Trinity 4 Sermon

 

Trinity 4 – Luke 6:36-42 – July 1^st and 2^nd, 2023

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

So last week Jesus reminded us that “there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” This is vital for us to understand, that God rejoices over forgiveness. That God actually wants sinners, sinners like your neighbor and also sinners like you, forgiven. And today we get a text that explains precisely why God wants sinners forgiven, and that is this: Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Thus far the text.

So what does this mean? What does it mean to be “merciful” here? The idea is that God likes mercy, that He seeks to show mercy. He takes pity upon people and has compassion upon them. It's not just that God is willing to let a grudge go if you ask Him nicely or kowtow before Him and appease Him – it is that when God sees the sad, messed up state of the world and the people therein, He wants to show mercy and compassion. Think about God coming upon Adam and Eve in the garden after they've sinned – God doesn't grab Adam by the scruff of the neck and start shaking – the LORD deals with them gently and calmly. Or in the rest of the Old Testament, God actually is quite gentle and delicate with people – the whole tabernacle set up was about how sinful people could safely be with God because God isn't really keen on wanton destruction. We think of the Old Testament as full of fire and brimstone, but it's not really. The only time that happens is after several warnings when people are basically literally begging for destruction and for the LORD to abandon them. Even Pharaoh got nine plagues before the tenth one hit. God isn't really out to just get people – He loves the world.

And then, you've got the New Testament. How often does Christ show compassion? How often is He gentle? He'll be patient with Pharisees even when they are messing with Him. About the only time we see Jesus angry is when people are messing with the temple, when they turn His house of prayer to a den of robbers. Even when being Crucified, Jesus calls out, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” Of course He does – that's what being merciful looks like. That's taking pity on people trapped in sin and death – that's what Jesus comes to rescue you from. First and foremost is this – God is merciful.

So understand what Satan is trying to do to you. Understand how the world and your sinful flesh will attack you. They want you, above all things, to forget that God is merciful. As soon as Adam and Eve sin, they hide – they forget God's mercy. They don't seek forgiveness (no one seeks God, not one) – but rather they run away from God and simply wait to die. That's Satan's plan, that's his desire – to separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. That is our default as sinful human beings. And even though you know that God is merciful, the temptations are going to be bombarding you from without and from within to forget that God is merciful.

This is why we hear Jesus next say – Judge not, and you will not be judged. Condemn not, and you will not be condemned. That's not the way the game is played today. Isn't the world full of snap judgments and calls for condemnation? Do you not realize what that is? It's not just politics, it's not just business as usual – it is a spiritual attack leveled upon you by the Devil to twist you away from God and His mercy. It is Satan trying to warp your mind to where you only critique and complain and condemn your neighbor and thus utterly forget and abandon God and His mercy. When you see your neighbor stuck in sin, you get driven to forsake mercy, abandon any efforts at helping, and rather to condemn, to pile on, to hurt and destroy. Do you see them just as an enemy to be defeated, or someone trapped in sin in dire need of rescue? And the thing is, that judgment, that loathing that you feel towards them... Satan will slowly twist it towards you where it becomes self-loathing followed with denial and bluster and pretend while life becomes more and more miserable. This is what we see all around, this is even what Satan is trying to do to you, to your own heart.

But Pastor, isn't God the judge? Well, yes – but what sort of judge is He? Is God out to throw the book at everyone, or does He desire to write your name in the book of Life? Does He go over everything with a harsh, fine tooth comb, or does He rather desire to cover everything, all of your sin, with the blood of Christ Jesus shed upon the Cross? Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. That's how the LORD seeks to judge, that's the wisdom of His judgments. Yes, you sin – but I will be your God and I will rescue you from sin and I will forgive and restore and raise you to new life. Does your anger, does your disdain towards your neighbor, towards your self, point you to your Merciful God? No. For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

On the contrary, the righteousness of God, what God deems to be the good and right and proper thing to do is to throw everything under the cross of Christ Jesus and forgive. Forgive, and you will be forgiven: give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. The point is forgiveness. For you, for them, for all. If anyone knows not the the forgiveness of Christ Jesus, it's a tragedy. But Pastor, what about the For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you. Yeah, what about it? There's forgiveness in Christ, rich forgiveness. If you live in Christ, that's what you receive, that's what you give – forgiveness will dominate your life. If not – you're trapped in the rat race, the scrum, the cruel game out there in the world where it's nothing but anger, animosity, and condescension. Jesus isn't telling you to go out and give it to “those people” - He's telling you that judgment like that is dumb and to flee from it. The point of the Church actually, truly, really is forgiveness – even though Satan does His damnedest to make you forget forgiveness.

Which leads to our brief parable – Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? To forget that Jesus forgives is to be blind, and without forgiveness all you do is end up in the pit, end up in hell. That's just the reality. And if you blind yourself to forgiveness when dealing with your neighbor, you'll never lead them anywhere good, you'll just wreck the both of you. Rather – a disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. That “fully trained” is an interesting idea – it's fully refreshed, fully restored, fully up to speed. This is what Christ Jesus does to you – He forgives you, He refreshes and restores and renews you with His forgiveness - for your good, yes, but also for your neighbor's good – so that you will be one who forgives them.

And this whole premise of forgiveness is wrapped up thusly – How can you say to your brother, “Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,” when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye?” You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye. You can't forgive unless you've been forgiven. You can't deal with your neighbor rightly unless you deal with them as someone who is forgiven by Christ, as someone who lives in and from Christ's forgiveness. Otherwise instead of cleaning the neighbor's eye, it will just return to that old eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth fight and clamor.

So no – remember and know your own sinfulness. Know your own log. Know how great it is – and then know how Christ Jesus deals with that sin – by dying for it. By shedding His blood for it. By washing it way from you in the waters of Holy Baptism. That's who you are – a baptized child of God, forgiven and redeemed! You're one Christ Jesus has rescued from the hypocritical judgment games of the world – and the result of this is that you see clearly now. If the Holy Spirit reveals to you your neighbor's sin, that's not so that you can crush them, not so that you will know where to stick the knife in – no – the log is out of your eye and you can see so that you know where forgiveness needs to be applied, where forgiveness needs to be given.

This is what we pray for (as we've been instructed to) in the Lord's Prayer – forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Get rid of our logs, O Lord, that we may tend to our neighbor's speck! The two ideas are tied – you receive forgiveness so that you become an instrument of God where by your neighbor receives forgiveness as well. That's the chief, the highest form of love for the neighbor that God works and increases in you – that's the point. Of course it is – because that's who Jesus is. Jesus is determined to forgive you – He came not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him! Jesus came to rescue you – and He has in your Baptism, He does so again and again in the preaching of His Word, in His Supper. Over and over He wrests your eyes away from the stupid fights of the world and forgives your sins and pulls all the cruft and junk out of your eyes. Because He is merciful – because that's what He actually wants to do.

My dear friends in Christ, you are surrounded by such satanic and demonic hate and rage and twistedness – and your Lord knows that this is the case. This is why He forgives you again and again, to rescue you, to restore you, to prepare you to be His voice of forgiveness unto people who desperately need it. And He knows this is messy, so He will forgive you again and again here in His House. Oh give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, and His mercy endureth forever. Amen. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

Trinity 3 Sermon

 

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

Last week our Lord said, “Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.” Well, if you want a text to rail on the importance of Missions, that sounds like one! And then this week we get the lost sheep, the lost coin – oh, the fundraising for missions I could do, the finger wagging, the guilt trips that could come! But is that the point of what Jesus is driving at with these parables?

You see, there's a way of hearing these parables that has become common, where we hear parables like these, and we think that they are descriptions of what we, you and I, are supposed to do. Well, I'm clearly supposed to be finding lost sheep, or finding the lost coin. This parable is about what I do. We turn these parables into giant law bombs about how we should go do more... and then we either justify ourselves by saying we do enough, we go through points in the past, oh, I remember when I was nice to Bob when he was sort of lost, I did this. Or we maybe put a bit extra to missions – all nice things, mind you – but that's not the point of these parables. That's not the set up. Listen.

Now, the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear [Jesus], and the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” The reason Jesus preaches these parables isn't that He's trying to make the Pharisees work more or squeeze a few bucks out of the Scribes – it's because they are grumbling. It's because they are looking down on “sinners”. Oh, blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God – woah, wait! What in the world are you doing eating with THAT person, Jesus!?!? You're a healing spoilsport at our feast and now you're eating with the riff-raff – this is just messed up Jesus! So do you see? These parables are not told to be a motivational speech or a money grabbing guilt trip. They are addressing the disdain that we can have towards our neighbor.

So He told them this parable. What man of you, having 100 sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? Well, some shepherds might not. They might do a cost-benefit analysis – I might gain one sheep, but something bad could happen to the rest, maybe I just write this off and use it as a tax benefit. But Jesus is rhetorically speaking against such cold-blooded heartlessness. Let's assume there's a shepherd who actually loves the sheep, who owns them, who sees the wolf coming and doesn't flee. Well, that sort of shepherd, when he sees that one sheep is lost, he goes after the sheep. Why? Because he loves that sheep, he values that sheep – probably knows the sheep's name, and quite possibly has a good guess at where Bob wondered off to because that's what his Bob does.

And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.” You all know this sort of conversation. Something went wrong in your day, but it resolved well – there was a happy ending, and you sit around and you laugh with your friends as you tell them about it. You might have had conversations like this before church, and you might have them afterwards. You know those sorts of happy conversations – that's exactly how Jesus responds to forgiving people – Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Sometimes we get tempted into thinking that forgiveness exasperates Jesus – as though when He hears about sin He sighs, and rolls His eyes and then sort of just, “Okay, I forgive you... again. Try not to do it any more.” Almost as though forgiving people is an annoying chore. No, that's not Jesus – that's your sinful flesh. Jesus actually delights in forgiveness. That's why He came. That's why He was born, why He lived, why He died, why He rose – so that He could forgive, so that He would fill heaven with the joy of forgiveness, so that He would pack heaven full of forgiven sinners, lost sheep who were wandering off in stupidity and folly. Sheep are going to be sheep, sinners are going to sin – but that doesn't stop Jesus from being who He is – the Good Shepherd who forgives sin. Who not only finds the lost sheep but saves the sheep from the great wolf that seeks to devour it.

Okay, fine, fine, fine Jesus. You don't mind forgiving Bob, even though he's a stupid sheep. Well, no, don't denigrate these sinners – that misses the point. Let's give another parable. Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost!” Just so I tell you, there is joy before the Angels of God over one sinner who repents. Don't denigrate that “sinner” who repents, that “sinner” whom you don't like and think that you're better than. They are valuable. They're a silver coin. They are a drachma, a day's wages. They're an awesome $200 coin from the US Mint. And they ought to be found, they ought to be recovered – and God rejoices when they are. When they are pulled out from under the couch, when they are pulled away from sin and brought to God's House and feast, that's a joyous thing! And if you are tempted to think that I'm overselling the idea that the sinners have value, the next parable that rolls right into this one is the prodigal son – where the younger son has just as much value as the older son. This is the point, Jesus loves forgiving. Jesus came to forgive sinners.

And now, perhaps, the elephant in the room. Consider the Pharisees and the Scribes, how they looked on with disdain – He eats with sinners! Well, yeah, and He ate with you last week, and don't you remember how He was pointing out your sin last week? You should know from experience that Jesus eats with sinners... or do you not think of yourselves that way? In your pride, in your smugness, did you think that Jesus was talking about those people, those sinners over there. Or even that, dear Trinity folks, that Jesus was just talking to the Pharisees? Oh, no, no, no my friends – this is Jesus speaking to you.

How does Jesus respond to you when you sin? When you act the foolish sheep – you are one of Jesus' little lambs after all, are you not? It's common, beloved imagery – but we forget what it means. Yes, sheep are cute, lambs are cuddly – but they're also – well, I could say “prone to wander” if I wanted to be polite – but the point is sheep are often stupid. And foolish. And don't pay attention. And wander off into danger. And don't really have good ways of protecting themselves. Sound like you this week? I bet it does. I'm sure each of you here wandered into some places you shouldn't have in thought, word, and deed. Foolishly even. And yet, here you are in God's House. You've been found, rescued by Christ, brought back to the fold in repentance. And what is Jesus' reaction to you, now? Joy. Utter joy and delight that you have been repented and forgiven. He's going to gather up the angels and archangels and all the saints of heaven and have a feast of celebration with you and over you in a few minutes – because this Supper is for the forgiveness of your sins.

Oooo, but sometimes we don't want to deal with the reality of our sinfulness. We're much more comfortable talking about maybe some extra holy homework we could do – maybe a little less on my sin pastor and maybe a bit more on how I can help missions? I can write a check and feel better. Not so! Did you not hear – Jesus doesn't want your money; you are His money, His silver coin. We see our sin, and we try to avoid confronting it, because we know that our sin cheapens us. It makes us less than we were meant to be. Money lost in the couch can't pay any bills, after all – it's lost, it's useless. As in your sin, so often you are. Your sin wrecks your utility – you get mad at Bob and then you don't show love to Bob like you ought – that's sin and you've been useless, a lost coin. Yeah... and Jesus finds you and rejoices. He finds you and He redeems you, He buys you back, He forgives you, He restores your value, He strengthens you in faith towards God and in love toward neighbor and He will use you wisely and to His good plans. He'll use you before you even notice the goodness He is doing through (Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you?), and when you are lost and sinny He will find you and restore you, because that is who Jesus is and what He delights in doing – forgiving sinners, forgiving you.

You see, the danger is this. Our sinful flesh loves creating categories, putting people into boxes. And we love to put people into boxes where they are lower than us – we put them down there and think we're so great because we're not them. But that misses the joy, the heavenly joy. You are a sinner, you are a lowly and miserable sinner – you're not better than them – you are in fact the chief of sinners, the dumbest of the sheep, the coin lost in the stupidest place in the house – but Christ Jesus became man for you, and He died and rose for you, to forgive you, to find you, to rescue and restore you – and He delights in this. So you sin – duh. That's no surprise to anyone else. But Jesus repents you, and forgives you, and all heaven rejoices precisely because Jesus finds and forgives you. We laud and magnify Christ's glorious Name, evermore praising Him and saying... oh, let's get to the Supper and rejoicing already. You've been found by Jesus. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

Trinity 2 Sermon

 

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

    Last week in our Gospel lesson we heard Abraham declare, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.” Hear the Word. Or as President Berry of the LCMS would have said it back in the 90s – Get in the Word, Missouri! Of course we are to be in the Word – it's Jesus' Word – it's the Word that not only tells us about Jesus, but gives us Jesus Himself. The Word of God is living and active – sharper than any two edged sword. With His Word of Law God cuts us to the quick, showing and crushing our sin and killing it; and with His Word of life Jesus binds, forgives, gives life, and joins us unto Himself. All the dross that would get in the way of Jesus is bulldozed, cleared away by the Law, and then Christ is given, and with Him life, everlasting life! Who wouldn't want that?

    Well, frankly, no one actually wants that. Even you. Even me. When Christ Jesus tears down idols, He's going to tear down idols that you really like. When the Holy Spirit calls out sin – He's going to call out sins that you really like. There's a reason we're more comfortable pointing out those terrible sins that those people over there do – things that we'd never be tempted unto. However, the Law of God is not meant to be a telescope used to pry into the lives of people over there – it is a mirror, it shows the sin of your heart, of your mind, of your lips and your hands. And so, in reality your life as a Christian is a war. The New Man within you wars with the old man within you, with your sinful flesh. Constantly. Until the day you die and are raised to new life free from sin, you are going to fight against hearing God's Word, hearing Moses and the prophets. That is the point, the warning of the parable our Lord speaks today.

    So, the set up – Jesus is at a Sabbath meal at the house of one of the Pharisees, and Jesus has already made dinner really uncomfortable. This is the same meal where where Jesus heals on the Sabbath, where He points out the last will be first. We'll get that in 4 months or so. But the point for today is Jesus has made this meal... awkward. He's pointed out the Pharisees' smug disdain, their greed, their haughtiness, and called them to repent of it. In other words, the Law has been preached. And it's awkward. So, what to do when the Law has been proclaimed? Do we confess, or do we ignore it? Oh, Jesus your Savior, who will save you even from yourself, doesn't like to let you ignore it.

    When one of those who had reclined at table with [Jesus] heard these things, he said to Him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” Ah, yes, well, very good points you made there... and um, yes, let's talk about the future. Oh, someday it will be nice to be in heaven – oh yes, yes, we can all agree on that. Now let's change the topic and move on, I've said something nice and pious sounding, moving on. Jesus is right there with them. The Kingdom of God is literally at hand. The long awaited Messiah is in the room with them, but they all want to ignore this fact, desperately. They are literally feasting with Jesus, but they just sort of wish Jesus would be quiet and go away.

    Oh, Jesus is neither quiet, nor does He go away – thanks be to God! Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me, let Jesus never be silent! Instead, Jesus speaks – He speaks a parable about these Pharisees, and yes, also a parable about you, for sinful flesh is as it ever was, and the temptations of Satan might get dressed up differently but they remain the same from age to age. Listen. A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, “Come, for everything is now ready.” John the Baptist came preaching – the Kingdom of God is at hand – the time to celebrate with the Messiah, with Emmanuel, with God with us is at hand. You have heard the Word, you are invited – the time is now.

    But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, “I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.” And another said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them, please have me excused.” And another said, “I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.” Ah, these excuses. I have too much wealth, I cannot come. I'm too busy, I cannot come. It's my wife's fault, so I can't come – as if blaming the wife isn't literally the oldest excuse in the book. These are the excuses of the Pharisees; their wealth and prestige were the “reasons” they had for ignoring Jesus, for thinking they didn't really need Him. Look at how grand and comfortable our lives are, see our busy routines – we can't be bothered to come to your feast, Jesus. We might deign to invite you to one of ours, where we will test you, and ignore you, and pretend you weren't here, but it will all be on our terms. Oh, the Pharisees – what a chance they had to enjoy a feast with Jesus that day – but they all alike made their excuses and did not even know what they had in front of them.

    But the excuses are the same today. We know – the the Kingdom of God is here. The times for worship are set. We know, like clockwork – 5 pm on Saturday and 8:30 Sunday – come to the great banquet. Now, last week if you didn't know about the picnic, I'll give you that one – but we all know when service starts – that 15 minutes into the service we'll be hearing the Word of God and preaching, that 35 minutes in or so the feast where Jesus Himself comes to give Himself to you will be starting. And we have two of these, on two different days, you have options for what is more convenient. We should be grateful for that! A day is coming when that might not be the case, when congregations simply have to share too few pastors to go around, so if the circuit rider can get out on Tuesday night that's when stuff happens.

    And yet, what happens. Week in and week out, the struggle, the fight to come to the great banquet. There are things to do, wealth to be enjoyed, the weak and groaning flesh saying not today. And sometimes those things are real – if your son falls down a well on the Sabbath – you take care of your kid. Sometimes the boss is a pain – we get that. But sometimes, often times, there's just that drag, that pull, those silly and stupid excuses for something else. Something good, even – a blessing from God... that we end up setting against God and using as an excuse to ignore His feast, to ignore His Word. Thus the reality of life in the sinful world. From our perspective, it takes personal discipline and accountability to get to Church, and you're always going to have things fighting against you coming here.

    So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, “Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.” And the servant said, “Sir, what you have commanded has been done, and still there is room.” And the master said to the servant, “Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.” Ooph. A stern rebuke to these Pharisees who thought that they were so wondrous, that they were surely owed God's favor. A stern rebuke to you, when your pride makes you forget why and how you are here, how and why you are at the feast. It's not because of how great you are, how wondrous you are, how smart you are – it's because God shows grace, that is unmerited and unearned love and favor to people who do not deserve it and cannot earn it.

    Go bring the poor in Spirit, who struggle against sin. Go bring the crippled, those who cannot show forth the love of God that they were created to show as they ought. Go bring the blind, who do not see the full reality of sin and temptation. Go bring the lame, who have no strength of themselves. Go bring you. And that is what Christ Jesus has done. By hook or by crook, Jesus has brought you to His feast today. He's done it – He has worked life in you over and against your sinful flesh and the world. In fact, He has found you when you were lost, wandering down the highways of sin, the broad path that leads to destruction. He found you when you were hiding from Him, even as He found Adam and Eve hiding in their own hedge so long ago and proclaimed the Gospel to them. The Holy Spirit is at work in you, making you to remember the Word, to hear it again, to receive Jesus again. Just as the Spirit works for so many.

    And the thing is, this feast, this church, this congregation – it isn't about you. If you give heed to your flesh and leave, it will go on without you. The Pharisees didn't stop Jesus from bringing the Kingdom – all they did was wrest themselves away from it stupidly and foolishly. But, this feast is always, always for you – it is always Christ Jesus here, now, present for you, to wrest you away from sin and to give you Himself. Jesus forgives you. Jesus gives you life now. That isn't just a pretty saying, that is reality – a reality that is both daunting and wondrous – daunting to your sinful flesh because it will be crushed, and sinful plans will be undercut, and wicked dreams will be dashed – but it is wondrous for it is freedom from sin, it is joy that the world and its wickedness cannot take away, it is peace that you cannot wrap your mind around, it is hope in the face of all the wickedness and evil in the world. It is Christ Jesus for you; it is you eating bread that is also Christ's Body now in Christ's Kingdom, even as you are called to feast of the Supper of the Lamb for all eternity with all the saints of God. Christ Jesus comes to us today; let us feast upon Him. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

Trinity 1 Sermon

 

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

    The problem with parables is that we can become too familiar with them – like an old joke that you've heard so many times and you just rush on into the punch line without even getting any amusement. We know, to get to the other side. We get this parable, pastor – greedy rich man bad. Ho hum. But that's not actually the point of the parable – this isn't meant to be a lambasting of the rich text, despite what people today might say. Jesus didn't tend to lambaste the rich – quite a few of them followed Him around, actually bankrolled His ministry. Allow me to reframe, to re-present the parable afresh.

    There was a good man, a fine, upstanding pillar of society. This was a good man who was blessed by God. Everything he did was successful, and he enjoyed good things in life. He donated to all the right causes, was a pillar of the community. He was utterly respected – like Nicodemus he was a ruler of the Jews – the sort of man you would hope that your sons would grow up to be like, the sort of man you hoped that you daughter might marry. A good man, thoroughly blessed by God.

    And then there was Lazarus. He was, oh, there's no really nice way to put it, but he was a bum. He had wasted his life. He lived rough, he was foolish, did dangerous things, hung out with the riff raff, and his life fell completely apart. You could see it when you looked at him. He was full of wounds; his own body bore the marks and scars of his ill-lived life. This wasn't just tragedy or bad luck – this was the chickens coming home to roost. Lazarus has with his folly, with his life of abuse, wrecked his body. And we see him in a bad state – and so his “friends” ditch him, they just dump him off at the rich fellow's house (they literally throw him there, in the Greek) – might be the only place Lazarus might get any care.

    Well, whatever help that kind, good, rich man could give, it wasn't enough. Lazarus dies, having worn out his welcome in this world, and he is carried by the angels to Abraham's side... and there it is. The record scratch moment of the parable. Wait, what are you talking about Jesus? What do you mean Lazarus goes to be with Abraham – Lazarus was vile! He was wretched. I think you're a bit confused there, Jesus. Doesn't matter to Jesus, because He keeps on telling the story. The rich guy dies, and he gets buried with all the mourners there, and a nice grave, and well, then he's there is hell, burning and roasting away – WHAT? Wait, what are you talking about Jesus? This was a Capital fellow – surely he'd be at Abraham's side, at a good spot! Oh, no, no, no – this rich guy is deep down in hell – I mean, he has to look way up and way far away to see where Abraham is.

    This is the setting for the parable, the surprise, the twist that we forget. We're so used to the rich man being the “bad guy” and so used to Lazarus being the good guy that we forget how shocking and upsetting this parable and it's premise is. And often we will make extrapolations on the story, things to make clear that really the rich man was a bad guy – clearly he wasn't charitable, so you need to be more charitable too. Well, it's not bad to be charitable, but that's not why the rich man is in hell in the story – Abraham doesn't lecture the rich man on how selfish he was. And it's not that Lazarus was some how noble in the story – he's not. He's pathetic – and the assumption, especially back then, was that he had done plenty of stuff to earn his pathetic lot. And frankly, it might actually be that way even by our standards – those wounds as they are described in the text seem to be consequences of his actions. So to anyone hearing this parable, the hinge, the great question to be answered would be this – how in the world does such a good guy, a well blessed man end up in hell? Especially instead of some wretched junkie who O.D.s on his porch.

    Well, let's listen to this Rich Man's confession – because we hear him speak, and that's where we see what is going on in this man's heart. And he called out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.” It seems like a good start – have mercy. Not bad. But not really good. What does mercy look like here? Is mercy, “I have done wrong and I need forgiveness?” Is mercy, “I have messed up and I need deliverance?” No, not really. Here it's more, “Hey Abraham, you and I, we're both good people – help me out. It's lousy here, I need water. I wouldn't ask you to help, because you're a good fellow and you shouldn't have to suffer, but send that junkie Lazarus down here with some water to cool me off a bit.” Do you hear it – the pride in the background, the smugness. There is no reflection on why he is there, whether or not he deserves this punishment – simply that there should be relief, that someone the likes of him ought not be there. And the thing is, the crowd hearing Jesus preach this parable might be inclined to agree with him.

    But Abraham cuts him off - “Child” - pause there. Abraham calls him child. Boy. Abraham doesn't call him son, Abraham doesn't treat him like family, and he doesn't treat him like an adult, like a brother. What does it mean if you address someone in a conversation as “Boy”? Or in the south if someone drops a, “Child”? You aren't a grown up, you aren't mature, you don't know what you are talking about. Abraham cut the rich man down to size. Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. Tables have turned, haven't they. You had a time where you were richly blessed – Lazarus had struggle and a rough, bad life. But that's not the way it is here. Things are different here. You aren't getting anything here – and all those blessings you had are gone. Lazarus is comforted, paracleted, Holy Spirited – but you are in anguish. Or, to put it this way, despite what we might have assumed simply by appearance, Lazarus actually had faith, had the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, while the rich man was in fact faithless and Spiritless – and thus His anguish. This isn't about works, this isn't about success, this isn't about good life decisions – this story all hinges upon faith. And the rich man, despite all his blessings that he had received from God, had none.

    And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.” And it's too late now, anyway. If you had paid attention to the Scriptures you would have known this. You would have expected this. But you didn't, so tough luck.

    But the rich man retorts – Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house - for I have five brothers – so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment. And here again, this is something that would have just sat poorly, would have made people's skin crawl a bit. I mean, the idea is nice, go warn my brothers – but this isn't how you treat Abraham. This isn't how you deal with Father Abraham – you're in torment and you're still giving directions. You're giving directions to Abraham? Ew. Which is why Abraham is curt, dismissive – They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them. This is an official pronouncement – this is the king saying, “Let it be done.” “Make it so.” This should be the end of the story. They have the Scriptures – hear the Scriptures and have faith, believe in the promises of God and receive the Spirit – this is how salvation happens.

    But this unbelieving rich man just won't shut his trap and listen. No, Father Abraham - if you happen to be wearing pearls, ladies, now would be the time to clutch them. This is shocking, this is vile. You don't backtalk Abraham like this, and you certainly don't contradict him, especially on matters of Faith. No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. He said to him, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.

    Of course they won't be convinced if someone should rise from the dead. The Scriptures taught that there would be One who would be raised from the dead on the third day, even Jesus Christ who is telling this very story. And those who delighted in the Word and received the Holy Spirit would rejoice at Jesus' resurrection, and those who disdained the Word before the Crucifixion, well, they tended to keep on disdaining it afterwards. After all, come Good Friday, Jerusalem sided with the rich and powerful, the chief priests and the scribes and the Pharisees, rather than Jesus. Jesus looked like Lazarus – He was covered with wounds and sores – but Jesus earned them, back talking the chief priest, threatening the temple, claiming to be the Messiah – He had it coming.

    By the teaching of the Word of God, by the working of the Holy Spirit giving you eyes of faith, you see differently. You see yourself differently – judging yourself not upon earthly success or failure, but by the Law of God which calls all, all of us unto repentance. And yet God promises salvation, promises blessings to come – and by faith you believe. By faith, Abraham believed in the coming promise – And [Abraham] believed the LORD, and He counted it to him as righteousness. Abraham at times lived an awfully rough life too – something we miss if we don't actually read the full account of his story. There are ups and there are downs – yet the hinge is this. Abraham believed the Lord, and thus Abraham was accounted righteous by faith. And this is the story played out in the Old Testament – all the heroes fail, all have flaws. The question was always do they repent and believe in the promise of salvation, or do they trust in themselves instead of God. This is the teaching of Moses and the prophets.

    The promises of God that Moses and the Prophets pointed to have been fulfilled by Christ Jesus. God's love for our fallen race has been shown in Christ – who bore up our sin, our shame, the consequences of our sin upon the Cross, who rose from the dead defeating death and shame. The promises that have been applied to you – not only proclaimed to you in the Moses and the Prophets, but the Epistles of the Apostles and the Gospels as well – the promises that have been poured upon your head in Holy Baptism, the promises given to you in the Supper. There, in Christ, and there alone is life, eternal life, comfort, the Holy Spirit at work. No where else. It doesn't matter whether or not the world thinks you're swell – the world's standards change all the time, and generation after generation pick out new sins to highlight and new sins to ignore and new sins to celebrate all in a vain attempt to avoid the confession that I, yes, me, I am a sinner according to God's Word. No, you and I, we are sinners. And sometimes we even look as wretched as we are. But Christ Jesus has died for you, as He had promised to, and in Him there is forgiveness and life and the eternal comfort of the Spirit, all thanks be to God. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

Trinity Sunday Sermon

 

Trinity Sunday – John 3 – June 3^rd and 4^th, 2023

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

Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Do you hear Jesus' frustration with Nicodemus in our text today? The exasperation – this almost disbelief at Nicodemus' unbelief and lack of understanding? Jesus is a bit frustrated with Nicodemus at this point, and well He should be. Consider how this conversation Jesus had with Nicodemus has gone up to this point.

First, the set up. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night... Pause there. Do you get the political realities that are going on here? Jesus spends His days preaching and teaching, and doing so openly, publicly, all over the place. If you wanted to ask a question of Jesus, you had plenty of daylight to do it in – especially if you were an important man. The crowds would let you through, the crowds would have quieted down if good old Nicodemus had asked Jesus a question – that's the respect that Nicodemus had as a ruler of the Jews. But no, that would be too public. I can't let people see, what would people think if they found out I was a Jesus freak? Or even thought it? So I'll come to Jesus, off hours. Ah, great. Thanks.

And then Nicodemus decides to talk – Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with Him. Again, understand what this is. It's not a question. It's not a confession of faith. It's political – it's feeling out a potential political ally – or political enemy. If I walk up to someone and say, “So, I heard the town is thinking about doing whatever” - that's an invitation for them to respond and I can judge that response. Nicodemus is sussing this Jesus fellow out – is Jesus going to be a pain in the ying-yang or a useful idiot – those are the two available categories to the savvy politician.

Which is why Jesus just sort of cuts Nicodemus off at the knees – repeatedly. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. You don't get it, Nicodemus, and you cannot get it. All your political pull and all the earthly respect will garner you nothing here. Unless you are born to new life, unless there is the working of water and the Spirit, you're not going to understand the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom above and beyond all the earthly political games you like to play. We're not talking just earthly stuff here – I'm not here just to make you pick up a few points in popularity or put a few more coins in your pocket. You're thinking too small, Nicodemus – but that's not a surprise. You've not been born again.

And the thing is, dear Nicodemus, there is no angle for you to work here. There is no political play or a way for you to work the system. You're not in control of this, you don't get to run this, no more than you get to control the weather. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. [Remind you of Pentecost last week? Jesus loves foreshadowing, especially to people who don't expect anything interesting to be coming.] So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. No, Nicodemus, what Jesus is doing with His preaching and teaching, with His signs as you so correctly called them, has nothing do to with anything that you are thinking about. It has nothing to do with influence in the world or making a bit of scratch. Nope – the Spirit moves in ways that are certainly mysterious to you – you'll see it but if you are thinking fleshly, worldly thoughts – you'll never understand.

And that's when Nicodemus gives his “How can these things be?” response – a response that is utterly dismissive. And now the incredulous frustration from Jesus, the exasperation - Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Nicodemus, you called Me a rabbi – aren't you one yourself? You're supposed to be a Rabbi, one who deals with the Scriptures, with the things of God – why aren't you dealing with Scripture? Why aren't you dealing with the Word of God? Why are you caught up in the junk of the sinful world instead of focusing upon God and His deliverance? The frustration is palpable. And yet, my friends, my fellow believers who often even do things that would rightly and understandable frustrate God, who with our own sin and stupidity basically make Jesus facepalm – what does Jesus do with Nicodemus? Does Jesus send him away? Does Jesus yell, “Back, back with you, back into the darkness, back into the shadow! I spurn you as I would spurn a rabid dog!” Nope. Jesus gives Nicodemus a bible study.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life. This was our old Testament lesson three weeks ago – Numbers 21. People in the wilderness, they grumble, we hate this worthless food (talking about the manna) – and fiery serpents come and bite them, and they start dying painfully. And God has Moses put a bronze, fiery serpent on a pole, and anyone who looks at the serpent on the pole lives.

What's going on with that story? Well, you have people who are stuck thinking simply worldly – I'm tired of this stupid journey, I'm tired of this stupid wilderness, I'm tired of this manna – I want this and that and blah blah blah. They are thinking fleshly – simply of the here and now. And yet – where in reality were those people? They were in the midst of the Exodus – the great emblem, the great foreshadowing example of God's salvation – that God moves people from bondage and servitude unto the promised land! They were in the wilderness, yes – but God provided for them, food they didn't work for, clothes that didn't wear out. Behold that God will provide for your needs, even until you reach the promised land, not just the earthly promised land, but eternal life and the resurrection of the dead! There's something bigger that just “Ugh, Manna and quail again” going on here! Something Spiritual, the grand story of the salvation of the world is playing out. And the people don't see it, and they grumble, and complain. Well, let's fix your eyes on the big picture again – let's remind you that things are about God's salvation and deliverance.

Ah, yes, you snakebit sinners, you who are tormented by the powers and attacks of Satan, you need deliverance, don't you? Well, in the wilderness, they saw the serpent on the pole lifted up, and they lived. But you know what, Nicodemus, that's really foreshadowing to the main event. You too, Nicodemus, are snakebit – you've been bedeviled by Satan in to being nothing but flesh, where you only think about worldly power, worldly favor. In fact, you think that the chief sign of God's blessing, God's love for you is how much cash you have, how much fame you have. We today understand completely where Nicodemus is – the world still craves after power, wealth, mammon (if I can use that old word), and we all know that same appeal. And we all know the same temptation to think that our worldly success is the sign of how much God likes us, how much God approves of us. Dare I say we are tempted to think that earthly success and validation is the sign of God's love.

It's not. There's your sign. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Understand precisely how God loves the world. Not by giving you more of the world – no, He loves you, He loves everyone by giving His Son, by lifting up Christ Jesus upon the Cross, so that you would be rescued from sin, death, and the Devil. Upon the Cross, Jesus dies – taking up the weight and guilt of your sin, atoning for it, cleansing you from it. And Jesus rises on the third day, paving the way for your resurrection – and seeing Christ Crucified, you have forgiveness, life, and salvation – and it doesn't matter what your earthly station is, rich or poor, male or female, republican or democrat, Cubs or Sox, German or Irish, or whatever other stupid reason we might come up with to denigrate people about. This Cross is how God loves the world, the cosmos. Whoever believes in Him will have eternal life.

And the world doesn't get the Cross. We're remembering this fact, especially as the disdain of Christ and His Cross grows and grows more brazen – but the world and the worldly have always thought the church was for suckers and fools. Duh. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. Worldly folk are going to be worldly. But you – ah, consider what God has done for you. Unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Well, you know what God has done – He has washed you with water and the Spirit right there in Holy Baptism, and He's entered you into the Kingdom of God, not as a peasant under His thumb, but as His child, and an heir to all the wealth and power of His eternal Spiritual kingdom. He's done it, and that's why we tie Baptism to the sign of the Cross – because your Baptism is the proof that this love of God shown upon the Cross – yes, this cross applies to you. You're baptized. God has seen you baptized – let no one ever make you think He doesn't love you. Turn from your sin, turn from the whiles of the world, and look to the Cross and live. See the sign appointed for you. Hold out your hands and receive the Body of Christ the Crucified, take and drink His blood shed for you there upon the Cross, and know that you have life – for you are born of the Spirit and a child of God.

There's a happy little coda to this story of Nicodemus at the end of John's Gospel. Jesus had this conversation with Nicodemus not to lambaste him. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Nicodemus comes to faith, and Nicodemus beholds Christ upon the Cross and lives. Nicodemus literally beholds Jesus on the Cross – in fact, it's Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea who take Jesus off of the Cross and bury Him. Jesus, even in exasperation, still loves Nicodemus, still preaches to Nicodemus, still sees that Nicodemus receives forgiveness. Thus your story as well. Jesus has died for you, and you will know Christ's love for you in your Baptism, in the preaching and teaching of Christ, in the Supper – and you will behold Jesus face to face in the life of the world to come. So enjoy the journey of this life, this time in this wilderness of the world, but know that you truly belong to the Kingdom of God, O baptized child of God! In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

Pentecost Sermon

 

In the Name of Christ the Crucified +

    The crowd had gathered to the temple, as crowds would do every Pentecost – the holiday that happened 50 days after the Passover, the gathering of the first fruits. Faithful Jews from all over the Roman Empire and even beyond, people who had been scattered to the four winds over the course of history, they would dream about making it to Jerusalem for one of the major festivals like Pentecost. They'd return as semi-familiar strangers – speaking their own new languages or Greek, the Aramaic that was used in Jerusalem being foreign. And they'd go to the temple – and they'd get ready for the sacrifices, and they'd probably be overcharged and cheated by the moneychangers, but they were there.

    And this Pentecost, the faithful who came to the feast were met by strange rumors, happily translated. Strange things had happened 50 days earlier around the Passover. Rumors would have passed in Greek, the common language of the day, or maybe you'd pick up bits in your broken Aramaic – but some Jesus fellow was crucified – and was He raised from the dead or not? Was He a rebellious crackpot or the Messiah? Did He seek to destroy the temple or cleanse it? Imagine listening to those rumors in some other language. What confusion!

    And finally the day of Pentecost arrives, and you are there for all the proceedings. And first, there's a strange, mighty rushing wind – and you go to the temple, because that's the place where everyone would gather – and there are these Galileans, and they are preaching – but you hear them speaking not in Greek, not in Aramaic, but you hear them speaking clearly your own tongue, in your own language, as fluent as a native. And while you're amazed at this wonder, other people mock, deride – they're drunk.

    Then one of them, Peter, begins to preach. No, they are not drunk – this is what Joel spoke of being fulfilled, this is the Spirit of God being poured out – the preparation that comes before the end, before the great and magnificent day of the Lord. And Peter preaches:

     Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know—  this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.  God raised Him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it.  For David says concerning Him, “I saw the Lord always before me,  for He is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with Your presence.”

    Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.  Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne,  he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.  This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.  Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool.” Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

    What had happened in Jerusalem 50 days before? You killed the the Christ. Yes, you. On account of your sin, on account of your wickedness, on account of the very sins that you came to the temple today to make sacrifice for, the true Sacrifice was made – the spotless Lamb of God was crucified. It may have been done by the hands of the Romans, it may have been spurred on by the priests – but in truth, it was your sin that placed Jesus upon the Cross.

    Yet Jesus' sacrifice there was not like any sacrifice you had seen before, or that your fathers had seen before. The sacrifices of old simply died. They may have been burned to ashes, they may have been turned into a feast, but they died, and those sacrifices stayed dead, and had to be repeated over and over and over again – the old dies and a new must be brought forth again and again. Now, no longer! For this Jesus whom you Crucified has been raised by God the Father, raised from the dead, raised to life imperishable. David told you this was coming! David spoke to the coming Messiah – indeed, David told us that the Messiah would sit at the right hand of God, and indeed, Jesus has been raised from the dead and He has ascended unto heaven and He sits at the right hand of the Father. Forget all rumors, ignore all mummuring – this is what has happened. Jesus the Messiah has come – and He has died, atoning for your sin, and He has been risen victorious, life restored, never to die again, and He is seated at the right hand of God with all power, with all authority.

    Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”   Of course the people were cut to the heart! Of course they were shocked and worried about what they were to do. This wasn't how people thought the story would go. The Messiah was to bring deliverance, the Messiah was to bring victory and triumph and crush our enemies – and we killed Him. It would be like hearing the story of David, but instead you help Goliath kill David – but worse. And it is my sin, what I have done! What shall we do, what can we do? How do we work our way out of this mess?

    You don't. Jesus gets you out of this mess. And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”  I'm not preaching this merely to condemn you. I'm not preaching this simply to tell you how lost you are. Oh, you are to see your lostness, your sinfulness, and you are to repent of it, to turn from it, to fight against it – and you'll be fighting against it and repenting of sin for the rest of your life. But the solution is this – Jesus will save you. He will save you by Baptizing you. And when He baptizes you in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is making a promise to you. It is the promise that your sins are indeed forgiven before God, a promise that His death on the Cross indeed covers your sin – that no one has any right to pin your sin on you for He has taken it up. It is the promise of the Holy Spirit – the same Spirit who has called you to this faith in Jesus, the Spirit by which I preach, the Spirit by which you hear – the Spirit who is the Lord and Giver of life, not just physical life but life everlasting in the Name of Jesus.

    And having received this promise, know that it is not just for you – it is for your children. They too will be baptized and given this promise. And as for people who are even further removed from Jerusalem than you are, even gentiles and strangers from even farther away – yes, this promise is for them – behold Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

    Thus Peter's great Pentecost sermon. And there were others. All the Apostles would be preaching, this carries on the whole day. And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “[Be saved] from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. Do you see? Jesus is at work here, Jesus for you. Jesus who saves you out of whatever crooked generation you find yourself in – the same Jesus who calls you today out of the darkness of this present age into His marvelous light. The same Jesus who has you brought to the waters of Holy Baptism, just as He brought 3000 that first Pentecost to the waters of baptism. The same Jesus who put an end to the Old Testament sacrifices but not an end to the feast, who calls you to His table this very day to give you His own Body and Blood for the forgiveness of your sins and the strengthening of your faith.

    Yes, your sins are real. And as we move into the Trinity Season, we'll get all sorts of teaching that will touch upon how sin and unbelief attack you. But this is not to condemn you, but rather to shape and hone the repentance that Jesus gives you, and to prepare you to hear Christ's salvation again. Jesus says, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Indeed, He does, over and over – peace and forgiveness through His Word and Sacraments! The Peace of the Lord be with you always. Amen. In the Name of Christ the Crucified +

Ascension Observed Sermon

 

Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed, Alleluia! +

    And while they were gazing into heaven as He went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was take up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven.” We have reached the Ascension of our Lord – past it, actually. 40 days after Easter – which would have been this past Thursday, Jesus ascends. He wraps up His teaching with the Apostles, preparing them for life in the New Testament Church. Then, He ascends – and the disciples are left there, staring into the sky. Why are you looking there? That's not the point – Jesus is going to come back – and shouldn't you be on your way back to Jerusalem – He told you to wait there until you'd be clothed with power from on high (that will be next weekend, not to spoil it for you all in the congregation).

    But let's have a moment of sympathy for the Apostles – they've seen so many wondrous things, and in some ways that's over for them. They are suddenly in the same boat as the rest of us – they'll have to wait until the end of their lives to see Jesus again. And this is something that we can forget when we ponder the Bible, the great stories therein, all the times when God does these majestic things. Those wild things tend to be... rare and temporary. Consider the children of Israel in the wilderness – yes, the LORD was with them in the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud... but He also set up the tabernacle and said, “this is the way I'm going to be with you in the promised land – less flashy, but I'll be there.” Or the fact that they crossed through the Red Sea once – seas didn't part for them every day. Elisha sees Elijah taken up into heaven... but then Elisha has to go back to his new job as the head prophet. Peter, James, and John see the Transfiguration, but then it's just back down the mountain. Things return to normal.

    And normal – well, it's actually quite good. God continues to give us our daily bread, He daily and richly forgives us in His Church, He gives us everything that we need. But we sinful people, we can have a problem with normal. We can get bored. We can get forgetful. In just a few weeks the paraments will shift to green for the season of Trinity – for normal time, regular time in the church – and it will be green for a long time. And in times of peaceful calm, we can become complacent towards God, we can forget the wonders of the simple forgiveness and life He gives, we can forget the depth of the riches that He provides for us in His Church. God always sets things up to be normal and routine because that way things are predictable and we know where to find the gifts of God.

    And so before He ascends, Jesus sets up an order, a routine for how things will work until He returns. And it's a good order, a good routine. A good one for you, for your benefit. How so? Well, first – Jesus has given us the Holy Scriptures. “These are My Words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” The Scriptures, whether they are the Old Testament – the books of Moses, or the Psalms (which we've read from today) or the Prophets (which we've read from today) – they're Jesus' Words. And the New Testament, the memoirs of the Apostles and the Letters – they are Jesus' Words. The Inspired Word of God are Jesus' Word for you, today, to hear, to listen to, to know. And they are all about Jesus and how He saves you – Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations.” This is the point of the Scriptures – that we are in need of saving, that we need to repent of our sin – and that, thanks be to God, Jesus comes and by His suffering, death, and resurrection He wins us salvation and forgives us our sin. And these Scriptures are read and are proclaimed throughout the world, to all nations – indeed, even unto here in little old Herscher thousands of miles away from Jerusalem and a few thousand years in the future from that date. And we get the same thing, the same Jesus, the same salvation.

    And this is what is normal for us. Every worship service here, whether it's our weekend service, or a midweek service, a funeral, a wedding, even the little facebook devotions – you know what they will all have? Scripture and then the proclamation of Christ Jesus. This is normal – this is the normal that Jesus sets up for the Church – read the Scriptures and then preach repentance and forgiveness on account of Christ. You've been a part of this hundreds, thousands of times. Jesus comes to you, over and over in His Word, in the preaching there of. And you know what – He comes to you even when you are doing your private devotions at home – you read the Word at home, you talk about Jesus – and Christ is there, seeing that you receive forgiveness, that you live in His forgiveness. It's utterly fantastic!

    And it's utterly ordinary. And it's utterly routine. And we can get bored with it. That's what sin does, it makes us bored and boring. And we think that if things were some how jazzed up it would be better – actually, that we'd be better. Nope – last week's old testament lesson was great. The people in the wilderness complain about how there's nothing to drink, no food, and we “hate this worthless food.” Well, if there's no food, how do you have worthless food to hate? Oh, wait... you're talking about Manna, manna from heaven – the miraculous bread, sweet and light, that God just gave you day by day... and you hate it. You're tired of it. You're sick of it. How could those people get sick of Manna, Pastor? The same way we get tempted to get sick and bored with the Word, with Church, with gathering together to hear God's Word with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

    And this boredom is dangerous. There's few things more dangerous than becoming bored and dismissive of the Word – because you'll be so easily tempted to run off after whatever shiny stupid sin the world dangles in front of you – and there are lots of those. And there's fewer things more dangerous for a preacher than to get bored of the Gospel – Churches get led astray by pastors who decide to ignore Jesus and His Word for some other hobby horse all the time. Because what Satan is trying to do is to wrest our eyes off of Jesus – to leave us staring in the sky hoping for some sort of spectacle while we stand and ignore the simple, regular, wonderful working of God for us over and over.

    No, we don't have to look for excitement or adventure or wonder. God does wonderful stuff for us all the time in the Church. And as for the wondrous, the miraculous – it happens. I've seen Jesus heal people – I've seen people protected and kept from harm in the most deadly and dangerous of situations. I'd bet you all have too. But that's not an everyday of our life thing – thanks be to God it isn't, I'd don't want you facing horrid death and destruction daily! Thanks be to God for normal days simply spent at home in peace and quiet! Instead, Jesus normally blesses you... normally. Daily bread. Forgiving you your sin. Leading you away from temptation and delivering you from evil before you even get a hint that evil is around.

    For another brief look at the wondrous normalcy of life in the Church, let's consider another Gospel. Matthew records a few other words from Jesus from the day of Ascension – we call them “the Great Commission” - even though it's not really a commission at all. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Again – this is just setting up the normal pattern of the Church. Jesus says that He has won – that all authority in heaven and earth is His. Our Risen Lord is in charge – and you know what that means for life in between the Ascension and our Lord's return? Well, the church is going to go out and make disciples of all nations – there will be baptisms in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit – oh, look, there's a baptismal font, and the words that we started our service with. And there will be teaching to observe what Jesus commanded – hey, a lectern where Jesus' Words are read, a pulpit from which I'm supposed to go teach and preach the Words of Jesus, well what do you know. And lo, Jesus is with you always, even until He returns again at the end of the age – take and eat, this is My Body, take and drink, this is My Blood – as oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do show forth the Lord's death until He comes. Simple, yet wondrous. We don't need to look up into the heavens to find Jesus – He's right where He has promised to be, in His Word and Sacraments, wherever two or three are gathered in His name as the baptized children of God – at His house, in our homes, in hospital rooms (because sometimes horrid excitement does come and please call me and I'll come and bring Jesus' Word and even the Supper to you in the Hospital) – all simple. All normal. All incredibly wonderful behind the simpleness that we can be tempted to despise.

    Jesus Christ, your ascended Lord, has established the Church for you, to keep you in the faith, to keep you centered in Christ by the Word and by the Sacraments, even until He comes again and you see Him face to face. Normal? That's pretty cool. Christ is risen, He is risen indeed, alleluia! + Amen.

Easter 5 (with Confirmation)

 

Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed, Alleluia! +

    I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. Jesus understands. Jesus understands what it is to be human, and He understands our limits, our capacity. He Himself got to grow and learn as a child – Luke says that He increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. We grow, we learn, we use what we have learned in service to God and our neighbor. And that growth is not instant, and sometimes there are things we simply aren't ready to know yet. And so, as people, God knows and understands that we will continually be learning and growing. And this idea of continually learning would have been no surprise to the Disciples – they were disciples. That's what a disciple is, a learner. But there in the upper room that Maundy Thursday, Jesus is pointing out that He is going away, He's going to go through Good Friday and then Easter and then the Ascension – He will be returning to the Father. Would the disciples still be learners without Jesus, with their Master having returned home? And the answer is yes – yes, you will still be learners, yes there will be growth in wisdom in the time of the New Testament church – even to our day. And this growth is really, in truth, the activity of the Holy Spirit – the Helper, the Comfortor, the Paraclete.

    Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you. Pentecost is coming. The pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and the subsequent spread of the Christian faith to the four corners of the world, to every part of the globe. No longer would we need to be pilgrims journeying to Jerusalem to participate in Holy things, but the Holy Spirit will be coming to us, sent by Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit will be active in the Holy Christian Church – in fact, we call the Church Holy not because of us, how holy we are, but because the Holy Christian Church is the domain, the province of the Holy Spirit, where He works for us. This is the 3^rd article of the Creed from the Small Catechism – [the Holy Spirit] calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian Church He daily and richly forgives my sins and the sins of all believers. After Jesus ascends, after Pentecost, the Church as we know it today comes – this wondrous Church spread out across the world with believers of every tribe and race in virtually every place. And in this church we see the activity of the Holy Spirit.

    The primary task of the Spirit is delivering Jesus and the forgiveness of sins. He takes Jesus and gives Jesus to you – He will take what is Mine and declare it to you. The Holy Spirit is present and at work in and through all the things that go on here in the Church – when we speak, when we sing, when we pray – the Spirit is at work there, enabling and causing this. Today we will talk about the “Means of Grace” - that forgiveness is given through the Word or the Sacraments, but Luther didn't actually use the term “means of grace” - he called the Word and Baptism and the Supper the “means of the Spirit” - that in the Word and in the Sacraments the Holy Spirit is given to us, that the Holy Spirit is active. When we hear God's Word – the Spirit is there, working. When we speak God's Word – in the liturgy, in prayers or hymns (which are spun out from God's Word), the Holy Spirit is there, working. In Baptism, the Holy Spirit is there, working, making you His own temple. The Spirit in there at the Supper, making you to receive Jesus and know forgiveness in the Supper. The Spirit, by the Word and the Sacraments, makes you to know and receive the good things of Jesus. We may not always talk about the Holy Spirit, but He is always present in the Word and in the Sacraments, fixing our eyes upon Jesus and providing understanding and wisdom as He knows that we need and are ready for.

    Then Jesus gives the disciples and us three tasks of the Spirit in our Gospel lesson – three things that He will do throughout the world. And when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. In our day, in the time of the New Testament Church, by means of the preaching of the Word of God the Holy Spirit is going to convict the world – He is going to speak convincingly and authoritatively about the world – the present day world we find ourselves in. The Spirit will make sure the preaching of Jesus is always present tense, always applicable to the present day, and in particular from three different angles.

    The Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me. There's always going to be sin and unbelief in the world. Sometimes it will be veiled under a veneer of outward piety, and sometimes it will be open and gross, as it seems to be becoming more and moreso in our day. Either way, in the Christian Church the Holy Spirit will see God's Law proclaimed and sin pointed out. And note the reason, the cause of sin that Jesus gives here. Because people don't believe in Him. Where there is no faith in Christ, there sin will reign. Apart from Christ, ye can do nothing. And the Spirit will point out, will show how Christless, loveless, twisted and faithless acts and attitudes are today – even some acts and attitudes that appeal to us and our own sinful nature. And we learn in this. Sometimes we don't see how wicked and horrible something is right away – you cannot bear them now. But the Holy Spirit comes, and He preaches the Law, and He reveals sin to us – both the sin of the world so that we can avoid it, and our own sin so that we would be repented and returned to Christ.

    The Holy Spirit will also preach convictingly concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you will see Me no longer. Our righteousness is not in ourselves. It isn't based upon our own actions. We certainly remember that fact once the Spirit has gotten done with preaching convictingly about sin! And so the Spirit will have another task – to proclaim righteousness, true righteousness, the righteousness of Christ Jesus. When Jesus was walking around with the disciples, they had the very image of righteousness right there in front of them. But what of when Jesus has ascended? Well, the Spirit will have the task of proclaiming Christ Crucified and His righteousness, of fixing our eyes upon Jesus. Christ Jesus has died and risen, He has taken up the weight and guilt of your sin and the sin of the world, and He has crucified it upon the Cross. He has fulfilled God's law completely – He is totally and fully righteous, and He declares His righteousness to be yours – and therefore you are utterly righteous in God's sight – justified. All that is Christ's is yours – He will take what is mine and declare it to you. The Holy Spirit brings you, gives you Jesus and His righteousness in the Word, in Baptism, in the Supper. And the only place to find this righteousness is where the Holy Spirit uses the Word and Sacraments to deliver them.

    And then there is one more thing that the Spirit will proclaim convinctingly – concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. The Spirit preaches both Law and Gospel – shows us our sin and shows us our Savior. We often speak this way. But Jesus notes another aspect here – that the Spirit will proclaim the Victory of Christ Jesus over the world – and the Spirit will remind us of this fact. Often the world will seem big and scary – and it is, it's bigger than us and beyond our control. And we can be intimidated by the powers of evil at work and the abuses people in power levy – the corruption and greed that impacts our lives in a negative, lousy way. And the Holy Spirit will come and remind you not to worry about that. Jesus has won. They're judged – you don't have to worry about them, and you don't have to do a thing to them. Endure, Christ is with you – you are declared righteous, and Satan and all his minions are simply throwing a brief temper tantrum before they are consigned to hell for all eternity. They are judged already – they are defeated already, and they in truth can do nothing lasting, nothing real to you. As Christians we ought have a sense of defiance of the world – This world's prince may still scowl fierce as he will! He can harm us none! He's judged, the deed is done. One little world can fell him. And take they our life, goods, fame, child and wife. Though these all be gone our victory has been won. The kingdom ours remaineth. We can forget that defiant hope sometimes as we get worn and wearied in this world. And Spirit will come and bring this all to our remembrance.

    And the Spirit is and will be constantly at work in the Church for you. Why? I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. You will still learn, you will still grow. The Holy Spirit will bring this about. And He'll bring it about day by day, challenge by challenge. You're probably not ready to hear now and understand now the things that will challenge you down the road – so be it. For the Holy Spirit will be with you, ever active in Christ's Word, ever showing you the reality of what it means to be a baptized child of God, ever strengthening you in faith toward God and love toward neighbor in the Supper, whatever the day holds. And together, in Christ's Church the Holy Spirit will show us sin and its impacts, the Spirit will daily and richly forgive us our sins, and He will make us to remember Christ's victory over sin, death, and the Devil even in the face of wickedness now. This is the gift of the Holy Spirit that Christ Jesus has given you to. Amen. Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed, Alleluia! +