Ash Wednesday Sermon - Cain

 (Note - this year I am participating in a Lenten rotation on Repentance.  There will be three sermons on stories of repentance from the Old Testament.)

In the Name of Christ the Crucified +

Lent is a season of repentance. While it is true that every day of our lives we are to be repentant ones, that our baptisms indicate that our lives are ones where we daily repent and die to sin and arise to new life in Christ, during the season of Lent we ponder repentance. We pay special attention to sin, its impacts, and we pray to God that we would be turned from it. And in our midweek services this year, Pastor Wyeth and I are going over some of the great examples of repentance from the Old Testament – where sin is addressed. And for tonight, let's go back almost to the beginning – let's go to Cain.

Now, if I say “Cain” I expect that most of you have rather negative thoughts about him. Cain – he's the first murderer. In many ways Cain is the first villain of the bible. I mean, sure, Adam and Eve sinned... but we can downplay the magnitude of their sin. They just ate something they weren't supposed to – plenty of us eat plenty of things we aren't supposed, no big deal. (Well, it was it, ruined creation – but nevermind that). But Cain – Cain is a killer. And not just a killer – he kills his brother, his immediate family. And it wasn't that there was an argument, it wasn't a crime of passion – it was planned. And what for? Why was there bad blood between Cain and Abel? Because Abel's offering was better than Cain's. Think about that – Sorry, Jim, you put in too much money into the offering – now I've got to kill you. What Cain does is repugnantly evil.

And now, let's begin considering God's response starting at Genesis 4:9 – Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?” So God comes to Cain – because that's what God has done in Genesis so far. Whenever there's been sin, there's been God coming to people – Adam,what did you do, Eve what do you do? And God gives Cain a chance to fess up, to admit what has happened. And instead, Cain brushes off God, gives a saucy reply. A reply so backhanded and wrong that the phrase “my brother's keeper” is still a common expression to this day.

So, let me ask you a question. Who is God? What is He like? If you think of God primarily as the Great Punisher, you would expect that God would just drop the hammer on Cain – divine smite. You might expect anger, or that God would match Cain's disdain with an even greater disdain. But is that who God is? That's not who God says He is. In Ezekiel we hear: For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live.” Turn. Repent. In 1^st Timothy we hear that God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. And I will submit that what we hear from God in His response to Cain and his murdering and his disdain towards God isn't just blanket anger. It's a call to repentance. Listen.

God responds – And the LORD said, “What have you done?” Pause there. If you are responding in anger, if you just want to punish – you don't pause and ask the person a question. You don't ask they what they have done. The LORD God looks at Cain almost dumbfounded – you don't get it Cain – do you realize what you have done? Do you realize the implication, the impact of your sin? And the LORD isn't asking if Cain realizes the how naughty it was to murder Abel – no, there are going to be ripples, consequences of that sin that Cain can't comprehend. The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. The dirt, the ground, that stuff from which I made your father Adam, it hates you. You're a farmer Cain, you work with the ground – and guess what? You were supposed to tend to the soil – instead you watered it with your brother's blood – and so the ground itself will forever reject you. The ground will curse you. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You're done. Your job, you livelihood – it's over.

Sin has consequences. Sin has ripples. Its impact spreads out. Adam and Eve took down all creation with their sin. God points out to Cain the rippling consequences of his sin. But the same holds true for us. Let's say I'm supposed to work with one of you here on something – and I'm just an utter jerk. Well, the problem isn't just that specific sin of jerkiness – it's going to spread. Anyone else going to want to work with me? Sin never just lives in the present, it expands on into the future catastrophically. And that's what the LORD is spelling out to Cain here – you can't farm anymore, Cain. It just won't work. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. I'm sorry, Cain – you have just made your life much, much harder.

And then we hear something. Cain replies, and his sauciness, his defiance is gone. Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.” I have made a mess of things, and I am not able to bear, to fix, to clean up this mess. I have unleashed a catastrophe. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from Your face I shall be hidden. Note what Cain thinks – I'm away from the ground, yes – but Cain adds something. I'm going to be hidden from Your face, LORD. You're not going to want to have anything to do me anymore. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me. That's it – I'm just a dead man walking, simply waiting execution for my crimes that I have done.

And we could end here – say yep, good enough. There's some good old frontier justice, eye for and eye sort of punishment. You're cut off, Cain – and you ought to be. God ought hide His face from you forever, God ought never look at you ever again. Except, that's not what has happened or happens. Then the LORD said, “Not so!” No, no, no. Cain, you blockhead. You're not hidden from My face – I'm talking to you now. And I don't want you dead – if I wanted you dead I would have taken you out Myself. In fact, I specifically don't want anyone else to take you out, and certainly not thinking they're impressing Me if they do so. “If anyone kills Cain, venegeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest anyone who found him should attack him. No – the LORD desireth not the death of a sinner but that they turn and live. And what's happened – Cain has turned, Cain has been repented – God has revealed to Cain the depth and impact of his sin, and Cain confesses that he cannot rescue himself. This is what repentance looks like. And God shows mercy to Cain – God still protects Cain. And Cain, who thinks he's going to have a short and brutal life... lives a long one. Gets married. Kids. Things sort of smooth over – though I'm sure in a horridly awkward way.

But ponder this. God Himself goes to Cain when Cain is at his worst – when Cain is in the midst of being the first great villain of the bible. And God speaks to Cain – He speaks Law, about sin and its consequences. But the LORD speaks Gospel as well to the repentant Cain – I am still your God; I will still protect you. God desired that Cain repent and live.

And what of you, oh Christian? What of you who too needs to repent? Repent of some wretched things – perhaps things you have long buried and refused to address? Things whose consequences you try to ignore? Things which make you think in the back of your head mean that surely God no longer would care for someone the likes of you? Not so! God loves you. Christ Jesus has come to redeem you from your sin and to win you forgiveness. God has put a mark on you – on your forehead, receive the sign of the holy cross to mark you as one redeemed by Christ the Crucified. Yes, your sins are strong, and yes, there are temporal consequences. But the LORD does not hide His face from you – no! He lifts up His countenance upon you, and He gives you the peace that Jesus Himself wins and makes and gives to you. God brings even big sinners to repentance. Christ Jesus came to save sinners, of whom I am the Chief. This is true. Amen. In the Name of Christ the Crucified +

Quiquagesima Sunday

 

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

Satan will attack you. That's what we've noted these past three weeks. Satan will attack you by tempting you with comparisons against your neighbor, by trying to make you hate God's graciousness instead of delighting in it. Satan will attack the Word of God, trying to make you ignore it or disdain it. And now for a doozy – Satan will try to attack you, to shatter your faith with suffering, by making you fearful of it or cold to it.

Consider our Gospel text. Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem and Holy Week – He's approaching Jericho, and that's on the way to Jerusalem, and pretty close. He's much closer to Good Friday than we are yet, and so for a third time He tells His disciples what to expect when they all get to Jerusalem. See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. See. Look. Pay attention and don't turn away. This is what the Scriptures have taught. This is where everything in the world has been leading ever since the Fall. The Messiah must come and handle sin and death to crush Satan – and how will He handle it? For He will be delivered 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. It is going to be horrific. It is going to be every sort of humiliation and disaster and abuse of justice that you can think of. Of course it is – Jesus came to deal with sin, to rescue us from the power of the Devil. You don't rescue someone stuck in the belly of the beast unless you go there yourself, and that's what Jesus is going to do. He is going to dive deeply into all the suffering of sin and death – and it's going to literally kill Him. And not even in a noble, heroic looking way – no last stand. No, it's going to be humiliation, because sin and death humiliate us – they turn us into dirt, into “humus” as we decay. But fear not, don't look away – Jesus will rise again! The third day will come! Jesus Christ will be victorious over sin and death! It is a horrific thing, but fear not, it is for your good.

Sounds great, right? And yet – But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said. They don't get it. The disciples don't understand. It's hidden from them, they can't grasp it. The idea is too horrid to even contemplate, they can't wrap their minds around it – they refuse to. This isn't what we want, Jesus; this isn't what we want for either You or for us, it's now how we'd write the story, how we'd spin the narrative – so we just don't get it.

So they continue walking. Jesus knows they will have to learn by experience. 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. A quick note about beggars in the ancient world. You knew them, they were around. They had their spots where they would frequent. And that was how society cared for them – you didn't have social services – you didn't have a state run center to shuffle them off to - you had different locals stepping up each and every day to take care of the person who was very much out and about in public. For good or for ill, they were right there for everyone in town to see. And everyone knew him - Mark notes that this fellow's name was Bartimaeus. And this blind man knew what his road sounded like – he knew who normally went by and when, and he knew what strange sounded like. So he asks his neighbors, the people who normally care for him, what is going on.

They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Oh, it's Jesus? Bart has heard of Jesus, so he starts calling out for Mercy. Just like us here at church, over and over the call for mercy goes forth. It's a key theme of worship – Lord have mercy! Typical, what we all should expect, right? Everyone knows that Jesus is a healer; of course there's going to be a call for mercy – except – And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. Oh, this is chilling. Be quiet, you stupid beggar, we are trying to enjoy our Jesus time in peace. There's a parade on, there's wonder and excitement – there is no time for you and your pathetic whining. I say that, and it sounds so cold and heartless, almost comical or pantomime, like this could never happen. And yet I'd wager that every single one of us in this room has felt that empty, shallow press of shame or sorrow that comes when there's something weighing upon you and you're afraid that you'll be a burden, that your pleas for help will be written off. The world doesn't handle suffering well, doesn't like to be confronted with it – and we can react poorly to suffering, and we can be afraid that people will react poorly to our own suffering, and all too often we silence ourselves, our own pleas for help even before people blow us off. Thus is life in the sinful world.

The disciples, the crowd – they see Jesus, but they don't. Not really. They don't see the real Jesus, the Jesus who comes into this world not to be some pop culture celebrity, not to revel in praise and accolades. Who for us men and for our salvation – that's why Jesus came – for us, for you! To help real people, to help you! To rescue you from sin, from death, from decay and destruction – and He will go to the Cross to do it. Jesus will engage the suffering that we see, the suffering that is the result, the physical impact and manifestation of sin that we all experience. He will not turn away from it; rather He'll face it head on.

Bartimaeus knows suffering. He sees his suffering every time he opens his eyes and sees nothing. This is wrong. This suffering is not how God created us to be. And in his suffering he does the only thing left to him – he cries out to Jesus. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus hears, and Jesus responds. And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to Him. Alright, you most callous of crowds – I'm not going to walk over there, and you're not going to ignore or tune out Bart's cries. You bring him to Me. You see his suffering and you dive on in and you get involved and you bring him to Me. And when Blind Bartimaeus gets there, Jesus says, “What do you want Me to do for you? What do want? What's your goal? And Bartimaeus' answer is one of the best in Scripture – it's so elegant, it's so poignant – and the English just doesn't capture it. The blind man says, “kurie, hina anablepso.” Lord, that I would see again. Most translations don't get this, they just talk about seeing – the ESV is actually good with “recover my sight” - there's that aspect of seeing again that is important... but every translation loses the sad poetic beauty of what he says, the whimisicalness, the forelornness of it. It's that same thing you hear from anyone who's ever lost anything, it's the knowing and remembering when things were better, when things were right. It's the wistfulness of remembering what was lost. It's not a demand, it's a lament – a lament of suffering and loss that we all have heard our elderly loved ones express countless times and that we all learn to express as we age. And there can be the callous “Oh, that's just Aunt Mabel moaning again” - of course we build up calluses when we have to handle and deal with something over and over again. Especially when we can't fix it.

But Jesus can. Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” See again, your faith in Me has saved you. That's why Jesus has come. To make things right again. To make this blind man see again – but more than that. To make the heart that has stopped beat again. To make the dead rise again. To make the sinner pure again. And Jesus does this by going to Jerusalem and diving on into all this suffering from sin and death Himself, by dying – and on the third day He will “anasastesetai” - He will rise – literally, He will stand again. Again. Things put back to the way they were before the fall, where mankind will again be what we were made to be – where you and I will finally be the men and women God created us to be. That is what Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem to do.

And Satan would have you ignore this. And Satan will use the horror of suffering against you, to hide Jesus from you. Satan will make the sufferings of other so terrible seeming that you look away from them, that you ignore them, that you block them out of your mind. Satan will make your own suffering seem isolating, and crushing, and oppressing. Both these attacks would make us forget the vital truth. Jesus doesn't ignore suffering, He doesn't shy away from it. Jesus makes a bee-line to suffering. Jesus shares in your suffering. Jesus came to suffer to bring an end to all suffering.

As Christians, we know the impact of sin – we know the impact of our own sin, we know that we are called to fight and struggle against our sin, that we will weekly, indeed daily, confess that we fail in our fight against sin and plead to God for forgiveness. We are also called to fight and struggle against the impact of sin – the suffering that spins forth in a fallen world, as well as the hate, the anger, the rage – and we are called to fight against this knowing that our efforts will never be enough, even as our efforts to reign in our own sin will never be enough. So be it. We don't turn a blind eye to sin, we don't turn a blind eye to suffering – that's Satan's will for you. No, we see, we struggle, we confess, we cry out to Jesus Lord, have mercy. We call out to Jesus for mercy again, hoping that others will hear too, that they will call out to Jesus in faith as well. And Jesus hears, and Jesus saves. Not as we expect – not when we demand. But He saves, and as He died and rose again, so shall you – you will rise again and you will see sin and suffering fully defeated in your life because of Christ Jesus.

Lent is coming. Starts this Wednesday. 7 pm service. In our midweek services this year, we will be pondering repentance – great stories of repentance from the Old Testament, where we see examples of people realizing the depth of their sin. We will see stories of failure and hardship and struggle – things we all routinely face. But on the weekends of Lent, we will see something grand. Whereas Satan can and will mess with us, whereas we can fall into sin and trouble – Satan is no match for Jesus. This Lent we will see Jesus take on Satan, take on his temptations and attacks, and we will see Jesus go through Satan's power like a hot knife through butter as He makes His way to Calvary – See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. Oh, Satan presses hard sometimes, my friends – but the Devil can't hold a candle to Jesus, and the Savior of all mankind is ready to start the battle for you, and He is going to win. In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +

Installation Sermon for Gregory Brown

 (From last September)

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

Sometimes we're too formal with the Bible, too stuffy with how we read it. Especially the famous passages – we keep that old style King James language and everything seems regal and high and mighty. Our Gospel lesson is one of those passages, where it seems like it ought to be read with a booming, majestic voice – Go, therefore, and make disciples... We hear it like a King giving orders, a Grand Commission. A teacher giving holy homework – and you probably haven't gotten enough of it done, and don't you dare say the dog ate it. That's not the point of this gospel text. This Gospel text is in fact describing the simple reality of why we are here to day – that in this wandering, roaming world, God in His wisdom has seen to it that Gregory Brown has wandered into your life here at Our Savior and that all of you have wandered on into his, and that this is for both of your benefit and the glory of the Kingdom of God.

So, after the resurrection, Jesus gathers the disciples, who are still confused and amazed and all mixed up, and Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.” Now, hear this rightly. We're sinful people – we hear that word “authority” and think it means “the right to boss people around.” I'm in charge here – and if Jesus is dropping the authority word it means He's large and in charge and when He says jump we better say how high. That's not Jesus' point here. Whenever Jesus brings up “authority” in the Gospel, its tied to the forgiveness of sin – it's the authority not to boss people around but to rescue them from sin, death, and the devil. Think on the guy who can't walk, and Jesus says, “Take heart, My son, your sins are forgiven” - and people have a conniption about Jesus forgiving sins, and Jesus says, “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic— “Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” Authority for Jesus is a forgiveness word. And there Jesus stands before His disciples – He Himself is raised not just from a paralytic's bed but from the dead – yes, disciples, see Me risen and know that My authority to forgive sins and give life is complete and full. There is forgiveness, there is the resurrection of the body, there is the life of the world to come. Period. All forgiving authority is Mine.

That's where Jesus is starting this discussion – His forgiveness is real. His victory or sin and death and the devil is real. It is solid. It is complete. It is finished. This isn't Jesus getting ready to boss you around, this is Jesus reminding you that He's kick Satan's backside and that the old Serpent is defeated. And then Jesus says, “Go, therefore, and make disciple...” Okay, pause – this sounds too grand in the English, it sounds like a command but it's not – it's a promise. Allow me to give a folksy paraphrase. I've beaten the tar out of Satan, and I've won forgiveness and life, so you know what this means? You're going to go about your lives, and wherever you go, because I have died and risen, this is what's going to happen. You're going to make disciples, because I've risen from the dead and won forgiveness and where there is forgiveness, there will be disciples. And you're going to be baptizing them, because that's how you make them disciples, that's how you give them forgiveness. And wherever there's baptized people, you're going to teach them to “observe all that I have commanded you” - you're going to have them pay attention to My Word of forgiveness and life, and you're going to bring them to My Supper that I told you guys to celebrate for the forgiveness of sins. And in this, in this Baptism, this preaching and teaching, this Supper, I will be with you always, even until the end of the age, bringing My forgiveness to you here until I bring you to ever lasting life.

Jesus isn't wagging an angry, disappointed finger at you in this text. He's describing life at Our Savior, He's promising you that there will be forgiveness here. Gregory, you're going to wander into this Momence place, and if there are people who need to be baptized, baptize them. And I've got people here who need preaching – preach to them. They need teaching, go teach them. Bring them the supper. And you dear saints of God here in Momence – you got someone you need baptized – bring them to this guy. You got questions about the Bible, or fears, or doubts – sins that trouble you. Come to this guy – and he'll speak My Word to you, teaching and forgiving you. He'll place My own Body and Blood upon your lips – and don't worry because in the midst of all this – pastor and congregation living together in My Word of forgiveness, there I will be always, even to the end of the age.

Because Jesus has died for you, and He has risen for you. This is the truth, this is just the reality of things. And your life together here, Pastor and people, the congregation gathered around this font and this lectern and this pulpit and this altar is all living in Jesus' authority, Jesus' victory over sin and death and the power of the devil. And to see that this place remains centered in Christ, God has sent Gregory Brown here via this congregation's call – and he's going to publicly promise and swear to preach Jesus and forgive sins here, and you're going to publicly promise and swear to support him and let him preach Jesus and forgive sins here. And it's good. This is how Jesus sees that His forgiving and resurrecting authority gets proclaimed in this neck of the woods. So enjoy going on your way together, because you're together on Christ Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Jesus has won, it's all good, and good for you together in Him. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

Sexagesima Sermon

 

Sexagesima – February 11^th and 12^th, 2023 – Luke 8

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

    Last week in our sermon, we heard of grumbling, how Satan will try to use resentment and disdain to try to make you hate God's generosity, God's grace. This week our Lord gives us another parable, and in the parable of the Sower and the Seed we see another angle of attack that Satan will use against you. Satan will strive to separate you from the Word of God. That's the Devil's goal – by hook or by crook, Satan will try to wrest away the Word or get you to ignore it.

    Consider the famous parable – the sower sows his seed, and it goes everywhere. Some falls on the road, some falls on rocky ground, some falls amongst the weeds, and some falls in the field and grows well. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Um, sure – okay. This is one of those parables that we are familiar with – we are used to the image of the Sower – every year this week I spend a lot of time pondering my class ring from Oklahoma because it has the image of a Sower on it. But it's a hard parable, it's a strange parable, because there's no clear plot, there's no moral of the story. There's no don't do this but do that. The Sower simply sows the seed. Everywhere. All over the place. Some grows, some doesn't (for a variety of reasons). And upon their first hearing, even the disciples are lost – they have to ask Jesus what it means, and Jesus notes that this is a parable that is hard, that people will see but not see and hear but not hear. The point can be missed – and so often is missed. Catastrophically so. But here it is. The parable is this: The Seed is the Word of God.

    When we consider this parable, we must be considering first the foremost the Word of God. This isn't a parable about our actions, this isn't a parable about us – it's about the Word of God. And the premise of the parable is that the Word of God goes forth throughout the world – to all people in all places. Again, this is playing off of last week – God is generous, He gives good gifts. Not just physical gifts, but His Word – the Gospel of forgiveness and life is to be spread all over. It doesn't matter who it is, where they are at, God would have His Word showered upon them. “Well, I don't know Pastor, my neighbor seems kind of rocky – should I tell him the Word?” - first off all, if you think like that just wait a few months because we'll be having a lesson about getting the log out of your own eye before you note the speck in your neighbor's eye. Second of all – in the parable the seed FALLS ON THE ROCKY GROUND. Even if we were somehow able to predict the future, which we can't, the sower still throws the seed onto the rocky ground. It goes everywhere. God is gracious and generous, even to jerks. The Seed, the Word of God, goes forth throughout the world and is proclaimed to all. God's grace and mercy, the victory that Jesus has won over sin and death by His death and resurrection, the forgiveness of sins in Christ's name is declared to all.

    “But Pastor, not everyone believes.” Correct – and this parable is teaching that. Here Jesus is dealing with His disciples, who are quite literally tasked with spreading the Gospel to the World – and they spread out a long way. We're pretty sure that Thomas made it to India and was preaching there – some even claim Japan. That was just one generation. Even today the Word is being spread, being translated into various languages – Lutheran Bible Translators has done translations in over 100 languages, and that's just one organization that's barely 60 years old. Christ Jesus has seen His Word proclaimed by His Church all over the place, and He continues to do so, and we continue to pray that the Word be spread. But this spread is not always a story of wild success – even Luther laments in a Mighty Fortress “The Word they still shall let remain, nor any thanks have for it.” I translated it into German so you could hear and understand it, but so many of you couldn't care less. Seeing they may not see and hearing they may not understand. Jesus is warning the disciples and us that people will ignore the Word – indeed, that Satan will by hook or by crook attack the Word of God and its preaching. So the point of this parable is to prepare us for what will happen, and also warn us of how Satan will attack us – because frankly, Satan wants you to ignore the Word of God as well.

    So how does Satan attack? Well, one way is this. The ones along the path are those who have heard. Then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not be saved. First and foremost, Satan will try separate you from the Word. There are people who have heard but are having the Word ripped away, the opportunity to continue on in hearing the Word snatched away. Satan wants to keep you from having the opportunity to hear the Word. We see this in totalitarian countries where oppressive governments will literally burn bibles and forcibly shut down churches. That's flat out Satanic – it's an attempt to stop people from hearing at all, stop them from being in the Word so that faith will crumble and die. We are so spoiled, so used to just having the Gospel available, having the Church right here that we can take it for granted, just assume the preaching of the Gospel will always be easily available. We can forget that Satan is active and seeking to destroy the Church, destroy the preaching of the word. It's happened before in many places, and Satan will try to see it done again.

    But Satan has more tricks up his sleeve, some that might be more common for us. And the ones on 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 they fall away. Maybe Satan won't get the Word completely stripped away – but Satan will try to make it uncomfortable to be a Christian, to be a hearer of the Word. This is something we see and feel keenly today. If you are older you probably remember a time when being a Christian was something that was respected in society. It's not that way any more – the vast majority of entertainment and media treat Christians as idiots and buffoons, they treat the Word of God as old fashioned, out dated, pointless. Christianity is mocked – commonly. This is what Jesus refers to as a “time of testing”. And yes, there have been times when the testing has been more intense – we just being mocked in the US, we aren't being dragged off to jails or camps (yet), but it's still a test. Satan will apply the heat, turn up the annoyance or social cost of being a Christian, of hearing the Word. Mockery, shame, ridicule, and threat – Satan will use all of these to get to you avoid the Word of God, to fall away from it. And see all this, know it for what it is Spiritually – an attack on you by Satan to get to you ignore God's Word. And these sorts of attacks are going to happen – we don't get to bury our head in the sand (or in the rocky soil in this case) and pretend it doesn't. The Devil and the World will tell you it costs too much to you personally to be a Christian. Be wary of this.

    But the old serpent is cunning, and he knows that if he can't drive you out of the church by fear, maybe he can lure you out by a misplaced love. As for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their away they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. Satan will use blessings against you. Your life can be so filled up with good things, so many things that you just have to tend to, that you have to care for and about, that you just won't have time for the Word. Just can't seem to fit it in the schedule. And again, this is a common temptation, especially for us. We're in a rather well off area, we all have a plethora of things that we could be doing – and many things that call to us. Good things, nice things. And Satan will try to elevate those things over and above hear God's Word. This is the basis of every seduction, every slight of hand or bait and switch trick in the book. Sure, that's fine, but this over here is better – and Satan will waggle so many glittering things in front of your eyes to draw you away from the Word. Be wary of this.

    Do you see? Do you understand how Satan will try his damnedest (literally) to separate you from the Word of God? We cannot and must not pretend otherwise, because if and when we do, we simply play into Satan's hands. But the premise of the parable remains – the Sower sows the seed. The Word of God continues to go out – and it even goes out today. And consider the happy ending of the parable. 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. The Seed, the Word of God, the Gospel of Christ Jesus takes root in your heart – and it produces fruit. A grain, a seed goes into the ground, and it grows, and it bears fruit 100 fold. The Word of God goes in your ears, and it dwells within you, and it bears fruit, and the Word of God, His forgiveness and mercy springs forth from your mouth a 100 fold.

    This is one of the things that makes Classic Christian Worship different. Consider how much time during this service you are opening your mouth? You're not here just sitting silent like bumps on a log – you are least your not supposed to be, I don't care how lousy your singing voice is. You hear the Word, yes, but that Word also springs forth from your mouth here. In the responses of the liturgy. In hymns. In confessing the Creed. You spend a third of the time bearing the fruit of the Word. And this is the just start – that Word continues to go forth with patience, with endurance, the rest the week. God forgives you here in His Church by His Word, and then He uses you to proclaim that same Word of forgiveness throughout the world, even to some of the strange places you end up – even to the place you go this week that I as the pastor here wouldn't get to go. The Sower sows the Seed – God plants His Word in you and brings forth that Word to other people through you. This is what goes on.

    And will they always hear? Nope. Will they always stay faithful? Nope. But see and understand what God is doing. He is forgiving you, He is taking that forgiveness Jesus won upon the Cross and He is applying it to you by the Word – and that Word that you hear becomes the Word on your lips so that others would hear what Jesus has done for them as well. It's all what God is doing for you and through you. So do not let Satan terrify you – be wary of him, know that the old evil foe now means deadly woe – but more importantly know what Jesus has done for you and is doing for you and through you now by His Word. God is gracious, His grace goes forth, and it goes forth through the Word. In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +

Septuagesima Sunday

 

Septuagesima Sunday – Matthew 20:1-16 – February 4^th and 5^th, 2023

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

With the observance of the Transfiguration last week, we see a change in focus in our readings in Church. We are now in the “Gesima” Sundays, and these days have as their focus ideas about how Christ Jesus, who is indeed true God and true Man, relates to the Church. How does Jesus deal with the Church, and how does the Church end up responding to Jesus? And from what we see in our texts today, it seems as though we don’t always respond well to Jesus. In fact, we might almost call today “Grumbling Day” – there’s grumbling in the Gospel, grumbling in the Old Testament, and as Paul talks about how we Christians need self-control and we need to keep on striving towards the goal, he’s probably writing to folks who have been grumbling as well.

Grumbling seems almost to be an obsession in our country. As a Baseball fan I like to say that Baseball is the national pastime – but in truth, it’s probably grumbling – and I’m no exception. I enjoy listening to podcasts, where people constantly grumble about sports or movies. Some people love watching the news – and frankly what's that become but grumbling about this or that? Walter Cronkite and David Brinkely would hardly recognize what happens today. Most any conversation you hear out and about, in the store, in the restaurant, even often here in the Church is likely to be replete with grumbling. Americans like to grumble.

The sad thing is that our grumbling is so unneeded. Consider our Gospel text. 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. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. Now, remember this about these laborers, the ones hired first. When the master finds them, they have no job. Without the master finding them, they would have had no work, they would have made nothing and probably would have gone hungry. Instead, the master finds them, He gives them a good wage – a denarius is a solid wage in Jesus’ day, so the master isn’t undercutting them or dealing with them on the cheap. He treats them fantastically. And then: And going out 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. And about the eleventh 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 and work in the vineyard too.” So more workers come in, each working less and less time, to where you have folks who only work one hour instead of 12.

Before we continue with the parable, what do you make of this master? He wants as many workers as he can find, and he keeps bringing them in. He doesn’t make snap judgments – he doesn’t say to the last workers, “Boy, you people must have been real lazy to not find work” – instead, just why aren’t you working? Let’s put you to work! Christ deals with people in His Church the same way. Whereas we can make snap judgments, whereas we can see the person out there in the world who has been having a rather foul and wicked time of it and think to ourselves how horrible they are – God’s approach is different. God’s approach is, “It doesn’t matter what they have been doing or where they have been, they ought to be in Church, they ought to be part of My family.” It’s an astonishing love that God shows, an astonishing desire for the lost – which shouldn’t surprise any of us. He called us into His Church by His Word, by Baptism - why wouldn’t God want to be calling other people in? The lectern, pulpit, and font are all still here; guess God still wants more folks here, the very folks you know, that you come across in your life. Whoever they are, they belong here. And when you see someone who isn’t here, someone who doesn’t know or has forgotten Christ’s love, someone who is too busy doing nothing or who thinks they aren’t good enough to be here, that’s a tragedy. God calls us all to His house.

And when the 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. Now when those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And in receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them the equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” And now the complaining sets in. Why should this lazy bum who hardly did anything, who worked only in the cool of the day get the same thing as me? And they have a reasonable argument – more work should mean more pay! The grumblers view everything in light of what they have done – look at our work. They forget one thing – things all center around the master.

But he replied to one of 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?” Look at how the master has rightly and properly treated these workers who came first. They had no job – he gave them one. He promised them a good wage – he gave them a good wage. In all things the master has done what he said he would – he has treated them completely fairly and honestly and well. He has done exactly what he said he would – and yet, they grumble. And why – not because of how the master treated them, but because of how the master treated others. If these early workers had been paid first and then sent on their way, if they never knew what the other workers got, they would have gone home satisfied, content with what the master gave. Instead, when the comparison kicks in, when they see what another has, the complaining begins.

So, what about us? What drives our grumbling? Is it because God isn't providing for us and we are doomed? No – no, God is still rich and full of blessing and mercy to us. No, when we grumble, it's simply because we start comparing ourselves to other people. Sometimes we covet what other people have – look at their stuff, look at their life – so much of advertising and social media is a coveting-creation factory. Okay, so someone else has something – hasn't God been good to you, utterly faithful to you?Sometimes we see what others “get away with” and we grumble about that. I can't believe that they can just do all that stuff, I never could! Well, would you really want to? You know the love of Christ Jesus, you receive His good blessings – do you really think someone wallowing in moral filth has it better than you? Would you really want to trade places, to be, one of these people you complain about?

And the thing is, all this grumbling warps the way we view our lives and the lives of our neighbors. Instead of rejoicing in what we have, we lament what we don't. Instead of seeing our neighbor in deep and dire need, physically or spiritually, we become resentful and stingy – sometimes stingy with money, sometime stingy with time, sometimes stingy with mercy and forgiveness. All these things that we receive from God freely and generously – time, talent, treasure, forgiveness, love – our grumbling drives us to begrudge God's generosity when He shows it to others, especially when He wants to show it through us. This is just contempt towards God.

So, how should God respond to our contempt? I am reminded of the threat that my parents would make when I was grumbling about what I got – if you don’t like that you can have nothing instead. Seems a fitting punishment. Or employers dealing with a grumbling employee, fine – if this isn’t good enough for you, don’t let the door hit you on the way out. That’s what we might expect in this world, is it not? But is that how God treats us? No, master in the parable is gentile in dealing with these first workers – Friend, I am doing you no wrong. He treats those complainers with courtesy and compassion. He closes no door – he still gives the good wage, even when not appreciated. I imagine this owner would still be willing to hire these folks the next day – no firing, no blacklisting for them.

Know and understand how generous, how patient God is with you. How many times has God continued to give His blessings to you, even when not appreciated? Any blessings, be they material or spiritual. When we are not thankful, does God not still give us our daily bread? Behold His great love for you. When we are lax in our devotion and worship, when hearing His Word and receiving His Supper becomes a secondary priority instead of our first, does God not continually welcome us to His House to hear His Word and receive His forgiveness? Behold His great love for you.

This is the point. Christ Jesus, true God and true Man, came into this world precisely to go to the cross and suffer, to pay the penalty for sin, even the sin of grumbling, even the sin of not appreciating Him and thrusting Him to the side. It should be no surprise that God continually calls you – for that is how God relates to you, that is how God deals with you. God is not looking for an excuse to damn you; He is not trying to find a reason to scratch your name out of the book of Life – rather all that He does, everything, is so that you receive forgiveness for your sins, so that you are strengthened in faith during the days of your life, so that you will enjoy the life of the world to come. Or in other words, every action, every thing that God does is based out of His love for you. Sin would have you forget this, your flesh would have you cast covetous glances at your neighbors, but God in His Word calls you out of the darkness of sin into His marvelous light so that you always see and know and delight in His love for you. It is this love that shapes the Church, that shapes you. That is how Christ Jesus deals with the Church – ever showing love, finding you and giving you mercy and forgiveness. This is His love for you. In the Name of Christ Jesus, the light of the world. Amen

Transfiguration Sermon

Transfiguration Sunday – Matthew 17 – January 27^th and 28^th, 2023

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

So, what sort of God do you have? This Jesus Christ, Whose birth we have celebrated, Who has done signs and miracles, what is He like? That's the question we've been pondering this Epiphany season, and today, we hit the pinnacle of the season of Epiphany. There on the mountaintop, Jesus brings along with Him Peter, James, and John, and well Moses and Elijah too, and through the Prophetic Word of Matthew even us – and on that Mountaintop we behold Jesus' Transfiguration. For a brief time while He is on earth, Jesus' own Divine radiance shines forth unhindered. There He is, True God and True Man, God in Man made manifest! But the transfiguration is a bit more than that – it tells us what this Jesus, this True God and True Man is like. Jesus is the God who would come down from heaven for you, for us men and for our Salvation – and the Transfiguration shows us precisely what this means. Listen.

After six days Jesus took with Him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them, and His face shone like the sun, and His clothes were as white as light. There on the mountain, the glory of Jesus shines forth. Bright, glowing, awesome. We hear this description of Jesus, and we can think, “How wondrous! How strange!” Well, no – it's not strange, it's actually the normal for Jesus. There's a reason I've been calling Jesus the Light of the World. This is normal – He's God, of course He's glorious and radiant. This is why sinful people can't really bear to talk to Him through the Old Testament – this is why Moses' face is glowing with reflected glory after Moses spent too long on Mount Sinai talking to Him. This is why in Revelation we hear the New Jerusalem described this way: And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. This glowing, glorious Jesus is typical, is normal. It is who He is.

And there's more – And Behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with Him. Who is this Jesus? Well, He's the LORD, the God who spoke with the prophets of Old in the Old Testament. When Moses was on Sinai talking to the LORD, He was talking to Jesus. When Elijah hides in the cleft of the Rock and talks with the glorious but still whisper, he's talking to Jesus. Jesus is the LORD, He is the Word of God. And all that Moses wrote, all that the prophets proclaimed, that's Jesus' Word. The Old Testament is Jesus' book, just as much as the New Testament, because Jesus spent the Old Testament talking to His people of old and having them proclaim His Word to the people. Moses, here's My commandments; Elijah, here is what I say. And all the rest of the Prophets, all the Psalms and the wisdom – that's Jesus' Word. Jesus is Glorious! Jesus is the Word of God! He is the source of the Scriptures, the point of them all, because Moses and the Prophets testify of Jesus. How Great! How Grand!

Except there is one problem, one giant elephant in the room. And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah. This seems so random to us – why make tents? I mean, that's not our normal reaction to seeing something great. Oh, thanks for coming by, can I get you something to drink, pitch you a tent? And it's strange because even in Israel pitching a tent wouldn't be normal hospitality. But here's where we need to think Old Testamentally – and what's a tent in the Old Testament? The great tent of the Old Testament was the Tabernacle – when the children of Israel were wandering in the desert, the Glory of the Lord moved around with them in the tabernacle, the great Holy Tent, the portable temple that was used before Solomon's temple was built. And the Tabernacle was where the Glory of the LORD, the Glory Cloud, the Shekhinah would sit – and when that was there, no one went into the Tabernacle (or the temple). This is what John was referring to in our Christmas Day lesson when he says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt [literally “tented”] among us.” Peter sees this glory, and it's too much for him to bear. He's a sinful man, and sinful man cannot bear the glory of God, cannot bear the wonders of heaven, cannot enjoy paradise. When there's the Holy God and Sinful Man, someone has to hide – either the man has to run away – like Adam and Eve in the Garden, Moses covering his face approaching the burning bush, Elijah hiding in the cave – or God has to hide His Glory – and dwell in the temple.

So, what Peter is actually saying is, “We shouldn't be here because we are going to die, but I can make a tent and You can go there and I can live. I will do what I need to do to make this something we all can survive, because the Glory of God needs to be hidden, needs to be covered up, or I'm going to die. And Peter's plan is a tent. But, the Father in Heaven decides to cut off Peter's plan. He was still speaking when, behold – poor Peter doesn't even get to finish giving his plan, when suddenly – a bright cloud overshadowed them – oh Peter, you aren't going to build a tabernacle – nope, you're in the glory cloud now that even the priests didn't dare to enter – and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with Whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.” And the voice of God. When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. Of course they were, because they were dead men. This is the sort of story that killed people all through the Old Testament. You mess with God's Glory, you hear His unbridled voice – you died.

Now pause for a moment. Who is Jesus? What's He like? Well, we see here that Jesus by rights is glorious and powerful. That Heaven is His, that by rights He should be able to talk to Moses or Elijah or any of the other heroes of the Bible for as long as He wants. But there's a problem with this – Peter, James, and John – they couldn't handle that. They couldn't be with that Jesus yet, not until something is done about their sin, not until something is done about death and the power of the Devil.

But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. So, who is Jesus, what's He like? Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven. Jesus is the God who will willingly step away from heaven, who will slough off His own glory, who will for a time give up chats with Moses and Elijah, who will take on Human Flesh that human beings can handle, can touch... who will even go to the Cross and suffer and cry out “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me!” - all so that He can actually touch His friend Peter, so that He can look at Peter and say “Rise, and have no fear.” That grand, wondrous Transfiguration – Jesus ends it for Peter's good. The Transfiguration is the image, the glimpse at what Jesus had constantly before He was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary. Who is Jesus? He is the God who will step away from heaven and glory and dive into the muck and mire and mess of sin all in order to rescue sinners, sinners like Peter, like you, like me. Jesus is the God who is will go the Cross and die just so that come the last day He can touch your corpse and say, “Rise, and have no fear” and finally you will – you will rise, you will finally have no fear. That's who Jesus is, the God who will go through anything to see you saved, to see you rescued from the power of sin and death, to see that you rise to life everlasting freed from sin and it's fear and anger and greed and lust and shame.

Because Jesus actually likes you and wants to be with you. Jesus likes Peter, He likes Moses and Elijah. They're friends. Abraham was called the friend of God. James and John were His buddies that He sat around the campfire with. And that's what you were created to be – and sin gets in the way of that, sin separates man and God, sin strives to separate you from God. And we can't bridge that gap, we can't mend that break – we literally physically and spiritually can't do it. So Jesus does it. He comes, and with His birth, His life, His death, His resurrection, that gap, that separation, is gone. The curtain in the temple that kept God safely away from us and us safely away from God – torn in two by God when Jesus dies. Everything in the Scriptures is the story of what Jesus will do to win you back, to rescue you, to restore you unto God. This is why He has seen you baptized – you're more than just a friend – you are now a Baptized child of God, you're family, you're a co-heir with Christ of all things. This is the wonder of the Supper – you sinful folks can't quite handle heaven in full yet, but I'm going to bring you there right now in a way you can handle. Yes, sing with all the company of heaven the songs of the feast. Sing with the angels Holy, Holy, Holy! Yes, let Me come to you, give Myself to you, hidden under bread and wine I give you My Body and Blood, all that I am, to forgive you, to strengthen you until that day of the Resurrection when you do get to see Me face to face without any fear.

Who is Jesus? It's His name! Yeshua – the Lord Saves. And you see the depths, the fullness of what this saving means. Jesus is the God who will step away from heaven, who will become Man, who will suffer and put up with all the junk of sin that you do, who will even fight down and go through death for you, all so that come the last day He can say to you, Rise, and have no fear – and you will, for Jesus has won you forgiveness, life, and salvation – and He gives these gifts to you now and He will do so forever. In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World + Amen.

Epiphany 3 Sermon

 

Epiphany 3 – Matthew 8:1-13 – January 21^st and 22^nd, 2023

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

So, who is this Jesus, who is this God that you worship? Who does He show Himself to be today in our Gospel lesson? Jesus shows Himself to be something profound – He is the God, the Messiah who is for everyone. Jesus is the God who loves even the people whom you hate. Because that's what we see Jesus doing today – we see Jesus healing two people who were flat out hated in His day – a leper and a centurion. Listen.

When [Jesus] came down from the mountain, great crowds followed Him. And behold, a leper came to Him and knelt before Him, saying, “Lord, if You will, You can make me clean.” Strangely, it's easier to preach on this text after Covid. Ten years ago I would have had to try to make a comparison to maybe someone who had AIDS back in the 80s or something, but understand the disgust that would be going on here. There's a crowd, people following Jesus, people who have just heard the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5 through 7... and then into this crowd comes a leper. Someone with a horrid skin disease that was contagious, one that if you caught it would mean that you would be exiled and forced to live in isolation until it cleared, if it ever cleared. Alright – think on visiting a store two years ago and there's someone full in the throes of all the Covid symptoms, coughing and sneezing their way unmasked through the place – don't mind me, just getting some Dayquil. There'd be disgust, there'd be anger, there'd be panic. A leper popping up in a crowd would bring up the exact same thing. You are breaking the law, you are violating custom, Moses had said you are to stay away from us, what are you doing here, you idiot, you wretch, you mongrel. That leper is someone whom the crowd would have despized.

And yet, what is Jesus' reaction? And Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” Understand that Jesus' action here, what He does, would be horrific. Jesus touches the leper. You just didn't do that – they knew that Leprousy spread by contact – Jesus is defiling Himself, opening Himself up to death and decay by touching this person – leper, outcast, unclean! Here, Covid guy, let me wipe your nose on my sleeve while I grab that Dayquil for you. It would be nuts. Well, except for the fact He's Jesus, He's God Almighty come to Earth to save His Creation, including this leper – well, now actually this former leper whom He has cleansed. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. The leprosy is gone – not on this guy anymore. Jesus heals him.

Again, quietly – And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourselves to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” Don't whoop and holler, don't make a scene, anymore than you have – you're going to have to get through a pretty big crowd here and I don't want any more commotion than there is. Just go back home quietly, visit the priest, go through the procedure of being welcomed back into society, and enjoy. Simple, quiet care for this guy – be healed and then be on your way.

Do you see Jesus' love and care for this man, this outcast, this person the world would have hated? His care is quiet, Jesus doesn't draw a bunch of attention to him so no one is going to be mad or filled with disgust. It's all so caring – and for a person that no one in that crowd would have given two cents for. The crowd would have seen a villain, a threat. Jesus shows compassion.

And see, this is where a lot of churches today stop, especially those of the more liberal, woke persuasion – and then there's the finger wagging lecture about how you have to love and accept and praise whatever “protected” group is the hip one we're supposed to fawn over today – because you are an evil, rich oppressor and you can never be sorry enough or accepting enough. See, even there, there's an appropriate group of people to hate – defund the police, hate the oppressor, so on and so forth. But the story doesn't stop just with that leper. We hear this. When [Jesus] entered Capernaum, a Centurion came forward to Him, appealing to Him, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” Allow me to expand on what this situation is. So, Jesus enters Capernaum, a Jewish, middle-eastern town – and there is a White, European Oppressor Colonizer Police Officer who comes up to him and says, “My servant – that is, my child slave labor, is paralyzed.” But in response to this, Jesus doesn't organize a march – He doesn't change his background photo on-line; Jesus says something utterly dumbfounding. And He said to him, “I will come and heal him.” Yeah, I'll come to your house and help you, O vile oppressor. Again, do you understand the revulsion that there would be at this? Some of Jesus' disciples were Zealots, a group of people who had sworn their very lives to the destruction of Roman Oppression, and here is Jesus saying he's going to go inside the guy's house. This would be utterly shocking.

But then the reply from the Centurion. Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the Word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, “Go,” and he goes, and to another, “Come,” and he comes, and to my servant, “Do this,” and he does it. And Jesus is tickled pink. This is fantastic, this Centurion gets it – Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. The Centurion understands God's authority and the power of God's Word, He gets who I am – this is fantastic – you want Me to say the Word, great! And to the Centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.

Two people interact with Jesus – a leper and a Centurion. Both would have been off handedly disdained and despised in Jesus' day. Both would have been propped up as emblems of evil by the various factions and political interests of the day. And yet, Jesus is there for both of them. To heal them and care for them. Well, this is a good reminder that our casual disdain of “those people” whoever our particular “those people” tend to be is off base. Anyone you come across, all of us, we're all people stuck in sin and uncleanliness of one sort or another, we all have people that we happen to annoy. That's the reality of life in the fallen world. But where as we so often see reasons to hate or disdain our neighbor – that's not Jesus' approach. What does Jesus see, what does Jesus hear when He comes across these two people, this leper and this Centurion? He sees faith.

Consider again the leper. A leper came to Him and knelt down before Him, syaing, “Lord, if You will, You can make me clean.” What a fantastic statement of faith! The leper kneels – he literally worships Jesus, this is kneeling in prayer – and then he simply speaks truth. You are the LORD, and if You so desire, you are able to cleanse me. It's simple statement of fact, it is a confession of faith as plain and as blunt as the Nicene Creed we will confess together in a few moments. That's not just a leper – that's a faithful Christian. And Jesus cares for him.

And consider the Centurion. You've got authority Jesus – speak and it will happen, just like at Creation when you spoke the World into being. When Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who followed Him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.” This is what faith looks like – knowing that Jesus is in charge, that He has authority, that He will use His Word to do good. What does Jesus see when He sees this leper and this centurion – He sees faith.

We see many things when we look at the world and the people there in. We can see many things wrong with the people we see. And frankly, that shouldn't surprise any of us – we know God's Word, we know His Commandments, we know what God has said about the power of sin. Why should any of us be surprised at all when we see sin in our neighbor – you know the power of Sin, the hold, the way it will drive its claws into you and twist. You should know yourself how sin attacks you, how sin twists and turns you and tries to make you into someone whom other people understandably hate and despise. We know the power of sin. And we also know that Jesus comes to break the power of sin, death, and the devil. This is what He is doing with His righteous life, this is what He is doing when He stretches out His hands upon the Cross, taking up the guilt and shame of your sin. We see that Jesus is almighty and victorious in His resurrection, in His proclamation of forgiveness and life that He declares in your Baptism, that He declares over and over in His Word.

And so when the Father looks at you, He doesn't see your sins. By faith you are joined to Christ Jesus, so the Father sees Jesus and His holiness, His goodness, His righteousness. Faith clings to Jesus Christ alone, and in Jesus there is forgiveness, life, and salvation for you. And everything you see in life, all those things that you might hate or disdain – it's not about our categories or politics – it's a Spiritual Battle. It's Satan trying to use to sin and anger and wrath to drive people away from Christ – whether it's Satan pulling on the lure of sins to trap and enslave people into vice and greed, or whether it's Satan trying to push you away from Christ via disgust and disdain. All of it is an attack on Faith in Christ – your neighbor being attacked and driven from Christ, and Satan trying to attack your faith and drive you away from Christ.

And Jesus sees this battle. He sees uncleanliness clamber onto you again, He sees your sin and disdain rear its ugly head again – and so He comes to you, He stretches out His hand and takes hold of you, and He speaks His Authoritative, Life Giving Word again, and He says, “I have died and risen for you, I have claimed you as mine, I forgive you, and I will raise you to life everlasting.” And over and against all the sin in the world, all the sin in ourselves, all the very sin that Christ Jesus took upon Himself and carried to the Cross and crucified, we say Amen. That's who Jesus is – the God who has come to love, to redeem, to forgive people, even the people you hate, even you. In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World + Amen.

Epiphany 2 Sermon

 

Epiphany 2 – John 2:1-11 – January 14^th and 15^th, 2023

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

This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. Thus far the text. While we normally call this Jesus' first miracle, John doesn't call it a miracle or a wonder or something amazing – John calls it a sign. That's an important word for John, for scripture. A sign was a legal proof of something, the evidence that an assertion is true. This story in Cana is proof, is exhibit A as to the fact that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and that by beliving in Him you will have life in His name. And yet, as a sign, as a proof – it seems odd. If you wish to prove that you are Almighty – well, this miracle isn't not exactly powerful or earth shaking. The water is changed to wine with hardly a whimper, with most people not even noticing what happened except for a few servants. If you wish to prove that you are here to save the world... saving a party up in the hills doesn't seem all that sweeping or grand. Wouldn't that be something to be done in Jerusalem where everyone would notice? If this is a sign, if this is meant to be the proof that Jesus is in fact God Almighty come to save His people, something that manifests God's glory, why is this sign something that so few people see or notice?

Let's consider the text again for a bit. On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.  When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” Alright – first a quick detail – John notes that this happens on “the Third Day”. We say that phrase “on the Third Day” all time – it's in the Creed – Jesus rose again from the dead on the third day. And John (and all the Gospel writers, really) like to use this literary device, where if something is going to show the joys of Christ's victory, it happens on the third day after the previous story. If it's something that's going to be about Jesus' suffering, it's six days later – Friday, Good Friday, was the sixth day of the week. Matthew does this with the transfiguration – And after six days Jesus took with Him Peter and James, and John his brother. Jesus is always teaching, that was part of the point last week – and His disciples realized that He was teaching even with His sense of timing. So, at any rate, John sets us up to know that this story, this event, is going to be a demonstration of Christ's victory.

So there's a wedding – and a wedding is the picture of heaven. That's how everlasting life is described – the Marriage Feast of the Lamb. Paul in Ephesians notes that earthly marriage is the dim reflection of the greater reality of Christ's love for the Church. You can frame all of creation and the garden as the story of a wedding between Adam and Eve. And how is this wedding in Cana going to go – is it going to go sideways and fall like the one in the Garden, or will it be a good one? Well, they're out of wine, running low on supplies – it's lack, it's frustration, it's embarrassment. And Mary, who is probably helping to run the shindig, just mentions to Jesus, “They have no more wine.”

You know what this means when a mom just drops a simple fact. It means you are supposed to fix it. I can't count the times my mom would say, “Eric, the trash can is pretty full” - that meant take out the trash and hop to it. Same thing here – Mary lays out for Jesus the situation – they're out of wine, and I know you can fix this. And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Last week Mary was embarrassed by Jesus being all Messianic – now she wants Him to get the show on the road. But Jesus points out – no, it's not the time for all that victory yet – it's not time for Easter and the resurrection yet – there's still more to come yet. Slow down Mom, it's not the feast of victory for our God yet. And Mary knows that – but she also knows that Jesus loves to help people, so just a quiet “Do what He says” spoken to the servants.

And then the sign in all its quiet simplicity. Fill up those stone jars used for ritual washing with water. 150 gallons or so. Alright, take it to the steward – and the steward tastes it, and he is dumbfounded because the wine is so good – this should have been served first when everyone had their clean taste. No one at the wedding besides the servants have any clue what is going on – and even then, no one knows the instant that the water becomes wine. It just is. And there's Jesus, off to the side, out of the way, quiet but caring, and the party continues.

This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. A sign, but no one sees except a few servants. It manifests glory, but there's no loud praise, there's no shouts of “thank you, Jesus” echoing through the hills. It's all so quiet, so mundane. You could have people years later who were at that Wedding who wouldn't have had any clue, who might not have even noticed that Jesus was there. How does this silent, subtle miracle that slides on by under the radar manifest the glory of Jesus?

What sort of God do you have? What sort of God is the Triune God that we worship? Is God insecure, where He has to blow His own horn all the time, pointing out over and over – see, I did that!? Is God a nag, where He tries to guilt trip you and rub your nose in it whenever He does something for you – I gave you that thing the other day, can't you at least do this little teeny weenie thing for Me? Is God a blowhard, full of bluster and bravado, always bragging and boasting? Not typically. How does God like to do thing – how does God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, like to care for you? How does He typically give you your daily bread? Simply and quietly, working behind the scenes, working through people, accomplishing great things in and for His creation in ways that people who don't know Him, who aren't His disciples, wouldn't even notice.

Jesus doesn't seek praise here. He isn't trying to steal the show away from the bride and groom. It's not His party yet – that will be the life of the world to come – that third day in Cana wasn't His third day yet. So let the focus be on them, but then the troubles of world, the hardships of sin, the impact of lack and want come creeping in. So very quietly, the Messiah sees that the daily bread of joy for that wedding day in Cana is given. Quietly, where no one would notice. Exactly how the LORD likes to operate. One of the great lines of the bible – Hebrews 13:2 - Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. That's how quiet, how behind the scenes God likes to be. Simple routine care. Simply fending off the impact of sin. Simply seeing that joy and love and delight go forth even here and now in this fallen, sinful world until that neverending day of eternal life where they shine forth undimmed forever.

This is how Jesus cares for you too, even today. You are given your daily bread, but in typical, mundane, plain, even frustrating ways. A job, a trip to the grocery store, a friend passing something on. Nothing flashy. Even things that we don't appreciate or find all that amazing. Yet God behind it all – blessing crops, granting strength and talents and safety, things continuing on in a blessed order that provides even as sin and the devil try to stir up so much chaos and strife against God. God orchestrating your neighbors in a grand symphony of simplicity so that you may receive what you need; God using you as His instrument of love and care so that your neighbor receives what they need. The servants at the wedding marveled at what happened; we should marvel no less at the wonders that God accomplishes for us and through us this coming Tuesday, or Thursday, or any typical day – for it is wondrous when seen through the eyes of faith.

And Jesus cares for you spiritually in the same simple, quiet way. Right here in His Church, by His Word. He speaks His forgiveness to you, and everything that He won for you upon the Cross and with His resurrection is applied to you. Your sin is taken away, and you have life in His name. Just with simple, normal words that we speak unto each other – I said them to you and you said them to me, but as easily as they slide off the tongue or perhaps were mumbled slightly distractedly, they are the Word of God and thus life giving. A baptism, with simple tap water and again that Word of God, and then there is a life giving flood of mercy and forgiveness. The Supper – and while the bread certainly is not artisanal and while Mogen David is no where near the quality of what they had in Cana, Christ Jesus Himself comes to be with you, gives Himself to you wondrously and mysteriously and quietly and simply. Because Jesus isn't focused on drawing attention to Himself – Jesus wants His Creation to receive His good gifts – whether it His people at a wedding in Cana or whether it's His people here in Herscher. And that's what He does.

Everything Jesus does, all that we see and hear in the Gospels, all that we see and hear throughout the Scriptures, all that we hear and see in our lives and in this Church, is so that you, His beloved, would receive good things. Blessings of Body, blessings of soul. Blessings today, and blessings eternal with creation restored. We receive wonders today as grand as they did at Cana, and just as quietly given. Because that is who Jesus is – God Almighty come to delight in blessing His creation, blessing you whom He loves. In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World – Amen.