The Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 16)

(Audio)

Luke 7:11-17; Ephesians 3:13-21; 1 Kings 17:17-24

 

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

Our Old Testament lesson picks up right where we left off last week, with the Widow of Zarephath and her son. Last week we heard how God afflicted the entire land of Israel with a severe famine, promising King Ahab that he would not send rain until the Prophet Elijah prayed for it. Because of the famine, a widow was about to prepare her last handful of flour and use her last measure of oil to bake some bread for her son and herself, after which she despaired that they would surely die as there was no more food to be had anywhere in Israel. Nevertheless, Elijah commanded the widow to first prepare a cake of bread for himself, reminding her of the LORD’s promise, “The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth.” Indeed, the Prophet, the widow, and her son ate and were satisfied for as many days as the famine remained in the land, and the jar of flour was not spent, and the jug of oil was not emptied.

It is this same widow and her son that we hear about in today’s Old Testament lesson, only, now the widow’s son has died. This is to add insult to injury, a double-offense. For, the woman was already in dire straits because her husband had died, and now her only son has died, and this after the LORD had spared them both from the famine, demonstrating His faithfulness, mercy, and grace. Why would the LORD put her to the test once again and in this manner? What could be the LORD’s purpose in permitting this trial to come upon her? Indeed, it is the same as it was for Job and for all of us, that the LORD’s righteousness might be revealed. As He withheld rain from falling upon Israel, so God would show that He was the LORD of life as well as creation by the power of His Word. Elijah, the Prophet, a title meaning “spokesman for God”, called upon the LORD to relent from the disaster He had permitted to come upon this widow and her son, “and the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived.” When Elijah presented the boy to his mother alive, the poor woman had to confess, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and the Word of the LORD in your mouth is truth.” And, the LORD was glorified.

The widow of Zarephath was beyond hope. She had lost her husband to death which, in turn, had caused her to lose her source of income, inheritance rights, and even social standing. To be a widow in the ancient world, and even in first century Israel, was to be cast amongst the most poor, orphans, and landless immigrants. But, to make matters worse, her only son, who was her last hope of redemption and life, had become ill and died. The woman was devastated, hopeless, and despairing, and she, like Job, believed and knew that the LORD had permitted this to happen to her.

Now, this is an important and necessary truth for Christians to confess. God is the LORD of life and all creation. This is why you are to fear, love, and trust in Him above all else, for there is no other god before and above the LORD. This is Jesus’ meaning when He teaches you, “do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” That one “who can destroy both soul and body in hell” is not Satan, as many are want to think, but He is the LORD God. The One who gives life may also take it away. Further, because He is the LORD of life and all creation, Jesus teaches you, as you heard last Sunday, to not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, what you will eat and wear, for the LORD knows what you need and He provides you all that you need for your body and life. Therefore, when tragedy, want, and need befall you, do not despair, and do not worship anxiety, fear, men, the gaining or loss of material wealth, nor any other idols, but call upon and pray to the LORD, the creator, redeemer, and sustainer of your life and all things; He will hear and answer in accordance with His good and gracious will and wisdom, and He will work all things, even horrible, wicked, and unimaginable things, for the good of those who love Him in Jesus Christ.

Likewise, in today’s Gospel lesson, another widow has lost her only son to death. Jesus and His disciples, a veritable procession of life, were entering the town of Nain when they met head-on a veritable procession of death, a crowd of mourners carrying the dead young man on a funeral bier. This story always reminds me of the stanza of Luther’s Easter hymn Christ Lag in Todesbanden, Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands in which we sing, “It was a strange and dreadful strife when life and death contended. The victory remained with life; the reign of death was ended.” Jesus said to the mourning widow, “Do not weep,” for victory over death was as good as done, even if the boy had not been raised, because Jesus was going to die for him, in his place, in your place, in my place, for all the world, and take away the sting and curse of death forever. Therefore, Jesus touched the bier, shocking and scandalizing all around, for He takes your uncleanness, sin, and death upon Himself and He bears it upon the cross of Calvary. But, He raised him up by the power of the LORD’s Word, “‘Young man, I say to you, arise,’ and the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.” All the crowds cried out, just as the widow of Zarephath had confessed of Elijah, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited His people!” And, they were right.

In the darkest hour of our night of sin and death, when all hope is vanquished and despair has set in, when we grimly go about the task of preparing our last meal before we die, that is when the LORD acts – that is when the LORD has acted: Jesus resurrects our last hope…, Himself. Yes, Jesus is our last and our final hope, for Jesus is, was, and ever will be our only hope. Indeed, this is the Christian faith: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

This faith is true freedom, freedom to live your life without fear and anxiety of want, need, or even death, but freedom to live your life in love for God and for your neighbor. Indeed, this is what St. Paul was talking about in the Epistle lesson today, that you may live each and every day of your life, persevering through every trial and tribulation, in faith grounded in love. In this faith and love, it is Christ who gives you “strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” For, He “is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.” Through feast or famine, want or plenty, the LORD will ensure that “the jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty.”

Your life is the breath of God who is before and after you, and who sustains you each and every day of your life. Therefore, “to live is Christ, and to die is gain,” “For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.” Likewise, Jesus teaches you, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” The LORD would have you have this eternal perspective on your life. Your life is not what happens between birth and death, but you are a living soul having a beginning but no end. You were made for life – God’s life in Christ. He is your oil. He is your meal. And, He is inexhaustible. Call upon Him in your time of need and He will fill you to overflowing. You will persevere. Receive His gifts of selfless love: mercy, forgiveness, faith, strength of soul, peace of mind and spirit. Come, eat and be satisfied. Come, drink and be quenched. “A great prophet has arisen among us!” “God has visited His people!”

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 15)

(Audio)

Matthew 6:24-34; Galatians 5:25 – 6:10; 1 Kings 17:8-16

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

Do you notice how our Lord links together the sins of idolatry and anxiety? Listen to Him once again: No one can serve two masters, 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. Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

I ask you then, is your master anxiety, worry, and fear about what you will wear, about what you will eat or drink, about your health and your life? Is your master anxiety, worry, and fear about whether or not your children will be successful in school, will they make good friends, will they be safe? Is your master anxiety, worry, and fear about making your next mortgage payment, being laid off, having enough savings for retirement? Is your master anxiety, worry, and fear about getting COVID, cancer, or some other disease, about terrorist attacks, or falling out of love? For, if anything or anyone other than God is your master, then you are an idolater and you sin. For, an idol is anything that gets between you and your God; an idol is anything you put your fear, love, and trust in above, beyond, and before your God who commands “You shall have no other gods before me.”

But, the Son of Man did not come into the world to condemn the world, but to save it. Jesus came to set you free from your tyrannical masters. Jesus came to set you free from your anxiety, worry, fear, and death, that you may live in Him and in His kingdom to the glory of His Father. Therefore, He calls anxiety, worry, and fear what they are, idolatry, which is nothing other than slavery to a false god. And He shows you the truth that these false gods keep you from seeing, that you are truly free of these things, for God knows what you need, and He graciously provides you with everything that you need to support and sustain your body and life.

Thus, learn from the birds of the air, for, they do not sow, and yet they eat, they do not reap or gather into barns, and yet they have food for tomorrow, should it come. And does not God, your Father, love you more than these? Yes, indeed, He does, but, perhaps, not in the way that you think. For, He loves you in such a way that He will not let you remain in bondage to anxiety and worry, idolatry, sin, and death. So, He will allow you to pass through times of lean and times of plenty, times of weakness and times of strength that you may call upon Him at all times and in all places in faith, confessing that He is God, ever faithful, almighty, and unchanging.

Thus, learn from the lilies of the field which cannot even move as can the birds of the air. They are root-bound in the earth, totally dependent upon rain and sun, and in the right amounts, to live. They are alive today and thrown into the oven tomorrow. They grow in fields of their own kind, indistinguishable one from another. And yet, how they are arrayed so that any one of them is more glorious than a king dressed in his finest robes! And, if God so clothes these whose life is but a breath, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

And, besides all that, asks your Lord, can you add a single hour to your life by being anxious? Can you add a single minute to your life by worrying about tomorrow? No, of course you cannot. And, like all tyrannical masters, anxiety, worry, and fear actually rob you of life: minutes, hours, days, months, years, decades. Your heavenly Father knows the things that you need and He graciously provides you all that you need to support and to sustain your body and life now, and into eternity.

The problem arises when the gifts of God’s grace are seen as the fruits of our labors, when we perceive ourselves to be the lord instead of the steward. Then we are tempted to hoard our possessions, to be envious of the possessions of others, to begrudge what we don’t have, and to be discontent with what we do have. Do you see, then, how we become enslaved to our possessions, how we make mammon, money and possessions and the pursuit thereof, to be our god? And god mammon is a tyrannical master, controlling you by making you fearful of losing what you have and anxious of getting more tomorrow, making you miserable all the while. And, the end is worse than the beginning, for nothing lasts forever and you can’t take it with you, for, “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever."

But don’t worry. You don’t have to live like that. You don’t have to search for worth and meaning in deaf and mute idols. You have worth and meaning because your heavenly Father created you and loves you and has given His Son Jesus to free you from bondage to sin, death, and the tyranny of mammon. You have died to that tyranny in Holy Baptism, and you have been raised to new and free life in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Still, the old evil foe, the devil, would have you believe that it’s all about you – what you do, what you earn, what you need, what you own. Through lies and deception he would mock God. But do not be deceived, God is not mocked. Indeed, God has mocked the devil and has shown him to be a pitiable fool.

God fooled the devil, sending His own Son in the form of weakness and poverty, unlike the birds, for which He provides, having no place to lay His head. God fooled the devil, sending His own Son into the oven of His wrath against sin to quench that fire so that is finished and there is no more. And, God fooled the devil, raising His own Son from death, snatching Him out of the lion’s jaws, and making Him King over heaven and earth that all who believe in Him might live and have eternal life.

All this is yours through baptism and faith, for you have died with Christ and you have been raised with Him, thus, there is nothing to fear. Jesus has clothed you with His own righteousness, there is no need to worry. And Jesus feeds you with His precious body and holy blood, there is no need to be anxious. And, He has given you a family, His body, the Church, so that you are not alone. Each of you is called to serve one another. Through each of you God provides for all. Let us do good, then, to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. Do not be anxious about today, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all that belongs to Him in Jesus will be added unto you.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

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.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. This Proverb is one of the best known passages in all of Holy Scripture. But, what does it really mean? What is the fear of the LORD? And, why does it bring wisdom? First and foremost, the fear of the LORD is reverence and awe. Reverence and awe are our natural response when we recognize and acknowledge the LORD to be God and the Creator of all things. When we recognize that our existence is not happenstance, but that each of us is fearfully and wonderfully made, apart from any will or intention of our own, even that of our parents, then we are caused to look outside of ourselves to the LORD, and to begin to seek Him and to know Him. What we know about Him by observing ourselves and the world we live in is that He is powerful and creative – and that compels our reverence and awe. However, when His Spirit calls us in faith, then we begin to see that, not only He is powerful and creative, but He is also loving, merciful, and gracious. Then we truly begin to fear the LORD in the fullness of its meaning, and that is the beginning of wisdom.

And so, wisdom is a relationship and an order, and the fear of the LORD is the beginning of that relationship and order – when we come to realize and to recognize the God who has always been there, who is the very Creator and Source of our lives and of all things that exist. Then we begin to discover a Divine Law that has always been there as well, a Law that we had misappropriated to other things, other men, and other gods, but now we appropriate to the true and only God. For, we all have our laws, and we all have our gods. For many, god is an incomplete version of the true God. For many others, god is an impersonal force or energy that we can learn to utilize to our benefit or for the benefit of others. For so-called atheists and secular humanists, god is more personal (and subjective) than that – you are your own god, and man’s reason, intellect, wisdom, and experience are the only truth.

Last week, in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, we heard about two men who were so concerned about the letter of the Law as they understood it that they could not, and would not, obey the spirit of the Law to help a brother in need. But then, along came a Samaritan, a man who, in many ways, could be said to not be under the Law – for he was not a Jew, at least, not fully, and his people were not of the covenant or bound by God’s Law as the priest and the Levite were – and, in his freedom, he was able and willing to step down into the ditch with his half-brother and help him.

Fast forward to this week – you just heard St. Luke’s account of the ten lepers. All ten appealed to Jesus for mercy. All ten were commanded to go show themselves to the priests. All ten were healed on the way. But one, a Samaritan, returned to Jesus to offer Him thanks and to praise God. Now, if all you take away from this story is that it is good to give thanks to God, then you’re missing about ninety-five percent of the story. There’s much more going on than that. How must the Samaritan have felt when Jesus commanded him to go to the priests? He couldn’t do that; he was a Samaritan. By law, he wasn’t permitted in the temple. Thus, when the Samaritan leper saw that he was healed, he returned to the man who had healed him, Jesus, and he worshipped God there, at Jesus’ feet. The Samaritan leper was free from the law to worship God without fear, recognizing His merciful and gracious presence in Jesus.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. The Samaritan leper awoke from his spiritual death to see that the LORD God was standing right there before Him, not to destroy him, not to judge him, not to condemn him, but to forgive him and heal him and restore him. And all this was the LORD’s gift to him, free, no strings attached, by grace flowing from the boundless love, mercy, and compassion of God. The forgiven Samaritan leper was wizened to see that the Law could not condemn him when the LORD God forgave him and treated him as His own son. Arguably, the other nine, faithful Jews, still sought to win God’s favor by obedience to the Law. They saw Jesus as a Rabbi, a teacher of the Law, and they dutifully obeyed his command to go and show themselves to the priests. Only the healed and forgiven Samaritan leper could see with eyes of faith that Jesus is the LORD’s Great High Priest. Therefore, the thankful leper went to see the only Priest who could ever forgive sins and restore sonship with God; he went to see Jesus, and falling down at his feet, he thanked Him and He worshipped God who, in Jesus, has graciously visited His people.

St. Paul says in our Epistle lesson today, “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.” Please understand what this means, and what it does not mean: What this means is literally that “you are not under the Law”. That is to say that the Law no longer condemns you, because Jesus has fulfilled the Law for you. However, what this does not mean is that you are free to disregard the Law, that you may willfully disobey it without penalty. No, you are not under the Law’s condemnation, but you have been freed from the Law that you may do it without fear of condemnation when you fail.

Likewise, Solomon gives you instruction in wisdom in today’s reading from Proverbs: Keep hold of this instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life. Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil. Avoid it do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on. […] The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.

The wicked walk in darkness, and they stumble upon they know not what, because they are driven and compelled by fearful obedience to, or willful rebellion against, the Law of God and / or the self-created laws of men. To walk in the way of the wicked is to walk without recognition of the LORD, the source of light, the knowledge of whom is wisdom. This is why we have prayed with the Church this morning, “O Lord, keep Your Church with Your perpetual mercy; and because of our frailty we cannot but fall, keep us ever by Your help from all things hurtful and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation.” Therein we confess that, on our own, we will stumble and fall. Therefore, we pray for the Lord’s mercy, believing and trusting that we receive it through Jesus Christ, and we return to the Lord, not only to give thanks, but we return to our Lord Jesus, recognizing and confessing in Him, God’s gracious visitation.

We recognize and acknowledge our LORD and God as the very source of our life and the giver of all things good and needful. We are thankful for His mercy, compassion, and love; we are thankful for His forgiveness and grace; and we are thankful for His gracious visitation of us in Jesus Christ. Therefore we commit ourselves anew to fear the LORD and to grow in wisdom. We love the Law of God in the freedom of the Gospel. God’s Word instills in us the fruits of His Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no Law.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

A Cure for Cynicism

This article appeared in the Waverly Democrat newspaper, Waverly, IA, on September 2, 2021.

I admit it. I’m a bit of a cynic. As a member of Generation X, cynicism is the air I breathe. Gen X is the so-called forgotten generation. We were the first latch-key children as our parents both worked out of the home and we were typically alone after school. In addition, no-fault divorce resulted in increasing numbers of broken marriages and families. Gen X grew up under the specter of the Cold War and Mutually Assured Destruction if either the United States or Russia, or maybe Iran or China, decided they’d had enough and finally pushed the button. Gen X was the first generation that was expected to do worse than our parents, and we were consistently told that Social Security would be bankrupt by the time we needed it. These and numerous other formative factors served to shape Generation X into a generation of cynics and survivors. Cynics because, when it comes to institutions, they consistently fail to deliver on their promises, and survivors who, since we tend to expect the worst, are prepared to persevere through anything.

Don’t hear me wrong. I’m not proud to be a cynic. I even suspect that it’s a bit sinful. It’s something I struggle with. I still believe in institutions and their inherent value, I do not want to see them destroyed or circumvented, but neither do I trust them completely. Somewhat ironically, the generation that preceded Gen X, the Boomers, also mistrusted institutions in their youth, but in their middle and later adulthood they came to embrace institutions, even if it was because they cynically found a way to manipulate them to their advantage. That’s a sin of a similar, but different kind. However, all of this generation talk is really to get at what I truly want to write about – what a joy and blessing it is to minister to a generation that is so very unlike either the Boomers or my own Generation X – Generation Z, who are now approaching, are in, or have recently graduated from college.

School is back in session. While parents and teachers fret and argue over masks and mandates and vaccines and more, Gen Z youth, at least as I perceive them, are fairly easy-going, eager to get to their studies, their sports, their music, their friends, and their lives. They are not cynics, like many of my generation, nor are they manipulators (another form of cynicism) like some of the Boomers. In my experience, most of the Gen Z youth I meet today are extremely positive, and outgoing. They’re not out to change the world, at least not yet. Perhaps they haven’t experienced enough of the world yet to want to change it, but that’s probably the cynic in me talking. Indeed, I’m fairly certain of this – if they could change anything, they would likely dismiss all cynicism and cynical manipulation.

I am blessed to minister to several high school students and a good number of college students, specifically Wartburg College students. I’ve been a pastor in Waverly for four years now, and throughout those four years St. John Lutheran Church has ministered to Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod students and other students at Wartburg College through worship, Bible studies, and fellowship events. What began as a small, humble gathering has grown into a bonafide campus ministry recognized officially by the LC-MS. This past year I was particularly blessed to see two students who were freshmen when I began my ministry at St. John graduate and get married (I was even blessed to marry them!), and the groom is planning to enter seminary to become a pastor! My experience with these students and their lives has been extremely encouraging and positive. I can feel them driving back my cynical tendencies, and it’s a blessing and a great relief.

While we can think of countless reasons to be pessimistic and cynical, I encourage you to spend some time with Gen Z, particularly our college students who are out of their parent’s homes for the first time and are beginning to discover who they are and what they believe. There is good reason to be hopeful. Further, they need you as much as you need them. I’ve received several letters from students present and former, as well as from their parents, expressing how important and beneficial the St. John Campus Ministry and congregation was/is for them, some even describing it as a lifeline or net. 

It is the God-given duty of every generation to pass on to the next the right worship of the Lord God in faith, confession, and deed. While the truth of God’s Word never changes, other things most certainly do. While this can cause some unease for the former generations, I encourage you, as I encourage myself, to embrace this task with joy and thanksgiving. Instead of being fearful at what the next stewards of the faith might do, get to know them, encourage them, and find yourself encouraged and delighted at how God works, often in unexpected and always marvelous ways. God bless and keep our students and youth and make of them a rich and gracious blessing.

+ Rev. Jon M. Ellingworth

St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church – Waverly, IA

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.

 “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!” said Jesus to His disciples. But what did they see? Jesus had sent the seventy-two before Him as lambs in the midst of wolves, with no provisions or protection, proclaiming that the kingdom of God was drawing near. What they could see was that the kingdom of God was drawing near in the person of Jesus. They had just returned to Him exclaiming, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” Jesus replied to them saying, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

What did their eyes see? Jesus wasn’t much to look at, an itinerant rabbi, the son of a carpenter from backwater Nazareth. What did their eyes see? They went before Him with no food or water, little clothing, and no weapons, like sheep in the midst of wolves, proclaiming that the kingdom of God had come in this lowly, humble, and relatively unimpressive man. What did they see, what did they hear, that prophets and kings of old desired to see and hear but did? They saw the Word fulfilled. They saw the kingdom of God coming in the person of Jesus. Then Jesus “rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children’.” “Then turning to the disciples he said privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see’!”

“And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life’?” This man was an example of the “wise and understanding” from whom the holy things of God had been hidden. His wisdom and understanding had made him blind. Though God’s Word had been revealed and His promises kept in often humble and unexpected ways throughout Israel’s history, this lawyer’s wisdom and understanding concluded that eternal life must be earned by obedience and works under the law. “What must I do” is a question of self-righteousness and self-justification, with the prideful assumption that I can do it and have in fact done it. One who can save himself doesn’t need a savior, and therefore he doesn’t need Jesus. The lawyer wanted to save himself, to justify himself before the law. “What must I do?” he asked. That’s a law question. Therefore, Jesus turned him to the law: “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” “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,” the lawyer answered confidently. Yes, indeed! Jesus replied, “Do this and you will live.”

What must you do to inherit eternal life? That’s a law question. Love God and love your neighbor, perfectly, always, in thought, word, and deed. That’s the law’s answer. Do this perfectly, always, and you will live. That is, assuming you weren’t corrupted by original sin from the moment you were conceived. Oh, you were, you say? Well, that’s really too bad. But, that’s the law’s job, to convict you in your sin, to expose your sin that you might be turned in resentence and see your Savior Jesus Christ. The law is supposed to make you uncomfortable, just like it made the lawyer uncomfortable. The lawyer was exposed. He was right, the law demanded love – perfect love for both God and neighbor – and he knew that he failed, that he was a sinner, that he didn’t perfectly love his neighbor because he didn’t perfectly love God. He knew it, and he was convicted and uncomfortable, and so he tried to justify himself. “And, who is my neighbor?” he asked Jesus. The lawyer knew that he couldn’t love everyone and that he didn’t love everyone. He thought that, maybe if he could limit the number of people he had to love he would have a shot. He wanted to lower the demands of the law and make it more doable. He couldn’t see that the fulfilling of the law is not obedience, but love, God’s love for us sinners with which we love other sinners, and that one who cannot love his brother whom he has seen cannot possibly love God whom he has not seen. Jesus’ response to the lawyer’s question, “Who is my neighbor?” is the well-known Parable of the Good Samaritan.

A man, a Hebrew man, Jew, was robbed, beaten, and left for dead by the roadside. Two wise and understanding men whom the lawyer could surely relate to passed by and did nothing to help. Then a despised Samaritan arrived on the scene, took pity on the man, and at his own risk and expense helped him. Jesus then asked the lawyer, “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” The lawyer had no choice but to answer, “The one who showed him mercy.” This parable was Jesus’ answer to the lawyer’s question, “Who is my neighbor.” In the end, the lawyer had to answer his own question, “The one who showed mercy.”

The lawyer wanted to justify himself by his obedience and works, and yet he failed to do even the first work the law requires, love. Love is the fulfillment of the law because love is selfless and sacrificial, never looking inward to the self but always looking and acting outward to the neighbor. Mercy is love in action. Mercy is the love of God for us sinners. Mercy is what the Samaritan had for the man who fell amongst robbers. Mercy is what Jesus poured out for the world in His selfless, sacrificial death on the cross. Mercy is what we have received from God in Jesus Christ and mercy is what we are called and sent to show to others in love and thanksgiving to the glory of God.

“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.” What do you see? You see the love and mercy of God in the death of Jesus Christ. You see the kingdom of God in our midst in the person of Jesus who is present in Word and Sacrament. You see Jesus in your neighbor, your brother, your sister, and even in your enemy. God desires mercy, not sacrifice. And Satan falls like lightning from heaven.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

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.

What must I do to be saved? Now, there’s a question that gets people’s attention. If only we could have that question answered, get a checklist of those things we must do, then we’d get right to work in doing them and we’d feel pretty good about ourselves and about our oh so fair, just, and reasonable God. That’s all we’ve ever really wanted, isn’t it, a plain and simple statement of the minimum that’s required of us so that we can do it and live happily ever after?

But it’s a delusion, a lie, to believe that we can justify ourselves before God by our works. This truth Martin Luther himself confessed in his final written words before his death saying, “We are beggars, this is true.” We are beggars who have nothing of our own to offer to God, for we are conceived into this life already corrupted by Original Sin and our wills are enslaved in bondage to sin and can do no good before God in and of themselves. It does no good to protest “That’s not fair! Sin that I was born with, even conceived in? That’s not my sin. That’s my parent’s sin! That’s Adam’s Sin!” It does no good to protest, for we are Adam, every one of us, one huge sinful man. And not only have we nothing within us to offer to God, but we cannot even move towards Him of our own wills. We are spiritually blind, deaf, and dumb; from conception we are corrupted by sin and from birth our ears are stopped from hearing God’s Word, our eyes are blind to seeing the light of His Truth, and our lips are closed to praising His Name. We are in bondage, in chains and shackles, to sin and death, and we are so desperately in need of a Savior, someone to have mercy upon us and shower us with His grace and favor lest we perish.

So, as we could not come to Him, God came to us in the person of His Son. The Son of God stepped into our spiritual ditch and there He took up our flesh, wounded and bleeding from the assaults of the devil, left for dead, and He made with us a glorious exchange, binding up our wounds and pouring on oil and wine while taking our stripes as His own and dying our death. For, Jesus is God moved in love and compassion to reach out and to help those who cannot help themselves, those who will not reject His help or claim self-sufficiency. He has come to save sinners, and only sinners can be saved. He has come to poor sinners such as us to pardon, to restore, and to grace with His lavish gifts of goodness and love beyond our imaginings.

Jesus came to us who could not come to Him; He has set us free from our bondage to sin and death and He has empowered us by His Holy Spirit to bring others to Him who are in bondage to sin and death. That is why the crowds in the Gospel lesson brought a man to Jesus who was deaf and unable to speak. The man could not speak because he could not hear; he could not hear because he was in bondage to sin. It’s not that being deaf is sinful, but deafness is a result of sin, just as baldness and arthritis are a result of sin. Nor is the deafness the result of that one man’s sin or anyone’s sin in particular, but deafness is the result of sin in general: For, the wages of sin is always death.

The man could not hear the Word of God and his mouth could not confess Jesus as Lord; he was utterly incapable of changing his condition or situation. Such is our condition according to nature, fallen, corrupted, in bondage to sin. But those who could hear and speak brought the poor man to Jesus and they begged the Lord to lay His hand upon Him. The very same thing happened right here in your presence a couple weeks ago as Christian parents brought their infant son, who could not come on his own, who could not understand the Word of God, or confess with his mouth that Jesus is Lord, in faith they brought him to Jesus that He may lay His hand upon him, forgive his sin, and receive him into Himself through the means of Holy Baptism.

Just as Jesus, through the hands and mouth of a Pastor, released that infant child from the bondage of sin and death, opening his ears to hear the Word of the Lord and to receive faith, releasing his tongue to confess Jesus as Lord and to sing His praise, so too Jesus took the man aside, put his fingers into the man’s ears, spat and touched the man’s tongue, looked up to heaven to give God the glory, and then He spoke the Word “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. It was not Jesus’ fingers alone that opened the man’s ears anymore than the pastor’s touch in Holy Baptism, nor was it His spit and touch alone that released the man’s tongue anymore than the water of Holy Baptism, but it was the Word that Jesus spoke, the Word of God, along with these physical elements, that released the man from bondage to sin and death: The Word of God the Father, the touch of God the Son, and the finger of God the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is the Word of God made flesh, come down to earth, to speak forgiveness and release from the bondage of sin and death to we who were spiritually deaf, dumb, and blind. Whether we were brought to Jesus as helpless infants that He might touch us with water and Word or if we were brought to Him later in life by those who love us and would have us know the love of God in Jesus they enjoy,  it is the Word, only and always the Word, that opens our sin-closed ears and releases our sin-tied tongues that we might confess with our mouths what we believe in our hearts, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

In Jesus, Isaiah’s prophecy has been fulfilled: In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. For, on the cross our Savior Jesus sighed and breathed His last for us and has given us to hear and to believe in Him; He has opened our lips that our mouths may declare His praise.

We could not come to Him, so He came to us; while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Even still, in bondage to sin and death, we could not hear the Word of the Lord or speak His praise. So, again, Jesus comes to us and brings us to Himself through the hands, feet, and mouths of His pastors, believing parents, friends, and even strangers that we might receive His healing touch and life-giving Word and be opened to confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and to believe in our hearts that God has raised Him from the dead and be saved – to the glory of God the Father, in Christ His beloved Son, through the sanctifying power of His Holy Spirit.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Feast of St. Mary, Mother of Our Lord

(Audio) 

Luke 1:39-55; Galatians 4:4-7; Isaiah 61:7-11

 

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

Mary was humble and of low estate, and so we can relate to her. Mary confessed that her Lord had done great things for her, and so we can confess with her. Mary believed the Word of the Lord and trusted in His goodness, faithfulness, and mercy saying, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word,” and so we honor her, we venerate her, and we seek to imitate her in Christian faith and holy living, recognizing and confessing the amazing divine grace of God she and we alike are the undeserved recipients of.

Though the Holy Scriptures are silent, Christian tradition holds that Mary grew up in Nazareth, the daughter of Anna and Joachim. Mary and her parents were among the promised faithful remnant of Israel waiting and watching in hopeful expectation for the consolation of Israel in the promised coming of the Messiah, the Christ. It has been said that faithful young Hebrew women held to the hope that they might be the woman promised to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden who would bear the promised Seed who would crush the ancient serpent’s head, promised again to Abram through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed. This could explain Mary’s receptive reaction to the marvelous news the angel Gabriel brought to her saying, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary’s response was simply, “let it be to me according to your word,” though she did ask how this gift of God’s grace would come upon her since she was a virgin. The question was asked in faith, not in unbelief, and the answer was given to faithful Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” Then Mary was given a sign to confirm the promise, “behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.”

It is believed that Mary was a young woman, perhaps around the age of fourteen. An unmarried maiden, she was the epitome of lowliness. An unmarried virgin maiden, her conception would be scandalous, to say the least. Nevertheless, the Lord favored her, which means that the Lord willed to have favor towards Mary. Despite the lowliness of her estate, the Lord chose Mary to be the Mother of our Lord Jesus, the Mother of God. So it is that Mary is not so different than Abram whom the Lord chose by his gracious will alone. There was nothing meritorious or deserving about Abram. Abram was a pagan, a worshipper of his father’s household gods. Nonetheless, the Lord called Abram and promised him a nation and a son through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Like Mary, Abram believed the Lord, and their faith was counted as righteousness by the Lord. To each was a given a similar sign as a confirmation and seal of the Lord’s promise. The sign to Abram was that his aged wife Sarai, who was barren, would conceive and bear him a son. The sign to Mary was that her aged cousin Elizabeth, who was barren, had already conceived and was carrying a son, John the Baptist. The Lord has chosen the weak and foolish things of this world to shame the wise and the strong. Or, as Mary put it, “He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.”

The Ecumenical Council in Ephesus (AD 431) officially declared Mary to be Theotokos, Mother of God. For, if the Son of God, Jesus, is truly God, as the Scriptures and the Creeds confess, then Mary is truly the Mother and the Bearer of God. For this gracious honor, which she received in humble faith, we give thanks to God for Mary and for His grace and mercy shown to her, and through her to us all. We do not worship or pray to Mary. This Mary herself would protest and warn against. Indeed, Mary confessed her own need for a savior saying, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” What we venerate Mary for is her example of faith and trust in God and His Word, which is itself the gift of God’s magnificent grace. But, most of all, we venerate Mary for the magnification of God’s grace, mercy, and love she has been made to be for all the world, to quote Luther, as “the exceeding riches of God joined in her with her utter poverty, the divine honor with her low estate, the divine glory with her shame, the divine greatness with her smallness, the divine goodness with her lack of merit, the divine grace with her unworthiness.” This day, then, is not a Feast of Mary, but it is a Feast of the Lord who graced, blessed, and chose Mary that her soul should magnify the glory of the Lord who pours out His divine grace and mercy upon the meek and the humble, the poor in spirit, those who hunger and thirst for justice and mercy, and the weak and despised of this world who trust in Him and His word.

Our Lord Jesus’ dying words to His mother were, “Woman, behold your son,” and then to John, His beloved friend and apostle, “Behold your mother.” Christian tradition holds that John did indeed take Mary into his home and ultimately to Ephesus where he had established a vibrant church. There are two traditions concerning Mary’s death: The oldest claims that Mary died in Jerusalem, but another in Ephesus. Neither tradition is supported by Scripture, but early Christian writers including the Fathers have favored the former and have recorded the tradition. On this very day, the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Assumption of Mary which includes the belief that Mary was taken body and soul up to heaven so that no earthly relics remained. Similarly, the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates the Feast of the Dormition (or, “falling asleep”) of Mary on this day. In the Lutheran Church, we simply believe, teach, and confess what Scripture has given us, nothing more and nothing less.  Scripture does not account for the death of Mary nor does it offer any particulars concerning the matter. However, what Scripture has provided us is Mary’s own words concerning how she viewed her role in salvation history – she was a humble servant, the beneficiary of God’s undeserved and unmerited grace and mercy, for which she praises, glorifies, and magnifies God her savior.

This means that Mary is just like you and that you should be thankful for and strive to be just like Mary who simply believed and trusted in the word of the Lord saying, “let it be to me according to your word.” Mary needed a savior, just like you. Mary needed Jesus, just like you. And now Mary is with her Son and Lord, Her God, in the glorious presence of His Majesty with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven awaiting the return of Jesus in glory, the resurrection of the faithful, and the blessed gathering of the Church in Zion. Until then, we gather with Mary, Peter, James, and John, Paul, David, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses, and with Adam and Eve, and with all the saints who have died in the Lord and with the host of heaven at this altar where heaven comes down to earth and we join our voices with them in singing the thrice-holy hymn. And, “We sing with joy of Mary, whose heart with awe was stirred when, youthful and astonished, she heard the angel’s word. Yet her voice upraises to magnify God’s name, as once for our salvation Your mother she became.”

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Holy Matrimony of Spencer Richard Warehime & Nicole Rae Geisemann

(Audio) 

Matthew 19:4-6; Colossians 3:12-17; Genesis 2:7

 

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

Every marriage has a beginning: A first glance; a first smile; a first date; a first kiss; etc. For Spencer and Nicole, it all began at the Registrar’s Office at Wartburg when a rather forward young man passed an Add/Drop card to the smiling young lady behind the desk saying, “DROP: All other plans” and “ADD: A date with me at Duo’s.” He’d caught her eye before. She thought he was cute, and that mustache! Obviously, he’d noticed her as well. “Her hair was like a flock of goats,” he thought, recalling the words of the Song of Solomon. She scribbled something on a sticky-note, placed it on the card and handed it back to him. It was her phone number. “YES!” Well, that first date finally came, but it wasn’t at Duo’s, but at Hy-Vee over mediocre Chinese food. However, the location and the food didn’t really matter as they sat and talked for over an hour and the first buds of a relationship began to develop and grow, the fruit of which we are celebrating this very day. Every marriage has a beginning, often very humble, mundane, and ordinary. The LORD works in unexpected ways, but He brings together His children and He blesses them, and He makes them to be a blessing.

Faith was important to them from the beginning, and it wasn’t long before Spencer and Nicole were worshiping together on Sunday morning here at St. John, along with a good number of other Wartburg students and a surprisingly strong representation from the Cross-Country team. After Bible study they could usually be found at Dell’s Diner where they talked about what they had heard at church and other things. In this way, as their relationship began to grow, so did they grow together in their faith. Spencer and Nicole, I remember several conversations with the two of you in my office when you had questions about God’s Word, particularly as it pertained to your relationship. I want you to know how much I respect you and am grateful to God for you for seeking counsel in His Word. And I know that you have continued to seek that counsel as you have prepared for this day, learning from God’s Word about forgiveness and sacrifice, how you can serve each other and submit to each other and encourage each other, and about the importance of having a prayer life and a devotional life in marriage. This is a solid foundation on which you will build and grow even as you are built and grown by the Lord. Marriage isn’t always easy, but it is good, and with Christ at its center it will endure, and it will grow and bear much fruit.

Spencer, you told me that Ephesians chapter five was important to you as well as the Table of Duties from the Small Catechism. Indeed, in such passages the Lord describes and prescribes the godly vocations of husband and wife, father and mother, parents and children, and more. These vocations, indeed, all vocations, begin with humility and love, selflessness and sacrifice, and fear, love, and trust in God above all things. The Epistle lesson you together selected from Colossians chapter three is loaded with St. Paul’s exhortations to godly living that are both descriptive and prescriptive of Christian faith and life and of Christian marriage: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, bearing with one another, forgiving one another, harmony, peace, thankfulness, and more. It’s not an exhaustive list. You have surely noticed that these qualities are all selfless, not selfish, in that they flow outward from the self towards others and not inwards towards the self. These qualities are by their very nature selfless and sacrificial. They are qualities that flow from love because they are the qualities of God, who is love, Himself, and of Jesus Christ who is the love of God incarnate.

These selfless, sacrificial, and loving qualities were endowed in the very first marriage in Paradise when God brought together the man and the woman He had created and joined them in the one-flesh union of Holy Marriage. God blessed them and He blessed their union that they should be fruitful with His selfless, sacrificial love. Truly, God blessed us all with marriage so that we could know more fully and truly the kind of love and the kind of relationship He wills to have with us. God doesn’t merely will for His creatures to worship Him as our Creator, but He wills to selflessly and sacrificially love us, and for us to selflessly and sacrificially love Him in return; He wills to marry us; and He wills to make us fruitful, together with Him, with the fruits of His love. Now, the first marriage was instituted before our first parents introduced sin into the world, which has made a royal mess of everything and which continues to produce endless suffering and misery. Nevertheless, marriage after the Fall is still a divine, holy, and sacred union and proving ground in which we can learn selflessness and sacrifice, where we can learn to love like God and as God, as we sacrifice ourselves, our selfish wills, and our self-serving desires for our beloved, and as we bear with and endure in patience those times our love is not reciprocated by forgiving and gratefulness for the loving forgiveness of God we ourselves have received but not deserved. Truly, it is in this way, and in this way alone, that the equation 1 + 1 = 1 is valid and true. Each of you, Spencer and Nicole, in selfless and sacrificial love for God and for each other, this day are no longer two, but you are one. Your marriage is to be a reflection, even if tarnished and dimmed by sin, of the perfect, true, and holy marriage of Christ and His Bride the Church.

It is God who has brought you together, just as He first brought Adam and Eve together. People talk about “soul mates” as if your soul mate is someone that you have to go out there in the world and find. I think that is inadequate at best, and plainly false at worst. You did not go out there and find each other any more than Adam had to go out and find Eve. You were brought together, by God, through the myriad, maze-like, life paths you followed, your vocations, informed by God’s word and by prayer, that have brought you to where you are. No, your soul mate is not the one you go out and find, but your soul mate is the one that God brings you to and, in Holy Marriage, you pledge yourself to guard and keep, not only their body and life, but their holy soul purchased and cleansed in the blood of Jesus, unto death parts you. Yes! You are not merely pledging your love and faithfulness to a person this day, but you are pledging your love and faithfulness to a person created by God in His image and redeemed in the blood of God’s Son Jesus Christ. You are pledging your love and faithfulness not merely to a body, but to an immortal soul as well. What I mean is this: Spencer, this day you pledge to be the guardian and protector of Nicole, of both her body and her soul. Likewise, Nicole, this day you pledge to be the guardian and protector of Spencer, of both his body and his soul. You have the authority and the sacred responsibility of guarding and protecting each other through life, unto death, into life that cannot die. As the Lord has given you each to the other as a helpmate and has blessed you to be bone of bone and flesh of flesh in a one flesh union, so will you in faithfulness serve each other in life and deliver each other back to the Lord when He calls. “What God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Spencer and Nicole, when I asked you what you were looking forward to in marriage, you answered, “to see each other more,” “to be together,” and “to set goals together.” On the one hand, marriage will certainly deliver each of these to you, whether you desire them or not. On the other hand, these are mature, healthy, and sensible desires and goals. Moreover, I have witnessed you practicing these things already as you charted the course through college, made job choices while considering Spencer attending seminary, deciding to take a year off to get things in order, right down to the plans you made for this very day. These things you did together, through give and take, patience and understanding, charity and grace, and with not a small amount of forgiveness I am certain. The Lord bless you and guide you by His word and Spirit as you go forward as husband and wife.

In closing, I leave you to reflect upon these words from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians which you have selected to be read today: “And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. […] And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Spencer and Nicole, always remember that your Holy Marriage, instituted and blessed by our Holy Triune God, is an icon, and image, of God’s own Divine Family – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As you sacrifice yourselves one for the other, two becoming one flesh, and as, if God should so bless you, you are fruitful and bear children – remember always the third partner in your marriage – your Lord Jesus Christ. It was God who brought Adam and Eve together because He desired for them to know the love and fulfillment of His own Divine Family. He is the love that binds you and makes you one flesh; and He has promised to be with you always. Call upon Him daily for your needs. Thank Him daily for your blessings. Make Him the Lord of your hearts and of your Holy Marriage – and He will bless you and your Holy Marriage. You will be fruitful. And your one flesh union will be “very good.”

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