The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 11)

(Audio)

Luke 18:9-14; 1 Corinthians 15:1-10; Genesis 4:1-15

 

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

Jesus told the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector “to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt.” This is a parable of disordered love, of loving the right things in the wrong way. Dante Alighieri, the 14^th century Italian poet, wrote of this in The Divine Comedy, specifically in Book One, The Inferno. Disordered love is how Dante describes sin. He assumes that mankind, created in God’s image, was created to love like God. Thus, when we sin, it is not that we don’t love – that’s impossible – but it’s that we love the right things in the wrong way. Take lust for example. Lust is a disordered form of love. When we have lust we have a disordered love for the body, beauty, and sexual intercourse, all of which God created as very good and to be desired, in the right way. Similarly, what is avarice or greed, but a disordered love of the good things God gives to us. Both sins are idolatry, a sin against the First Commandment, because we have loved something or someone before and more than we have loved God.

Trust in ourselves that we are righteous is also disordered love. Our fear, love, and trust are to be in the LORD above all else, even ourselves. That also is a transgression of the First Commandment. God is the creator of all things. God is our creator. He is good and just and righteous, and He is the source, origin, and creator of all things. Therefore, everything that is is in relation to God. If something or someone is good, that goodness must be measured in relation to God’s goodness. Before the Fall, our first parents Adam and Eve were good. God made them to be good, declared them to be good, and they truly were good. All their thoughts and deeds, even their free will, was in alignment with God’s good thoughts, word, and will. The serpent’s temptation was to think and to act according to a different word and will. A different word and will. Take note of that! God created Adam and Eve and gave them free will, but what would it mean for them to exercise it? It would mean that they had thought and acted according to a word and a will that was not God’s. Truly, that was the essence of their fall into sin. Until the serpent asked, “Did God really say?” Adam and Eve had never contemplated anything other than that which was of God.

Then their eyes truly were opened to both good and evil, for what is evil but opposition to good, and what is sin but a disordered love of that which is good. What their eyes were open to were thoughts, words, and deeds that were not God’s thoughts, words, and deeds. They became aware of their own will, which was not God’s will. They began to resent God and to believe that He was holding out of them something good. They thought evil of God, for they now thought Him capable of not being good, capable of not loving them. That is what sin does. Sin corrupts our reason and our senses so that we cannot perceive things as they are, so that we put the worst construction on things and people and our love for them grows cold as our resentment grows hot. Our love becomes disordered, misdirected, twisted, and curved inward on ourselves. We were created to receive the love of God and to love Him in return through our love of others. But sin has so corrupted us that we cannot rightly love God, and so we cannot rightly love our brothers and sisters and our neighbors.

Genesis chapter three records our first parents’ fall into sin. Genesis chapter four records the fruit of that sin, resentment, jealousy, anger, hatred, and murder. Adam and Eve’s firstborn son Cain murdered his younger brother Abel. Both men had offered appropriate sacrifices to the LORD. Cain offered the first fruits of his harvest and Abel offered the first of his flock. As the story goes, the LORD favored Abel’s sacrifice but not Cain’s. No reason for this is stated, but it becomes obvious in Cain’s reaction. Cain became sullen and resentful, jealous and angry towards God and towards his brother Abel. It is the preacher to the Hebrews who informs us that the LORD accepted Abel’s sacrifice because it was offered in faith and love but rejected Cain’s because it was not offered in faith and love. This is clear in the LORD’s words to Cain: “The LORD said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.’” Why was Cain concerned about how the LORD felt about his brother’s sacrifice in the first place? If he obeyed the word and the command of the LORD, what had he to be concerned with? Should he not have rejoiced with his brother that the LORD so favored his sacrifice? You see, bitterness, resentment, and disordered love were already long at play in Cain’s heart and mind even before he made his sacrifice, and this was the reason the LORD had no regard for his sacrifice. Cain resented the LORD and his brother. He convinced himself that he was being treated unfairly and unjustly. Cain’s self-righteousness blinded him to the LORD’s goodness, justice, and righteousness so that he judged his brother unworthy of God’s favor and worthy of death, and he judged the LORD’s justice and righteousness and found it wanting.

Jesus told the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector “to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt.” This is a parable of disordered love, of loving the right things in the wrong way. The Pharisee feigned to love the LORD so much that he boasted about it, “I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get,” never mind the fact that these things were required under the Law of Moses. Like Cain, the Pharisee did not offer these sacrifices in faith and love for the LORD but out of a sense of obligation, and he took pride in that he fulfilled the Law and considered himself justified before God because of it. As Jesus teaches concerning works of the Law, “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” Even worse than the Pharisee’s self-righteousness, however, was his lack of love and utter contempt for those he deemed beneath him and to be sinners, like the tax collector in Jesus’ parable. “The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.’” Just as Cain did not offer his sacrifice out of faith and love for the LORD, so the Pharisee did not offer his tithes and prayers out of faith and love for the LORD but out of a sense of obligation believing that he merited the LORD’s favor. Consequently, because their love of God was disordered, they did not and could not love their brother and neighbor.

In contrast, the tax collector did not approach the front of the temple or raise his head before the LORD and the assembled worshippers, but he prostrated himself in the back and would not look up at all. He did not boast of his tithes and prayers, nor was he concerned about what anyone else was offering or how they were received by the LORD, but he emptied himself, confessed his sins, and plead for mercy trusting that the LORD is good, just, righteous, and above all loving and merciful and forgiving. And as Abel’s blood cried from the ground for justice, so Jesus says that it was the tax collector who went home justified that day. Because he knew and confessed that he didn’t deserve it, the tax collector was in a position to receive all good things from the LORD. For, only sinners can be forgiven, and only the dead can be raised to new and everlasting life in Jesus. If we do not love our brother whom we have seen, we cannot love God whom we have not seen. And if we do not put our fear, love, and trust in God above all things, we will have no love for anyone at all, but will fall into disordered love, loving the right things in the wrong way, which is sin and leads only to death and damnation away from the love of God and men somewhere east of Eden.

Self-righteousness is a sin that is a fruit of disordered love, loving the right things in the wrong way. Such disordered love threatens to cut us off from God and from those He has given us to love, our spouses and children, our extended family, friends, and neighbors, and each other in this congregation. We are all guilty of self-righteousness and countless other fruits of disordered love. But the God of love is present here today and every time we gather to receive His gifts to wash us clean in the blood of Jesus, God’s greatest gift of love for all the world, and to restore us to a right relationship, a relationship of love, with Him and our neighbor once again. That is why we are here. That is why we will gather here again next week and every LORD’s Day until He comes again. We are like the tax collector in Jesus’ parable. We do not gather here to boast before the LORD of our sacrifices and good works, but we gather here to receive from the LORD His love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness so that the fruit and works we bear in our lives, words, and deeds will be His fruit and His works of love towards others to the glory of God. Our Divine Service is not our service of God, but it is God’s service of us. Here in this place where two or three are gathered in His Name to receive His gifts is where He forgives, restores, and renews us, and from whence He sends us to be a gift of love to all the world. We, the Church of Jesus Christ, are how God so loves the world.

Interestingly, the lowest level of Dante’s Inferno, hell, is where Lucifer resides for all eternity. You might be surprised to learn that it is not a place of fire and heat, but it is frigid cold and in its very center Lucifer is frozen in ice up to his chest, for disordered love is not full of the fiery heat of God’s love, but it is curved in on itself, always resentful, dissatisfied, discontent, unloving and unmerciful, cold and lifeless, dead as ice. The antidote to this is the love of God poured out in Jesus Christ. That LOVE is present for you here and now. Come and receive God’s gift of love, the only thing in this dying world that can enliven you to live and love.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Christian Funeral For Marvin Ernest Redies

(Audio)

John 14:1-6; 2 Timothy 4:6-8; Isaiah 43:1-3a, 25

 

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

Marvin was a philatelist. Now, don’t get upset with me. I’m not saying anything rude or crude about Marvin, I’m saying that he was a lover of stamps. Marvin was a stamp collector. He collected hundreds, even thousands of stamps over many, many years and he kept them and cared for them and enjoyed sorting them and cataloging them and simply looking at them. Stamps are common things. Most people buy them and use them and don’t think twice about it. They can be found on nearly every piece of mail that comes into our homes, businesses, schools, and places of employment. We throw countless canceled stamps in the garbage every year. But that was Marvin. Marvin loved the simple things in life: Collecting stamps, spending time with family, teasing Darlys and the grandkids. Life was simple and good from Mavin’s perspective, and nothing was so bad that a hearty belly-laugh couldn’t make it better. Marvin’s advice was, “You just plant a seed and watch it grow.” Now, that may seem obvious, common sense, but that is a perspective that is in short supply these days. That’s a gift. That’s contentment and peace. That’s what faith looks like bearing trials, tribulations, and crosses without being crushed, but actually being an encouragement to others. That was Marvin.

Marvin grew up in Bremer like so many here at St. John and in the Waverly community. He was baptized and confirmed at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bremer and attended school there as well. After marrying Darlys in 1949, the couple raised their family on a family farm just north of Bremer. From my limited experience talking with Marvin and Darlys and with so many others from Bremer, there was something special about that community. Folks were simple and common, down to earth, good people. They may have lived simply, but they were wise. They worked hard. They knew where their food, clothing, and shelter came from and what was necessary to have it, keep it, and maintain it. They were both humble and proud at the same time, and there’s no sin in that when you’re proud for the right reasons. Family, faith, farm, friends, honesty, integrity, and keeping your word, resilience fortified with hope, these were the core values that characterized Marvin and made him the father, husband, grandfather, friend, and brother in Christ we remember and give thanks to God for this day.

Marvin learned much growing up on a farm and then farming himself for over forty-five years. Marvin knew much about cows. He loved and was proud of his dairy herd, which was one of the top herds in Bremer County. Darlys was known to say that he loved his cows more than her. Now, we know that is not true, but he did love his cows! Later Marvin worked for the American Breeding Service (ABS) and he would visit farms and advise farmers which cows and bulls to breed for the best milk production and overall health and strength. In fact, Marvin was so knowledgeable and skillful that he and Darlys traveled all over the country and even to Mexico to provide his counsel and advice. It goes without saying that Marvin’s knowledge and skill with dairy cows made him an excellent judge at county fairs for 4H and FFA, but he never judged the Bremer County Fair because he knew and had worked with the youth who showed there and didn’t want to risk being partial to them. Marvin was a mentor to children and youth. He taught them a good work ethic, good pride in their work, and resilience, endurance, and perseverance. Marvin’s grandchildren benefitted from his calm, steady guidance and encouragement as he guided them in the right direction and encouraged them to complete what they started and persevere through a setback.

I realize that I’ve used words like resilience, perseverance, endurance, contentment, and peace in describing Marvin. That’s what I think of when I think of Marvin, and after talking with his family a bit this past week I got the sense that you think of him in this way as well. You may not have used the same words, but the sentiment was the same. Marvin was kind, accepting, joyful, and a fun guy to be around. Do you realize how rare these qualities are today? Such qualities flow from a heart that is content and at peace, not restless and always seeking pleasure and fulfillment in things it doesn’t have or cannot obtain. How does one obtain such peace and contentment? Where does such peace and contentment come from? I maintain that it came from that simple, common farm life in Bremer and from a little church in that community that shaped and formed Marvin’s faith.

Jesus teaches, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” Why should your hearts be untroubled? Because you “believe in God,” and you also believe in Jesus. That is to say that your peace and contentment come from outside of you, and that’s why you can trust it, stand upon it, and persevere and endure. Jesus is our rock and a solid foundation that will not move no matter what may threaten us. Our God is not a God who is far off, but a God who is so very near to us because He actually became one of us in the incarnation of His Son Jesus. Jesus knows our needs, wants, and desires; Jesus knows our temptations, weaknesses, and fears; Jesus knows our pain and suffering, grief, and sorrow, both for ourselves and for those we love. Jesus knows it all, experienced it all, suffered it all and persevered and endured through it all for you, for me, for Marvin, and for all humankind. Through our Lord Jesus God calls each of us by name to be His children: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”

Jesus’ peace and contentment, Jesus’ forgiveness and reconciliation come from outside of us, therefore we can trust in it and be at peace. The LORD called Marvin to faith and sealed Him with His gracious promise in Holy Baptism so many years ago. The LORD blessed Marvin with the peace of the Holy Spirit and promised him, “I will never leave you or forsake you,” “I am with you always,” and “Nothing can separate you from my love in Jesus Christ.” “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” If God is for us, who can be against us? Jesus was the source of Marvin’s peace and contentment, his joy in the face of trial, tribulation, and suffering, and the source of his resilience, perseverance, and encouragement of others.

Let not your hearts be troubled. Jesus passed through the valley of the shadow of death, a valley we created by sinful rebellion and sin-ruined hearts and minds, and He defeated death and the grave that would have kept us in that valley for eternity. Jesus destroyed that gate, removed the stone that kept us in our tombs, and made death a welcome mat at the entrance of our Father’s home in heaven. Jesus has gone there to prepare a place for Marvin and for you that you may dwell with Him in His Father’s kingdom forevermore. Marvin “fought the good fight,” “finished the race,” and “kept the faith.” Let God’s promises kept for Marvin be encouragement and comfort for you until you meet him again in our Father’s house.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Tenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 10)

Luke 19:41-48; Romans 9:30 – 10:4; Jeremiah 8:4-12

 

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

In 2019 I had the immense blessing of visiting the Holy Land. I went with my mother who was eighty-three at the time. She invited me to go with her after a friend had to cancel. I have to admit that, initially, I was not all that enthused by the idea. Of all the places I might have hoped to travel someday, the Holy Land wasn’t anywhere near the top of the list. However, having now visited the Holy Land, I have a very different perspective. Quite literally, that visit changed my life and my ministry, because it changed my perspective on the stories of the Holy Scriptures and how I understand them and now teach about them. Seeing the general locations where historical biblical events took place, experiencing firsthand the culture of the people who live there, witnessing the actual distance, near or far, between villages, cities, territories, and nations all served to put “flesh on the bones,” so to speak, of stories that, at times, seemed foreign, distant, and abstract. I will go so far as to say that my visit to the Holy Land was incarnational in that seeing these places and reconsidering the biblical accounts in this new light drove me even closer to my incarnate Lord Jesus Christ who really and truly lived there and walked there and wept there and laughed and suffered there and died there, and really and truly rose again from death to life that cannot die. That matters. That matters very much.

Let me illustrate just a bit regarding our Gospel reading this morning which tells of Jesus’ visit to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Though I suppose I already knew it, I certainly didn’t give much consideration to the fact that Jesus did not live in Jerusalem and that most of His three-year ministry was not in Jerusalem but in Galilee approximately eighty miles northeast. As an observant Jewish male, Jesus likely visited Jerusalem three times per year for the high feasts of Passover, Shavuot (Pentecost), and Succoth (Feast of Tabernacles), maybe staying a week in Jerusalem for each feast. The rest of the year Jesus spent his days traveling from village to village primarily in Galilee and east of the Mount of Olives in Jericho and Bethany. In fact, if you read but a few verses earlier in Luke 19 you will read about Jesus entering Jericho and His healing of blind Bartimaeus. Next Jesus is in Bethpage and Bethany on the east side of the Mount of Olives where his friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus lived. Indeed, Jesus’ triumphal Palm Sunday entry is not in Jerusalem at all, but it begins in Bethany and travels up and over the Mount of Olives culminating in the verses we have heard this morning from St. Luke’s Gospel, “And when He drew near and saw the city, He wept over it, saying, ‘Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!” When Jesus saw Jerusalem, He had just passed over the Mount of Olives from Bethany and was coming down the other side, likely near the Garden of Gethsemane where He often prayed with His disciples. From there he could see the Holy City and the Temple Mount across the Kidron Valley. There is a church on that traditional spot called Dominus Flevit (“The Lord Wept”). The church is even constructed in the shape of a teardrop and upon its altar is a mosaic of a hen gathering her chicks under her wings recalling the words of Jesus in Luke chapter thirteen, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” Behind the altar is a window overlooking the Temple Mount over which Jesus wept as He made His Palm Sunday visit to Jerusalem. A cross in the center of the window is centered over, not the Muslim Dome of the Rock which stands on the Mount where the Temple once stood, but a little to the right, over the blue domed roofs of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher built over Golgatha and Jesus’ empty tomb.

Jesus wept over Jerusalem because He was sent by her gracious and merciful LORD to call His people to repentance and to forgive them for their idolatry and apostasy. Jesus’ visitation was a visitation of grace, but they rejected Jesus and would soon hand Him over into the hands of the Gentiles to be crucified. Because they had rejected the LORD’s gracious visitation, within a generation they would experience the visitation of the LORD’s righteous wrath when the Romans laid siege to Jerusalem and destroyed the city and the temple leaving not one stone standing upon another. I saw the evidence of that destruction when I visited the Holy City. All that remains of the temple is rubble. It is merely a perimeter wall built by Herod the Great at which Jews continue to wail and pray today. Jesus wept over Jerusalem because His people did not acknowledge the time of their gracious visitation.

The Greek word for visitation is ἐπισκοπῆς, from which we get the English words episcopy, bishop, visitor, and even pastor. All of these titles and offices imply a certain God-given authority to visit the Church and her congregations to see that all is being conducted according to the Word and Commandments of the LORD and in accord with orthodox doctrine and confession, that the Law is being proclaimed in its severity and that the Gospel is being proclaimed in its truth and purity. If anything is amiss, it is the vocation of the ἐπισκοπoς to reprove, correct, and train in righteousness. Old Testament history is the record of our LORD’s gracious and merciful patience, His gracious visitation if you will, culminating in the sending of His own Son, just as Jesus taught in the Parable of the Tenants and the Vineyard. But Israel killed the prophets the LORD sent to her, and when He sent His Son they rejected Him and handed Him over to the Gentiles to be crucified. Jesus was God’s ἐπισκοπoς sent in gracious visitation. From the Mount of Olives Jesus wept over Jerusalem because they did not acknowledge the time of their visitation.

The incarnation of the Son of God Jesus Christ was a visitation of God’s grace, mercy, and love. Jesus’ procession from heaven to Galilee, from Galilee to Jericho, from Jericho to Bethany and the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem was a procession of love incarnate. Love incarnate came to visit His people to gather them as chicks under His wings, but they were not willing. Jesus wept over Jerusalem because they had rejected His visitation, they rejected the God of love.

God has visited His people, and His people rejected Him. But God is still visiting His people, God is still visiting you! For this reason God has sent you your Pastor in the stead and by the command of Jesus to proclaim that you are forgiven, to gather you to Himself again and again, to heal your wounds of sin and guilt, washing you clean in His holy, innocent shed blood, feeding you with His Word, body and blood, and forgiving your sins anew each and every time you gather here in this place in which He is really and truly present with His gifts! Your God comes to you who cannot, who would not, come to Him, to serve you with His gifts of love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness. Yours is a visitation of grace offered again and again, but not forever. Today is the day of salvation. Do not put off to tomorrow what you must believe and receive today, for God has not promised you a tomorrow, but He has promised to be with you here, today, in this place with His gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation.

Dominus Flevit, “the Lord wept.” Our Lord wept over Jerusalem for the destruction that would soon come upon her. For she did not recognize the time of God’s gracious visitation in Christ, who had come to bring her peace. Destruction was not what the Lord desired. Destruction was not the purpose for which He was sent. But Jerusalem rejected and killed the Prophets who came before Him, and they would reject and kill Jesus too. Jesus did not weep for Himself. Willingly He went to the cross out of love for His Father who loves you so much that He gave His only Son unto death that you might live. No, Jesus did not weep for Himself, but He wept for the children of Israel, and He wept for you and me, His children even now. Jesus wept because we are so easily deceived by the desires of our flesh, by our fallen reason, and by the devil. We so easily believe that we are righteous and justified by what we do or how we feel. We are lulled into believing we are at peace with God because we go to church or behave better than others. But, if our peace is not in Christ, and in Christ alone, then we have a false peace, which is no peace at all. The Lord has visited His people in the Messiah Jesus, in humility, mercy, and compassion. Repent; be turned, and find true Peace with God in Jesus.

For, the Lord is visiting you, His people, right now in His faith-creating, forgiveness-giving, and life-bestowing Word, Baptism, Absolution, and Supper. And the Lord will visit His people once again in power and great glory, and then every eye will see Him, and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father. He has come. He comes. And He is coming. Therefore, cleanse the temple of your soul from all self-righteousness, from trust in money and worldly possessions, from whatever idols you have created for yourself and submitted yourself to. For, today you stand in His forgiveness, at peace with God through Jesus Christ. He is unchanging, faithful, and true; He will never leave you or forsake you or break His covenant promise with you. Only you can reject Him, for He will not, and He cannot reject you.

And His gracious visitation amongst you now is for the purpose that your faith would be renewed and strengthened and that you would be preserved in His Parousia, His presence and His gracious visitation this day, and every day, until He reveals Himself in glory for all to see and know. For, the peace that He brings to you, the peace that He is for you, is not a light peace, peace as the world gives, but it is true peace, peace with God who, in and through Jesus, is not your enemy and judge, but your loving Father who graciously gives you all things needful for your body, life, and soul. You are members of His body of which He is the head. You are blocks in the walls of His holy temple of which He is the cornerstone and foundation. Your Lord Jesus was torn down in your death so that not one stone was left standing upon another, and He was raised again on the third day to life that never ends. He is present for you now in this house of prayer. His gates are open and His feast is prepared. Come and eat at His banquet and know His peace.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Ninth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 9)

(Audio)

Luke 16:1-13; 1 Corinthians 10:6-13; 2 Samuel 22:26-34

 

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

We are all managers and stewards of God’s possessions. All that we have is truly His, from His gracious providence. Whether it be physical possessions of money, food, shelter, and clothing, relational possessions of husband, wife, children, family, and friends, or spiritual possessions of grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness – all is the LORD’s who graciously provides us all that we need for our bodies and our lives, with overflowing abundance to manage, to use, and to distribute for the benefit of ourselves and our families and for the benefit of our neighbor in need.

However, we, like the manager in Jesus’ parable, are guilty of wasting our Master’s possessions. Sometimes we are selfish and greedy, fearfully guarding, protecting, and hoarding for ourselves what we think we need and lusting after what we think we want. But, more often than not, we are simply lazy, careless, and foolish in our stewardship, thinking only of the present, our present needs, wants, and desires, and thinking only of ourselves because those are the needs, wants, and desires we know the best.

Your LORD and Master would have you receive and recognize all things as His good and gracious gifts to you and, therefore, trusting in Him, in His goodness and love for you, use them to His glory and praise, for yourself and your family, and in service of others in their need. But fear is the very opposite of love, and the fruits of fear are selfishness, greed, envy, and hatred. Love and fear have no fellowship together because perfect love casts our fear. Thus, in truly loving God, trusting in Him, in His goodness and loving providence, all those fruits of fear may be driven away. That is why the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A right relationship with your LORD will drive away the fruits of sinful fear and you will truly live in freedom without fear. You will be able to manage your Master’s possessions without fear of losing or going without, without fear of need or someone else having more, but you will find contentment, peace and joy in what you have, and you will be content and at peace and in joy in doling out your Master’s goods to others.

The manager in Jesus’ parable realized his predicament. He held no illusion that when he turned in his account of his management that he would not be out of a job and utterly on his own. The problem for us, however, is that we are too often not willing to confess the same about ourselves. We try to blame someone else for our failings and we try to rationalize and explain away our mismanagement. But the manager in Jesus’ parable doesn’t do that, but he knows that he is guilty as charged. He offers no excuses, and he blames no one but himself. However, the manager does something that is unexpected, something that his master will later call shrewd and will commend him for. Knowing that he has no excuse and has no one to blame but himself, he places all of his faith and all of his trust, he commends his entire livelihood and life, unto the goodness and mercy of his master.

Though he was already fired and out of work, the manager went to each of his master’s debtors and he slashed their debts by twenty and fifty percent. Needless to say, the debtors, who didn’t know that the manager had been fired, were very pleased with the master, whom they assumed had been so gracious and merciful with them. Likewise, they were pleased with the manager who delivered this good news to them. However, what would the master say when he discovered that his manager had let his debtors out of their debts? Would he not have his manager thrown in prison, or worse? And here, Jesus’ parable takes yet another unexpected turn, for not only does the manager do the unthinkable, but his master does the unthinkable as well – he commends his dishonest manager for acting so shrewdly.

Though this unexpected turn of events is surprising, it should not be confounding to you. Jesus is not praising the dishonest manager’s dishonesty, but rather He is painting for you a portrait of faith. The dishonest manager never dreamed that he might somehow get away with short-changing his master, but instead he was banking on something altogether different – his master’s goodness and mercy. When all was said and done, by slashing his master’s debtor’s debts he had won for himself favor with the debtors and also their praise and love for his master. When he turned in the account of his management, the master, recognizing that the manager had trusted in his goodness and mercy and that his debtor’s were now praising him, commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. And Jesus adds to the end of the parable the following summary: “And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.” “You cannot serve God and money.”

What does this mean? Well, it goes back to what was stated at the beginning: We are all managers and stewards of God’s possessions. All that we have is truly His, from His gracious providence. Do you believe this? And, if so, what does this mean for your life? If all things truly belong to God, and they do, then the question is, what do you place your fear, love, and trust in – God, or money? If your fear, love, and trust is in money and material wealth and possessions, then that is what you serve – You serve the possession instead of the Possessor; you serve the gift instead of the Giver; you serve creation instead of the Creator. You may think that both are important, and that you can honestly serve both, but Jesus teaches you that you cannot serve two masters; you cannot serve God and money. For, either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

In effect, Jesus says to you, “Don’t use people to serve money, but use money to serve people;” “Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwelling.” You are a manager, you are a steward, God is the owner and Master. He is good and gracious, merciful and loving. He gives to you so that you may live and enjoy life and praise Him, and He gives to you in abundance so that you may give to others without fear of losing, without fear of being shorted, without fear of being taken advantage of, without fear of being taken for granted, without fear…, but full of love, Christ’s love, for your brother, your sister, and your neighbor in need. To not be able to give it away is to serve money, mammon, and material wealth as a master. Don’t let money be your master.  The LORD is your only Master, and He loves to give you all that you need for your body and life and more that you might make friends for yourself, and that He might make disciples for Himself through you, to the glory of His holy Name.

The dishonest manager had nothing to lose, but everything to gain by making friends for himself amongst men and by trusting in his good and gracious master. So too you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by giving, sharing, and blessing others with God’s gifts. For the day is coming when all unrighteous wealth will fail, when no amount of money, wealth, or possessions will be able to help you or bring you comfort. Therefore, live today as if it were that day. Be shrewd in your stewardship of your Master’s possessions now, and He will entrust you with true riches in His holy kingdom. Indeed, those riches are laid aside for you even now, sonship, righteousness, and eternal life, and no one can take them from you. For, Jesus Christ is the true Steward who has canceled all your debts. And, His Father, your Master, has commended Him and has given Him His kingdom and authority. And, even now, He transforms the unrighteous mammon of bread and wine and ordinary water into a lavish feast and anointing of grace to preserve and keep you until His return. You are His stewards and His faithful managers. He provides you all you need and more. He will never leave you or forsake you. When you face temptation, He will always provide you a way of escape. He is that Way, and the Truth, and the Life, and He is your Daily Bread.

In + the Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Eighth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 8)

(Audio)

Matthew 7:15-23; Romans 8:12-17; Jeremiah 23:16-29

 

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

Our Lord Jesus has said, “A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit,” and “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.” These may seem harsh words, and indeed they are if you are a non-fruit bearing tree, but they need not cause you to be fearful if you love Jesus and His Word and bear His fruits in your life and deeds. After all, Jesus is speaking to His disciples whom He loves, for whom He is about to go to the cross, and He wants them to be prepared for life in this world after He leaves them and returns to His Father by remembering what He has told them and by remaining in Him through faith and bearing His fruits in love. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit anymore than a diseased tree can bear good fruit. Therefore, we must consider, what fruit are we bearing, and what fruit are you bearing in your lives?

We have been together for five years now, some of you the entire time, most of you for less, and some of you have only been with us for a few months. I think of you as God’s children, purchased in the blood of His Son Jesus, over whom I have been given the task of caring for, feeding, protecting, equipping, and sending for service in His kingdom to the glory of His Name. I haven’t always done that perfectly. Indeed, I’ve made plenty of mistakes, and often I have sometimes let my own sinful flesh and desires rule me so that I did not do the will of God the Father, but my will, which was ultimately the will of the devil. I am extremely sorry for that, and I repent of that, just as you repent of your sins and flee for comfort in the merciful forgiveness of God in Jesus Christ.

You see, we are not so different you and I, save my ordination into the Office of the Holy Ministry. We are all sinners, and we are all forgiven in the Words and Wounds of Jesus Christ. And yet, I have the holy and terrifying orders of standing in the stead and in the place of Jesus Christ to bring to you and to serve you with His gifts for which He gave His own precious and holy life unto death. I have attempted with all my heart and with all my strength and with all my knowledge and with all my faith to do that faithfully, for your sake, to the glory of God in Jesus Christ. Oftentimes if you considered me rigid, or cold, or out of touch, old-fashioned, arrogant, or whatever else, I suspect that it was because I am so very concerned to bring you nothing but the Word of God and His Sacraments as faithfully and purely as I was able.

That is what a pastor is called to do – to be faithful to you, God’s people, by being faithful to God. I know that the world desires constant variety and relevance, that human reason seeks practicality and usefulness, and that the human heart demands passion and emotion in order to feel alive, however, none of these things can be permitted to overrule or replace the Word of God and His Blessed Sacraments or to invert the relationship of service He has established with us that we may be forgiven and restored to communion with Him and bear His fruits of love in service to our neighbor in the world.

All that being said, I believe that my ministry among you has indeed been fruitful, and I believe that you and I together have been fruitful, even as each of you as individuals have been fruitful in your vocations. Over the years, the Divine Service has been prayed in such a way that it is self-evident to visitors that God is not simply an idea which we honor with our lips, or an impersonal clock-maker god who is not involved in our lives but only wants us to be happy and be good to each other, or even a spiritual guide like any other god, goddess, or guru, but that He is really and truly present in both a spiritual and physical way in His Word, Baptism, Absolution, and Supper. People know this, and you know this, because of the reverence that is shown for His Name, His Word, and for His body and blood. They are real, and they are present, and they are holy, and so we speak softly and humbly, we bow and kneel, we bless ourselves with the sign of His cross, the sign that was placed upon us when we were baptized into His death and resurrection and claimed and named with His Name as His very own sons and daughters, we chant, we pray, we eat His body and we drink His blood, we teach this to our children that they may come to desire Him more and more at even younger ages, and we take His gifts with us into our lives in the world as we leave this place and take our vocations as priests presenting our bodies as living sacrifices in selfless love and service of our neighbors to the glory of God. Some may look only at the numbers, both in terms of attendance and finance, and conclude that we have not been fruitful, that we have declined, or something else; but this is not true, and more than that, we have grown together in faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ and we are stronger now than we were five years ago because we trust less in ourselves and the ways of men and more in God and obedience to His Word and commands.

However, we bear good fruit, not because we are good, but because our tree is good – and our tree is Jesus Christ and His cross. If we trust in Jesus and do His will, our fruit cannot possibly be bad. It doesn’t matter what the world thinks of it. It doesn’t matter what the numbers say. It doesn’t matter what the checking book balance is. What matters is that we remain faithful and bear His fruit, that is, do the work He has given us to do. There have always been, and there will always be, those who call God’s good things bad or evil because they don’t conform to what man desires or his reason demands. For example, men called Jesus’ death on the cross evil, and people today call the symbol of His death, the crucifix, evil. And yet, Jesus’ death is the greatest good God ever did! Jesus’ death on the cross was God’s gift of love for the world. Moreover, Jesus’ death on the cross was not His defeat, but His victory! Truly, if Christ had not died and been raised, then, as St. Paul says, we would still be in our sins and the most of all people to be pitied. No, we are not theologians of glory who call good evil and evil good, but we are theologians of the cross who call a thing what it is. When we consider the cross of Jesus Christ, we remember the love of God poured out for us and Jesus’ victory over sin, death, and the devil – a victory that He shares with all who trust in Him and love Him, keeping and doing His word and will.

In one place Jesus says that all who call upon Him will be saved, but here He says that not all who call Him Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but the one who does the will of His Father. I know that this may seem contradictory, but I say to you that it is not. While it is true that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, nevertheless, faith is never alone, but faith is known by its production of fruit, love, and good works. Again, faith without works is no faith at all, it is dead, even as a tree that produces bad fruit is a bad tree and must be cut down and thrown into the fire. But, you are not the tree! You are the branches. If your tree is Jesus and His cross, then you will produce His fruits. As Jesus teaches, “I am the vine and you are the branches; remain in me, and I will remain in you, and you will produce much fruit.” It has been my ministry among you to place the tree of Jesus Christ before you at all times. Everything we do in the Divine Service is done to direct you to that tree. And everything we do outside of the Divine Service flows from that tree as good fruit. As in the Garden, there are two trees – the tree of Jesus Christ, and anything else. Only the tree of Jesus Christ gives life; all other trees, though they may appear to bring knowledge, give only death.

In today’s lections, both Jesus and Jeremiah warn you against false teachers. Jesus says that you will know them by their bad fruits. Their fruit is bad, because their tree is bad. Bad trees cannot produce good fruit anymore than good trees can produce bad fruit. It is Jeremiah, however, who describes what their bad fruit looks like: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD. They say continually to those who despise the word of the LORD, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you’.” I do not believe that I ever preached to you “vain hopes.” Indeed, I preached to you the theology of the cross, that the way of Jesus’ disciples is the way of the cross, that the world will reward your faith with mocking, ridicule, and persecution, and that you should expect suffering and receive it as God’s discipline because He loves you and would rather you suffer now and live with Him in eternity than suffer eternally in hell. Likewise, I do not believe that I ever told you could continue in sin and that it would be okay, that God wouldn’t mind. There are many so-called Christians today who desire precisely that, and sadly, there are far too many pastors willing to accommodate. No, you must recognize these false prophets and pastors by their fruits and reject them and flee from them. However, in order to do that, you have to know the Word of God and remain fast in it. I have desired nothing more for you these past five years than precisely that – That you may know who you are in Christ Jesus and that He might be your identity.

As I said earlier, I have always thought of you as God’s children, purchased in Jesus’ blood, over whom I have been given the task of caring for, feeding, protecting, equipping, and sending for service in His kingdom to the glory of His Name. This is not merely an opinion that I hold, but it is a fact that I know, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God, … and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.” You suffer with Him when you reject the bad fruits of the false prophets and do the will of your Father in heaven.

I have loved you and cared for you like a father, which means that I have not always given you what you wanted, but what I believed to be good for you. Indeed, this is precisely why pastors in some traditions are called Father. Though I do not have that title, I have that office and I have always thought of you as spiritual children – not my children, not children of the world, but children of God. I will always think of you this way, and I will keep you in prayer even as I ask that you will keep me in your prayers as God continues the good work He has begun in us. He will not leave you or forsake you. Indeed, nothing can separate you from His love. He is with you always, even to the end of this world.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.