Invocabit - The First Sunday in Lent

(Audio)

Matthew 4:1-11; 2 Corinthians 6:1-10; Genesis 3:1-21

 

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

Jesus teaches us to pray, “lead us not into temptation.” Let us be crystal clear, however, “God tempts no one.” Therefore, since we are not praying that God should not tempt us, – for God tempts no one – then for what are we praying for in this petition? Luther explains saying, “We pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice.” God tempts no one, to be sure, but temptation will come, to be sure; and temptation will come not only from outside of us, from the world and the devil, but also from inside of us, from our own sinful nature. Indeed, it is the unholy trinity of the devil, the world, and our own sinful nature that conspires against us to tempt us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. For God tempts no one.

While God does not tempt us – only the devil, the world, and our sinful nature do that – the LORD does test us. In the Scriptures the number forty often represents a time of testing from the LORD. The Noahic flood lasted forty days and forty nights. Moses spent forty years in the Midian desert after killing an Egyptian. Moses was on Mount Sinai for forty days and forty nights receiving the Law of God, and then another forty days and forty nights interceding on behalf of the children of Israel before God. The Israelite spies took forty days to spy out Canaan, and they were made to wander in the wilderness for forty years for their unbelief. Goliath taunted Saul’s army for forty days before David arrived to slay him. When Elijah fled from Jezebel, he traveled forty days and forty nights to Mt. Horeb. And there are numerous other instances we could list.

In contrast to these times of testing, the Holy Gospel appointed for the First Sunday in Lent is the account of Jesus being tempted for forty days and forty nights in the wilderness. While this was clearly a temptation by the devil, the LORD did permit it to befall His Son, therefore it is appropriate to think of it as a test from the LORD as well. It must be noted that the temptation of Jesus happens immediately following His baptism. The text says that it was the Holy Spirit who led Jesus into the wilderness for the express purpose that He should be tempted by the devil. Mark’s Gospel puts it more strongly saying that the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness, and the Greek is stronger still saying that the Spirit threw Jesus into the wilderness. What is the link between baptism and temptation by the devil? The Scripture is clear that all men are conceived and born into this world bearing the stain and corruption of original sin. That is why even infants die, for the wages of sin is always and only death. When we are conceived and born, we belong to the devil. When we are baptized the LORD claims us as His own in the blood of Jesus Christ His Son. Quite literally, Holy Baptism is an exorcism, for the child is released from the bonds of Satan as the old evil foe is cast out. However, from that moment on the child has a mortal enemy in Satan who will work tirelessly and endlessly to claim that child back. This is why it is a matter of concern that a child who is baptized must be brought to church regularly and be raised up knowing the Word of the Lord and receiving His gifts, for left alone, there is little hope against such a powerful, hateful, and relentless enemy.

However, Jesus alone of all humankind, was not conceived and born in sin. Rather, in His baptism Jesus took all the sin of humankind upon Himself. Every man and woman who stepped into the Jordan’s waters entered a sinner and emerged forgiven, whereas the Son of God stepped into the waters sinless and emerged the one sinful man for all humankind. Then the heavens were opened, and God the Father spoke, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” God the Father was fully pleased with His Son, not because of sin, but because of His love for humankind. Indeed, God so loved the world in this way: He gave His only begotten Son over to death on the cross that men might be forgiven and live. Thus, the Son was the object of the devil’s temptations.

“And the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread’.” The very idea that Jesus could be tempted to disbelieve that He was the Son of God is bound up in the mystery of the incarnation. Jesus is fully God and fully man in one person. According to His divinity, there is no possible way He could be tempted; but according to His humanity, it was essential and necessary that He be tempted. Thus, even though God the Father had just declared Jesus to be His only begotten Son at His baptism, Satan tempted Jesus, according to His human nature, to doubt the Word of God. Here we can see how, in His temptation, Jesus is the New Adam. While the First Adam was tempted to disbelieve God’s Word in a lush paradisial garden where he was well fed and provided for, Jesus, the Second Adam, was starving and weak having fasted forty days and forty nights in the desert wilderness. Herein we see that all of humanity has been reduced to this one man. Jesus has become our New Adam who will resist Satan’s temptation. Jesus has become our New Moses who will intercede for us before His Father, our God. And Jesus has become our New David who will defeat the hellish Goliath for us, in our stead, as our champion, with the five smooth stones of God’s Word.

Jesus answered the devil’s temptation by standing firm on God’s Word. Do not think that Jesus used God’s Word as an offensive weapon, however, for He did no such thing. As St. Paul describes the Word in his epistle to the Ephesians, it is a defensive weapon that will absorb the fiery darts of the evil one. Christians err disastrously in thinking that they can take on the devil offensively using God’s Word like a weapon. Satan knows the Word of the LORD better than you, and he will twist it, distort it, misquote it, take it out of context, and omit key instruction in order to deceive you and lead you into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. No, the Word is, as Martin Luther wrote in his hymn, a mighty fortress and a shield.

Because Jesus used the Word of God as a defensive shield, the devil changed his tactic a bit in his second temptation. This time Satan quoted God’s Word, Psalm 91 to be precise, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone’.” Here is an example, however, of Satan omitting an important instruction from God’s Word, “to guard you in all your ways.” By “all your ways” the Psalmist means the way of God’s Word and command. What Satan was tempting Jesus to do was to intentionally put Himself in harm’s way, testing a promise of God to protect Him. However, God did not promise to protect those who willfully and intentionally disobey His other Words and commands. Once again Jesus answered Satan’s temptation by leaning on the Word of God alone saying, “Again it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test’.”

Thwarted twice by Jesus’ reliance upon the Word of God, Satan dropped his disguise and plainly laid out what he truly desired. “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me’.” This temptation seems so patently outrageous! To think that the Son of God would bow down and worship a created being, even the devil himself! If the first temptation was to satisfy His own bodily needs, and the second was to test and tempt God, this third temptation is a blatant attack on the First Commandment. However, I believe that this is precisely what Satan is doing today. Not so many years ago Satan had to hide and use sneaky tactics to entice people to sin. For example, sexual sins like pornography, adultery, homosexuality, etc. were done in secret, behind closed doors, and our culture considered such behaviors to be shameful and disgraceful so that there were even laws against them. But today, Satan’s has dropped his disguise. Such former sins and shameful deeds are now commonplace and accepted. They are on our phones, tablets, and computers, TVs and movie screens, magazines, theaters, restaurants, and more. No longer are they illegal or shameful, but they are protected by laws and promoted and practiced by the rich and famous. Not long ago it was shameful and even illegal in some cases to murder an unborn infant or for a man and woman to live together outside of marriage, but today these acts are considered rights and the wise and sensible thing to do. Truly, the only response to Satan’s temptations once he has dropped his guise is the response of Jesus, “Be gone Satan!” Christians must call these sins and evil deeds what they are, mark them, and avoid them, even if it brings you suffering in the form of being ostracized, despised, and hated, and being labeled ignorant, unenlightened, homophobic, misogynistic, or anything else that might be hurled at you. These too are the assaults and fiery darts of the evil one.

Truly, the best defense against temptation is the prayer our Lord Jesus taught us which ends with the words “deliver us from the evil one.” As Luther explains in the Small Catechism, the entire prayer is a prayer for protection against the devil’s assaults and temptations. And so we pray that God’s name would be kept holy amongst us, that we would desire His kingdom to reign amongst us, that we would live according to His will and further its keeping through our own words, lives, and deeds, that we would remember and be grateful for the good things our LORD graciously provides us every day of our lives, that He would cause us to be forgiving of others as we have received His forgiveness, that He would protect us from the temptations of the devil, the world, and our own sinful nature, and that, finally, He would deliver us from Satan. No, we cannot fight the devil, but by the Word of God and prayer we can and must resist him.

This Lent, instead of giving something up, why not try adding something, receiving something more from God. Make use of the opportunities to receive His Word and gifts even more by reading the daily Lenten devotions and by attending the Midweek Lenten services. Come for the fellowship meals with your family of faith and support others as they support you. Truly we are stronger together. And pray. Pray the Lord’s Prayer daily. Pray the Litany. Pray the Psalms. Pray the catechism. “Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.” For He will send His angels to guard you in all your ways.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Christian Funeral for Darlys Ruth Redies

(Audio)

Luke 23:39-43; Revelation 7:9-17; Romans 8:31-39

 

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

Darlys was a determined, traditional, German farm wife. She was quiet and shy, but she would get her point across when she needed to. That would catch some people by surprise because she was short and little. But no one underestimated Darlys more than once. Darlys grew up in Denver, Iowa, graduating in 1946 from Denver High School. Three years later she married the love of her life, Marvin, and the two of them built a home together and a family three miles north of Bremer, IA where they lived for fifty years.

Darlys was a town girl, but she became a farm girl pretty quick. Darlys had to learn how to do all sorts of things on the farm, including milking the cows and feeding them and operating the stalk-chopper. She would come in with dirt all over her face and clothes. The only clean place on her body were her eyes, protected by goggles. When she removed the goggles, she had white circles around her eyes. One day was especially rough. The cows had her pinned down, but she got the job done. Still, there was one cow in the herd that singled Darlys out; it was Tootles. Tootles was a white cow with black all around one eye. There was only one person in the family that Tootles didn’t like, and that was Darlys. I suspect that Tootles learned not to underestimate Darlys either.

Apart from the farm, Darlys worked in accounts receivable at Rath Packing for three years, at the Bremer Elevator for twenty years, and at the Fredericksburg Elevator for ten years from which she retired in 2010. Darlys loved gardening and canning, and she sold strawberries from her patch to the Bremer Store. She also enjoyed crocheting doilies, table runners, dresses, and more, playing cards, preparing large family meals, and playing Hide the Thimble with the kids. Darlys was a determined, traditional, German farm wife. She was quiet and shy, but she would get her point across when she needed to. She began her life as a townie, but she lived it a farmer. Things weren’t always easy, but her faith kept her strong right up to the end.

“If God is for us, who can be against us.” Now, that’s a battle cry if I’ve ever heard one! That’s the cry of a commander leading his troops into a battle there’s no human or worldly hope they can win. That’s the cry of a Christian facing a terminal disease, financial ruin, or anything that seems utterly hopeless according to human reason and ability. But that’s also the cry of a Christian as you face more mundane, day to day trials and tribulations, and even death. If God is for us – and He most definitely is – then who can possibly harm us in any lasting way. God has given up His own Son for us, there is nothing good that He will withhold from us, and nothing evil that He will not shelter us from. Don’t hear me wrong, I’m not suggesting that you will never face pain, suffering, loss, and death, that you will never suffer from evil; no, I am not saying that at all, for surely you do, and you will. What I am saying is that you can face these things like a commander leading his troops into battle knowing that no matter what happens, you win. God has got your back and He has given you the victory over sin, death, the devil, and hell, and no one can take that from you.

That makes me think of Darlys as a young wife transitioning from town to farm life, facing Tootles and the stalk chopper, coming back from the battle with dirt on her face and clothes with confident joy. That makes me think of Darlys, quiet and shy, short, and underestimated, roaring like a lion when she needed to get her point across. That makes me think of Darlys as she faced what I will call dementia in her later years, where things got insurmountably difficult and uncertain, when Marvin, her rock, died and she had to face trial and tribulation alone – how her faith kept her strong right up to the end. As we remember Darlys this day, and her faith that saw her through, let us also remember that God has got our back, that God is for us and has given His Son for us, and that nothing can separate us from His love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And, even as we remember that God is for Darlys, and God is for us, therefore we have nothing to fear, let us also remember that God remembers us. There were two men, criminals, who were crucified with Jesus. initially, both of those men mocked and ridiculed Jesus and tempted Him to save Himself and them. As they suffered there together on calvary, however, one of the men was turned in repentance as He saw His innocent God and Lord suffering and dying for his sins and for the sins of the world. The dying criminal said to Jesus, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus turned and said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” People often ask me what happens when we die. Well, for those who trust in Jesus as their savior, it couldn’t be clearer: “Today you will be with me.” That was Jesus’ answer to a condemned man who asked that He remember him. That very day that man was with Jesus. We can be confident and comforted that Darlys is with Jesus. And we can be confident and comforted that when we die, we will be with Jesus also.

And where will that be? Well, that is somewhat less clear, but no less good and wonderful. Jesus told the repentant criminal that he would be with Him in paradise. Paradise is a word that is used to describe, not so much heaven, but the Garden of Eden. Paradise is a walled and protected, well-watered garden. I always say that what matters is not so much the where as the with who; we will be with Jesus, and so it doesn’t really matter where. Nonetheless, Scripture does describe the where a bit, and in most wonderful and glorious ways. In the Revelation, St. John is granted a vision of a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice praising God and the Lamb. John is told, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

What a glorious image is that? I say to you again, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” While we grieve, we grieve not as those who have no hope. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Nothing is able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Ash Wednesday

(Audio)

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21; 2 Peter 1:2-11; Joel 2:12-19

 

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

I know that everything about Ash Wednesday, and everything about Lent in general, is offensive to you. The overly intense focus upon your own sin is offensive to you. Your submission to being marked with ashes upon your forehead and confessing your sins before a man you know to be a sinner himself is offensive to you. The absurdity of coming to this altar to have that same sinful man lay his sinful hands upon your sinful head and pronounce you forgiven – I know very well how this offends you, for it offends me as well. Therefore, permit me to put word to your thoughts: “We confess our sins each and every Sunday in the Divine Service. Why must we do it again now, and with such somberness and severe words and preaching?” “And, besides, only God can forgive sins, right? And Jesus has already forgiven my sins on the cross, right? Then, why do you make it sound like I’m not forgiven, like I need to confess again and again and again? Are you saying that I’m not already forgiven?” “And, these ashes, this ceremony, and all this making us feel guilty and bad, isn’t this all just Roman Catholic mumbo-jumbo that Luther got rid of at the Reformation?” Yeah, I know, everything about Ash Wednesday, everything about Lent in general, is offensive to you. It’s offensive to me as well. But that is precisely why you need it. And that is precisely why I need it. We need to repent from our pride and from our self-righteousness that are so easily offended. They needto be offended. In fact, they need to die. Therefore, this Ash Wednesday and this Lent, your Lord invites you to die – to die with Him – to die to your pride and to your self-righteousness, to be broken and to be humbled, and to repent, that He might raise you up again, and daily, to new and everlasting life in Him, and in Him alone.

So, are you going to give something up for Lent? Are you going to make a sacrifice of some kind or another? Are you going to give up chocolate or wine? Good for you! You could stand to lose a little weight! Or are you going to give up swearing and cursing? That would be good! Maybe, give up Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media? I’ll bet you find you’re a lot less angry and have more time to get things done. Those are all great things to give up. They’re likely to make you a happier, healthier person, no doubt. But don’t think that God is going to be impressed. Don’t think that giving up stuff is going to make you holier or somehow more worthy in the eyes of the LORD. God doesn’t need you give up anything at all. And, frankly, if there were one thing God would like you to give up, it’s the one thing that you simply cannot ever give up – sin, you simply cannot give up sin, no matter how hard you try. So, my advice to you is this: Stop trying to do stuff. Stop trying to give up stuff. Stop trying to do, and practice getting better at receiving.

“Now you’ve gone off the deep end, Pastor! Are you suggesting that I should stop trying not to sin?” No, not exactly. Of course, you should, you must, continue to resist the temptation to sin. But how do you think you’re going to do that? By your extraordinary will power? How has that worked for you in the past? Still keeping those resolutions you made only fifty-three days ago? You can only resist the temptation to sin by keeping the oil of faith in the lamp of your soul full and replenished. You cannot buy this oil, you cannot earn it, and you don’t even deserve it, but you receive it as a gift of God’s grace through His means of grace, His proclaimed Word and His visible Word in Baptism, Absolution, and Supper. Giving something up for Lent – the Biblical Word is fasting – may be, as Luther teaches in the Small Catechism, “good outward bodily preparation,” but it is not a meritorious work. In fact, the purpose of fasting is that you might become hungry and thirsty, weak, and dependent so that you might all the better receive the spiritual food and drink your LORD mercifully pours out for you to strengthen your faith, to preserve, keep, and sustain you through every trial, tribulation, and temptation you face.

Today your LORD invites you to return to Him, with the promise that “He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.” Your LORD invites you to return to Him “with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” That is to say, return to Him in repentance. Return to Him in humility. Return to Him dead to yourself that He might revive you and cause you to live again in Him. “Who knows whether He will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him?” Who knows? You see, it doesn’t matter. You’re not returning to Him in order to get something out of Him, are you? No! But return to Him because He is your God, your Creator, your life, and your being. If you’ve come for any other reason, then repeat the first part again about fasting, weeping, and mourning until it sinks in. Yet, indeed, your LORD does leave a blessing behind, a grain offering in the holy body of Jesus, and a wine offering in His precious blood that you may eat and drink and live.

Moreover, you do not return to the LORD merely as His subject, but your return to the LORD as His Son. “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” Did you catch that? Partakers – your God wants you to be a partaker of His divine nature. To be a partaker is to be a recipient of His gifts. And, this is not a one-time thing, but an ongoing, every-day-of-your-life kind of thing.

However, being a partaker of the LORD and of His divine nature – well, that means something. That means that you are not your own, but you are the LORD’s. That means that you are part of both the spiritual and fleshly body the LORD has taken on in His Son Jesus Christ. That means that you are, as St. Paul teaches, members of His Body, and that you are, as Jesus’ teaches, branches of His True Vine. That means that you will bear fruit – His fruit. Thus, St. Peter exhorts you today to “make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.” What are these but the fruits of the Spirit expressed in different ways? What they share in common is that they are qualities that come from humility, selflessness, sacrifice, and reception of the LORD’s gifts. There is no doing here, just as there is no giving anything up, but, instead, there is being. Thus, what is described is what your life will be like and look like when you are a partaker of the LORD’s divine nature. The children’s apples will not fall far from their Father’s tree.

But St. Peter continues saying, “If these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Again, I ask you, how does this happen? How do you increase your fruitfulness? Well, how does a branch from an apple tree or a grape vine produce more and better fruit? It’s not by the efforts of the branch, is it? No. But, it is by drawing life and sustenance from the tree and the vine. Thus, St. Peter exhorts you to “make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” What St. Peter is saying is that your calling and election are already accomplished in Jesus Christ. However, your certainty and comfort in this comes only from remaining in the LORD’s gifts and in bearing His fruit. Thus, if you remove yourself from the LORD’s gifts in Word and Sacrament and cease bearing the fruits of His Spirit and faith, you will stumble and fall. Whether you will be raised up again to faith and fruitfulness God alone knows. Therefore, take care and be diligent in receiving the LORD’s gifts and bear His fruit.

But, again, my advice to you is to stop trying to do stuff, even to give up stuff. Stop trying to do altogether, but this Lent, practice that you may get better at receiving and being. Indeed, a huge part of Ash Wednesday and of Lent is recognizing and confessing your inability to stop sinning and to save yourself, or even to work together with God towards your salvation, but rather to throw yourself completely upon the mercy of God poured out for you in His Son Jesus Christ. This is why Ash Wednesday and Lent are so exceedingly offensive to your fallen flesh and reason. You want to justify yourself, always. But the truth is that your justification always and only comes from outside of you. That is why your Lord exhorts you not to lay up treasures for yourself on earth, but in heaven, with the promise that “where your treasure is, there you heart will be also.” Those heavenly treasures are here for you today, right now: “Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied.” No, these things are not impressive to the world and to your fleshly reason and desires. They are not earthly, but heavenly, treasures. But they are real, effective, and lasting treasures, nonetheless. These treasures of Word and Water, Bread, and Wine bestow the forgiveness of sins, preserve you as partakers of the divine nature of the LORD, and make you fruitful, comforting you and strengthening you that you might make your calling and election sure in practicing them. “Return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.” He has relented over your disaster, and He desires to bless you and to make of you a rich blessing to others. Stop doing, and practice receiving His gifts and beingHis gift.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Quinquagesima

(Audio)

Luke 18:31-43; 2 Corinthians 13:1-13; 1 Samuel 16:1-13

 

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

You know, we take so many things in life for granted. Take, for instance, seeing and hearing. These senses are so extremely fundamental to us, so much a part of our human experience, of what it even means to be human, that we assume them, we take them for granted, and we rarely stop to think what it would be like to not have them. Oh, sure, we can pretend, play a little parlor game and imagine being deaf or blind, but that’s a far cry from the reality that truly deaf and blind people have to endure every day of their lives.

Further, seeing and hearing are passive activities. What I mean is that our eyes and our ears receive information, they don’t transmit it, but they are passive. Light and sound come to our eyes and our ears, and then our brains interpret the data it receives from them. Thus, you don’t decide or choose to see and to hear, but sights and sounds come to you completely apart from your will or decision. You are passive in regard to your perception and sensations. Perception and sensations are not something that you do, but they are something that you experience, something that happens to you. Only if you desire to not see or to not hear do you have to do something; you have to close your eyes and cover your ears. Even then, it is extremely difficult and it takes much effort to stop seeing and to stop hearing completely.

So, here we are just days away from the beginning of Lent, a season of penitential reflection upon our sins and upon our merciful Savior Jesus Christ who suffered, died, and rose again that we might not die but live through faith in Him. And, in our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus exhorts His disciples to “See.” Jesus said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For He will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging Him, they will kill Him, and on the third day he will rise.” Jesus exhorts them to see. He commands them to see. However, they do not see. And, they do not see because they do not hear. Now, God made their eyes to see, and God made their ears to hear, so what is the problem? Why did they not hear the continuous message of the prophets? Why did they not see the signs demonstrating that Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophets’ prophecies? Why is it that a blind man sitting by the roadside could see who Jesus was and what He came to do when His twelve seeing and hearing disciples struggled so to believe and to understand? Sin, of course, is the reason. It was sinful rebellion and the refusal to believe the Word of the Prophets, the Word of God, and to submit to His will rather than force their own reason and interpretation upon God’s Word. They effectively stopped their ears and shut their eyes to the Word of the prophets, therefore they could not hear, therefore they did not see.

Peter had this problem more than a few times. He had just confessed Jesus to be “the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” for which Jesus praised him saying that His Father in heaven had revealed this truth to him, but then, moments later, when Jesus taught His disciples, just as He did in today’s Gospel lesson, that the Son of Man must suffer and die and rise again, Peter could not hear and he did not see – Peter stopped his ears and shut his eyes and would not believe that the Messiah should come in this way or suffer and die. Peter’s rational wisdom simply would not accept, would not believe, the Word and the will of God. Likewise, Thomas had this problem also. Following Jesus’ death and resurrection, though the other disciples told him that they had heard and seen the resurrected Lord, Thomas said “Unless I see in His hands the mark of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into His side, I will never believe.” Indeed, seeing and hearing are passive activities. One must willfully and intentionally stop his ears and shut his eyes to keep from seeing and hearing the Truth.

And yet, too often, you do precisely that. The Word of God does not make sense to you. It seems to say something that is hard for you to believe and to accept. It seems to go against the popular wisdom of your culture, your brightest and best minds, and your world. Then you, like Peter and Thomas, say to yourself and to others, “Well, that can’t be true. Surely God’s Word must mean something else. It must be a metaphor or a symbol. It’s not meant to be taken literally. For, if that is true, then what so many believe to be true is surely wrong. Or, if that is true, then what I have been believing is wrong.” Whereas Jesus praised Peter for his bold confession of faith, what did our Lord say to Peter when he denied and refused to accept the path that the Son of Man must go? He said, “Get behind me Satan.” Now, Jesus was not calling Peter Satan. However, just as He told Peter that his bold confession of faith came, not from Peter’s flesh and blood, but from His Father in heaven, so Jesus also told Peter where his denial and unbelief was coming from – Satan, the father of lies himself. It was Satan, after all, who was the first to tempt man to disbelieve God’s Word saying, “Did God really say?” Indeed, this is Satan’s great and only power – lies and deception. Truly, there is no need to fear the devil, for he is already defeated by Christ. He has no power to harm you other than that power which you give to him by believing and trusting his lies and deceptions, his word instead of God’s Word.

Jesus exhorted His disciples to “See,” but they couldn’t see. They couldn’t see because they didn’t hear. Well, they heard, to be sure, but the didn’t hear rightly: Hearing, they did not hear, therefore seeing, they did not see. St. Luke tells us that “they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.” This is to say that there was a little something supernatural going on; in some respect, the disciples were kept from understanding Jesus’ teaching. We should understand this in this way: God does not force Himself upon anyone. As in the Parable of the Sower you heard last Sunday, God’s Word, the seed, is always powerful and efficacious to bring about faith, life, and fruit. If the Word is not successful, that is not, and can never be, the fault of the seed of the Word. No, it is the fault of the soil, for when the soil is receptive, the seed of the Word will do it’s work, creating faith and growing to fruitfulness. However, the condition of the soil will always limit the growth and fruitfulness of the Word. Could God force the growth and fruitfulness? Well, He certainly has the power to do so, but that is not His way; God does not force Himself upon anyone. Therefore, when your heart is receptive to His Word – when your ears and eyes are open and not intentionally stopped and shut, or blinded by human reason and wisdom – then you will grow in faith and understanding and fruitfulness, for the seed of the Word is always powerful and efficacious.

In contrast to His hearing and seeing disciples who did not understand or grasp what Jesus said, it was a blind man begging on the roadside who heard and therefore saw Jesus for who He truly was and what He had come to do. What the blind man heard was the sound of a crowd going by. Then, rather than leaning on his own understanding, he inquired of others what this meant. When he heard the word that Jesus was passing by, he cried out to Jesus for mercy using the Messianic title “Son of David.” Though the blind disciples rebuked and tried to silence the man, he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” The Lord Jesus asked the man what He wanted Him to do for him. The man replied, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” And, because his ears were open to the Word of God, Jesus granted him also to see, for those who have ears to hear the Word of the Lord will also have eyes to see differently, to see in accordance with God’s Word unclouded by man’s reason and wisdom.

Similarly, in our Old Testament lesson today, neither Samuel nor David’s father Jesse expected the lowly shepherd boy to be the LORD’s chosen king. Nevertheless, the LORD had said, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, […] For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” Likewise with St. Paul’s beloved epistle on love – St. Paul lists all sorts of spiritual gifts and abilities and yet states that they are all worthless, meaningless, and nothing unless they proceed from love for God and love for the neighbor. What is seen with natural eyes is the work. What is seen with the eyes of faith is the love that produces the work as fruit, indeed, that makes the work to be a fruit and the branch fruitful.

Children of God, be slow to speak and quick to listen as the Lord teaches through St. James. For, faith is created and knowledge and wisdom are gained through the Word of God that you hear, not through that which you observe with your eyes. Indeed, by hearing rightly will you receive eyes to see the truth of things as they really are, as God sees them and directs them. This is what St. Paul means when He says, “Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully.” This is why physical eyesight is not necessary to see the things and the ways of God, for, when the soul rightly hears and hearkens to His Word, then true sight will be given with which you may truly see.

Your God is a God who does wonders. He has made known His might among the peoples of old. His Word has gone forth from His mouth, returning not to Him void and empty, but having accomplished the purpose for which He was sent forth. He is unchanging from eternity, His Word the only thing true and certain. He has kept His promises, and He keeps them now for you. Come before Him now, as His dear children, purchased in the blood of His Son Jesus, the Word of His mouth made flesh, and receive from Him bread and wine, what your eyes see, believing them to be as you have heard Him say, Jesus’ body and blood given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins, eternal life, and salvation. He who by His Word has opened your ears to hear will give you also new eyes to see what lies beneath the veil until He comes, when every eye will see Him and every tongue will confess Him to be the Lord, and God the Father will be glorified.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Sexagesima

(Audio)

Luke 8:4-15; 2 Corinthians 11:19 – 12:9; Isaiah 55:10-13

 

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

The pen is mightier than the sword. This English idiom has become a modern proverb connoting that the power of words is even greater than that of brute force and the threat of violence. Throughout the modern era, tyranny has been quelled, bondage broken, oppression dissuaded, not with force and violence, but with words and ideas. Indeed, our own nation’s revolution was fought primarily with words and ideas until force and violence necessitated that common citizens, farmers and laborers, rise, take up arms, and fight. Even then, it was the might of words and ideas that motivated and impassioned them to self-sacrifice for a cause they deemed more important and precious than their own lives and livelihoods.

Why are words so powerful? Because, words mean things, or at least they used to, or did they? Again, throughout the modern era, it was nearly universally believed that words had referents, or objects, that were true. Yet still, at the time of this nation’s birth, Benjamin Franklin famously said, “Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.” And, you can be certain that Pilate was not the first to ask, “What is truth?” Thus, we can conclude that the power of words does not necessarily come from their truth, for a falsehood and a lie can be every bit as powerful, and often more so, than the truth.

Moreover, there is something fundamentally different between the words of men and the Word of God. The words of men sometimes refer to truth, and often they do not, while the Word of God is Truth, and more than that, it is a promise and obligation that must, and will, be fulfilled, so that the Word of God is both performative and creative, bringing into being what it says.

In Jesus’ Parable of the Sower, we often focus primarily upon the four different kinds of soils which represent the conditions of men’s hearts in receiving the Word of God and then bearing fruit. Our Lord describes men’s hearts as being hard and impervious to God’s Word, rocky and prohibitive to the Word’s being deeply rooted, thorny, so that the fruit of the Word, faith, is strangled and choked by the cares, riches, and pleasures of this life, and good soil, fertile and receptive to the Word and bearing the fruit of faith and good works in abundance. We often spend a great amount of time discussing the need for our hard hearts to broken by God’s Law, for the rocks and stones of sin to be removed in repentance and absolution, for the thorns and weeds to be identified for the idols they are and be plucked out and removed, but seldom do we focus upon that which is constant and unchanging in Jesus’ parable – The seed, which is the Word of God.

Though the seed bears fruit only in one-fourth of the soil upon which it lands, that is by no fault of the seed. For, the seed, which is the Word of God, has the power to bear fruit wherever it is received. Isaiah compares the Word of the Lord to the rain and the snow which come down from heaven, watering the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, saying, “so shall my Word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but is shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the things for which I sent it.”

You see, the Word of God is quite different than the words of men; it is not powerful because of the truth of its referent, but the Word of God is powerful in itself, because it is the Word of God and it is true. As Bo Giertz has put it, the Word of God “has not only a message to proclaim, but it has a responsibility to fulfill. […] God acts through His Word.”

“The same is true,” Giertz continues, “about the words of the Bible. It is not simply a collection of teachings or a fund of stories. It is God who speaks to us. Even with regard to things that happened and were spoken centuries ago it is written for our sake. It has been written for our instruction.” Thus, you must not receive the Bible as merely a collection of old stories, or a history of ancient peoples, or even as a guide for how to live your life, but you must receive the Bible as the living, performative, and creative Word of God. Do not think that by reading the Bible you are performing a work pleasing to God or meriting His favor, and do not think that reading the Bible makes you a Christian, or a better Christian, but you must read, hear, and inwardly digest the Word of God as bread for your life, “for man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

Therefore, the question a Christian must ask is much less “What does God want me to do?” than it is “What has God done?” and “What is God doing?” and “What does God say in His Word?” For example, what God has or has not said about homosexuality is frankly of little importance compared to that performative and creative Word that God has spoken about our sexuality and about marriage, “that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’.” This is not a word of man, rooted in man’s opinions, philosophy, politics, or persuasion, but this is the living, performative, and creative Word of God – the Truth – in opposition to which everything else is but a human construct, narrative, story, and a lie.

But men do not want to hear this Word. Men want to relax God’s Word and make it not so absolute and difficult, and they feign even to believe that because Jesus came in mercy, love, and compassion that He somehow soft-peddled God’s Word, but that is the false-narrative of men, a lie. In truth, Jesus unpacked the full meaning of God’s Word teaching, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” I ask you, where in Jesus’ teaching about God’s command to not murder do men get the ridiculous idea that it is somehow okay to kill unborn children through the atrocity called abortion and euphemize it as choice?

Likewise, Jesus teaches, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” I ask you, where in Jesus’ teaching about God’s command to not commit adultery do men get the ridiculous idea that it is somehow okay to view pornography or any other kind of smut, to have sexual relations outside of marriage, or to even live together outside the covenant of holy matrimony as God has spoken it into being? Hear then these words of your Lord: “But Jesus answered them, ‘You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God’.”

Are these hard words? Do they offend? Good! Do you worship God, or the god of your own making? He keeps sowing His Seed, His performative and creative Word, regardless of men’s receptivity, “Oh, what of that, and what of that?” His seed, His Word will not return to Him void, but it will accomplish the purpose for which it was sent – thanks be to God. His Word is powerful and creative. It is at once a proclamation and a promise, whose fulfillment is guaranteed.

And, it is this Word of God, this Truth, in contrast to which everything else is a lie, even His only-begotten Son, that became flesh and made His dwelling amongst us. He is the same Word of Truth in whose Name we are gathered this day, who has absolved you of your sins and has strengthened you in faith this day. He is the same Word of Truth who comes to you now with His flesh and blood to commune with you, His Bride, that you may be one flesh with Him, and live and be fruitful, and multiply in love, and life, in service to all men in all the places He sends you, bearing His life-giving Word in your hearts, and upon your lips, and in your deeds to the glory of the Father, in His Son, the Word made flesh, by the power and grace of His most Holy Spirit.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Septuagesima

(Audio)

Matthew 20:1-16; 1 Corinthians 9:24 – 10:5; Exodus 17:1-7

 

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

The parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard is yet another parable which our Lord says is explicitly about the Kingdom of Heaven. Thus, it is, first and foremost, a parable about God’s grace, and, consequently, it is a parable about God’s judgment only upon rejection of His grace – for, there are none who will find themselves outside of the Kingdom of Heaven who were not first within it.

In this parable, the Master of the vineyard is God, our heavenly Father, and, like in so many other parables of the Kingdom of Heaven, He is out searching for His straying children: In one parable they are like sheep gone astray; in another they are like ungrateful, prodigal sons; in another they are like unto a lost coin; and, in this parable, they are like idle laborers with no work to do and with no way to provide for themselves and their families. The Master went out early in the morning to seek and to hire laborers for His vineyard. He will find them. His vineyard will be tended to. There will be a bountiful harvest. And there will be a festive celebration for all the hired laborers whom the Master finds and hires, who do not reject the gracious terms of His employ. For, these terms are guaranteed, for the last, as well as for the first, for, this is a parable about the Kingdom of Heaven, and this is a parable about God’s immeasurable and reckless grace.

The parable itself is really quite simple, and you know it well. The Master of the vineyard hired laborers to work in His vineyard at the beginning of the day. He agreed with them upon the wage of a denarius for their day’s labor, a fair and respectable wage, and they went to work in His vineyard. Then the Master went out again at the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to those idlers He said, “You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.” Now, from a worldly perspective, these idlers are not worthy of hire, for they made little to no effort to be hired for work, sleeping in while the first arrived early in the morning. But, here, already, the Master’s grace begins to shine forth as He graciously gives them employ and promises to pay them what is right. So, the idlers hitched it into the vineyard and began to work alongside those first hired. Then, the story repeats itself at the sixth hour, and again at the ninth hour, and then, lastly, even at the unthinkable eleventh hour. The Master of the Vineyard graciously extended hire to all, even to the last idlers of the day. Now, we might rightly imagine that these last had given up all hope of hire and had resorted to drunken carousing in the bars, and yet, still, the Master sent them to work in His Vineyard. Outrageous! You think? No, this is what the Kingdom of Heaven is like!

The Kingdom of Heaven is about grace – Good things given to people who don’t deserve them. If you have in mind any sense of merit or worth, forget about it, that’s not grace. Grace is a gift, absolutely free, no strings attached, given by God your heavenly Father for no other reason than that He is good and generous, gracious, and He wants to give you what He wants to give you, whether you deserve it or not. And, He wants to give, not only to you, but to the person sitting next to you, and to that person over there, and to all the people that are not here today, even to that person who says she doesn’t believe in God, and to that one who steals from others, and to that one who kills, and to that one…. There is no one that He does not shower His grace upon. There is no one that He has not graciously forgiven in His Son Jesus Christ. There is no one that He has not invited to His banquet, killed the fatted calf for, or called to labor in His vineyard. There is no one who deserves or merits this grace and favor from God the Father, not even one, and that is precisely the point! That is what the Kingdom of Heaven is like! It’s all about the giving, and the forgiving, to all people in all the world, because this is who God the Father is and this is what He and His Kingdom are like!

Thus, at the end of the day, the Master told His servant to call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first. And, as they are paid, the laborers began to realize that all have been paid the same amount, one denarius, a full day’s wage. There is no difference in pay between those who worked all day and those who worked less, and those who worked but only an hour, for God the Father is gracious and He graciously gives to allregardless of worth or merit. Again, how good you are, how hard you work, how much you think that you should merit, these have absolutely nothing to do with grace.

Oh, scandal! Oh, confounding offense! Those paid last, those who worked the longest, grumble that those hired last, who worked only one hour, are paid the same, one denarius. Outrage and anger! Oh, the injustice! They thought that they would be paid more. Now, why would they think that? There was no injustice done to them. They were paid exactly what was promised to them and what they themselves agreed to. Their only offense, then, is that the Master showed grace to those who worked less hours and paid them the same. Is that not the Master’s choice? Does anyone have the right to dictate how the Master uses His own wealth? “Or do you begrudge my generosity?” asks the Master. Or, more literally, “Is your eye evil because I am good?”

Yes. Yes, that’s it! Your eye is evil because of the goodness of the LORD. That is, how often do you begrudge the LORD’s generosity, His goodness and grace shown to others whom you deem to merit less than yourself? How often do you curse the LORD and destroy your brother with anger, like Cain destroyed his brother Abel, because God the Father, in His goodness and grace, favored the labor of His hands equal to or above that of your own?

Why are you offended by this? So, what if God is crazy?! Has He not promised you a full day’s wage, a denarius, that is, all that you need to sustain your body and life now, and your life eternally in His Kingdom? You are not being shorted; it is impossible that you will be shorted in any way. So, what if God is crazy in His generosity and grace and gives the same to everyone else? Such is the “weird goodness” of your heavenly Father, that when He’s happy, everybody’s happy, no matter what they did or didn’t do. At the end of the day, He will pay out His generous and gracious wage, a wage that you didn’t deserve, merit, or earn – that nobody deserves, merits, or earns – eternal life and blessedness with Him in His kingdom of glory. And, then the party will begin!

In His generosity and grace, your heavenly Father has invited you and the whole world to the harvest feast in His Vineyard-Kingdom. It matters not whether you are first or last, but what matters is His gracious invitation – you are invited, all has been prepared for you, you are in! This is the LORD’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes! Only you can keep yourself out of the kingdom; only you can make yourself miss out on the party. If you insist that you have earned or merited God’s favor, then, to the back of the line with you, for the last will be first, and the first last. But such grumbling and dissatisfaction at God’s generosity and grace and at the having of the have-nots only breeds jealousy, anger, and misery. And these are great footholds for the devil in your heart, soul, and mind that he will use to separate you from the flock and to see that you put yourself out of the kingdom – for, there are none who will find themselves outside of the Kingdom of Heaven who were not first within it.

It is so tempting to be a bookkeeper and to fill our books full of black ink representing our positive balance of merits and works before the LORD. Of course, it is also tempting for us to keep books for others around us, books filled with lots of red ink to be sure. But God is not a bookkeeper. In fact, He has erased the marks in all of our books, He has made them white and clean in the red, holy, and innocent blood of His Son and Sacrificial Lamb Jesus. Jesus is the Book of Life, and in that book, nothing stands against you. There are no debit entries that can keep you out of the clutches of the Love that will not let you go.

There is a Vineyard feast going on in eternity and you are all on the guest list. But, while it is still daytime, there is work to do in the Master’s Vineyard – work, not for merit, but for the love of God who loves you and all the world. The work of the Vineyard is to share His love in word and deed so that none of the Master’s invited guests find themselves missing out on the party. So, even now, He graciously gives you this foretaste of the feast to come, faith strengthening food and sin-purifying drink, from the Stricken Rock Jesus Christ that you might be bold in confession and boundless in grace like unto your Master, your Lord, and your God and Father, to whom be glory with Jesus Christ and His most Holy Spirit now and forever.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.