded by Christ in His Word that He is our Master. That He is our priority. This is why we get that famous line from Jesus here – But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. The first, the priority, the highest priority is Jesus. It's Jesus and His righteousness, the fact that Jesus is King and He rules His kingdom in righteousness – righteousness that rescues and redeems and forgives you. Righteousness that takes away your sin with His death, and righteousness that gives you life. Righteousness that gives you daily bread, righteousness that gives you every blessing of body and soul, righteousness that gives you things that are good for you right now. Righteousness that does not fail. Righteousness that you don't have to butter up or kowtow to or play the game to influence or manipulate. Jesus is righteousness, and unlike all the voices of mammon, He does right by you, not for a day, but for all eternity. Thanks be to God that He has called you out of this miserable darkness and into His kingdom of light. Amen. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +