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.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a forty-day period of preparation for The Feast of the Lord’s Resurrection, Easter Sunday. The forty days of Lent are patterned after Jesus’ forty days of fasting in the wilderness, resisting the temptations of the devil by His trust and reliance upon the Word of God. Thus, you already begin to see what your preparation is to be like. For, you also must learn to trust and to rely upon the Word of God and not your self or your own works. Indeed, your Lord’s Word to you this day is “Beware,” “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.”

But what does Jesus mean? Truly, we often hear of our being made righteous by God’s decree on account of the innocent shed blood of Jesus, but what does Jesus mean by “practicing your righteousness?” Well, just as no one will call you a runner if you do not run, and no one will call you a singer if you do not sing, so you are not righteous if you do not practice righteousness. That is to say, if you do not bear the fruit of righteousness in your life, words, and deeds, then you are not righteous. That is what St. James means when he says that “faith without works is dead.” And that is what Jesus means when He says, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” And then, Jesus goes on to exhort you to three very specific ways in which you practice your righteousness: Fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. These have come down to us as the traditional Three Pillars of Lent.

Now, typically, Protestants, and even some Lutherans, have been quick to call the observance of the Three Pillars man-made Popish tradition. While it is true that the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church are the largest Christian fellowships that still encourage and practice the Three Pillars, it is simply false to conclude that the Three Pillars are merely the doctrines and traditions of men. They are not, but they are Biblical, even taught by our Lord Jesus Himself, which you heard for yourself in today’s Gospel. Additionally, Jesus doesn’t make these disciplines optional. He doesn’t say, “If you give to the needy,” but He says, “When you give to the needy,” “Whenyou pray,” and “When you fast.” However, while they are not optional, Jesus also teaches that they do not constitute righteousness, but rather, they are the practice of righteousness. Thus, you do not give alms, pray, and fast in order to earn or merit righteousness – for, you could never give, pray, or fast enough to make even a small movement towards righteousness – but you give alms, pray, and fast because you are declared righteous by God in the innocent shed blood of Jesus Christ.

That is why Jesus warns you to “Beware,” “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.” But note, the warning is not to beware practicing your righteousness, but the warning is in regard to the reason you are practicing your righteousness. If you are practicing your righteousness in order to be seen by other people so that they will think you righteous, then, Jesus says, you already have your reward; you have the admiration and praise of men. In that case, even though your righteousness comes from God alone through Jesus Christ, you give men the impression that righteousness comes from yourself, or from other men.

And, so, you can easily see why giving alms, praying, and fasting have become traditional Lenten disciplines, for, they are selfless acts, that is to say, they are not turned inward upon oneself, but they are turned outward towards both God and neighbor. Moreover, these disciplines place you in a receptive mode, in a mode in which you are receptive to what God freely provides and gives to you. These works of yours are not your righteousness, for, that comes from the LORD alone, but they are the fruit of your God-given righteousness and, thus, the practice of your God-given righteousness.

The Lenten disciplines serve to reorient you to the two tables of the Law and the Great Commandment: “Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, and mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.” For, you cannot obey the second table, about loving your neighbor, until you obey the first table about loving God. Consequently, if you obey the first table, then obedience to the second will follow naturally as fruit. You will, without even having to work at it, be laying up treasure for yourself in heaven. And, where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.

God knows that you have strayed. I have strayed too. But do not despair. Rather, take heart and return to the LORD. For, your LORD still says to you, “Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and nor your garments.” “Return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and He relents over disaster.” Truly, this is what Lent is all about – repentance. Repentance means, “to turn back,” and repentance, turning back to the LORD, is what it means to prepare for Easter. Lent is an opportunity to reorient yourself in relation to your God. It’s a First Commandment opportunity to return to having no other gods before Him, not even yourself, and to fearing, loving, and trusting in Him above all things.

For, the LORD remains jealous for you. He will not share you with another god, not that there is another. Therefore, “He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.” In fact, what He desires for you is “that you may become partakers of His divine nature.” Thus, because you could not become what He is, divine God, He became what you are, a human being, in the incarnation of His Son Jesus Christ – God became man, that man might become God. And, the Lenten disciplines of almsgiving, prayer, and fasting, along with other forms of selflessness and self-sacrifice – faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love – “keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” But you must practice these disciplines, and do so with this promise, “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.”

Yes, practice righteousness, but always recognize and remember that righteousness comes from outside of you, the free gift of God in and through Jesus Christ. So, whatever you give away, whatever you pray, and whatever you abstain from, do these things, not because you believe that they please the LORD or merit His favor, but do them because of the righteousness you have received as a free and perfect gift in Jesus Christ. Sacrifice yourself now because of the sacrifice God has made for you in His Son Jesus, who gave up all things rightfully His out of love for His Father and for you, believing, knowing, and trusting that the LORD who made all things and who gave us life is able and willing to give you all things.

And, so, when you give, pray, and fast, you lose nothing at all, but you gain more of what your LORD graciously desires to pour into you. But He will pour into you and fill you to overflowing so that you will have much to share. Thus, Jesus teaches “when,” not “if.” “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” This is true all the year round. But, during Lent, it will be a blessing to you to be intentional about believing and trusting in the LORD and His Word. He desires to bless you. May you receive His blessing and be a rich blessing to others to the glory of His Name.

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 for granted in life. 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.

As I’ve mentioned in other homilies and Bible classes, 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 sensations. Sensations are not something that you do, but sensations 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 prophet’s 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. 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 too. 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 the “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 its 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 that 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.