Homily for The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 14)

(Audio)

Luke 17:11-19; Galatians 5:16-24; Proverbs 4:10-23

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

Today is one of two days each year in which you will hear the story of The Cleansing of the Ten Lepers; the other is Thanksgiving Day. Now, the selection of this text for Thanksgiving Day may seem obvious, since Jesus commends the one leper who, upon seeing that he had been cleansed of his leprosy, returned to Jesus to give thanks to God. However, while thanksgiving to God is surely a part of Jesus’ teaching in this story, we should be thankful that we are also able to hear it on this late Summer day in September, which is not recognized as a National Day of Thanksgiving, for this story is first and foremost not about giving thanks to God, but the story of The Cleansing of the Ten Lepers is first and foremost about recognizing that Jesus is God come in human flesh to save us from sin and death, and the fact that we are cleansed and forgiven, not that we might return to our ordinary work-a-day lives, but that we live as cleansed lepers, that we live as forgiven sinners, and that we live as raised dead, always, always living in praise and thanksgiving to God in and through Jesus Christ.

King Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, His necessary and final destination, to ascend His throne, the cross, and be crowned with thorns, robed in purple, beaten, scourged, and crucified until dead, that He might rise from the dead, victorious over sin, death, and the devil, and lead His people, those who believe, the New Israel, out of death and into eternal life. That’s what Jesus was doing on the road between Samaria and Galilee! He walked that path to Jerusalem straight and true, never wavering, taking the shorter route through Samaria and Galilee, which most Jews would walk around because the Galileans were seen as second-class citizens, and the Samaritans, well, they were considered detestable and unclean. Interestingly, Jesus selected all of His disciples, with the possible exception of Judas Iscariot, from the Galileans, and repeatedly in His parables He held up a Samaritan as the protagonist and example of true faith, even as He does in this story of The Cleansing of the Ten Lepers.

This seemingly insignificant detail of Jesus’ path to Jerusalem is in truth exceedingly significant. When the ten lepers approach Jesus, where have they come from but from the outcasts and losers, the Galileans, and from the doubly outcast and losers, the Samaritans? The Galilean lepers were like dead ducks to the Jews, cut off from both society and temple, but the Samaritan leper, he was a duck twice dead! The broader point, here, is that these are the folks Jesus was going to Jerusalem to save. They are the “lost sheep of the House of Israel”, they are the Prodigal Son, they are the Pearl of Great Price, they are you, they are me, they are all of humanity that recognizes and confesses our lost condition and helplessness and cry out to the Lord “Kyrie eleison,” “Lord, have mercy!”

Yes! You must see yourself as one of the Galilean lepers, or, better yet, you must see yourself as the Samaritan! For, the fact that there were ten lepers who approached Jesus is no minor detail either, but ten is a symbolic number meant to communicate the totality of the Lord’s people, all those who will repent and believe and thus receive the cleansing forgiveness Jesus went to the cross in Jerusalem to secure for you by His innocent suffering and death. The path that Jesus walks to Jerusalem is straight through the midst of the dead, who confess their deadness and their desire to live. As the ‘70s am radio classic so eloquently expresses it, “Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you.” And, your Lord Jesus, your God, would have it no other way.

All ten lepers cried to Jesus for mercy, and Jesus cleansed them all without exception. In fact, He ordered them to go and show themselves to the priests, for this was what the Levitical law required for a cleansed leper to be declared clean once again. For, they were clean already, because of their faith in Jesus, all they needed, and solely for the sake of human sensitivity, was the declaration of the same from the priests. This is very much like the paralytic whom Jesus cleansed. Jesus said to him, “Your sins are forgiven you,” and the man was healed. However, the scribes and the Pharisees took issue with Jesus’ pronouncing forgiveness, therefore, because of the weakness of their faith, Jesus told the man, “Rise, take up your mat and walk,” and he did. The point is, the true healing is absolution, forgiveness; anything and everything else is secondary, gravy, icing on the cake.

But, then, Jesus takes the story a different direction in order to make a distinction for the purpose of teaching. One of the ten lepers, when he saw that he was healed, “turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.” All ten lepers were cleansed, but only this one returned to give thanks. Then, to boot, Jesus tells us that that one was a Samaritan. What is Jesus’ point? Well, as I indicated earlier, all of the lepers, who represent all humanity, were already despised, cut-off, dead to both society and temple, and the Samaritan was even worse off than that. Therefore, Jesus’ point is two-fold: First, no one should think himself to be better than another in terms of righteousness before God Whether you are a Galilean leper or a Samaritan leper, you’re still a leper, and there’s nothing that you can do to change that, but you must be cleansed and healed, you must be forgiven by Jesus. Second, the deader you realize you are, the deader you confess yourself to be, the more receptive you will be to Jesus’ mercy, love, and forgiveness; or, in the words of St. Dylan, “When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose.”

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I cannot stress to you enough that Jesus wants you to see yourself in this way. You must see yourself in this way, for only lepers can be cleansed, only sinners can be forgiven, and only the dead can be raised to new and eternal life. This is why Jesus then turns and asks, not the Samaritan leper, but His disciples, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Thanksgiving and praise are just two of the fruits of faith. They, along with good works, are, as Paul Speratus, paraphrasing St. James, writes, “The proof that faith is living.” The thing about fruit, however, is that it will come, naturally, of its own accord, if there is true and living faith. Where was the fruit of faith, where was the proof of faith in the other nine equally cleansed lepers?

Moreover, we must pay close attention to the words of Jesus in describing the cleansed Samaritan leper’s response: He “turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks.” The cleansed Samaritan leper praised God with his voice, and he also praised God by falling down at Jesus’ feet and giving Him thanks. He worshipped Jesus, and believed that he was praising God! Just who did the cleansed Samaritan leper confess Jesus to be? God in the flesh. Emmanuel, God with us. Abraham’s Son of Promise. The Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One. David’s Son and David’s Lord. Jesus, God’s Salvation for all men, of all times, and in all places.

“Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” Now that you have been cleansed, healed, and forgiven, what’s next? What way will you go? Presumably the other nine lepers whom Jesus’ cleansed returned to some semblance of their former lives. However, the cleansed Samaritan leper, I believe that he took up his cross and followed Jesus. Indeed, this way and path is described in both our Old Testament and Epistle lessons today. King Solomon writes in Proverbs: “I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness. […] Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil. Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on.” Likewise, St. Paul writes to the Galatians: “Walk by the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”

As leprosy is a disease of the flesh, what better figure could Jesus use to exemplify that, once cleansed from the sins of your flesh through His gracious absolution, you must not return to sinful, fleshly living, but walk in the way of righteousness and holiness, in the way of Christ? And, a key component of that kind of righteous living is the confession that you are always, always, a forgiven sinner, a man, once dead, but now raised to new life in Jesus Christ. Therefore, may you live every day like the thankful cleansed Samaritan leper, remaining clean, forgiven, holy, and righteous by returning to Jesus, by trusting in Jesus alone for forgiveness, life, and salvation.

Today Jesus is passing through Galilee and Samaria, even Pawling, New York. He has heard your cry for mercy and He has answered. Come, then, and fall at Jesus’ feet in thanksgiving, praising God for His gracious visitation. Receive Him who will not leave you as orphans, but who communes with you in flesh and blood, that He may walk with you through the valley of the shadow of death, that you might fear no evil, nor be swayed to the path of evil, but walk in holiness and righteousness all the days of your life. Remain in Him, and He will remain in you, and you will be fruitful with the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control – to the glory of God the Father.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 13)

(Audio)

Luke 10:23-37; Galatians 3:15-22; 2 Chronicles 28:8-15

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

The lawyer’s question betrayed his fundamental misunderstanding of the purpose of the Law of God. He asked, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” From that question alone, Jesus knew all that He needed to know about this man. For, the Law of God is not about I – it’s not about you – but the Law of God is about others, your neighbors. The lawyer was interested in himself, thus he asked, “What must I do to inherit?” But, the purpose of God’s Law is not what you must do to get something you want, but the purpose of God’s Law is for you to love your neighbor.

“What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” Jesus asks, not only the lawyer, but you. Do you hear and read the Law as instructions and commands for what you must and must not do? That is only part of the Law of God. Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not slander, do not covet – what these prohibit is clear enough. However, do you not hear and see the command within them to love your neighbor? For, the command “Do not murder” means much more than merely “do not harm your neighbor in his body,” but it includes also the command “to help and befriend him in every bodily need.” This is why Jesus teaches, “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.”

The same is true with the other prohibitive commandments. Each also has a prescriptive component rooted in love for your neighbor. The prohibition against adultery prescribes that “husband and wife love and honor each other.” The prohibition against stealing prescribes that you help your neighbor “to improve and protect his possessions and income.” The prohibition against slander and gossip prescribes that you defend your neighbor and speak well of him, explaining everything in the kindest way. And the prohibition against covetousness prescribes that you help and be of service to your neighbor in keeping what he has. Even the commandments that are not directly prohibitive – Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy; honor your father and your mother – these are about love, love for the Word of the Lord and love for your parents and authorities over you as you love the Lord Himself.

Love is the only commandment, therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. Therefore, if, like the lawyer who put our Lord to the test, you’re doing the Law of God in order to gain something for yourself, then you are focused on the letter while you miss the Spirit of the Law entirely.

Jesus said to the man, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” The lawyer got Jesus’ point. Do you? You see, the lawyer spoke the correct words, he answered correctly: the love of God and the love of neighbor is the fulfilling of the Law. Love is the Spirit of the Law which undergirds and accompanies the letter. But, even though he answered correctly, Jesus’ Words piqued something in the man’s heart. The lawyer felt the need to justify himself. What this means is that he understood that Jesus was pointing him to something other than doing the Law to gain something for himself. Jesus was, in fact, pointing him away from himself and to his neighbor. Therefore, when Jesus said to him, “Do this, and you will live,” the lawyer felt the crushing weight of the Law coming down upon him, for he was self-interested, selfish, and self-righteous, and he realized that the keeping of God’s Law is not about the self at all, but about love for God and for the neighbor. No doubt, the lawyer did a pretty good job of keeping the letter of the Law. In fact, Jesus doesn’t chide the man for his works, but instead, he tells him a story to help him to truly see what the Law of God is all about. That story is the well-known and beloved Parable of the Good Samaritan.

As the story goes, a traveler “fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.” I’m not certain that it’s wise to make too much of it, but the use of the words “fell among” seems to indicate a certain passivity, even innocence on the part of the traveler. It’s not that the traveler was doing anything wrong, but he simply “fell among robbers” and found himself in a predicament where bad things happened to him that he was powerless to stop. Perhaps Jesus’ purpose in using this language is that we identify with the traveler. For, too often we are stripped and beaten and left half dead by life, and by the sinful men and women who live it, through no particular fault of our own.

However, another possible way to understand this language is in terms of the letter of the Law, particularly the Levitical Law and its code. After all, that is what the lawyer knew so very well and put his fear, love, and trust in performing so that he felt self-righteous and justified. But, the lawyer’s reading of the Law was of the letter and not of the spirit, therefore, it brought no comfort to the terrified sinner, no hope to those despairing of salvation, but instead left them stripped, beaten, and half dead lying in a ditch that would soon become a grave.

Therefore, when first a priest and then a Levite pass by, they do not help the man. They cannot help the man, for they are bound by the same robbers that left him naked, bleeding, and dying in a ditch – but they don’t know it (or, do they?). You see, again, what is Jesus’ purpose in telling this parable? He is trying to get the lawyer to see that he is misinterpreting the Law that he believes he knows so very well. He is trying to get the man to understand the spirit of the Law, love, which he is able to state in a perfunctory manner from rote memory, but which he does not know personally, and therefore cannot show to his neighbor. Jesus tells this parable to the lawyer in order to pique his heart of mercy and compassion, that he may see, and know, and believe that this is the true meaning, purpose, and fulfillment of the Law of God.

When the despised Samaritan comes along, he alone does the priestly work that the Law requires, which the priest and Levite of the letter of the Law neither would nor could do. The Samaritan was moved by compassion, by love, to step down into the ditch with the bleeding, wounded, and dying traveler and to pour out his selfless gifts of oil and wine, to bind him up and bear him upon his own beast of burden, pay what was necessary to keep him and provide for him, and leave him with the promise that he would return. “Which of these three,” Jesus asks, “do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” Both the lawyer, and you, and I must answer, “The one who showed him mercy.” And that is the purpose and the fulfilling of the Law: Love.

Love is the spirit of the Law. The lawyer, who was an expert in the Law, couldn’t see that. Jesus helped him to recognize it in the works of the Good Samaritan. For, works of the Law, even performed to the very letter of the Law, without love, are, as St. Paul has written, noisy gongs and clanging cymbals, or as Isaiah has written, filthy rags. Yet, moreover, on our own, we can no more fulfill the spirit of the Law than can we the letter. We cannot love God or our neighbor as the spirit of the Law requires, therefore, once again, we must identify with the half dead man in the ditch. We are Adam, who, upon sinning, his eyes were opened and he saw that he was naked and he was ashamed and afraid. This is what the Law does to sinners, it exposes you and leaves you vulnerable and unable to help yourself. God asked Adam, “Who told you that you were naked?” Like Jesus, God the Father gets to the root of the matter – sin. Adam was always naked, and his nakedness was good. It was sin that caused him to see the good things of God as bad. Likewise St. Paul confesses that he didn’t know what sin was until the Law came. The Law cannot save us, but it has “imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.”

Indeed, as we heard last Sunday, Jesus “has done all things well!” He has fulfilled both the letter and the spirit of the Law. He has been the Good Samaritan, binding up the wounds you have suffered under the Law, pouring on His selfless gifts and paying the price for your life. And, He has been the man in the ditch, taking your place upon the cross, suffering mocking, beatings, scourging, and piercings at the hands of robbers, dying, and being buried in the earth that He might rise again to life and redeem you out of death and the grave. And, He is the innkeeper who cares for you and provides for you in this inn of His Church. And, He is the true Priest and Levite whose office is to serve you in love, mercy, and compassion, which He Himself receives in superabundance from His gracious and merciful Father in heaven.

Indeed, He has done all things well! He has fulfilled the Law of His Father in letter and spirit. He has done this for you, in your stead, so that you are healed, forgiven, made righteous and holy in the sight of His Father once again. Now He commands you, He exhorts you, He sends you as holy priests and Levites to “Go, and do likewise.” Go, and love like Jesus, with Jesus’ love. Go, and have compassion like Jesus, with Jesus’ compassion. Go, and show mercy like Jesus, with Jesus’ mercy. He has done all things well! He has fulfilled the Law in letter and spirit so that you are free to do it, without compulsion or coercion, without fear of failure and punishment, but you are free to do it, you are free to be it, in Jesus’ love. But first, you must be served by Him, here in this inn, His Church, where He cleanses you with water and anoints you with the Holy Chrism of His Spirit in Holy Baptism, where He forgives you with the healing balm of His Holy Absolution, where He feeds you with His faith creating, sustaining, and life-giving Word, and where He communes with you in life, through death, unto life that never ends in the Holy Supper of His Body and His Blood. Through these Holy Means He showers His mercy upon you, that you may go and do likewise to the glory of His Father.

In Jesus’ + Name. Amen.

Homily for The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 12)

(Audio)

Mark 7:31-37; 2 Corinthians 3:4-11; Isaiah 29:17-24

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

“O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.” These words of King David from Psalm 51, the Christian Church has spoken, sung, and chanted in the liturgies of Matins and Vespers since at least the sixth century. For centuries, Christians have prayed these words in the morning and in the evening and so have book-ended their daily lives with the confession that, unless the Lord opens our lips, not to mention our ears and our eyes, they are, and they will remain, utterly closed and unable to sing His praise, to confess His Name, or even to hear His life-giving and faith-creating Word at all. For, apart from the Lord’s gracious action, that is our state: spiritually deaf, dumb, blind, and dead towards God – just like Adam before God breathed His living breath into him; just like the blind man begging by the roadside; just like Lazarus before Jesus’ creative and life-giving Word called him to life; and just like the deaf-mute man in today’s Gospel. However, when the Lord opens our lips, our ears, and our eyes, then we will most certainly praise Him, not only in our direct and intentional prayers and praise, but also in our casual and day to day conversations with our families, with our neighbors, and with our co-workers, just as branches joined to the life-giving vine most certainly produce good fruit.

Yet, opening our ears and our eyes and our lips to speak, sing, and chant His Father’s praise is not all that our Lord does or can do. No. But, by His Word, He makes the lame to walk and lepers to be clean; He makes barren lands and barren wombs to be fruitful even as He once spoke light into the darkness and brought forth everything out of nothing, by the power of His life-giving and creative Word, His Word of life which is life, apart from which is only death. Thus, even now, by His same life-giving and creative Word He opens your ears to hear His Word and He creates faith within you through the preaching of His Word, He raises you from death to life in Holy Baptism, He forgives you and makes you clean through His Holy Absolution, and He feeds and nourishes you, His life communes with you, in the Holy Supper of His body and blood with the promise that He who has begun this good work in you will see it to completion in the Day of the Lord, and Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Therefore, as your mouth has been opened by the Lord to speak and sing His praise, you must not keep it closed and remain silent. For, your Lord has promised that He who confesses Him before men, He will confess before His Father in heaven, but He who denies Him before men, He will deny before His Father in heaven. Indeed, the Holy Spirit is working in you and with you to make of you bubbling spring and a fruitful vine of His prayer and praise, mercy, and compassion. You can no more “tell no one” than could Jesus’ disciples and the crowds after witnessing the healing of the deaf-mute. And, yet, you do not, but you remain silent, just like the women at Jesus’ empty tomb, because you are afraid. Like St. Paul, you know what you want to do, but you do not do it, and the things that you do not want to do, that is what you continually find yourself doing, for indeed, your spirit is willing, but your flesh is weak.

Therefore, you must not listen to your flesh. You must not obey your flesh. Rather, you must, as Jesus teaches, die to yourself and live to Christ in His righteousness. And, this is the fruit, not of the Law of God, but of the Law of God fulfilled, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Because He has done all things well, making even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak, He has fulfilled the Law’s demands and has set you free to do it without fear of condemnation, to do it, not to earn salvation, but to do it because you have been saved. Where the Law of God, because of your sin, left you deaf, dumb, blind, and dead, a barren wasteland and a fruitless field, the Gospel has given you a confidence and a sufficiency, not from yourselves, but from God. It is precisely because your righteousness comes from outside of you, not from inside of you, and because your righteousness is found in Jesus’ works, not in your works, that you can be confident and without fear, that you can stand before God and receive His gifts, open your lips and sing His praise, and tell everyone what He has done. Apart from Jesus, your words and your deeds are nothing, even filthy rags, but because of Jesus, in His Holy Spirit, that which once had no glory – your works – has been made to be glorious in His sight.

Jesus did some rather strange things in the healing of the deaf-mute. While His Word was sufficient to open his ears and to loosen his tongue, Jesus also accompanied His Word with symbolic actions: He put His fingers into the man’s ears, and after spitting His touched his tongue. Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” Was this all for show, to draw attention to Himself? No, not at all, for, indeed, Jesus first took the man aside from the crowd privately. Further, even after healing the man, Jesus told him, His disciples, and the crowds not to tell anyone. No, Jesus never seeks to glorify Himself. But then, what was the purpose of His actions? Truly, it may have been only compassion. Jesus often utilized touch in connection with His Word of forgiveness and healing. However, St. Mark’s use of the specific word “finger” brings to mind the Old Testament usage of “the Finger of God” which Pharaoh’s magicians recognized was at work through Moses and Aaron. Jesus Himself used this figure in St. Luke’s Gospel saying, “But if it is by the Finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Perhaps Jesus placed His fingers into the deaf-mute’s ears to communicate that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ.” Additionally, the use of spit and touching the man’s tongue may have a symbolic connection to Holy Baptism where common water is sanctified by the Word of Jesus’ mouth so that it becomes a lavish washing for the forgiveness of sins and the bestowal of the Holy Spirit. Now, some may say that this is allegorizing, and perhaps it is. However, following these actions, Jesus looked up to heaven, sighed, and said to the man, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened,” making a clear connection between His actions and the blessing of His Father, that the deaf-mute would know the source of His healing through the Word of Jesus.

When you and I sigh, it is usually because of a sense of exasperation, futility, hopelessness, or despair. That is because we are sinners. We know that our best efforts fail and are soiled by our sin, and we daily suffer the effects of other sinners directly and indirectly. But, this is not why Jesus sighs. When Jesus sighs He breathes in our curse and He breathes out our cure, the blessing of His Word, the impartation of His Spirit, which gives life. For looking up to heaven, Jesus sighed and said “It is finished.” He breathed His last and handed over His Spirit. He gave His life into death so that you will live. He took the curse into Himself, your sin into Himself, He suffered in your place, died in your stead and was raised from death, out of the tomb so that you who trust in Him are forgiven your sins, rescued from death, have eternal salvation. And now He gives you His Body and His Blood. He gives you Himself, the embodiment of His Father’s Word, to make it embodied in yours, taking away your sin and giving you His righteousness, His holiness, His purity, His life. Indeed, He does all things well. And in Him, so do you.

Pray that the Father will continue to open your ears and to loosen your tongues by the Holy Spirit delivered through His proclaimed Word again and again. And, do not remain silent, but sing His praise in word and deed; tell everyone what He has done! For, you were deaf, and now you hear; you were blind, and now you see; you were mute, and now your lips have been opened, your tongue has been loosed; you were dead, but now you are alive in Christ. For you, to live is Christ, to die is gain. Therefore, die to yourself and live to Christ by laying down your life for your brother and sister, for your neighbor, for the Lord. Your sufficiency is not in yourself, but in the Lord. It is not of the letter, but of the Spirit. The Law indeed was, and is, glorious, therefore, how much more glorious will be ministry of the Spirit be?

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for The Ninth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 9)

(Audio)

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

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

A few weeks ago, I happened upon an article ranking the seventy-six best board games of all time. The list included classic strategy games like Stratego and Risk, card, dice, and word games like Uno, Yahtzee, and Scrabble, contemporary social games like Trivial Pursuit, Scattergories, and Pictionary, along with monetary, budgeting, and trading games like Payday, Sorry, and Monopoly, the latter of which, notably, came in second only after Chess.

These last three games are notable in that they have made entertaining and fun something that most of us likely feel is dull, mundane, and even torturous, namely budgeting, money management, and finance. The large part of what makes games such as these entertaining and fun is that we are able to manage enormous amounts of money, property, and possessions and attempt to build them into even greater fortunes and to make risky, bold, and, sometimes, foolish, moves with no risk or repercussions at all in our real and actual lives. And, that’s what makes these games great! Because, no matter how much, or how little, you have, we all have to make the best of what we’ve got, for ourselves, and for others. Better to learn good management and stewardship skills early on, when the money is only paper and the job is spinning wheels and rolling dice.

Consider this in relation to Jesus’ parable about the dishonest manager. The manager had been questioned by his rich employer of “wasting his possessions” and mismanaging his wealth and he was commanded to “turn in an account of his management,” that is, to bring the accounting books for the master to examine. Notice that the manager made no argument in defense of himself. He knew that the charges were true and that he had no escape. He knew that he would be fired and that no one would hire him. He knew that he would have to live day by day fighting to secure the meanest manual labor or, worse yet, simply begging on the streets, which would not provide him enough to live.

But, that was when the dishonest manager came up with an ingenious, if morally repugnant, plan: He went to each of his master’s debtors and he reduced their bill by as much as fifty percent! His plan was based upon two premises: First, he knew that the debtors would treat him well when he became unemployed, and second, he knew that his master would honor debts he had reduced.

Now, we all want to cry out, “Unfair! Dishonest!” And, rightly so, for, the manager’s plan is a clear violation of the Seventh Commandment, “You shall not steal.” Thus, we are all rightly surprised, and perhaps scandalized, when we hear Jesus’ teaching that “the master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.” This simply would not work in our world. We would not be commended, but we would be arrested, for mismanaging our employers’ money, property, and possessions in this manner. Ah, but therein lies the key: Even when we manage our own money, property, and possessions, we are truly managing those things that belong, not to us, but to God. Moreover, our God will indeed honor the debts that His Son, Jesus, has, not reduced, but, in fact, has paid for us, fulfilled, and satisfied in full by His suffering and death on the cross for you, for me, and for all men of every time and every place.

You see, Jesus knows you. He knows your fallenness. He knows how you love money, property, and possessions and how you trust in them and fear losing them. Jesus knows that you have taken His Father’s good gifts to you and have made them your idols, your gods before and instead of Him. He knows how you, in your sinful corruption, blindly and intentionally worship created things in place of the Creator of all things, even yourself. Therefore, He teaches you, He disciplines you, that you may learn proper stewardship, management of the good things His Father gives you. He doesn’t want you to not use, benefit from, and enjoy His gifts, but He wants you to fear, love, and trust in Him, the Giver, above and before the gifts that He gives. And, one key way that you demonstrate this is by giving His gifts to others.

Jesus taught, “The sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.” What this means you already know well enough, for you are well schooled in the worldly ways of spending money to make money, buying low and selling high, and flipping property to make more money. You are indeed very shrewd in these worldly matters, and the world rewards those who excel in this way. However, these things truly belong to your heavenly Father. Therefore, I ask you, in what way is He honored and glorified in your worldly dealings, O sons of light? Do you give back to Him a portion of what He has given to you as a thank offering? Moreover, do you give to others of what He has given to you and win glory and praise, not for yourself, but for God? You see, that is precisely what the dishonest manager did, he assured that his master would be glorified, even as he gave away what belonged, not to him, but to his master.

You see, Jesus does different kinds of things in His parables. Sometimes He wants you to “Go, and do likewise,” as in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, but other times He sets up for you a negative example in which, it is not the action that He encourages – in this case, dishonesty in handling the financial affairs of another – but rather the recognition and confession of who your true Master is and of what true riches consist. To illustrate this, Jesus taught, “And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.” Jesus would have you learn that there is no righteousness in mammon, that is worldly riches and wealth, and that you cannot gain righteousness through them, whether honestly or dishonestly. However, knowing this, O sons of light, you are liberated from fearing, loving, and trusting in unrighteous mammon to use it in fear, love, and trust in God for the benefit of yourself and your family, and to the benefit of your neighbor, to the glory of God. Jesus would have you see money, property, and possessions as a “little” thing, and He would have you believe and know that you have been entrusted with “true riches,” love, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life. “One who is faithful in a very little,” Jesus teaches, “is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?”

So, what does this all mean? Your Lord Jesus would have you be thankful for the gifts you have received from His Father and use them for your benefit and for the benefit of others, but always to the glory of God. You are to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. For, if you fear losing what you have, then your fear is misplaced and you are serving mammon. And, if you love your wealth and possessions more than you love God or your neighbor, then your love is misplaced and you love mammon and not God and your neighbor whom God loves. And, if you place your trust in material wealth and possessions for life and security and hope for your future, then your love is misplaced and you trust in mammon, not in God. “No servant can serve two masters,” Jesus teaches, “for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Your Master is good, and He keeps His promises. He has done all that was necessary to purchase you for His own, to redeem you, and to make you righteous. You are righteous through His Righteous Steward and Manager, Jesus. Jesus did not merely reduce your debt or even forgive it, but He paid your debt Himself in full, “not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.” He knew that His Father would honor the debts that He had paid in full, and He perfectly feared, loved, and trusted in God alone.

“The master commended the dishonest manager,” not for his dishonesty, but “for his shrewdness.” Shrewdness is akin to wisdom, therefore, what was the wisdom of the dishonest manager? The manager’s wisdom was, as the Proverb teaches, “the fear of the LORD.” Recognizing and confessing that he was caught in his sin and that there was nothing he could do to make himself righteous before his master – that’s the preaching of the Law of God which always shows our sin – he placed his complete fear, love, and trust in the goodness of his master, not in himself, not in money, property, or possessions, and he shared his master’s mercy with his neighbors that his master would be praised, honored, and glorified. In the same way, you, O sons of light, go and do likewise, in the fear of the LORD.

And to forgive, renew, and strengthen you for this service, your Lord Jesus is present with His gifts of grain and wine combined with His powerful, creative, and life-giving Word that you may eat His body and drink His blood and bring His stewardship to your neighbor in need to the glory of His Father. Your debt has not been canceled, but it has been paid in full. You are “free to worship Him without fear, holy and righteous in His sight all the days of your life.” Go in peace. Serve the Lord.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for The Seventh Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 7)

(Audio)

Mark 8:1-9; Romans 6:19-23; Genesis 2:7-17

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

Full bellies, contentment, amazement, and wonder at His miraculous power and works – these, I suggest to you, are not the reasons that Jesus fed the multitudes in the wilderness. Jesus never did anything to glorify Himself, but only to bring glory to His Father. Nevertheless, men, in their fallenness and sin, are mighty impressed with spectacles and wonders, with full bellies, and with the satisfaction of the flesh, and thus, many walked away that day missing Jesus’ point.

But, if not to glorify Himself, then what was Jesus’ point? Jesus’ point was not the food, but the Provider of the food. Jesus’ point was not how they might devise to get food, but the fact that they could not possibly get food on their own. Jesus’ point was not that the multitude would realize their need and despair, but that the multitude would realize their need and, in realizing that God had provided for them all along, realize that they had no need to despair, but that their God who loved them and provided for them as His own dear children in the past would continue to provide for them in the present and into as many future days as He might grant them. Jesus had compassion on the crowd because Jesus is compassion – that is to say, Jesus is the love, mercy, and compassion of God in human flesh, dwelling in the midst of the men He created to live by His providence and to receive His love and return it.

However, as much as Jesus made this point to the crowds who had followed Him for days after experiencing a previous miraculous feeding and many other miracles and healings, His primary audience was not the multitudes, but, rather, the Twelve, His disciples. It was particularly to them that He said, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat.” And, as in His previous Feeding of the Five Thousand, Jesus said this to them to test them, to see whether they would trust in Him and His Word or only in themselves and their own meager providence.

Perhaps this is why Jesus specifically stated that the crowd had been with Him for three days. Was there something significant about three days? Well, since it was our Lord Jesus who spoke these Words, of course there was something significant about them! Three days was enough time that those who followed Jesus would have exhausted their own resources. Moreover, Jesus had purposely lead them to a place where was little or no natural resources, a place the disciples described as desolate. However, the crowd did not appear to be restless or despairing. In fact, they seemingly followed Jesus willingly without concern for food or drink, clothing, and shelter. The crowds were riveted by Jesus’ Words, enraptured by it and in it, so that they were focused upon nothing else. Indeed, this test was much more for and about the disciples and their faith and trust in Jesus and His Word than it was about four thousand of a nameless multitude. The hoi polloi trusted in Jesus and followed Him. What about His disciples?

Jesus’ disciples, too, would find themselves without Him for three days, three days in which their faith would be tested, and in which they would all be found wanting – until the fourth day, or, the eighth day in another reckoning, the day of Jesus’ resurrection when He would openly appear to them all alive, God’s providence out of the desolation of death and the grave. Then they would all be changed, for they would be filled with the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus taught them, and they would sacrifice all, even their lives, to follow Jesus and to proclaim to all the world that He is Lord that all might believe and be saved, and God His Father be glorified.

Jesus would teach them to have compassion by learning that compassion comes from God alone – they would show, share, and shower Jesus’ love, mercy, and compassion upon others to the glory of God. He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They answered Him, “Seven,” already despairing that it was not enough. And, according to the flesh and the efforts of man, they were correct, it was not enough. But, as with the number three, the number seven is also symbolic, for the number seven is a divine and holy number meaning fullness and completeness. Thus, as little and insufficient as the seven loaves were from a fleshly and worldly perspective, they were nevertheless sufficient when the Word of the LORD was attached to them.

No, it wasn’t much, but that’s where true faith kicks in. Jesus wanted them, not to despair of their meager provisions, but to trust in Him and His Word. He was saying to them, “Don’t count the cost, just do the work.” “How many loaves do you have?” Seven? Seventy-seven? Or, Seven hundred seventy-seven? It doesn’t matter! Do the work! After Jesus’ blessing, after He attached His Word of power and grace to the meager provision, it was enough, it was sufficient – the multitudes “ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.”

Dear children of our Lord Jesus Christ – we too are like the multitudes in the desolate wilderness. We have followed Jesus this far and He has never failed to provide for us. And, though we might look around us now and be tempted to despair of our meager provisions, are we going to place our fear, love, and trust in material things, in human reason and wisdom, in mammon, wealth, and money? No, for our faith is grounded and founded in the unchanging, powerful, creative, and life-giving Word of God today, as every day in the past, to our fathers and our father’s fathers before us.

For, the first and the greatest commandment is to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. This was the commandment broken in the Garden by our First Parents, the original sin, and the origin of all sin. Did you catch who the subject was for all of the verbs in our Old Testament Lesson from Genesis today? The subject for each and every one of them is the LORD God: God formed. God breathed. God planted. God made. God took. God put. God commanded. Man did absolutely nothing, but was the receiver of God’s creative work by His Word alone up until God “put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” Then God made Adam to be a steward, a manager, of His creation, to tend to the plants and the animals of the world, to use them in a God-pleasing way, recognizing that they were not his own but His LORD’s over which he was given management. In his care and tending for His Master’s provisions, Adam would demonstrate his faith and trust in his LORD and would share in his LORD’s work by sharing His love, mercy, grace, and compassion.

Though Adam was given stewardship over the Garden and all things in it, his most important task involved the tending of one particular tree, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. What stewardship of this tree really amounted to was where Adam would place his fear, love, and trust – in God’s Word and will, or in his own. For, it was the Word of God alone that made this tree’s fruit forbidden, not anything about the fruit or the tree itself. Moreover, this Word of the LORD set forth a choice for a way, a path, and a religion – the way of the LORD, or the way of the flesh. For, when it comes down to fundamentals, as confessed by early Christians in the Didache: “There are two ways, one of life and one of death! And there is a great difference between the two ways. The way of life is this: First, you shall love God who made you. And second, love your neighbor as yourself, and do not do to another what you would not want done to you.”

Satan’s temptation to our First Parents was to put their fear, love, and trust in themselves, and not in God’s Word and will. He was successful, and that has affected the fall of all humanity. Jesus’ Feeding of the Multitudes are, in a sense, a didactic reworking of that first temptation. Once again, Jesus’ disciples had a choice between trust in God’s Word and trust in themselves, but this was a teaching moment, a discipling moment, offered in love and compassion for the disciples and for all people. Jesus knew what He was going to do; He would not send the multitudes away hungry to their homes, to faint on the way. Did the disciples know what Jesus was going to do? Did they believe that He could and would do it? Do you?

Proverbs teaches that “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” It is also true that fear of the loss of material possessions, wealth, bodily necessities, and even life is idolatry and the way of death. These things make you a slave, living in fear of loss and need. Jesus would have you live free as a slave of God. Free? As a slave? YES! For there are only two ways, the way of life, and the way of death; you are a slave – but, are you a slave of God and life, or are you a slave of sin, death, and the devil? St. Paul teaches you: “When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness [that is, you were free from righteousness, meaning having none]. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Children of God, do not fear loss and need, but fear God and trust in His Word and in His will for you. This is a charge, not to be foolish, but to be faithful in your stewardship of what He provides you. Spending money you do not have is poor stewardship, for it displays unbelief in God’s providence through means and vocations and a foolish trust that God will provide in ways and means He has not promised. Likewise, fear of stepping out and doing what is necessary for the good of others and for the proclamation of the Gospel is also poor stewardship, for it displays unbelief in God’s Word and will for you and for His Church. Therefore, let us walk the way of life, in humble, obedient fear, love, and trust in God’s Word and will. For He is God, and He is life and all its providence. To God alone be all glory.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for The Sixth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 6)

(Audio)

Matthew 5:17-26; Romans 6:1-11; Exodus 20:1-17

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

What is a Christian to do when the culture seems to be at odds with Biblical faith? Generally, there are three possible courses of action: Separate, regenerate, or accommodate.

Separatist Christians are easy enough to identify; they are those individuals, sects, and denominations that try very hard to not engage in the parts of culture and society they deem to contradict Biblical teaching. I am not referring to those who merely abstain from physical pleasures and entertainments (drinking, television and theater, gambling, etc.), but, rather, those who isolate and remove themselves altogether from the secular culture and society. While groups like the Amish and some conservative Mennonites have established separate, parallel societies, even more mainstream Christian groups and denominations have created their own Christian “Yellow Pages” of businesses and services that they might, as much as possible, interact, do business with, and support only other like-minded people.

Quite the opposite in approach, other Christians believe that it is their Biblically mandated purpose to actively regenerate our fallen, broken, and sinful culture and society. Perhaps, in the United States, Christians of this stripe are most represented by the Christian Religious Right and by mainstream conservative Protestant Evangelicalism. Such groups actively work in and through the secular government to create and pass laws that they believe are in accord with Biblical doctrine, morality, and ethics. Most likely, they would say that the United States is fundamentally and intentionally a Christian nation, while the most zealous might desire a theocracy (a nation ruled by God’s Law).

The third approach, accommodation, is the chief approach of mainstream liberal Protestant Christians and church bodies. Such Christians appeal chiefly to the Gospel of Jesus Christ with little or no regard for God’s Law. Jesus is understood as having fulfilled and thereby having abolished the Law so that all things are good and permissible when they are done in love, or at least not to the direct harm of another – even things that were previously forbidden by the Law of God. God’s Word, as recorded in the Bible, is understood to be the work of fallible men with particular limited understandings and knowledge about science, the world, and human development and who were often culturally, racially, and sexually biased. Therefore, the Bible is to be interpreted critically in light of thought and opinion today in order to find meaning and application today.

Now, it is my intention to demonstrate to you, from God’s Word, and particularly from the Scriptures appointed for this day, that all three of these courses of action, beliefs, and approaches to our culture and society are incorrect and are misinterpretations of God’s Word and will for Christians in the world, but not of the world.

Today’s lessons speak most directly against the third and last approach I discussed – accommodation. Once again, this approach is typically justified by an appeal to Christ’s own teaching in the Gospel about loving your neighbor, even your enemies, and doing good to all. These are indeed Jesus’ teachings, and all Christians are to strive to do this with the grace and help of God by the Holy Spirit. However, proponents of accommodation seemingly overlook many of Jesus’ other teachings, or they explain them away by an incorrect interpretation of Jesus’ Words such as we have in today’s Gospel lesson where Jesus says: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

Proponents of Christian accommodation of the culture seemingly believe that Jesus did away with all that Law-talk of the Old Testament. But, clearly He did no such thing. For, Jesus Himself says that He did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it, and that not a letter of it has passed away. What does this mean? This means that the Law of God is no longer a fearsome thing to those who believe and are baptized into Christ Jesus, because He has fulfilled all its rigorous and unwavering demands, perfectly, for all humanity. Yet, the keyword here is fulfilled, not abolished. The Law is still there, but it’s not a threat any longer, that is, to those who will repent and believe that they are saved by God’s grace, through faith in Christ Jesus, who alone has fulfilled the Law’s demands. For, when something is fulfilled, it is not abolished, it does not disappear or go away, but it is still present and active, but satisfied.

In fact, not only does Jesus not abolish the Law, but He actually expands it, saying: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder.’ […] But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.” And, 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.” Jesus even taught that, “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Wham! Now, the scribes and the Pharisees get a bad rap for their hypocrisy and misunderstanding and unbelief of the Gospel, and justifiably so, but, don’t kid yourself, they were righteous in the eyes of men, and they kept the Law of God better than anyone, better than you! They prayed more than you pray. They worshipped more than you worship. They gave tithes of their income more than, and more faithfully than you do. They were the best of the best when it came to faithful Jewish practice, and everybody knew it. Therefore, if Jesus says that you must be more righteous than even them, what hope is there for you?

Thanks be to God, in Christ, there is every hope for you, for, in Christ, your righteousness does indeed exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. And, that is precisely Jesus’ point. That is what it means that Jesus has not abolished, but has fulfilled the Law and the prophets, for you. You are free! You are free from the impossible burden of having to fulfill the Law of God perfectly as it demands – a task that neither you, nor any Christian, nor even the scribes and the Pharisees in all their righteousness could ever do! Jesus has done it for you, and He has set you free, not from the Law, which is still in force, but from the burden of having to do it in order to be righteous before God. But, the Law has not passed away, and you have been freed, not from the Law, but you have been freed to do the Law in love for God and for your neighbor in and through Jesus Christ.

That is why a Christian cannot simply accommodate the culture in which he lives. Jesus did not abolish the Law of God, nor did He override it with the Gospel, and neither did He lower the bar on the Law of God, but, rather, He fulfilled it for you. Jesus has freed you from the fear and curse of the Law that you may do it freely, and boldly, in love. What this means is that, as you strive to do God’s Law faithfully, knowing fully that you will at times fail and at all times fall short of the perfection it demands, you may do it, nonetheless, without fear of judgment and condemnation, for Christ has perfectly fulfilled it for you, and even your weakest good works, God the Father looks upon as holy and righteous through His holy and righteous Son.

You see, you, as God’s child of His own creation, you were made for good works. This is why the first approach I named earlier, separation, is incorrect. God’s people are not to separate and isolate themselves from the world, society, and culture, but they are to remain distinct within it and for the benefit of it – that is to say, we are to live in the world while remaining not of the world. You do this through your God-given vocations, callings, in which you serve your brother and neighbor and glorify God.

Similarly, under the same dictum, “in the world but not of the world,” the second approach I named, regeneration, is also incorrect, for you do not, and cannot, regenerate anyone, or anything, but the Holy Spirit alone regenerates where and when He pleases through the proclaimed Word of God and the Blessed Sacraments. Moreover, Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world, therefore, though He will work to provide for and to protect His people through vocations in government and bureaucracies, He will do this even through unbelievers and despite any godless or wicked intent or purpose they may have.

Therefore, the answer to the question, “What is a Christian to do when the culture seems to be at odds with Biblical faith?” is, negatively stated, none of the former mentioned approaches – not separation, not regeneration, and not accommodation. But, rather, positively stated, what you are to do is love, by living in the love and life-giving freedom of the Law of God fulfilled by and in Jesus Christ. While, being free in Christ may be different than the kind of freedom the flesh, our world, and culture values and desires, it is, nonetheless, the greatest and the only true freedom. It is not a freedom that permits you, or anyone, to do whatever you want, even in contradiction to God’s Law; nor is it a freedom that comes from all things being permissible. Rather, the freedom you have in Christ is the freedom to live a new life, a baptized life of daily dying to sin and living to God in Christ Jesus. For, when you know that the Law no longer judges and condemns you, then you are freed to no longer judge and condemn others, but, rather, to show them the love, mercy, and forgiveness you have received, whether they receive it or reject it.

However, as St. Paul writes, you are not freed to keep on sinning as if the Law of God was no longer in effect – that is the way of the old man who has died. The way of the new man is to do the works of the Law without fear of judgment and condemnation, but in the spirit of love to the glory of God in Christ Jesus. For, the truest and only freedom is to be a slave of Christ. Thus, St. Paul writes, "For freedom Christ has set you free." "Therefore, stand fast in your freedom. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, to pursue its sinful lusts and desires. But live by the Spirit, in Christ, in fervent faith toward God the Father, and in fervent love for one another."

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, your Christian vocation is not to separate from, to regenerate, or to accommodate to this world and culture, but you are to be the hands, heart, ear, and voice of Christ in this world, but not of this world. As St. Paul wrote, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” For, the Law of God has not passed away, but it has been fulfilled. Therefore, you are free to obey the Law and to do the Law in love, without fear – in love for your brother and for your neighbor, to the glory of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for 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.

Regularly, I preach to you about the creative, performative, and life-giving power of the Word of the Lord. Therefore, today I will proclaim to you the effect that the Word of the Lord is to have upon you as children and disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. For, Jesus’ call, His Word to you, is simple enough: “Follow me.” But, what does that mean? Jesus’ “Follow me” means, “Stop whatever it is that you are doing; stop going down that path upon which you are walking, and turn around and follow me in the path upon which I will lead you.” That is to say, “Listen to me. Say what I say, and do what I do. Trust in me. Be my disciple – one under my discipline and instruction.”

For, what did the fishermen, Simon, Andrew, James, and John do when Jesus called to them, “Follow me?” They immediately left their nets and their boats and they followed Him. The Word of Jesus changed them in some significant ways. Now they would listen to every Word of Jesus and take it into themselves. They would meditate on it, pray with it, and do it, not in fear of judgment if they failed, but in the freedom of the Gospel that the Lord would work with them and through them and despite them if necessary to accomplish the work for which He was sent. They would still be fishermen, but they would be fishermen with a new motivation, purpose and goal. Jesus signified this change by saying to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” They would go to places they never would have dreamed of going to before, and they would do things that they never would have dreamed of before. And, they would go to these places and do these things without fear – fear of failure, fear of success, fear of bodily harm, fear of death. They would do bold things, even foolish things – like dropping their freshly mended nets into the deep after a toilsome night of unsuccessful fishing – at the Word of Jesus, without fear.

And, what did Levi do when Jesus called to him, “Follow me?” He rose at once and followed him, leaving his tax collector’s booth behind. Who would do such a thing, but one changed, emboldened, and empowered by the Holy Spirit through the Word of the Lord? Likewise, each of the other disciples, in their own way, hearkened to Jesus’ Word, left their old ways and lives and livelihoods behind and followed Him. For, to follow Jesus is to “come under His influence, to learn from Him.” It is to become a disciple, one “who lives under the influence of the Word of Jesus and consciously wants to do just that.”

The Churchly word for “calling” is vocation. Each of us has a calling, a vocation; indeed, each of us has many vocations. Your vocation is what you are called to do and to be. Your vocation is not merely your job or profession, though it is certainly that, but your vocation is God’s calling for you to do and to be as His child in this world. Most of your vocations are yours simply by virtue of who you are: Are you a son or a daughter? Are you a father or a mother? Then, being a faithful and obedient son or a mother is one of your vocations. That is to say, you are to not be merely a son or a mother biologically, according to nature, but you are also to be a disciple of Christ and a child of God in those vocational roles. Therefore, in your holy calling as a son or a mother, you will be as the disciples, trusting in the Word of the Lord, living under the influence of Jesus and consciously wanting to do just that.

Additionally, you have many, many other callings, vocations: Are you an employee or an employer? Are you a teacher? A police officer? A bank teller? A butcher? A baker? Or, a candlestick maker? Then, you are to do and to be your vocation as did the disciples, trusting in the Word of the Lord, living under the influence of Jesus and consciously wanting to do just that. That means that you will consciously see yourself and your vocation as something divinely given, as a gift of God and an extension of His grace, mercy, love, and compassion to others. Even the most mundane, inglorious, and boring work is holy and a means through which the Lord works to serve and preserve His people. Thus, Luther famously wrote about vocation saying that a mother changing her child’s soiled diaper is doing a holier work than any monk reciting his prayers. His meaning is that, though our God-given callings, vocations, are often not very glorious from a human and worldly perspective, nevertheless they are both necessary and glorifying of God when they are performed in Christian love, mercy, compassion, humility, and selflessness – not for one’s own glory, but God’s.

However, the as the result of our fallen nature, we are naturally impressed and drawn to miraculous signs and wonders. We also value and glorify things that are spectacular or that seem to be wise in our eyes. But, the power of God to save men is not in miraculous signs and wonders and other spectacles, nor is it in the wisdom of men, just as it was not in the wind and the fire and the earthquake which Elijah experienced, but, rather, in a still small voice. That still small voice is the preaching of Christ crucified, the Gospel.

Likewise, the preaching of Christ crucified is the net in the story of the Great Catch of Fish. Without the net, the disciples could catch nothing at all. And, even with the net, often it hardly seems sufficient to the task, even at verge of breaking so that all is lost. Yet, the preaching of Christ crucified is the “power of God and the wisdom of God.” The fishermen did as Jesus commanded, even though they thought it foolishness, having toiled all the night and caught nothing. Thus, they let down the nets into the deep at Jesus’ Word, and the catch was so great that the nets were breaking. Even when they called for help from other fishermen, the catch was so great that their boats began to sink. While the preaching of the cross will often seem ineffective and insufficient, there will be times when the success it grants will be so great that you will fear that you will not be able to manage it. Both results serve to remind you and to discipline you that it is not you at all, but the Word of the Lord that does the work and produces the fruit of faith. Moreover, you need not have the vocation of pastor to preach Christ crucified, but you preach this Good News in your vocations, whatever they may be, when you do them and be them trusting in the Word of the Lord, living under the influence of Jesus and consciously wanting to do just that.

“Do not be afraid;” Jesus says to you, “from now on you will be catching men.” Perhaps you do not feel worthy or up to the task? Good! That’s alright! In truth, that is where you need to be to be a disciple of Jesus – broken, unworthy, unable, having little or no faith, maybe even being an enemy of Christ! For, consider Peter. Peter was a common, ordinary fisherman. Still, Jesus called him, and Peter followed. Peter wasn’t perfect; in fact, he was far from it, unable to understand that Jesus had to suffer and die and rise again, and then betraying His Lord and Master three times on the night he was arrested and tried. And, what about Paul? Paul was an enemy and persecutor of Christ, arresting and even killing some of the earliest of Christians. Both men were common sinners, just like everyone else. But, the Church of Jesus Christ is not built on the foundation of our great works, our great faith, our great morals, or our great wisdom and intelligence, but the Church of Jesus Christ is built on Christ and the confession of Him as the Son of God crucified for the sins of all mankind and raised for our justification. The Church is a church of sinners, but also a source of forgiveness, where one can get help and be cleansed. Therefore, the Church is not a memorial for saints, but a hospital for sinners. And, as the saying goes, it can always use one more.

This is what Peter recognized and confessed when he fell down at Jesus’ knees and said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” However, such a confession will not be left unanswered, but will always receive Jesus’ absolution, “Do not be afraid.” And, with the absolution comes a sending, a calling, a vocation, “From now on you will be catching men.” This is the ongoing vocation of all of Jesus’ disciples, carried out in and through the unique and various callings we all have. “However God calls us, he calls us for this: to be with Jesus and learn from Him, to live with Jesus and receive what only He can give.” It’s not about how great or little faith you have, but it’s about following Jesus, trusting in Him, listening to Him, saying what He says, and doing what He does. “The main thing is to stay with Jesus and follow Him. He takes care of the rest.” Thus St. Paul wrote to the Church in Corinth: “Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.”

And, that you may be absolved, strengthened in faith, encouraged and uplifted in grace, and empowered to do and to be your vocations in Christ, your Lord and Master is present with His life-giving and sustaining meal of body and blood that you may eat and drink and be satisfied and that with ears to hear and hearts to believe you may be fishers of men to the glory of God the Father, in His Most Holy Son, through His Holy Spirit.

In + the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for 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 our 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 who’s 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.

Homily for 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.

In a letter to Philip Melanchthon, Martin Luther famously wrote in Latin “pecca fortiter,” which, in English, is commonly translated, “Sin boldly.” Now, it is true that many Christians have misinterpreted Luther’s meaning in these words as being an endorsement, even an encouragement, to sin. Indeed, the saying can be found upon numerous t-shirts, coffee mugs, and bumper stickers, and is heard uttered by too many a Lutheran in justification of their beer, scotch, and cigar smoking habits, or worse. However, all of this is to entirely miss Luther’s point. For, pecca fortiter, sin boldly, is not an endorsement or an encouragement to sin, but it is, rather, a confession that one is a sinner – a confession made in steadfast faith that it is only sinners that can, indeed, be saved.

That Jesus “receives sinners and eats with them,” is what the Pharisees and scribes were offended by in today’s Gospel. Therefore, Jesus told them three parables about how important, how precious, and how dear the lost truly are to His Father that they, too, might confess their sins boldly and find mercy and forgiveness that makes the angels of heaven rejoice.

Jesus’ first parable is quite simply absurd. He asked, “What man of you, 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 answer is simple: No man would do that! No man would do that because, a man is going to count his cost and conclude that it is better to keep what he has than to worry about the one that he has strayed away. But, God’s ways are not man’s ways, and His thoughts are not man’s thoughts. God doesn’t view you as His possessions, but as His children. He doesn’t want to own you and have your obedience because you are a slave, but He wants you to know and to receive His love, and to love Him in return by being obedient and by loving and serving others.

You see, the Pharisees and the scribes were the undershepherds of the children of Israel. It was their job to care for God’s people by teaching them His commandments and by guiding them in repentance to forgiveness. But, for the most part, they were bad shepherds, for they were most interested in merely keeping enough of God’s sheep in the flock that they could feel good about themselves and look good before the eyes of others. They were not at all concerned with those who strayed or fell away. Thus, when Jesus had the shepherd in His parable leave the ninety-nine to go and seek for the one that was lost, they were surely offended and thought Him absurd. And, when Jesus said to them, “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance,” surely they were outraged, thinking, “What kind of heaven must this be, where the righteous are disparaged and sinners are exalted?” For, they considered themselves righteous and worthy of higher regard, and they understood all too well His meaning.

Jesus told this parable that they would see themselves as the shepherd who had lost the LORD’s sheep that were entrusted to their care. He wanted them to see the great responsibility that they had been given, that the sheep, the people, over whom they had been given charge, were not their own, so that they would become humbled and confess their sins in repentance, that the angels of heaven might rejoice over them too. For, it would be humbling for a shepherd to make a big deal of the fact that he had lost a sheep. As absurd as it would be that he would leave the ninety-nine to seek and find one lost sheep, even more absurd it would be for the shepherd to announce this publicly to his friends and neighbors when it was found. Jesus wanted the Pharisees and scribes, His undershepherds, not to boast in their righteousness and good works, but, rather, in confession of their sin and weakness. He wanted them to sin boldly – to boldly confess their own sin and lostness – that He might rejoice over them and carry them safely to His Father’s home as their Good Shepherd.

Then, immediately thereafter, Jesus launched into another parable of absurdity, though absurd in a somewhat different way. This time it’s a woman who has lost one of her ten silver coins. It should be understood that these coins were very valuable, each one equaling a day’s working wage. Moreover, it would have been most unusual for a woman in Jesus’ day to have responsibility for that kind of wealth – the implication being that her husband put great trust in her to keep it safe. These cultural insights come from Kenneth Bailey, and, assuming that he is correct, they shed much light on this woman’s predicament and her diligent searching of the house when she lost one of those precious coins – for, she had lost an entire day of her husband’s working wage. What would he say when he returned home? Would he throw her out of the house and disgrace her? He trusted her, and she had failed him so badly. This would be a scandal, not only in her home, but in her community, for she would bring disgrace, not only to herself, but to her husband and their relatives for his misplaced trust in her.

With this understanding, it’s not so absurd that the woman lit every light and the house and searched and searched until she found the coin that she had lost. Instead, what is absurd is that, when she found it, she called all her friends and neighbors, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.” What is absurd is that she did not try to hide or cover over her guilt and shame, but, rather, that she shouted it from the rooftop, saying, “I failed! I lost my husband’s wage with which he trusted me! I sinned! But, I have found the coin that I had so foolishly lost! Come, rejoice with me!” To put it another way, she sinned boldly – the woman boldly confessed her sin and lostness. And, once again, Jesus adds, “I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

As it goes, all three of Jesus’ parables in Luke 15 are about repentance: The Lost Sheep; The Lost Coin; and The Lost Son (commonly known as The Prodigal Son). Indeed, they are much less about that which is lost, the sheep, the coin, and the son, as they are about the one who has done the losing and the humbling, public, and even absurd actions they took to find what they had lost, and then, the selfless rejoicing in the presence of everyone that they had found that precious thing or person that they had lost.

In His third parable, which was not read today – though which, ironically, is most appropriate for this Father’s Day – the parable of The Lost Son, the main figure is not the lost son, as is commonly supposed, but, rather, his absurd and prodigal father. Indeed, the father in the parable of The Lost Son is the consummate example the sacrificial selflessness and humility to which God has called all His children. From the beginning, and throughout this parable, the father does the most absurd things imaginable. First, he gives his younger son the inheritance he demanded. No first century Middle-Eastern father would do this. The request itself would be an insult meriting disownment by the father and banishment from his house. Nevertheless, though his son treated him as though he were dead, and though he had no regard for his older brother as the rightful heir, the father gives the boy what he asks. Then, after the boy squandered everything that he had and, effectively, sold himself into servitude in a foreign land doing unclean and disrespectful work, the father received him back into the family and restored him fully to all honor, rights, and privileges as his son. Jesus even heightens the absurdity of the father’s actions by having him see the boy coming from afar, run to him, and embrace him, clothe him, receive him, and restore him upon his confession of his sin, but before he could offer any pledge of work or service in return. Then, lastly, the father held a feast in celebration of the return and restoration of his lost son. It was the grandest of feasts to which the entire household and community were invited. He sent his servants to tell them all, “My son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.”

Who would do such an absurd thing? No one, according to man’s values and wisdom. And yet, this is precisely the kind of Father and Good Shepherd we all have in God. Reckless, foolish, absurd, and scandalous love, mercy, compassion, and forgiveness He showers upon you with no thought for Himself and with no concern for what men count as righteousness. Seeking and saving the lost – that is God’s kind of righteousness. That is why the angels of heaven rejoice at one sinner who repents, for that is the way of God and the nature of His kingdom. And, this was Jesus’ lesson to the Pharisees and scribes in His parables, and this is His lesson to you today: In Jesus, God the Father has come seeking His lost children. Therefore, the only way to be found is to be lost – that is, to confess that you are a lost, poor, and miserable sinner; that is, to sin boldly, to confess your sin boldly, with no care for how you are seen by others, but with confident faith and trust in the reckless, foolish, absurd, and scandalous love, mercy, compassion, and forgiveness of your God, Father, and Shepherd in Jesus Christ.

For, in this last parable, we have a father who is looking to find not 1% of his flock, not 10% of his coins, but 100% of his two lost sons (Yes, there were actually two lost sons in that story!). Surely the Pharisees and the scribes knew well who the first lost son was, the scoundrel who treated his father so poorly and lost everything – they are the tax collectors and sinners that they despised. However, did they understand who Jesus implied by the second son, the son who self-righteously said to 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?” For, that elder son was meant to describe themselves, who took their heavenly Father for granted and despised the lost children of Israel whom the Father loved. They made excuses for their behavior and justifications for their lack of compassion and mercy. They clothed their dark hearts and deeds under a veil of false-righteousness. They did not sin boldly, but they sinned under cover of darkness, convincing themselves that they were not sinning at all.

All of this is to cause us to ponder the words of the Prophet today: “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. [He] will cast all our sins in to the depths of the sea.”

Children of God, I encourage you to follow Luther’s exhortation and sin boldly. Do not sin in order to be forgiven – that would be an absurd blasphemy – but confess your sin boldly, in bold and confident trust and faith in God your heavenly Father who showers upon you reckless, foolish, absurd, and scandalous love, mercy, compassion, and forgiveness through His Prodigal (that is Exceptional) Son Jesus Christ. Sin boldly as did so many whom Jesus forgave and healed as they cried, “Kyrie eleison,” “Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner!” For, only sinners can be saved; only the lost can be found. And, your Good Shepherd Jesus is present with you now to care for His sheep, to tend His sheep, and to feed His sheep, even as He is the self-offered fatted calf, sacrificed by His Father, that you may partake of the feast of forgiveness, life, and salvation, as a foretaste today, and but eternally in heaven. For, “This man [Jesus] receives sinners and eats with them.” This is most certainly true.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.