The Fifth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 5)

(Audio)

Luke 5:1-11; 1 Peter 3:8-15; 1 Kings 19:11-21

 

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

There were two boats. Jesus, the Messiah, came to fill one of them and to leave the other boat empty. Our Lord chose Simon’s boat. He stepped into it, had Simon push out a little from the land, and then He sat down and began to preach.

There were two boats. One remained tied to the land and worldly concerns, empty, while the other floated on the water like an ark, tossed about by the wind and the waves; but it was not empty, it carried the Lord of the wind and the waves and of all creation, the Word of God that gives life to the world. The first boat is the church of the Law, the synagogue. The second boat is the Church of Christ, the Church of the Gospel, the ark of salvation, in which the Lord saves His children from death in this wilderness world and from the depths of their guilt and sin.

After teaching the masses on land, our Lord prepared His Church for service to the world. Jesus commanded Simon to put out into the deep and let the nets down for a catch. Simon, having just finished cleaning his nets, weary from the night’s profitless labor, did not want to do as His Master had commanded; everything that his experienced wisdom informed him and that his own eyes beheld told him that this was senseless and fruitless. Nevertheless, out of respect for his Master, more than love or faith, he obliged to Jesus’ Word. And, soon the pair were hauling in more fish than either their nets or boat could bear! They called to their idle companions, James and John, to come and help. And soon their nets and boat were filled to breaking and overflowing too!

How is this possible? When men have exhausted their efforts and abilities and are ready to throw in the towel, defeated, in the most foolish of times and of places, in the most unlikely of situations, they find that they are catching fish wholly despite their own weaknesses and failings. Indeed, our Lord often puts us in such predicaments so that we can see that it is not we who are doing the catching of fish at all!

Simon had an epiphany; his eyes were opened, and he knew who it was that stood before him, the Holy One of God, the Messiah. And Simon knew who he himself was, a poor miserable sinner who should not live in the presence of God’s holiness and glory. And he was correct. Thus, Jesus absolved Simon, He forgave him his sins saying, “Do not fear, but know, you are no longer merely a fisherman, but you will catch men lost in the depths of sin and death and unbelief.” For, no one has an encounter with the Lord of Creation Jesus the Christ and walks away unchanged. You may receive Him in faith to your great blessing, or you may reject Him in unbelief to your judgment, but you will be changed. And, you have been changed.

For, Jesus takes the stuff of His creation – common boats and buildings, common people and their common vocations – and He transforms them into powerful tools and instruments in His work of seeking and saving the lost. The boat was a common fishing boat, now it is a symbol for the ark of salvation, the Church. The net was a common fishing net, now it is a symbol for the Means of Grace, Word and Sacrament, by which men are caught out of sin and death and brought into the safety of the Church. And Simon, James, and John were common fishermen, now they are fishers of men, preachers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They knew that everything had changed! So, they brought their boats to land, left them, and followed Jesus from that day forward.

But why does the Lord work in such mysterious ways? Why all the hiddenness and symbolism? Why doesn’t He just come out with powerful works and convince everybody that He is God in human form, the Messiah and savior of the world? Well, sometimes He did. Many people witnessed Jesus’ miracles firsthand: The feeding of 5,000 with five loaves of bread and two fish. The stilling of the storm. Walking on the water. Even raising several persons from the dead! Was everyone convinced in Jesus’ day? Did everyone believe? Does everyone believe today? No. For, as Father Abraham replied to the rich man in hades, so is it true today: “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets [the Word of God], neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'"

For, the Word of God is not a very flashy thing before the eyes of men. We are much more impressed by bright lights, loud noises, and big shows. Not unlike many in the Church today who look at Her declining numbers and seeming irrelevance in the world and are disheartened, so too the prophet Elijah was disheartened in his day, saying, “The people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down you altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” To put that in layman’s terms, Pastor Elijah observed that God’s Church was in shambles. No one kept the Lord’s commandments. No one made the Lord their first priority. No one tithed, but they gave grudgingly of what was left rather than of their first fruits. They wanted to throw out the prayers (the Liturgy) and the sacrifices (the Means of Grace) and even the pastor who faithfully insisted that these must be kept. So, today there are many pastors that would voice Elijah’s despair and there are many churches that resemble the people of Israel. The boat and nets passed down to us from our forefathers seem foolish, antiquated, and irrelevant in today’s culture with its high-technology, visual-orientation, and fast pace, we sometimes feel like screaming: “We’ve fished all night with these boat and nets and have caught nothing!”

“But at Your Word we will let down the nets.” For, it is not by man’s power, reason, or will that fish are caught and men are saved; it is by the power of the Word of the Lord in His ark of salvation, the Church, working in and through our humble and common nets of water, word, bread and wine. These humble elements are transformed into powerful Means of Grace by the Word made flesh Jesus Christ who is present in His Church in, with, and under these elements for the life of the world. He is not in the great and strong wind. He is not in the mighty earthquake. He is not in the raging fire. But He is the still small voice, even a whisper, saying, “I Am the Word of God made flesh, crucified, died and buried, risen from the dead, ascended to the Father, reigning, returning for you. Do not be afraid, from now on you will be catching men.”

And the Word of God is powerful and efficacious; it brings about what it says. For, by the Word of God you have been caught and called and pulled into the ark of salvation; and by the Word of God in your Holy Baptism and faith you have been transformed to catch others with the Gospel Word in your holy vocations. St. Peter teaches you how to do this: “All of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. […] Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.”

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Fourth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 4)

(Audio)

Luke 6:36-42; Romans 8:18-23; Genesis 50:15-21

 

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

Why do we stand for the reading of the Gospel? We stand because the Gospel is the very Word of our Lord Jesus Christ. For, while “all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” we afford the Words of our Lord Jesus the highest honor. And, when Jesus speaks His Word to His disciples and His apostles, He speaks His Word to you. And, when He speaks His forgiveness to repentant sinners, when He heals the sick, cleanses the unclean, and raises the dead, He speaks His powerful, re-creative, salvific, and life-giving Word to you. And, when He rebukes the self-righteous and the hypocrites, so does He rebuke your self-righteous and hypocritical Old Man that he may drown and die in the baptismal waters of repentance once again, and rise up to new life as God’s adopted son. Therefore, when you listen to Jesus’ Words in the Gospel, you must listen to Him as if He is speaking directly to you. For, He is. And, not with mere words does He speak to you, but with the living, powerful, and life-giving Words of God the Father. For, indeed, He is not merely speaking to you, but He is speaking into you.

And, Jesus’ Word to you today is this: “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” If these words are just words, then Jesus might as well have commanded a stone to become bread! Ah, but therein lies a clue, does it not? For, Satan knew and believed in the power of Jesus’ Words. He knew that Jesus could indeed turn stones into bread by the power and authority of His Word alone if that were in concord with His Father’s will. Thus, when Jesus commands you to “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful,” He is not commanding you to do something that He is not at the same time empowering you to do! For, when He says to you, “Be merciful,” He is speaking His mercy, His Father’s mercy, into you. In fact, it is with His Father’s mercy, alone, that you are able to be merciful, just as, without Jesus’ Word, a stone is just a stone. However, with His Word and His Father’s will, even a stone becomes life-giving bread.

Likewise, the same is true with Jesus’ other commands in today’s Gospel: “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you.” You must note the conditional tie between your own attitudes and actions and the attitudes and actions that you will be treated with. And, though it may sound, at first, as if the Father’s attitudes and actions toward you are normed, ruled, and governed by your own attitudes and actions, I suggest to you that all of these conditional commands are normed, ruled, and governed by the first command Jesus spoke in today’s Gospel: “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” That command is the key to understanding the others. For, again, your ability to be merciful is conditional upon the Father’s mercy shown to you so that, in truth, it is with the Father’s mercy that you are able to be merciful to others. For, apart from the Father’s mercy, you have nothing to show, nothing to give, and nothing to do. Apart from the Father’s mercy, you are like a stone. Likewise, apart from the Father’s judging you not, condemning you not, but forgiving you, and graciously giving to you for Jesus’ sake, you have nothing to show, nothing to give, and nothing to do, but you are like a stone, dead and lifeless.

Jesus illustrates this point brilliantly by saying, “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.” Now, again, though it may sound at first as if Jesus is saying to you, “Give, then the Father will give to you,” that is not it exactly, for, you can give only of what you have first received. And, what you have received has been a “good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over,” that is to say, the Father has shown mercy to you, has not judged you or condemned you, but has forgiven and given to you an abundance, even more than you need, so that you are overflowing with His mercy, His forgiveness, and His grace. In fact, it is with that surplus that you are able to show mercy, forgiveness, and grace to others; for, it is not your mercy, forgiveness, and grace, but it is your Father’s. Therefore, with the measure of your Father’s mercy, your Father’s forgiveness, and your Father’s grace that you show to others, will you be compensated, filled up again, to overflowing, that you may show it, and do it, again, and again, and again.

But then, Jesus changes the direction of His teaching to another point: “You must be holy, that is perfect, as your heavenly Father is holy and perfect.” Now, Jesus does not say that, exactly, in the Gospel, but, in so many words, he reiterates what Moses taught in Leviticus 20:26. What Jesus does say is this: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.” Jesus’ point is, as Bo Giertz has written, that “He who takes the commandments seriously will cease comparing himself with others. The Law demands instead that we compare ourselves with God. We ought to be perfect as He is perfect, merciful as He is merciful, holy as He is holy. The law does not allow any possibility for us to be satisfied with ourselves.”

A little over a decade ago, much ado was made of God’s purpose for each one of us, thanks to Southern Baptist mega-church Pastor Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Life. Warren was right in at least one thing, God does have a purpose for each one of us, and Jesus proclaimed that purpose clearly, summarizing the Torah, saying, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,” and, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Unfortunately, Warren must have believed that would have made too short of a book, and so he went on to write hundreds of pages filled with advice and counsel on how to find out what God’s purpose for you is and then how to do it.

But that’s precisely where Warren, and all who seek to do the Law of God, get it wrong: The Law of God is not something for you to do, but it describes what you are to be in Christ Jesus. For, when it comes to the Law, you have more than a log in your eye, you are a disciple and not the Teacher, and you are as blind as anyone else on this planet. Only Christ, who is not corrupted by sin, can see the Father’s Law clearly and do it and be it. Therefore, Christ alone is the Teacher whose Words must not be spoken merely to you, but into you, that you may truly be His disciple, and one day be like Him. Likewise, only Christ, whose eye is clear of sin and guilt and shame, can remove the log of sin, guilt, shame, and death from you that your eye may be clear. Then, forgiven and washed clean in His blood, restored to sight, and disciplined in the Law of love, you will be equipped and empowered to lead, and to teach, and to remove the speck of sin from the eye of your brother. For, this is your Father’s purpose for you, that you might serve your brother and neighbor in love and glorify Him in Christ Jesus.

Another thing that Warren gets wrong, however, is that, if you are doing and being what God has purposed for your life, all will go well, or at least mostly well, with you. Actually, quite the opposite is true; don’t forget Jesus’ teaching, “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.” After all, what did Jesus’ mercy, forgiveness, and grace get Him: Ridicule and mocking, scourging, crucifixion, and death. That is why today’s Gospel about what you are to be in Christ through your attitudes and actions towards your brother and neighbor is coupled with Joseph’s forgiveness of his brothers and Paul’s comparison of “the sufferings of this present age” to the “pains of childbirth”. For, after all that his brother’s had done to him – throwing him in a pit and telling his father he had been devoured by lions and then selling him into slavery – after all those years they believed him to be dead, and how he so missed his father and his young brother Benjamin, in the end Joseph confessed, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” Likewise, Paul confessed, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Beloved children of the Father: You are loved that you may love others. You have been shown mercy that you may show mercy to others. You have been forgiven that you may forgive others. And you have received from the LORD a “good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over.” Your Lord Jesus is speaking directly to you, His disciples, His brothers, and friends today. Yet, He does not merely speak to you, but He speaks into you His powerful and empowering, creative, and life-giving Word that you may be as He commands, for He will be these things for you and in you and with you. Even now He is present with His life-giving Words and His healing Wounds that you may receive Him into you physically and spiritually, that you may remain in Him, and He in you, that you will bear much fruit. And, His fruit is love, the fulfilling of the Law. Go in His Peace.

In + the Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Third Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 3)

(Audio)

Luke 15:1-10; 1 Peter 5:6-11; Micah 7:18-20

 

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

“This man receives sinners and eats with them,” grumbled the Pharisees and the scribes. It’s not only that they didn’t like the people Jesus ate and drank with, but they were beginning to seriously not like Jesus either. “Those people are sinners,” they thought, “and Jesus chooses to eat and drink with them and not us? There is something seriously wrong with that man. He must be a sinner too!”

It was in response to this complaint of the Pharisees and scribes that Jesus told three parables (Luke chapter 15) about something, or someone, that was lost and was then found: The Parable of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son (The Prodigal Son). When each of these lost things/persons were found, Jesus said, there was rejoicing in heaven. And rejoicing in heaven brings rejoicing on earth among those who love God and, as a result, love their brother and their neighbor, sinners all.

The Parable of the Lost Sheep is patently outrageous. “What man of you,” Jesus posits to the Pharisees, “having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?” The Pharisees had to be thinking to themselves, “No one would do such a thing!” When sheep are in the open country, that is when they need a shepherd the most! There are dangerous predators in the open country, and food and water can be difficult to find. Sheep need a shepherd to defend them and protect them and to guide them to green pastures and clean water. No shepherd wants to lose a sheep, but he’s not going to put the ninety-nine he has at risk to find one that has wandered off. It’s simple economics.

Ah, but the parable isn’t about economics, is it? Of course not. It’s supposed to offend our pragmatic sensibilities. The truth of the matter is that the ninety-nine are just as lost at the one. The ninety-nine are in the open country, surrounded by both physical and spiritual dangers. You are amongst the ninety-nine right now in this valley of the shadow of death you know as the world and your life in it. Jesus says, “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” NINETY-NINE RIGHTEOUS PERSONS WHO NEED NO REPENTANCE??? You know that there is no such thing, but all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. There is none who is righteous, not even one; not you, not me, and not the Pharisees and scribes. That is Jesus’ meaning.

The Pharisees and the scribes, however, believed that they were righteous, that they kept God’s law and commandments, and that they were superior to the obvious and notorious sinners Jesus kept company with. The truth is, of course, that the Pharisees and scribes also are sinners, that we are all sinners, and we alike are lost until our Good Shepherd finds us and forgives us and restores us to His Father. Heaven rejoices at each and every sinner who repents. We are all sinners, and we are all lost, but the Gospel Good News is that our Good Shepherd Jesus came to seek and to save the lost! Only the lost can be found! Only sinners can be forgiven!

Jesus’ Parable of the Lost Coin makes the same point, but it condenses things down from 1 in a 100 to 1 in 10. The stakes are bit higher now, for each of those ten coins equal a day’s wage. Thus, the urgency in finding that lost coin becomes more palpable and meaningful to us. Once again, there is immense joy when the lost coin is found, and Jesus says once again, “there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

From 1 in 100, to 1 in 10, and now to 1 in 2: The third parable Jesus teaches in response to the grumbling of the Pharisees and scribes is the Parable of the Lost Son (The Prodigal Son), which is actually not appointed to be read today. Nevertheless, it is the coup de grace and arguably the most sublime and profound of Jesus’ parables. Permit me to summarize the story:

There was a patriarch, a wealthy landowner, who had two sons. The younger son asked his father to give him his share of the inheritance now. This would have been a scandalous and egregious offense for at least two important reasons: First, the son was essentially saying that his father was dead to him, a horrible lack of love, respect, and honor towards his father. Second, the younger son was also displaying a lack of love and respect towards his older brother, who would rightly be the first to receive the inheritance. And, of course, the lack of love for both father and brother betrays a lack of love for God the Father of us all. For all this, the younger son has received the epithet “The Prodigal Son,” and we can well understand why. However, I maintain that it is not the younger son who is the true Prodigal in this story, but rather the father.

Even more shocking and scandalous than the younger son’s request is his father’s response: The father gives the younger son what he asked for, and he gives the inheritance to his older brother as well who, at this time, seemingly knew nothing of what was transpiring. No patriarch of this man’s standing would do such a thing! By all rights the younger son would have been disowned and banished, and likely even killed! But this Prodigal Father does the unthinkable, the unimaginable – he gives the inheritance to both of his sons, undoubtedly with great sadness, and he waits, and he watches patiently with longsuffering endurance as the story plays out.

Quickly, the younger son liquidates his assets and journeys far from his father, his brother, his home, and his people and squanders everything he has on riotous, self-indulgent pleasures and living in a pagan land. When he finds himself penniless and destitute, he hires himself out to a pagan employer who sends him to tend his swine. Still, the boy is so hungry that he is reduced to eating the food intended for the pigs. This would be rock bottom for anyone, but the meaning for a Jewish audience would be uncleanness, depravity, scandal, and offense of the highest imaginable proportions. The boy was completely and utterly lost; he might as well be dead.

But we often must hit rock bottom before we are brought to our senses. Sometimes it is good and holy Fathering to let our children lie in the beds they have made for themselves. The boy remembered his father, his goodness, kindness, and love. He would repent; he would go back home, confess his sins, and offer to work for his father and pay him back. A great plan, except he was wrong to believe that he could pay back his debt. What he wasn’t counting on was grace. He still didn’t love his father, his brother, or his God, and so he couldn’t imagine the kind of love his father was prepared to shower upon him.

Before he got to his home his father saw him coming. How long was the father watching and waiting, hoping, and praying? All the time his son was away, after all the evil he had shown him, he still loved him, was watching and waiting, hoping, and praying for his return. And when he saw him, this prodigal father once again did something that was unexpected, improbable, and scandalous to human reason – he ran out of the house to his wayward son, embraced him, put the family ring on his finger, sandals on his feet, a robe on his shoulders, and he ordered his servant to go and slaughter a fattened calf and prepare a feast because his son was lost, and now he is found; he was dead, and he is alive. There was no working for his father, for his father had fully restored him as his son with all benefits and privileges as if nothing had ever happened at all. He could never repay the debt. He could never right the wrong. He could never heal the wound. Because of the love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness of his father, he didn’t have to. He was lost, he has been found. He was dead, he is alive. End of story, for the younger son.

Now begins the story of the older son, and we come full circle back to the Pharisees and scribes and their complaint about Jesus eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners. Hearing the noise of a party, the older son inquired what was going on. When he learned that his younger brother had returned and that his father was throwing a feast to celebrate, the older brother was furious…, with his father! “Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!” This statement reveals that the older son did not love the father any more than the younger son did. In fact, the older son resented his father. He only served his father and stayed at home so that he could one day receive the inheritance, and the sooner his father was out of the picture the better. He didn’t love his father, he wanted to party with his friends; and he didn’t love his brother and couldn’t care less that he was back home and restored to the family.

The older son in Jesus’ parable unmistakably represents the Pharisees and the scribes who had no love for the people they were called to shepherd, tax collectors, sinners, people just like you. Further, they had no love for Jesus, but they resented him, envied him, and hated him. And they had no love for God the Father; they resented his commandments and felt them a burden to fulfill, so they interpreted them in a way that would make them look good in the eyes of men and yet still be unfulfillable by others, thus securing their self-righteousness, power, and prestige in the eyes of men.

Of course, the father in Jesus’ parable is God the Father of us all. Both sinful, unloving, and the unmerciful sons in the parable find their antitype in Jesus who perfectly loved, honored, and obeyed his Father and perfectly loved and laid down his own life as a sacrifice for you whom God the Father loves so much that he gave his only son unto death on the cross to restore you to himself.

“Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot.”

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

To be a father is to have a vocation of selfless sacrificial service.

“Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments!” – Psalm 112 ESV

 

Father’s Day did not become a national holiday until 1972 when President Richard Nixon’s administration declared the third Sunday in June a day to recognize and honor the role of fathers in society. In comparison, Mother’s Day became a national holiday in 1914. Whereas mothers are typically honored with gifts of cards, flowers, chocolates, and jewelry, fathers are most often honored with BBQs, picnics, and outdoor activities with the family. Whereas Mother’s Day is primarily a celebration of motherhood, Father’s Day is more a celebration of the family.

 

In Christendom, Father’s Day has its roots in the medieval observance of the Feast of St. Joseph which was celebrated on March 19. St. Joseph, being Jesus’ adoptive father, has been given the title Guardian of Jesus. One of my favorite images of St. Joseph depicts all three persons of the Holy Family – Mary gazing downward upon the infant Jesus laying in her lap, and Joseph, betrothed, but not yet married to Mary, and the guardian Father of Jesus, staring piercingly, not at Jesus nor at his mother Mary, but directly at you, the viewer, as if to communicate, “Be warned! I will protect this child and his mother with my very life!”

 

I believe that it is extremely important to consider that, though Mary was not yet Joseph’s wife, nor was Jesus his biological son, nevertheless, Joseph took up willingly his God-given vocation as husband and father, provider, guardian, defender, and protector of the holy family. Upon learning that his betrothed was suddenly with child, knowing that he was not the father, Joseph was at first of a mind to release Mary from their betrothal in a way that would protect her honor and dignity and, quite likely, preserve her and her child from death by stoning under the suspicion of being an adulteress. But an angel of the Lord visited Joseph in a dream and assured him that the child conceived in Mary’s womb was by the Holy Spirit of God. Joseph believed the word of the Lord and he took Mary to be his wife, and the son she carried he received and cared for as his very own. At the word of the Lord, Joseph took on the guardianship and protection of a family.

 

Are fathers important? God seems to think so. God called Joseph to be a husband to Mary and a father to Jesus. And Joseph, like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David before him, believed the Lord and obeyed his word. “Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments!” (Psalm 112 ESV).

 

Joseph’s fatherhood wasn’t about glory, praise, or power, but it was about servanthood, even as was Jesus’ sonship, and Mary’s motherhood. Each of these vocations are unique and distinct and, together, they serve the family, a holy trinity of mutual sacrificial love and service. Thus, in the marriage of a man and a woman, and in the procreation of children, there is a beautiful reflection of our holy Triune God himself as each person performs their unique and necessary role in relation to the others.

 

To be a father is have a vocation of selfless sacrificial service for your wife and children. Perhaps this truth is reflected in the family traditions of Father’s Day, enjoying a BBQ or a picnic with the family, playing games with your children, and enjoying God’s creation together.

 

Heavenly Father, from whom all fatherhood is named, we give You thanks for our earthly fathers. Give them confidence in their station and zeal for their task to care for their families faithfully. Make them examples to their children of godly life and love of Your Word. Bless their work of bringing up children in the fear and instruction of the Lord and give them the comfort of Your absolution over all their shortcomings. Gather us together with all our fathers to Your eternal household; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

 

Rev. Jon M. Ellingworth – Pastor, St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church – Waverly, IA

This article ran in the June 13, 2024 edition of The Waverly Democrat Newspaper

The Second Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 2)

(Audio)

Luke 14:15-24; 1 John 3:13-18; Proverbs 9:1-10

 

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

Wisdom is not the same as intelligence. A person lacking a formal education, even a person having a lower-than-average IQ, can still be wise, whereas many who are highly educated and have many letters behind their names can be fools. But if wisdom is not intelligence, then what is it? What does it mean to be wise? As it turns out, the Book of Proverbs is a good place to begin! Solomon writes, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Now, this is not a new concept for Solomon, but it is a restatement of God’s covenant given through Moses in Deuteronomy, “And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” From this it seems clear that wisdom is not knowledge or information -- some of the most knowledgeable and informed people in the world lack wisdom -- but wisdom begins with a right relationship to the Lord, specifically “the fear of the Lord.” If you are an unbeliever, then the fear of the Lord is a true fear of his judgment and hell, eternal separation from the Lord; if you are a believer then the fear of the Lord is a deep love, trust, and reverence for the Lord because you know and believe that his word, commandments, law, precepts, rules, testimonies, statutes, and ways are true, righteous, holy, and good.

Moreover, in the Wisdom books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon, wisdom is personified as a woman, chokmah in Hebrew, sophia in Greek. That wisdom is personified as feminine has much less to do with wisdom having a feminine quality than it does with Hebrew and Greek grammar and the literary form being utilized which is more akin to poetry than to either narrative or history. We might be tempted to conclude that the traditional feminine qualities of nurture, care, love, devotion, and virtue are what are in view, however Solomon later uses the figure of a woman also as a personification of foolishness in contrast to wisdom. Personified wisdom is described as doing traditionally feminine things: Making a home, preparing a meal, teaching and leading others to wisdom. In contrast to the lady wisdom who provides fine food and wine, the woman folly provides stolen water and bread eaten in secret. Wisdom leads to even more wisdom and a lengthening of years; foolishness seduces, deceives, and leads to death and destruction.

“Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars. She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table.” Wisdom has done it all. Everything is prepared. There is nothing to do and nothing to bring; just come to the feast! “She has sent out her young women to call from the highest places in the town, ‘Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!’ To him who lacks sense she says, ‘Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight’.”

There is nothing to do, nothing to bring. If you want to earn, merit, deserve, or buy your place at the table, this feast isn’t for you. Remember, wisdom isn’t about what you have (knowledge, intelligence, or anything at all), but it’s about your relationship to the Lord; do you fear him, love him, and trust that he is good, that his word is good, true, and righteous? And do not think that your “accepting” the invitation is a work that you do, for the fact is that you are invited, and that is the work of the Lord; refusal of the Lord’s gracious invitation is the only possible work that you can receive credit for, and what you will receive is precisely what your rejection of the Lord indicates you desire, judgment and hell and eternal separation from the Lord. If you have been invited, you’re already in; the only way to make yourself to be out is to refuse the invitation.

Jesus used several analogies to describe himself and his mission: “I am the light.” “I am the bread of life.” “I am living water.” “I am the door.” “I am the way.” “I am the Good Shepherd.” “I am the vine.” “I am the resurrection and the life.” All these images serve as analogies for wisdom as well. Indeed, Jesus is wisdom, for he is the word of God made flesh, the light that illumines the path to God, and he is the way, the path itself, apart from whom no one can come to the Father. When someone told Jesus that his mother, and brothers, and sisters were nearby, Jesus replied, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.” To follow the path of wisdom is to hearken to, take to heart, trust, and walk in the way of God’s holy word. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; the truly wise continue to hear the word of God and keep it and do it.

Jesus’ parable of the great banquet follows in response to several events that occurred at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees. First, they likely set Jesus up to entrap him by inviting to the meal a man suffering from dropsy, to see if Jesus would heal the man so that they could accuse him of breaking the Sabbath law. But Jesus sprung their own trap upon themselves by asking them the question first, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” When they refused to answer, Jesus exposed their hypocrisy saying, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” Of course, they all would do this, so they remained in silence. Then, Jesus, having observed how the Pharisees were careful to choose the seats of honor at the table, and that the host had invited only the richest, most powerful and prestigious guests to his home, said to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” At this, one of the guests exclaimed, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” In answer to this outburst and all the preceding events Jesus taught them the parable of the great banquet.

Just as in Proverbs chapter nine, everything was fully and completely prepared – the beasts were slaughtered, the meal prepared, the table set, the wine poured – all that was left was for the invited guests to sit at the Lord’s table and receive his gifts. But those invited each made excuses and refused to come. Here you must remember the meaning of the invitation: Those invited were in. Nothing was required of them, all was gift, pure grace, but they refused the gracious invitation. They were in, but they made themselves to be out. I don’t know that the context of a banquet is really all that important; it’s not unlikely that Jesus chose that context simply because he was attending a banquet in the home of a ruler of the Pharisees. Likewise, I don’t know that the excuses offered by the invitees matter all that much either. Each of the excuses were valid to exempt one from military service under Jewish law. The master was understandably angry and, because the invitees had things they had to attend to and refused his invitation, the master sent his servants to bring in those who had absolutely nothing at all, the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. Who was now invited? Anyone who didn’t refuse to come. Those who were in chose to be out; Those who were out were made to be in by grace, and by grace alone. There is no other way.

Now, to fully understand Jesus’ parable we must consider the entire context: The pharisees used a man with dropsy, a man they would normally not associate with, considering him a sinner and unclean, to entrap Jesus that they might accuse him. Further, only the wealthiest and most prestigious were invited to the banquet, and they all coveted the best seats for themselves. In sum, they showed no love for Jesus, for the man with dropsy, or even for each other, and they showed no love for God. You are invited to the Lord’s feast, not because of anything you did or who you are, but because of who the Lord is. You are in by his grace alone; only you can make yourself to be out. How then should you treat your brothers and sisters, your neighbors, even your enemies, if your Lord has been so gracious to you? Ah! Perhaps you didn’t see that coming? This parable is not about the banquet or the excuses or about who it was that refused to come, Jesus’ parable is all about receiving God’s good gifts of grace and bearing the fruit of his love. “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.” It’s all about the fear of the Lord and walking in the way of wisdom, walking in God’s word, commandments, laws, precepts, rules, testimonies, statutes, and ways all the days of your life.

And to help you, keep you, and equip you in the way of wisdom, the Lord has prepared this feast, and wisdom has issued the invitation: “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight.”

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The First Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 1)

(Audio)

Luke 16:19-31; 1 John 4:16-21; Genesis 15:1-6

 

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

Today is the first Sunday in the season of Trinity, which you may think of as “that long green season.” Green is the color of life and growth. As the first half the Church Year focused upon the life, deeds, death, and resurrection of Jesus, so the second half of the Church Year focuses upon the life of Jesus lived in and through you, His body, the Church. It is no coincidence, then, that the lesson of today’s Gospel is that the life of the Church, and your lives, its members, have their origin in, and are sustained by, God’s Word.

Jesus’ story about the Rich Man and Lazarus is a story about life and fruitful growth borne in and through believers by God’s Word. Though not specifically called a parable, this story is set in the midst of a string of Jesus’ parables and must be interpreted in that context. Indeed, apart from this greater context, there is precious little reason given why the rich man is in torment in Hades while Lazarus is being comforted in the bosom of Abraham. Beginning with the parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the (Lost) Prodigal Son, continuing through the parable of the Dishonest Steward, and ending with Jesus’ teaching against the love of money and divorce, it would be accurate to say that all of these parables are about hearing and trusting in the Word of God and, consequently, bearing its fruit of selfless, sacrificial love. Thus, the only reason we can surmise that the rich man is suffering torment in Hades is that he did not hear “Moses and the Prophets,” the Word of God, and, consequently, He did not bear the fruit of God’s Word – He did not love.

It was not the rich man’s riches that affected his fate anymore than it was Lazarus’ poverty that affected his. Indeed, biblical heroes of the faith Abraham, David, and numerous others were unquestionably wealthy and, likewise, are unquestionably a part of the company of saints with Jesus in heaven. Neither should it be supposed that the rich man was a bad man or even an unbeliever. He called Abraham father, and Abraham, in turn, called the rich man son. Likewise, Jesus provides nothing in his telling of the story that would cause us to suppose that Lazarus was an especially good or faithful man. All that we are told is the straightforward fact of each man’s condition: The rich man, in his lifetime, received good things, and Lazarus, in like manner, bad things. Now, Lazarus is comforted, and the rich man is in anguish.

The inescapable conclusion we must draw from Jesus’ telling is that, it’s not what we have or do not have that matters, or even a particular quantity or quality of observable works, but it is where we place our fear, love, and trust. These must be placed in God’s Word, despite the conditions of our life, and they must affect a change in us, a change in our hearts, causing us to love. Truly, love is the fruit and the only good work produced in and through us by trust in the Word of God. Indeed, love, and only love, is the fulfilling of the Law of God. However, love is the necessary fruit of faith. That is what James is getting at when he says, “I will show you my faith by my works” and, “faith without works is dead.” Or, as we make our sung confession with Paul Speratus in “Salvation unto Us Has Come, “Faith clings to Jesus’ cross alone and rests in Him unceasing; and by its fruits true faith is known, with love and hope increasing. For faith alone can justify; works serve our neighbor and supply the proof that faith is living.” Likewise, St. John summarizes in today’s Epistle, “This commandment we have from Him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

Jesus tells us that the poor man Lazarus laid everyday outside the gates of the rich man’s house desiring to be fed with scraps from the rich man’s table. Jesus means for us to surmise that his desire went unfulfilled though the rich man feasted sumptuously every day. Now, I know that we immediately think of all the homeless beggars we pass by at the intersections, or on the sidewalks of our larger cities, some of whom are undoubtedly shysters, and we wonder, does the Lord really expect me to give to all of these? While we should never be calloused and cold-hearted to those in need, I believe that the message is directed more towards those we have some sort of relationship with, in our own communities, neighborhoods, church, and family. The fact is that the rich man knew Lazarus, walked past him everyday, and didn’t love him so as to feed him from the scraps that fell from his table. Again, it’s not the work, or lack thereof, that is truly the problem, but rather it is the lack of love, which is evidence of the lack of fear, love, and trust in the Word of God. Jesus hints at this lack of love by declining to provide the rich man’s name, while He named Lazarus; The Good Shepherd knows His sheep, but to those who are not His sheep He will proclaim, “I never knew you. Depart from Me you workers of lawlessness.”

Both men died, and Lazarus was carried by angels to Abraham’s bosom, a place of comfort, while the rich man was buried and in anguish in Hades. Why? The only reason given is that the rich man received his good things in his lifetime and Lazarus received his in the afterlife. Again, however, this parable is not about wealth and possessions in contrast to poverty and need, but it is about faith and its fruit, love. The rich man had love, but his love was for his possessions and wealth and not for God or neighbor. However, there is nothing given that would indicate that Lazarus had love either; rather, Lazarus seemingly had only want and need. And yet, Lazarus’ faith and love are displayed in his want and need. Lazarus could not help himself, but he was a beggar; he begged before his neighbor and he begged before God. To be a beggar is to be completely empty and selfless. Martin Luther famously uttered these words as he was dying, “Surely, we are all beggars.” Lazarus’ faith and love was not in himself but in God. Indeed, his very name means “God is my help.” The LORD has mercy on the helpless. Those who have not He blesses and fills with good things. And, He does this, primarily, through those who have, through the likes of the rich man, through you, and through me.

When the rich man, in anguish in Hades, appealed to Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers, thinking that they would believe if someone rose from the dead, Abraham replied, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.” Moses and the Prophets are the Word of God. More specifically, they represent the Law of God, the Law which is fulfilled in love for God and for the neighbor. Jesus was rich, and yet He forsook all that He had to save us. He who had riches and power and glory willingly, selflessly, and sacrificially became poor that He might raise us up from the poverty of sin and death to the riches of fear, love, and trust in God and its fruit of love for the neighbor. The Law and the Prophets were fulfilled in Jesus and, ironically, He did rise from the dead, and a terrible many remain unconvinced and do not believe.

The greatest work that you can do is to love – love God with all heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. And, this work is much less a work that you do than it is a work God the Holy Spirit does in and though you through faith and trust in His Word made flesh Jesus Christ. Whatever you fear, love, and trust in above and before God is an idol that you must cast away. Created things are not bad in and of themselves, but it is what you make them to be in your heart that makes them idolatrous and evil. And, whatever serves to quell your love for God and man you must pluck it out and throw it away, lest you forfeit your life and the Lord give you what you desire – a life away from His love and gracious presence forever. However, you need not be afraid, for “God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in Him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as He is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” The rich man Jesus Christ became poor for you, therefore God has made Him the richest in His kingdom. And, He is present now, for you, to feed you, not with scraps, but with the choicest meat of His body and the finest wine of His blood, that you may be forgiven, nourished, strengthened, protected, equipped, and sent to love others with His love. In loving others you are loved and remain in His love. Therefore, in love, you need not fear life or death or anything at all.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.