Ash Wednesday

(Audio)

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

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

There are few more sobering words in the Holy Scriptures or in the Divine Liturgy of the Church than those which each of you heard just moments ago: Remember, O man, that you are dust, and that to dust you shall return. Those words are a blunt reminder of the certainty of your death. You will die, that is certain, and your death is what you have rightly earned and merited for your sin – the sins that you have committed in thought, word, and deed, and the sin that you have inherited from your father Adam. As I look at you, I see death, impressed upon your foreheads, just as you see it impressed upon mine, dust and ashes, the stuff of which we are made. There is no avoiding this reality, for all flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. However, as I look at you, I also see something that brings me unspeakable comfort and joy – the cross of Jesus the Christ, God’s Son, our Savior. Though you are marked with the ashes of death, the cross is an even more powerful reminder that all your sin is atoned for and that even your enemy, death, has been conquered in Jesus’ death upon the cross. And, while the deathly ashes now stain your brow, soon you will wash them away for another year. Yet, still you are marked, you are marked with the cross of Christ crucified in Holy Baptism – a mark which is invisible to you and to me, but a mark which shines glorious to our God and Father, for it is the mark of His divine love and mercy, grace, forgiveness, and peace that can never be taken away from you.

And so, each year Ash Wednesday begins our Lenten pilgrimage. Lent serves as an annual reminder and opportunity for you to return to your LORD in repentance, to confess your sins and to be washed clean in the purifying blood of Jesus. For, it is not a man who calls you to repent, but it is your LORD God Himself who says to you “return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” We return because there is someone to return to, thanks be to God! We prodigal sons and daughters who have taken our God for granted and who have squandered his grace in reckless living are called to see how far we have strayed, where the gods we have made for ourselves have lead us, and to see our loving Father running toward us with open arms ready, not to chastise or to punish, but to embrace and to forgive and to restore. He has killed His best Lamb for you, even His only beloved Son, that you may feast on His flesh and drink His life-giving blood and live with Him forever.

“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me.” Yet even now, in the midst of your sinful rebellion and your idolatrous ways, return to the LORD, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and He relents over disaster – He relents over your disaster, the disastrous misery and death of your backsliding ways. Return in fasting, return in humility, return in repentance, because He has already prepared your restoration and even now He calls you to it.

For, your repentance, your returning is His work by His Word. The LORD calls “Return to me,” and His sheep hear and know His voice and return. The LORD is jealous for you; He will not share you or forfeit you to another. And, instead of punishment and death for your rebellion, He blesses you. He sends you His blessing: Grain, that you might eat the bread of His body. Wine, that you might drink His blood and live. And oil, that you might be consecrated and sanctified, set apart and marked with His Name, as His people, in Holy Baptism. Through these blessings He has made you partakers of His divine nature so that you are not a slave, but a son and an heir.

In blindness you cried out for mercy; in Christ you have received it in all fullness. You have been freed from bondage to the world, the passions of the flesh, and death, therefore do not submit yourself again to slavery. This day you are called to a fast. Fasting is not a command of the Law, but it is a response of faith to the freedom and the life that we have graciously received in Christ Jesus. Jesus says “When you fast…,” not “If you fast…” But, fasting is not starvation, but it is a willful, intentional abstention from the desires and the passions of the flesh that would lead you back into slavery. Whatever it is that enslaves you, that keeps you in joyless bondage, that hinders your God given vocation, that gets between you and your spouse, between you and your children, whatever it is that gets between you and your God – cut it out and throw it away; it is an idol and a foothold for the devil who desires only to keep you away from God and in slavery to sin and death.

And, give to those in need. Again, this is not a command of the Law, but it is a response of faith. Giving to those in need is part of showing love to your neighbor, love that is selfless and sacrificial and that flows from God’s love for you in Christ Jesus. This kind of love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. It is patient and kind. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

And, pray. Pray alone, in private, with or without words. Pray in your vocation, in your many vocations, live your life as a prayer to God. And pray in the solemn assembly with your faithful brothers and sisters in Christ with the elders, with the children, with brides and bridegrooms, and even with nursing infants, for you are together with them the Body of Christ and together partakers of His divine nature. No man is an island, and no Christian is ever alone, though the devil is working to divide and separate you from the body of Christ. This is all the more reason to fast from the worldly and fleshly desires and passions that he utilizes to isolate you and imprison you and kill you.

Therefore, as much as Ash Wednesday is a trumpet call to repentance, it is also a call to arms and to war against the temptations of the world, the desires and passions of the flesh, and the treachery of the devil. Lent is boot camp for Christians as we, together, through fasting, service, prayer, and repentance, shed the excess baggage that weighs us down and keeps us from living as the free people of God unto His glory. And as we purge ourselves of our idolatries, we are equipped with all that we need for the battle. In this regard, St. Paul’s exhorts the Church at Ephesus as well as you today:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.

People of God, Ash Wednesday and Lent are much less about what you might give up than they are about returning to what you have been given and have received. The ashes of this day are a sign that you have died to the world, to fleshly desires and passions, and to the devil, but that you live in Christ your crucified, risen, and reigning God and Savior. God calls you to live in that life and to not return to slavery to sin and death. But, God knows that, while the spirit of the new man is willing, nevertheless, the flesh of the old man is weak. And so, He has left you a blessing: His Body, His Blood, His Baptism, His Absolution, His Word. These are your heavenly treasures here on earth; and, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Quinquagesima

(Audio)

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

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

Jesus explained why He taught in parables saying, “that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.” Now, this is not to say that Jesus intentionally taught in a confusing and paradoxical way so as to prevent His hearers from understanding, but rather, such is the nature of the Word of God – it must be received in good soil, that is, by eyes and ears that have been opened to the Word and therefore both see and hear with faith and bear fruit. You will recall that Jesus concluded the Parable of the Sower saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” We all have ears, but we do not all hear. Likewise, some who do not hear at first may yet hear at another time. The point is that hearing is not merely the physical function of healthy ears, but hearing is faith, and faith bears fruit. Indeed, the hearing Jesus calls for and praises are “those who, hearing the Word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.”

Jesus’ disciples both saw and heard, yet when Jesus taught them concerning His impending suffering, death, and resurrection, “they understood none of these things. The saying was hidden from them.” Again, it may seem on the surface as though they were prevented from understanding. Indeed, in a sense they were, for Jesus also taught them saying, “Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.” The point is this: Eyes that see and ears that hear are given, they are created by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God when and where He pleases. And, as eyes and ears, seeing and hearing, are passive functions, we truly have no control over what we see and hear. Hence, someone who has seen something truly disgusting or repulsive might say today, “I can’t unsee that.” Indeed, you can’t unsee the revelation of Jesus or unhear His Word, but you can close your eyes and stop your ears and tell yourself repeatedly, “I didn’t see that! I didn’t hear that!” But, that doesn’t change the fact that you did. Thus, you either receive the Word in faith, the work of the Holy Spirit, to your great blessing and fruitfulness, or you reject it in unbelief to your judgment. Or, as Jesus put it, “Whoever is not with Me is against Me, and whoever does not gather with Me scatters.”

In today’s Gospel, the twelve disciples, having healthy and functioning eyes that see and ears that hear, are set in contrast with a blind man who can truly see with the eyes of faith. The reading begins with Jesus saying to His disciples, “See.” – “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about he Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.” Then Jesus began to teach them, for the third time in St. Luke’s Gospel, about His suffering, crucifixion, death, and resurrection,” “But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.” Though they would certainly see everything happen to Jesus of which He spoke, the disciples were blind to what Jesus was saying until after His resurrection when He “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” Again, we confess concerning the work of the Holy Spirit in creating faith in our hearts, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.”

In contrast to the twelve disciples, when a blind man sitting by the roadside begging heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, he cried out to Jesus for mercy. Though he could not see, the blind man had ears to hear the Word of the Lord, and so the Spirit also granted him spiritual eyes with which to see who Jesus truly was. Apparently the blind man had heard of Jesus before and believed that He could heal him of his blindness. Though the crowds told him only that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, the blind man addressed Jesus with the Messianic title “Jesus, Son of David.” Undoubtedly the blind man recalled the words of the Prophet Isaiah concerning the coming of the Messiah, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped.” Interestingly, the crowds and the disciples wanted to shut the man up! They didn’t hear as he heard; consequently, they couldn’t see what the blind man could see about Jesus – that He was the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy, right there in his presence. Jesus stopped and asked the blind man directly, “What do you want Me to do for you?” The man replied, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” Because the blind man could already see with the Spirit-given eyes of faith, Jesus granted him physical sight as well. “To the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.”

But, what is the true difference between the twelve disciples and the blind man in this Gospel? It is this: The blind man knows that he is blind. The blind man confesses that he is blind. The blind man makes no pretense that he can see, has no faith in his ability, has no faith in his faith, but the blind man’s faith is in Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, alone. Through his faith, the blind man could see clearly what the seeing could not. For, what do the seeing see: The son of a carpenter from backwater Nazareth? An itinerant rabbi without a home? A vagabond bunch of fishermen, a tax collector, a zealot, and worse? An insurgent who just might rile up enough frustrated Jews to rise in rebellion against their Roman oppressors? The disciples’ great sin was failing to recognize and confess their own spiritual blindness. And, we have the same problem as they. We become confident of ourselves, like a blind man who thinks he has 20/20 vision, like a beggar who thinks he’s a millionaire. Like Peter on the Mount of transfiguration, we want glory now, we want to erect tabernacles and monuments and churches to enshrine the emotional high of the mountaintop experience and dwell in glory, bypassing suffering, trial, and persecution. But, the glory was only a foretaste. Jesus came down from the mountain of glory and made His way to Jerusalem and to His cross. And, we His disciples must follow Him in His way. There is no other way. Thus, while Peter was still speaking and raving about tabernacles, God acted, the Glory of the LORD tabernacled over the mountaintop and the terrified disciples. God’s voice boomed from the cloud saying, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him.” “Hear Him.” Then the cloud receded. Moses and Elijah disappeared. And, the disciples saw Jesus, and Jesus only. “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For He will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging Him, thy will kill Him, and on the third day He will rise.” The final step as we approach Lent is to see ourselves for what we are: blind beggars who need to see Jesus, and only Jesus. “Let us fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

While the seeing attempted to shut him up, the blind beggar, who could truly see in Jesus what the others could not, begged and pleaded before his Messianic King, “Lord, have mercy on me,” or “Kyrie eleison!” just as we beg and plead in the Divine Service before our Lord and King. That cry, that plea, “Lord, have mercy,” “Kyrie eleison,” is the cry of faith of those whose only object is Jesus. “Lord, have mercy” is the plea of one who confesses that he is pinned to the floor in his sin and guilt and cannot get up. “Lord, have mercy” is the plea of one who has no strength, no sight, no ability to improve his situation. “Lord, have mercy” is the plea of one who knows his own sinful paralysis, his own unworthiness, his own desperate need, and who knows that Jesus is the only answer, the only cure, even should He not heal us in this life. And, “Lord, have mercy” is the plea of one who knows his Lord, who knows where to turn for help, who trusts that his Lord is indeed merciful and willing to help. And so, we plead, “Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us,” each and every week in the Divine Service, for we are in need of our Lord’s mercy, and we confess Him to be merciful.

On Ash Wednesday we begin our Lenten descent with Jesus to the cross. We follow Him, not as a weak and defeated leader, not as a sacrificial victim, not as our eyes see, but as our eyes of faith see, as our victorious King and God. King Jesus has already defeated our enemy and has set us free from his evil tyranny, and our God has destroyed the power of death that would ensnare us and keep us in our graves for all eternity. Even still, the way of Jesus, the way of our God, is the way of the cross. Thus, our pilgrimage, the procession in which our King and God leads us, does not bypass suffering, the cross, and death, but it passes directly through them as through an unlocked door. Therefore, let our eyes be open to see Jesus for who He is – our victorious King, Lord, and God. We do not judge Him by what our eyes see, but by what our ears hear. And, we follow Him and walk in His ways, in the way of love and mercy and compassion towards all, that all may hear what we hear, and see what we see, and find healing, forgiveness, and life in the Good Shepherd of our souls Jesus Christ. Even now we receive our King who comes to us in Word and Water, Bread, and Wine, having nothing to offer but our broken and contrite hearts and this plea from our sin-scorched lips, “Kryie eleison!” “Lord, have mercy.” And, He does.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Sexagesima

(Audio)

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

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

Jesus is the Sower, and the parable you have just heard is His Seed, His Word. Your ears and your hearts are the soil: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” All soils “hear,” for hearing is passive and receptive, but not all soils are fruitful. Indeed, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” And, no soil is called or fruitful apart from the Seed of the Sower, the Word of the LORD.

A great crowd of soils was gathered around the Sower, all having ears to hear, and the Sower began to sow, Jesus began to preach. Now, an enlightened, wise, and efficient sower sows his seed only in the best of soils. Not so our Lord Jesus. Jesus sows His Word-Seed indiscriminately, equally, and liberally upon all types of soils, without any regard to the type or condition of the soil whatsoever – “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and spout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My Word be that goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Ah, did you catch that? Men of wisdom count success only in that which produces the desired result of a fruitful harvest, but the LORD counts success even when soily ears and hearts do not bear fruit. How can such foolishness be? The Word of the LORD never fails; it always accomplishes its purpose. Either it is received in Spirit-created faith and bears fruit, or it is hindered, refused, and rejected in unbelief. Isn’t it amazing that the all-powerful and all-sufficient Word of God can be hindered, refused, and rejected? And yet, the LORD “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” And so, the Lord sows indiscriminately, equally, and liberally upon all types of soils, without any regard to the type or condition of the soil whatsoever. Indeed, one of the purposes for which the Word of the LORD goes forth, Jesus warns, is that “seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.” For, when the Word of the LORD is rejected, the soily heart of a man returns to what it was before – hard, dead, and fruitless. Nevertheless, in the divine mercy, patience, and forbearance of the LORD, He keeps on sowing, even when His Word-Seed is hindered, refused, and rejected in unbelief.

And so here is an aspect of this parable that typically goes unrecognized and unconsidered: Who does the plowing? At least in three of the conditions of soil Jesus names, all but the trodden path, the soil has already been broken up and plowed, prepared to receive the goodly Seed. But, who has done the plowing? As Luther explains in the Small Catechism, it is the Holy Spirit who has His hand on the plow: “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” Indeed, the Holy Spirit is the active person in and through the Word-Seed of the LORD, Jesus Christ, the Sower and the Seed. Thus, the plowing, the sowing, the fruit-bearing, and, ultimately, the harvest, are the LORD’s. Indeed, the fact that there are various soils in various states of preparedness is indicative that the Sower has been this way before. The present condition of the soils reflects what has been done with the goodly Seed the Sower has sown yesterday, today, and tomorrow for as many tomorrows as the LORD may in His mercy grant, desiring that all might be saved.

For, once the Holy Spirit has plowed, once the Sower has sown His goodly Seed, there is work to do – work in cooperation with the Holy Spirit in retaining what has been plowed and sown. Mind you, and mind you strongly and assuredly – WE DO NOT COOPERATE IN ANY WAY IN OUR JUSTIFICATION OR IN THE PRESERVATION OF OUR JUSTIFICATION, but that is purely and entirely the work of the Holy Spirit who has “called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” Nonetheless, as we confess in the Formula of Concord concerning Free Will, “As soon as the Holy Spirit has begun His work of regeneration and renewal in us through the Word and holy Sacraments, we can and should cooperate through His power, although still in great weakness (FC II, 65).” Just a few verses following today’s parable, St. Luke records Jesus’ exhortation, “Take care then how you hear.” And then, in the following chapter, Jesus warns, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

We see this in action as Jesus describes the conditions of three types of soil, two of which, although initially receptive to the goodly Word-Seed, even resulting in living and growing faith, nevertheless remain fruitless. Working backwards, there is the thorny soil – “those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.” That is to say that the Word of the LORD and faith have competition in such soily hearts, all the things, people, pursuits, and passions that you are tempted to place before the LORD and His Word. These are the things that keep people from the Word and the Sacraments on Sunday, that keep them from taking time for meditation on the Holy Scriptures and prayer, that tempt them to set up idols that demand their fear, love, and trust before and above God. Faith in such hearts gets choked out and strangled. While it may continue, it does not and cannot bear the fruits of faith and thus is counted as no faith at all.

Then there is the rocky soil – “those who, when they hear the Word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.” Surely, lack of root and moisture are just as dangerous to young and growing faith as are thorns and weeds. Again, faith is present, alive, and growing, but it is not being nourished. Such it is with Christians who neglect their faith and starve it by not drinking deeply from the well of God’s Word and receiving His Sacraments. Either ignorantly or willfully they refuse to put on the armor of God and so they remain weak and defenseless against the attack of the Evil One. And, when trial and tribulation, disease, unemployment, death come upon them, they have no deep and strong root and so are uprooted and swept away in the torrential flood of despair. Likewise, when the wisdom of the world attacks their faith like the scorching sun, having not the moisture of the Word of the LORD, their faith withers and dies.

And last of the three unfruitful soils, there is the hard-packed soil of the path – “those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the Word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.” Do not think as the Calvinists and Enthusiasts do that some are predestined to be the path and cannot be plowed and planted, believe, bear fruit and be saved.  No, but we were all the path at one time, and some of us have likely returned to path-like status one or more times throughout our pilgrimage. No, there is hope even for the path, for the Sower continues to sow His Word-Seed even where it has been rejected in the past – Thanks be to God for His grace and mercy and patience! Perhaps what you should ponder more when considering the path is that the devil is eager to steal the Word of the LORD from your hearts. He doesn’t want you to believe, and he uses a multitude of very creative and inventive tactics to keep the Word from implanting itself within your hearts and minds: distractions, pleasures, and entertainment; boredom, work, and pragmatism; the false wisdom of men which we consider enlightenment and scientific fact; personal pettiness concerning the pastor, his personality, voice, preaching style, etc.; self-righteousness which tempts you to puff yourself up with pride while looking down on others with disdain and contempt, instead of pity, mercy, compassion, and love. Again, unlike the Calvinists and Enthusiasts, we must not believe that if we have once believed that we cannot fall from faith. No, the devil is just as relentless in seeking to devour you as your LORD is in saving you. Yet, there is still hope for those who have fallen away, for the Sower keeps on sowing until the day and hour the LORD has appointed for the harvest. Therefore, you must “take care how you hear” and keep your hand to the plow without looking back.

But, “some [seed] fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” Remember, faith also “grew” in the thorny and rocky soil, but remained fruitless. Only the soil of faith that produces fruit does Jesus call “good soil.” Moreover, the good soil not only produces fruit, but it produces a miraculous abundance of fruit, a “hundredfold.” This is in accord with the teaching of St. James that “faith apart from works is dead,” and “Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” It’s very simple, plain, orthodox, confessional, Lutheran, Christian doctrine that faith – true, living, and saving faith – always produces fruit, good works that serve the neighbor and glorify God. It is enough, it is sufficient for justification that you have faith, but faith is never alone, but is always active, always working, always bearing fruit. Thus, Jesus teaches concerning the good soil, “they are those who, hearing the Word, hold it fast in a an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.”

Again, the Holy Spirit plows and prepares the soil your heart. And, Jesus, the Sower, sows the Seed of His Word into your heart and makes it fruitful. The LORD is Sower and the Seed. You are the soil, and you are His, your faith is His work, and the fruit you bear is His fruit which serves your neighbor and gives glory to the LORD alone. While your faith, your New Man, indeed cooperates with the work of the Holy Spirit in and through you, your Old Man, your sinful and corrupted flesh cooperates with the devil to return the soil of your heart to the hard-packed path once again. There is nothing that you can do to change the condition of your soily heart, but the Holy Spirit must continually plow, the Son must continually sow, and so you are preserved in faith unto salvation by holding the Word of the LORD fast in an honest and good heart and bearing fruit with patience. Thus, the Christian faith and life is one of humility, repentance, and perseverance through all adversity: through trial and tribulation, through the thorny temptations of the flesh, the passions, and desires; through the rocky, faith-compromising vices of boredom and complacency, self-righteousness, pride, and idolatry. These are natural to your Old Man, and the LORD will permit them to befall you that, by the Holy Spirit, your faith may be strengthened, that the rocks may be uprooted, the thorns pulled out, that the root of your faith may grow deeper and stronger in Him, and you bear His fruit, a hundredfold, to the glory of His Holy Name.

O God, the strength of all who put their trust in You, mercifully grant that by Your power we may be defended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ, You Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit one God, now and forever.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Septuagesima

(Audio)

Matthew 20:1-6; 1 Corinthians 9:24 – 10:5; Exodus 17:1-7

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

The kingdom of heaven is not a noun, but it is a verb. When we hear or read the word kingdom in an English translation of the Scriptures, we typically think of a place or a thing, however, the word used here is not a place or a thing, but it is an action. Indeed, a more accurate translation of the kingdom of heaven would be the reigning of heaven. Thus, when Jesus begins His parables saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like…,” you should hear Him saying “The reigning of heaven is like [thus and thus]….” In today’s parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, the reigning of heaven “is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard” – the entirety of the parable is meant to communicate something about what the reigning of heaven is like.

The very first thing that you should take away from Jesus’ kingdom parable is that He is the actor in it; Jesus is the one reigning in and through His kingdom. Jesus begins the parable with a master hiring workers for his vineyard. Without the master there is no vineyard and no work. Moreover, those hired were not hired because they applied, or because they had certain skills or talents, but they were hired because the master went out and hired them. Though Jesus says that the master agreed with the laborers for the typical daily wage of a denarius, this is simply His master story-telling in action, for He concludes His parable with the master giving the same to all, not because of their labor or merits, but because of his grace saying, “I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you.” It is clear that Jesus Himself is the master in this parable, even as He is the sower of the seed in the two agriculturally themed parables which precede it in Matthew chapter 13: The Parable of the Sower and the Parable of the Weeds. Jesus is the sower and His Word the life and faith creating and bestowing seed; we are the more or less receptive soil. Jesus is the master “who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.” We are those standing around idle and passive, unable to earn or merit anything but death. Thus, the reigning of heaven is undeserved, unmerited grace, completely and entirely the work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who has called us out of sinful idleness to fruitful service in His kingdom.

Indeed, this is how Luther understands and confesses the Second Petition of The Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come.” God’s kingdom comes,” Luther confesses, “when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.” God’s kingdom, God’s reigning, comes to us – not the other way around; we do not come to it – and we receive God’s kingdom, God’s reigning, by bearing His fruits, when we “lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.” There were no workers in the master’s vineyard prior to the master’s call, just as there was no fruitful soil until the sower sowed his seed. We all stand in sinful idleness, which is death, having no ability whatsoever to become fruitful or alive. We are Lazarus, dead in the tomb four days so that we stinketh. Were it not for the Word of the LORD calling us, and the Holy Spirit delivered through that Word creating faith in our hearts, we would remain the hard packed soil of the path, we would remain Lazarus’ stinking, rotting, decaying corpse decomposing in the tombs of our own making, the true wages we have earned, merited, and deserved for our works, the best of which, apart from grace, are no better than filthy rags. Oh how we value and idolize and worship the false god of equality, while there is truly only one thing that we are equal in: All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; and the wages of our sin is always, and only, death.

Equality with those hired first in the day is what the workers hired last in the day received – they each received a denarius regardless of how long they worked. Cleverly, however, the master had the workers hired last paid first, and then those hired earlier in the day. Those hired last do not complain, but they receive their wage and go contentedly on their way, while those hired first “began to grumble at the master of the house, saying ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat’.” Here our Lord gets directly at the root of what causes us so much misery and suffering in our lives and in our world: Greed, jealousy, entitlement, which bear the fruits of resentment, hatred, and lack mercy, charity, and, worst of all, love. And, all of that is but the sin-sick and diseased-unto-death fruit of idolatry, a failure to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. All of this is endemic of your false delusion that you have anything that you can offer to God, anything of value that is truly yours of which you may boast or earn or merit or place your trust in.

What did Lazarus have to contribute to his resurrection? What did the soil have to contribute to its fruitfulness? What did unemployed, idle workers have that would earn them a denarius, let alone much less or anything at all? What did the heavens and earth contribute to their creation? Nothing! God creates ex nihilo, that is, out of nothing. Likewise the Holy Spirit creates faith in men’s hearts when and where He pleases through the goodly seed of the Word of God, which the Sower sows here and there equally, without discrimination, and causes to be fruitful when, and where He pleases. The vineyard is the Lord’s. The seed is the Lord’s. The fruit is the Lord’s. But, the good news is that you get to bear it, and that the Lord will credit you for it – which is something considerably different than insisting that you have earned it and merited it. That is to steal from God, an absurd and blasphemous notion, but one that you are tempted to do daily and often do willingly or unwillingly in sinful rebellion or ignorance.

Truly we are equal in the eyes of the LORD, but not because of our works or merit, or even because of our faith. Equally, we are hopeless sinners. Equally, we are forgiven in the blood of Jesus, who chooses to give to the last the same as the first. Do you begrudge the LORD His generosity? Is the LORD not allowed to do what He chooses with what belongs to Him? First or last – what concern is this of yours? It is the LORD who is the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End – and, frankly, everything in between. Take what belongs to you – not what you have earned, merited, and deserved, but what the LORD has freely and graciously given you at the cost of His Son – and go in His peace bearing His fruits, chief of which is love and its fruits: mercy, compassion, charity, kindness, forgiveness.

The kingdom of heaven is a kingdom of grace. The reigning of heaven is a reigning of grace. The workers thought that they were earning their wages, but in the end all received the same, without works or merit, by grace. The only thing that you earn or merit for your works is death: “The wages of sin is death.” Thanks be to God that He doesn’t give you what you deserve! Instead, the LORD gives the first and the last, all whom He calls to faith and fruitfulness in Jesus Christ, eternal life in His kingdom. Being in the LORD’s kingdom means bearing the LORD’s fruits in good times and in bad, in times of prosperity and in times of dearth, in times of joy and in times of sorrow. Think about it – Jesus is the vine and you are His branches. Branches only produce fruit because they remain connected to the vine; the life of the vine flows through them and makes the branches fruitful. The fruit you bear – your good works, love, mercy, etc. – are the LORD’s fruit, not your own, no more than you would say that the grapes are the fruit of the branch. No, grapes are universally called the fruit of the vine. Moreover, vines often have to endure and persevere through drought and flood, through disease and blight. If the vine suffers these things and endures, so do the vine’s branches. Nevertheless, the life of the vine continues to sustain and preserve the branches and make them fruitful.

“These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” So what. What is that between Me and you, thus saith the LORD? Let such thoughts be far from your hearts and minds and mouths. When you do think and speak them, repent. As we prayed in today’s Collect, we justly deserve the consequences of our sins, but we pray that we might be mercifully delivered by the LORD’s goodness to the glory of His Name. We are all runners in the same race and, if we finish, if we die in the grace of the LORD, we all receive the same prize, eternal life with our Holy Triune God in heaven. What an absurd and scandalous grace we enjoy and bask in! That is why it is all the more absurd and scandalous that you should judge others as less worthy than yourself, that you look down your nose at them and their misdeeds and consider yourself superior – you hypocrite! Rather, in this race, if you see your brother stumble, help him to get up and finish the race. You will not forfeit first prize. There is no first prize, or last prize, but there is only the perfect and holy life of Jesus for all who finish the race. Oh, the temptations to quit midway are enormous and relentless, but the LORD has provided this hospital, this Church for you to bind up your wounds when you are injured and sick, pouring on holy wine and oil and water in forgiveness, to strengthen your faith, and to equip you with His gifts that you may persevere, more than that, that you may help others to persevere. Indeed, we’re all in this together, for we, like those who have gone before us, are under the same cloud of the LORD’s glory, have passed through the same sea of Holy Baptism, eat the same spiritual food and drink the same spiritual drink. Yet, as the LORD was not pleased with most of them, even so the LORD will not be pleased by those who fail to produce His fruits, leading “godly lives here in time and there in eternity.”

The kingdom of heaven is a kingdom of grace. The reigning of heaven is a reigning of grace. Come, eat and drink deeply of the fruit of the True Vine Jesus Christ, our Spiritual Rock who is with us, and be renewed in His grace, cleansed from your sins, strengthened in your faith, and equipped and sent to be fruitful with His fruits. Let His life flow through you and make you fruitful, for He is your life, there is none other, and bear His fruits of love, mercy, grace, charity, compassion, and forgiveness and so enliven others to the glory of His Name.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.